A/N

My first Harry Potter fan fiction. I don't own the amazing world of HP or the characters, it all belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Here is the first chapter, please tell me what you think, thank you :)
A bit in here is mentioned in the last book, but it was too important to leave out. Sorry about that, thanks :)

Severus ran a hand through his long black hair, a slight frown between his dark eyebrows as he watched the two girls play. The brunette was sitting there with a disdainful expression whilst her red headed sister was showing her something. Severus wasn't certain, but he had a pretty good idea of what it was.

The small boy picked up a dead leaf from the ground, holding it delicately in his hand. After a few seconds, it began to glow a beautiful green, the colour spreading out from where his pale fingertips clutched it. Eagerly, the small child looked up, to see if the red head had noticed, but she was running in completely the opposite direction, apparently crying.

Severus's dark eyes moved to her sister, who was sitting on a bench looking mildly uncomfortable. The brunette looked around and suddenly noticed him watching her. Immediately, the girl got to her feet, shot him a frightened look before turning and running after her sister.

Severus cast his eyes down to stare at the brightly coloured leaf in his hand, anger and sadness washing through him. As though willing to reflect his emotions, the green leaf began to darken to an orange, and then to a brown and finally, it turned to dust. Slowly, Severus opened his fingers, allowing the remains to drift lifelessly to the ground.

"""""""

Severus was in his room when his father came home. He always knew when he returned from his day at work by the immediate shouting that started up. Why was the house so messy? Why wasn't dinner prepared? Where was his freak of a son?

At this point, Severus was called down, and he hung at the bottom of the staircase, staring at the floor instead of looking up at his imposing father. He would be told to go and fix dinner whilst his father 'dealt' with his mother. And of course, he would oblige.

That today was no different. Whilst Severus was boiling up a watery stew, he found that all he could think about was that girl, Lily. As far as he knew, Lily had no idea what she was; her parents and sisters were all muggles. It was then, whilst Severus was dishing up the foul stew to the background noise of screaming and cruel words that he decided that he would tell her everything. Perhaps they would even become friends. Maybe then he wouldn't be alone.

"""""""

Severus was watching Lily again. His hand was clenched tightly, firmly. He had his speech all planned out in his mind, he knew what he was going to say, and he just needed to find the right time to say it.

The red head was flying through the air, staying airborne for an abnormal length of time, much to the protest of her elder sister. Then she began demonstrating something with a flower,

"It's not right! How do you do it?" the brunette had stamped on the bud, and was now asking her sister for direction with obvious longing

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Severus asked, stepping out of the shadows. Petunia let out a squeal and ran backwards towards the swings, but her younger sister stayed were she was, staring at the boy.

"What's obvious?" she questioned and a light pink flush coloured Severus's unhealthy cheeks.

"I know what you are…" he lowered his voice, giving a strange glance to Lily's older sister.

"What do you mean?" Lily was staring at him, obviously curious about what he had to say.

"You're a witch!" he whispered, only to be faced with an offended looking girl.

"That's not a very nice thing to say to somebody!" she snapped, obviously disappointed as she marched back towards her sister.

"No!" Severus's cheeks burned brightly, running after the girl. "You are a witch! I've been watching you for a while. There's nothing wrong with it! My mum is one and…and I'm a wizard!"

The girls' stared at him for a second, before the brunette laughed coldly. "A wizard!" she cried. "I know who you are! You're that Snape boy! You live down Spinner's End!" her tone was disapproving and anger bubbled in Severus's veins as she asked him why he had been spying.

"I have not been spying!" Severus's cheeks burned, and he ran a hand through his dirty locks, conscious of his filthy appearance in the presence of these well-kept girls. "Wouldn't spy on you, anyway," it was now his tone that became snide and spiteful. "You're a muggle!"

Petunia recognised the spite in his tone, although she didn't understand the word used. Hurt flashed across her face and she grabbed her sister by the wrist. "Come on Lily! We're leaving!" she turned, pulling her sister after her. Lily didn't resist, obeying her older sibling.

Severus stared after them, his cheeks burning hot now. He clenched his fists tightly, and his eyes shone in tears. That wasn't how he had intended for things to go. He wanted him and Lily to be friends, to play together.

"""""""

Some weeks later, Severus sat alone on a swing. He swung his legs in the air, unable to reach the ground and leant his head against the chain, sobbing quietly. The wind was icy cold, and his threadbare clothes did nothing to protect him. His tiny body was shivering under the huge black jacket thrown over his shoulders.

As he cried, his tears seemed to freeze to his cheeks, stinging his face. Angrily, he wiped them away, sniffing softly.

"Are you okay?"

A soft girl's voice sounded from the swing next to him and Severus's head jerked up. It was Lily Evans. She was sitting next to him.

Alarmed, Severus jumped to his feet, hanging his head so his hair fell in front of his face, hiding his tears.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked again, also getting to her feet.

"W-why would anything be wrong?" Severus snapped, his dark eyes darting up to angrily glare at her. The girl merely raised an eyebrow.

"When someone is sitting out here, in the cold, alone and crying, it tends to imply that they aren't happy." She moved closer towards him, his green eyes warm and friendly. "It's okay. I'm not going to laugh."

"I-I'm not crying! Th-the wind is stinging my eyes!" Severus protested, unable to stop himself from stumbling over his words, forcing back a sob.

"What's your name?" Lily asked, ignoring this obvious lie and resting a hand on her shoulder. "You're the boy that lives down Spinners End, right?"

Severus sniffled a little and glanced up, cringing away from her gentle touch. Realising that she had made him uncomfortable, Lily drew her hand back, looking apologetic.

"S-Severus." The boy managed to stutter out, and Lily smiled.

"That's an unusual name!" she declared, looking thoughtful. "But I like it. It sounds like 'severe', and that's the complete opposite of you!" a grin spread across her impish face as the boy stared at her.

"You…you like my name?" he questioned softly. "That's really nice of you." He gave a small, watery smile as she laughed.

"Of course! It's much better than Lily." She rolled her eyes as she said her name, shrugging.

"That's a beautiful name!" the words were out before he could stop himself, and he flushed, turning away to hide his face.

"…Thanks." Lily was practically beaming. "Hey…are you blushing?" she laughed, unthinkingly grabbing Severus's shoulder as she did. The boy yelped, jerking away and stumbling back a few steps, giving the girl a look that was not dissimilar to that of a deer caught in the headlights.

Lily's green eyes widened, and she held up her hands. "I'm sorry…" she said, looking confused. "Did I hurt you?"

Slowly, Severus shook his head, biting his lip. "N-no. You didn't. Sorry."

Lily stared at him, concern evident in her face. She moved so she was standing next to him, reaching up to gently brush Severus's long hair from his face. He cringed, but didn't move away. Her soft fingers moved the brush the darkened area of skin just under his left eye, and she let out a quiet gasp.

"Severus…who hit you?" she whispered. "I thought you had a bruised eye…!"

"No one," he pulled away now, turning his back on the girl. "No one hit me. I fell down the stairs, that's all."

"You…fell down the stairs?" Lily arched an eyebrow. "How did you get a black eye from falling down the stairs? And you practically looked like you'd seen a ghost when I touched your arm. Is your arm bruised too? Let me see!"

"Get away!" Severus turned around, his dark eyes aflame in anger. Hidden beneath the sleeves of his huge jacket, his tiny hands were curled into fists. "Why do you act like you care? Go back to your stupid, muggle sister already!" he shouted, his face screwing up as he fought back the urge to start crying again.

"…Muggle? That sounds mean, Severus." Lily said softly. "And I was acting like I care, because I do. You're always so lonely; I thought you might want a friend. And I was just worried. That's all."

Severus roughly rubbed his eyes with his sleeve, sniffing slowly. "You shouldn't be worried. Why would you want me as a friend?"

Lily looked at him with sad green eyes. "It's obvious, isn't it?" she said, and he looked up, a slight frown creasing his pale forehead. Her lips curled up into a smile. "I know what you are! You're a wizard!"

All of a sudden, Severus's face lit up, and a wide, enthusiastic grin curled his lips. "You believe me?"

"Of course!" Lily smiled back. "How else can those things I do be explained?"

Practically beaming now, Severus wiped his eyes for one last time and returned to his swing. He couldn't remember the last time that he had felt so happy. "But what about your sister?" he asked suddenly, his eyes, although being black, where somehow bright and cheerful.

"Ah, what she doesn't know won't hurt her," Lily gave a very mischievous smirk and sat on the swing next to her new friend. "So, tell me more. Are there other like us?"

"Of course! There's an entire world out there! Hidden just out of sight." Severus exclaimed, gesticulating wildly. "There's even a school!"

"A school?" Lily's face brightened. "Can I join?"

"Everyone can!" Severus replied. "I expect your name has been down since you were born. We get a letter when we're eleven, and it tells us all about it. It's called Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts? That's such a strange word." Lily giggled, staring at Severus in admiration. Helplessly, the boy blushed, lowering his dark eyes in embarrassment. There was a long moment of slightly awkward silence before Lily – unable to help herself – spoke.

"Why were you crying earlier? Did you really fall down the stairs?"

Severus's happy eyes darkened once more. "They were arguing. At home. I just got in the way; I make him mad you see. We both do me and my mother."

"Why? Is it he not a wizard?" Lily's eyebrows arched in concern as Severus shook his head.

"No. He's a muggle." Catching her confused expression, Severus proceeded to explain. "A muggle is someone who doesn't have a magical drop of blood in their veins. They can't do magic and never will. They're ordinary."

Lily twisted her mouth. "So…my parents and Petunia are muggles?" a nod from Severus confirmed her fears and she sighed. "So…how come I can do magic?"

Her friend shrugged. "I don't know, but it does happen. You're just lucky, I guess."

Lily lapsed into a thoughtful silence, giving a quick nod. "So, your dad hit you?"

Severus gave a half-hearted shrug. "I don't think he meant too. He was just angry. He doesn't like me because I'm different. And my mother, he hates her as well. He doesn't exactly like many things."

Lily tried to understand this, frowning slightly. Having been brought up in a happy, caring family, she struggled to realise how Severus had been treated. Her parents told her not to do her magic when people were around because they didn't want others to treat her badly. To treat her like how Severus's father treated him, she realised.

"So, does he hit your mother?"

"Sometimes." Severus mumbled, chewing on his lip. "I just hide in the corner and close my eyes. I try to imagine that I'm at Hogwarts all ready. I can't wait to go."

"Well, when's your birthday?"

"In about month," Severus replied, his face breaking out in an eager grin. "When is yours?"

"A little over a month!" Lily exclaimed. "30th of January!"

"Twenty one days after mine," Severus smiled, suddenly noticing how bright her green eyes were. "I'll get you something!"

"You don't have too," Lily said, suddenly feeling bad. Severus clearly didn't have much money. "You've already given me a new, secret world. I don't need any more."

There was a long pause, and the Severus gave a short nod. "Okay then, I guess."

"But, I'll get you something."

"No!" the dark haired boy shook his head. "No way. I mean, I've already got your friendship…right?" his troubled eyes looked to her for confirmation, and suddenly she was on her feet, wrapping her arms around his thin shoulders. Severus froze as she whispered in his ear.

"Of course, Sev. I would've thought that much was obvious."

And, awkwardly, Severus found himself wrapping his own arms around Lily's small waist, smiling gently as he breathed in her scent, his head buried in her shoulder as, for the first time, tears of happiness trickled down his face.