Author's note:

Ok, so here's the 2000th story about the childhood of Lily and Snape. It's not terribly original or close to the better ones, but I hope you guys will like it anyway. I've written this first chapter and the very last chapter. My goal is to finish in between. I don't imagine this will run too much further than 5 chapters. It is not designed to be an epic.

The italicized part is from Chapter 33 of Deathly Hallows, of course.

The young black-haired boy's hair shined as he crouched over a sewer drain. The people passing him by gave him odd glances as they raised their eyebrows at the strangely-dressed, skinny boy poking around in the drain. He was used to odd-glances his entire life. His parents were usually too busy fighting to pay attention to what he did with his time, much less to the kind of clothing he wore. On this particular day, he was wearing dirty brown shorts, worn tennis shoes, and an oversized flannel shirt. He rolled up the sleeves on the shirt, considering the heat of the summer air.

He couldn't explain to the muggles that he was looking for ferrumin grubs, a standard type of worm, only visible to the magical world. These worms loved to eat metal, and little known to muggles, helped in the rusting process. Ah here's one. He smiled as he plucked a purple-ish fat worm from the sewer drain. He looked up to find a group of three girls passing by him, a mother, and her two daughters. He recognized the older one instantly as Petunia as she gave him her characteristically snotty gaze as she passed by him with her family.

"Tuney, look at all the pretty flowers!", the younger one mentioned to her older sister, not noticing the object of her sister's repulsion. They gazed at the display at the florist.

"I think there are petunias and lilys in there as well as out here." The mother joked, as Petunia groaned and Lily giggled.

The boy still observed the three of them as he put the ferrumin in his flask. As they talked about the display and pointed the various flowers out, he noticed that the youngest girl was ever-so-slightly… levitating. Yes! It was unmistakable… she had risen off her feet several inches as she pointed to the roses and smiled. The boy grinned. She had to be magical, just like he was!

But before he could even ponder his next step, he noticed Petunia whisper urgently "Lily!" and tugged on her sister's arm so that she was back on her feet. Lily gave an apologetic look to her sister as their mother, apparently not noticing, ushered them forward. Noticing that the boy had been staring at them, Petunia gave him one final quick glare before they headed on.

So he hadn't been imaging it after all! They might have not known that Lily was magical, but they did know that she was unusual, after all, and that she could do unusual things. He had to talk to her, he had to tell her that she was a witch.

After that chance encounter, the boy was determined to learn as much about the young muggle-born witch as possible. He noticed that the sisters often played at the park where the younger performed her magic tricks to her disapproving older sister. His favorite hiding spot was in the bushes, where he remained unseen and unheard as he greedily watched her. She must be a really powerful witch to perform that much magic without a wand. He said to himself as he watched her twirl 5 times in mid air in front of her scowling sister. It had to be today! He thought determinately. The boy couldn't help smiling as he thought how happy she would be when he announced that she was a witch. She definitely would want to be his friend as he would be introducing the magical world to her, and since he had no friends, he relished in the opportunity. He watched her swing higher and higher as her sister looked more and more aghast.

"Lily, don't do it!" shrieked the elder of the two.

But the girl had let go of the swing at the very height of its arc and flown into the air, quite literally flown, launched herself skyward with a great shout of laughter, and instead of crumpling on the playground asphalt, she soared like a trapeze artist through the air, staying up far too long, landing far too lightly.

"Mummy told you not to!"

Petunia stopped her swing by dragging the heels of her sandals on the ground, making a crunching, grinding sound, then leapt up, hands on hips.

"Mummy said you weren't allowed, Lily!"

"But I'm fine," said Lily, still giggling. "Tuney, look at this. Watch what I can do."

Petunia glanced around. The playground was deserted apart from themselves and, though the girls did not know it, Snape. Lily had picked up a fallen flower from the bush behind which Snape lurked. Petunia advanced, evidently torn between curiosity and disapproval. Lily waited until Petunia was near enough to have a clear view, then held out her palm. The flower sat there, opening and closing its petals like some bizarre, many-lipped oyster.

"Stop it!" shrieked Petunia.

"It's not hurting you," said Lily, but she closed her hand on the blossom and threw it back to the ground.

"It's not right," said Petunia, but her eyes followed the flower's flight to the ground and lingered upon it. "How do you do it?" she added, and there was definite longing in her voice.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Snape could no longer contain himself, but had jumped out from behind the bushes. Petunia shrieked and ran backward toward the swings, but Lily, though clearly startled, remained where she was. Snape seemed to regret his appearance. A dull flush of color mounted the sallow cheeks as he looked at Lily.

"What's obvious?" asked Lily.

Snape had an air of nervous excitement. With a glance at the distant Petunia, now hovering beside the swings, he lowered his voice and said "I know what you are."

"What do you mean?"

"You're… you're a witch," whispered Snape.

She looked affronted

"That's not a very nice thing to say to somebody!"

She turned, nose in the air, and marched off toward her sister.

"No!" said Snape. He was highly colored now, and Harry wondered why he did not take off the ridiculous large coat, unless it was because he did not want to reveal the smock beneath it. He flapped after the girls, looking ludicrously batlike, like his older self.

The sisters considered him, united in disapproval, both holding on to one of the swing poles as through it was the safe place in tag.

"You are.," said Snape to Lily. "You are a witch. I've been watching you for a while. But there's nothing wrong with that. My mum's one, and I'm a wizard."

Petunia's laugh was like cold water.

'Wizard!" she shrieked, he courage returned now that she had recovered from the shock of his unexpected appearance. "I know who you are. You're that Snape boy! They live down Spinner's End by the river," she told Lily, and it was evident from her tone that she considered the address a poor recommendation. "Why have you been spying on us?"

"Haven't been spying," said Snape, hot and uncomfortable and dirty-haired in the bright sunlight. "Wouldn't spy on you anyway, " he added spitefully, "you're a Muggle."

Though Petunia evidently did not understand the word, she could hardly mistake the tone.

"Lily, come on, we're leaving!" she said shrilly. Lily obeyed her sister at once, glaring at Snape as she left.

Snape couldn't hide his bitter disappointment as the girls hurried home. Who would have guessed that Lily took being called a witch as a slight? It wasn't an insult in his world, it was something to be proud of. He wanted to walk away from their first encounter as friends, and instead he'd fuddled it up. He sighed as he headed home. I guess I will just have to wait until Hogwarts to make friends.

The next day, trying to forget about the young witch, Snape went back to what he spent most of his days doing- collecting potion ingredients. With a shovel in one hand, and a flask in the other, he used his arm to wipe off the sweat from his forehead as he concentrated on digging. If only glumbubmbles didn't hide so well , he muttered to himself as he dug his hole deeper. He had been concentrating so hard that he didn't notice a girl approach him.

"Hello." She said, slightly cautiously.

"Oh!" He gasped and fell backward, in surprise, as Lily was standing right in front of him.

She laughed. "I'm sorry. I guess I snuck up on you today." She offered her hand to him.

Hesitating only for a moment, he took it and she helped pull him up easily. She looked at her hand, now with a thin layer of dirt on it as she tried to wipe it off with her other hand.

"I'm sorry…" he blushed. "I was just digging…"

She smiled. "That's alright. What are you digging for?"

"Glumbumbles."

"Glum..bumbles?" she repeated, slowly.

"Yes… magic…er.." he hesitated. "People like me can see them. We use them to make potions."

She was quiet for a moment, contemplating this. "Will I be able to see them too?" she finally asked.

Snape nodded. "Yes, you will."

She smiled. "Ok, I believe you."

"You do?"

"You seem so adamant about it, after all. Er…" she paused. "I wanted to apologize about yesterday. It didn't seem like you and I got off on the right foot. Let's try this again." She held out her hand. "Hello, my name is…"

"Lily." He interrupted, before gingerly taking it.

"Yes…." She laughed. "I'm sorry, I guess I'm a little behind. I don't know what your name is."

"Severus." He said, shyly.

"Severus." She repeated, looking into his eyes. "I don't know anyone named Severus."

He blushed and looked away. "Magical families like to name their kids after famous witches or wizards. I'm named after a powerful wizard. 'Severus the Severe.' It was rumored that he invented the crucio curse.

"Curse?" She repeated. "Magical people curse others?"

"Well, they're not supposed to," he said, quickly. "It's against the rules."

"Oh…"

"I guess there is a lot to explain to you, but if you give me a chance, I will try."

She smiled. "Thank you. I'd appreciate any kind of reason I'm doing these strange things that no one else is…" she said. He could feel the loneliness in her voice.

"You're not alone. I do 'strange' things too. Dad hates it, but… I guess mum is just happy that I'm not a squib. I can't control my magic really well yet, but soon we'll be off to Hogwarts to learn about how to control it."

She nodded at him, looking very confused. "Alright…"

He sighed. "Sorry. I guess I'm getting too carried away. I've never met anyone like myself other than my mum."

"It's ok, Severus. You are the first one I've met too."

"Hey, Lily…" he started. "Do you want to help me look for glumbumbles? I can start by teaching you about potions."

"Sure! " she replied enthusiastically as she crouched down by his hole. "I guess it's a good thing I wore shorts today," she laughed.

Snape smiled and sat down on the ground next to her. He handed her the shovel. "Glumbumbles like to hide underground on hot days like this. They're a key ingredient in a lot of potions, including healing salves and anti-hexing potions. "

"What do they look like?" she asked.

"They're small, fuzzy, and give off this reddish kind of glow when they're agitated."

"Alright." She replied, determined to spot one.

They dug in silence for about 20 minutes. Lily shoveling heaps of soil onto the grass as Severus sifted through it with his hands.

"Wait, what's this?" Lily exclaimed, as she was ready to dump her mound for Severus to examine. What looked like a small, pinkish dandelion moved to the top layer of soil on the shovel.

"You found one!" Snape grinned. He gently removed the soil around it to expose it.

"Wow!" she grinned back. "I've never seen one of those before. And normal people can't see them?"

"You mean muggles? No, only magical people can see them," he replied as he put it in his flask. "We'll need more of them, though. One isn't enough for the healing salve I'm working on…"

"Then what are we waiting for?" she enthusiastically demanded. "Let's find more!"

Snape laughed. "Alright, let's."

They found three more glumbumbles before they finally noticed dusk was upon them. They'd been digging for hours. "I'd better get going home. Mum's gunna wonder where I am." Lily said.

"Alright, then." Snape nodded.

"Do you want to play tomorrow?" she asked.

He smiled. "Yes."

"Alright, goodbye till tomorrow, Severus."

"Goodbye, Lily."

"It's been really fun."

"It has." He smiled.

She almost turned around to go home before she stopped. "Severus?" she started.

"Yes?"

"Let's be good friends from now on."

He blushed. "I'd like that. I've never had a friend before…"

She smiled. "Then I'm happy to be your first friend." She looked at him for a moment longer as he stared at the holes they'd dug. "Bye!" She turned around quickly and ran home.

"Bye," he replied, staring at her running toward the horizon. He started to slowly walk home after he could see her no more. This was the best day he had in many years, but he wanted it to be over soon just so the next day could begin and he could be with his new friend even more.