The Life and Times of Severus Snape

This is the (partially) untold story of the relationship between Lily Evans and Severus Snape. The sadness, the romance, the angst…it's all here, starting from their first meeting.

Severus Snape walked dejectedly through the streets near his home in Spinner's End. His parents had been fighting again, like they did all the time now. He hated the shouting that filled his ears when he walked through the door, the disgust in their eyes when they looked at each other…when they looked at him. Sometimes their fights carried on past the boundaries of their house, and Severus was left to stand and watched in embarrassed silence as their raised voices carried all down the street.

Neighbors would come up to him, mouths loaded with false, sugar coated words of comfort, and shallow pats on the back that didn't really mean anything.

He was only eight years old when he had been forced to take care of himself. He had to feed himself, clothe himself, get himself to school on time…his parents hardly noticed him anymore. Hardly cared.

They probably wouldn't even notice if I ran away, Severus thought bitterly to himself. He then seriously considered the notion for a moment, but dismissed it just as quickly. Even if he did work up the courage to run away, where would he go? He had no relatives that he knew of, no one had ever come to visit. There was only one place outside of home he knew about, and that was Hogwarts.

Back when he was very small, Severus remembered his mother telling him stories about Hogwarts in a hushed whisper. Stories of witches and wizards and dragons and magic…a world he hardly dared to dream about. His mother said that he would get to go to this wonderful place when he was older. Because he could do magic.

Because he was a wizard.

Severus looked up from his musings, and stopped walking abruptly. He had walked much farther from home than he had intended. But, as he turn around to head home, something across the street caught his eye,

Two girls were playing in the park across the street from him. On an impulse, he crossed the deserted road and hid behind the bushes near the swings, out of sight, but within hearing distance.

They appeared to be sisters, whose names, after several minutes of casual eavesdropping, were revealed to be Petunia and Lily.

Lily was the younger one, and seemed to be about his age. She was very pretty, her auburn hair glittering like fire in the sun-a bright contrast to the dull surroundings. Her older sister seemed a little plain in comparison-not nearly as outgoing or vivacious as her.

Severus did not know what made him so enthralled with them…they just seemed like a couple of ordinary Muggle children to him.

"Tuney, watch this!" Lily said in a stage whisper as she climbed onto a swing.

"No! Lily, don't-"

Severus watched as Lily swung higher and higher.

"Lily, don't do it!" Petunia shrieked.

But she wasn't listening. As soon as Lily had gotten as high as she could go, she soared into the air. Literally.

Severus' mouth fell open as he watched her land gracefully on the ground. She was a witch! She could do magic!

He did not know why it made him so happy to know this.

"Mummy told you not to! Mummy said you weren't allowed, Lily!" Petunia had gotten of her swing and was now standing with her hands on her hips, facing her younger sister with a bossy expression on her face.

"But I'm fine!" Lily said, giggling at the thrill of the jump she had just made. "Tuney, look at this. Watch what I can do."

Severus held his breath as Lily approached the bush he was hiding behind, pick up a flower from the ground and hold it in her hand. Petunia, it was obvious, did not want to see any more magic. But he did. He wanted very badly to see what else this pretty girl could do. Craning his neck, he saw the flower in Lily's hands wave it's petals.

"Stop it!" Petunia said, clearly in distress.

Lily threw the flower on the ground, where it lay still. Snape stared at it for a moment, and tried to drum up the courage to talk to the girl, because it was obvious that she didn't know about witches and wizards and Hogwarts. He imagined himself talking to her, telling her the news. She was happy and thrilled in his imagination, proclaiming that they would be friends forever. Severus liked the sound of that. Perhaps something good would come out of this day, and he would get his first real, true friend.

"How did you do it?" he heard Petunia asked, a slightly pathetic note of longing in her voice.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Severus said, softly, jumping up quickly from behind the bushes, unable to wait any longer to talk to Lily. Petunia gave a nervous jump and shriek, and hurried back to the safety of the swings, away from him. Lily remained standing where she was.

"What's obvious?" Lily asked, eyebrows arched.

Severus looked nervously at the distant Petunia, and lowered his voice and leaned towards her conspiratorially. "I know what you are," he said, softer than before.

"What do you mean?" she asked, copying his whisper.

"You're…" Severus took a deep breath and steadied himself. "You're a witch."

Her reaction was completely opposite from what he imagined. Instead of elated, like in his mind, she looked angry, and he pulled back alarmingly.

"That's not a very nice thing to say to somebody!" Lily said, voice raised now, and much to his dismay, march away from him and back to her sister. He had to do something.

"No!" he said, and ran after her, trying both to run and to keep his dirty smock from showing. The girls turned and faced him. "You are a witch," he rushed to say, willing her with his mind to believe him, to realize that he wasn't calling her names. "I've been watching you for a while. But there's nothing wrong with that. My mum's one, and I'm a wizard." Severus looked at them, pleading with his eyes for them to understand. But the older sister's laugh shot through him like ice.

"Wizard!" she laughed. "I know who you are. You're that Snape boy!" Severus' heart sank to somewhere around his knees. "They live down Spinner's End, by the river," Petunia told Lily, much to his chagrin. She won't want to be friends with me now, he thought sadly.

"Why have you been spying on us?" Petunia demanded, turning on him again.

"I haven't been spying!" he said hurriedly, cheeks growing hot with anger and humiliation, well aware of his mismatched, hand-me-down clothes and dirty hair. He was beginning to wish he had never come over and talked to the girls at all. Suddenly, a rush of contempt fell over him, and he added spitefully to Petunia: "Wouldn't spy on you, anyway. You're a Muggle."

Petunia heard the tone of his voice, and color rushed to her cheeks. "Lily, come on, we're leaving!" she said, and Lily followed her older sister, glaring at him as she passed out of sight through the gate.

Severus lowered his head sadly, bitterly disappointed in the way things turned out. The wind ruffled his hair a little, and he turned to go, but something on the ground stopped him. It was the flower Lily had enchanted. He picked it up carefully, not wanting any of the petals to fall. Perhaps Lily would come back to him, perhaps she just needed time to think, he thought, staring at the small purple flower. Concentrating really hard, he willed the flower with all his being not to wilt or fade.

"Please," he said softly to it.

Tucking it carefully into the pocket of his overlarge coat, he started to go, walking back down the street.

"Wait!" a voice called from behind a minute later. Severus turned sharply, and was face to face with Lily, running towards him, breathless.

"Is it true?" she demanded suddenly as she came up to him, her large, green eyes boring into his black ones.

"What?"

"The stuff you said earlier," she said. "Is it true?"

"Oh, yes!" Severus said. "Every word."

"Can you tell me more?"

"Yes. What do you want to know?"

"Not now," Lily said, her eyes showing her rapid thinking. His face fell a little. "Can you meet me in the trees by the river there?" she pointed down the street. "After dinner?"

Severus nodded, smiling, not trusting himself to speak.

"Good," she said.

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