Time skip: A little under 5 years. Severus and Lily are both 8 years old here.
Yes indeed, here we meet the little red, green-eyed flower.
Careful to avoid the brambles, as Mummy was getting quite annoyed with always having to mend the tears in her clothes she would bring home after her adventures, Lily peeked through the brush at the boy with the nicely-cut hair in his too-big coat. He sat alongside the river, bent over a book as he idly read aloud to himself, though Lily couldn't hear anything above a murmur.
Lounging beside him was that dog again!
Lily cursed a not-good word in her head that she overheard Patrick Jenson from class say often enough. If Petunia knew, she would definitely go run to tattle to Mummy.
Lily wanted to talk to that boy. He did things, things that Lily knew weren't possible. Things like making leaves spin like circus acrobats, and jumping down from trees in slow motion.
Things Lily could do too. Lily could make flowers dance and she knew how to swing so high that she floated like a bird.
But the last time she'd done that, last week, Petunia had yelled at her and run to tell Daddy because Mummy had said that she wasn't allowed to do that kind of stuff. Lily had scraped her hands and skinned her knees falling to the ground in an effort to race home and stop her.
She'd been trying to find the boy alone for weeks now. But every time she caught sight of him, he was with that tall black dog.
Lily had never liked big dogs, not after the morning when she caught a glimpse of a dog stealing Petunia's new pet rabbit she had gotten for her birthday. Being so small, she'd seen it happen from the safety of the back door when she'd followed her big sister to go let the bunny out to eat morning dew.
Petunia herself didn't even remember what happened when she had been five. To this day she blamed it all on Lily herself.
But Lily, at the tender age of three going on four, Lily remembered.
She couldn't remember everything, not really. But she remembered how fast the dog had been appearing as if from nowhere, and how its tall, shadowy appearance had towered in comparison to little Lily.
The blue of Petunia's lost ribbon flashed through her mind.
Mummy had always wanted a dog. Daddy wanted a big dog, for guarding. But Lily always shied away from the dogs her parents would take her and Petunia to see at the shelter. And when it came to dog shows, Daddy would take Petunia, leaving Lily at home with Mummy because dog shows always had some larger dogs.
Lily really just wanted a cat. But Petunia and Mummy were allergic.
A bird crowed loudly nearby, causing Lily to look away from the boy in surprise. There! Up in the branches of the tree she was closest to, a raven eyed her. It tilted its head, crowing once more before shaking its wings and flying away.
Softly, a voice said, "What do you think you're doing?"
Lily screamed, and fell on her bum. Caught unawares, she looked up to see the boy had found her.
Frowning, he stared at her hair. "You're one of the Evans girls, aren't you?"
Lily was frozen, shocked he knew of her and shocked to see him so up close. He had a scary nose that looked funny on his face and his black eyes froze her.
"Well?" He asked.
"Whe- where's your dog?" Lily stuttered. Looking around, she saw no signs of the tall black animal. She also failed to notice the boy's expression tighten in anger.
"I sent her away," he replied. Her eyes widened, then closed.
Pressing a hand to her chest, Lily breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, she could talk to him! Beaming, her excited grin making her own cheeks ache but not caring in the least, she smiled at the boy.
He, on the other hand, looked utterly confused and a little bit shocked.
"I hope you don't mind," she began, "I don't much like dogs."
He frowned again. "She wouldn't hurt you."
Lily looked away, picking at some grass beneath her fingers. Then she pushed herself to her feet, brushing the dirt off of the dress she'd nicked from Petunia's closet that morning. Smiling again, she looked toward the boy and stuck out her hand.
"I'm Lily Evans," she said. "Hello!"
The boy just continued frowning as he looked from her hand, back to her. Lily hesitated, then huffed. Grabbing his opposite hand and not noticing his near visceral flinch, she firmly shook it once.
"That's how you do a handshake!" She let his hand go. "What's your name?"
The boy stared at his hand before roughly flicking his wrist so that the folded sleeve of his too-big coat unfurled and fell to past his fingers.
"Severus Snape," he muttered, glancing up at her from beneath long lashes and a lock of black hair just long enough to cover his left eye. Severus was shorter than her, Lily noticed. Her chest puffed out at that little tidbit, as Petunia always made a point of looking down at Lily from under her sharp nose.
"Se-vu-ros," Lily mimicked. She didn't much like the way that sounded coming out of her mouth. It twisted her tongue, and Lily couldn't decide if it felt worse than the way Petunia's name made her feel like she was spitting. "Can I call you Sev?"
Severus glared at her, and Lily flinched at the shine of those black eyes staring at her. "No!" He barked, soft voice going as sharp as her Daddy's tailored suits. "What I want to know is why you've been following me these last few weeks!"
Lily was shocked. He'd noticed her? Severus continued.
"I would have caught you sooner in the act, but I was worried you were just after mu- my dog."
"How rude!" Lily sputtered. "Why would I want to take your dog-"
"Your da tried to!"
Silence reigned for a few seconds as Lily froze, trying to comprehend what the Snape boy had just told her. Severus, on the other hand, caught a glimpse of the large raven that liked to follow his mum in his peripheral.
Severus had named it Edgar.
And Edgar was silently clacking his beak at him.
Anger turned to confusion, and confusion turned to embarrassment as Severus remembered that the Evans girl had said she didn't like dogs. So mum was safe from her, it seemed.
"You're bluffing," said Lily. Severus looked back and withheld a flinch from those vivid green eyes. "You don't even know my daddy."
"I seen him twice," said Severus, voice soft once again. "He's got eyes like yours." He tilted his head, contemplating Lily's hair. "But he's blond."
"Oh." Lily blinked, frowning as she fidgeted with the burnt red of her hair. "I get it from my nana," she explained, "on my mummy's side."
Severus stared some more, the silence of his gaze rendering Lily mute and unsure of herself. Then his expression became excited and a corner of his mouth tilted up, just a little, the tip of a canine catching Lily's attention.
"You're a witch, aren't you? That's why you've been following me!"
Lily gasped, and stomped her foot. "How mean! That's not a very nice thing to call me!" Severus looked at her askance, as if there was something on her face he couldn't understand.
"I'm not being mean. That's what you are." He jabbed a finger in her direction. "It only makes sense, muggles aren't supposed to be able to follow me."
"Muggles?"
"People without magic."
Feeling wrong-footed, even as her breath hitched in excitement at his uttering of the word 'magic', Lily asked, "Well then if I'm a witch, what are you?"
"Isn't it obvious?" He lifted an eyebrow at her, soft voice speaking slowly. "I'm a wizard."
Daintily, Lily covered her mouth as she gasped out, holding in a squeal of excitement. "So it's not weird?" She looked to the side, plucking a small flower from the bush closest to her. Holding out her hand, she showed off the gently opening and closing petals like an offering. "That I.. we can do these things?"
Severus grinned, his eyes shining as he answered, "No.. it's not," and jerkily motioned her to follow him even as he returned to his prior spot by the river to sit with an odd sort of grace. "Come here, look," and from seemingly out of nowhere the book he'd been reading before reappeared in his hands.
"How did you do that?" Lily asked as she eagerly seated herself beside him, her little flower floating away on the spring breeze.
"Do what?"
"Your book!" She pointed. "I didn't even notice where you pulled it out from!"
"That's because I didn't want you to notice it." Severus opened the worn, gilded brown cover, flipping forward a couple pages. "This is Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, written by a wizard who's very old now. These are real magical creatures that only we can see."
"The pictures move!" Lily stared in awe. From the pages a bird like an eagle with six wings reared its head and flew between the paragraphs. Thunderbird, said the title. Arizona, United States.
"All wizarding pictures move," explained Severus.
Lily stared some more, then gasped and clasped her hands, looking up to pin him with her emerald gaze. "Vampires! And mermaids and werewolves and unicorns! They're all real?"
For what seemed an eternity, Severus found himself mesmerized by her eager expression, wondering if the green of her gaze was a fitting match for the description of the avada curse.
"They are... but werewolves and vampires are dark creatures and very dangerous."
Notes: Patrick Jenson is an OC boy you will never hear of again. 2017, I visited the Grand Canyon and Sedona for the first time ever! So the thunderbird reference is my nod to the wonderful views I experienced.
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Confirmation: Oh yes, I'm sure you have questions.