These characters belong to J.K. Rowling and are not mine, no matter how much I wish they were.

I also want to note that I changed the story around quite a bit and instead of having two chapters I've just put them into 1. I think I like it, although I am prone to changing my mind quite a bit so we'll see. I've begun chapter 2 and I'm hoping I'll have it added by time I leave for Canada this Friday. If not, I'll have it up by time I get back.

Oh, and please do not hesitate to leave feedback or concerns. I haven't written in quite a long time so I'm a bit rusty and find that tips help greatly.

Enjoy.

Chapter 1

It was exactly two weeks since Snape had confronted the two girls in the park and exactly two weeks since he had made a fool of himself to the red head he had tried so desperately to please. While this may seem unfortunate, everything had worked out in Snape's favor exactly 3 days later. While he sat at the edge of the playground lazily dragging a stick through the dirt, the little red headed girl appeared at the corner and confidently walked over to him.

"Hi!" she squealed, a smile erupting on her face. "What are you doing?"

Snape blushed and tried to look her in the eyes, but had found it nearly impossible with the events from earlier in the week swimming through his brain. Instead he sat rigid, the stick limp in his fingers and his head down. It looked as if he was concentrating very hard on what he was about to say, but Instead of saying something interesting or even explaining the fact that he was merely sitting at the edge of park awaiting for her to show up so he could possibly explain himself a bit better, all he managed was "Ummm.."

The little red head smiled again and plopped down opposite him. "My name's Lily" she begin to explain. "My sister, the one who was with me a few days ago, that's Tuney. Well, Petunia really but she hates when you call her that. "She waited a few moments, expected the boy to follow suit and introduce himself but when he continued to stare at the ground and remain silent she thought maybe it was best if she left him alone for a bit.

Lily bit her lip and her brows furrowed. "Right, I'll just go then." She sounded a bit disappointed.

At the sound of crunching twigs as she got up Snape looked at her, a pleading look shown in his face.

"My name is Severus!" he almost shouted at her. "I wasn't spying on you, I just saw that you could do magic and I didn't know there were any other wizards around here and I just wanted to talk to you!" He finished the last of the sentence and a puff of air blew from his lungs.

Lily looked at him quickly, her eyes were big and bright and a rather big grin had taken up a large portion of her lower face. She sat back down and leaned forward, her face coming within inches of Snape's. "So you really are a wizard then?" she asked, an obvious excitement in her voice.

"Mmhm" his head nodded as he spoke and he tilted it back away from Lily's. "And you're a witch! I saw what you could do. You have loads of power!" he said with an air of self-reliance.

"What can you do?" she asked, inching her face closer and making up for the gap that Snape had made.

An hour later both children still sat on the edge of the park, still talking. It was only when Lily had noticed the sun setting when she jumped up and explained that she had to get home for dinner.

"I bet you have to get home too huh?" she asked as they walked side by side across the park. "Your parents are probably worried if you've been at the park all day."

Color rose to Snape's cheeks and his hand brushed his hair out of his face. "Yeh." He muttered. "I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Of course! I have loads more to ask you! Bye Severus!" and with that Lily Evans skipped off the path and toward the sidewalk.

"Bye…" said Snape, watching her until she had rounded a corner and was out of sight.

Now, exactly 1 week and 4 days after their first official meeting they both sat in a small clearing surrounded by trees and talking quietly, a river behind them sending the noise of running water towards them. Lily lay stretched out on her back and Snape looked down at her, a look of anxiety on his face.

"..so I didn't mean to do it. I mean… since we don't have our wands I can't always control what I do yet. I was just angry that she had been spying on us. I'm sorry" he finished.

Lily sat up on her elbows and looked up into Snape's thin sallow face. "You shouldn't have lied to me, but I understand. She is my sister you know, so just try and be nice to her."

Snape's face contorted into a sneer. "She hasn't been very nice to you!" he said.

"Tuney just… she just doesn't understand." Lily said, looking a bit like she was going to start to cry.

Snape blushed and looked away, unsure of what to say or do. "Don't worry, we'll be going to Hogwarts soon and you'll see! It's going to be great!" he finally said. A soft smile appeared on Lily's face and she lay back down in the soft grass.

"Oh!" she yelped jumping back up to a sitting position. "I almost forgot! My mum says you can come over for dinner if you'd like. I mean.. you don't have to do if you don't want" she stammered "but it'd be nice."

The color rose to Snape's face again and he stared off toward the river. The idea of going to a muggle house for didn't immediately sounds like a very pleasant idea, but when he looked down at Lily and his eyes darted over her red hair, her rosy cheeks, and finally settling on her bright green eyes he realized that it didn't matter as long as she was there. "Sure" he said, noticing the smile that quickly took form on her face.

Through the rest of the week Snape and Lily met when they could. For Lily this meant every other day after she had gotten home from piano practice or horseback riding lessons and after she had finished whatever family commitment it was that day. Snape on the other hand would take his usual place behind the Spirea shrub every morning and wait there until early evening, just in case Lily happened to come by unexpected. He would usually bring a book he had snuck from his mother's library and sit and read and practice, using a nearby twig as a wand. He was sure by the end of the summer he would know more spells and potions than any of the other first years, which he was quite proud of. On a day he had brought out his mother's old Defense Against The Dark Arts book along with a rather battered copy of a book called Moste Potente Potions, Lily showed up abruptly. He was skimming through the tattered potions book when he was surprised by a giggly voice.

"Hey you!" she squealed.

Snape, caught off guard, had slammed the book shut and swiped both behind his back before he was even able to look at who had uncovered him. His pallid face took a look of defiance until he peered up into Lily's laughing face. "Oh, it's you." He said.

Lily's brow furrowed. "Of course it's me! My lessons were cancelled today and mum's cleaning the house." She tilted her head and tried to peek behind Snape's back. "Whatcha got there?"

"Some of my mum's" he said pulling the books out from behind his back. "Wanna see?"

Lily's cheeps of delight brought a smirk to Snape's face and caused him to sit up a bit straighter than he normally would have. They both poured over the books, every now and then Lily would exclaim a squeal in delight or she would send out a little gasp and openly wonder why anyone would want to make such a dreadful potion. Snape not wanting to offend his only friend, merely kept his mouth shut and continued to flip the pages.

"Oy!" Lily stuck a hand to her mouth and suppressed a giggle. She pointed to a potion which was labeled Babbling Beverage causing Snape to smirk.

"That'd be a good one for that sister of yours" he said.

Lily frowned but her mouth twitched slightly, like she was stopping a smile from forming. She rolled her eyes and continued to skip through pages. Invigoration Draught and Strengthening Solution passed in front of theirs eyes, along with Draught of Living Death, Felix Felicis, and a number of very complicated looking love potions.

"Severus..." Lily began, looking up from the book.

"Yea?"

"Will we really have to learn all these?" She looked a bit worried. "I just mean, some of them seem really nasty. I couldn't imagine having to take some of these" she said.

"Well, you don't have to take them. I mean, we'll mix the potions but that's it" he sounded confident but Lily still had a worried look spread across her face.

"They look really hard. I don't even know what any of these ingredients are!"

"Don't worry" said Snape "I can help you. We'll learn a bit just from looking through my mum's books, but they'll teach us loads when we get to school" he said, sticking his nose slightly in the air and nodding confidently.

Lily smiled but set the book down and stood up and stretched. "C'mon" she said "let's go to the swings. My head hurts."

Snape frowned but decided that following Lily to the swings was a far better idea than sitting in the bushes alone. He tucked the books away in the shrubs and he and Lily walked over to the playground. They spent the rest of the afternoon swinging, playing, and just acting like kids. When it was time for Lily to leave Snape walked her to the edge of the park as usual and they said their goodbyes and they each took a different path home.

Snape had just gotten to his front door when he heard something crash inside. His heart sank and he made a small groan before pushing in the battered wooden door. He could hear his mother and father in the back of the house arguing about something and although he didn't hear exactly what, he was sure it was about him. He shook his head and walked into the kitchen which was messy and had a few broken cups on the floor. He had started picking them up when he heart his father's yells come quickly to the living room behind him. Distinctively he shot up straight just as his father exploded into the cramped living area, knocking a book off the back of the couch and sending it flying across the room.

"You!" he bellowed at Snape. "Where have you been!?"

Snape stared at his feet, hate erupting inside him. "The park, sir." He whispered.

"The park eh! Must be nice not to have to work all day and come home to this hell hole!" his dad yelled, coming quickly up to Snape and grabbing him by the collar.

A small voice came from the left of him and Snape glanced sideways at his mother who had just walked into the room. "Leave him alone Tobias, he hasn't done anything."

"Well that's the point inn't Eileen! He doesn't do a damn thing around here! Just goes off to the park and plays with his little girlfriend, don'tcha boy!" Tobias's face was now within inches of Snape's, the smell of alcohol ejecting from his mouth. "A pretty little thing like that" he said, now snarling "What she doing hanging out with rubbish like you?"

Snape was now boiling over with anger and he stared stone cold into his father's face. Tobias Snape just laughed.

"Trust me boy, she'll soon enough see you for what you are. Nothing but a poor mismatched, greasy haired, hook nosed little freak!" he spat.

Before he even realized what happened Tobias Snape had flown across the room and against the wall, his shoulder leaving a small hole the size of a tennis ball in the drywall. Eileen gasped and rounded on her son, but before she could say or do anything she was shoved out of the way by a very angry Tobias who headed straight for Snape.

"Using magic on me!" he howled "I'll teach you a thing or two boy!"

Snape tried to turn from his father but before he could he was on the floor. It felt like his head was going to explode and he could feel something warm running down his face and into his eye. He tried to get up but the immense pressure he felt on his head made him feel sick. He laid his head back and down and closed his eyes, he just wanted to sleep. The thought of Lily with her dark red hair and bright green eyes were the last thing that went through his mind before Severus Snape's head thudded to the floor and he blacked out.

A whole week had gone by when the residents of Spinner's End had all encountered a visit from a very polite red headed girl looking for someone by the name of Severus. She was almost to the end of the road when she knocked on the door of a house owned by a very bad-mannered old woman who, by the smell discharged out of the front door, must have owned a great deal of cats. It wasn't until after Lily had yelled three times that she was looking for the Snape household did the woman seem to hear her, and pointing across the street at a small unkempt house, told her to bugger off.

Unsure of her plans of just walking straight up to the door, she decided to simply walk by to watch for any signs of life inside. It was only a moment or two before she recognized the hunched amble of the person in the far left window and decided it was best to direct her attention there instead of the front door. Following the wood line to the side of the house Lily crept from the trees to the small thicket of bushes just below the small window, her heart pounding.

'If Tuney saw me now' she thought picking up a few small rocks from the bed of shrubs. She only had to hit the glass twice before a thin sallow faced boy's head popped into view. Confused, he looked out the window and his eyes darted around, looking for the source of the flying pebbles. Finally, his black eyes met a pair of emerald green and he smiled at once.

Disappearing for a few moments his face reappeared as the window itself was quietly pushed open. "What are you doing here?" he hissed. "I told you never to come here." His smile had faded and his eyes were now bolting from the figure crouching beneath his window to the room behind him. "I just don't want you to get in trouble." He said when he noticed the hurt expression on the girl's face.

"I came to look for you. You haven't been at the meeting place in a week and I was starting to worry! I've knocked on just about every door here you know!" she said defiantly. "The old croon next door told me you lived here and then she yelled at me not to bother her anymore. Rude if you ask me."

"You… you were worried?"

"Severus, don't be silly! Of course I was." She said, smiling sympathetically. "You're alright then?"

Snape's cheeks bloomed and looked back into the room behind him. "Just a sec" he said, pulling his head from the open window and shutting it quietly.

A few moments later Snape made his way around the side of the house and was now creeping slowly through the bushes, covering his hands in dirt and causing a hole in his trousers to become even bigger. He squatted next to the girl and tried hard not to meet her eyes, which were now narrowed in a very disagreeable way.

"What happened to your face?" she asked, pointing at a cut above his eyebrow which was surrounded by a fading bruise.

"Lily..."

"Did he do this to you?" her voiced quavered.

"Its fine" he said, flicking his head so his hair covered part of his face. "Really."

"Oh Severus!" Lily hugged Snape so tightly that he thought his ribs would break. "I hate what he does to you! It isn't fair." He could hear her muffled cries as her face pressed against his shoulder. At that moment the bruises on his face and the painful life he had to leave at Spinners End didn't matter. All that mattered was that someone finally cared enough about him to show him even an ounce of affection.

"We should get out of here" he said after a few moments of basking in Lily's much needed embrace. He grabbed her hand and led them both around the back of the house and towards the woods, taking a hidden path back to the playground.

For the rest of the afternoon Lily and Snape stayed at their meeting place, a clearing on the outskirts of the playground, talking of magic and Hogwarts. They were sitting side by side listening to the river and watching the fish and jump at the bugs that had been caught in the water. Every now and then Snape would catch Lily staring at the bruise on his forehead and he would jerk, causing his hair to fall in his face.

"Does it hurt?" she asked, blushing slightly.

"No. Not anymore. You get used to it anyway." He said, jabbing a stick into the soft earth and twisting it.

Lily frowned and leaned back on her elbows, looking at him with all seriousness on her face.

"What happened?" she asked timidly. She imagined Snape's father as a big burley man with wild hair and burning eyes. Perhaps he was deranged and sick and just didn't know what he was doing. Although, by the stories she's already heard of him, she knew it wasn't true, and she sighed.

"I just got in the way is all" he muttered. "I used magic against him."

Lily's eyebrows raised.

"I don't care!" Snape was now feverishly twisting the twig deeper and deeper into the earth. "I'm glad I hurt him, even if it was for a second. I hate him." The twig had broken and Snape tossed it aside, pushing leaves around and looking for another.

"Why don't you and your mum just go?" She had grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze.

"She won't!" he spat. "She's too weak. Just lets him beat on her like that and doesn't say anything when he goes after me!" Tears filled his eyes but his face remained rigid. He didn't want Lily to see him cry, to see him acting like a child, to see him weak like her. He could feel the emotions coming in waves now but he held them back, just like he always did. He had learned to shut down those feelings and memories when it got bad enough. Wallowing in sad memories did nothing to help him and only allowed his father to get to him even more.

Lily squeezed his hand again and leaned closer, resting her head on his shoulder. "Don't worry" she whispered, "you'll be out of here soon and you won't have to deal with him for a while."

The two sad in silence for a while, Lily resting her head on his shoulder and her hand still entwined in his, both watching the river slide through the rocks and spill over a small clog of branches. It was then that Snape heard a low rumble and Lily's head perked, up her cheeks going pink. Suddenly her stomach rumbled rather loudly causing Snape's eyebrows to rise. Seeing the surprised expression on his face, she burst out laughing. Snape followed suit and soon both of them were laughing, the conversation that had taken place just a short while before was soon forgotten.

"I guess that it's then "she said jumping up.

Snape's face took a puzzled look. "Huh?" he asked, slightly depressed at the thought of Lily leaving so soon.

"I'm starving!" she said, grabbing her stomach and rolling her head back. "C'mon, let's go to my place and get something to eat. I'm sure my mum will whip something up." She started to walk away and then looked back. "Don't worry! My mum loves anyone she can fuss over" she added at the sight of Snape's anxious look.

Half hour later both children were sitting in Lily's backyard, a plate of sandwiches and two glasses of lemon-aid between them. Lily was happily munching away at a peanut butter and jelly as Snape slightly fiddled with his, looking slightly embarrassed.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked noticing Snape's apprehension towards the lunch. "You don't like peanut butter and jelly?" she said, taking a rather large chunk out of her own sandwich causing jelly to stick to the corner of her mouth.

"No, I like them just fine. It's just that…" Snape threw at a glance at the corner of the yard where Petunia Evans was busy with a notebook and pen while listening to a transistor radio and pretending not to notice the two of them.

"Don't worry about her. She's busy writing a letter to her boyfriend." Lily said, dragging out the word boyfriend and giggling slightly. "They've been writing letters to each other all summer. Mum's been laughing and saying it's nothing to worry about but dad's been sour. Tuney hasn't invited him over once this summer and dad wants to meet him." She said taking another bite, adding more jelly to the sides of her lips.

Snape thought about the first time he met Lily's parents and how overly cheerful and nice they had been to him. "What's she got to worry about?" he asked.

Lily frowned slightly, finished the last of her sandwich and took a long drink from her cup. Snape looked puzzling at her but finally understood.

"Because of you?" he asked, alarmed.

"She's afraid I'll do something in front if him." She cried quietly. "She says we're freaks…"

"She's just jealous!" spat Snape. "You saw the letter from Hogwarts begging the headmaster to take her!"

"Severus please! I don't want to Tuney to know that we found the letter. She'd be very upset with me."

Snape fumed. Upset with Lily? Lily should be the one upset with Petunia for calling her a freak! Being ashamed of Lily when Petunia was nothing but a lousy muggle! Snape shut his mouth though and finally took an angry bite of his sandwich, sending hateful glares in Petunia's direction.

Eventually Lily and Snape finished their sandwiches and Petunia had gone back into the house. It was now mid noon and the sun was beating down so ferociously that both children soon had beads of sweat running down their foreheads and Snape's hair had become even more greasy and straggly.

"This is too much" Lily said at once. "Aren't you hot?" she asked pointing to his oversized coat.

Snape blushed. He would have gladly taken off his coat if it weren't for the mismatched muggle clothes he had on under it. His black jeans, which were torn in random areas and being held up by a decaying brown belt clashed immensely with the oversized stained shirt he was wearing. If it weren't for the extremely thick coat he had on it would appear as if he was pretending to be some kind of pirate or had simply mixed up his dates and was a few months early for Halloween.

"I'm good" he muttered, looking at Lily's neat appearance. She had on a pair of white cropped pants, a flowered green shirt, and her red hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail. Snape thought about what his father had said about Lily being too good for him, and now that he was here with her, he thought that maybe his father was right. Who was he kidding? Lily was only hanging out with now because he had told her about magic and Hogwarts. He was sure that as soon as the two of them made it to school that she would no longer want to be his friend and he would be left alone just as he was before.

"You okay?" Lily's voice snapped Snape from his thoughts. "You look a little pale". Her voice sounded concerned.

"Oh yea, I'm alright." But he wasn't. Now that he and Lily were friends he was worried about what it would be like without her. He would be left with no one to talk to and his days would be spent hiding away from his father instead of talking and playing with her. The last few weeks had been the best times he's ever remembered.

"You know, school is only a two weeks away!" she cried happily. "Mum says we're going to go to Diagon Alley for my stuff this weekend. The teacher who came to the house left us a list with a load of stuff to buy. You should come with!" she squealed "You can buy your stuff too and you can show me around!"

Snape smiled sadly but Lily didn't seem to notice.

"I'm so excited" she said. "We're going to look at owls Severus! Oh and wands! I wonder what kind of wand I'll get..." she said dreamily. "I bet there are going to be a lot of kids shopping for school stuff huh?" she asked, staring at the sparse clouds in the sky.

Snape shrugged his shoulders. "Loads I bet" he muttered, glancing down at his feet he began to play with his shoe strings. Of course there are going to be other students in Diagon Alley, maybe Lily would even make new friends there and then she wouldn't even have to wait until they were in school to forget about him. "I hope you're in Slytherin." he said. "You know, that way we can see each other a lot."

Lily smiled. "Do you know anyone else going to Hogwarts this year" she asked.

"Just a few. Mulciber and Avery are two boys my age, and then there's Lucius Malfoy. He's a few years ahead of us but everyone knows who he is, comes from a long line of purebloods." His gaze shifted from his shoestrings to Lily's face with had gone from excited to concerned.

"Does that make him better at magic? Are there a lot of muggle borns like me at Hogwarts?" she asked.

Lily had brought her knees up to her chest and now had them in a tight embrace, her cheek between them and her face was pointed towards Snape. A slight breeze had picked up causing the loose hairs in her ponytail to flutter about her face and Snape could smell the strong flowery scent her sweaty hair emitted.

"Of course" he said. "Being pureblood doesn't matter."

Lily's body relaxed and she looked back up to the sky. This time Snape pretended to be interested in a hole at the bottom of his trousers but he was thinking about the sorting and what it would be like if Lily was put into a different house. He wasn't sure how the other Slytherins were going to react or if it was even accepted to have a friend in another house. Glancing at Lily he realized it didn't matter what house she was sorted into. He was sure that they'd find enough time to see each other.

"So what day do you want to go to Diagon Alley?"