Chapter 1: They Meet

Severus had watched Lily playing in the shared space between their childhood homes numerous times before they actually spoke. As he thought back on it, he liked to remember her there alone as she braided clover into bracelets, and perhaps blew overzealously as she wished upon dandelions.

Of course, that was not the case. She was always accompanied by that thing she called her sister. Their sororal play began innocently enough. Running, clover picking, braiding.

"Look, Petunia! I've made a bracelet" Lily would say.
"That's nice, but I've made a necklace" Petunia would reply.
"It's lovely, Petunia."

"Yes. I think Mummy will like mine best!"

With this exchange, or one similar to it, Severus could see Lily's cheeks turn red. He knew, after having witnessed a number of these scenes, that Lily would keep her thoughts to herself. Or at least she would try to.

On this specific occasion, while Lily most certainly kept her mouth shut, she faltered in another way. She shot a jealous glance at Petunia's very ordinary clover necklace.

Severus wringed his hands in anticipation.

Something must happen this time, he thought to himself. And it did. Suddenly, the necklace of flower like weeds wrapped around Petunia's fingers converted into a harmless garden snake. Lily covered her mouth in shock.

Petunia shouted, "a a a snaaake!" and threw it away from her as quickly as she could. As it flew in the opposite direction, it once again returned to its state as a clover necklace. Somewhat shocked, but mostly angry, she turned her gaze towards Lily.

"This is all your fault" she sneered. "These kinds of demented things follow us everywhere we go. No, not us. You. I've never had a single solitary moment like this when I've been anywhere other than with you! Freak! Get away from me!"

Petunia immediately turned towards the house, not giving Lily the chance to defend herself. It didn't seem to matter; she was visibly defeated. She sat near a tree and began to cry. Under her breath she whispered, "I just don't understand how these things happens."

But Severus did, and he knew this was his moment to perhaps not only bring comfort to this fiery haired, bright eyed girl, but also to make a friend. So, with shaking hands and shallow breath, he emerged from his hiding place on the other side of the small field. He took several cautious steps, and then coughed as to signal Lily that he was there, but that he didn't want to startle her. She looked up at him for a moment, and then lowered her head back into her hands.

Having finally arrived at Lily's side, he asked her, "Is it okay if I sit with you for a while?"
Lily didn't look up from her hands and said, "Sure." So Severus sat. They remained there, quietly for a moment before either of them spoke.
Surprisingly, Severus found himself offering up the words to break the ice.

"I'm Severus," he said. "Snape. I just live there, across the way." He signaled to a modest, slightly dilapidated home nestled behind some large shrubs.

Lily, finally looking up from her hands, replied, "and I'm Lily."
There was another short awkward silence. Severus wanted to tell Lily not to be sad, or afraid. That she wasn't a freak, and that he knew what she truly was: a witch. But how could he tell her that without being accused of lunacy or lying? How could he possibly approach that topic with someone purely muggle born?

While he was mid-thought, Lily spoke "I'm Lily, the freak. You might not want to sit so close to me or spiders might fall into your hair. Or perhaps a large bogie may grow legs and crawl right out of your nose. I'm horrible luck." She pulled some grass out of the ground and threw it.

"You're not a freak" said Severus. "You're special. You're not like, like the others."

Lily had a puzzled look on her face, like maybe she ought to be offended.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's just...," he began "look. If I tell you the truth, then you have to promise not to laugh at me."

"Cross my heart!" Lily offered, perhaps a little too interested in what Severus might say next.

"I know what you are, because I'm one too. You're a witch. I'm a wizard, not a witch, because I'm a boy, but it's the same thing. We can do things that muggles – erhm, people without magic – can't do."

Lily said nothing. She just stared at Severus with her big, watery, green eyes. She kept staring until he felt so uncomfortable he began to speak again.

"Like, when you're angry. Have you ever notice when you're really upset that the framed photos fall off the wall, or dinner somehow burns when it's only been on the stove for 3 minutes?"

"Yes." Lily offered, in a near whisper. "But how is that magic?"
Severus looked at her and laughed, which caused Lily to immediately wrinkle her face in offense.

"Those are pretty boring examples, it's true" he said, "but what about what's just happened with Petu...your sister's clover necklace and the garden snake?"
Lily, slightly taken aback, asked, "you saw that?"

"I was in my yard, and I heard you playing. I was curious as to who was nearby, and peeked through the shrubs just in time to see it" he lied. He most certainly wasn't going to admit he'd been watching her for weeks.

"Oh dear" Lily sighed. "You must think I'm awfully terrible to produce something as horrible as a snake."

Severus was glad that that's what concerned her most, and not the fact that he'd almost said her sisters name, giving away his secret.

"I have seen, and done, worse. I promise."

This seemed to console Lily. She looked at him with a slight wonder in her eyes. How did this boy know so much about magic? How could she be sure to trust him?

"How do I know if you're telling the truth?" she asked.

"Because soon, on your 10th birthday, you should get a letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I already got my letter, as I just turned 10 a few days ago."

Lily sat pensive for a moment. Then asked, "will you please come to my birthday party, so we can open it together?"

Severus had never been so happy in all his life. So happy, in fact, that he began to cry. Before Lily could even ask, Severus looked directly at her and said, "no one has ever invited me to their birthday before."
"So you'll come, then?" Lily pleaded.

Severus nodded a very obvious yes.

Suddenly, a sharp, male voice cut through the air.

"Severus Snape, you little rat. I don't remember giving you permission to leave this house, boy. You are in for it when you get back, you hear me?" The man's yelling came to a halt, and the children could hear him stumbling drunkenly over a large piece of lawn furniture.

"I better go. It's my dad..." whispered Severus.

Lily squeezed his hand and said, "you'll be out of there soon enough."

Luckily, school would start at Hogwarts in early September. Just 3 weeks away...and only 5 days until Lily's birthday, which Severus would attend with the nastiest black eye Lily had ever seen.

But, as promised, they would open the letter together, and Lily's parents would not be surprised.