Severus could see how nervous you were that night, as it had been quite some time since you last saw your parents. He knew how much you dreaded to come, but considering that it was your family's party, you decided to go to spare the embarrassment of your parents in front of their guests if their only daughter did not show up. 

"I'm right by your side, darling."

He assured you, as both of you apparated to your family's home. His heart was at ease upon seeing a smile on your face, but he would be lying if he say that he was not nervous as well. He was about to see your parents, and even if you were no longer care about what they were thinking about you anymore, Severus still wanted to impress them, knowing how much it would mean to you.

He could hear voices and laughter coming out of the huge mansion, and he frowned, feeling as if their joy was staged instead of being genuine. Severus had been to too many parties hosted by the Malfoys to know that those prestigious guests had to be proud for who they were, blood purity and all, and it made his head pounded as he was about to become one of them once he stepped inside.  

The closer he was to the mansion, the harder he felt to breathe, and he quickly glanced at you who was on his arm. His heart soared with love, and he reminded himself that he was doing this for you. He also wanted to show your parents that you were not unlovable, and that you finally found your soulmate who loved you with all of his heart. You would never be a burden to him, and Severus needed your parents to see how wrong they were about you.

"Are you ready, love?"

You asked, looking up at him. Severus nodded, ignoring the rapid beating of his heart when both of you walked into your parents' home which was crowded with their guests.

You sucked in a deep breath, feeling almost all eyes on you, and you did not miss the shock on their faces when they noticed you were coming with Severus. Surely, everyone recognised you, and they were not expecting you to come with the Hogwarts professor.

Severus hated the attention on him. He knew most of them were looking at him because he came with you, and they were curious about you, but he could feel their judgemental stares on him and he despised it. You could feel the nerves radiating off your soulmate, and instinctively, you squeezed his arm softly.

"Just ignore them. Let's find my parents."

His heart melted at your soft gaze and he nodded, letting pride swelled in his chest when he realised he had a beautiful woman on his arm, and you were his soulmate. He could not care less about the guests, as he knew they must be questioning why would you come with him instead of any other man.

"Well, Severus. I wasn't expecting to see you here."

The Potions Master could recognise his friend's posh voice anywhere, and it bothered him a bit that Lucius Malfoy was also there at the party. It was safe to say that his friend knew almost everything about you, since Severus could not stop talking about you every time they met.

"Y/N L/N, finally I can meet the woman who stole Severus Snape's heart."

You smiled when he reached out for your hand, leaving a kiss on your knuckles, only to receive an irritated glare from Severus.

"It's good to finally see you, Mr Malfoy."

You let out a chuckle, knowing that they were good friends with each other. Lucius gave a knowing smile to his best friend, and it was amusing to see how lovesick Severus was with you.

"Please call me Lucius. I've known your family for quite some time but I didn't know they have such a lovely daughter."

He pointed out, and you had to force a smile. It was not odd to know that your parents were not really keen in showing you off to the world. It was always that way since you were young. If people knew about you, then they did. But if they did not, your parents would not even bother to tell them that they had a child.  

"She is lovely, Lucius. Now, will you please excuse us?"

Severus cut him off, fighting the urge to roll his eyes at his best friend. He knew Lucius was tempted to tease him endlessly about you, and he was not letting it happen that night.

"She is the one, Severus."

Lucius whispered to his friend, smirking as he saw how enamoured Severus was with you.

"We'll see you later, Lucius."

You said, giving him a smile before you and Severus went to find your parents. It was absolutely worrying you to see them, but you remembered how kindly they asked you to come in the letter, and you needed to see them. 

"Did you tell Lucius about me?"

You asked, wanting to distract you from your nerves. You looked around and noticed some familiar faces from your childhood, but you never really liked them, as you could tell some of them were faking their emotions as well, for the sake of their good names.

"I did. He is my best friend so I want to let him know that I finally found the one for me."

He said, holding back a smile which was growing on his face. Heat rushed towards your cheeks when you realised how dearly he held you in his heart, and you just wanted to kiss him if you were not in the middle of the party.

"He seems nice."

You said, thinking of those times when people told you about the Malfoy family, and they were always described as nothing but friendly. But when Severus gave you a smirk, you knew the reason Lucius was being kind to you was because of your soulmate. If you were any other woman, he would not even think to talk to you. But you were his best friend's soulmate, so you were special to him too.

Your conversation came to a halt when your eyes landed on your parents who were tending to their guests. They noticed you and they looked at each other before walking over to you and Severus, who wrapped an arm around your waist, silently assuring you that he was there.

"Our beautiful daughter is finally home."

Your mother's sweet voice got into your ears, and you cringed internally, not remembering when was the last time she was being so gentle towards you. It felt like she wanted you to do something for her, and you did not like it. Not even a bit of it.

"Of course, I'd come."

You responded, straightening your back and giving them a smile. You were torn whether to give them a hug or not, as it did not feel like they missed you at all. Your father looked at you with a smile, but then his face turned sour when he noticed Severus who had his arm around you.

"And who is this man?"

You felt Severus tightened his arm around you, and you sent him a comforting smile, before you moved your gaze towards your father.

"Father, this is Severus Snape. He is my soulmate."

Happiness was dripping from your voice, as you announced the big news to them. You knew they used to say that you did not deserve a soulmate, and you would only be a burden if you had one, hence you were over the moon to tell them that you finally found your soulmate.

"Soulmate? You're not supposed to find your soulmate."

You frowned when your mother was so rude about it, and her false sweetness was no longer there and it was replaced by her usual glare on you.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

You retorted, and Severus looked at you, worried if their words might hurt you again. It was so hard to build yourself up after what they had done, and Severus was so afraid they would do something that would break you down into pieces.

"We have your future planned for you. That's why we invite you tonight."

Your father said, pressing his lips into a thin line, realising that his plan was going down the drains since you came with Severus. You shook your head, surprised to know that they had your future planned for you, when they acted like they did not care about you at all.

"We want you to marry Charles."

Your eyes widen, and everything was making sense now. They organised a party for you, and they wanted you to come, so they could introduce you to your future husband. They knew they were losing you, and they wanted you under their control, planning a wedding for you with a man who had a good relationship with them.

"You had known Charles since you were five, Y/N. I think it's best for you to settle down with a prestigious man like Charles, instead of wasting your time with him."

Your mother added, a smirk was dancing on her lips as she saw Severus' face dropped at the mention of your wedding. You looked at them in disbelief, no words could be utter from your mouth. You just revealed that you finally found your soulmate, and all they did was telling you that you had to marry your childhood best friend. 

"Did you know about this?"

Severus pulled his arm from you, and your heart almost broke at the sound of his voice, betrayed and defeated, like you had never heard him before. He already felt so out of place the second he stepped into the mansion, and now when he knew what your parents had planned for you, he was dejected.

"No, Severus. I didn't know anything about this."

You quickly took his hand in yours, afraid if he was thinking that you were betraying his trust. You never thought this would happen tonight. You wanted nothing more but to introduce Severus to your parents, and perhaps make peace with them, but things took different turns that night.

"I will not marry him! I love Severus."

You stood on your ground, not wanting to obey your parents anymore since they never cared about your feelings. They just wanted you to listen to them, ignoring your needs and your wants, destroying your life in the process without them even realising it.

"Love? Y/N, what do you know about love?"

She scoffed, crossing her arms against her chest. If she thought you were still her young obedient daughter, she was wrong. You knew your worth and you were not going to let her lead your life anymore.

"More than you do, mother."

Your words caused her to look at your father, and he sent you a disapproval look, as if you were his little daughter who could be scolded and yelled at, and would do nothing about it.

"You have changed, Y/N. Is it because of this man?" 

His voice was calm, but you knew him long enough to recognise rage which was lying underneath it. 

"Charles is a good man from a good family. You know him long enough to know that my words are true. I will never let my daughter marry a man who is not good enough for her."

He continued, and you could feel Severus tensed next to you. Charles was nice to you, but he was a friend, and you also knew how he was. Whoever married him would be locked in his home forever, as his lady, and you did not want to live a life like that. Wealth and power were not enough for you. It was not what you wanted.  

"I also know Charles long enough to know that he is not the one for me."

You argued, finding courage within yourself. You had been through a lot to find Severus, and you were not going to let them take you away from him. 

"I will not let you embarrass our family, Y/N." 

Your mother threatened, holding back her anger as she had to mask it in front of her guests. It was amusing to see how she could act as if she was the best mother in the whole world in front of others, but only you knew the devil resided inside of her every time she lashed out on you. 

"Really? I thought you are always embarrassed of me."

The words rolled out of your tongue, and you could see anger burning in her eyes. No matter how bold you were, you could still remember the fear you had when you were a child, every single time she lost her temper.

Severus could sense your fear and he squeezed your hand, stepping in front of you to shield you from your parents' eyes. He knew he was not a part of the family, but you were his, and he was not allowing them to treat you like dirt when you were his precious gem.

"If you cannot treat Y/N the way she should be treated, then I'll be more than willing to love her with all of my heart. She will not step a foot in your home anymore."

Severus stated sternly, holding your hand as you nodded at him, ready to leave the party. As you walked out of the mansion with your soulmate, you just wanted nothing more but to apparate back to Hogwarts and cuddle with him to end your bad night but that did not happen.

You never knew so many things would be unfolded that night when your mother called out your name, rushing out of the door, your father was hot on her tail. You knew she was angry, but you had never seen her so furious before that you could feel your blood ran cold.

"Y/N, you have to marry him. Our family's name would be tainted if the wedding does not happen."

She grabbed your wrist but Severus was quick enough to push her away from you, pulling you close against his chest protectively. He knew she had hurt you once, and he was not going to let it happen again, not on his watch.

"Our family? You never treated me like I am your daughter." 

You fought, discarding your fear as you wanted to tell her about how you really felt. But her next words sent tears flooded in the corner of your eyes, as your heart dropped to your stomach.

"Because you are not my daughter!"

You opened your mouth to say something, but nothing came out as you never thought it was true. She hated you, and she treated you like a stranger because you were not her daughter. 

"What are you talking about?"

It came out as a whisper, as suddenly you felt weak in Severus' arms. His heart shattered at the sound of your despair, and he looked at your mother, who had a smug smile on her face.

"The only reason we took you in was because of your parents. If we didn't owe them a favour, we wouldn't even want you."

She revealed, piercing your heart as you realised they never wanted you at the first place. Your father shook his head, not expecting the truth to come out that night, and surely not in the way his wife was doing.

"She doesn't need to know."

Your father tried to stop your mother, but you knew her since you were a child, and you also knew how outrageous she could be when she was angry.

"She needs to know. You were unlucky since you were a baby, Y/N. Your parents died because of you. They were my husband's friends, and they helped us a lot, so when they died, we have to take care of you."

Your heart felt like it was going to explode as now you knew why they did not like you, especially your mother. There would be times when your father would come to tuck you in bed when you were a child, you were too young, but you could remember it as you had so little happy memories with them.

But your mother never did anything out of love. She was forced to care for you. And now the truth came to the light, she had nothing to hide anymore.

"We thought adopting you was the best choice because my wife could not conceive a child, and I thought I had to protect you since your parents were gone."

You could not hold back your tears as you swallowed your father's words. You felt Severus' comforting hand on your back, but tears rolled down upon your cheeks, as you could not believe everything you heard.

"But why didn't you protect me?"

You questioned, referring to those times when he let your mother screamed at you, and even hurt you physically. Your father might be kind to you when you were a child, but it was slowly changing, and you had more memories of him disliking you rather than loving you. They never loved you.

"Because then we realised that you were just a burden, Y/N."

Your mother interrupted, glaring daggers at you.

"You don't deserve to be happy."

She spat, breaking your heart into two. You loved them, no matter how bad they treated you, there was still a space in your heart for them. But now you did not know if it was fair for you to love them when they made it clear that you were just a burden in their lives.

"And you don't deserve to be a parent." 

Severus intervened, returning your mother's glare with his own. He knew how painful it was to have a bad childhood, but he could not imagine how awful you must felt at the moment. Severus despised the tears in your eyes, and he just wanted to replace your frown with a smile.

"You have no right to talk to me that way."

"I have every right to protect my soulmate, the one I love."

He was getting defensive, as he wrapped an arm around your shoulder. You dropped your gaze on the ground, unable to form any word as everything was too much for you to handle. It was shocking, and it was agonising to finally learn the truth about your parents.

"How long can you protect her, Snape?"

"As long as I am alive, no one could lay a finger on her."

You looked up at Severus, who was determined to protect you no matter what your parents said. He loved you, and he would sacrifice his life to protect you if he had to.

"Y/N will marry Charles."

Your mother was not stepping out of the argument, as she was still sure that you would obey her words, once you realised that you had been doing it since you were a young girl.

"No one can take her away from me."

Severus said, glancing at you before you gave him a nod, wanting to leave as soon as possible. You did not want to stay any longer as you were not welcomed there. You swore you would not go back to their home again. It was hell for you.

Your parents watched as you walked away with Severus, tears dried on your face. But your steps came to a halt when your mother's voice got into your ears, wanting to prove her point that you would never be happy on your own. She was used to controlling your life, and she wanted it continue that way.

"One day you will come back to us, Y/N. You can never be happy with him."

There was a lump in your throat, but when Severus intertwined his fingers with yours, you continued to walk, smiling sadly at him. Everything was ruined that night, and you would never know what would happen in the future. There was a myriad of unexpected things happening to you, and you just wanted to live happily with Severus.

Your father let out a sigh and walked back into his home, realising the guests must be wondering about where he was. He glanced at his wife who was still enraged, and she nodded with a smile, promising herself that she would make sure you understand that their plan was the best for you, instead of spending your life with Severus. Whispering under her breath, she was ready to do whatever it takes.

"No one can take her away from you? We shall see, Snape."