Thames. It's an unusual name. An unusual but lovely British name. Or at least that was what her mother used to tell her.
Thames lay by the window, on the floor, pulling her covers over her head because of the sunlight. The triangular window was indeed too big, and too low. It's touching the floor and the ceiling, gosh. She sat up and brushed some of her dark red hair out of her sleepy face, illuminated to be extra pale by the sunlight.
She looked around. Scattered on the floor were pages of notes about potions, and a large cauldron half-full with some simmering purple liquid bubbling. In a corner stood a shabby-looking cabinet, filled with different ingredients. The top of the shelf was filled with the potions ingredients she cherished the most. Just as she was staring around, an idea flew into her head and she picked up a quill from somewhere nearby and scribbled it on a piece of parchment. That was the attic. That was Severus Snape's house's attic.
Thames looked out the window again. Next door was the house where Lily Evans grew up. That was where her mother grew up. She looked down. The fence was where Lily Evans and Severus Snape met. That's where Severus Snape fell in love, for the first and the last time in his life.
She got up and walked to the bubbling cauldron. She picked up a book from the floor and read. Yes, it was in the correct state. So she walked to the cabinet, picked some beetroot and antler horns, and found a grinder. She ground the horns and walked back to the cauldron, tipped half of the horn dust in, stirred clockwise three times, then added the beetroot, stirred anticlockwise twice, and waited.
"I don't advise potion-making at 7 in the morning when you haven't got dressed or brushed your teeth or even combed your hair. And you still have a foggy mind. You're wasting my ingredients," said a cold voice.
"Oh Severus, a bit of beetroot won't hurt! And I will restore the ingredients in Diagon Alley with the salary I have from working in that bookshop," Thames said rather joyfully.
Snape sighed. "You needn't do that," he said. Thames smiled wider. She walked to another corner of the attic, dug around and found a hair band. She tied her dark red hair into a ponytail. She turned and stared at Snape with her twinkling brown eyes. "Today's toast again?" she asked. Snape nodded but didn't speak.
"Well then I'm getting changed. Wait for a while downstairs." Snape walked down the staircases, squeaking with each step. Right. The attic didn't have doors. But she was fine with it any way.
She headed for the dresser not far from the spot she found the hair band and pulled out a T-shirt a size too big for her and a pair of jeans. The T-shirt, along with four others, were bought three years ago-- they were three sizes too big for her back then. It's still a size too big even now.
She often wondered why Snape decided to foster her. He himself barely buys new robes in five years, unless it's an unamendable hole or the robe was too tattered, which rarely happened because he'd always brewed special potions for the robes.
Thames headed down the stairs and saw two pieces of toast lying on a square plate on the chipped table. Severus really wasn't one to use new things unless necessary. He would usually get attached to stuff. Like he did to Lily.
"You better finish fast, I'm leaving," Severus said, his back facing Thames. Thames laughed to herself. "Oh right, it's late August now! You're going back to Hogwarts." "And I hope a ten-year-old won't blow up my house while I'm away," Severus glared half-heartedly. Thames leant back on her chair. "It's not the first time, Severus. You leave me here every year."
She knew that despite how cold Severus could be in every aspect, he was a warm, soft person inside. Or else why wouldn't he take her under his care almost ten years ago? She smiled at Severus. The man surely had the looks to intimidate everyone around him, without his sneers and manners of treating pupils.
Severus frowned. "You'll be attending Hogwarts next year, you better discipline yourself." Thames chuckled and got up. She picked up a piece of toast and began munching it. "I'm Thames Evans," she muttered, lost in her thoughts as she ate. That was a bad habit of hers. She would get lost in herself whenever she ate.
"Yes. Thames Lily Evans," Severus murmured back absent-mindedly. Thames thought. "I was found in Godric's Hollow…? On the day of Hallowe'en?" "Night," Severus said softly. "Why?" Thames whispered to herself.
She had no idea why often when she was murmuring like this to herself, Severus would usually either assist her tracing her thoughts or joining in muttering with her. "I was one back then?" "You were born not long before, 9th June." "And my surname is Evans?" "Yes." "Why?" Severus winced a bit. "Potter," he scoffed. That was enough for Thames to acknowledge Severus simply loathed the name Potter and hence she was given her mother's name instead of her father's.
"Potter… Harry Potter…?" Severus flinched a bit. "Yes. Harry James Potter." "31st July… a few months younger than me. And he's my brother?" "...Yes." Severus said, almost unwillingly. Thames didn't ask why she and her brother could be born only months apart.
Thames thought of a photo she saw in her books, Famous Wizards of Modern Times, A Study In The Unforgivable Curses, etc etc. He had dark hair and green eyes. And a lightning scar.
"Why don't I have that scar?" "You weren't in the house." "But I was found in Godric's Hollow? In the ruins?" Severus stayed silent. He didn't know why. "We look so different," Thames wondered out loud. She had straight dark red hair to the length of her shoulders that resembled her mother's; and brown eyes that looked exactly like her dad's.
"I'm leaving," Severus said. The thick silence and Thames's train of thoughts snapped. "To see Albus?" she asked. "Professor Dumbledore. Have some respect." Thames grinned.
"Can I go to Hogsmeade?" she asked, running to follow Severus down the hall. His cloak swept behind him like always. "...Get your cloak. You're not going to visit the only full-wizard inhabited village in Great Britain looking like a complete Muggle," Severus said after a moment of consideration.