Disclaimer: Of course I do not own Harry Potter. Also, I was born in 1987 and I grew up in the 90's if I get anything wrong it's because I didn't even exist when it was the 60's/70's.

Meeting Witches

The chilly mist... drifted over a dirty river that wound between overgrown, rubbish-strewn banks. An immense chimney, relic of a disused mill, reared up shadowy and ominous. There was no sound apart from the whisper of the black water and no sign of life apart from a scrawny fox that had slunk down the bank to nose hopefully at some old fish-and-chip wrappings in the tall grass.

In this town, there was a playground. Now you might not think that a playground was anything special, but this one was different. First of all, it was the divide between the lower-class and middle-class, and secondly, it was where a small skinny little 9-year-old boy, was hiding, this boy had an ashen look about him like he had spent almost all of his time away from the sun, with long slick black hair often falling over his black eyes and a scrawny, gaunt build that suggested he didn't ingest many meals. He looked smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear was the second-hand clothes his mother bought him. She would always buy clothes two to three times bigger than he was because she was convinced he would grow up to be just as large as his father. This little boys' name was Severus Snape and this boy was special, he was a Wizard, ever since he was little, magical things happened around him, whenever that happened his mother was always there telling him he was special and magical. That he had gotten his magical powers from her. A Witch, the last descent of the powerful Prince family.

For as long as he could remember his parents argued with each other. The most significant argument, was when he was five, it was about him going to school. His father was determined that he would learn about normal things and not just foolish wand-waving, and his mother was worried all the non-magical Muggles would hurt him. So a slightly worried Severus went off to school to learn how to mingle with Muggles. Apart from not doing magic Severus couldn't see a difference between him and them, he told his mother, but she didn't seem happy that he enjoyed school.

The first obsession that bit him was the space race. With rockets being sent from earth into space, with the aim of landing on the moon. As far as he knew, no Wizard had travelled to space. That's when Severus realised magic couldn't do everything. The rockets were amazing, Severus was riveted by the newspaper clippings with photos and articles of America and the USSR (the Soviet Union) competing to get their rockets launched. He read about the spacewalks and tests done in space, and them landing back on earth.

But it wasn't until Wednesday, December 15, 1965, at 2:37 PM, that he got to see a rocket launch. The whole school was in the gymnasium, luckily it was a smaller school or they might not have all seen it. The Spacecraft Gemini 6A was connected to the Rocket Titan II GLV (Gemini Launch Vehicle) and was about to be launched from Cape Kennedy Launchpad 19. They watched as the Command Pilot: Walter M. Schirra, Jr. who was on his Second spaceflight and Pilot: Thomas P. Stafford on his First spaceflight, climbed into the spacecraft, and awaited lift-off, all the children including Severus eagerly counted down with the announcer and watched with bated breath as fire burst out of the engines and slowly lifted the rocket off the launch pad. It was an exhilarating experience. He absorbed all the news he could about all the rockets that launched, he was particularly excited about the Apollo missions that were aiming to land men on the moon. He was eager to see if Muggles could accomplish it. He didn't know any Wizards or Witches who had any desire to do more than stargaze with their feet planted firmly on the ground.

His next obsession literally knocked him off his feet, at the tender age of eight years old, Severus got his first crush. Severus was starting Year 4, and on the very first day of school, a troublemaker was making himself known. He was standing in line, with the rest of his class, waiting to go back into the classroom when all of a sudden, a girl with auburn coloured hair, stumbled into him causing both of them to fall to the floor. But what really got Severus' attention was that when the boy who pushed her went to hurt her again he was repelled by an invisible force that pushed him backwards. The rest of the kids engrossed in the drama began to yell and shout. The teacher alerted to the noise, rushed out to calm them down. When the teacher came to see if he and the girl were ok, he learned that her name was Lily. When they were all led inside the other kids quickly forgot about what had happened, but Severus couldn't forget, he was convinced that Lily had done magic.

Throughout the year, Severus kept a careful eye on her to see if she had any more magical outbursts. For Severus who was reserved and a loner, getting the courage to talk to her and tell her she was a witch was terrifying, but he had to find even just a sliver of courage, this could be the only chance he had of having a friend at Hogwarts.

There she was, he had finally found her eight days after his ninth birthday, happily playing at the boundary playground, with three other little girls. Maybe she didn't know she was different and shouldn't be playing with Muggles.

'Lily please! Mummy told us not to!' Shrieked the oldest of the girls. She looked to be about ten years old with long dark blonde hair and icy blue eyes.

'Come on Petunia! We can all do it I've seen you. Do your trick!' Lily pleaded, her vibrant auburn hair shone out in the sunshine and excitement sparkled in her green eyes.

Wait, was this another girl with magic? Were they related? They both had flower names, could all the little girls be magical and they were meeting up to show each other their powers?

'Mummy said we weren't allowed.'

'Come on Tuney please, we love to see when you do your trick' the two other little girls begged.

Petunia glanced around, the playground was deserted apart from themselves, and though the girls didn't know it, Snape. Petunia picked up a fallen flower from the ground, she waited until all the girls were watching and then held out her palm, the flower sat there opening and closing its petals almost looking like it was breathing. She passed the flower onto Lily who hovered it in mid-air above her palm. She lifted her hand and the flower gently floated over to the next girl.

'Do your little trick Rose, you can do it' encouraged Lily

The girl called Rose looked at the flower intently. Rose had clear blue eyes and chestnut brown hair. Severus had to squint to see what she did. Slowly, very slowly a thin stem grew out from the bottom of the flower bud. She smiled and lowered the flower to stick it into the ground.

'Your turn Tansy, make it rain!' Rose said moving away, Tansy was the smallest girl with shoulder-length dark brown, almost black hair and deep dark brown eyes. She bent down over the flower. She cupped her hands facing them downwards and Severus could see a light sprinkling of water falling gently onto the flower.

'You're all Witches!' he cried ecstatically, bursting out of the bushes, he couldn't believe it! All the flower girls were magical. The girls shrieked in surprise taking a step back from him.

'That's not a very nice thing to say!' Lily said sounding outraged

'But you are! My mum's one as well!' Severus said embarrassed that they had misunderstood him.

'So are you a witch too?' Asked Tansy

'No!' he yelled a bright red colour blushing his cheeks 'Boys are called Wizards and girls are Witches'

'I know who you are!' Petunia yelled suddenly standing in front of the others as if to protect them, 'You're that Snape boy! You live down Spinners End.' From her tone of voice, she didn't think that was a good place to live.

'Is that your name, Snape?' the girl named Rose asked, peeking around Petunia

'My name is Severus Snape, and it doesn't matter where I live now, I'm going to be the greatest Wizard one day and leave Spinners End behind. What are your names?' He asked

'Well I'm Petunia Evans, and these are my younger sisters. Lily is next oldest, then there are the twins Rose and Tansy.' Petunia said sticking her nose up a little pointing out the girls when she said their names. 'If you're like us, then what's your little trick?'

Severus looked around and picked up a stick on the ground, he concentrated until he could feel his magic being directed into the stick. All of a sudden the whole stick turned white.

'Wow' Lily, Rose and Tansy said

'Are you sure we are not going to get in trouble for doing, whatever this is?' Petunia asked looking around the playground as if she suspected an adult to pop up and tell her off.

'We are doing Magic, the Ministry of Magic lets kids off when we are under eleven and haven't got a Wand. But once you're eleven and you start training then you have to be careful.'

'What's the Ministry of Magic? They wouldn't send us to Prison for using magic, would they?' Lily said now looking just as worried as Petunia

'The Ministry of Magic is the Wizarding world's government. They don't send you to Azkaban just for doing magic outside of Hogwarts' Explained Severus

'What's Hogwarts?' 'What's Azkaban?' Rose and Tansy questioned at almost the same time

'Azkaban is a prison for real bad Wizard and Witches. It's guarded by Dementors, and mum refuses to tell me much about them. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is where we will learn everything about magic. Mum told me it's the best school for learning magic. You should get an invitation to Hogwarts in a letter on your eleventh birthday...Wait, are your parents magical?' The girls all shook their heads no.

'But you said you're mother knows? Are you sure your parents can't do Magic?' Severus was confused, Muggles simply couldn't know Magic existed.

'Of course, Mummy knows!' Petunia was back to screeching again 'She …'

'But that's rare! Having so many magical kids born from Muggles.' Severus interrupted

'What's a Muggle?' Tansy asked

'A Muggle is what Wizards and Witches usually call non-magical people. Since your Muggle-born someone from Hogwarts will have to come to your house to either take you shopping or tell your parents how to find Diagon Alley. Every time after that you'll get a letter by owl.' Severus felt like he was starting to teach them something useful.

'Does that mean I can't invite any of my friends over for my 11th birthday?' Petunia burst out furiously. 'I'm highly popular you know, I'm sure my friends would be asking a lot of questions if I didn't have a normal party.'

Severus thought that she was highly stuck up, but seeing how she could do magic and was older than him, Petunia would most likely be going to Hogwarts at least a year before he did, and it wouldn't be a good idea to upset someone who could learn spells before he knew how to defend himself from them. With a huge effort, he reined in his snarky reply and spoke calmly.

'Someone sent from Hogwarts is likely to come on the day of your actual birthday, possibly in the morning so that they will have enough time to explain everything.

Petunia looked slightly mollified. 'Wizards and Witches know how to dress normally right? I mean can you imagine what the neighbours will think if they saw some weirdos walking into our house.' She said wrinkling her nose.

Severus couldn't help himself, smirking at her expression. 'Hopefully, the person being sent to your house has some brains and common sense to come dressed like a normal muggle. If not, then you'll have a few people thinking your parents talk to oddly dressed people. Does it matter? You'll be leaving all of this behind, entering a world of Magic!' he said.

Petunia looked thoughtful. Looking at her watch, she realised they had to get home.

'We have to go now, girls! Mother wants us back with enough time to do our homework before Dinner' Petunia said pompously.

Suddenly Tansy bounced over to Severus. 'Come to our house tomorrow, you can tell us more about the Wizarding world.' Tansy looked over at Petunia practically bouncing on her toes. 'You do want to know everything about the Magical World don't you Petunia? You don't want to look dumb in front of kids, who already know this stuff, do you?'

When Tansy had first started talking Petunia had looked like she wanted to object to him going anywhere near her again. Now however she looked like she was deep in thought, finally she agreed.

'Alright, Snape. But if I find out this is all some horrid joke, you'll be sorry! Our house is 10 River Street come over at three pm, not a minute later, which will give us one hour until the scheduled launch. Now girls let's go.' Petunia said bossily clapping her hands and leading her sisters through the playground and out of the gate. Severus watched them as they disappeared from view.

As Severus walked home from the park, he hoped the girls weren't playing a horrible joke on him when they invited him over, although, from the look of Petunia, and the comment that she made, she wasn't one for making jokes, or even enjoying them.

Severus glided silently inside his house stepping directly into the tiny sitting room, closing the door softly behind him, he took a few moments to let his eyes adjust to the darkness, a threadbare sofa, an old armchair and a rickety table stood grouped together in a pool of dim light cast by a candle-filled lamp that hung from the ceiling, a tattered rug covered some stain on the floor and a low fireplace stood empty against the wall. The place had an air of neglect, as though it was not usually inhabited.

As he ghosted through the front room a gruff slurred voice called from the formless shape slumped in the armchair. 'Get me a beer boy'

Severus stood frozen in front of the fireplace but then shook himself and slipped silently across the room and into the kitchen. Grabbing a beer from the icebox in the kitchen, he hurried back into the sitting room this time walking past the couch to where his father was sitting in the armchair.

Tobias Snape was a burly man at six foot in height, broad shoulders with arms full of muscles from the factory work he used to do, he had dark brown hair that often looked black due to neglect, piercing black eyes that could render Severus mute and a slightly larger than normal aquiline nose that sat crookedly on his face as if it had been broken and never fixed. Severus touched his aquiline nose hoping it wouldn't end up broken and misshapen like his fathers.

'Yeh've been gone all day. Where 'ave yeh been?' Tobias asked. He was in an unusually chatty mood tonight so Severus sat himself down to answer all the questions he was going to get.

'Af'ter school, I met some mates at the park. They ask'd me 'round tomorra to watch a Rocket launch.' Severus had learned years ago not to appear like he was better than his father, one of the easiest ways to do that was to mimic his father's speech

'These friends of yur's, they're normal aint they boy?' Tobias asked warningly

'Yes Sir' Severus nodded, he wasn't going to tell his father that there was a big difference between what they each considered normal.

'Good boy! Finally actin' normal, those rocket launches have been in all the papers, them yanks are trying to walk on the moon! It's stupid I know, but you'll be going to keep those friends boy! It won't hurt yer ter have normal friends. … Here take this'

Tobias yanked a wallet out from his back pocket and jerked out a handful of money. 'Go and get some more clothes you've been growin' like a weed just make sure they don' cost a bomb an' don't you go wasting my money on yeh freaky magic stuff. Understand boy?' Tobias asked roughly holding the money just out of Severus's reach.

'Yes sir, I'll spend yur money on normal clothes.' Severus said, knowing that his father needed the verbal response, He looked down at the money his father had just given him. It looked like more money than he needed, this would be the first time Severus would be shopping for himself if he was careful and could find a good deal then he could hide what was leftover in his mother's old Hogwarts trunk. He would save it up, he needed all the money he could get his hands on for Hogwarts because he had no idea if his mother had access to any of her families' money.

Tobias drained the last of the beer and handed Severus his empty beer bottle, his eyes were drooping closed, as he slumped back down into the chair 'Yeh a good lad Sev'rus if only yer wern' a freak.' Tobias mumbled, falling asleep.

Severus pocketed the money, dashed back to the kitchen, threw the empty bottle into the trash that stood in the back corner next to the hand crank washer, and started cooking soup on the well-worn antique coal range. He was used to cooking since his mother was in and out of the house selling what potions she could so that they could at least have food on the table and his father was too busy either drinking or complaining that the man of the house was meant to provide for his family.

His dinner was a basic vegetable soup as meat didn't often see the inside of his house, and he could just get vegetables from his mother's small garden out the back of the house.

After he had ladled out a bowl for himself, he covered the pot for his mother and father. Severus was used to eating in the small and dingy kitchen sitting in the dim light, listening to his father wheezing and snoring in the next room.

There were only two bedrooms on the upper floor of the house. His parents' room had just their bed, mismatched boxes for bedside tables a worn chest of draws for clothes, since neither of them spent much time in there, and an ancient-looking jewellery box of his mother's that she had sealed with a strong spell that only witches or wizards could break.

Severus slinked into his room and slid the bolt across his door. His room was minuscule, square and simple, his bed was sitting in the corner closest to the window where a lone candle lantern sitting in the windowsill, a rickety bookshelf that he had made sat sagging under the weight of all his books at the end of his bed, a worn-out chest of draws sat against the wall where the door was located and tucked in next to it, was his mother's old Hogwarts trunk with her First-Year books packed neatly inside it. Some years previously his mother had replaced the initials on the front, from hers to his. The dull metal of the letters S.T.S flickered in the moonlight.

Severus put on his pyjamas for the night and climbed into his bed, he thought about all the things he could teach the girls tomorrow as he drifted off to sleep.