A.N:Sorry it took me so long to write. My computer broke down, and I had to get it fixed! Anyways I hope you like this chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Harry Potter.

Chapter 3

How wonderful it was to have a friend! Never before had I ever been so blessed! It was my dream come true. I was not lonely anymore. I had a loving, caring sister and a friend. A friend who cared about me.

When Severus found out that I was doing poorly in school, he was upset. "Promise me, Lily, that you will never make bad grades in any school that you attend, especially not at Hogwarts the school that we will both attend one day. Promise me that you will be the top student. I want you to shine because I know you can shine as bright as the Northern Star," Severus said looking up at the sky.

"I promise. I will do the best I can for you," I whispered to him softly in his ear, comforting him. I held up my pinky, and I said, "I pinky promise." He held up his pinky and wrapped his finger softly around mine. It felt so warm, his pinky on mine. I felt complete. This is what friendship felt like, completeness, happiness, existence. I wanted to make him happy.

From then on, I never wanted to upset him again. I did my best in school for him. All of my classmates were shocked with how good in school I was. Mrs. Higgins and my parents were proud of me. Nobody made fun of me, they just left me alone. I didn't care. I was not lonely anymore because I had Severus. With Severus by my side, I felt that I could conquer anything, even the moon.

I was also coming to terms with who I was. Together, Severus and I practiced magic, and I was convinced that I was a witch and I would go to a magical school named Hogwarts with Severus. Hogwarts seemed like it was a fairytale castle that only Snape and I could go to. I couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts! Maybe I could bring my sister, Petunia along. However, the most important thing about me becoming a witch was that Severus made me realize that it was okay to be who I was.

"Lily, are you hanging out with that Snape boy?" Petunia asked me one day when I had gone home from the playground.

"Yeah, I am." I replied walking on into the living room. I wanted to ignore Petunia's look of disdain that she wore on her face. I don't know why she disapproved of him so much.

"Don't you dare hang out with him! He is a devil's spawn, bad blood!" Petunia shrieked.

I glared at her and tried hard to control my anger. "What does it matter to you who I hang out with? He is not at all like you described! He is nice! I'm glad that besides you he is the only one who accepts me."

"Why? Because he tells you that you are a witch? Listen, Lily, there is no such thing as Hogwarts. I looked it up. He is a liar! He has ruined you! Look at what he has done to you, Lily! He has made you do weird abnormal things!" Petunia was on the brink of tears. My anger quickly ebbed away from me, and I felt like I was stabbed by a thousand knives. I didn't want her to cry. I took my sister in my arms, and held her close.

"Lily, stay away from him. Promise me, you will not go near him! Promise me!" she begged crying on my shoulder.

I parted from my sister, and I looked into her blue eyes. I wanted to make her understand and to know how important Severus was to me. "Tuney, I love you, but I also love Severus. The two of you are so precious to me. I can not bear it, if one of you leave me. I need both of you. You have your own friends. Please let me have my own. Please."

Petunia was about to open her mouth, but she closed it. Instead we stood there staring at each other in silence. Seconds turned to minutes, and the minutes felt like hours. Until finally Petunia sighed, "Very well. I give up, but please don't believe him. There is no such thing as Hogwarts. It does not exist." Without another word, she left the living room, and went up the stairs. She never looked back.

I could not believe what she had said, that there was no Hogwarts, a magical place that Severus and I would go to get away. I did not want to distrust Severus, but I also I did want to distrust my sister. According to Petunia, Severus was a liar, but I could not believe it. I did not want to choose between my sister and my new friend. Surely, surely, there had to be a middle ground.

My family had already gone to bed, but I stayed up late that night reading The Mermaid's Pearl Vol. 9, because I wanted to get my mind off Petunia and Severus. Why couldn't Petunia understand me? Why couldn't she see the good in Severus? I sighed and put the comic down, changed into my pajamas and got into bed. The darkness in my room made everything seem peaceful. It seemed that my relationship wth Petunia would be the same again before I met Severus. She would come to understand. I was drifting off into sleep,when all of a sudden I heard a tap on my window. I jotled awake and fear gripped me. What could it be? Maybe, it was just the wind. I felt comforted by this suggestion and I closed my eyes and was drifting to sleep, when I heard another tap on my window. I tucked the covers over my head. I was scared. Was it a burglar or a murderer coming to kill us in the night? I didn't want to die, not now. I was too young, only ten years old. I had heard on the news that there was a serial killer named Voldemort wondering around the streets. Was it him? There was again another tap on my window, and I felt that I must do something. I had to protect my family, I had to because I was the only one up. I pulled the covers away from me, and I looked around my room for something to protect myself with. I spotted the baseball bat, and crawling on the floor I picked it up, and I sneaked by the window.

"Okay," I wishispered. trying hard to keep myself calm, and trying to stop my hands from shaking. "Count to three. One... Two... Three..." I then stood into the window. My hands holding the bat. I saw Severus out there throwing rocks and relief swept me.

"Lily," he whispered. I saw that his voice was shaking. His eyes were red, and I could tell that he had been crying. "Lily, what are you doing with that bat?" Snape asked.

All of a sudden, I felt like a fool standing there with a bat, and I was embarassed. "I thought you were either a burglar or a murderer."

"Lily..." his voice faded. I knew something bad had happened. He needed me.

"Hold on, one second. I will be right there." I said trying to keep my voice calm. I put on a jacket and ran out of the house. I stood there in front of him, the two of us staring at each other.

"How did you know where I live?" I asked him.

"I followed you home one day. Lily..." Again his voice faded, and he was trying hard not to cry. He stood there lifeless. His brown eyes held sadness, despair, and loneliness. I felt my soul ripped in half when I saw his unhappiness.

"Lily, I'm scared. My parents are fighting again, and they won't stop. It was all about how my mother bought the wrong type of coffee..." All of a sudden tears ran down his eyes. I wrapped my arms around Severus and hugged him. He was crying on my shoulder. We didn't say anything. I held him, comforting him. I did not want to let him go. All of a sudden, he was calm. He wrapped his arms around me. The darkness emited a kind of peacefulness and my presence comforted Severus. We both felt that everything would be okay. After an hour of being in each other's arms, we parted and stared into each other's eyes.

"Thanks Lily, I feel a lot better. I should go before your parents wake up and discover that you are missing. You should also get some sleep." He looked at me as if he wanted to say more, but he turned around and started walking back home.

I did not want him to leave. I wanted him to stay by my side in his arms forever. "Severus!" I called. Severus froze and stood still in his tracks.

"Yes, Lily," he asked. I walked over to him and hugged him. "Whenever you need me, call on me, and I will be waiting for you. Remember, I am always by your side. Also, you can come to my house whenever you want to."

We parted, and he smiled. I could not help thinking that he had a beautiful smile. His white teeth lit up the whole street. "I'll remember that, Lily!" He turned around and he ran home beaming, jumping, and leaping, out of my sight, and I knew that if Severus ever had wings, he would fly home.

I then went to my room, and lie down on my bed. I thought about what Petunia said and about Severus's parents fighting. Hopefully, Hogwarts existed so that Severus could go there so that he wouldn't have to hear anymore of his parents fighting.

The next day I couldn't wait to see Severus. I wanted to know if he was okay. I found him on the playground, and I could see that he was still upset. I wanted to make him smile as he did last night.

I sneaked up to him, and I covered his eyes with my hands and shouted "Boo!" laughing.

"Lily, you didn't surprise me. I knew you would come!" He still wasn't smiling, and the image of his parents still haunted him. I thought of the perfect place we would go to clear his mind.

"Hey Severus! Come with me! I want to show you something," I said.

He got up and followed me. "Where are we going, Lily?" he asked.

I tried hard to keep myself from smiling, and I said, "It's a surprise!" We walked into a forest, and stopped at a river. It was beautiful with the sunlight touching the river and the the trees surrounding us. It felt like a place that could clear our heads. "Daddy took us here when we were four. We used to go here every weekend. Sometimes, whenever I am feeling down I would come here alone. Severus, I want you to clear your mind here. From now on, whenever we have problems we can escape here."

"Thank you, Lily," Severus said as we sat down and removed his coat.

"So tell me more about Hogwarts," I asked lazily.

"It is a school for witches and wizards and we can do magic in school, but do not do magic outside of the school. The wizarding world is ruled by the Ministry of Magic, and the Ministry can punish you if you do magic outside of the school. You get letters."

Uh-oh. I looked back to see if an owl had come from the Ministry of Magic. But there were no owls there were just different kinds of birds singing in a tree. "But I have done magic outside of school!" I said, trying to keep my voice calm.

Severus shrugged, which indicated that there was nothing to be worried about. "We've haven't got wands yet. They let you go off when you are a kid, and you can't help it." He looked at me warningly. "But once you're eleven, and they start training you, then you've got to be careful." I nodded at him. I would not use magic outside of school. I did not want to get into trouble. I shivered at the thought about getting in trouble, if Mrs. Higgins used the paddle on me, then I know that the Ministry of Magic's punishment would be even more unpleasant.

I then picked up a twig on the ground, and imagined myself holding a real wand in my hand, and twirled it and muttered, "Abracadbra!" and imagined light coming from the twig to do my real bidding. All of a sudden I remembered what Petunia said about Severus lying to me, and I dropped the twig, and looked into Severus' brown eyes, and pleaded, "It is real, isn't it? It's not a joke? Petunia says that you're lying to me. Petunia says there isn't a Hogwarts. It is real, isn't it?"

Severus looked into my eyes and I saw that he was annoyed that I had doubted him. "It's real for us. Not for her. But, we'll get the letter, you and me."

"Really?" I whispered. I hoped so. I wanted Severus to go to a place where he could avoid his parents fighting. I no longer wanted him to be sad .

"Definitely," Severus assured me. He looked so confident that for a second I thought how handsome he looked.

"And it will come by an owl," I asked thinking how weird it would be for an owl to come by daylight?

"Normally, but you're Muggle-born so somebody will have to come and explain it to your parents."

I remembered how Severus said that Petunia was nothing more than a Muggle with distaste in his mouth. Was Muggle-born looked down upon for other wizards? "Does it make a difference, being a Muggle-born?" I asked him.

I looked into Severus eyes. I saw that he wanted to tell me something to warn me against anything bad that was happening, but he held his tongue, and he said,:"No, it doesn't make any difference."

I was relieved. I knew that Severus accepted me, and by the look he gave me, I knew that Severus would protect me from them. "Good," I said.

I laid down on the ground looking at the beautful leaves on the tree. It was really peaceful, calm, and translucent. I felt all my worries washed away. However, I could not forget about what happened last night with Severus, and I sat up immediately and looked at Severus with concern. "How are things at your house?" I asked him.

He bit his lip. "Fine," he said bitterly, but I knew that he was lying. He was trying to not make me worry about him, but I wanted to worry about him. I wanted him to know that it was okay for him to tell me these things. I wanted to take his burden and his problems away from him.

"They're not arguing anymore?" I asked him.

"Oh, yes they're arguing," Severus said angrily, taking a fistful of leaves and ripping them apart. "But it won't be long, and I'll be gone."

"Doesn't your dad like magic?" I asked him, remebering that Severus told me that his dad was a Muggle and his mom was a witch, and he didn't want his son to be a wizard.

"He doesn't like anything, much." Severus said, and I saw in his eyes that he was yearning for his dad to accept him for who he was.

I wanted to get his mind off unpleasant things, so I asked, "Severus?"

Severus smiled when I said his name, and I couldn't help smiling at him too. "Yeah?" he asked.

I quickly thought of a question to distract him from his problems and said, "Tell me about those dementors again."

I had heard that dementors were souless hooded creatures that sucked away people's happiness. Hearing about the dementors would always send shivers down my spine. Severus sighed, giving me a look that said, I told you everything about the dementors, but said, "What do you want to know about them for?"

I shruuged, and said, "If I use magic outside of school-"

But Severus interrupted me, "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 stopped abruptly. He blushed red scarlet and shredded more leaves. I was about to laugh at him, when I heard a loud noise behind me.

I looked up and saw that it was Petunia! "Tuney!" I cried with surprise and welcome. I was so glad she was there. However, Severus jumped to his feet looking at her with distaste.

"Who's spying now?" He shouted at her. "What do you want?" I didn't like how Severus was treating Petunia. How I wished they would get along!

Petunia looked alarmed, and I could tell that she didn't want to get caught."What is that you're wearing, anyway?" She asked pointing at Severus's shirt. "Your mum's blouse?" I knew that Petunia was making it up. She just wanted to hurt Severus to make him pay for what he said. All of a sudden a branch right above Petunia's head broke from the tree with a loud crack and fell on Petunia's shoulder. She staggered backward and burst into tears, and ran away. I was angry at Severus! How dare he hurt my sister.

"Tuney!" I called after her, but she was already gone away from earshot. I got up and rounded on Severus. "Did you make that happen?"

"No!" he said, but I could see in his eyes that he was afraid of what he had done.

"I backed away from him, and shrieked, "You did! You did! You hurt her!"

"No-no I didn't!" Severus said, but I could tell that he was lying.

I gave him one last burning look, and I ran off after Petunia. Tears were streaming down my eyes. Never before had I ever been so miserable. I knew that deep in my heart, I was not only sad that Severus had hurt my precious sister, but that Petunia and Severus would never reconcile. My hopes of having the two of them getting along would never happen.

Petunia stopped running and saw me. "Lily, that Snape boy hurt me! Please do not be friends with him again. Please."

"I'm sorry that he hurt you. He didn't mean it!"

Petunia glared at him, and asked, "Why do you always stick up for him, Lily! Why?"

"Because he is the first person besides you who accepts me. Severus is still very close to my heart."

She sighed, and I could see that she wanted to drop the subject. She looked at me with tenderness and hugged me. "I love you, Lily. You know that I always want the best for you."

"I love you too, Tuney. I know you do care what is best for me, but please don't make me choose." I begged.

She said nothing, but I could tell that she had a look of disdain, and I knew she was thinking about Severus. Together, we stayed in each other's arms, and I didn't want to think about the future. I only wanted to focus on the present, and I wished that I could stay like this forever.

The next day, I went to the playground, and found Severus on the swings. I could tell that he had been miserable ever since I left him. I felt a pang of regret and guilt. He already had problems at home, and I did not want him to have any friendship problems.

"Lily, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your sister," Severus said giving me a look of regret.

"I know you're sorry, and I forgive you. Please let us forget the past and not dwell on the future. Let us just focus on the present." I said.

Severus gave me a full smile, and I couldn't help but smile back. "That is a great idea! Tag you're it!" He tapped me on the shoulder, and together we played tagged. For the first time in days, I finally felt freedom and relief about the relationship between Severus and Petunia.