Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Author's Note: This chapter is a little shorter than the last one, but I have already begun work on the next so yeah, haha.
Maera's POV.
The man, Mr. Snape led her towards the small park that she was rarely ever lucky enough to visit. Sitting down at a bench, he turned towards her. She wasn't used to emotions beyond the standard hate, contempt, and anger that her family felt towards her, or even the cruel pleasure that they sometimes experienced from her pain, so she didn't know what emotions she was seeing within Mr. Snape's eyes.
The dark eyes looking at her seemed confused, but there was something else. A hidden warmth that augmented the feeling of safety she had begun to associate with this darkly robed man. She was surprised by her own feelings, but she felt that Mr. Snape was better than her family - that he was trying to help her. Coming to the park to talk rather than insisting on the house was simply proof of this to her. So, sitting across from the man on the old park bench, she slumped in relief.
"I imagine," Mr. Snape began slowly, "that from what you have told me thus far, you honestly have no idea about magic or the wizarding world."
He didn't wait for a reply from her to begin speaking, beginning with the by now obvious truth that magic existed. He went in depth, discussing every little intricacy of what it meant for magic to exist, that she was a member of the wizarding world due to her parents - something she'd have to ask more about later, and explaining the importance of the school that she would be going to. As he spoke, Maera absorbed every detail that she could. There was no way that she was going into a new world, one with its own culture and intricacies, entirely blind. She needed to know as much information as she could about this world so that she didn't make a fool of herself. If she wanted friends at this new school then she'd need to make a good impression. No one would be friends with Maera Potter from Little Whining, Surrey - no, they'd sooner laugh at her or treat her like Dudley and his crowd currently treat her.
Mr. Snape paused after discussing what he had so far, waiting for her to ask any questions she might have. Thankful for this, Maera said in the strongest voice she was capable of at this moment, "How will I be paying for this school, sir? I also noticed the supply list, so I'm sure that I will need to pay for those as well, but I don't have any money and my relatives would never provide any to help me. Also, you mentioned my parents. Why is it that I am a witch because of them? Is everyone in this world likely to come from parents with magic?"
The man across from her seemed to think over each of her questions carefully before replying. "The school does cost money, but your parents left aside more than enough for you to go to Hogwarts for each year as well as get all of the supplies that you will ever need for school. Trust me when I say that your family did not want for money." He paused to take a breath, but Maera was shocked at what she had told him. It was as if he had known her parents.
Hoping that she had come to the correct conclusion, Maera cut the man off from continuing. "Did you know my parents?" the question was shouted, something that she had not done in many years. Mr. Snape looked at her in surprise, an emotion that she was sure was reflected back at him in her own eyes. Sheepishly rubbing her neck and looking away from him, she hedged further,"That is, you talk as if you knew them. I was just hoping that, if you had known them, then you might be able to tell me about them?" By the end of her question her voice began to fall back into a soft whisper. Maera knew better than to get her hopes up, so she'd rather the man not hear her question or even ignore it than tell her that he didn't know her parents.
"I did know your parents."
Those five words caused Maera's head to shoot up and stare at the man across from her in awe. He had known her parents. He might be able to tell her more about them than what her relatives had. The Dursleys were insistent that her mom and dad had been terrible, drunks, and all around menaces to society - but they had always insisted the same thing about Maera, too. Finding someone that knew about her parents and wasn't likely to tell her lies was something she had never thought possible.
"In fact," Mr. Snape began, clearing his throat as a haziness entered his eyes briefly, "your mother, Lily, was my best friend for the longest time."
Her mother's best friend was sitting across a small bench from her. Maera couldn't believe her luck. Maybe she would be able to finally learn more about her family.
"Your mother was unlike any other woman that I had ever met. She was kind and went out of her way to help others, but she also had a temper that could rival anyone so it was important to stay on her good side. She was a very brave woman and she did whatever she could to protect those that she cared about. She had fiery red hair and glowing green eyes, similar to your own in color." At his words, Maera's own hair and eyes changed to reflect what she thought her mother's looked like briefly before returning to her original appearance - something Mr. Snape missed due to his reminiscing. "Her favorite subject to learn in school was charms and she was the smartest witch in our year. I can't say that I was a friend of your father's, but out of respect for your mother's memory I will try to tell you what I can about him. He was a very popular man. His name was James Potter and he came from an old wizarding family.
There are some beliefs in the wizarding world that center on families and their, for lack of a better word, purity. If a family was like your father's family, then they were considered purebloods. Pureblooded wizards and witches are seen as the highest members of society. Pureblood families generally are the wealthiest and have the most influence over politics and society. To be a pureblood, someone has to have magical foundations on both sides of their family tree with no muggleborns or half-bloods throughout their family tree. Muggles, in case you didn't know, are people that do not have magic and do not come from magic - like your relatives. Your father's family, as well as others within our society, fit under this criteria. Many people believe that purebloods are superior at magic because there is no muggle influence, but that is a debatable topic. Moving on from purebloods, the second blood status within our society is half-bloods. You, yourself, are a half-blood. Any wizard or witch with known muggle association on either side of their family tree is a half-blood. Finally, there are muggleborns. Your mother was a muggleborn. These witches and wizards are born from muggle families and have no known magic on either side of their family tree. Muggleborns are often treated poorly by people that believe bloodstatus matters.
Moving on, I believe that I was talking about your father. He, like your mother, was brave and worked hard to protect those important to him. Your father was also a prankster and enjoyed playing pranks on everyone at Hogwarts with his best friends. I personally would not be the best person to ask for further information on him, as we did not often get along. If you have any more questions about your mother, however, I would be willing to speak to you about her whenever I can." Throughout Mr. Snape's explanation, Maera sat in awe of what she had been told. She never knew any of this information, though it did make her curious as to how these two people had died given what Mr. Snape had shared.
Clearing her throat, Maera quietly asked, "How did they die, Mr. Snape?"
Pain flashed through the man's eyes and he turned his head away from her. Speaking in a soft voice he slowly explained everything that he could concerning Lord Voldemort. He didn't tell Maera about his own involvement with the Dark Lord or any of the sordid details that were not meant for someone her age. But, he explained what he could about how her parents had fought for what they believed in and became unfairly targeted by a mad man. He told her that they did whatever they could to protect her, but that the man killed them before turning on her. He also expressed that the entire wizarding world believed that she had killed the man through some display of immense power - but that no one would ever truly know what had happened that Halloween night.
Maera absorbed this new information quietly. She wasn't sure how to take the deaths of her parents, but knowing to an extent what had happened helped her feel more at rest with their deaths than she had for years. To hear that they willingly died to save her - it helped her feel more wanted than she had ever felt in her life. Nodding to Mr. Snape to show that she had understood him and was grateful for his explanations, the two lapsed into a comfortable silence.