Misused Mistakes
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me, but are copyrighted to the writer J.K. Rowling, as are certain areas and names.
The authors note is at the bottom of the page.
Chapter IIt was a warm evening in a suburban neighbourhood. The sounds of blackbirds and one single chain squeaking is a calming sound, added to the already idyllic surroundings. A boy, tall for his age, sits on a swing, pushing it lazily and letting his feet slowly scrape the ground as he swings forward. He looks up towards the sunset, his shoulder-black hair glistening a little greasy. He seems to be pleasantly waiting for something, secretly enjoying the scenery.
A rustling of bushes behind him catches his attention; looking back a red-haired girl greets him smilingly, urgently waving what looks like a small letter.
"Severus! Severus, I got it, I got it!"
Something seems to soften the boys' expression – his depressing demeanour seems to melt away, revealing a somewhat handsome boy despite the unappealing first impression.
"Did it come by owl?" he asks her.
"Oh yes! Oh Severus, it was great!" she runs over and sits herself in a tailor position in front of him, in a tom-boy manner. "Mom and Dad were so exited!"
The boy smirks a little "and Petunia? What did she say?" he asks.
"Oh, she went mental!" they both laugh at this idea. "She went on and on about bird-influenza and I don't know what. Mom and Dad barely noticed." They laugh heartily – both of them. After they giggling settle down a little, the girl seems to come out of her enthusiasm a bit. She sighs from the efforts of laughter, looks to her friend and suddenly gasps.
"What happened?" gone is her joyous disposition, replaced by concern. The boys face darkens, although not enough to hide the black eye covering his right side.
"I got a letter too." He answers.
"You Dad again..?" her tone is cautious.
"Yes." His bitter tone is a sharp contrast to the idyll. Silence settles between them. Lily fiddles with a handful of gravel, running it through her hands. The birds keep on with their indifferent singing. Severus looks away, hiding his bruised face from her eyes as if ashamed. She looks at him in a way only one of two best friends can. She takes in his lean figure, over-sized coat, lime-green polo shirt and orange jeans too short for him. She seems to wonder on something.
"I've got something for you." She finally says. Severus looks pleased that he wasn't the one to break the silence. He looks surprised, as if the idea of what she's said is almost ridiculous.
"Y-you have?"
"Yeah." she laughs a little at his surprise. She takes out an obviously home-wrapped gift and fumbles with it. "I just thought, you know, well – you keep saying that you'll end up in Slytherin House and I – well, I might not."
The truth in this seems to upset them both a little. "So," she continues with renewed determination. "I just thought you should have something to… To, uhm… I just don't want you to forget about me, if I end up in another house."
Looking amazed at her, he takes the present. "If we make new friends, I don't want us to stop seeing each other." She continues, although the words don't seem to reach him. He first takes his eyes off of her when he's nearly finished unwrapping it. Under the brown paper lies a white handkerchief with a simple and modern print He unfolds the fabric which reveals a thin, gold chain, carrying a small gold plate neatly engraved 'Lily'. He stares at it. "It's nothing special." She claims almost humbly. "My parents gave it to me. You know, when I was baptised."
"What?" he asks distractedly, while staring at the necklace in almost wonder.
"-Being baptised means the Church holds a ceremony to give you your name. With your whole family there, and a Priest." The girl explains in a tone indicating that she's used to explaining common things as such. "They put water on your head."
Severus raises an eyebrow, removing his eyes from the present for the first time since he unwrapped it. "No one ever gave me anything like this…"
A short silence stays with them like a timid bird, before Lily's voice scares it away. "Can you believe we're finally going to Hogwarts?" she exclaims, not noticing – or choosing not to notice – the seriousness in his tone. "Aren't you exited?"
Severus gives a small smile and leaves the swings to sit in front of her in an identical position. With gleaming black eyes he puts on the necklace. Hesitating for a second, he places a hand on her shoulder. It shakes just a tiny bit. "I'd never forget about you, Lily. Not for a million years."
For a millisecond there seems to be a deeper connection between them, but then she giggles with renewed enthusiasm. She hugs him quickly and tightly, says "I've got to go – Mum's got dinner ready! See you at ¾'s Sev'!" and runs off to disappear through the bushes again.
Severus sat in the gravel, with a wildly pounding heart and sand in his oversized shoes, looking after her until she couldn't be seen. He clutched the necklace tightly as if it would still the fluttering butterflies in his stomach. The sun was almost completely gone now. His bruised eye barely ached
after her embrace.
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A wild honking breaks the stressed silence. Severus sits in a gloomy kitchen, absently holding a cup of cold tea and staring indifferently at a half eaten piece of toast. He can hear his mother scurrying through the rooms behind the door, packing the last necessities.
The horn breaks again. "I'm coming, Tobias, I'm coming!" her quivering voice yells to the driver in a weak manner of rebellion. Her thin figure hurries into the kitchen, her son a spitting image of his mother, except for the large nose. She sends him a haunted look as she hands him his coat.
"Hurry, now, Severus. We don't want to be late, now do we?"
"We'll be there too early, Mother – we've got plenty of time." He complains as she sends the dishes to be cleaned with a flick of her wand.
"Come, come now – you're father's right in being there early, you never know when the train leaves." She hurries to the entrée and grabs a battered old travelling trunk. "We don't want to be late, oh no…" she murmurs to her self as she goes to the car and obediently takes her place in the passenger seat besides a scowling Tobias.
As the car honks again, his father screams after him. With a heavy ball of led in his middle Severus grabs a small leather bag and heads towards the door. His parents are bickering in sharp, hissing voices. Some of the neighbouring windows have got their lights turned on now. Not far from their house a dog is barking somewhere, before it's brutally silenced by a yelling owner.
On the short way to the car Severus takes in his childhood streets: Despite the old villas, it looks like a deserted industry block. A vague amount of graffiti's spotted here and there, a small amount of litter covers the gutter where weed pokes up in scattered places. A slum in disguise. Getting into the car, he did not feel sorry to leave.
……………………………………..
On the way to the station Severus retires to his own thoughts. It's a good way to escape the mounting tension ever present between the parents. He rolls the newly acquired wand between his fingers, enjoying the feel of it. It's medium in length, smooth to the touch and a creamy, dark brown. He likes the way it feels warm in his hand as if it's pleased to get to know him. It's obviously new to this world; the wood young.
His mother shifts uncomfortably in her seat, nervously picking at her hair. Severus eyes her and the knot returns to his stomach. Looking at her, he realises that he hates her with every fibre in his body. He despises her for being so weak, for letting her self be oppressed and for giving in to this low-life scum of man, chosen to be his father by some fit of fate.
-But he also cares deeply for her, just for being his mother… It is in fact these scrawny fingers that have tucked him in. It is that woman who has tried to give him sanctuaries of comfort when they were both alone, left by the tyrant for the company of a bar. There have been rare evenings of falling asleep in her lap to the stories of Beetle the Bard, where glimpses of the true and confident Eileen Prince showed her self. He could imagine her almost being beautiful once… A long time ago…
Nevertheless, he thinks, turning to look out the window, she abandoned him when she chose not to leave his father.
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Authors note:
I have just finished reading J.K. Rowlings "The Deathly Hallows", when I realised what great material that book gives to write serious fanfictions about the relationship between Lily Potter and Severus Snape.
So the way I foremost will be writing this story, is as in the way that I imagine what might have happened between the many scenes Snape shows Harry, by giving him his memory.
I think there are so many unanswered questions, that I ofcourse will delight myself in in this story. For example: Did Lily and Snape ever cut off the connection? What about his death eater times? How serious was it between them? And so on.
Therefore I will not make this a pinky, romantic fiction about love alone. There will be love, but there will also be turmoil, evil deeds, regret, heartache and happyness mixed together. This is just the opening. Please read and review, and ofcourse, enjoy ;.)
- Victoria Grace