Author's Note:

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the scene from JKR, but I tweaked it a bit to fit.

In honour of hitting over 1000 followers on Tumblr, I am posting a bonus chapter! Chapter four will still be posted this weekend as well! Thanks for all the support!

Reviews and Comments: To alix33: Petunia definitely continued to make terrible shrieking sounds her whole life lol. Thank you! To CherrySara: Yes, all of the snippets posted here are longer versions than what appeared in ASC (for the most part). Yes, it was from Snape's POV before as well because Snape gave the memory to Sirius. I agree, Snape was a bit creepy! Thank you! To joss.518: Thank you! I'm so glad people are excited for The First Time Around. We won't see too much Jily for a while as obviously they are not dating yet lol, but yes, I am excited to share some of that! I could never do two stories at once, I agree! Thankfully 80% of The First Time Around is already completed due to me having written it in chunks for memories of ASC and only needed a few tweaks, Thank you! To Sara: I agree, the fact that Snape was already anti-Muggle on some level at this point does say a lot. Thank you very much! To notthatchhavi: It's true, both Snape and Sirius were taught negativity about Muggles, it's interesting how Sirius grew out of his. Yes, Sirius definitely grew up to the better man by far. Thank you! Thanks for the second review! I did want to show the comparisons between them!

To scrappy8: Thank you! To Cath: Thank you very much! I agree, that is the incredible artwork of blvnk — one of my favourites she's done of the Marauders. I don't know how to post a cover on Ao3 lol. Thank you! To Griffind00r: I do often sympathize with Petunia as a child. It probably was very hard for her to grow up and watch her sister have these powers, but I don't think it justifies any of her choices in her life. Like Snape, she chose the wrong path. It's very interesting to see how that started. Thank you! To Sam: Yup, creepy Snape and Petunia. Yes, Lily was but in her defence, they weren't shit people yet. Thank you! To ravenclaw_rockchick: Thanks for wanting to leave kudos again! I appreciate it! Thank you liking how I take a well known scene and make it my own to flow with the story, that is what I was trying to do. I'm excited to share more moments between the Marauders and Lily along with some James and Lily moments that Harry wouldn't know about because they were private. Thank you!

To Bellmel: Snape is a creepy turd! Thank you! I'm really glad you said you have a sliver of sympathy for Snape in this scene. He is a lonely boy who has inherited horrid prejudices and he's trying to make a friend who he sees is like him and it's a struggle. It find it interesting that he's alone in the end, almost poetic. Thank you! To marauders_mowopapr: Thanks for being excited about The First Time Around only two chapters in! I admit, chapter four is my first non-ASC moment and I'm excited to share it. Yes, you will suffer, but you'll be happy about it. Ron's wise words of the day lol. Thank you!

My posting schedule: Weekly.

Thanks to Dusk for her amazing editing skills.

As always, thank you very much for reading and please, please review!

Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you for all of your continued support!

CHAPTER THREE:

The One Where There's No Hogwash

September 1970…

Lily Evans sat cross legged on the ground in a small thicket of trees. The sunlit river glittered through their trunks. The shadows cast by the trees made a basin of cool green shade. Severus sat across from her. He had removed his coat now; his odd smock looked less peculiar in the half light than it did on the first day she'd met him.

"I knew that you believed me."

Lily stared at him a moment. "I didn't say that. It's just… you keep saying I'm a witch and… it doesn't sound right. Witches are supposed to be green and evil and scary. When someone throws water on me, I don't melt."

Snape rolled his eyes. "That's what Muggles want you to think, but that's not true at all. Can't you feel your magic?"

Lily frowned. She held her hand out over the grass, watching the blades grow to reach her. "But if I'm not a witch, how else can I make stuff happen like that? Have I gone mad?"

"No, you haven't gone mad. It's because you are a witch, Lily," Severus insisted. "And I'm a wizard. We're special, Lily. I don't know why you don't believe me."

Lily's bright green eyes looked uncertain. "How come Tuney can't do it?"

Severus shrugged. "Not everyone can."

Lily bit her lip. "Severus… I don't know if I want to go away to school. Daddy says that boarding schools are very expensive and a magic school…"

"If you don't go, though, and you get caught doing magic, the Ministry will come after you," Snape said quickly, his voice rising a bit.

"The Ministry?"

"Of Magic," Severus said, puffing out his chest, "and the Ministry can punish you if you do magic outside school, you get letters."

"But I have done magic outside school!" Lily exclaimed, her eyes widening in alarm. "I haven't gotten any letters from a Ministry of Magic!"

"We're all right. We haven't got wands yet. They let you off when you're a kid and you can't help it. But once you're eleven"— he nodded importantly— "and they start training you, then you've got to be careful."

Lily picked up a fallen twig and twirled it in the air. "A wand?"

Severus nodded. "A magic wand. You'll see, Lily. It's going to be amazing. You'll meet all sorts of others like you and me, but you have to be eleven to go."

Lily dropped the twig and leaned towards him. "It is real, isn't it? It's not a joke? Petunia says that you're lying to me. Petunia says that there isn't a Hogwarts. It is real, isn't it?"

"It's real for us," Severus said. "Not for her. But we'll get the letter next summer, you and me."

"Really?" Lily whispered.

"Definitely," Severus said, and even with his poorly cut hair and his odd clothes, he struck an oddly impressive figure sprawled in front of her, brimful of confidence in his destiny.

"And will it really come by owl?" Lily whispered.

"Normally," Severus said. "But you're Muggleborn, so someone from the school will have to come and explain it to your parents."

"Does it make a difference, being Muggleborn?"

Severus hesitated. His black eyes, eager in the greenish gloom, moved over the pale face, the dark red hair. "No," he said. "It doesn't make any difference."

"Good," Lily said, relaxing.

"You've got loads of magic already," Severus said. "I saw that. All the time I was watching you…"

His voice trailed away; she wasn't listening, but had stretched out on the leafy ground and was looking up at the canopy of leaves overhead. He watched her as greedily as he had watched her in the playground.

"How are things at your house?" Lily asked.

A little crease appeared between his eyes.

"Fine," he said.

"They're not arguing anymore?"

"Oh yes, they're arguing," Severus said. He picked up a fistful of leaves and began tearing them apart, apparently unaware of what he was doing. "But it won't be that long and I'll be gone. One more year."

"Doesn't your dad like magic?"

"He doesn't like anything, much," Severus admitted. "He hates that I have it, like my mum. It's best to stay out of his way."

"Severus?"

A little smile twisted Severus's mouth when she said his name.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me about the Dementors again."

"What d'you want to know about them for?" Snape asked, his lips twitching.

"Because you told me that if I use magic outside of school —"

"They wouldn't give you to the Dementors for that! Dementors are for people who do really bad stuff. They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban. You're not going to end up in Azkaban, you're too —"

He turned red again and shredded more leaves. Then a small rustling noise behind them made them turn: Petunia, hiding behind a tree, had lost her footing.

"Tuney!" Lily said, surprise and welcome in her voice, but Severus had jumped to his feet.

"Who's spying now?" he shouted. "What d'you want?"

Petunia was breathless, alarmed at being caught. "What is that you're wearing, anyway?" she said, pointing at Severus's chest. "Your mum's blouse?"

Snape's eyes narrowed. There was a loud crack and suddenly a branch fell right over Petunia's head.

Lily screamed.

The branch caught Petunia on the shoulder, and she staggered backward and burst into tears.

"Tuney!"

But Petunia was already running away.

Lily rounded on Severus. "Did you make that happen?"

"No."

He looked both defiant and scared.

"You did!" she was backing away from him. "You did! You hurt her!"

"No — no, I didn't!" Snape insisted.

Lily sent him one last burning look before she ran from the little thicket, off after her sister, leaving Severus looking miserable and confused. She grabbed her sister's hand just outside of their house.

"Tuney — wait!"

Petunia huffed. "He's filling your head with nonsense, Lily! Magic isn't real! You won't be going off to some magical boarding school called something stupid like Hogwash next year! You'll be here, in the real world of Cokeworth, with me."

Lily watched her sister turn and storm into the house and she bit her lip before she reached for the wilting tulip in the front garden. One touch of her finger brought it back to full bloom and she couldn't help the smile from spreading across her face.

Magic was definitely real and she knew it. She looked behind her towards the playground in the distance and thought that there was no way Severus had made it all up. He couldn't have…

Magic just had to be real.

End Author's Notes:

Thanks for reading and please review!