A/N: Hello everyone this is my first Fan Fic and I hope you like it. Please if any of you feel my character is a Mary Sue please please please tell me because I worked hard not to make her a cliché but she might have turned out that way and if she did I need to know so that I can change her. Also I hope you like the story. Also I sort of changed Severus' birthday for the sake of the story, I hope that doesn't bother all of you hard core Severus fans.
Disclaimer: I wish I owned the Harry Potter Universe but unfortunately I only own Mel, her family, and Devon.
Four Years Difference
Chapter One: Prologue
Four years can seem like a big chunk of time but in retrospect it is very small. Many things can happen in four years though. One person can change completely in the span of four years, maybe in less. Take Severus Snape as an example, when he was eighteen he was a death eater and on a fast track to Azkaban but by the time he was Twenty Two he was working at Hogwarts helping students keep from following the path he took. In those four years he became a better person and changed his ways. Many people say that Albus Dumbledore is the reason that he changed so much. And for all they know that is the reason he changed but if one knew Severus just a little bit better they could argue that his pen pal was the reason he changed.
Many people were oblivious to the fact that Severus had a pen pal; they just assumed that whenever he was writing he was writing to his ailing mother or to the Dark Lord. The Truth is he was keeping in contact with his friend who was still at Hogwarts. This friend has proved herself to be very true and loyal even though she is four years younger than him. She helped him through many things that were troublesome in his life. Some of the things she helped through included overcoming the fear he had from his abusive muggle father, helped him get over the marriage of his beloved to one of his worst enemies, and helped him get over the death of his beloved. If one were to base a life on how many bad events happened to a person it would seem as though Severus' life was utterly unfortunate but it was not. Severus had many things in life that made him happy. People who only knew the facts and events of his life were oblivious to all of the good things around him.
Many people know the story of Severus Snape, or at least they know the facts about him. They know that he was born to Eileen Prince and Tobias Snape on August 31, 1960 and that his father was an abusive muggle while his mother was a pure blood. People also know that at age 21 he began as the Potions Master at Hogwarts after Horace Slughorn decided to retire. At age 31 he began to teach the all famous Harry Potter and that he was never fond of the boy. During the rise of the Dark Lord he was a double agent for the Order of the Phoenix. When Severus was 36 he finally received the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. And towards the end of the school year he 'murdered' Albus Dumbledore at his request in order to help Harry Potter finish his quest to defeat Lord Voldemort. At age 37 he was given the position as headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry by the dark lord to keep all of the students under the watchful eye of Lord Voldemort. Finally Severus Snape died May 2nd when he was 37 at the Battle of Hogwarts during the Second Wizarding War. He died a hero even though for the last year of his life he was considered a traitor who only cared about the dark lord.
Now if people say they know the former potions master they have missed a large gap in his life, they have missed ten years. Most people assume that he was just the potions master and that nothing else of great importance happened during this time in his life. Ten years is a long time, one could have married and had two children in that time. Though that did not happen to Severus many things did happen to him. Surprisingly most of the things in that Severus considers important happened in those ten years of his life. Now the big question is what did Severus consider important, and what part did it play in his life? Well here is a hint, he was engaged to get married twice and it was to the same girl. Another hint is on the last day in his second year of teaching he received his first kiss.
Yes, Severus indeed fell in love beyond Lilly Evans and this girl, unlike Lilly, was in love with him too. To those who were wondering this girl was indeed his pen pal during those four years. People who knew the pair, only their closest friends and family, could easily argue that she was the one who helped him out of his dark stage of his life. Even though the two were almost completely opposite of each other they worked hard to maintain a relationship even if it was not a conventional relationship.
The story of how the two came to be starts out when a first year 'declared' defeat from potions. As this first year pondered what to do she was reminded of one of the many promises a teacher gives to their students each year: If you are having such a hard time come to me and I will provide you with a tutor. This student who had 'declared' defeat apparently surprised the teacher because he thought she was doing just fine in the class but he none-the–less set her up with her tutor because he knew that the subject could be very difficult. When the tutor and student meet for the first time they just seem to go over the school work but when the tutor and student start talking they eventually become friends, very close friends.
In this case the little first year was a shy little Hufflepuff with a few loyal friends and the tutor was and alienated sixth year Slytherin with no friends at all. This story is about how two unlikely people became the best of friends and then eventually lovers. This is the story of Melodina Moore and Seveus Snape and how four years difference affected their relationship in more ways than one.