Severus Eileen Snape had always been a well kempt young boy. His father wasn't the best man, he got handsy when he was drunk and maybe a bit too angry. His mother had always been frail, as far as nine year old Severus could remember, and so when he learned that his Mum had fallen down the stairs and broke her neck, he hadn't been surprised, just devastated. His father got drunk more, and the woman who kept him pretty and took him to the doctor and bought him special shampoo so his hair wasn't greasy no longer was alive. It was two days before his tenth birthday -the day after his father had groped him, and then ended up with severe arthritis in that whole arm due to accidental magic- that he got a letter from Septimirius Prince, his grandfather. It went uphill from there. Or: An AU where Severus' pureblood family wasn't exactly prejudice.