The Truth (Lily)

It had been four days since Lily's run-in with the Snape boy, and she was sitting on her bed reading her favorite tale in her copy of The Knight's of the Round Table. It was the one when Merlin and Morgana have a wizard's duel. Lily sighed. She just couldn't get his words out of her head.

"You're a witch."

Was she, though? Petunia had told her that it was rubbish, but the poor girl was having a hard time believing her older sister this once. The occurrences had been going on her entire life. When Lily had been quite small, she'd accidentally knocked over a vase while running through the house. Dismayed, little Lily had stomped her foot and begun to cry. She hadn't wanted her parents to get mad at her. As if responding to her dejection, the vase had morphed back together and appeared back on the end table where it belonged. Lily had been so surprised she'd stopped crying.

Another time Petunia had thrown a fit because the petunia bulbs their mother had brought home were white and not pink. Lily couldn't stand seeing her sister unhappy, so she'd decided to make them change color. When the plants had popped up the following spring with pink petals unfurling, Petunia had been ecstatic. Their mother had guessed that the bulbs must have been labeled incorrectly, and she patted her youngest daughter on the head, going along with Lily's claims that she'd been the one who'd changed their colors with a small, unbelieving smile. Lily knew better, though. It had been her.

Just the day before, in fact, Lily had made something unusual happen. It had been the first day of her last year in primary school. She'd been in the schoolyard reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz when the school bully and his goons had snatched it from her hands and demanded her milk money. In a few seconds flat the bullies were all standing on top of the school roof. Lily had picked her book up off the ground, brushed off the dirt, and hurriedly made her way into the building by herself.

Lily missed Petunia. The older Evans girl was entering her second year of secondary school and Lily wouldn't be able to see her until Christmas. It had been so dreadfully lonely the past year, with only her books to keep her company. Petunia was her best friend. With her gone, Lily didn't only lose her sister, but her confidant, her playmate, and her hero. Lily was alone in primary school, and she had to fight her own battles against bullies. Not that she'd ever duck out of a fight, but it had been nice to know that Petunia was around to support her. Everyone needed someone that they could count on forever and ever. She sighed; it was still only the beginning of term, what was she going to do?

Finally, Lily decided that her mind was just too busy to delve into Camelot just then.

"I'm going to the park, Mum," Lily called over her shoulder as she pushed through the screen door. It was a partly cloudy day in very early September and a warm breeze rustled through Lily's long red hair. As she strolled through her neighborhood toward the park, Lily began to secretly hope that she'd meet the Snape boy there. Her imagination ran a little wild as she planned out the conversations about magic that they would have in her head. Petunia might scoff, but Lily wasn't so sure. The young girl was determined to get to the bottom of this, and if it turned out to be true, well, what Petunia didn't know wouldn't really hurt her, right?

Unfortunately, Lily arrived at the playground only to find it vacant. With a sigh, she sat down at her favorite swing and began to pump her legs back and forth. It wasn't long before Lily could see her feet lifting high over the crowns of the trees. Her emerald green eyes sparkled with laughter as she launched herself up into the sky. The little girl knew that she was really falling, but for a moment there it felt as if she could fly and keep flying anywhere.

She landed far too lightly on the ground, giggling.

"Do you believe me now?" a dull voice sounded from behind her. Lily turned to see the Snape boy hunched over with his hands stuck deep in the pockets of his ridiculously long coat.

"It is magic then," Lily inquired quietly, "this stuff I can do?"

"Yeah."

Lily bit her lip. "I'm sorry about the other day. It-I just took it as a bit of a surprise, that's all. I'm Lily, by the way, Lily Evans." She put out a hand for him to take.

"Severus Snape," he told her, shaking it.

"That's a nice name. Do all witches and wizards have interesting names like that?" she asked, honestly curious.

Severus shrugged. "It's just some people, I think. My dad's a muggle anyway."

"You called Tuney that word too. What does it mean?"

"It's the term we use for non-magical members of society."

"Oh." Lily was a little worried because of the word "we". She managed to swallow her discomfort, however, and continued shyly, "I don't know anything about witches and wizards, though. I mean the ones in real life anyway."

"That's because you're muggleborn. You'll learn, though. I can teach you if you like," he offered quickly. A dull flush began to grow in his cheeks and he scuffed the ground with the toe of his shoe.

"Oh, would you?" Lily asked, heartfelt gratefulness shining in her big green eyes.

"Of course," Severus ascertained, straightening up importantly. "The first thing you ought to know about is Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts?" Lily hoped that this was not some sort of highly contagious, specialized disease.

Severus nodded. "It's a school for people with magic, like us. It's the best in the world. I think it's somewhere in Scotland, but of course nobody knows for sure. My mum went there, and we'll both be getting letters of acceptance next summer. That is, the summer after you turn eleven. You will be eleven this time next year, correct?"

"Yes, I will. My birthday is in January."

And that was the start of that.

In the weeks that followed, Severus informed her all about Diagon Alley.

"It's through this pub in Muggle-London and bam, you're there. I've never gone but it's supposed to be really splendid. You can buy all sorts of magical merchandise there. A fellow named Ollivander has a shop on Diagon Alley. He sells wands and my mum reckons that they're some of the best in the world. Oh and then there's Gringotts," he continued excitedly, "it's one of the safest banks in the wizarding world since it is run by goblins and all."

"Goblins?"

"Right; they put up so many spells and enchantments that you'd have to be out of your mind before you'd even attempt to steal something. Nearly all the wizarding gold in Britain and then some are stored there, though. Goblins are distinctly fond of treasure."

"I'm going to the park, Mum," Lily shouted up the stairs.

"Make sure to wear a coat, alright dear? It's chilly out today."

The park was filling up with red and gold leaves that were falling off the surrounding trees. There was rain forecast for later that week, Lily's father had said, but that afternoon everything was still cool and crisp. The perfect weather for leaf piles.

"You do what?" Severus asked incredulously.

"You put as many leaves as you can find into a pile and then you jump into them." She put her small hand to her chin and narrowed her eyes critically at the foliage on the ground. "Although, it would be easier with a rake, but we'll just have to make do, I guess."

Severus had a highly skeptical expression on his face as he helped Lily scoop up leaves and dump them into a pile.

"Ready?" Lily asked after they'd made a mountain of leaves.

"Ummm."

She grabbed his arm. "On three, okay? One, two-"

"I don't know about this Lily-"

"-three!"

"See?" Lily told him, popping her head out of the crinkly pile. "Wasn't that fun?"

Severus took a long look at the joy on her face and the yellow leaves contrasting against her auburn hair.

"Yeah," he admitted softly, not taking his eyes away from her pretty face, "I guess it kind of was."

"Let's do it again!"

"Oh. Umm." But he got up and reluctantly started helping her pile up the leaves again anyway.

Severus was even starting to enjoy himself when Lily's eyes began sparkling mischievously.

"What is it?" he asked a little apprehensively.

"I've just had the most fantastic idea," she said excitedly.

"Oh?"

"Let's move the pile over to the end of the slide."

"Oh…" Severus wasn't sure whether he liked where this was going.

"Then we can run down and jump in. Come on!"

"I think that might be a little dangerous…"

Lily laughed. "I'll go first then." She gathered up an armful of leaves. "Well, are you going help me or what?"

Severus sighed through his rather large nose then bent down to pick up some leaves.

"This is going to be great." Lily had climbed up the ladder and now was standing at the top of the slide.

"I think you'd better tell me where to find your mother if you break something," Severus told her.

Lily rolled her emerald eyes. "You sound just like Tuney. Don't you see how the pile is bigger this time than it was before? That's because I'll be running faster and jumping higher so I'll need more leaves as cushions. I won't break anything." Then she sprinted down the length of the slide, her little feet banging against the metal sheet. With a giant leap, she plunged into the pile of leaves.

Severus rushed over to her.

"Lily!" concern colored his voice. "Are you okay?"

The girl struggled to get out of the massive accumulation of leaves.

"That was awesome. Severus you have got to try that!"

"I'm sorry I haven't come to the park in a while. The weather's been ghastly and my mum wouldn't let me go outside," Lily apologized as the two of them played on the teeter-totter.

"That's alright," Severus answered.

"It's supposed to be clear for a while now, though. I asked my dad to check the telly. Oh I was wondering, do witches and wizards have the same stuff as we do if they have magic? You know, with light bulbs and the telly and refrigerators and all that."

Severus shook his head. "We have spells to do all that stuff for us already."

"Really? That must be so weird! How did your mum deal with all of the technology when she fell in love with your dad?"

Severus stiffened and turned, if possible, even paler.

"I don't rightly know," he answered her lowly.

Lily could feel her friend's discomfort, so she tactfully changed the subject.

"What're you doing for Halloween?"

"Nothing." Severus pushed his greasy black hair out of his eyes.

Lily put her feet out to stop the see-saw.

"Are you serious? You're not going trick-or-treating?" she said in disbelief.

Severus shrugged.

"I thought Halloween was a magical holiday." She let the see-saw keep tottering. "Don't witches and wizards celebrate it?"

"We do," Severus confirmed. "I just don't."

"Do you need a costume? I mean, I'm just going to be using an old princess one of Petunia's, but I'm sure there's something lying about. My dad's a Halloween nut."

Severus shrugged.

"It's free candy!"

He shrugged again. "It's not as fun as our sort of candy."

"What do you mean?"

"Ours is different. And there are some, chocolate frogs they call them, that are spelled to hop about just like real frogs."

"What? That's so cool!" Her green eyes were wide with excitement.

"Yeah, so muggle candy isn't really-"

Lily hopped off the teeter-totter, making him thud to the ground with an "oof". She put her tiny fists on her hips.

"All candy is good candy, Severus."

And so at 2:37 PM on October 31st, Severus Snape found himself at the Evans' residence, knocking on the door.

"Hi Severus, come on in," Lily greeted.

In the living room, there was a big cardboard box full of props, masks, and costumes.

"I'm sure we'll find something in here," Lily assured her friend. "What about a zombie?"

"Zombies aren't real. Inferi are an all together different sort of undead."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Okay, no zombies. I'm going to bypass the whole wizard thing altogether. What about a pirate?"

Severus gave her a look. Lily laughed.

"Just try it on and see if you like it." She directed him to the bathroom.

He came out a few minutes later. "The parrot is unnecessary."

Lily giggled. "Alright then, no parrot. Dad's getting the pumpkins ready for carving outside, let's go."

Severus soon found that carving rotund, orange gourds was, on the whole, quite difficult. Lily, however, with years of practice under her belt, was actually rather good at the business.

"See?" She said, showing Severus her jack-o-lantern. "It's smiling."

The boy glared down at the scarred face of his squash. Lily looked at his progress.

"It's good."

He snorted. "Sure."

"No really, it is."

Severus sunk his knife into its face.

"I'm going to go change," Lily informed him. "I'll be back in a bit."

The poor boy gave up on his pumpkin pretty quickly after that. He gave the misshapen jack-o-lantern to Mr. Evans to light a candle inside and walked back up the steps and into the house.

"Have a seat," Mrs. Evans told him. "It's Severus, right? The boy Lily plays with at the park? It's so nice to finally meet you."

Severus mumbled something that sounded sort of like, "You too."

At that moment, Lily descended down the stairs in a frilly, sparkly pink dress with puffy sleeves and a cone-shaped hat with streamers attached to the top. Severus drew a sudden intake of breath.

"You look like a princess," he told her.

"That's the point, silly," Lily laughed as she sat down at the dinner table.

"No, really. You…" He halted his words.

"Okay, this is the plan," the little princess announced. "We swing around the block, hitting all the houses on one side of the street. Then we reverse coming back to the house on the other side of the street. Unless you want to do something different?"

"That's fine with me," he answered.

"This is going to be great. You'll see, Sev. Trick-or-treating is fun."

The days got shorter and the sleet began pouring down. Lily invited Severus over to play checkers and he began to tell her all about wizarding board games.

"…and the pieces really move by themselves in Wizard's Chess?" She asked in awe.

He nodded affirmatively. "You have to order them to whatever square they need to go to."

"Wow."

Lily never got tired of hearing about the wizarding world. It took her a while to wrap her head around some of the things he told her. Magic seemed so spectacular. One day, she ever so shyly showed him her favorite story about Merlin and Morgana.

"Merlin and Morgana are real historical figures, you know."

Her jaw dropped. "No way."

"Yep, and they went to Hogwarts too."

"That's so cool!"

"They were a part of the greatest of the four houses, Slytherin."

Snow began to fall in earnest just before Christmas, so Petunia came home a few days late. But unfortunately for Lily, her big sister seemed to be preoccupied with older, more mature topics than playing with her.

"Hey Tuney! Do you want to build a snowman?" Lily asked her sister hopefully one day during Christmas break.

"Shh Lily; can't you see I'm on the phone? Sorry; it was just my stupid little sister."

Lily stiffened, feeling as if an icicle had just shattered against her chest.

"Oh. Um, okay." She left the living room and walked out the front door.

Severus wasn't around to play with her either, so Lily made a snowman all by herself.

"Maybe I could use magic to make you come to life," Lily told him as she pushed in his carrot nose. "You could be friends with Frosty." She sighed sadly. "But I don't know how."

The little girl sat beside her snowman to think.

"You would be a good friend," she told him. "We could go sledding and have snowball fights. Well, I guess you wouldn't need a sled. It would be fun, though."

Lily raised her hand and the snow on the ground swirled up in little crystals and formed a beautiful white flower. It hung in the air for a moment, then dissipated.

A couple days after New Year's, Petunia was back at secondary school. Lily wandered over to the park in the afternoons, but Severus hadn't shown up in several days. But after a week of that, she found him there on the swings.

"Severus!" she cried happily. "Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you." She got a little closer. "Severus? Oh my god are you alright?"

Her friend was sporting a shiny purple bruise around his eye and a split lip to go along with it.

"What happened?" Lily gasped, concerned.

Severus pulled his huge coat tighter around his shoulders. "Nothing. It was worse earlier anyway."

Lily bit her lip. "I've got a first aid kit at home. Come on, we'll fix you up in no time. Put some snow on your eye for now."

"I'm fine, Lily," he pressed.

"No," she huffed, "actually you're not."

Lily's mum was at her sewing club and her dad was still at work, so Lily patched him up as best she could on her own.

"There," Lily said, handing him a hot coco. "That should keep you from catching a chill from the ice pack. Make sure not to wash off the salve on your lip, mind you."

Severus just stared deeply into his cup.

"What, do you not like mini-marshmallows?"

He didn't answer.

"So what really happened?" she induced gently.

"I was stupid," he muttered. "My parents were fighting and I got in the way."

The girl tucked some of her red hair behind her ear and bit her lip. She couldn't even remember the last time her parents had fought, and she was unable to imagine either one of them hurting each other, let alone their children.

"I got some more Camelot books for Christmas. You know, the ones about Merlin and Morgana. Would you like to borrow them?"

Severus almost smiled.

Lily lay on the swing on her stomach, pretending to fly like superman. Her red hair was so long that it nearly swept against the ground. Severus was watching her from the other swing, something like wonder brightening his coal-black eyes.

"I've been meaning to ask you," Lily started, still pretending to soar above the clouds. "Do wizards really use brooms to fly or is that just a myth? You've never mentioned it."

"Oh yes," Severus scoffed," people fly on them. But they're really of no use, seeing as there are faster methods of transportation."

"Oh really? What are those?"

"Well for one thing, there's floo powder. It basically turns your fireplace into a portal."

"Just basically." Lily grinned.

"Yes. And then there's apparition," he continued. "I'm not sure entirely how it's done quite yet because there aren't any spell words, but it manages to send you over large distances through sheer magical willpower."

"Wow. How large of a distance is a large distance?"

"We could probably get to Paris instantaneously."

The girl's eyebrows shot up, impressed. She rolled over onto her back and then assumed a sitting position and started swinging in the opposite direction.

"Would you take me to Paris, Sev?" she joked.

"I'd take you anywhere."

Lily laughed. The boy's cheeks began to flush a little bit. He cleared his throat.

"Anyway, learning to ride a broom is about the same as learning to ride a bike. People do it because it's a tradition, not because it'll actually get you places quickly. There are even sports on broomsticks, but they're all a waste of time."

Lily was looking at him strangely. "Don't tell me you don't know how to ride a bike."

Severus glanced at her speculating expression, alarmed.

"I think I'm going to be staying in this swing for the next few hours," he said.

Lily's sparkling laughter spiraled up towards the sun.

"Tuney's coming home for Easter Holidays tomorrow!" Lily sang as she skipped around the house. The little girl was trying to make their home as clean and tidy as she knew her sister liked it.

"Lily dear, could you be a little quieter please?" her mother requested.

"Tuney's coming home for Easter Holidays tomorrow," the youngster whisper-sang.

Lily tossed and turned in bed that night. She was so excited. It seemed as though she hadn't seen Petunia in forever. Then she had a thought. Should she tell her sister about magic? She'd never kept a secret from Petunia before. There was no reason that she should start now. But Tuney didn't believe in magic… No, Lily resolved, she was going to tell her.

"Tuney!" Lily squealed as she ran to give her a hug. Her big sister indulged her for a moment before shaking her off, laughing.

"Hi Lily."

The little red-headed girl gazed up at her with complete adoration in her emerald green eyes.

The week raced by. The girls played board games and Lily laughed at all of Petunia's pathetic jokes. Petunia baked chocolate-chip cookies from scratch and Lily helped her by stirring and stealing cookie dough. One evening they even stayed up a whole half hour passed Lily's bedtime watching West Side Story. Tuney cried at the end, as always.

Everything was as it should be. And, by the time that Lily remembered she was going to tell Petunia about magic, her big sister was already gone.

"There must be a potion for everything!" Lily exclaimed.

"Nearly," Severus said. "There aren't cures for things like werewolf and vampire bites, though."

"Werewolves and vampires?"

"Oh yes, they're very much real live creatures. Their bites can cause death or a fate even worse. Sometimes they even go for muggles."

Lily laughed hesitantly. "You're just trying to scare me. It won't work."

"Sometimes those monsters even go for infants, causing the babies to grow up with their condition for their entire lives."

"That's awful!"

"I know. That's why nobody's ever found a cure. Nobody can get through to those monsters."

"But aren't werewolves human for some of the time?" Lily wanted to know.

"Yeah," Severus admitted. "But some of them are muggles who don't realize what they are. And telling them would violate the Statute of Secrecy."

"What's that?"

"It's wizarding law," said Severus seriously. "It was instated years ago for our safety. Muggles could mess up everything we've ever worked for."

"How?"

"There're more of them," Severus said simply. He didn't add any other opinions about muggles.

Lily frowned, but she didn't voice any thought to that.

Lily's primary school made a big deal of their oldest students' graduation. The little red-haired girl was as excited as everyone else about it. Soon she'd be going to Hogwarts with Severus, after all. Her parents took pictures along with all of the other kids' parents, but nobody else particularly noticed Lily in the throng of pre-pubescent pupils. Although she had near-perfect marks, her teachers barely remembered her. The only friend she'd had there had been Petunia, and now Petunia was gone. Dually noted, Lily Evans did not tend to like school very much.

The best thing about this time of year was that Petunia came home, and this time it was for months on end. It was now that Lily excitedly reiterated everything she knew about magic to her dearly loved sister.

"…and there are these chocolate frog candies and Severus says that they hop around and everything!"

Petunia only laughed derisively.

"Really Lily, you're so gullible. He's lying. There's no such thing as Hogwarts or magic, be sensible."

"But what about all this stuff I can do?"

"Well it's not magic, that's for sure. Now go to sleep, it's getting late."

Feeling horribly misled and disappointed, Lily retreated to her room.

It didn't stop her from going to the park to meet Severus the following morning, however. The early June day was excruciatingly hot and dry. So, the kids sought out the small, shaded woodsy area between the park and the dribbling tributary to the river by Spinner's End. It was so hot, in fact, that Severus had taken off his enormous coat, revealing an odd, smock-like shirt and too-short jeans beneath it. They sat facing each other, talking of magic.

"…and the Ministry can punish you if you do magic outside of school," he told her, "You get letters."

"But I have done magic outside of school," Lily cried, alarmed.

"We're all right," he assured her. "We haven't got wands yet. But once you're eleven," the young boy nodded importantly, "and they start training you, then you've got to go careful."

There was a little silence. Lily picked up a twig and started twirling it around, pretending it was a wand with sparks trailing out the tip. Then she dropped the twig, leaned in toward Severus and said, "It is real, isn't it? It's not a joke? Petunia says you're lying to me. Petunia says there isn't a Hogwarts." She gazed at him imploringly with her beautiful green eyes. "It is real, isn't it?"

"It's real for us," said Severus. "Not for her. But we'll get the letter, you and me."

"Really?" whispered Lily.

"Definitely," said Severus, brimming with confidence in their destinies.

"And will it really come by owl?" Lily whispered.

"Normally," Severus answered. "But you're muggle-born, so someone from the school will have to come and explain it to your parents."

Lily broke eye contact and swallowed, then voiced her worry aloud. "Does it make a difference, being muggle-born?"

Severus hesitated. His black eyes, eager in the greenish gloom of the shade, moved over the pale face, the dark red hair.

"No," he said quietly. "It doesn't make any difference."

Lily let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding in.

"Good."

"You've got loads of magic," said Severus brightly. "I saw that. All that time I was watching you…"

His voice trailed away; she was not listening, but had stretched out on the leafy ground and was looking at the light that filtered down through the canopy overhead. He watched her greedily.

"How are things at your house?" Lily asked.

A little crease appeared between his eyes.

"Fine," he said shortly.

The small girl sat up on her elbows.

"They're not arguing anymore?"

"Oh yes, they're arguing," said Severus. He picked up a fistful of leaves and started shredding them apart, apparently unaware of what he was doing. "But it won't be that long and I'll be gone."

"Doesn't your dad like magic?"

"He doesn't like anything, much," came the reply.

"Severus?"

A little smile twisted on his mouth as she said his name.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me about the dementors again."

"What d'you want to know about them for?"

"If I use magic outside of school-"

"They wouldn't give you to the dementors for that! Dementors are for people who do really bad stuff. They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban. You're not going to end up in Azkaban, you're too-"

He turned red and shredded more leaves. Just then, a small rustling noise from behind a nearby tree gave Petunia's hiding place away. She'd been listening in, balanced on one of the roots, and had lost her footing.

"Tuney!" exclaimed Lily, surprise and welcome in her voice.

Her friend's reaction was opposite.

"Who's spying now?" Severus shouted, jumping to his feet. "What d'you want?"

Petunia was breathless, alarmed at being caught. But instead of being defensive, she went on the offensive. Her beady eyes roved over the Snape boy for something to comment on that would be hurtful.

"What's that you're wearing, anyway?" she said, pointing to his chest. "Your mum's blouse?"

There was a crack; a branch over Petunia's head had fallen. Lily screamed; the branch caught Petunia on the shoulder, and she staggered backwards and burst into tears.

"Tuney!"

But Petunia was running away. Lily rounded on Severus.

"Did you make that happen?"

"No." He looked both defiant and scared.

"You did!" She backed away from him. "You did! You hurt her!"

"No-no I didn't!"

Lily gave him a burning look and took off after her sister yelling, "Tuney! Tuney, are you alright?"

She eventually caught up with her sobbing sibling a block before their house.

"Tuney? Tuney are you alright? I'm so sorry."

Tears were splashing down Petunia's front and her face was red and screwed up from crying.

"I'll get ice. I'll get you ice, okay? Then you'll get better and we can watch telly, okay?"

Lily waited on her injured sister hand and foot. And by the time that their parents came home, poor Petunia had calmed down significantly. The Snape boy and magic were not mentioned in the Evans household for the next month. Lily refused to go to the park or anywhere near there, so for the next few weeks she delved back into her books. Every so often she would go out into the yard to play with her sister or help her mother garden, but in the back of her mind, Lily really missed Severus.

Then, one humid day in mid-July, there was a knock at the door of the Evans family residence. A rigid, severe looking woman in a green tweed suit and a small, tartan patterned necktie stood on their doorstep.

She pushed her square spectacles up the bridge of her nose.

"Good morning," she said in a light, Scottish-accented voice. "My name is Professor McGonagall. Might I come in?

A/N: Sorry for the Frozen reference. I couldn't resist.