Zinnia Evans was perhaps one of the most terrible children Amara Jenkins had the displeasure of teaching.
The young girl had come in like the rest of the 6/7 year olds, and the only thing remarkable about her had been her bright red hair.
So Amara hadn't paid much attention to the girl.
That is, until a week into the school year. After a while, she had begun to notice the girl's antisocial tendencies, as well as her lazy, apathetic, and frankly contrary attitude.
Amara was patient enough to be a primary school teacher and considered herself a fairly kind-hearted person-she loved children and that was her job. But she hated Zinnia Evans. Hated the little brat with all of her being.
"Zinnia." Amara plastered a smile on her face and kneeled down on the floor besides Zinnia's desk. "Why aren't you coloring the apple?"
As usual, Zinnia had a blank expression on her face and completely ignored the question. She laid her head on the desk and decided to take a nap.
The edge of Amara's smile twitched in a spasm-like manner. Her mouth was beginning to ache from the forced expression.
"Zinnia." She cooed through gritted teeth. When the girl didn't answer, she reached over and gently shook her shoulder multiple times, despite the mounting irritation.
Finally, Zinnia lifted her head. "What." Her eyebrows were furrowed and her mouth was tilted downwards in a menacing manner. She didn't look like a 6 year old and Amara had to stop herself from flinching.
Amara took a deep breath in a vain attempt to calm herself. "Zinnia, why didn't you do the worksheet?"
Zinnia didn't even spare a glance at the empty paper underneath her arms. "Why should I do these fuc-" She paused and then restarted her sentence. "Why should I do these problems when I already know how."
Despite the venom in Zinnia's tone, the thing that had horrified Amara the most was the fact that her six year old student had just been about to use the word "fuck". "You-" Really, Amara didn't know what to do anymore. All her attempts at being nice and understanding had amounted to nothing with this child and she was too angry and tired to care. "Can you really do these?" She asked condescendingly.
Zinnia's face twisted into a sneer. "I don't know, can you? I'm not sure how qualified you are if you got this job based on connections rather than an actual degree."
Amara's jaw dropped and her face heated with embarrassment. "What?" She may have slept with the principal a few times but that was because they were dating. Her job had nothing to do with her love life.
Upon seeing Amara's expression, Zinnia smirked. "It's not like it's a very well-kept secret. Don't you know how many people talk behind your back?" She aimed a mocking grin at Amara.
"Excuse me?" In the two years she'd had this job, no one had ever mentioned anything about her and the principal. This was-this was the most horrifying revelation of Amara's life. How many people had come up to her, all friendly smiles and words but had gossiped about her behind her back? Oh lord, did the parents know?
Zinnia's eyes were bitingly cold. "Relax." Her voice was disgustingly sweet. "Principal Miller may be a balding middle-aged man but there's no accounting for taste, right? There's no doubt your relationship is genuine."
Suddenly, Amara wondered how everyone in the school saw her. Was she just some laughingstock? Was she "that teacher who slept with the principal to get the job"?
But-she loved him. She really did. So why was everyone suddenly looking at her like that?
Amara stumbled to her feet, palms sweating. The other children's eyes were wide, judging. They'd once been innocent, sweet. But for some reason, they were all staring. Just staring.
Her mind was racing and her heart was thumping and she staggered back to her desk in the front and plopped down unsteadily to her seat.
Was everything just a lie? Had the other teachers only been kind to her because they knew she was dating the principal? Because they wanted to get on their boss' good side? Was everyone laughing at her behind her back? God, if even a six year old girl knew, who knows who else knew?
…How did people even know? Only she and Andrew knew and if it wasn't her…then had Andrew told someone?
The only logical option was him, and it was a betrayal of the highest order.
She felt feverish and dizzy and god, why was her chair so blocky and uncomfortable? Why were the lights so damn bright? Why were those kids staring at her like that?
The air was closing in around her and she could breathe-she couldn't breathe-she couldn't-
She jolted out of her chair and ran out the door.
Julie Evans was a mother of three.
She had three children to raise, nurture, and love.
She didn't like playing favorites, but Lily was the golden child of the trio. She was sweet, fiercely loyal, caring, generous, and intelligent.
It didn't mean that she loved any of her children less, it was just that Lily was a child that was very easy to love.
Petunia was a different story. She was a child that constantly demanded attention and approval. She could be sweet when she wanted to, but most of the time, she was prone to be self-centered and easy to anger. But Julie loved her anyway; loved her first child, the beginning of her joys.
Compared to Petunia, Zinnia was a blessing. But she was too quiet, to independent. Sometimes, Julie didn't feel like a mother.
Sometimes, she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Saw the bags under her eyes, saw the calloused hands, saw the tired face.
It didn't look like the Julie she'd once knew.
This Julie was a mother of three, a housewife who'd left her job when she'd gotten pregnant. This Julie had a college education that she didn't need. This Julie had no job, but was a full-time nanny and cleaner. This Julie was somehow always swamped with work and yet never seemed to get any done.
But above all, this Julie was a mother and a mother she would be.
She loved her children, she really did. But she often wondered if other children caused as much trouble as her three daughters did.
Lily was an adventurous spirit and injured herself quite frequently, although Zinnia was usually there to look out for her.
Petunia was brash and had no filter when speaking to others, and parents of other children would complain to Julie about how "Your daughter is bullying my child!" and things of the like.
Zinnia was… surprisingly difficult in school. At home, she was practically the perfect child. She never cried, never fussed, could take care of herself and her sisters, and had a maturity bordering on frightening. Julie had never really had a problem with her. She and Max had always known there was something different about Zinnia, something about her that was too old to be a child. It was because of this that they tried to show their love a bit more, to remind her that she was loved. Julie often wondered if her youngest child was one of those geniuses that had trouble connecting to the world.
So when she was called to school, she'd been ready to defend Petunia, ready to defend her eldest's scathing words, because Petunia had a warm heart underneath all her thorns.
And to her utmost surprise, it was Zinnia sitting in the office, not Petunia.
She went on to listen in shock that Zinnia never did her homework, slept in class all day, disrespected teachers, ignored her peers, and so on and so on.
Julie knew Zinnia was a good child. She loved deeply but subtly, and because Julie was a mother, she noticed everything.
So why, why was Zinnia acting like this?
"And worst of all," Mr. Miller continued, "is that your daughter here, made Miss Tanner quit. And now their class has no teacher. I'm in half a mind to expel her." He spat out the word "daughter" as one would say the word "devil".
Angered, Julie opened her mouth, searching for words. "My daughter is in no way what you have described. What gives you the right—"
"—I have several accounts from children who were in the classroom at the time and they all pointed to your daughter—"
"—You're basing this accusation off the words of children?"
"Forget it, mum." Zinnia interrupted her before she could say anything else. "He's just all pissy because Tanner was his illicit lover. And she's never gonna trust him again after this."
And then Julie was truly speechless, because what the bloody hell? Miss Tanner was Mr. Miller's lover? Mr. Miller was married, the last time she'd checked. And how did Zinnia know this?
She turned her head to stare at her daughter, conveniently ignoring the red-faced, spluttering man in front of her.
It was then that she realized—she really had no idea what her daughter was thinking.
(Did she even truly know her daughter at all?)
Zinnia's eyes were cold and bored when they met hers, and Zinnia almost looked… cruel in the artificial lighting of the room.
"Zinnia…" She started, but found herself unable to find anything that could accurately describe her feelings and questions at that moment.
Zinnia's eyes lacked the warmth that they usually had. "What? Everyone knows it's true."
"Get out!" Mr. Miller exploded, and stood up, finger shaking with rage, as he pointed to the door.
Still trying to comprehend the past five minutes, Julie quickly gathered herself and apologized to Mr. Miller before dragging Zinnia out the door.
The way home was silent and Julie's mind was racing. She sat Zinnia down at the dinner table. "Zinnia, what was that? I thought you were better than this."
Zinnia actually flinched at that, but her face returned to its blank state. "I didn't do anything wrong. I was just telling the truth. And why do I have to go to school? I can just teach myself."
Julie felt a migraine coming. "Zin, dear, you can't be so mean to your teacher and the principal. You have to watch what you say."
"Do I have to go to school?" Zinnia asked, completely ignoring what Julie had just said.
"Zin—"
"I can stay home, right?" Zinnia's tone was hopeful.
"Let's talk about what you did first, alright?"
Zinnia groaned and sunk down a little in her chair. "Mum, I know. I'll try to be better, okay? Promise."
Julie had expected this level of impatience from Petunia, but certainly not Zinnia.
"Zinnia, you can't do this anymore, okay?"
"Yes, I know mum, I promise." The rush in Zinnia's words betrayed her frustration.
Julie sighed. It was rare that she ever saw her youngest daughter like this. "Alright, but when your dad comes home we'll have to have another talk about this."
Zinnia's forehead dropped onto the table with a loud thump.
The next day, Julie opened a letter detailing Zinnia's expulsion from the school.
She'd never seen her daughter look so happy.
Everyone knew Zinnia Evans but no one knew her. She was infamously mean and there were rumors about her being evil—she'd made Miss Tanner quit. David knew that for a fact—he'd been there.
He, like all the rest of the school, hated her and feared her.
Miss Tanner had been a kind teacher who always smelled nice and was always smiling. David liked her. But Zinnia Evans had chased her away.
She'd said something that day; something that David didn't quite understand but knew had something to do with Mr. Miller. Later, he'd asked his mum about it, only to have her look surprised and not explain anything.
The good thing was, Zinnia had been expelled, and everyone knew that was bad. Possibly one of the worst things that could happen to a kid. So obviously Zinnia was the worst.
And David had the perfect name for her: Creepy Red.
Zinnia had two other sisters that went to their school—Lily and Petunia. Lily was one of the nicest people in the school and she had tons of friends. Petunia was a bit of a bully and no one dared to mess with her. He couldn't believe they were the sisters of Creepy Red. She was probably adopted.
(David didn't know exactly what that meant but he knew that it was a term for kids that no one wanted.)
"Hey, look everyone, it's Creepy Red!" David jeered and pointed at Zinnia, who was calmly waiting by the tree for her sisters. Everyone around him immediately made disgusted sounds and David grinned with triumph. Mrs. Evans brought her every time she came to pick up Lily and Petunia, which meant she had to stink up the area with her weirdness every day.
Zinnia didn't even spare him a glance and ignored him.
David's blood was boiling. Zinnia was a freak. She couldn't ignore him; that wasn't allowed. He stepped closer to her and in a fit of anger, shoved her, hard. "Go away, freak! No one likes you!"
He felt a rush of satisfaction as he watched Zinnia stumble, caught off balance.
But before he could do or say anything else, someone grabbed his shoulder, jerking him around.
"Hey! Leave her alone!" Lily Evans was standing right behind him, grip on his shoulder bordering painful.
David's eyes widened with hurt and his hands clenched into fists by his side. Lily was nice—she never yelled at anyone, ever. So why was she yelling at him? It wasn't his fault her sister was creepy and evil. "You're just as stupid as your sister!"
Lily's eyes narrowed and David flinched, because they were green fire. "My sister isn't stupid! Leave her alone and stop being a bully."
A group of kids had gathered around them and David could feel their eyes on him. Anger and embarrassment curdled in his gut and he lifted his hand, not quite thinking, ready to lash out.
"Oi." Zinnia's hand caught his wrist and her face was stone cold but brimming with fury. It wasn't hot fire, like Lily's. Cold fire. He thought, and ripped his hand from her grasp.
—Or so he thought.
He couldn't move. His mind was moving, but his body was stuck. His heart started to beat faster, because he couldn't move. What if he was stuck like this forever? What if he turned into a statue and birds pooped on him?
He tried moving, desperately trying to shove his body in a direction; any direction. He tried and tried, but he couldn't move. His heart was pounding so quickly and his mind was spinning wildly, but somehow, his body was frozen and he was going to cry and scream; he wanted to cry and scream, but he just couldn't.
He'd never felt more terrified in his life.
He lost sense of time and place and stood there, trying to move, trying to do something, anything. But nothing happened. He was frozen. It felt like years passing him by. Like getting suspended in a nightmare but not waking up no matter how hard you try.
Until finally, it was like a breath rushing out of him, and all of a sudden, he was awake. His body collapsed to the ground in a crumple of relief and he could feel tears leaking out of his eyes.
And then he was sobbing like no tomorrow.
He was sobbing until his mum came and gathered him in his arms, desperately asking what had happened and looking around in anger, shouting who had dared do this to her child.
David didn't care. He didn't care about anything because he'd been stuck and now he was free.
He hated Zinnia and Lily Evans.
Lily Evans was a curious child. She loved to know about things, understand them. And she wanted to understand herself. She was sure that something was not quite right. Things happened that weren't supposed to happen.
Like how David had frozen in the middle of their fight.
He'd just… stopped moving. Like he couldn't move. She couldn't forget the look of pure terror in his eyes—like when you're cornered and you know there's no way out, but you're still desperately trying.
And he'd been crying after that. Outright sobbing in the middle of everyone, and she'd felt horrible. Had it been her fault? She didn't want to hurt anyone.
But she'd also seen the look on her sister's face. For some reason, she'd looked almost satisfied.
Zin had always been different. Everyone in their family knew that. But people were all different, and Lily loved her sister. Even if sometimes she wasn't really like a younger sister.
Lily knew she'd always love her sisters, no matter what.
So she ventured to ask Zin about David. Zinnia knew a lot of things, and she'd taught Lily all of her schoolwork already. Mum said Zinnia was a "genius" but Lily wasn't quite sure what that meant. Whenever mum said that, Zin always denied it, saying she knew a lot for a kid but not enough to be a genius. She confused Lily sometimes.
"Zin, why did David look like he was frozen?" Lily was hanging off the edge of her bed, tangling a few strings of yarn together absentmindedly.
Zinnia looked up from her book very slowly and stared at Lily as if she were contemplating something very important. Finally, she said, "That's because I froze him. With magic."
And in that one moment, Lily found that she had a million questions and emotions running through her, but there were no answers. "What?"
Zinnia closed her book shut and crossed the room to sit on the floor beside Lily's bed. "It was magic. Like how you have magic."
"Is it—is it like how I do things when I get mad or scared?" Lily's voice was trembling, but she hardly noticed it. How long had Zin known about magic?
As if reading her mind, Zinnia answered, "Yeah. I've known about magic for a while but I could never control it, which is why I didn't tell you about it. I want to teach you, but I can't teach you if I don't know how to do it."
That was a lot to process. Lily was seven and she was considered smart in her class, but there were still a lot of things she didn't understand. "Okay." She eventually said, accepting whatever had just happened. She blinked a few times and felt her face bloom with excitement; a grin stretching too wide for her cheeks. "We have magic!"
"Yeah." Zin's smile was small but fond.
"That's so cool!" Gushed Lily, cheeks flushing with anticipation. "There's a lot we could do now—it'll be really fun to play with Tuney!"
Zin laughed; a rare thing. Lily found herself thinking of gentle winds on a soft spring evening.
And then she sobered, remembering how terrified David had been. "Does magic hurt people?"
There was a silence, and Zin let out a long, tired sigh. "Lils, lots of things in this world can hurt us and help us. It just depends on the way we use it. For example, if I took a spell that watered plants and started drowning someone with the water, it wouldn't be such a nice spell, wouldn't it? So yes, magic can hurt people, but I know you won't hurt anyone, Lily. Don't worry about it."
Focusing her gaze toward the tangle of yarn she was clutching, Lily asked quietly, "Do you regret hurting that boy?"
Zinnia stared. "No, Lily, I didn't regret it. He was going to hurt you. There weren't any major injuries, he was just scared. And he won't bully us anymore."
Lily was uncertain. "But still…" she trailed off worriedly. "Never mind." She said, shaking her head and turning her attention back to the yarn she was holding.
Zinnia could be mean, and Lily knew that. She would sometimes say things that hurt people, which often included something she called sarcasm, which Lily had only just begun to understand.
But Zinnia wasn't a bad person. Lily would never believe her to be bad. Zinnia loved them. And Lily loved her.
Bad people were people that always hurt others for no reason. And that wasn't her sister.
In all honesty, Petunia was a pitiful child. She was the only one of her sisters who didn't have magic, and she wasn't especially bright or charismatic.
She was continuously being compared to Lily, which their parents often unknowingly did.
And when Zinnia looked at Petunia, she felt so damn lucky that she had magic.
Petunia was a in a delicate stage of her life that required constant attention and validation, but it was a lot. Their parents had three kids, and that didn't allot the time that Petunia needed.
Zinnia could feel Petunia drifting farther away from her and Lily, which of course, was actually natural. At this stage, her younger sisters weren't "cool" enough for her and her friends.
But Lily always tried to include Petunia in everything they did, no matter how contrary Petunia could be.
It wasn't like Zinnia didn't like Petunia. She was annoying, but Zinnia did love her as a sister. She had her caring moments, thought they were rare. And Zinnia appreciated that. The funny thing was, even though Lily cared more about having Petunia in the loop at all times, Petunia was sometimes nicer to Zinnia.
She knew that it was because Zinnia wasn't the "golden child" like Lily was, and therefore wasn't a source of jealousy. Petunia probably pitied her as much as she pitied Petunia, ironically enough.
Well, Zinnia didn't want Petunia to hate them. But it was hard to change her mind, especially since Petunia was stubborn and always believed she was right. Zinnia was kind of just waiting for her to grow out of it—as unlikely for it to happen as it was.
So she just concentrated her time on teaching Lily, because hey, Lily was the one with the foreboding death sentence, not Petunia.
"Here. I'll teach you what I know about magic. What we're using is accidental magic, and it's mostly connected to our emotions and the situation we're in." She went on to explain in the simplest way possible, and to her relief, Lily was nodding and asking questions that showed she understood. They went around the house, looking for objects to practice on.
Zinnia had a vague memory that Lily was able to make a flower open and close in the future, so she dragged them into the garden and scoured the place for plants they could use. Lily had been disappointed by the lack of result at first, but she had a determination stronger than a black hole's gravitational forces, so she kept trying. Their efforts were fruitless, but they tried day by day for results.
Zinnia was at the end of the line, and she felt like ripping a tree from its roots and maybe throwing it at Hogwarts, because fuck Hogwarts and fuck magic. She was frustrated and sleep deprived and angry, and her dreams weren't getting any better.
Her terrible were flashes of scenes that would happen, and she was pretty sure she'd seen a young Severus Snape in one of them. But she vaguely remembered that Trewlaney had been a shit Seer most of the time, which was strange, because Zinnia was able to focus her dreams and didn't tell prophecies but instead saw images from the future.
Quantum physics explored the possibilities of other worlds, and Zinnia was beginning to consider that she'd been stuck into a parallel world where magic existed and J.K Rowling's novel was real. Maybe when the knowledge she'd gained from one world passed into this one, it had merged with her magic into some sort of Seer ability, because this knowledge technically could not exist. Her theory sounded pretty plausible to her, and she accepted it for now. Once she'd formed that theory, her mind started furiously churning out different ideas and she struggled to put together some coherent thoughts.
What if her magic was actually within her entire body, but flowed through different mediums? From what she could remember of the books, Trewlaney'd had an "Inner Eye". Maybe her Inner Eye was her brain, which created her knowledge of the future and transferred that into her dreams. Maybe she couldn't concentrate her accidental magic because it was all being concentrated into her Seer abilities. Accidental magic was somehow related to emotions, and since she pretty much freaked out over the future and stressed over what she was going to do every day, her magic was flowing into her Seer abilities to try and solve her problem.
Goddamn if magic isn't the biggest piece of bullshit ever to exist, she thought wearily. If she was right, that just meant she'd have to adjust the way her magic flowed and properly balance it. It was going to be a long five years before she went to Hogwarts.
And then before she knew it, Lily was turning nine, and time was starting to run out.
Not surprisingly, Lily had mastered accidental magic a lot faster than Zinnia. Children's minds were naturally resilient and flexible, which had really helped. While Zinnia was still struggling to move household objects, Lily was making flowers bloom and making chairs fly as easily as one would blow a feather.
Zinnia, surprisingly, didn't feel jealous of Lily. She was mostly just angry and frustrated with herself, because why couldn't she ever do anything right? But at least Lily had the capabilities to protect herself, and Zinnia was going to have to make sure she worked even harder so when Lily was unable to protect herself, she'd be there.
It was ironic how Zinnia and Lily looked extremely similar but were almost complete opposites. Zinnia was actually grateful she looked like Lily and had more elegant features; it made her seem delicate and helpless, and it gave her an advantage because she really wasn't.
The only difference in physical appearance between them was that Lily had brilliant, emerald eyes while Zinnia had darker jade eyes.
Petunia envied Lily's eyes, they were beautiful and memorable, while hers were more of a duller cornflower blue. People always complimented Lily's eyes, which annoyed Petunia immensely, and Zinnia suspected that was the beginning of the fallout the sisters would later have.
Though she didn't want to see Petunia become such a bitter person, Zinnia wasn't sure if she would be able to abide such an event. If Severus Snape ever showed up—and Zinnia was fairly certain he would—Petunia would feel left out with her lack of magical abilities.
And then, speak of the devil, Severus fucking Snape showed up the minute Petunia and Lily were having a full blown disagreement about magic.
It'd all started when they were playing at the park.
At this point, Petunia had a general idea that Lily could do things that "normal" people couldn't, and she didn't like it. Zinnia knew she was jealous and if word ever got out that her sister was "different", she was going straight to the bottom to the social pyramid. Which Petunia would never allow.
Lily was eagerly making a flower bloom to give to Petunia, but Petunia had just given it a bland look.
"Why can't you just do normal stuff? Why do we always gotta do this magic stuff? It's not fair." Petunia's voice was thick with annoyance.
"Isn't it cool?" Lily asked, hurt.
"Kind of." Petunia grudgingly allowed. "But I still don't like it!"
A shy but excited voice broke in. "I knew it! I knew you were a witch—I've been watching you." The three sisters jumped at the sudden and unfamiliar sound. Zinnia was internally trying not to feel disturbed by the statement "I've been watching you" and they all turned towards to face the person who had spoken.
A short, dark haired boy with shaggy and slightly greasy hair stepped out from behind the bushes. He had a pitifully scraggly appearance, and Zinnia knew at once it was Severus Snape.
"Way to introduce yourself." Muttered Zinnia. She'd be grabbing her sisters and running as fast as their pathetically short legs could take them if she didn't know that he was Snape. Snape glanced at her, making the connection that the three of them were sisters.
"You're a witch too." It was a statement, not a question, which showed his confidence in his guess.
"And you're a wizard." Zinnia challenged, looking him right in the eye. He would prove to be a useful ally to Lily, and she needed all the help she could get. Snape visibly looked surprised by her knowledge of the word and narrowed his eyes.
"I am." He turned his attention back to Lily, "I can show you how to do other stuff if you'd like."
Zinnia almost let her mouth drop in shock. What the actual fuck? Snape could control his magic already? Shit, if I can't even catch up to him, I'll be dead within a year of the war.
"Really?" Lily's eyes were shining with admiration and curiosity, and Snape almost looked taken back by her enthusiasm.
"Of course! My mother's a witch, she's taught me plenty." Pride filled his voice and his facial expression almost lifted from its sullen habitual state. "Meet me here tomorrow." He told Lily, and she nodded vigorously. Turning to Zinnia, as if he'd nearly forgotten she existed, he added, "You can too, if you want."
Lily squealed with elation, "Thanks! What's your name? I'm Lily."
A tiny corner of Snape's mouth lifted, "Severus Snape. And you?" He directed the last part towards Zinnia, who was just standing and staring. Here she was, staring at Severus Snape, in all his greasy glory. A future double spy for Dumbledore and someone who would fall too deeply in love with Lily.
"Zinnia Evans." She nodded at him, feeling slightly off-put, "Nice to meet you. Sorry, we've got to go, it's getting late. Lils and I will meet you here tomorrow in the morning."
Petunia, who had been watching the exchange with horrified outrage, finally exploded. "Are you two crazy? We can't meet this loser. He's so gross, look at him. I bet he doesn't even have any clothes that fit."
Whoops. She'd nearly forgotten that Petunia was there. It was blatantly obvious that Snape hadn't invited Petunia. Zinnia shook her head. She was already starting to see the black and white mentality the Wizarding World had. But it went both ways, so she wasn't allowed to complain.
"Tuney!" admonished Lily, appalled at her sister's lack of tact. Snape was shaking with rage, and his pale skin was tinted pink. "I'm so sorry," Lily quickly apologized to Snape, "Tuney's just hungry and she wants to go home to eat dinner. We'll see you tomorrow!"
Muttering with a still distinctly angry tone, he answered. "See you." Zinnia nodded at him as he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away.
Petunia glared petulantly at them, "What? You know it's true. He's a freak, and if you two start hanging out with him, you'll be freaks too!" She stomped away from them, leaving Lily and Zinnia to stand there in the empty silence.
"Well, that went well." Commented Zinnia. Lily glanced sadly at her, "No that didn't." She sighed, looking off in the direction Petunia had stormed off to. "I wish Tuney wouldn't call him a freak. Or us." She was already feeling the distance Petunia was creating with her two sisters.
Zinnia exhaled tiredly and put an arm around Lily's shoulders—which was extremely uncomfortable, by the way, she was the shortest of the three and couldn't wait for her growth spurt. "C'mon, Lils, it'll be okay. Besides, aren't you happy you can learn magic now?"
Lily nodded, brightening up at that prospect. "Yeah, let's just go home. I think it'll be really fun tomorrow."
A/N: andddd it's severus snape. he's a damn hard character to write and i don't think i do him justice but i'll try.
lily is still stuck in that naive mindset where she's like wow the world is just bad and good people and my sister is nice, she can't be a bad guy. that's gonna change in the future. but not yet; they're all youngins.
as usual, thanks for reading!
