In the Great Hall on Saturday morning, Severus was savoring the delicious French toast that Emmeline had heartily recommended and listening to Lily, Emmeline, and Marlene chatter as he slowly woke up. Soon, the owls swooped in. Severus was surprised to see a beautiful tawny owl heading towards him. He didn't really have anyone not at Hogwarts besides his Mum, and she wasn't supposed to use owls. He rubbed the inside of his wrist. The owl landed beside him and stuck out its leg, which had a letter bound to it. He gently untied the letter and the owl stayed next to him. He opened the letter, which was written in his Mum's flowing handwriting. A smaller note also fluttered out. He picked up the letter from his Mum first.

My Dearest Severus,

Hello my darling! This owl found me when I was in the Half-Blood Princes' Place, writing letters to you that I thought I wouldn't be able to send. It was holding a letter that I have enclosed. I think it was a gift from someone. You can tell the owl to take letters to the Half-Blood Princes' Place, since I showed it to her and taught her what it was. She'll leave them on my sitting rock. Your Father will never know, so don't worry.

How has school gone? Your Father wasn't very happy when he found out we tricked him, but I managed to convince him that if you didn't go, people would come looking. Thanks for the batch of Bruiser Paste, by the way. Even though, as I have told you, you oughtn't be worrying about me. It worked exactly right. Took away the pain but left the bruises. Speaking of Potions, is Professor Slughorn still the Potions Master?

What House were you sorted into? I know you wanted to be a Slytherin like me, but I still say you're a Gryffindor at heart. And remember, I love you No. Matter. What. Forever and ever and ever. Where did your friend get Sorted? I wish I could meet her, but, well, you know how your Father feels about talking to strangers. Speaking of strangers, who and how are your dormmates? I know you might want to just stick with your one friend, but it's very important to branch out. My dormmates at Hogwarts were some of the best friends I had! Goodness, I haven't been back to Hogwarts in ages and ages. Is Binns still the History of Magic Professor? I think I slept through nine of ten of his classes. But my grades showed it!

On the subject of grades, you had better not bring home anything lower than a 65 on your final grades, or we'll spend all the time your Father isn't home this summer working on schoolwork! As I told you about primary school: I don't care if you don't get excellent grades in every class, but I expect you to be a hard enough worker to at least pass every class. I have so much faith in you, and I am so, so very proud. Remember, I love you more than there are grains of sand on the beach, stars in the sky, and drops of water in the oceans.

All my love,

Mum

P.S. Asphodel misses you, and so do I.

The enclosed letter was written on a scrap of parchment and read:

Eileen (& Severus)-

You are never completely alone. Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.

A Friend

He could swear the handwriting was familiar, but he couldn't recall exactly who it belonged to. Mentally shrugging his shoulders, Severus told the owl to go to the Owlery, finished his food, then headed back to his dorm to write a letter back.

(He didn't look at the Staff Table on his way back, but if he had, he would have seen Professor McGonagall and Argus covertly bump their fists together.)

Once he reached his dorm, Severus tucked his Mum's letter under his pillow, grabbed his quill, some parchment, and some ink, and settled in to write his letter.

Dear Mum,

Greetings and Salutations! I miss you and Asphodel too. School has been unimaginably wonderful. Professor Slughorn is indeed still teaching Potions and guess what! After the first week, he said that I shouldn't be in first year Potions, so he pushed me up to second year Potions, and now I'm in THIRD! YEAR! POTIONS!

Unsurprisingly, you were right. I was Sorted Gryffindor. I'm sure you're incredibly pleased with yourself. Congratulations. But I was also kind of right too since the Hat nearly put me in Slytherin. Lily was also sorted Gryffindor!

My dormmates are James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin. James is completely barmy and gets up entirely too early, but he's great fun to be around. Sirius is nice, although apparently his Mum is some nut who thinks Lily somehow stole her magic from someone, but he's working on it. He goofs off a lot. Remus is probably my best friend in the dorm. He's really sweet and he absolutely adores books. He's brilliant at everything except Potions. For the week I was in Potions with him and everyone, he managed to blow up every. Single. Potion. He worked on. Apparently, his streak remains unbroken. So, HA! I have so made friends other than Lily! I even made friends who aren't even in my dorm. Granted, they're Lily's dormmates, so they're the girl version of my dorm, but still! Their names are Emmeline Vance, Marlene McKinnon, and Dorcas Meadows. Emmeline is really funny and drops things all the time, Marlene seems to be friends with everybody, and Dorcas is practically the nicest person I've ever met. Plus, I even made friends with the caretaker and his cat! The caretaker's name is Mr. Filch, but Lily and I are allowed to call him Argus and his cat's name is Mrs. Norris. Mrs. Norris is named after Argus' Mum. She's not Asphodel, but its very nice to have a cat to hold.

Binns is still the History of Magic Professor. Lily and I mostly play hangman in his class. My grades are mostly very good, but I am not doing so well in Transfiguration. But I am having a tutor later today, so I'm doing my very best, which, as you always say, is all you can ask for. I love you more than there are ticks and tocks in a clock! (I'm quite proud of that one.)

Love, love, love,

Severus

Severus walked nervously toward the library, holding the strap of his messenger bag tightly. None of his friends but Lily knew he was here. Professor McGonagall had said there was nothing to be ashamed of, but Severus was very embarrassed. He wouldn't even have told Lily if he was capable of lying to her. Narcissa Black. Same last name as Sirius. They must be related. Sirius' family thinks that Lily is an evil thief. What if she thinks I'm evil because I'm a halfblood? Before Severus knew it, he was through the library's mahogany doors. A beautiful, black-haired girl sat ramrod-straight in a chair at a far table, looking towards the doors. She spotted him and gracefully made her way over.

"Are you Severus Snape?" she asked gently. Severus nodded. "Excellent. I'm Narcissa Black. I already got us a table so let's go over there," she said, leading him towards the table he had seen her sitting at. They sat down across from each other. "I have to say, I'm surprised McGonagall gave me a Gryffindor. She usually keeps Slytherins to other snakes or to Ravenclaws."

"I was actually nearly a Slytherin," said Severus sharply. Narcissa raised her eyebrows.

"Really? That's rare. Snakes and lions are usually pretty different. Although you were a Hatstall, weren't you?"

"Oh yes. What's a Hatstall?" Narcissa gave a laugh that sounded like tinkling bells.

"Oh, I like you. A Hatstall is someone that takes the Sorting Hat at least five minutes to sort. People who can be a Slytherin or Gryffindor are often Hatstalls. I think McGonagall was one. Don't worry, it's not a bad thing. But let's get to work. If you have Slytherin in you, then my studying methods might work better than the things McGonagall has recommended. The Houses all tend to learn very differently…"

By the time his tutoring session was over, Severus had quite gotten over his worries about Narcissa. He quickly decided that he quite liked her and as far as he could tell, the feeling was mutual. It turned out that she was in his third year Potions class so they made plans to study for Slughorn's next test together. Severus left the library grinning, excited to tell Lily about his new friend.

Severus found Lily in the little study room they had discovered their first week at Hogwarts and had spent every weekend afternoon together in since. Lily had stumbled upon it when they were playing hide and seek and she went to hide behind a tapestry of Leopold the Lazy and fell through the wall into the cozy little room. It held a cheery fireplace with a fire that never seemed to die out, a pair of squishy, comfortable armchairs, and an entire wall of huge windows that magically looked out onto an idyllic beach. It was a perfect haven from the stress of school life and the perfect place to return to the peaceful times before they came to Hogwarts, the times when it was just Lily-and-Sev.

I really like my new friends and it's great to be away from Father, but sometimes I miss it just being the two of us against the world. Severus plopped down next to Lily in the armchair closest to the fire. The chairs were big enough that they could both sit comfortably in one. Lily looked up from her book and smiled.

"Hey Sev! How was tutoring?"

"It was a lot better than I thought it would be."

"Isn't everything always better than you think it will be?"

"Fair enough. But Narcissa was really nice! She's really smart and really knows her Transfiguration. And she actually understands my sarcasm!"

"Hey! I understand your sarcasm!"

"Yeah, but she actually enjoys it."

"…You know what? That's fair." Lily fixed him with a stern look. "Also, were you ever going to bother to tell me that Professor McGonagall told you that Professor Nagai wanted to give us extra lessons?" Severus slumped down in his seat.

"I'm so sorry, I totally forgot Professor McGonagall said that. I had another one of those episodes right after." Lily's glare immediately disappeared and she threw her arms around him.

"Oh, Sev! We've got to figure those things out. Did it happen in front of McGonagall?" Severus nodded. "Did she send you to the Hospital Wing?" He shook his head. I hate talking about these…meltdowns. I should be stronger than this, damnit!

"Did she send you to the Hospital Wing?"

"No."

"Well, then we know they're not something Madame Pomfrey can treat, so then maybe-"

"Lily. I don't want to talk about this. If Professor McGonagall didn't get worried, I don't see why you should!" Severus snapped angrily. Lily closed her mouth with a clack of teeth and gave him a wounded look. Severus sighed and slumped further.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. I just really hate this." Lily smiled gently at him and rested her head on his shoulder, taking his hand. He snuggled closer to his best friend and watched the fire crackle, secure and content in the knowledge that no one, not even Father, could take away this.