DISCLAIMER: Everything recognized from any of the Harry Potter books belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me. If I owned Harry Potter I would be wicked rich and live in a giant mansion with a humongous library, but alas, I don't.
Déjà Vu
"Lily, Lily, Lily!" a scrawny twelve-year-old girl yelled as she ran down the street after a ten-year-old red head. The ginger seemed to be floating just inches above the bumpy cobblestone road. Her feet were not touching the ground as she moved, and she was parallel to the ground. Her arms were straight out as if she was pretending to be an airplane, and her plaited hair was sticking out flowing behind her head.
The girl running down the street was trying desperately to catch up to her younger sister, but she could not run fast enough. "LILY! Stop this instant or I am going to tell mother!"
"Tell mother, Tuney! She'll think its funny, and this is so much fun I'm not going to stop!"
They were headed to a little dirt road called Spinner's End. Lily was concerned that her older sister Petunia was going to follow her all the way down the street. Petunia had never been down Spinner's End, and Lily was not keen on bringing her there.
Her best friend in the world, Severus Snape, lived at the very end of the street. He was magic, just like her, and ever since he had first told her she was a witch they became best friends. Severus had helped Lily learn to control her magic outbursts and this flying trick was one that she had great control over, not that she would ever tell Petunia.
"Lily! You must get down! You are going to fall and break something and Mum is going to blame it all on me!" Petunia had stopped at the beginning of the dirt road, and had let Lily continue sailing down the street to Severus's house.
"I am not going to fall Tuney!" she shouted back to her. "I'll see you at home later. Can you tell Mother that I will be home around dinnertime?"
Lily landed gracefully on her feet at the door of the Snape's house. Lily had only visited her friend here once, but she did not think that he would mind a surprise visit from her. She knocked on the door three times and ran the bell once before the door opened.
A tall, pale, and sullen women stood in the doorway towering over little Lily. Lily clutched one of her braids in shock to the woman's fierce appearance. "H-hi Ma'am, I'm here to visit Severus." She anxiously awaited the answer of the scary woman.
"You want to play with that disgusting little boy, fine," her voice was sharp and felt like icicles when it hit Lily's ears. The woman turned away from her and shouted into the house. "SEVERUS!" She walked away as her voice carried through the house rattling its old wooden frames.
A skinny and sallow boy came running down the stairs and stood at the door almost at the same instant that the woman had yellowed to him. "Hi, Lily," he said and walked out the door of his house, closing the door.
"Hi Severus," she said quietly. She had been quite shaken by her encounter with that awful woman.
"Do you wanna go to the secret hide out?" he asked as they walked down his street to the main road.
"Of course I do!" Lily said, her mood instantly lifted now that she was with Severus.
They walked to the park and into the bushes that lined the side of the slide. This was their secret hiding spot and they were content with just sitting there and talking instead of being like normal children and playing in the park.
"Who was that horrible lady that opened the door when I knocked?" Lily asked Severus. She was really hoping that it was not his mother, because she could not even imagine having a mother like that.
"That was my mother," Severus said as he made circles in the sand with his hands.
"Oh, Sev!" Lily said and jumped up from the ground and threw her arms around the boy. Severus was shocked but hugged her back cautiously all the same.
Then suddenly the wall of the bushes began to shake and two bulgy boys emerged from the playground into their secret spot. They saw the two of them hugging and immediately began teasing them.
"Snape Snape Snape likes a girly! Evans likes Snape, hahahahaha!" The first, shorter boy, said.
The second, fatter, boy pushed Snape away from Lily and then to the ground. He decided that kicking him in the stomach was a good idea, so he did so with much vigor.
Lily did not like seeing her best friend get hurt, and she moved forward to stop the pudgier boy from beating up her friend. But before she could reach them the shorter boy grabbed her by the arms and held her back from his friend.
"Stop it! Stop hurting him! What did he ever do to you?" Lily turned around and screamed in the boys face.
"You shouldn't be hanging around with a scumbag like him, his family is weird, my parents say so," he sneered back at her.
"Well, you should learn to think for yourself, because Severus is not weird, he's my best friend," Lily stomped on the kid's foot and walked toward Severus and his attacker.
She screamed right in the pudgy boy's face, "YOU BETTER STOP RIGHT NOW OR SOMETHING BAD IS GONNA HAPPEN!"
The boy just laughed at her, and Lily's uncontrollable magic began to take hold. A vine from the bushes that surrounded them awoke to life and began swirling around in the air. It grabbed both bullies by their ankles and swung them around like a lasso before setting them down in the playground.
After the boys were placed on the ground they looked at each other in horror and ran to their house. Lily looked at her friend with a grin, "Well, that'll teach them."
"Thank you Lily," Severus said quietly as he stood up from the ground brushing the dirt off his pants. "I wish you didn't have to do that."
"You're welcome Sev, and don't worry, I'll always be there when you need me." Lily hugged her best friend, "I won't ever leave you if you're in trouble."
Severus felt like he wanted to cry, "I won't leave you either, Lily, I'll always be there too, I promise."
…
But Severus didn't keep that promise, and Lily did. She was there for him always, up until that time at the Whomping Willow where he had called her a Mudblood. She had been crushed that her best friend would call her something so hurtful. He had tried to apologize, but she would not hear it. She did not want to be his friend anymore, but she still tried to protect him from the bullies.
On the night of Lily Potter's death, Severus Snape broke his promise. He could not protect her, and that was only thing that he had ever offered her. And he had failed.
