Lily Evans walks down to the park and sits down on a swing. She's slightly early so she shuffles her feet in the dirt below and watches as birds hop around, pecking at the ground. She whistles at them, drawing their attention, but none hope over to her.
"Hi." She hears behind her, she turns in the swing to see Severus Snape.
"Hi Sev." She smiles to him. Over the summer the two have been spending a lot of time together again. It's easier for them to to talk without the prying eyes of other Hogwarts students around. "You don't look too well." She says, dropping the smile.
Severus sits down beside her on the other swing. He doesn't look at her and just shuffles his feet, kicking up some dirt. "Mum and Dad are fighting again."
"About the magic?" Lily asks. Severus nods. "At least they are talking about it. Petunia and I haven't talked about it all summer."
"I think it's be better if they didn't talk about it. I think dad wants to leave." Severus says. "Mum won't have any money if he does."
Lily reaches out and puts her hand on Severus's shoulder, "I don't think he'll leave." She says to him in her normal light voice.
"I did something stupid." Severus says, looking away from Lily. She frowns at him, waiting for him to continue. "I brought the Daily Prophet into the house. Dad saw it and got really mad. There was a small article in there about a muggle possibly being murdered by a wizard. I accidentally left that article open and Dad say it. He hasn't stopped yelling about it all day."
"He'll calm down about it." Lily says, trying to reassure her friend. She bites her lip then asks, "Was the muggle really murdered by a wizard?" She asks.
Severus shrugs, "They didn't right out say he was. They said it was a high possible because the Muggles can't figure out how the person died. All signs point to the Killing Curse. But they won't actually say that because it'd cause panic."
"They shouldn't report it if they don't have proof." Lily says.
"They probably have the proof. The Ministry just doesn't want to tell the public that." Severus tells her. "And... I don't think you have anything to worry about. If Wizards are killing muggles, they'll go after important people. People who will draw attention. You're family is just a family. The muggle who was killed worked some important muggle Ministry job."
"Well that's reassuring." Lily says sarcastically.
"Sorry to bring it up." Severus says.
Lily shrugs, "Whatever is happening is happening. There's nothing we can do about it right now anyway. We're just students."
"Do you think it'll all be over when we leave Hogwarts?" Severus asks.
Lily shakes her head slowly, "No. It's just starting. I don't know a lot about the magical world, but I can tell this is going to be something bigger than anything that's ever happened before."
Severus didn't actually think he's dad would go to Platform 9 3/4 with him, but he asked anyway. His dad grumbled that he was busy, which is his usual excuse for not going to anything that involved Severus's world.
Severus and his mother enter the platform and he instantly starts looking for Lily and spots her hugging her mother goodbye and climbing onto the train. Severus tells his mother goodbye weaves in and out of the crowd to get to the part of the train Lily just entered. He finds her quickly and slides into the quiet compartment.
"Oh, hi!" She says, slightly shocked to be seeing him so quickly. "Is that a new shirt?"
Severus, trying but failing to keep the pride out of his voice, says "Yes. I convinced Mum to buy it for me yesterday."
"I like it." Lily smiles. "It looks good on you."
Severus shrugs, still trying not to look too happy about something as simple as a new shirt. "Thanks."
They stand at the window and watch as other students say goodbye to their families. Severus lets out a noise somewhere between a scoff and groan when he sees James Potter.
"What?" Lily asks, then follows his eye line. "Oh, Potter. Maybe he's grown up over the summer."
"Doubt it." Severus says. "Looks like Black came here with the Potter family too. No way those two matured over the summer if they were together."
"People can change." Lily says. Then she glances out the window again at the two boys, they are shoving each other along the platform and laughing. She frowns. "But you're right, they clearly haven't."
