(The first chapter of Azalea's past! Yay! This chapter excites me! Enjoy the show 8) Oh, and I rewrote this because some parts needed to be cleaned up.)

Chapter 1: Flying and Flowers

"Lily, Petunia, do you swear that you will do anything for your sisters, no matter what?" I say, smiling at my two sisters, all of us sitting on my purple bed in my owl-poster-filled-room. "To never cheat with each other, flirt with a boy until you're 13, never keep secrets, brag, and always think of your sisters?"

"Azalea, it better not be that we'll all have to do each others homework or chores." Petunia chimed in.

"Okay, okay. What I mean is, are we willing to sacrifice ourselves?" We all stop chattering and instantly grow solemn.

Lily nods almost immediately. "Yes, I will." I should've known. Lily will do practically anything for you. She's absolutely willing. "And I'll never cheat, flirt with a boy until I'm 13, never keep secrets, brag, and I'll always think of my sisters."

"Petunia?"

"I will never cheat, flirt with a boy until I'm 13, never keep secrets, brag, and always think of my sisters." She squirms a bit on the bed and looks at the floor. After awhile, she says, "And I'll sacrifice myself for my sisters."

"How about you?" Lily asks, turning to me.

I roll my eyes. "Of course! I'm willing to sacrifice for my sisters! And of course never cheat, flirt with a boy until I'm 13," We all shudder. We don't really like boys. "Never keep secrets, brag, and I'll always think of my sisters. We'll add more to the list if we have to."

We all laugh and hug each other.

That was when we were 5. The promise seems a bit childish now. Even the memory is a bit cheesy. But not so much as to giving up the promise. It's what holds my sisters and me together. I think all of this while sitting on my purple bed in my room, just where I was 6 years ago. It's still covered with owl posters, and now some magical creatures and witches and wizards. I wish I could be a witch... it'd be awesome. I could do spells and levitate! I wouldn't have to deal with math or history or anything... "Girls, we're going to the park today!" My mother's call rouses me from my thoughts.

"Sure! Coming!" Petunia and Lily run to the front door. "Let's play tag, then hop scotch and jump rope!" Petunia says to Lily. "You hear that, Azalea?" But I just stay there, sitting on my bed, sinking back into my daydream of being a witch...

"C'mon Azalea! You want to come to the park or not?" My mum hollers in front of the door.

Reluctantly, I agree. "Okay... coming."

As I climb into the car, Lily asks me, "How come you don't want to come? You love the park!" She stares at me, trying to read my face. "You don't have to come, you know."

"I do want to come! It's just, I was daydreaming about how cool it'd be to see hippogriffs and unicorns-"

"Ms. Witch here would like to ride a unicorn." Petunia teases, though she seems a bit shuddery.

Mum pulls out of the driveway, and we're off on the road to the park. Something seems to nudge me, like something's going to happen. I ignore the best I can. Last time that happened I was 9, and I saw a man in a strange cloak with an owl which had dropped a letter into his hands. I could remember his words now,

"The Dark Lord- he can't- no- it's impossible!" I looked at him like, What the heck is wrong with him? Dark Lord?

The man stepped towards me. "You're lucky a Muggle like yourself doesn't have to deal with him. At least, not yet."

"Azalea, we have to go grocery shopping." My mum says, pulling me away. I fix my stare at the man, his stare fixed at mine with worry. "I do hope you don't have to deal with him."

I shake the memory away and look out the car window. When we're right next the park, I take a look at the playground. I see something move in the bushes. Okay then...

Lily and Petunia jump out of the car happily. "You're It this time!" yells Petunia to Lily.

"I'm coming to get you!" And she chases her to the slide.

As I climb out the car, I get a bit weirded out by this nudging feeling and the memory of the strange man, and then I feel a slight poke on my back. That definitely scared the heck out of me.

"You're It!" Lily smiles, then runs away as fast as she can.

Ignoring my nudging feeling and the weird memory as best as I can, I run after her. Then, midway through running, I feel a hotness spread over my body. I kneel on the ground. I think I'm gonna faint. But I've never felt this way before! And it's not even a very hot day!

Lily's expression of excitement turns to concern. "Azalea, what's wrong?"

"Um, uh..." I get back up slowly, feeling a bit better. "I think I'm fine."

Before Lily can ask me more about what just happened, a figure climbs out of the bush. It was...

A boy with short-cut black hair. He was wearing a plaid collar shirt, and on that, a black jacket. I see Lily go still.

"Who are you?" Petunia asks, eying the new boy warily as she jogs up to us.

"I'm Severus Snape. I... uh... live at Spinner's End. Who are you?"

"I'm Lily Evans. Spinner's End is close to where I live. These are my sisters. Azalea," Lily says, pointing me. I wave slightly at him. "And this is Petunia." Petunia narrows her eyes at Severus.

"Um... Do you want to play on the swings?" I ask irreverently, trying to interrupt the awkward conversation.

"I would, but, well, I feel like I should go to the field." She kicks a pebble and runs to the field. "Sorry Severus!"

"It's okay." He says, but looks disappointed. To me he says, "Sure. Let's see who can go highest!" Severus says as he ran for the swings.

"Says the boy from a poverty-stricken neighborhood." Petunia whispers, to herself it seemed. She stays where she is, not budging.

I, meanwhile, run next to Severus to the swings, forgetting what just happened.

"So Severus, I bet I'll beat you!" I say.

"No you won't! I will!" Severus says.

"I'll most definitely beat you!" I say with confidence.

"Let's see." he says as we climb onto the swings. "On your mark, get set, go!"

We both push back and forth on our swings, pushing our legs out with full force.

I seem to be in the lead, Severus close behind.

"I'm winning!" I shout.

"I dare you to jump! Since you're first." Severus says. I have a feeling he slowed down on purpose though. Maybe to test something...?

"Okay!" I call back to him. "So, three... two... one!"

At once, I jump. For some reason, everything feels like it's in slow motion. The feeling I had forgotten about before gets so hot, it feels like 100 degree weather. All of a sudden, I realize this feeling makes me free and happy, floating here in the air. It's awesome! I thrust out my arms and yell "Wa-hoo!", embracing the new feeling. Leaves swirl in a small tornado. All of this feels good. It's like I've been hiding this all my life. Maybe I have.

I decide to finally look at the others. People stare up at me in awe as if to say, "Oh my God, is this really happening?" And maybe they are thinking that. I see Lily is on the ground now in the field in her own world. She looks up at me in awe too. Then she says, "Look what I can do!" She seems to be focused on something. "C'mon. You can do it." she mutters to herself. She closes her eyes and the field turns white with- daises. They're all daises! How long as my sister been hiding this inner talent? Are we what I think we are? Are we both-

"Witches! I knew it! You two are witches!" Severus says, smiling, interrupting my thoughts, looking at both of us. At this, I frown a bit. No matter how much I want to be one, it sounds a bit like an insult.

"Witch? I'm no witch!"

"Then how are you doing that?"

"Um... well..." I drop to the ground, and the good feeling goes away. Thinking about that must distract me from floating like that.

"Do you know how I did it?" I ask as I brush off the wood chips off my denim skirt.

"Yeah, how did we do that?" Lily asks as she runs up to me, closing all the daises in the field as the few people here stare in awe once more.

"Of course! You're a witch, like I'm a wizard."

As Severus says this, Lily exclaims, "Wasn't that amazing? I just opened all those flowers! I've been meaning to tell you about it, but it was a surprise."

"So you're a witch too?" He asks excitedly.

"Well, I guess so." Lily says, smiling. "I wonder if Petunia can do something like that!"

"No, I'm pretty sure I can't. You two are lucky." she says, a hint of hatred in her eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Lily says, looking a bit sorry and a bit scared. Petunia rarely got angry with us. Lily turns to me. "Now we can go to a witch and wizard school!"

"Yes!" I say excited, glancing at Petunia. What was up with her?

"I can teach you some more if you want." Severus offers to us. "More of what you did."

"Yes! That would be awesome!" We say enthusiastically.

At that moment, all of us forget about Petunia and everyone else who are staring with wide eyes and open mouths. We completely forget our "Muggle" world, Severus is explaining, and are all but engrossed in our new one.

(sorry if you think the promise was cheesy. But they were 5! Ooo... I wonder what that feeling is! What does it mean? Find out in the next few chapters! Yep, you got to wait! ...Next chapter will have Lily, Azalea and Severus going on the Hogwarts Express! Who will they meet? I can't wait to write that chappie. Azalea gets all- oh you'll see. Don't want to spoil it! R&R!)