Summary: In the original series, Severus could only ever see James in Harry. But what if something had been different? AU. fem!Harry. Snape mentors Alice, the daughter of Lily and James. And it is not like what he was expecting.

Author's Note: I do not own Harry Potter or any of Rowling's original characters. I'm very excited to write this. After reading so many fanfics for so many years, I wanted to try to write one myself.

I couldn't help but wonder what a realistic fem!harry story would be. I thought Petunia would probably be quite envious and bitter towards the daughter of Lily Potter and thus strive to make her life miserable.

I've no doubt there are spelling and grammar errors and I might muddle up details from the books - as beloved as they are to me, it has been a while since I've given them a good read. I am also nervous. I keep finding new things to edit, new parts of the chapter I could flesh out. But if I kept this up, I'd never finish it or publish it.

I hope you enjoy. Reviews are appreciated.

Chapter one: Of Snakes and Roses

Snape had really wanted to hate the child of Lily and James.

He stared down at the letter.

Ms. Alice Lily Potter

The Cupboard under the Stairs

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

If Albus had just let him be, he probably would never have had to deal with the child outside of class.

Instead, Albus wanted him to go deliver the child's Hogwarts letter personally as it was customary to deliver it on the child's birthday. And today was July 31st.

No, today was not going to be a good day. He walked away from the letter to go work on a potion's experiment, trying to pretend that it didn't exist.

Had he not been so distracted by his frustration, he might have wondered what the daughter of Lily was doing in the cupboard under the stairs.

-x-

Petunia Dursley prided herself on being average and ordinary in all respects. She prided herself on being sensible.

Her house was quaint and had no distinguishing qualities. It looked rather like all the other houses in the neighborhood and the inside was just as predictable. Plain furniture. A neither-here-nor-there colour on the walls; perhaps it was that pale pink colour that seemed to decorate the walls of so many other houses in the neighborhood those days.

She loved to gossip with the neighbors and brag about her life. She loved to brag about her husband who had a respectable, ordinary sort of job. Most of all, she loved to brag about her son Dudley who could only ever be delightful in her eyes.

Yes, she was respectable, and proud of it - unlike Lily.

Lily had been the perfect golden child. She had brilliant red hair the colour of glowing embers and striking green eyes. She was indisputably beautiful, and her parents had been thrilled to learn she could use magic.

Petunia, on the other hand, had plain brown eyes and honey blonde hair that looked nice in its own right. She earned good enough marks in school. Perhaps if she had not spent her life comparing herself so much to her sister she would have realized she was remarkable in her own right.

But to her it seemed everybody only ever talked about Lily and how wonderful she was.

The seed of resentment that had planted itself in her heart only grew over the years. It was a deep seated bitterness that was only put to rest when Lily died.

That is, until Halloween, when she opened the door to find Lily's baby, Alice.

Alice was the only decidedly un-ordinary part of her life. It was a part Petunia liked to keep hidden. If someone were to stroll into 4 Privet drive, they would only see pictures of two happy parents and a rather large young boy with plain blonde hair. No one would guess a fourth person lived in the house.

And perhaps what made matters worse was how Alice looked ever so much like her mother.

She didn't have quite the fiery red hair her mum had, but she did have a pretty head of auburn hair. Her eyes were unmistakably Lily's - eyes the colour of emeralds and moss. And just like her mother, strange things seemed to happen around Alice. Lights would flicker, electronic devices would behave strangely, and other various unexplainable things would happen.

Aunt Petunia would never forget the day she came out into the yard only to find Alice communicating to a snake.

Petunia had locked Alice in the cupboard for a week for that. If the neighbors had seen-!

She pushed those thoughts aside. It was easy keeping the child busy, and for the most part out of sight and out of mind. Come the child's eighteenth birthday, they'd be rid of her completely.

That would be the last of Lily gone.

Or so Petunia thought.

-x-

In a small cramped space, a far-too skinny girl was curled up in a cupboard. She recalled the events that brought this punishment of solitary confinement upon her.

"Aunt Petunia, it wasn't me, I swear it - "

" - I won't hear any more of this. Stay in your cupboard. This freakishness has got to stop!"

But Alice didn't understand. It wasn't her fault Aunt Petunia's hair had turned orange...

Alice tried to puzzle through the mystery. She didn't know how it happened. She just remembered feeling intense dread as her aunt had advanced upon her to cut her hair.

For some reason, Aunt Petunia liked to keep Alice's hair short. This most recent time, Alice hadn't wanted her aunt to cut it. This was because last time her aunt had cut it, it had turned out horribly.

Her aunt had cut her hair very short but left her bangs all lopsided and long - presumably to hide the thin lightning bolt scar on her forehead that had been there as long as she could remember. Mysteriously, when she woke up the next morning, her hair looked as though nothing had happened the day prior.

Unfortunately, that only made her aunt angrier.

Strange things like this always seemed to happen to Alice. She could remember one time she was changing in her cupboard when she caught sight of a shadow coming underneath the door that wasn't hers.

When she had peeked outside through the crack under the door, she saw the shoes of her cousin Dudley, who was trying to peer in on her through the crack between the door and the wall. She had felt terrified and ashamed. Then all of a sudden the lightbulb in her cupboard flickered before it sputtered out. It seemed strange that it would have burnt out - it had just recently been replaced.

She had huddled up on her bed and soon her cousin had lost interest as he couldn't see anything.

Another time, her Uncle Vernon had made disparaging comments about her parents as she was serving him tea. The teacup he was holding suddenly broke into thousands of little pieces, and hot tea had spilled all over his lap.

Alice curled up more tightly into a ball. My stomach hurts, she thought. She hadn't had food in three days.

The sound of her cupboard door unlocking put a stop to her thoughts.

Aunt Petunia opened the door and shoved a plate towards her. "Eat," she said sharply. "Then weed the garden."

Alice eagerly took the plate and looked at its contents - a slice of bread with some peanut butter. Oh well. Better than nothing. She did like peanut butter. Happy birthday to me. She scarfed down the bread and quickly went outside to do some weeding in the noonday sun.

Weeding was somewhat calming to Alice. She liked working with plants. She had an affinity for it. She treated them as if they had their own personalities. She gently began removing crabgrass from the flower beds. It was hardy stuff. She admired its resilience. "Sorry," she said to it, "But if I let you stay, you'll choke my roses."

And she truly did love the roses. Aunt Petunia liked to brag to the neighbors all the time about the perfect rose bushes in their front yard, but Alice knew they grew because of her hard work. She was proud of them.. So long as she knew the truth, she was happy.

"Have the mean ones made you come out to do work again, young one?"

A soft voice startled Alice from her work. She looked beside her and saw a thin olive green grass snake, perhaps a foot long. She smiled. "Ruth," she replied. "I have not seen you in a while."

"I have come out every day from the rose bush looking for you, young one. You were not there." Ruth began to entwine herself around Alice's wrist. She hissed contentedly. "Ah. You are warm."

Alice smiled at the snake getting comfortable. "I was in my room."

"I wish your people were small, like crickets. Then I could eat them." Ruth flicked out her tongue.

Alice laughed.

She was not scared of snakes. She had met Ruth some time ago while tending to the garden. Ruth was just a common grass snake, and she was very gentle. Of course, Alice had to be careful not to get caught by her relatives.

Do other people have conversations with snakes? Alice wondered. She figured perhaps snakes could always talk to people if they wanted to but were simply too shy.

Snakes, after all, she mused, were misunderstood creatures. Rather like herself, she thought. She reflected on her unusual garden companion.

Ruth's name was fitting.

It meant "friend".

-x-

Snape traveled the muggle way to Little Whinging, and took great care to dress in muggle-appropriate style clothing (despite how much he loathed it - he much preferred robes). He wore a crisp black button-down shirt tucked into nice black pants. He looked somewhat intimidating as he strode down Privet Drive with purpose.

He was struck with the address on the letter now that he'd had time to contemplate it.

The bit that perplexed him was how it was addressed to the Cupboard under the Stairs. What in Merlin's name was the child doing in there?

It was an awful neighborhood, in his opinion. All the houses were nondescript and near identical.

Then as came up to 4 Privet Drive, he saw her.

Sitting in the garden, laughing, was Lily, just as he remembered her. But no, it couldn't be - this girl was far too young, and Lily was long dead.

But with the sunlight coming down on her hair, for a moment it had looked...

He shook himself out of it. He stood at the edge of the yard.

He studied the girl. She must've been tending to the garden, he thought. She was talking to something -

Is that a snake?

He raised his eyebrows.

She was having a conversation with a snake that was in the garden. That must be Alice, he reasoned, unless there was someone else at 4 Privet Drive who was magical. He doubted not.

But really? The child of Lily and James? A Parselmouth?

He shoved that thought aside for the moment.

The child - Alice - looked underweight and her clothes looked old and tattered. She was wearing a stained and faded pink dress that did not look at all like it fit her. It swallowed her small frame. The uneasy feeling that he had gotten from the address on the letter intensified.

The girl had not yet seen him.

He cleared his throat.

The girl startled and jumped up to her feet to face him. Her eyes were wide. He noted that when she jumped up, the snake must have darted into the grass. It was nowhere to be seen.

Merlin, her eyes. Severus felt utterly disarmed. All previous plans of putting up some facade and pretending to treat this child no differently than any other melted away.

He fought to keep his composure. "Am I right to believe this is the residence of Miss Alice Potter?"

She looked at him, puzzled. "Yes, sir. Is there something I can do for you? Or..." She trailed off, uncertain.

There it was. The confirmation that this young girl was the child of Lily.

Severus shook his head. "There is no need. I came to deliver this letter to you, as it is your eleventh birthday." He held out the yellowed envelope.

The girl looked at it as though it were some treasure. She took it hesitantly. "A letter for me?" she asked, looking up at him. "Are you sure, Mister, er..."

"Severus Snape, professor at Hogwarts - you may call me Professor Snape," he said. "Is there a reason you seem so surprised?"

She continued looking at the letter in her hands. "I don't get letters," she said softly.

He stored that piece of information in his mind. "Today you do," he said simply.

She did not seem spoiled or loud or attention seeking like her father, he thought. On the contrary, she was timid and polite.

Severus watched as she read the letter. Her face grew more puzzled. "Is this a joke, Professor? Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?"

"Did your Aunt and Uncle ever tell you about Hogwarts, Miss Potter?" he asked. When she shook her head, he continued. "It is a school where young witches and wizards can learn how to control their magic - and it is probably the best in Britain."

"Magic," Alice repeated. She looked very uncertain now. "There's no such thing as magic, is there?"

Now that, Severus thought, was concerning.

"Magic is very real, Miss Potter," he said. He considered for a moment what to do. He took out his wand and turned her dress a bright sky blue.

She jumped a bit, clearly surprised. She fingered the fabric, then looked at him in wonder. "That was amazing, sir."

He waved it off. "A simple colour-change charm. You'll be able to do that and more when you graduate Hogwarts," he said.

Alice bit her lip, clearly troubled about something. She looked down at her feet. "I think the letter is wrong, sir. I'm not magic. I can't be. I've never heard of it before now."

Severus raised his eyebrows. "You talking to your snake friend is proof that you can, in fact, use magic. You are a witch, Miss Potter," he said.

"You - you saw?" she asked shakily. She looked as though she expected to be punished.

"You are not in any trouble," he said, and she visibly relaxed. "The ability to talk to speak Parseltongue - to talk to snakes - is something only a witch or a wizard can have. It is uncommon even amongst wizards."

She looked thoughtful. "I thought maybe snakes were just shy," she said. Then a smile grew on her face. "I thought it was weird people didn't like them much. My aunt caught me talking to one once. She was very mad. She made me go to my cup-" her eyes flicked up to Severus "- my room."

He noticed her word change at the last second but chose not to comment on it. He did not want her to withdraw from him. "Snakes are very misunderstood creatures," he said.

Alice smiled. "I think so too."

He decided to take the opportunity to use a bit of legilimency so he could get an idea of the child's home life.

He was disgusted by what he saw.

He caught images in her mind of her aunt slapping her hard across the face for having broken a plate... her uncle ordering her around like his personal servant all the while spewing out insults about her and her parents... her whale of a cousin and his friends chasing her and grabbing her by the hair, calling her a "freak"...

Severus wished he could break something. Petunia ought to have known better, he thought darkly. Keeping a child in a cupboard? Merlin, Petunia.

"I think perhaps I ought to visit your aunt and uncle," he said aloud.

Alice instantly blanched.

"Sir, please don't. They don't like anyone to talk about magic. They'll get angry," she said. "I'll - I'll get in trouble."

Severus interrupted. "They are only muggles, Miss Potter. I will be fine and I will make sure that you do not receive any undeserved punishment for this," he said.

"Muggles?" Alice repeated, confused.

"People who cannot use magic," he explained. "Now, if you excuse me..." He strode up to the front door and knocked.

The look on Petunia's face when she opened the door was priceless. She gaped like a fish and her eyes darted from Severus to Alice who was standing just behind him at his side.

"Y - you -" she stuttered. Severus eyed her. She could have been pretty if she were not so uptight and stiff. Her honey blonde hair was coiled up tightly into a bun on the top of her head. Her voice was high pitched and shrill.

Severus put his hand on the door and stepped inside the house. Alice slipped in as well. Petunia stumbled backwards.

"Yes, me, Petunia. Long time no see," he drawled. He shut the door behind him.

He stared at Petunia, who looked as though she was trying to blend into the drab pink walls of the house. "I wanted to ask you why it is that you make this child - ," he said, gesturing to Alice who was just behind him, "- Lily's child, sleep in a cupboard of all things?"

Her face looked as though she'd just eaten something unpleasant. "We do not make that freak -" she started.

"Do not call her that," Severus interrupted, his voice steely. Petunia closed her mouth. "Do not even try to lie to me. Her Hogwarts letter is addressed to Miss Potter, the Cupboard under the Stairs," he hissed. He looked to Alice. "Do you like sleeping in a cupboard?" he asked. Her eyes darted between Severus and Petunia. She shook her head.

"Do you see, Tuney? She doesn't like it. No child would. How many rooms are in this house? Surely you have enough space?" he growled. "You know Lily would have taken in your son as her own and treated him like family -"

He was interrupted by a stinging pain in his cheek. Petunia was glaring at him, her face red and her hand raised. "Do not talk to me about her," she spat. "She's caused me nothing but pain and now I'm burdened with her freak daughter -"

She paled as Severus drew his wand and pointed it at her chest. "I told you not to call her that," he said. He turned back to Alice. "I think it is time we leave," he said. Alice nodded, looking dazed.

He looked back at Petunia who was still back against the wall, breathing heavily. "We will discuss this more later, Tuney," he said and then shut the door.

-x-

I'm a witch. My mother and father were magical. They loved me. They died for me. I'm... famous.

Alice's mind kept mulling over what she had learned after Professor Snape had taken her to a little pub named The Leaky Cauldron.

They had traveled there very uncomfortably. Professor Snape called in "apparition". She was lucky she hadn't eaten any breakfast that morning. If she had, she might have thrown it all up.

The Leaky Cauldron would probably be described by anyone as "dingy".

Alice loved it.

It felt magical. And when she stepped inside she was full of a room of people who dressed strangely and talked strangely and were just like her.

She had been confused when everyone there suddenly rushed at her, pointing at her scar and saying, "It's Alice Potter! It's the Girl-Who-Lived!"

The Professor had made some loud banging sound with his wand and ordered everybody to let him and Miss Potter eat in peace.

Then he had explained to her that her parents hadn't died in a car accident. That they were murdered by Voldemort, a Dark Wizard. And for some reason, the Killing Curse which was supposed to be unbeatable rebounded back at him when he tried to kill her.

And now she was back in her garden, tending her roses. Not because she had been ordered to by her Aunt Petunia, but because she wanted to.

"The dark man left," Ruth hissed. "I was hoping he would take you away. I do not like it here. It is not good for you, young one."

Alice gently picked her dearest friend up. "He said he will be back tomorrow. He told me my relatives would not bother me. He talked to them when we came back."

Ruth hissed contentedly. "Take me with you when he does. It sounds exciting."

Alice agreed.

She could not wait for tomorrow.

-x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x-

A/N: Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. I am excited be writing again. If this story somehow brings you any amount of enjoyment, it would mean the world if you'd leave a review and say so. But if you don't get to doing so, thank you anyways, and I hope you know I treasure the fact that someone would choose to read something I've cobbled together.