July 25, 1970
Cokeworth

'It is real, isn't it? It's not a joke?' whispered the little girl softly. In her trembling hands she was holding an envelope with her name and address on it, written in green ink. 'You're not trying to make me look like a fool, right?'

Her sister's friend looked at the blonde girl and nodded. 'It is real, Petunia. Really,' he told her, after which both she and her sister let out a sigh of relief. 'I don't know why you two are so surprised about it, either. I told you that you'd get it.'

'I know you did, Sev,' Petunia answered. 'But still, it's different, you know?'

'Yeah, Sevvie! It's so exciting! I can't believe Tuney is actually going to Hogwarts in September!' Lily cried out happily, not noticing the slightly uncomfortable expression that crossed Petunia's face.

'I suppose,' the black-haired child drawled. 'I think you two should head home soon, however. According to Mother, Muggleborn students always get a visit from a Hogwarts professor soon after receiving their letter.'

If possible, Lily got even more excited by this news and promptly ran off to get to know her first real witch or wizard, because of course Petunia, Severus couldn't be called such, nor could Severus's mother; she'd known them for far too long to consider them anything out of the ordinary.

Petunia hesitated slightly, a hesitation that Severus swiftly picked up on. 'Why are you so scared, Tuney?' he asked the girl.

Petunia didn't answer immediately, instead averting her eyes towards the ground in a show of shame. Severus remained silent, though, knowing that his silence would prompt her to speak more than his urging would. 'I'm just a bit nervous,' Petunia started after a short while. 'What if the Professor decides I shouldn't go to Hogwarts after all? Or if Mum and Dad don't approve and don't let us go? Or if I do really poorly in all my classes?'

Severus didn't know how to reply to the barrage of questions fired at him. Amazed by how insecure the older girl was about it all. But her questions hadn't come to an end just yet.

'Or worse,' she whispered. 'What if no one likes me and I'll be all alone for an entire year?'

Severus smiled kindly at the blonde girl with the slightly long neck. 'You'll do fine, Tuney. You'll forget about Cokeworth within two days and you'll make so many friends that you'll forget to write Lily and I and then we'll be the ones being lonely,' he told her. 'And don't you ever doubt that you're really a witch. Don't you remember the first time we met?'

August 7, 1967
Cokeworth

It was a lovely late-summer day and the wind was gently blowing through the small industrial town of Cokeworth. Most of the town was currently deserted, as most people were enjoying their summer holidays in more pleasant surroundings. Not everyone had that luxury though and Severus Tobias Snape was one of the poor souls who had had to spend the entirety of his summer holidays in Cokeworth, where the only things that happened were the arguments of his parents.

Luckily for him, though, his boring summer was about to come to a grinding halt.

As he made his way to the old rickety playground, he noticed that the town wasn't quite as deserted anymore. He saw two girls, about the same age as him – or so it seemed –, playing on the swings. He had never seen them before, which was odd considering there was only one primary school in their immediate surroundings, and considering their hair colours that rather stood out, one a shiny blond and the other a fiery red.

"Must be new in town," he thought to himself and whilst he did so, he was doubting if he should turn back home or not. He had never been all that good with his peers, always considered an oddball and a freak, and often bullied because of it. He was in no mood to start off the bullying early and thus, he decided to take off and find another spot in town where he could enjoy his solitude. But just as he made to turn around, he saw something that brightened up his entire day, if not his entire life.

The girls were soaring to the sky, jumping off the swings at impossible lengths. The one even further than the other and when they landed, their feet barely even made a dent in the soft sand, so gentle it was. The girls were laughing together and the redheaded girl challenged her companion to another go, not accepting her loss and immediately vying for revenge. 'Come on, Tuney! You cheated! I want a rematch!' she told the blonde girl, to which she just laughed harder and replied that they had both cheated, but that she had just done it better.

They were magical, they were just like him! Severus couldn't have been happier to finally find children whom he could relate to; to whom he wouldn't be a freak or a weirdo. Gathering all his courage, he walked up to them. 'Hello, my name is Severus Snape. You two are witches, right? It's so great to…' Severus started, but he was quickly interrupted by the blonde girl.

'Excuse me? What did you just call us?' she angrily said.

'Witches!' he repeated happily. 'Just like me! Though technically I'm a wizard.'

'Witches? Wizards?' the redheaded girl asked. 'You mean like magic?'

'Yes, of course it's magic!' Severus exclaimed, a bit surprised. He had never thought about the possibility that these girls didn't know they were witches. "How could you not know that about yourself?" he wondered, "They must be – what does Mother call it again? – Muggleborn! How weird!"

'Why should we believe you?' the blonde girl, how appeared to be the older of the two, asked of him.

'Hmm, that's a good question. Let me think about that one…' Severus mumbled. The girls looked at him with eyes filled with disbelief, but just as they were about to say something, Severus started speaking again. 'Right! You know how you two just jumped off those swings?' he asked them.

'What about it?' the redhead asked.

'Well, it's not exactly normal, is it?'

'So now you're insulting us, too?' the blond asked. 'Okay, enough. Let's go, Lily. Let's go help Mum and Dad with unpacking.' The girl grabbed Lily's hand and made to walk off, pulling the redhead along.

But before they got too far Severus grabbed Lily's other hand. 'No! Wait!' he yelled, he dropped Lily's hand as he realised that he'd actually seized it . 'Please just listen to me!' There was genuine desperation in his voice and his face looked near-heartbroken.

'Tuney,' Lily said. 'Shouldn't we just give him a chance? I don't think he's actually insulting us.'

Tuney looked at her sister, shaking her head as she replied 'Well, I suppose we could give him a chance. It'll probably be more fun than helping Mum and Dad anyway.' Then she looked at the boy with lanky black hair and said 'So, what do you want?'

'Well,' he said. 'The thing is…' Severus gulped nervously. 'I think you guys have magic,' he told them quietly. And quiet is what it became after his statement. Tuney's eyebrows shot up in disbelief and Lily was just gaping at him in a state of utter disbelief. Severus saw that they needed a bit more information and continued 'Just like what you just did. You flew off those swings, that's not normal at all. That's magical!'

'So magic is real?' Lily asked him demurely. 'Witches with black cats and warts on their noses and flying around on broomsticks?'

'Yes!' Severus shouted happily. 'Yes! Yes! Yes!' But as his brain caught up with his enthusiasm he added 'Well, except for the warts. And they don't have to have black cats, either. Or fly broomsticks. Some of them prefer owls and Floo travel.' The last statement got him another weird look from Tuney.

'You're pulling our noses,' she stated.

'No! I promise you I'm not!' he replied. 'Look, there must be other things that you've done. Things that you couldn't explain, that just happened.' Severus looked at the blonde girl pleadingly, begging her to open her mind to the idea of magic. 'I mean, I once turned my father's favourite pair of trousers bright yellow! He was angry with me for a month! Especially after my mum wasn't able to turn them back!' he blabbered quickly, making Lily giggle.

'Well, I did make my broccoli disappear last week so I didn't have to eat it,' Tuney said with a contemplative note in her voice. 'Okay, suppose you're right, what next? Why haven't we ever heard about this before and why can't Mum and Dad do magic?'

Severus happily took the rest of the afternoon to tell his new friends everything he knew about the magical world and all its oddities. Well, at least, as much as he could fit in before it was time for supper.

July 25, 1970
Cokeworth

Petunia smiled softly, 'Yes, I do remember,' she said. 'It took you forever to convince us that you weren't just insulting us or making a fool of us.' The memory was making her feel much better already. She hugged the younger boy and murmured a quick 'Thank you, Severus' as she did so. When she released him, she bid him a quick goodbye and continued to take off after her younger sister, leaving the young boy standing there with his cheeks burning a bright red.

September 1, 1970
London

'Don't forget to write us at least once a week! And you have to write us tonight! I so want to know who's going to win our bet! Sev will be even more annoying than usual if he's right, so please get sorted in Gryffindor, okay? That's where I want to go, anyway, and I couldn't stand not being in the same House as you! Ooh, and I'm really going to miss you, Tuney! I can't wait 'til Christmas! Or better yet, I can't wait 'til next year when we'll all be going!'

'Lily, you're rambling so much that my ears are going to fall off,' Petunia told her little sister, hugging her as she did so. 'Don't you worry about a thing. I promise that I'll write you as often as I possibly can, and I can't wait 'til next year, either, but I'm, sure that we'll both be able to survive this year just fine.' Petunia smiled at Severus in remembrance of his reassurance and he gave her a polite nod back in return.

'I think it's time for you to go now, Petunia, dear,' a blonde woman standing behind the two girls said.

'Yes, you're right, Mum,' Petunia answered and she went to hug her parents tightly. 'I'll miss you!' she told them, tears springing in her eyes.

'And we'll miss you, darling,' her father replied. 'But Christmas will be here sooner than you think and you'll have so much to tell us that it'll be like you never left at all.'

Petunia smiled at that. 'And of course I'll send Athena to you at often as I possibly can,' she said, referring to her pretty barn owl that had already been put in the train together with all her other belongings.

'Of course,' her father smiled, still finding it funny how their daughters had named their owl after the Greek goddess of wisdom, while the Roman equivalent had a namesake in the Deputy Headmistress.

With one final hug to her family, Petunia hopped on the train and quickly made her way to her previously claimed compartment, so she could wave at them for as long as she could see them.

'Bye Mum! Bye Dad! Bye Lily! Bye Severus! I'll miss you! See you at Christmas!' she yelled at them as the train departed and swiftly made its way to Scotland.

September 1, 1970
Hogwarts

'Now where to put you?' a voice whispered in her ear.

'Gryffindor, please,' Petunia replied.

'Gryffindor?' the Hat asked. 'Why Gryffindor?'

'It's where my sister wants me to go. That way we can be together next year and we won't have to be apart like we are this year,' she told him.

'Well, my dear, I'm afraid that sounds more like you belong in Hufflepuff.'

'No, please, Mr Sorting Hat! Please put me in Gryffindor! I need to be together with Lily!' Petunia pleaded.

'I'm sorry, but you just won't fit in Gryffindor. You are Hufflepuff through and through,' the Hat replied.

'But what about my sister?' Petunia asked sadly.

'Don't worry, you'll still be able to play with your sister as much as you both like,' the Hat said. 'Just look at it like you've got separate bedrooms.'

'I suppose that will be fine then. We have separate bedrooms back home as well.'

'Well, if you're all assured, then I'll just put you in… HUFFLEPUFF!'

The table covered in black and yellow applauded loudly for their new House member and as Petunia walked over to her new table and sat down next to the students who wildly gestured to her to sit next to them, she felt as if she might just be fine in this House of loyalty and hard workers.

She just hoped that Lily would not mind Severus's gloating too much.