Not far from Spinner's End, there was a playground so old that few children visited anymore. They preferred going to the new amusement parks. But today, three little girls were enjoying themselves on the swings and a little boy was crouched behind a shrub, observing two of them. The oldest looking girl was blonde with shining blue eyes; she couldn't be more than eleven or twelve. The younger two looked identical in almost every way, from their wavy red hair to their straight little noses to their soft pale skin. The difference wasn't that noticeable; while they both had almond-shaped eyes, one's was a shocking blue like her older sister and their mother while the other one had bright emerald green which she inherited from their father. All three girls looked well taken care of and wore pastel colored sundresses.
The boy watching them looked around the same age, but everything else about him was quite the opposite. His clothes were old, dark, and much too big for him. His black hair was unkempt and oily, and his black eyes never shined unless the two red-haired girls were in his sight.
The redheads continued to swing higher and higher and the blonde haired girl slowed her pace.
"Lily, Chrissy, Stop it! Mummy says you shouldn't." Petunia Evans scolded her younger sisters, but it was not enough. With a squeal, the girls let go of their swings when they were at the highest point and remained in the air much longer than normal. They laughed as they reached the ground, much softer than they should have. Petunia dug her feet into the ground to stop her swinging.
"Mummy told the both of you to stop doing things like that! You'll be in so much trouble." Petunia told them with a mixed look of annoyance and awe.
"Only way she'll know is if you tell her, Tuney." Chrysanthemum, the sister with the blue eyes, reminded her older sister.
"Oh hush, Chrys." Lily told her younger twin. She turned around and picked a fallen flower and said, "Tuney, look what I can do."
Petunia looked around to make sure no one else would see. Severus ducked down so she wouldn't see him hiding. When Petunia finally gave in, Lily opened up her palm and the flower's petals began to open and close.
"What about this?" Chrys said as she bent down to rip some grass from the ground. She threw it into the air and they each gave a small POP and a burst of light; like mini fireworks. Lily let out a laugh, but Petunia wasn't so pleased.
"Stop it!" squealed Petunia.
"It's not hurting you." Lily said but threw the flower to the ground anyway. Chrys just rolled her eyes, smiling. After a pause, Petunia asked, with a tone of longing, "How do you do it?"
The boy behind the shrub couldn't hold back anymore. "Well, it's obvious, isn't it?" He said, jumping out from behind the shrub. Petunia gave a small shriek and retreated back to the swings grabbing onto a pole. Both Lily and Chrys were evidently shocked by his sudden appearance but resisted the impulse to run.
"What's obvious?" asked Chrys. Curiosity rang in her voice and shone on her face.
"I know what you two are." The boy said.
"What we are?" Lily asked, confused.
The boy whispered, "You're witches."
Chrys' raised an eyebrow in surprise, while Lily huffed out indignantly, "Well, that's not a very nice thing to say." She stuck her nose in the air, took Chrys' hand and made her way over to Petunia at the swings.
The boy realized he obviously could have phrased that better, as he ran after them calling, "Wait! Really! I've been watching you two. You're witches."
The girls grabbed onto the other unoccupied pole next to their older sister and looked back at him.
"There's nothing wrong with it." He continued, "My mum's one as well, and I'm a wizard."
"Wizard? HA!" Petunia cried. She narrowed her eyes at him and said, "I know who you are. You're that Snape boy." She looked over at her sisters and said, "They live down in Spinner's End." It was obvious by the way Petunia said it, that Spinner's End would not make the most desirable home.
"Why have you been spying on us?" Petunia accused him. At these words, a blush rose to his pale cheeks and he looked down to his feet.
"Haven't been spying. Not on you, anyway. You're a muggle." He said. None of the girls had the slightest idea what it meant, but it was unmistakably an insult. Petunia took the hint and told her sisters, "Come on, Lily, Chrys. We're leaving." Petunia walked off, but the two stayed just a second longer, giving the boy one last glare, then hurrying of with their sister. He was a liar and he was making fun of them.
When they left, the boy sighed. That went ten times worse than what he'd hoped for. He picked up the flower that Lily was playing with and took a seat on one of the swings. Nice one, Severus, He thought.
Three Weeks Later . . .
"Mummy, I'm bored." Chrys complained in the kitchen, looking through the fridge for something to eat.
"Lily said she was going to the playground. Why don't you go find her, sweetheart?" her mother answered, closing the fridge and preventing Chrys from ruining her appetite.
"The playground? Are you sure?" Chrys asked. Petunia had told them not to go back to the playground in case the Snape boy was waiting there. Lily was usually the one to listen to Tuney while Chrys sometimes went out of her way to disregard what Petunia would tell her.
"Yes, why? What's wrong with the playground?" Her mother questioned.
"Oh, nothing. Just making sure. I'll see you later, mummy." Chrys said, running out the door. The playground was just down the road from her house, so it took her about two minutes to get there. She spotted Lily in no time; Her red hair was quite eye-catching. Lily wasn't alone either. Across from her sat a familiar black haired boy.
Chrys approached the two of them and asked Lily what she was doing.
"Chrissy, This is Severus. He's my new friend." Lily said brightly. Chrys looked at Severus, carefully examining him.
Severus was expecting her to say something like "I'm going to tell Petunia if you don't stop talking to him." or even " Friends? With him?" But she surprised him and asked, "So where's your wand?"
He looked at her confused and said, "Sorry?"
"You said you're a wizard. Don't wizards have wands and long white beards and pointy hats?" She said with a smile.
He smiled too, and Lily looked to him expectantly. He began explaining how witches and wizards don't get wands until they turn eleven. He also went into detail about Diagon Alley, A street of Magic shops; Hogwarts, a school of magic; even Hogsmeade, an all magic village.
The girls sat in awe for a few hours, asking questions about this new world they never knew of but were supposedly a part of.
"Are we going to turn green eventually? And grow moles on our noses?" Chris asked, sitting up suddenly. Her eyes were comically wide with worry. Severus snorted and said,"Nah, that's just a muggle myth."
Severus paused for a second to think before saying," Well, maybe there are some potions that could turn your skin green..."
"Is potions a class? Would we be too young to take it? We're too young to take cooking at our school now, but I'd imagine it's the same principles." Lily asked. She was so excited about learning actual magic that she began speaking quickly, forgetting to breath.
"And thank God for that! I can barely cook the instant ramen at home, never mind a potion that changes skin color." Chrys shook her head. Her sister and friend laughed before Severus answered.
"We'll be starting potions in first year-" Chrys groaned," but don't worry, Chrys. It'll be something simple. Like a solution for boils."
After a while, they told Severus they had to leave, but they would try to come back in a couple days. And they kept that promise.
Weeks passed by and the three grew rather close. Lily and Severus were definitely closer, because Chrys would sometimes get in trouble and not be able to come, but Severus and Chrysanthemum still considered each other best friends. Lily would come home to explain everything she could remember to her younger twin. Once or twice, Petunia would overhear and tell them that they were extremely gullible to believe such stupid lies.
It was a sunny day, and all three children were comfortably sitting cross-legged under the shade of a small thicket of trees. Hours passed and the children spent their day talking about the magic world. Severus eventually took of his large coat to reveal an even larger smock-like shirt. If either of the girls found this strange, they didn't give any indications of it. They were more focused on what he was now telling them about the Ministry of Magic. They weren't expecting magic to come with laws, so they were a bit surprised.
" . . . And if you use magic outside of school the Ministry can punish you, you get letters." Severus finished his tale with a serious tone.
"But Sev, Chrissy and I have done magic outside school!" Lily said with a note of worry in her voice. Chrysanthemum nodded and added, "And we haven't gotten any letters."
"We're all right. We haven't got wands yet. They let you off when you're a kid and you can't help it, but once you're eleven, and they start training you, then you've gotta be careful." He said while nodding importantly.
There was a small silence while the girls took in the information. Lily picked up a twig and twirled in the air, imagining sparks and fireworks trailing out from it. Chrys thought of flowers popping out of the end, like it did with the magician's wand at the shopping mall. Severus told her that those were just muggle tricks. They were only pretend, not like what they could do.
Lily broke the silence. "It is real isn't it?" She had dropped the twig and was now facing Severus completely "It's not some joke? Petunia says you're lying to us. That there isn't a Hogwarts. It is real isn't it?" Lily whispered. She was desperate to know. She wanted it to be real, she really did, but it was all so perfect that she didn't know if she could.
"It's real for us." Severus answered simply. "Not for her. But we'll get our letters, you and Chrys and me."
Chrys grinned widely and Lily whispered, "Really?"
"Definitely." He sounded completely confident.
"Do they really come by owl?" Chrysanthemum asked. She was so excited she was bouncing a bit.
Severus gave a small laugh and said, "Normally, but you two are muggle-borns. Someone from the school will have to come and explain everything to your parents."
"Does it make a difference?" Lily asked. "Being Muggle-born."
Chrys' smile dropped, and her expression grew worried as Severus hesitated. His black eyes glanced from one girl to the other. "No." He finally answered. "It doesn't make any difference."
"Promise?" Chrys asked.
Sev looked her directly in the eyes and said, "I promise"
A/N:Found this on my laptop. Apparently this is my writing from about 4 years ago. Okay in all honesty, most of this chapter was just modified from the books to add Chrys in. But I was just wondering if anyone on here thinks I should continue it? Any opinions on how I can improve the story would be great, Thanks!