WE ALL BEGIN WITH GOOD INTENT

Winter was gone. Instead of snow, rain fell, and the wind introduced mild breezes but the landscape remained in the grey dress of winter. The pastel sun sat distantly above the horizon, though the past few days it seemed father away than usual.

It was his father's birthday and he had been locked out of the house. Sent to get the local paper his father always read, he had returned to the front door only to find it locked. Thinking it at first accidental, he proceeded to knock two times, neither eliciting a response, except for the one within his own gut that said he didn't want to be inside at his particular moment.

So he'd left.

The surrounding streets lay empty on this dismal day. That was welcome. It meant he could walk without the threat of stares or comments that he felt were reserved just for him. He was cold but spared, which was far better than being warm and vulnerable. These were the few moments of freedom he was allowed. He longed to be alone as much as he longed to be a part. When he was alone nothing bad happened to him. If he avoided others they did nothing hurtful. To him at least.

The mist gave way to rain, rain that came down hard, fast, and heavy. Severus was drenched and shivering before he made it under the shelter of a garden shed. It seemed a safe enough place to wait out the rain; he doubted there would be much outdoor activity this afternoon.

He erupted into a violent shiver as he sat wrapped up, all his limbs hanging on to one another. To take his mind off the cold he began counting blades of grass. If the rain continued to pour by the time he reached a thousand he would make a go for it and run back to his house, which although not far away, he had little desire go to. But by four hundred thirty seven he began scrambling numbers, at seven hundred fifteen his head lay on his knee. His eyes closed around eight hundred twenty, his under-rested body crippled by the circumstances. He was only out for six minuets when a calico cat rubbed its face against Severus' damp coat.

His eyes opened abruptly at the foreign touch. After a moment they focused on the cat and the two creatures locked eyes, the cat's indifferent, the boy's both surprised and threatened. The cat broke the gaze first, turning its head to the shingled shed roof. Severus tucked his head closer to his chest and continued to frown at the cat when a young girl's voice called out. This singled the cat to jump.

--The cat! She's gone out the door!

--And right where he'll stay. See if I'm going out in the middle of a storm for a stupid animal.

--It's only rain.

--Well why don't you go fetch her then?

--Alright.

There was a brief pause.

--Without a raincoat?

--I'll only be a minute.

--You are a barbarian.

Then a laugh. A happy laugh, not a mean laugh, not a nervous laugh. A clear carefree laugh. This startled him. He realized he would not be alone soon, and what will happen when this laughing girl sees him sitting wet and muddy behind her house? Afraid, he got on his hands and knees and crawled frantically, sinking into the waterlogged ground as he did, until considering himself safely hind under a neglected bush. As he sat squatting on his feet, a sharp branch poked through his jacket into the flesh above his right hip. Just as he was about to adjust his position she walked right in front of him, her white canvas tennis shoes inches away from his own oversized and scuffed Wellingtons. All he could do was hold his breath and keep still.

--Kitty! Where've you gone? I know I saw you go—oh! So there you are!

The girl's feet left the vicinity of the bush and before he worried about ruining his cover his curiosity outwit him and he leaned a bit and peered through the branches hiding his face.

She had two red pigtails that rested on her shoulders and she wore a light blue jumper and a tan cotton skirt. Her face was turned away form him and he wasn't sure if he'd seen her before, or if she'd ever seen him.

--Come down from there! It's raining and I won't stand out here forever! Come on now.

It was then he noticed an extremely peculiar thing. She was not wet. Her hair and clothes were dry and no drops of rain seemed to fall on the ground around her. His lips parted in amazement. Could she be--? No…no he would've known.

The cat, out of Severus' view, looked down, considered the options, and jumped into the girl's arms.

--There you go! Now we'll go inside and I'll get you some warm milk and maybe some tuna, but Petunia mustn't see because she'll be upset that—

He listened to her voice as she went into the house. Thankful he had gone undetected he sat there one moment longer thinking maybe he wasn't as alone as he imagined.