Disclaimer: still don't own anything.
Summary: Lilly gets to important birthday gifts and Tuny is not all too happy
Warnings: Mentions of child abuse and an accident
Chapter 13: Tuny's tantrum
"Sev! Sev!"
Lilly ran through the snow, her light blue flower-patterned school-bag bouncing merrily on her shoulders.
"Sev! Come out! You are here! I know you are here!"
She ran around the old oaken tree to the gap in the old trunk facing the lake. She had started to wonder when Severus will build a nice wooden door into the opening. Maybe with a cute little doorknob and a little window. She grinned as she screamed "SEV!" again.
A sleepy looking boy with messy hair peeked out of the tree and emerged sluggishly. He did not have the time to properly stand up before the girl practically fell into his arm, hugging him tight. Both rolled back into the warm embrace of the tree.
"Lilly, what...?", he asked, still befuddled.
"Look!", she squealed, waving a piece of paper before his eyes. Severus, still very tired, eyed it with confusion.
It was not a piece of paper, he noticed. It was a letter.
A letter with green handwriting.
Ms. L. Evans
Evergreen Street 13
Cokeworth
Leicestershire
He felt awake immediately.
"Oh, Lilly. Open it.", he whispered.
She grinned and sat down in the warm grass right before the tree. Her hair, dancing in a summer breeze and illuminated by the sun, looked like fire. It did not matter that it was still winter. At this tree it was always summer, or maybe late spring. It was warm, yes, but never burning hot. It was just warm enough to be nice and cosy. A wizards place. She remembered the week Severus had not been here. The week winter touched this tree, where all warmth had been gone. The one on her skin as well as the one in her heart, instead there had been coldness and fear. She smiled sadly. She will not let him get lost again. Be it on the streets or in heart.
"What are you waiting for, staring at it? Come on, Lilly!"
She breathed in the sweet air and carefully opened the envelope, trying not to break the beautiful wax seal. But in the end, she had to. With shaking hands she pulled three pieces of parchment out of the envelope.
"Read it!", Severus hurried her. She smiled at him, cleared her throat and started to read aloud.
"Dear Ms. Evans, I am pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment as well as a second letter addressed to your parents for further instructions and explanations. The term will begin on 1 September. Yours Sincerely, Albus Dumbledore, the one leading the school, which means I am the Headmaster."
When she looked up, she looked into the happy face of Severus Snape. His eyes- although completely black- shone with a warmth that could have matched the sun's. She couldn't help but grinned back at him.
Suddenly the boy sprang up and hurried to the gap of the tree were he started to search through the many small things he had gathered there.
"Don't you ever fear that someone would steal your stuff?"
He didn't even look up when he answered:" Don't you ever wonder why no one is perturbed by the eternal summer around this tree? Its because they don't see it. It cannot be by all logical meanings what means it does not exist. For them, winter is here as well and no boy lives in the tree and no things are hidden here. For them magic is so unnatural and illogical that they cannot let it touch their tiny world."
"But my mother knows about this place and the summer and..."
"Yes. She is the mother of a witch after all. Not like the others... ah... there it is!"
Lilly wanted to retort something but when Severus turned around to face her, she could not. Instead, she looked at the flower in the small black pot in his hands. The flower glowed in bright red, orange and yellow colours. The wind played with the blossom and the sun illuminated the little game. Dancing this merrily, the delicate flower just looked like a small flame. The tiny brown dots in the inner parts of the flower danced like a little shadow in the playful warm fire.
"Oh, Sev, its beautiful." she whispered, mesmerized by the dance.
The boy smiled warmly, taking a flew steps towards her, speaking softly: "It is called a fire-lilly. I thought you would like it. It looks a bit like you with your flame-red hair." Dancing like you in the sun, he added in his thoughts.
Quickly he hold out his hands with the flower and lowered his head. He could feel the heat rising in his cheeks and did not want her to notice. He cleared his throat nervously. Why the hell was he even nervous? But when he spoke his voice was soft and steady: "I changed it a bit. If I am correct the flower should never wither away. It should always blossom, I think. Well, anyway... Happy birthday!", he pushed the flower hastily – and for him unnatural clumsy- into the hands of the girl with the flame red hair.
She inspected the flower carefully, turning the pot around in her hands. Severus only stood there, looking at his friend and waiting.
"This is", Lilly sad slowly, eyes never leaving the beautiful patterns of the fire-lilly, "the best present I ever received in my whole life."
Severus huffed:" Nonsense. You are exaggerating."
Green doe-like eyes met the warm black ones.
"No.", the girl stated calmly, not breaking eye contact, " I mean what I said. Thank you, Sev. Thank you really much. I love it."
He had to turn around to hide his pink cheeks,mumbling:" Don't mention it. Don't you have school or something like that?"
"Oh?", she poke him playfully, "Don't you have school?"
" I am a wizard. I don't go to Muggle schools." he stated and crossed his arms to underline his words.
"And I am a witch!", Lilly says cheerfully:" So I won't go to school either. Lets go home. Mom is there. I wanna show her the flower and my letter."
XXX
"A witch?", Petunia spat out the words like she had tasted something foul: "What do you mean, she is a witch?"
Lilly father looked at his wife, obviously unsure of what to say. But her mother was calm and her face stern; "It means, Tuny, that your sister has a special talent. A rare talent, that will need special care to blossom. But developed in the right way, this talent will help her choose a future career."
"A future career?!", Petunia shrieked.
"Dear", her father tried to calm her: "it just means she will visit a different school than we originally choose. It wont change much."
"A different school?! She didn't even go to school today!", her voice cracked in anger.
Her mothers warning gaze instantly disrupted her. "I allowed her to stay at home today and my decision are none of your concern. When your bird died, I allowed you to stay at home as well and Lilly never complained about it."
"But this is rubbish!", Petunia screamed, her face red.
"Tuny, it is not! It is the truth!", Lilly retorted. Her face had also turned slightly red.
"NO! IT IS NOT! ITS ONLY THIS LUNATICS GODDAMN BRAIN FART!", the young girl screamed at the top of her lungs, pointing accusingly at the boy in the corner of the living room.
Severus Snape had watched the whole tantrum whilst he stood as far away from the family as possible. The morning had been so nice. He had talked a lot with Lilly and her mother. While he told her about magic, Hogwarts and witches and wizards, Miss Evans had given them cake and hot chocolate. Lilly's mother had asked him a lot of questions about wands, the school-system, the teachers, the books they needed and how they get them. She had phoned her husband who joined them about an hour later. at first with a stern and almost sour face which soon changeg to confusion and lastly excitement, asking about flying cars and other weird stuff.
The merry atmosphere changed the instant Petunia Evans opened the front door and saw her older sister sitting in the kitchen, happily conversing with her parents and her best friend.
He opened his mouth to defend himself, but...
"ENOUGH!", the angry voice of Lilly's father commanded as he rose from the chair to his full hight, towering over his younger daughter. His loud voice boomed:" You will apologize to him right now, Petunia!"
In an answer, the girl crossed her arms and pressed her lips so tightly together, that they almost became a white ugly line in her red face. The father, knowing this reaction from his daughter all too well, clenched his fists in anger.
Severus looked away. He did not like Petunia, yes, but he still did not want to see her getting beaten. His fingers clenched hard into his palms as he himself clenched his hands to fists unconsciously.
But instead of a beating, the father spoke in a slow and deep voice:" Go to your room and think about what you just have said. I am ashamed of your behaviour."
Well, this is a surprise. Severus had expected a much worse fight between them. Though, when he looked at Petunia, her face had changed colour from red to white and he was truly surprised when her eyes filled with tears as she ran up the stairs to her room.
But the most interesting thing he saw, was the hurt in the eyes of the father. A kind of pain he had never seen in his father, but in Theodore. The pain of hurting your own beloved child.
XXX
The next weeks flew by. Severus was at Lilly's home nearly every day. They sat in her room or at the kitchen table and went through various school books, reading the history of Hogwarts, practising spells or talking about potions and the right way to use the ingredients. Lilly was especially interested in learning how to levitate objects or fly herself. Her mother on the other hand, who often brought them sandwiches, or cakes, or lemonade or everything together, was more interested in any kind of spells that would help her around the house. Whenever the father joined them, the conversation changed to topics like who rules the wizarding world or how they manage to live in secrecy or how the health care system works.
"So, it is not possible to fly without a broom?", Lilly asked curious, " a real broom?"
"Like this one?", her mother asked, who was currently sweeping the kitchen floor.
Severus grinned: " Not quite like this one. They are specially made and bewitched. But yes, you need a broom, or a carpet, or a device like that. You see, you need an object that you change so that it can fly. But the brooms you can buy are better than bewitched carpets or cars, because they are designed to fly. You don't sweep the floor with those."
"Why cant you fly without them?", Lilly insisted to know, "I want to fly like a bird."
"As far as I know, you cannot use the spell on something alive.", Severus mused.
"Well you should.", Tuny stood in the doorway, gazing daggers at Severus, " that way we might get rid of you."
Before her mother could say something, Tuny ran through the front door and slammed it shut behind her. The three of them could see her running through the garden. It was april and the spring flowers blossomed.
"I am sorry, Severus. I will talk to her when she gets back. I don't know why she hates you this much.
"Its all right.", he said, still staring out of the window. I know she is jealous, because she is only a Muggle and never will be something else. And she knows as well.
XXX
"GIVE IT BACK!"
Severus stepped to the front door to the angry shouts of Tuny. Her tantrums had become normality around the house. Mostly she targeted Severus, but if he was not around, her sister Lilly was good enough as a target.
"They are fighting again?", he asked Miss Evans, who had opened him the door.
"Yes,", she sighed: "I don't know what it is about this time."
"I will go to the park with Lilly."
"Thank you, Severus."
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO READ IT! GIVE IT BACK!"
"But you wanted to send it? I just want to help you.", Lilly's voice was desperate. This definitely was not a normal fight.
"DID HE FIND IT? DID HE READ IT? GIVE IT BACK! I HATE YOU!" Petunias high pitched screams hurt Severus ears. How can she scream so loud?
"Tuny, I didn't mean..."
A loud bang disrupted Lilly's pleading. Severus run to the living room, looking up the stairs to the source of the sound. The spellbook on the bottom told him, that Petunia had obviously taken out her anger on it and had tossed the heavy book down from the first floor. This time, Lilly's voice was angry:" STOP THAT! This book belongs to Severus! You cannot...!"
"YOU MONSTER!", Petunia screamed.
"THATS ENOUGH YOU TWO!", Miss Evans screamed, "COME DOWN IMMEDIATELY!"
But what followed was so fast, he could not say how it happened. He only heard the scream and saw Lilly falling. Falling from the first floor. And Petunia standing at the stairs, eyes wide in shock, clutching a letter with both hands and pressing it to her chest.
The mother ran to her falling child, screaming something that Severus did not catch.
Severus instead was unnaturally calm, stretching out a hand. A heat rising in him, filling his belly, then his chest and his arms. And what followed was simply magic.
No sound filled the air as Lilly floated softly over her mothers head to Severus. Her face of shock changing to a happy face when she saw Severus, she reached for his hand as she slowly landed next to him, now grinning brightly.
Severus looked into the shocked face of Petunia and then into the equally shocked face of the mother. He felt awkward.
"We go to the park then.", he said with a cold unemotional voice that even surprised him. Then he turned around and walked out, not letting go of the hand of the girl he had just rescued. He had just protected. And inside, he swore to always protect her, because he knew, he had the power to do that. Just like the man with the crimson eyes had told him.
Bold talk in 3...2...1
Have you ever seen a Fire-Lilly? They are beautiful. I looked up every kind of Lillys there are and found those. Its such a beautiful flower.
This chapter went into a completely different direction than I intended. But Petunia tried to send a letter to Dumbledore. And she had been angry at them. In cannon, Severus was the one who had found it (if I remember correctly). But I don't mind changing that.
Originally I wanted both to visit Diagon alley together. But I think I wont write such a chapter.
Hope you all had a nice Christmas.
:)