"Come on Lily. It's your first day here and you already miss mum and dad?" Albus asked his sister, rolling his eyes even though he felt the exact same way on his first day at Hogwarts.
"Easy for you to say," Lily said to her brother, looking around the headmaster's office.
"What are we even doing here, anyway? I don't think I've done anything wrong."
"Well, you said you were scared. I know it might sound weird, but look around. You'll feel better," Albus said, not wanting to tell her the real reason being here made him feel better.
"Rose said that the portraits are alive in a way. Is that true?" Lily asked, staring at the portrait of Albus Dumbledore.
"Sorta I guess. I wouldn't stare, you might scare 'em off."
"Huh," she said, stepping back a little.
Dumbledore smiled and winked at her.
Smiling back, she looked at the portrait next to his.
Severus Snape raised his eyebrows at her.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
Lily, not expecting them to talk, let out a small squeak and ran to her brother.
Chuckling, Albus walked back up to the portrait with his trembling sister.
"Hello Proffessor, long time no see," he said, greeting Severus as an old friend.
"Morning. I take it this is your sister?"
"Yes, Lily Luna. Lily, this is Severus Snape," Albus said, pulling his sister out from behind him.
"Dad's talked about him, right? I remember that name."
"Yeah. You remember the stories he always told us when we were little? You know how whenever we would give up on something, he'd sit us down on his lap and tell us a story about a man he used to know? One that he hated, thought of as a coward, and how this man had a very hard life, but didn't give up? Remember those?"
"Of course," Lily said, smiling at the memory. "He said that the man he met was the bravest man he'd ever had the honor of meeting. How if he could fight through such a terrible and hard life, we can make it through anything. Of course I remember those stories."
"Well, this is the man," Albus said, looking at the portrait of the past headmaster and potions proffessor.
Severus smiled a little.
It was rare for him to smile, since he didn't have much of a reason.
But Albus came to him the previous year, a scared little first year.
It was his first day at Hogwarts, and he felt terribly lonely. His brother had his own things to do and nobody seemed to want to get to know him. He wandered through the corridors and stumbled into the headmaster's office. He looked at the names on the portraits and stopped when he got to Severus Snape.
"You-You knew my father," he mumbled, trying to look at the portrait of the man but couldn't quite bring himself to.
"Yes," Severus answered, recognizing the all too familiar green eyes and spray of freckles from his mother.
Not expecting the portrait to answer him, Albus jumped in surprise.
Ever since that day, whenever he needed advice or help, Albus would sneak into the headmaster's office to speak to him.
Severus loved it when the boy came to visit him. Even if he was just a portrait, it meant something to him.