Lilly was reeling with all the letters she'd received from her daughter over the last few months. They were filled with words she didn't know—dementor, counter-jinx, quaffle. Then there was the horrible news from the wizarding world of the escaped convict who wanted to kill a student, who had even broken into the school and slashed the portrait that guarded Gryffindor tower. But most worrisome were the names Christina dropped in her letters, names of professors, names that hovered on the edge of familiarity.
Lupin, the defense professor. Christina had mentioned how everyone loved Lupin's classes, and how he'd disappeared last week. But Lupin disappeared every month, right? Lilly couldn't place how she knew that. But Lupin disappeared every month, along with—along with—who? Once again, memory failed her. But this Lupin, this Remus Lupin, was someone she'd known. He liked chocolate. He was thin and delicate. He . . . he was a friend?
Then there was Black, the man who'd broken out of prison and wanted to kill a thirteen-year-old student. His name was familiar too. Had he been a friend? But had she been friends with a mass murderer in school? It didn't feel right. Black. He'd run around with Lupin and someone else, another friend. He was bold and mischievous. But that couldn't be right. Lupin wouldn't be friends with someone like that, and neither would she.
And Snape, the most interesting one of all. According to Christina he was cold, harsh, creepy, and never washed his hair. She didn't like this teacher at all, though she seemed to like the concept of potions class. Despite this, Lilly was sure Snape had been a friend of hers. He wasn't a warm or friendly person, and yet he sounded so, so familiar, so . . . trustworthy? He wasn't like Black and Lupin; he went back even further, into childhood. She'd met him when they were kids, she was sure of it.
Lilly took out a sheet of paper and wrote down the words Severus Snape. Who was he? She closed her eyes, trying to conjure up some image. He . . . he was wearing a woman's blouse? Lilly frowned. That couldn't be . . . no, he was. He'd looked strange, frightening almost. She hadn't been frightened of him, but someone else had. Lilly groaned in frustration. She needed more information, but Christina only mentioned that Snape had given them a long essay on werewolves and that she didn't like him, which wasn't enough to jog her memory. She remembered her childhood in Cokeworth. She must have met Snape there. Perhaps Cokeworth was the memory jog she needed.
That very weekend Lilly hopped in her car and went there. She didn't have to drag a whining child behind her or worry about who was going to take Christina to dance class or what to make for dinner. She'd be fine with greasy fast food somewhere on the road. This awful limbo between memory and forgetfulness had to stop. She needed to know who she was, where she'd come from. For her sake and Christina's.
She wasn't looking for any specific place. Out of some dormant instinct she slid to stop by a playground on the outskirts of town, down closer to Spinner's End. The play structures were shrouded in fog and the swings drifted in the bitter November wind. Mud and dead leaves squished under Lilly's feet as she drew her coat tightly around her body. She sat down heavily on one of the little swings and suddenly a thousand sunny summer days came flooding back to her; how she'd come to this very playground, swung on the swings, picked flowers, made mud pies, all in the shadow of that huge factory chimney. Lilly began to swing back and forth. The swings had been her favorite. She began to swing higher, then launched herself from the swing the way all children did.
"Mummy told you not to!" A shrill voice rang in Lilly's ears as her feet slammed into the ground. She rocked forward on to her knees as Tuney's voice called out, "Stop it! Stop it!" Lilly picked herself up, shuddering. Tuney—Petunia—was her sister. She hadn't wanted Lilly to go away to school. Lilly looked down and saw mud soaking the knees of her slacks. She walked back to the swing and went again. This time when she launched herself off, she hung gently in the air, her feet landing perfectly on the ground and not even squelching in the mud. Lilly laughed out loud. She was a witch, she was! She could do magic, she really could. What could she do with a wand?
" A small noise from the play structure caught her ears. Lilly looked around and saw a mom with two kids giving her a dirty look. It did look weird, after all. Here she was, a thirty-three-year-old woman, playing by herself at the park like a kid. Lilly awkwardly stepped away from the swingset.
"Are you here with someone?" The woman asked.
Lilly sighed. This woman was one of those moms. "No, I'm here on my own." It was a free country. "I'm taking a walk down memory lane. I grew up here."
The woman's demeanor changed completely. "Oh really? I grew up here too. Now I'm raising my Aiden and Katie here too."
"I'm trying to jog my memories of my childhood. Since you grew up here, do you remember anything about a set of sisters called Evans? Or a Severus Snape?"
"Oh, I remember the Evans girls, Lilly and Petunia. They were both a few years ahead of me in school. I looked up to them both. As for Severus Snape, he lived down by Spinner's End. Absolute weirdo. He became friends with the younger sister, though. They were joined at the hip for a couple years there. Then they both went off to some exclusive private school in Scotland and we never saw them again."
"Do you know anything about the rest of the family?"
"The parents died over ten years ago now. Not a mark on them. Authorities blamed it on a gas leak. The sister, Petunia, lives in Surrey now. She's done well for herself."
"Thank you." Lilly whispered. She'd had a gut feeling her parents might not be around any more, but her sister was still out there somewhere. Lilly set off down the street, not really sure what she was looking for. She didn't remember an address or any place else in the town and it was too cold and wet to spend extensive time wandering around, so eventually she got into her car and drove away. Still, the trip to Cokeworth had been enlightening. She just wished she could've found out more about Christina's professors and why they all sounded so familiar.