She never ever said "No!" to him when he pouted at her. Maybe because it made him look especially sad and pitiful with his mismatched, ill-fitting clothes... maybe she really couldn't say no to his pout.

His mother and father though didn't have such qualms. He was to go to this horrid primary school. No buts allowed.

He could see Lily's resolve faltering bit by tiny bit. And he still could keep the pout going. Severus decided to go all out with this: His lower lip started quivering.

Lily's expression became pained and she started squirming ever so slightly. Just a bit longer and he would have cracked her resolve. She'd agree to his idea. All the way. It simply would have to work.

"Oh stop it already Sev! Alright! I'll go with you... But just this once!" Lily finally faltered and agreed. It had only taken five minuted of pouting combined with some artful lower lip quivering.

Lily didn't have to say another word before Severus face slip into a huge grin. "You're the best, Lily!" she only huffed.

"I know. You better make this worth wile. And should we get caught – I'll deny any agreement. You made me, got it?"

"I suppose that's fair." he allowed slowly. Lily nodded, appeased.

"See you tomorrow then?" she asked. He nodded and grinned once more.

Severus practically floated home. He felt as happy as he could get. No school tomorrow! The week-end just had gotten a full day longer.

Lily always had to pass by Severus' home to get to school. Of course Tuney had the same way but since the two girls always left early Lily and Severus always had a few minutes to spare which they expertly used to loiter around his house for a bit – if only to keep Tuney and Sev well apart from each other. They never had gotten along since he had told Lily that she was supposedly a witch destined to go to Hogwarts. Tuney claimed him to be a dirty little freak. Sev was convinced that she was a stuck-up, jealous no-one.

Still... Sev was her only friend. She really was a little strange to the other kids, being able to do things non of them could do... except for Sev of course. So she meticulously kept her sister and her friend well apart to spare herself the unpleasant experience of having them row the whole way to school while trying to get her to take a side in their arguments.

Never before had she been this glad for their silent agreement to stay a certain distance away from her sister after passing Sev's home. They did have plans for today, after all. Or... Sev did have plans and she was going to be his tag-along.

Tuney huffed unhappily when Lily winked at her and walked up to the Snape's front door. The door was thrown open just before she could press the doorbell.

"Morning Lily!" Sev grinned at her and she couldn't help but grin back. To her surprise he even gave her sister a little wave – Tuney just sniffed, turned up her nose and stalked away, clearly unhappy about leaving Lily behind but unable to argue without seeming unfriendly in front of the whole neighbourhood. Tuney always worried what the neighbours thought of her... this also suited Lily just fine since it prevented her sister from making a scene and dragging Lily away from her friend.

"Morning Sev." she chirped. She would never admit it out loud but secretly she was just as happy about cutting classes today as Sev was. Both of them were antagonized by their classmates – only Sev always got of worse since he was not only weird, but not even his clothes matched properly and always hung loosely off his thin frame. Nothing his mother did seemed to help the latter. She never seemed to notice the first... she also ran around in weird clothing combinations. And Tobias Snape... well. He only ever seemed to notice his liquor running low. Nothing much to add to that anymore.

"Good morning, Lily." Eileen Snape greeted her a little dreamily. She never seemed to be anything but dreamy... She also smelled a little musty, but that was because she always brewed some sort of potion. "It is always so very lovely to see you, dear. Would you care for some cocoa?" Lily glanced at the clock on the wall. Still half an hour before they would have to be in school. Or rather... before they should make an appearance. Which, of course, they wouldn't. Being a second grader only held one advantage: Tuney was a whole building away and didn't even share a playground anymore. No chance of ratting them out.

"That would be great, Mrs. Snape!" Lily answered happily. Whatever anyone could say against Eileen Snape... her cocoa was amazing and she was a gracious host.

Eileen merely nodded and went off into the kitchen to heat some milk – thanks to being a witch it didn't take even a minute to get the milk heated appropriately and she added some chocolate and a little cinnamon. To top it off she sprinkled some marshmallows on top. She handed Lily the cup with a warm smile and watched as the girl drank the cocoa.

As always she found herself rewarded with a happy smile, the very one that brought out the dimple in Lily's right cheek and made her jade green eyes sparkle. "Thanks Mrs. Snape! You're the best!" she heard the girl chirp, collected the mug and watched as Lily Evans dragged her exasperated son out of the door.

And as always she went outside the house to have a little chat with her neighbour. Mrs. Flowers had a girl two years younger than Sev and Lily and the boy had just started his primary education and still had the elation of being a big boy now, a school kid whereas Sev as well as Lily had long since found out that other children could be mean and that the things they were being taught there weren't a real challenge. It always felt refreshing to Eileen to hear that Mrs. Flowers' little boy still enjoyed going to school and was excited about going every morning. Of course... having someone to confide her worries over her own little boy and his obvious dislike for going to school in was nice as well.

So it happened that the two women could get lost in tales of their sometimes unruly children and talk away hours on end without noticing...

At the same time Mrs. Evans got ready to attend her childhood friend Mary's wedding ceremony in the local church.

She was very excited about the ceremony – there was nothing better in Mrs. Evans opinion than a good, old-fashioned wedding to let one forget ones sorrows and fears. They were always happy and full of hope and love.

Nothing better than a wedding of a friend to make her forget her bickering daughters, her youngest ones strangeness, and the same daughter's less-than-adequate best friend...

She put on her Sunday dress and her hat, grabbed her clutch and left her house for the church.

It really was a shame that the mechanism for the bells broke just the other day and the sweet pair would have to wed without the sounds of ringing bells...

"So... where are we going?" Lily finally asked after they had left Sev's house well behind them. At the end of the street, just before turning right and seeing the school building, they had stopped, put their school bags on the ground and just revelled in the thought of actually having fooled anyone else. No-one knew they weren't in school.

"How about a stroll though the valley? Down into the woods until we get to the little river? Or through the meadow and to the church garden? No-one's in the church's garden until noon, not during the week, at least." Sev finally said.

Lily furrowed her brow in thought. What to do with a free day? "Better through the meadow to the garden." she said after a little consideration. "Mom knows that there is no open water near the school... it hasn't rained in days and it really won't do for me to get my stockings all muddy at the river. We'd be in sooo much trouble if our parents were to find out..."

"That makes sense." Sev allowed, even if he did look longingly towards the entrance of the forest. Then he grinned, held his hand out to Lily and together they started to run toward the meadow. They jumped over trenches in a field, brushed through the wheat planted by Farmer Mitchell and snatched themselves a few apples from the apple trees on the border to the meadow.

The meadow itself was lush green and dotted with dandelions, daisies and poppies. The sun was warm and bright, even this early in the day. The air was fresh with a touch of morning fog lingering, and collecting in crystal-clear, sparkling drops on blades of grass and on cobwebs.

The sky was a perfect blue with tiny soft-looking clouds drifting high above them. The perfect morning. And they wouldn't have to see their horrible teacher, who took great joy in whacking them on their fingers with his cane or in twisting their ears. The man hated children with a passion and loved it to make them cry. Their classmates weren't better by much. They didn't get away with whacking either Lily or Sev, though, or twisting their ears. Their mothers would then raise hell with the other children's mothers and see to getting them some punishment.

Of course... both Sev and Lily missing the same day would be suspicious. But as far as the two eight year old children thought only today was counting. Tomorrow was a world away.

The way to the church garden was a little steep and the children had to be careful not to slip in the moist grass.

"Hey, Sev?" Lily asked after a little while of walking steadily upward.

"Yes?" Sev was dragging his school-bag on one strap and had knotted his light summer jacked around his waist. The turned around to look at her and she saw that his pale face was a little flushed.

"What are we gonna do the whole day in the church garden? They don't even have a swing set." she was furrowing her brow again while letting her bag drop to the ground to take her own jacket off as well. By doing so the bag rolled a little way back down the hill and Lily scampered after it as soon as her jacked was knotted correctly. She swung it back on her shoulders and pulled the loosened straps tighter.

"I don't know..." he said as soon as she was at his side again. "Maybe we could go and see the farmer's sheep? Then we could hide out in the straw for a little bit..." he wrinkled his big nose a bit which made Lily giggle. Her cheek dimpled cutely whenever she giggled and that made Sev smile. Always.

They hiked on. Lily collected some of the flowers as they went and humming all the while.

Best. Day. Ever.

Mrs. Evans was standing in one of the front rows and followed the wedding ceremony of her friend with a smile on her face.

Mary looked radiant in her gown made of lace and silk. Her bridal bouquet was made out of lilies and roses with soft green leaves wrought in between. The brides mother dabbed at her eyes again and again to ward of the tears and prevent them from ruining her make-up. Her husband looked part proud of his little girl marrying and part bored by the whole thing. Men.

She sighed contentedly. Of course seeing this marriage made her remember her own ceremony. She'd been so happy that day! It had been warm and sunny that day, same as that very day. Her father had been there to give her away, her mother had dabbed at her own eyes to ward off the tears, her sister had been her maid of honour. It had been a perfect day.

She'd only been more happy the day Petunia had been born. She'd been so small and soft, red and squalling, with tufts of silky blond curls and baby-blue eyes.

Then, three years later, Lily came along. She was just as perfect as Petunia had been: tiny, soft, red – skin and hair – and squalling loudly. Even hours after being born her eyes had been the beautiful emerald colour she shared with her paternal grandfather.

Her special little flowers, as she called them.

It was too bad they didn't seem to be able to get along. And if Mrs. Snape said the truth, her Lily was more special than she had imagined when she was being born. She was supposedly a witch... which didn't need to be a bad thing. She could still attend mass, this panicked legends of witches being unable to enter a church or have contact with blessed items. Her daughter had no problems with either...

And so Mrs. Evans found herself sitting in the wedding mass of her friend Mary while imagining her own daughters wedding ceremonies. They'd be such pretty brides one day... hopefully not too soon, though.

She realized that she had missed part of the ceremony because of her day dreams as the priest declared Mary and Herbert to be wife and husband.

The wedding party slowly started to leave the church building. Mrs. Evans stood to follow the brides parents for the church garden.

Lily and Sev had almost reached the church garden. The flowers Lily had collected made quite the bouquet by now, she had so many of them.

Her dress was free of grass stains though, she'd been very careful about that. Her shoes were a little wet and only the tiniest bit muddy – but she'd be able to clean them before going home and pretend school had been the same drag as always. A horrible one. With a cruel teacher and mean classmates.

Then they had reached the church garden and happily let themselves fall onto one of the benches placed under a willow. Their faces were flushed and they swung their legs back and fore during their little break. Sev opened his bag and rummaged around in it before finding his lunch and his water bottle. Lily followed suit and got her lunch and drink out as well. Being best friends they of course traded some of it: Lily got one of Eileen's roast beef sandwiches from Sev in exchange for four of her mother's home-made chocolate-chip cookies.

It was still a perfect day.

Since falling behind wasn't an option and at least Lily was always questioned by her parents about what she had learned that day in school and stuttering and saying "Nothing" was less than satisfactory they even took a peek inside their maths book and solved some easy multiplying questions.

Lily even took out her English book and started reading one of the next stories in the book to Sev so she could practice her reading a bit... nothing made her father's smile broader than hearing his daughters read out loud to him.

It also meant that Lily wouldn't have to tell only lies about the day. She'd be able to honestly say to her mother and father that she'd done some multiplying and that she read the whole story on page twelve.

"Did you hear that?" Sev suddenly asked her.

"No. What?" she looked at him in confusion.

"I'm not sure but I thought I heard voices..."

"You must have dreamed that. You said there would no-one be here until noon! It's just after ten!" Lily looked at him with a furrowed brow. "Or could there be someone?" suddenly she felt afraid. What if there really was someone? They were fairly hidden under the willow but would be plain to see should they try sneaking back to the path down the valley through the meadow where they had trudged up before.

"Let's hope not." Sev said.

All the same they stuffed everything in their bags again and Sev was send out to test the waters. Maybe they'd make it to the path. After all... they couldn't be this unlucky! They never before cut classes. Why should they be found out the very first time? Where was their beginner's luck?

She heard a distinct screech and her stomach did a funny little flip. Of all the persons they could have met there... why had it to be her mother?

"Severus Snape!" she heard her mother yell rather loudly. Other voices started to join her mothers, asking her friend what he was doing in the church garden at a time like this. At this moment Lily understood her mothers from-time-to-time-sentiment as to why living in a smallish suburban village was a horrible burden and that everyone knowing everyone wasn't very fortunate for all people involved.

"I... um... I was... just..." Sev stammered and Lily could practically hear him starting to sweat bullets. It was only a matter of moments before someone would part the concealing leaves of the tree and see her sitting there on the bench with their bags at her feet. She sighed. If her dad had taught her one thing then it was that she should own up she had done something she shouldn't have. And all of a sudden she remembered Tobias Snape's volatile temper concerning the faults of his son. If she did what she had promised Sev she'd do if they were found out he'd be in more trouble than anyone should be in.

She stood up and grabbed their bags before stepping out from under the concealment of the willow tree.

There must have been a wedding. But the bells had been silent during the whole day... when she thought about it... they hadn't rung in the last two days at all.

Her mother saw her at once. Her mouth opened and closed without a sound. Her face took on an almost purple colour. Her eyes became big as saucers. "Hey mummy." Lily said quietly. Sev whirled around and stared at her. As if he couldn't believe someone could be stupid enough to walk into this situation willingly. She tried smiling at him but it felt more like a grimace.

"LILY SOPHIA EVANS!" her mother thundered at her, finally having found her voice again. She couldn't help it, she cringed a little and started shuffling her feet. Sev silently took his bag out of her hand. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" her mother was in full-out yelling mode.

She glanced around, everyone was staring at them. She shrugged her shoulders. "We didn't want to go to school. No-one likes us and everyone teases us..." she mumbled and grabbed Sev's hand out of a whim. Her mother glared at them, then turned around to the bride and groom.

"I'm so very sorry, Mary, Herbert, but I have to take these two to school now." Mrs. Evans said rather stiffly.

"The bride, Mary, nodded in understanding. "Of course. You know where we'll celebrate, so please join us after you're done, all right?" she smiled brightly from her husbands side – of course she thought this to be awfully amusing.

Mrs. Evans whirled back around and grabbed them on their upper arms. She was still livid and nothing those two said could pacify her.

"But mummy! It is really horrible there! Why do we have to go?" her brow was furrowed again.

"Yes, Mrs. Evans! Even the teacher is a meanie! We don't even have to be naughty to be punished..." he pouted. Sadly enough his pout didn't work at all on Lily's mother.

"I'll take you straight to school now!" she didn't look at the children and her scowl could have soured fresh milk. "And how very lucky indeed that we'll walk past your home, Severus Snape."

The whole way to Severus' home the two children protested for all it was worth. Repeatedly Mrs. Evans was told how horrid the teacher was, how mean the other children were, how boring the school-work was being, that they'd already done the work of the week plus possible homework. Nothing worked on Lily's mother, though she did peak up at the mention of boring school-work and already completed possible assignments. That was something she would have to look into...

As they came close to Sev's home, the boy really had to be dragged on.

From afar Eileen already recognized Mrs. Evans, Lily's stiff and composed mother. She had Lily and Severus with her... odd.

Of course Eileen could think of only one possible reason why they came from the same direction Lily lived. They hadn't gone to school. Her son and his friend had tried to cut classes. Eileen sighed.

"I'm very sorry, Mrs. Flowers. It seems my son is more unruly than I anticipated." This of course let to the neighbour turning around and frowning at the incoming people.

"Oh my!" she said and clapped her hands together. Eileen frowned unhappily. She wasn't very fond of gossip... still her family was more often than not smack in the middle of the 'most exciting gossip' around the neighbourhood. Tobias was constantly drinking too much, their lawn was full of weed and hadn't been mowed in the last three weeks, the fence needed paint, as did the shutters in front of the windows. Old paint was peeling off of the door and the postbox stood rather crooked by the fence. Their son wore old, ill-fitting clothes, Sev's hair was too long (she couldn't afford a hairdresser and whenever she herself tried anything with her boy's hair it looked worse than the long locks.) and greased awfully fast. And he was in need of braces, she could tell. Her handiwork with the necessary charms to correct his teeth wasn't good enough that she'd dare and try.

And now her son had tried to cut classes... and probably had begged Lily to tag along. Now they'd be even more on the 'antisocial-side' of the spectrum than before because everyone would assume Sev to be a horrible influence. She sighed again. Then, when Mrs. Flowers had scurried off to blab to someone else, she started scowling and growling and put her hands on her hips.

"Mrs. Snape." Mrs. Evans started when the little group reached Eileen. "I found them lounging under the willow in the church's garden - cutting classes!" Lily's mother huffed angrily.

Eileen turned her angry gaze upon her son. Who wouldn't meet her eyes, his face set in stubborn lines. She growled some more. "What. Is. The. Meaning. Of. This?" she had trouble getting air into her system, she was that angry.

"School sucks." Sev muttered. She saw his little red-haired friend nodding and Mrs. Evans hit her daughter on her behind. Eileen in turn grabbed her son and whirled him around so he was facing her.

"SEVERUS!" she yelled. "YOU CANNOT CUT CLASSES!"

"But-" he got no further before Eileen grabbed him and started frog-marching him toward the school.

"NO! I do not want to hear a word! Nothing – you hear me – NOTHING excuses cutting classes, Severus!" she was still very huffy. "You wait until your father hears of this!"

Mrs. Evans nodded along. She had half-feared that the boy's mother would brush her off so now she was happy to see the woman chastise her boy. As she'd done with her girl.

Normally she never brought her kids to school in person. Today was somewhat different, it seemed. Sometimes her husband would take their girls to school in his car. But those times were scarce at best. On the first day of school she had taken both Petunia and Lily to their first lesson, of course, but after that the girls went alone. Not it seemed that this arrangement came to bite her in her backside.

It surprised her a little that Eileen Snape was still shouting at her son and shoving him along by the scruff of his neck. Whatever argument the boy tried to put up his mother shot down momentarily. Her face was tomato red from shouting all the way and the colour was slowly crawling down her throat to her décolletée. Whenever her daughter tried to chime in to help her friend Mrs. Evans grabbed the girl's arm tighter.

The two children complained all the way to the school building.

Their mothers didn't listen to their complaints. They just pressed on.

To Sev's and Lily's utmost displeasure their mother's didn't listen to their complaints. As if they were lying or something like that!

They reached the school in no time at all. Right in the middle of a lesson, of course. Their teacher took one glance at them and sneered. It didn't help that their mothers had simply waited around a corner, so when they reappeared after five minutes, set on the idea of leaving right after the two woman had left, they were send right back to the classroom. They knew they had lost.

Their classmates snickered.

"And were might you two have been all morning?" their teacher asked with a silky voice.

They shared a glance. Of course the man would know when either of them told a lie.

Sev mumbled something and Lily gulped.

Then she said haltingly: "We were cutting classes." she looked down on her shoes. "We're very sorry, sir."

Sev was clever enough to nod along and look as sorry as he could.

"I... see." Their teacher said. "What might have change your mind then?" was the next question. The answer was embarrassing enough as it was. Saying it out loud in front of all those horrible brats they were forced to call classmates was worse.

"Our mothers caught us and brought us..." Sev admitted as quietly as possible. The front row snickered but their teacher played deaf.

"I was not able to catch that, Mr. Snape. Please repeat it, but louder this time." his mouth smiled pleasantly. His eyes were cold as ice.

"Our mothers caught us and brought us." Severus said loud enough to carry his voice even to the very back of the classroom. The snickering was much louder by now. Severus was shuffling his feet, his face was burning bright red. Lily was resembling a ripe tomato by now, with her fiery hair and the reddened face.

"Very well." was the only answer their teacher gave them.

At the end of the day, hours after their classmates had left for home, and after serving their detention by repeating the time they had missed because they cut the lessons. Their behinds were still hurting...

"Sev..." Lily started tiredly.

"Hm?"

"Let's not cut classes again."

"Okay..." he agreed and dragged his feet home. He really hoped his mother had not told his father. Maybe she had considered his going to school late as a well deserved punishment.

But one thing was for sure: Never again would Severus Snape try to cut classes again. And he would never drag his best friend Lily into his misdeeds again...

A/N: This little story actually is loosely based on something my mother's cousin once did...! I always am being told the funniest things about him and his misdeeds... there are several more stupid things he did well before he entered grammar school. So if this story gets some reviews and is generally liked I might write another such story :-)

Greetings, Baltaine