(A/N): I've been scrambling for an idea for HP fanfiction and this is the untold story of Snape and Lily's relationship. This is only the first chapter—I'm not too sure how far it will go, but it's a start.
Hopefully this is remotely good :/
The first time he saw her, he knew.
As he stumbled away from Spinner's End, scrambling for a way to pass the hours, he ducked behind swathes of green as two girls came bounding down the path, one after the other.
The first was plucky, thin like a stick and with a downturned mouth. Her eyes were sharp and birdlike, and they pecked at everything in sight. Her brown hair was neatly curled and it bounced as she ran, but its neatness seemed almost artificial. She came to a stop at the foot of the path, crossing her arms and pouted at the girl behind her.
He almost fell backwards at the sight of the second girl, who took careful, measured steps, almost as if she was afraid of tripping over her own feet. Her hair was long, thick, and the color of baked clay, and she was graceful in the way she walked—graceful in a way that no human could ever mimic.
Of course, she was human—but with a gift.
He saw it at once as she swept her gaze around the path and speckles of dew appeared on the nearest blades of grass. He saw it as the path underneath her seemed to take on an unnatural greenish hue. He saw it as she reached the other girl, who was clearly her sister, and a small sapling began leeching its way out of the sidewalk crack to wrap around her leg.
A witch.
He inched closer to hear their conversation. He knew he was eavesdropping, but this one moment seemed far more interesting than the hours at Spinner's with those who could never understand him, than covering his ears and fighting the echoes of his parents' furious shouts.
"…all you do, isn't it? You think it's funny?"
He crept silently through the bushes as he heard the other girl, who was clearly a Muggle, barking at her sister. "…Well, it isn't. You're a freak, and you can't do anything right, and it's no wonder that no one wants you…"
"Mum and Dad want me," the red-haired girl whispered, playing with the hem of her skirt.
"…sure, for now…only a matter of time…"
"Stop," she said softly, her voice shaking. "Can't…help it…"
"Leaving… by yourself," the girl said defiantly before turning to go, her eyes burning with scorn.
She turned and raced back up the bath, her dress bunching up at her knees.
Left all alone, the second girl sat on the path, her fingers reaching for the sapling in the sidewalk crack. It curled around her finger as tiny leaves sprouted from its spindly stem. A lone tear escaped from her sea-glass colored eyes and fell onto the path, leaving a dark imprint on the sidewalk cement.
He couldn't take it anymore. Slowly, he rose and walked over to her. He sat down beside her and tapped her on the shoulder.
She gasped and started to move away. "Who are you?"
He shrugged. "A friend."
He tapped three fingers on a section of the sidewalk, which began to shift and cave in like clay. A hole appeared in the center of the cement, and a thick stalk grew out of it. A white flower bloomed in a matter of seconds, unfurling its petals. He gently plucked it out of the ground and unsuccessfully attempted to wedge it into the girl's hair.
She looked at him gravely, her eyes serious. "So you can do it too?"
A ghost of a smile flickered on his face. "Yeah. I can. I'm pretty sure there are loads of us who can do it. Not just kids, but adults, too. My mum can."
She smiled. "Okay." Her eyes wandered to his disheveled clothes and ash-tinged hair. "What's your name?"
"Severus. Yours?"
"Lily." As she said it, he couldn't help but notice the way her face seemed to glow when she smiled and the gentle curve of her hair as it trickled down and over her shoulders. Spinner's End was full of smoke and dirt, a town of no one and nothing but rubble, and this was the first time he'd seen someone he could call… pretty.
He pointed at the retreating path. "Your sister?"
Lily nodded. "Yeah. Petunia. She… she can't do it. My parents can't, either. I don't think she likes me."
He shrugged. "Maybe she just doesn't understand you."
"I guess. I just…" She clasped her hands together, as if she were afraid of them. "I'm scared sometimes, of the things that happen when I'm around. I don't know how to control it."
On an impulse, before he could stop himself, he grabbed her hand, feeling it like a lit match burning under his. "You know what my mum said?" She watched him intently, her eyes wide. "She said that we'll learn how to use our magic. There's a school—a school that will teach us. So you'll be fine, Lily." He liked the way her name sounded on his tongue, and the way he could say it, like she was his friend.
"Okay." She looked back up at the path where her sister had ran back moments ago. "I have to go. But… will you come here again?"
"If you will. I can tell you more about magic—about, you know, all of the stuff we can do."
"I'd like that." She turned and hurried away, her hair flying like a cape behind her. "Bye, Severus!"
He watched her disappear into the distance, still smiling. "Bye, Lily!"
...
His house, tucked into a barely-there corner, slowly came into view. He walked down the same ruddy old path past the faded brick houses, the windows dark and sunken as if they were collapsing in on themselves. They probably were; it was impossible to tell which houses were inhabited and which ones weren't these days.
Severus detested Spinner's End. It was one of the reasons he had been so excited when his mother had told him of the school—the one she called Hogwarts. "All wizards go there," she'd whispered when they'd crouched in the attic, hiding from one of his father's drunken rages. "You'll get a letter when you come of age, Severus, and then you'll never have to hide here again. You'll be free."
"What about you?" He'd asked her then, his fingers trembling at the sound of glass breaking on the floor below. "Will you be free?"
"I'll manage," she'd replied, weaving her fingers into his delicately.
But from then on, this school had been all he'd thought about.
Until Lily now, of course. Severus couldn't wait to tell his mother that he'd found another wizard—a witch, he supposed—nearby that he could talk to. A friend, no less.
He bounded up the three cement steps on his porch, dodging the thick vines that strangled the stairs and sharp thorns jutting out from them. His father didn't much care about maintaining the house. He spent most of the money on alcohol.
Severus gave the door three sharp knocks—that was his signal to his mother that he was home. His fingers trailed down the glass windows on either side of the door, hazed over with smoke and mist. He quickly straightened his posture at the sound of footsteps. He already knew what he would say to his mother. Mum! You'll never believe it, I went out today and I met this girl…
But the hand that yanked the door open wasn't his mother's. It was grimy and covered in soot, dirt caked underneath the fingernails. It was the hand of someone who didn't care much about maintaining the house—who spent most of the money on alcohol.
His father.
"Get inside," he said coarsely, pulling Severus inside the house. The boy looked around for any sight of his mother, but saw none.
"Where's Mum?" Severus asked bravely, trying to keep his palms from sweating.
"None of your concern," growled Tobias Snape. "Where've you been? You're a lad now. Should be finding a job—supporting the family, not lazing around. I'm tired of doing everything I can to—"
"Leave him alone, Tobias." Severus' heart lifted at the sight of his mother storming in from the living room, her hands on her hips. "He's done nothing wrong."
"And who are you to decide that?" Severus inched towards a corner of the room as his father's voice only grew louder.
"I'm his mother. And if you were better to him, maybe he'd grow to call you his father."
"That's enough, Eileen!" Severus' father roared. He reached for the vase on the mantle.
By this time, Severus had acknowledged that the fight was no longer about him. He ran out of the room and into his, tears burning behind his eyes. He was terrified of his father—this much he knew. But his mother was different. More often than not, she stood up for him. Someday, in the future, he vowed to take his mother's name. Eileen Prince. There would come a time when he would be known for her and not for him.
But her time with Tobias Snape had changed her. Severus saw it when he looked into her eyes. Once, he had seen a lifetime waiting there, glowing dimly but with all the light in the world. Now, they held not light but a graying darkness, as if the fire within her had been wiped away with an eraser, like it was never there. His mother rarely sat with him like she had in the past, or sang softly to him as sleep beckoned. She usually sat in the foyer when Tobias wasn't home, hugging her knees to her chest and watching shadows dance on the walls. She rarely spoke to her son, if at all.
That night, Severus knew that there was nothing his parents could do for him. He was on his own, as he had been for the last two years. Taking shaky breaths, he lifted his covers up and over him.
Only when he was completely and absolutely sure that he would be unheard did he cry himself to sleep.
Thank you for reading! Constructive criticism is appreciated.
Have a fabulous day. xD