December 1979

It was late at night and Severus could just see the silhouette of Lily's body as she stood to look out of the window. Her body was so beautiful, despite being tarnished by the bodies of others, mainly men. As she gazed out of his bedroom window at his place at Spinner's End, he knew her well enough to know what kind of thoughts were going through her mind. He didn't need occlumency to know of her thoughts of self-loathing.

"Sev, do you know what time it is?"

"It's twelve thirty, dear. Come back to bed."

"I'm not your dear, Sev - Just a whore who satisfies your needs. That's how all my Death Eater clients see me."

"You have other Death Eater clients?"

"Oh yes, I seem to be very popular with them - the hypocrites. They aren't as nice to me as you are though. I've had Bellatrix Lestrange who I can say is a very strange person. Nott is an asshole. So are Crabbe, Goyle and the Carrows. And guess what - Malfoy has a small ding-a-ling."

Lily began giggling like a child, it was brief but cheeky – a reminder of her former spunky personality. It was so long since the last time he had seen her laugh or show any kind of happiness at all.

There were so many things that he wanted to tell her and do for her that were made impossible by being a Death Eater. He wanted to tell her that she was more than just a pretty face and that she was the most kind and talented woman he had ever known. He wanted to tell her that he loved her soul more than her body. He wanted to marry her and support her. He wanted her to be happy again. Severus would do anything for that.

She turned her head to glare at him, the moonlight made her expression more haunting, "Remember when we were kids? Remember that park down the road where we use to play."

Her question took him by surprise and he took a while before answering. It seemed like it was such a long time ago, almost a different world.

"Of course."

"We had no responsibilities, no war, no fighting. We were the best of friends. It was wonderful."

"I miss those days. I wish I could go back."

She started to faintly smile, something that he had never seen an adult Lily do, "I wish I was a child again and we could be friends. Even though you have grown into a Death Eater you are still so kind to me. It proves that there is still some good in you, deep down where nobody else can see. I wish you were brave enough not to have followed the crowd."

"We can still be friends," he got himself out of bed and went over to her, not to touch her but to just stand beside her, to see what she was seeing, "I don't just want you for sex. We can still just talk as we use to."

She shook her head, "No. Whatever childhood friendship we had is over, Severus. Accept that. I am nothing more than a whore. I hate what I do. I'm only twenty and I've slept with more people than I can count. That's why I don't want to do it anymore. After tonight I will not be a prostitute anymore. I want to be a good mother."

Severus felt a brick plummet through his stomach, he was not expecting this. He knew about her association with the order and how she was connected to Potter, Black and the others. He started to feel anger and envy, even though it would have been a disaster for his Death Eater status to have an illegitimate child with her.

"What?" Severus stumbled for words, "You don't look like you're very far along with the pregnancy. Is Potter the father? Black? Lupin? Or someone else from the Order?"

"The father of my child is none of your business. Besides, I'm not sure. What's the baby to you anyway?"

She then proceeded to put all of her clothes back on. There was nothing he could do to stop her from leaving, so he did nothing. He was sick of forcing her to do things against her will.

"Goodbye, Sev. I'll always remember you as a childhood friend, not a monster. What you've become is just a result of the world we live in, just like I am."

Lily then left before he could say goodbye. She would never believe him if he told her that he loved her. Severus never did see her again. It was that moment that made him want to go back in time, becoming a Death Eater was a wrong choice and he couldn't get out of it.

July 1991

It was over the next couple of days that the Dursleys went absolutely mad. After Harry had received the first letter (he tried to respond but couldn't), several more had appeared the next day to take its place. And so forth. Harry was torn between feeling bemused by the stupid behaviour of the Dursleys and upset that they were destroying his letters.

A couple of days later an explosion of letters out of the mail box had lead Uncle Vernon to take them on a random holiday to 'a hut on the rocks' in the hope that the letters would stop.

It was 11:58 on the little digital alarm clock on the little stand beside Dudley's feet, just two more minutes until it was the 31 July and it would be his eleventh birthday. It wasn't how Harry wanted to spend his birthday, in this awfully dusty and decrepit place they were only staying in out of Uncle Vernon's paranoia over the letters, but it wasn't as if he had ever had what he wanted for his birthday.

'BANG! CRACK! BOOM!'

The weather outside was atrocious. The thunder and lightning were so loud that he was surprised the Dursleys were still asleep. It was almost like gunfire. The rain was just as bad; everything smelt damp and water dripped into buckets from cracks in the ceiling. All of this wouldn't be as awful, if Harry wasn't certain that he and the Dursleys were going to be stuck here for at least two days until the weather cleared up. Having nothing was a better present than having to spend two days with the Dursleys in this awful place.

The alarm clock made a small buzzing sound. It was his birthday. He rolled over and drew a cake in the dusty floor with his finger. Not as good as the cake he drew on paper last year but it was better than no cake at all.

"Make a wish, Harry!"

He then blew out the candles. Harry's wish was the same one he had every year, for the Dursleys to be nice or to be whisked away from them. Both of which were unlikely to happen.

"BANG!"

It was louder than the thunder outside. To the Dursley's shock, the door fell to the dusty ground. Standing in the doorway was a ginormous man. He was wearing a large moleskin coat and had lots of frizzy hair as well as a beard that was just as long and frizzy. Dudley screamed and ran to his parents. Harry hid under the small rickety table by the door. Uncle Vernon had got out the shot gun, his hands were trembling. Aunt Petunia was latched to his side, her hands gripped tight on her husband's arm.

The ginormous man entered the house and looked straight at Dudley.

"'ello thar' Harry," the man said in a friendly voice, "Pleased ter meet you at last. You're a little bit different than what I'd imagined, especially right in the middle."

"I-I-I'm not Harry…" It was the first time that Harry could remember seeing Dudley look scared.

Harry decided to come out from under the table, "I am."

The huge giant turned towards him. Harry saw the man's eyes widen in surprise.

"Why, indeed yeh are," he smiled gently, "How lovely for yer to have your mother's eyes. Anyway — Harry, a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here — I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."

The man brought out a brown box to give to Harry. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with "Happy Birthday Harry" written on it in green icing. Harry was overjoyed, the last time he had been given a birthday cake was when his friend Adam's parents had made one for him three years ago. He instantly lost any fear he might have had against this stranger.

"- Who the hell are you?" Vernon interrupted, raising the shot gun higher.

"Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts. Friends call me Hagrid."

Harry's eyes widened, he wasn't expecting the place to be real.

"How do you know me?" Harry asked, "I mean, how did you know my mother?"

"I taught your mother when she went to Hogwarts. She was such a sweet girl then and she became such a powerful witch. I can't imagine you not wanting to follow in her footsteps. Yeh father was a good man, too."

"A witch? You mean that magic is real and that Hogwarts is too?"

"Didn't yer Aunt 'n' Uncle tell yer nothing? Haven't yer ever done anything unexplainable when yer were scared or afraid? Yer a wizard Harry. Surely they musta known."

Harry blinked with his eyes wide open. He couldn't help but recall the times that the Dursleys told him there was 'no such thing as magic' or seemed not to notice strange things happening around him from when he made an ugly sweater shrink because he didn't want to wear it to the time he ruined Dudley's birthday by making the toy train that Dudley had received from Aunt Marge vanish into thin air.

Aunt Petunia scoffed, "How could we have not known? It was obvious that you would be just as strange and abnormal as she was. She got that letter and went to that school with that horrid boy. She grew up and she had a boy without a father. She got herself blown up and we were landed with you."

There was a stringent bitterness in her voice that Harry had not heard before. She had been holding that resentment for all those years. Her sister was a witch, while she was not.

"You told me my mum died of a drug overdose!" Harry shouted. She had lied to him for all these years and had no remorse for it.

"What?" Hagrid was angry, "Lily Evans was never, ever a drug addict. Lily died protecting her own son. Harry's father was James Potter, a great and noble wizard. This is an outrage! A scandal!"

"- He will not be going to that damn school! I will not sit around and let some crackpot old fool teach him magic tricks," Vernon shouted, his neck and cheeks as red as a beetroot. He was still pointing the old shot gun straight at their visitor.

Hagrid brought out his umbrella and pointed at Vernon, "Never call Albus a 'crackpot old fool' in front of me. Ever."

In the corner, Dudley was busy eating the birthday cake Hagrid made. With a swish of the umbrella in Dudley's direction, a curly pink pig tail grew on his behind. The Dursleys began to screech in horror. Dudley had his hands on the tail, trying to pull it off while Vernon dropped the shot gun to try to yank it off himself. Both of them were screaming and yelling. Aunt Petunia fainted. Harry couldn't help but chuckle at the ridiculous of the situation.

Hagrid turned to him and smiled, "Ready to come with me."

Harry looked at the Dursleys. They were too absorbed with Dudley growing a tail to notice Harry being beckoned by Hagrid to leave. He knew that was supposed to feel some sort of grief over leaving them but he didn't. They wouldn't even notice him missing. Harry had no idea what held in store for him when he left with the mysterious large man but he showed more genuine kindness to Harry in less than an hour than the Dursleys had over ten years of his life and to Harry, that made the world of difference. Anything had to be better than the Dursleys and Stonewall High.

A/N: I hope this chapter was alright. Reviews, favourites and follows are always welcome.