A/N: parts of this chapter have been taken straight out of A Prince's Tale.
It was 1 September! Severus realised this within seconds of waking up. It was still early, he always woke up early. He had been extremely excited about going to Hogwarts up until this point. He tried to be excited, but all he was, was dead nervous.
He got dressed into his Muggle clothes and went downstairs to get a bit of breakfast. His wand he had put into his pocket and the rest of his things were in his trunk, waiting for Hogwarts.
His mother was already dressed and sat at the table, eating. Severus joined her. "Give me your wand," washer greeting.
"What? No! Why?" he reached for his wand in his pocket defensively. It was his. Why would he give it up? He needed it at school.
"Give it!"
He sighed and reluctantly handed it to his mother, who snatched it from his hand and examined it. Severus sat silently.
"What do you think of it?" he asked her after a while.
"It's a good wand. A strong wand. But Severus, promise me one thing..." she trailed off.
"What is it?"
"At school, if you get sorted into the house I was in-"
"Slytherin?"
"Yes, Slytherin-"
"I hope to be in that house," he smiled.
"And I'm sure you will be, but Severus listen to me. There will be people who will think you aren't worth it. They'll think you're stupid. Because of who your father is. Most importantly, because of what your father is. And because of what it makes you."
"A Half Blood?"
She nodded."There are people who think only Purebloods matter. Don't listen to them. They're wrong. You're just as much of a wizard as they are, despite your father being a Muggle. Don't forget that. You're a wizard. Not a Muggle."
"I won't. I won't forget that. I promise."
They finished eating. They ate in silence. Like always. When he had his bowl emptied out he put on his shoes and gathered his coat. It was a long train ride to the platform so they had to leave early so they wouldn't be late.
They walked by the familiar block houses over the familiar cobblestone. The familiar old Mill his father used to work in casting the familiar dark shadow over the houses and the street. He wondered if his father would ever get another job, or if he was planning on letting his mother earn all the money. What a sorry excuse of a father, and man, he was...
They followed the familiar dark river until it made a turn where his primary school was. Students were gathering to enter the school, but he did not have togo there anymore. Thankfully. That place had been horrible to him. He was glad he got out.
These people were Muggles, and he was a Wizard. That made him better than all of them. He walked past the woods where he remembered breaking a branch so it would fall on Petunia. Those were some good times.He saw the familiar big houses of the middle class families and spotted Lily's house.
They walked past the houses and eventually reached the train station. They would take the train to Nottingham and then take it to London from there, as there was no direct connection between Cokeworth and London.
After about 3 hours, he arrived at King's Cross with his mother. He carried his trunk out of the train and over the platform towards the right one. It was unbelievably heavy. Not just heavy, butheavy. His mother was walking behind him. She had insisted on coming. Unfortunately. They walked through the wall between platform nine and ten as if it were nothing instead of a rock solid brick wall, and found themselves on platform nine and three-quarters. He was actually there!
He stood next to his mother in silence. They had nothing to say to each other, because chances were slim they would actually miss one another. He would be happy to be away from her instead. He did not like her, and she did not like him.
Severus then saw Lily enter the platform with her family. They walked past them but he could nothear what they were talking about, it was loud and crowded on the platform.
Lily seemed to be pleading with her sister over something, walking behind their parents and then going to be standing away from them. It was obvious they really did not want their parents to hear. Lily took Petunia's hand but she tried to pull back, seeming angry and she looked around. Lily teared up. He wished he could hear what they were talking about. It seemed serious, and she made Lily cry!
Petunia had said something to make her cry and Severus felt anger forming. Nobody was allowed to make her cry. Petunia had successfully pulled back her hand now. Severus saw Lily glance at her parents and he watched too. They seemed to enjoy themselves. They were taking in the scene full of wizards in its entirety. Lily looked back at her sister, and said something that made Petunia turn scarlet.
Lily half glanced at Severus, and he burst with excitement before realising that they were probably talking about him, then. And he did not like that. At all. Petunia gasped and she turned pale. They were openly arguing now, but still managed to keep their voices low enough he could not hear what it was about. Petunia suddenly flounced off to her parents and Lily stood there, alone, with obvious tears in her eyes.
"Severus, the train." his mother said, tearing his attention away from Lily and back to reality. He looked at the clock. He still had about ten minutes but said goodbye to his mother anyway. So that was done for. She quickly left and he boarded the train, happy she was away from him now. Happy he was finally away from both of his parents and that horrible town.
He entered the first compartment he could find and quickly changed into his robes. Happy to finally be released from his awful Muggle clothes that were far too short or far too long, and he put his wand in the pocket of his robe.The train had started moving by now as well. He delivered his trunk and he was hurrying through the corridors of the train, looking for Lily. She must be here somewhere, he thought. He had to find her. She had been crying, her sister had made her cry, and he had to be there for her. He had to comfort her. He couldn't just leave her at a time like this.
He stopped outside a compartment when he heard something. Voices. He couldn't place them. He looked through the window of the door.
He saw a group of rowdy boys who were talking about something he didn't care about, but what caught his interest was the girl hunched in a corner seat beside the window, face pressed against the window pane: it was Lily. Lily! He had found her.
He slid open the compartment door, walked in, and sat down opposite Lily. He didn't know what to say. She glanced at him and then looked back out of the window. She had obviously been crying. What had happened between her and her sister? How could he fix it? He hated it when she was sad. It made him sad too. And he hated being sad.
"I don't want to talk to you," she said in a constricted voice the moment she saw Severus sitting there. Severus was confused. What had he done? It was nothis fault she was upset, that was her sister's! Her sister had made her cry, not he! Why was she blaming him?
"Why not?" he asked.
"Tuney h - hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore."
Oh, so that was what they were talking about. That was why she blamed him. He had been there. He had seen the letter first. He didn't like it. He hated it that she was mad at him.
"So what?" He knew, the second he said it, that it had been the wrong thing to say.
Lily threw him a look of deep dislike. It physically hurt to get that look. He wished he could turn back time and never say it. "So she's my sister!"
Severus had never understood sisters. What did relation matter in things like this? Ninety percent of the wizarding world was related but they didn't go on about it, so why did it matter? Especially since she wasn't even one of them! It was so strange. Did being sisters mean more than having a best friend? Why? What was so special about your parents having multiple children?
"She's only a —" Muggle. But he caught himself in time. How could he have said that? That would only have made everything so much worse! He didn't want to upset her even more. He had already done enough. She was already mad at him, he shouldn't add to that. Lucky for him, she had been too busy trying to wipe her eyes in a way nobody would notice what she was doing (and failing), to notice what he had said. He was relieved. At least she wouldn't completely hate him then. He hoped.
"But we're going!" he said, changing the subject before he ruined everything. He was unable to suppress the exhilaration in his voice. It was finally happening. He was finally escaping the Muggle world, after all those years. "This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!"
Lily nodded and half smiled, while she mopped her eyes.
"You'd better be in Slytherin," he said, glad she was cheering up, and she brightened a little. He liked seeing her happy. He would do anything to make her happy.
She wanted to answer but one of the boys in the compartment was quicker. "Slytherin?"
The boy was slight and black-haired, and had an air of being adored, something Severus immediately despised of the boy. "Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" he asked the other boy, who was lounging on the seats opposite him. Severus watched them in anger. This was his conversation, not theirs.
The second boy, however, didn't smile. "My whole family have been in Slytherin."
"Blimey," the first boy said, "and I thought you seemed all right!"
Boy two grinned. "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"
Boy one lifted an invisible sword. "'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad." Severus tried to suppress a disparaging noise but failed. Boy one turned on him. "Got a problem with that?"
"No," Severus sneered, "if you'd rather be brawny than brainy —" but boy two cut him off.
"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" boy one roared with laughter. Lily sat up, rather flushed, and looked at the two boys in dislike. Severus was relieved that she didn't agree with them and wouldn't make fun of him.
"Come on, Severus," she said, grabbing his arm. "Let's find another compartment."
"Oooooo," the two boys imitated her voice and boy one tried to trip Severus as he passed, but Severus, familiar enough with that kind of stupid tricks, just stepped over his foot. He didn't have time for this nonsense.
"See ya, Snivellus!" a voice called, and Lily slammed the compartment door shut behind them.
"I'm sorry, Severus," she said, smiling sympathetically.
"Don't be. I can handle it," he mumbled. It was nothing he hadn't dealt with before.
"I know you can but that doesn't excuse their behaviour, Severus!" She sighed.
"I'll be fine, Lily."
"I know. That's why I'm worried..."
He sighed, but didn't answer.They looked for a different compartment to spend the train ride in, and found one. There were two girls already sitting in the compartment, but they were minding their own businesses, so this compartment was great for them to sit in. At least better than the first one. But seeing the disaster of that first one, that really wasn't hard.