Severus and Lily remained inseparable throughout that first summer of friendship. Severus always took his duty to educate Lily as thoroughly as he could about the magical world very seriously, while Lily listened attentively and grew more and more excited about the idea of going to Hogwarts.
Many days Severus would carry his cauldron to their special spot in the park, in the thicket so they could practice their potion-making skills. Severus enjoyed Lily's help with making the basic potions and both felt a satisfactory delight when experiencing the positive effects of them. Lily couldn't believe her eyes after she rubbed the healing salve on the scab on her knee and witnessed it disappear within moments.
"It looks like that was a success, unsurprisingly, really," Severus stated, smugly.
Lily was grinning ear to ear. "I can't believe this! Why don't wizards just sell this stuff to the non-magical people?"
Severus shook his head. "The Ministry of Magic forbids it. Muggles aren't supposed to know we exist."
"Why not? Magic would help people."
"That's exactly why. Muggles would want to use magic to solve all their problems, and that would really put the world into madness."
"Alright…" Lily said, considering the ramifications of exposure.
"Hey Severus…"
"Yes?" He couldn't help smiling slightly when she said his name.
"Why don't we have to use wands in order to make these potions? I thought you said that we have to use wands for magic?"
"Not everything has to be done with a wand. Just like your trick with the swings, some basic magic can be done without one. Just possessing magic is enough for these basic potions."
"I see." Lily smiled. She stood up. "Do you want to come to my house?" She asked, suddenly.
"Oh… er… I don't know," Severus said shyly, his gaze averted. "Petunia will be there and she hates me. And your parents might not like me either…"
"Don't be silly, Severus," Lily replied, emphatically. "Mum and dad have really been wanting to meet you, and you are my friend, not Tuney's."
"Alright…" Severus said slowly, standing up.
Lily smiled as she led him to her house. "You'll just have to not talk about magic stuff when around my parents. They don't really understand yet… but maybe soon they will."
"Sure they will, when you get your letter to Hogwarts," Severus confirmed.
"When will that be?" Lily asked.
"Next summer.."
Lily halted in her tracks. "You mean I have to wait a whole year?! I already can't wait to go!"
"I know how you feel," Severus sympathized. "I've been waiting all my life to go."
Lily nodded. "Well I guess then it must be worse for you."
They walked quietly for the rest of the way to Lily's house. Severus thinking about meeting her parents, Lily about Hogwarts.
"We're here," Lily said cheerfully as they approached her cheerful-looking house.
It was very different from the neighborhood Severus was used to. Spinner's End was filled with grey, dilapidated-looking houses. With the textile mill being a central presence in the neighborhood, the area attracted many working-class ruffians celebrating in their off-hours. As Severus stared at the immaculate lawn with the rose bushes, he knew he was out of his element. He was considering telling Lily he didn't belong there when she took his hand.
"Well let's go in!" She said, pulling him to the door.
"Mom, I'm home!" Lily announced as she walked in, Severus shyly standing behind her.
A short, plump, redheaded woman stepped into the living room with a radiating smile that Severus instantly recognized.
"Hello, there," she said, cheerfully. "You must be Severus. I have heard so much about you!"
"Hello, Mrs. Evans," Severus shook her hand that she had reached out to him. "It's nice to meet you."
"The pleasure is mine, dear." Mrs. Evans scrutinized Severus for a moment before stating, "Oh you are such a thin boy! Good thing that I have lunch prepared. Come along now, you must eat up to grow strong," she said cheerfully, gently pushing Severus into the kitchen.
He looked around the sunny kitchen with the numerous potted plants and to block out his feelings of intimidation, instead wondered if Lily would inherit her mother's love for plants and excel at Herbology.
"You have a very nice house, Mrs. Evans," Severus said, as Mrs. Evans prepared a plate of sandwiches for them.
"Thank you, dear. I try." She gave Lily and Severus a turkey sandwich. "Let me know if you want another one. I can make a roast beef one, perhaps, or even a crisp sandwich."
"Thank you," Severus said as he ate. His wondered how life would be like if his own mother prepared meals for him.
"It's good, mom," Lily said, eating her own.
"I must thank you for being such a good friend for my daughter" Mrs. Evans said. "Lily doesn't have very many friends at school, and she values her friendship very much."
Severus looked over at Lily who was lightly blushing. "Lily is my only friend, so I value our friendship too," Severus affirmed.
The three of them chatted for a while until Petunia walked into the kitchen.
"What did you bring him here for?" She demanded.
Severus looked down and fiddled with the tablecloth.
"Petunia! Where did you learn such discourtesy as your father and I never taught you to behave this way?" Mrs. Evans said sternly.
With a final glare, Petunia stomped out of the kitchen.
"Sorry, Severus," Lily apologized. "I don't know what Tuney's problem is."
"It's probably just jealousy," Mrs. Evans replied. "Before Lily met you, Severus, she was like Petunia's shadow, always behind her, always looking up at her with reverence. Now that she has found her own friend, Petunia isn't very accepting of this."
"I'm sorry…" Severus said. "I don't want to be the cause of resentment."
"It's not your fault!" Lily exclaimed. "I'll try to talk to her. She's still my friend too… she's more, she's my sister."
"Don't worry about this, Severus," Mrs. Evans assured. "Petunia has to learn that Lily isn't always going to be by her side. She needs to make her own friends, and live her own life too."
Severus wondered to what extreme this would come true, as Lily's family would sooner than later find out about her magical ability and the rift between sisters would only grow.
"Do you want to come play in my room?" Lily asked.
"Sure." Severus agreed, and the two of them headed upstairs to Lily's room.
Severus looked around at the very girly bedroom which was painted in Lilac with a large assortment of plush toys strewn about the room. Muggle stories for children adorened her book shelves. Severus was unfamiliar with the titles, as his room was filled mostly with magic books about potions.
Lily bounced on her bed and encouraged Severus to join her. He sat down, beside her. "Do you want to play cards, or something?" Lily asked, taking out a deck of cards from her bed stand."
"Cards? Aren't those what muggles use to perform 'magic' tricks?"
"No…." Lily hesitated. "Well, yes, but it's more common to play games with them."
"Oh… alright," Severus said, and Lily understood that he was completely unfamiliar with any sort of card game.
"How about we just start with a simple game, then." Lily then began to explain the rules of go fish to Severus as she dealt the deck. Soon they were enjoying themselves with the game, much to Severus's surprise, when Lily asked about his family.
"You've been gone from home for a while," Lily said. "Do you want to ring your mum? She might be worried."
Severus shook his head. "She won't be. She doesn't really pay attention to much of anything."
"Oh…" Lily thought about this for a second. "What's your family like, anyway? Yours must be really awesome since they're magical. " Lily asked.
Severus immediately looked uncomfortable, and Lily wondered if she shouldn't have asked. "They're not that great, actually," he replied. "Dad isn't magical at all, he's a muggle. The less I see of him, the better. Mum doesn't really do much magic around the house, and whenever dad's not out drinking, he and mum are at each other's throats."
"Oh, I'm sorry…" Lily said, quietly.
"It's alright," Severus slightly smiled. "I try not to be home as much as possible."
"You can come over here any time you like," Lily said, gently.
Severus looked into her eyes and saw that she was genuine. "Thank you," he smiled.
They talked about magic while playing cards for several hours before Severus noticed it was getting dark.
"I had better go home now," Severus said, looking out the window.
"Are you sure? You could stay to meet dad and have dinner."
"Another time, perhaps," Severus replied.
"Alright, then," Lily agreed, as they headed downstairs.
Mrs. Evans saw Severus off at the door. "It was very nice having you, Severus, darling. You are welcome here any time."
"Thank you, Mrs. Evans. Lunch was very nice and I had a great time."
As Mrs. Evans opened the door for Severus, they had noticed that a car was pulling into the driveway.
"Oh dad's here!" Lily explained. "It looks like you can meet him after all."
Severus immediately became nervous again. What if Mr. Evans didn't like him, as Petunia hated him. Just because Mrs. Evans was nice to him, didn't mean that Mr. Evans didn't have to be.
Lily met her father at the car. "Hello, Lily pad," Mr. Evans said, as he pat his daughter on the head.
"Dad…" Lily groaned, obviously not appreciating this nickname in front of her friend.
"Oh, hello," Mr. Evans said, noticing Severus.
"Hello, sir. I'm Severus."
"Ah, right… I have heard of you from Lily. I'm Roger," he said, shaking Severus hand.
"It's nice to meet you," Severus said, relaxing. It was nice that Petunia was the only member of the Evans family who took an instant disliking towards him.
"Severus was just on his way home," Mrs. Evans explained, thinking his mum was waiting for him.
"Alright, I won't keep you then. Do stop by again sometime," said Mr. Evans.
"Thank you, I will," Severus replied. He smiled at Lily. "Goodbye, I will see you again… tomorrow?" He asked.
"Sure," Lily replied. "At the park, as usual. Bye, Severus."
"Goodbye, dear," echoed Mrs. Evans.
Mr. Evans waved as Severus waved back and turned to go home. Severus smiled as he walked home, happy that Lily's family accepted him as she had. As with any day spent with Lily, Severus looked forward to the night being over so he could spend time with her the next day.
Summer turned into fall, and fall into winter. It had soon become too cold to stay at the park to do magic, so instead Severus went over to the Evans most days after school when Lily wasn't too busy with homework. He often waited for class to be over and met her at school.
One cold afternoon, Severus was waiting for Lily at her school. Several boys had left the building before she had. They pointed and snickered at him. When she walked out they made some offhand comments about her 'raggedy boyfriend' waiting for her when she turned around and threatened to curse them, causing them to look nervous, as if they knew she was capable of it.
"Hi, Severus," she said as she approached him.
"What was that about, anyway?" Severus asked.
"Lionel and his thugs are just annoying," Lily replied, rolling her eyes.
"If it's too embarrassing for you to be seen with me, I suppose I can wait for you at home."
"Don't be silly, Severus!" Lily said sternly. "The only reason I would ask you to do that is because it's getting cold for you to meet me here every day. Anyway, after a certain magical mishap, I haven't really been very popular," she explained, in a sadder tone.
"What happened?"
"Well… Lionel was teasing me one afternoon, calling me a know-it-all and things like that. Shortly thereafter, he was reaching a lower bookshelf for a class reader when suddenly he found the entire contents of the upper bookshelf on him."
Severus couldn't help laughing at the imagery.
Lily joined him. "I suppose it was pretty funny, considering I was just thinking of that happening. Anyway, since then he has accused me of putting curses on people, saying I know how to possess objects and use them against kids."
"Not really a curse, more like a charm," Severus explained.
"Sometimes it can work to my advantage…" Lily smiled, wryly.
Soon, Lily and Severus were in Lily's room, sipping the remains of the hot cocoa Mrs. Evans had made for them. They had evolved to playing Poker now, and talked about magic while vying for the best combinations.
"So what happens when wizards do bad things? Lily asked. Do they go to prison or get their magic taken away or something?"
"There is a prison, Azkaban. It's meant for the worst criminals, though. Those who do really bad things such as kill people or do unforgivable curses. It's also guarded by dementors."
"Dementors?"
"Dementors are vile creatures who feed off any kind of happy emotions and leave people feeling absolutely miserable. They can also kill people. It's called 'the dementor's kiss'."
"And the prisoners at Azkaban are always subjected to this?"
"Yes."
"Haven't wizards heard of 'cruel and unusual punishment'?"
Severus shrugged. "I guess not. They think that anyone who makes it to Azkaban deserves it anyway." Severus then put down his cards. "full house."
"You're getting too good, Severus!" Lily pouted. "I just have a triple."
Severus smiled. "You'll get me next round, I'm sure."
"Oh I will!"" Lily said, determinedly and began shuffling the deck.
Winter passed by quickly and Severus and Lily were happy to be outside one again. They soon found themselves back in the thicket by the river where they spent a great deal of their time doing wandless magic and discussing the magical world.
"What kinds of things do the Ministry do?" Lily asked
"They keep track of anyone who can use magic, and fix situations where muggles find out about it… and the Ministry can punish you if you do magic outside school, you get letters."
"But I have done magic outside school!"
"We're all right. We haven't got wands yet. They let you off when you're a kid and you can't help it. But when you're eleven," he nodded importantly, "and they start training you, then you've got to go careful."
There was a little silence. Lilly had picked up a fallen twig and twirled it in the air, and Harry knew that she was imagining sparks trailing from it. Then she dropped the twig, leaned in toward the boy and said, "It is real, isn't it? It's not a joke? Petunia says you're lying to me. Petunia says there isn't a Hogwarts. It is real, isn't it?"
"It's real for us," said Snape. Not for her. But we'll get the letter, you and me."
"Really?" whispered Lily.
"Definitely," said Snape, and even with his poorly cut hair and his odd clothes, he struck and oddly impressive figure sprawled in front of her, brimful of confidence in his destiny.
"And will it really come by owl?" Lily whispered.
"Normally," said Snape. "But you're Muggle-born, so someone from the school will have to come and explain to your parents."
'Does it make a difference, being Muggle-born?"
Snape hesitated. His black eyes, eager in the greenish gloom, moved over the pale face, the dark red hair.
"No," he said. "It doesn't make any difference."
"Good," said Lily, relaxing: It was clear that she had been worrying.
"You've got loads of magic," said Snape. "I saw that. All the time I was watching you…"
His voice trailed away, she was not listening, but had stretched on the leafy ground and was looking up at the canopy of leaves overhead. He watched her greedily as he had watched her in the playground.
"How are things at your house?" Lily asked.
A little crease appeared between his eyes.
"Fine," he said.
"They're not arguing anymore?"
"Oh yes, they're arguing"," said Snape. He picked up a fistful of leaves and began tearing them apart, apparently unaware of what he was doing. "But it won't be that long and I'll be gone."
"Doesn't your dad like magic?"
"He doesn't like anything, much," said Snape.
"Severus?"
"A little smile twisted Snape's mouth when she said his name.
"Yeah?"
"Tell me about the dementors again."
"What d'you want to know about them for?"
"If I use magic outside school-"
"They wouldn't' give you to the dementors for that! Dementors are for people who do really bad stuff. They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban. You're not going to end up in Azkaban, you're too-"
He turned red again and shredded more leaves. Then a small rustling noise behind Harry made him turn: Petunia, hiding behind a tree, had lost her footing.
"Tuney!" said Lily, surprise and welcome in her voice, but Snape had jumped to his feet.
"Who's spying now?" he shouted. "What d'you want?"
Petunia was breathless, alarmed at being caught.
"What is that you're wearing, anyway?" she said, pointing at Snape's chest. "Your mum's blouse?"
There was a crack: A branch over Petunia's head had fallen. Lily screamed: The branch caught Petunia on the shoulder , and she staggered backward and burst into tears.
"Tuney!"
But Petunia was running away. Lily rounded on Snape.
"Did you make that happen?"
"No." He looked both defiant and scared.
"You did!" She was backing away from him. "You did! You hurt her!"
"No- no I didn't!"
But the lie did not convince Lily. After one last burning look, she ran from the little thicket, off after her sister, and Snape looked miserable and confused…
