AN: Just to let you guys know, I changed the ending to the first chapter around so that it fits the cannon better. After rereading The Prince's Tale in DH I realized that Severus' dad doesn't die that early on in his life. So neither parent dies at the time, instead his dad acts as though he doesn't exsist anymore based on how his mom threatened him to never hurt Severus again... or else.

So yeah, that's the major plot change so far. Oh, and this chapter was really hard to pull together and I don't like it very much, but don't worry the story will get better! (and so will my writing).

ps. The scene at the end is taken from DH, I only changed the perspective to Sev's and all rights belong to JK Rowling! =)

Chapter two: First sight

The icy morning air of February stung at my face as I ran down the all too familiar pathway that led to the playground. I needed to get away, away from their constant yelling. Away from the abuse and images of that sickening color Mother's cheek had turned to this morning.

I stumbled down the path, falling and scraping the palms of my hands, but I didn't care. It didn't hinder me. I had to just keep moving, to keep distancing myself further from the horrors of home.

When I neared the end of the path, I slowed down so that I wouldn't be seen by the muggles who were already enjoying their Sunday morning. I collapsed in the shadows behind a hedge of bushes that surrounded a few edges of the playground and tried to regain my composure. I looked through the hedge at what I could see and realized I had a pretty good view of the area.

In front of me, playing in the sand box were two boys who appeared to be attempting to discover just how much sand a yellow-square-box looking thing with big-round-circles at the bottom could move from one place to another before it fell over. The smaller of the two boys was dumping sand all over the box, and himself, when a flash of red from the very edge of the playground caught my eye.

I shifted in my spot to get a better look from behind the leaves, lost my balance and toppled over. The two boys looked up from their play, puzzled by the noise, but soon shrugged it off and went back to trying to roll the box along the sand. I steadied myself and looked back to where I'd noticed that flash of color.

My eyes focused on a family of four who were making their way towards the swings. I glanced at the mother, who was smiling as she led a skinny, brown haired girl towards the swings. What had caught my attention however, was the little red headed girl who was tugging at her dad's arm and jabbering away.

"Daddy, will you push me? Oh I'm so excited! Come on Tuney!" She giggled, grabbing the other child's hand and breaking off in a run towards the swings.

Surprised, Tuney stumbled to find her footing, and tried to pull her arm away. When she proved unsuccessful, she cried, "Lily! Slow down, I don't want to run!"

Lily slowed to a stop and let Tuney go. She looked back to where her parents were and yelled, "Come on you guys!"

Her father smiled and said, "We're coming honey, go on."

Lily grinned back and turned to run the remaining distance to the swings. Tuney frowned after her sister until her mom came up behind her and led her to the swing next to where Lily was already eagerly climbing on and beginning to swing back and forth on her own.

I'm not sure exactly what kept me glued to watching this muggle family for the remainder of the day. They did nothing unusual from every one else, but there was something about the way that little redhead girl moved, talked… smiled that I couldn't get out of my head.

Trying to go to sleep that night all I could think of was her name. Lily… I liked the way it sounded. It didn't make sense to me, but I knew that I wanted to see her again, and that night I dreamed of her face.

I returned to the playground the next morning, hoping that she would come back, but I had no luck. After that day, the playground became part of my daily routine. I returned as often as I could for a small amount of time each day, hoping to see the girl again.

I soon discovered that they came only on Sundays around two o'clock and stayed for a few hours. It wasn't until the first weekend in May that I finally understood what drew me so fiercely to Lily…

It was a bright Sunday afternoon and Lily was particularly energetic and excited to be outside again in the almost warm air. It had been raining for the past two weeks without stopping and today was the first day of sunshine we'd seen.

For the past ten minutes she'd been trying to convince Petunia to see who could jump the furthest off the swings. Petunia was as reluctant and prim as ever as she didn't want to soil her new brown skirt. As to why a girl would ever wear a skirt to a playground, I would never understand.

"Fine, I'll play by myself." Lily said, throwing her hands up in the air and marching over to the swings. "You're just being a chicken."

Petunia glared after Lily, shook back her hair and walked determinedly to the swing next to her sister and climbed on. "I am not a chicken, Lily! Don't call me that!"

Lily shrugged and said, "Okay. Ready, set, go!"

They both started swinging as hard as they could, and when they reached as high as they could go Lily called, "Ready?"

"Okay." Petunia replied a little shakily.

"On three then. One. Two. Three!"

Petunia slid off the end of her swing and landed triumphantly on her feet. Grinning, she turned to where Lily should have landed; only Lily wasn't there.

Lily had let go of the swing at the same time as Petunia, only instead of gravity immediately pulling her towards the ground, she had launched herself into the sky and almost practically flown through the air to the very edge of the asphalt and landed lightly on her toes.

"Whoa! Mum! Dad! Did you see that?" Lily called to her parents, as she ran over to where they were sitting at a picnic table nearby.

Petunia, after locating Lily, ran over to her family demanding in a loud voice, "Lily, how did you do that?"

"I'm not sure." Lily blushed. "I was just feeling really happy and excited and it just… happened. Cool, huh?"

"Honey I'm not sure you should do that in public again. People are staring and it's just not… normal." Her mother said quietly.

"Oh, let them look!" Her father interrupted. "Our daughter can practically fly! Hey Lily, do you think you can do that again?"

"I'm not sure. I'll try though." Lily said as she turned and ran back towards the swings.

She pumped back and forth for a while, gaining height and momentum until she reached the peak. With a look of determination in her eyes, she let go of the swing, arched in the air and crumpled to the ground. She regained her composure and straightened up with a confused look on her face which remained as she made her way back over to where her parents and sister were watching.

"I guess it was just a one time thing then." Lily said, looking disappointed.

"It's for the best sweetheart." Her mother said softly, "Besides I don't think you girls should be jumping off the swings anyway. It's not safe and you could get hurt, okay?"

"Yes mum." Lily and Petunia replied.

Their father stood up and put his arm around his daughters saying, "Alright who wants hot cocoa?"

"Yay!!" The girls exclaimed, grabbing their father's hand and starting off towards their home. I watched them leave, understanding and realization hitting me. That's what drew me to this muggle family, this muggle child. She wasn't a muggle at all.

Excitement filled me as I imagined telling her about what she really was, explaining to her just how special she is… I would have to wait until the perfect moment, when her parents weren't watching. Hopefully her annoying sister wouldn't be there either, though I doubt Lily would come to the playground by herself. Maybe I could distract her… but no. I would probably end up scaring her if she was by herself. Goodness knows I don't look very pleasant, with my baggy clothes and pale skin from being inside most of the day. No, I would have to talk to her when she was the most likely to listen…

And then, the perfect moment presented itself to me. I knew I would never get another chance to reveal to Lily the truth about herself, at least not one like this…

It was July 14th, Lily and Petunia had been coming to the playground regularly during the summer and today was no different. The girls were swinging and chatting to each other, until Lily started climbing higher and higher than Petunia in her swing.

"Lily, don't do it!" shrieked Petunia.

But Lily wasn't listening, she had already let go of the swing at the very height of its arc and flown into the air, just as she had done not three months earlier. She soared through the air, staying up far too long and landing far too lightly.

"Mummy told you not to!" Petunia stopped her swing by dragging her heels of her sandals on the ground, making a crunching, grinding sound, then leapt up, hands on hips. "Mummy said you weren't allowed, Lily!"

"But I'm fine," said Lily, still giggling. "Tuney, look at this. Watch what I can do."

Petunia glanced around. The playground was deserted apart from us. Lily had picked up a fallen flower from the bush behind where I was watching. Petunia advanced, evidently torn between curiosity and disapproval. Lily waited until Petunia was near enough to have a clear view, then held out her palm. The flower sat there, opening and closing its petals, like some bizarre, many-lipped oyster.

"Stop it!" shrieked Petunia.

"It's not hurting you," said Lily, but she closed her hand on the blossom and threw it back to the ground.

"It's not right," said Petunia, but her eyes had followed the flower's flight to the ground and were still lingering upon it. "How do you do it?" she added, and there was a definite longing in her voice.

I couldn't wait any longer. There would never be another moment like this one. Not after she'd just displayed an amount of magic like that. It was almost as if she could control it herself, without a wand or any training… What a powerful witch she is going to be! Excitement and nervousness filled me as I knew this was the moment I'd been waiting for, my chance to finally reveal the glorious truth to Lily.

I jumped out from behind the bushes and said, "It's obvious, isn't it?"

Petunia shrieked and ran backward toward the swings, but Lily, though clearly startled, remained where she was. I immediately regretted my appearance, realizing just how ridiculous I must look in my attempt at muggles clothes and how hopeless this whole endeavor was. What a foolish dream I'd allowed myself to entertain.

"What's obvious?" asked Lily. She wasn't running. I couldn't believe it. She was talking to me! I glanced over towards her sister who was now hovering besides the swings and lowered my voice. "I know what you are."

"What do you mean?"

"You're… you're a witch." I whispered.

Lily pulled away from me and looked angry. "That's not a very nice thing to say to somebody!" She turned, nose in the air, and marched off toward her sister.

"No!" I called after her. I was shocked; I didn't expect her to misunderstand me so, to take it as if I'd insulted her. I moved towards the girls, not wanting to let it end here.

They both looked at me with disapproval, both holding on to one of the swing poles as though it was the safe place in tag.

"You are." I said to Lily. "You are a witch. I've been watching you for a while. But there's nothing wrong with that. My mum's one and I'm a wizard."

Petunia laughed a horribly shrill, high sound.

"Wizard!" she shrieked. "I know who you are. You're the Snape boy! They live down Spinner's End by the river." She told Lily. "Why have you been spying on us?"

"Haven't been spying," I said, becoming uncomfortable in the heat of the sunlight. "Wouldn't spy on you, anyway. You're a Muggle."

"Lily, come on, we're leaving!" she said shrilly.

Lily obeyed her sister at once, glaring at me as she left. I watched them as they marched through the playground gate, horrified and embarrassed at how wrong this had all gone… Would she ever talk to me again? Be able to look at me? I had to figure out some way to get her back, to make her understand how brilliant, how amazingly special she is… I had to try again, it just could not end like this.