NOTE: This deals with young Lily, Snape, James, Malfoy, Black, etc. Of
course any familiar names are JKR's - not mine. Enjoy!
Chapter 1
"Have you got all your books, dear?"
"Yes, Mum, I hope so!" Lily was frantically throwing her backpack over her shoulders while she received a small napkinfold of fruitcake from her mother.
"Alright then, you should hurry up, your father's waiting outside!" Mrs. Evans brushed the girl's wavy red hair with a hand before giving her a huge hug and kiss.
"Bye, Mum! I'll write to you every week, I promise!"
"Have a wonderful time - make lots of friends."
"I will. Bye Petty!" Lily gave a slight hug to her older sister Petunia, who didn't say a word.
"Goodbye dear!" Mrs. Evans replaced with a smile as Lily went out the open door.
"See you on holiday!" And with that final farewell, Lily jumped into the front seat of their family car, her Dad reversed out of the driveway, and she was off to King's Cross Station.
To her, it seemed like all summer had passed in a day's length; ever since that mysterious letter arrived for her in mid-July, nothing within the Evans household had been the same. Mr. Evans had taken extra days off of work to research the best bargains for wizardry parchment and robes, and Mrs. Evans couldn't help talking to her girlfriends about her grandmother witch and how she used to travel all over the world. Lily, though incredibly nervous being on her own, couldn't imagine the "adventures that lay before her", as Mrs. Evans would say every night until then.
Lily knew about this magical place ever since she and Petunia heard stories about their great-grandmother, Gwyndolen, and her travels to find certain ingredients for charmwork. Petunia found the ideas hard to believe, since neither of the girls had even met her before. Lily, on the other hand, felt like she'd known Granny Gwyn all her life after reading a few pages in her Incredulous Charms of the Century book for school. "I can't wait to be a witch!" she said to herself, as the car pulled up to King's Cross Station.
Mr. Evans unloaded the car trunk with all of Lily's things, carried them to a little cart, and pushed it alongside Lily towards the intended Platform 9 3/4. When they arrived near Platforms 9 and 10, only Lily could see a group of kids making line to get onto the magical platform.
"Well, I guess this is where I leave you to go," Mr. Evans implied a bit sadly, and moved the cart over to Lily. She hugged him tightly. "Take care of yourself, alright?"
"Okay." Lily gave her dad a small peck on the cheek and slowly pushed the cart towards the line. "Bye Dad!" she called after him.
Mr. Evans waved a last goodbye to Lily, then left for the car.
The line for the platform barrier had moved rather quickly, and the little girl brushed her long hair with hands to spare the time. As the students pushed their carts toward the red brick wall and disappear, Lily found it quite funny. It seemed strange, really, that people around them didn't make the slightest reaction, but the group of students continued to disappear through the wall as if it were merely crossing a street.
Once her turn came, Lily nervously got hold of her cart. "Here goes," she thought, then ran with all her might towards the platform.
CRASH!!!
Lily screamed as her cart slammed squarely with the wall, her bags leaping out to the ground. And with the giggling that came afterwards, she wished she could melt into the stone floor.
"Look here! Another Mudblood, if you ask me!" laughed a raspy voice. Lily glanced at the boy, who had incredibly white-blonde hair. "Why don't you walk home. It'll be less painful."
Lily blushed and hid her face under her messed-up bangs, wondering if her father had left the station yet. She would have made a run for it right then and there, only--
"Give it a rest, Malfoy......Are you okay?" another young boy then crouched over Lily.
"I'm fine," she lied with a whimper, lifting herself up. Lily started putting her things back onto the cart as an excuse to not show her splotchy face.
The laughing then faded away, but the same boy reluctantly remained where he stood. "Here, let me help," he advised after Lily struggled to lift her heavy trunk back onto her cart. With one lift they both managed to move it into place.
"Um, thanks," Lily said shakily, finally brave enough to meet his light brown eyes. He wasn't much taller - perhaps the same age, too - and his angular face reminded her of a cute elf.
"Don't get scared - Malfoy likes giving first-years a hard time. You just need to relax." The boy smiled encouragingly and moved the cart handle to her. "Just pretend it's not there, it's simple," he referred to the wall, right before Lily took a deep breath, shut her eyes, and ran towards the platform again.
She felt as if her stomach was being pulled forward, but when she heard a train engine fueling the next second, she breathed pure relief.
After luggage check and ticket retrieval, Lily walked alongside the front part of the train, reading the "HOGWARTS EXPRESS" sign painted in gold letters. It must have been only a few minutes until the warning whistle was blown and she ran to a seating compartment.
Finding a spare seat in the train was the next challenge for her, not only because they were full, but because she always got butterflies when sitting next to strangers. She peered into one stall - hoping it was empty - but it had girls talking like long-time friends. She then peered into the next stall, noticed the white-blonde boy, and left immediately.
"I've got to find somewhere to sit!" Lily panicked, feeling the engine warming up under her feet. At the corner of the compartment, she saw the profile of the boy who helped with her cart and almost leaped for joy! But as she got closer, she noticed he was very much in company - three boys were talking and laughing along with him in the stall.
She turned around, feeling hopeless, but then noticed the stall door that faced her; it looked completely deserted - and was the perfect place to gaze at that nice boy! The train lunged forward, which cued her to open the stall door in a heartbeat. She slammed it shut and propped her backpack onto the cushioned seat, but it only took her a few seconds to gasp when seeing there was somebody else on the other seat.
"Oh!" she squeaked in reaction. "I--I didn't think......"
The occupant just stared at her like a statue. He was lying down with a book over his stomach as if he was near napping, but obviously got interrupted.
"Sorry....." Lily continued, noticing the boy's strange combination of pale skin and black hair. "Um...I'll find someplace else...."
"First-year, right?" the boy spoke up.
"What? Oh...yes," she replied, now feeling very uncomfortable.
"Me too," the boy said, sitting himself up. "I'd eat dirt before knocking on their door," he pointed to the stall across the hallway, "they'd probably give me a hex or something."
Lily forced a small laugh, not really knowing what he was talking about.
"Besides, there's more space in here anyway."
"Um, I guess so." Lily then sat stiffly onto the cushion, wondering how anyone's hair could be that dark. The boy looked at her oddly.
"Which line are you?"
"Sorry?"
"Line - wizard family?"
"Oh, um.....well my great-grandmother, Gwyndolen, she was a witch....I don't remember her maiden name...."
The narrowed his eyes at the girl, as if he were reading her mind.
"So you're a Muggle-born?"
Lily had heard the term 'muggle' before from her mother, but she didn't know whether or not to take this one personally. The girt just nodded, downheartedly, wishing she'd been related to Merlin or somebody like---
"Well that makes two of us."
"Really?" Lily's green eyes lit up for the first time.
"Yeah, my grandfather was last in my line (until now, of course). Lucifer Snape - he went to Hogwarts too, and Dumbledore was his professor back then. This'll be strange." The boy turned his head to the window, briefly admiring the moving countryside.
Lily knew about the famous Headmaster Dumbledore from her mother's telling (apparently, she had researched on the school quite a bit).
"What did he study after Hogwarts?" Lily attempted, trying to avoid silence.
"Potions mostly," the boy said, still gazing at the window, "He worked for the British Society of Manual Magic a while, and they named him Grand Master."
"That's incredible," Lily said, feeling foolish. Yet the boy didn't show a sign from it.
"He's retired now, living in Ireland," he added.
Lily did not understand how the Magical World could be so complex, yet so hidden from ordinary people. The idea of becoming a famous witch was intriguing to her, yet how would she explain that to her old friends back at home?
The girl brushed a few strands of her red hair with a hand (which came as a habit). She remembered how her mother hugged her tightly after finding that strange letter in July; it was then that Lily had noticed a certain spark in her mother's eyes, and she had begun to tell stories of their Magical Ancestry as if she had known about it forever. Indeed, this turning-point was exciting for Mrs. Evans as much as it was for Lily.
It was like all of Mrs. Evans' wishes - all of her dreams that were building up since childhood - were beginning to take form on her younger daughter.
There was a long pause in the stall, and Lily's back swished from the train's movement. She thought about the nice boy from the other stall, recapturing his cute dimples when he had smiled at her---
"Funny, it's not so common nowadays," the boy then commented.
"What is?"
"Muggle-borns. I heard there was only one in last year's class. She was hexed on the whole term."
"That's awful!" Lily said, a bit too dramatic, "Um....do you think that....that we might......?"
"I doubt it, the Wisps usually aim at a loner."
"Who are they?"
"Just a Slytherin gang - Malfoy's the leader, naturally."
"Malfoy?" Lily remembered, "He -- he called me something --'Mudblood.'"
The boy's head turned towards Lily curiously, and she blinked.
"Er....is that bad?"
He just stared, thinking.
"I...don't know...I've never heard it before--" It was an awkward moment then as Lily wondered what the boy must have been thinking, but a loud KNOCK KNOCK came from the door, and she almost jumped off her seat.
"Anything off the cart, dears?" an elderly woman bellowed into the stall.
Lily breathed in relief, and the boy laughed amusingly.
"What have you got?" he then asked, and the woman opened the door and showed them a variety of pastries and sweets that neither of the two had ever seen.
"Er....I'll have a peach cobbler...you want half?" he asked Lily.
"Oh, thank you," she replied as the boy handed the trolley woman some bronze coins. Lily tasted the cobbler, and a smile told him it was delicious.
"I'm Lily," she said quickly so not to blush.
"Severus," the boy exchanged simply, and another pause came as the boy reopened the gray hardcover book that was next to him.
"So what are you reading?" Lily then asked.
"Skimming, really - it's Lexington's book: Surviving the Damiene Mist and Other Phenomena."
"Oh, doesn't he teach Defense --- Defense of...?"
"Defense Against the Dark Arts? Yeah, I heard he's Head of Slytherin house, too. I hope I'll get sorted there - my grandfather was."
Lily had already known about the Sorting Hat, yet she hadn't really thought about where she'd be placed, now that it came up. "Do you think it matters where we get sorted?"
"Nah, probably just a way to scare people."
Lily smiled. "Well, I hope we'll be in the same House."
"That'll be interesting....'Two Muggle-borns in Slytherin!? So Malfoy, who's scheduled to be hexed this week'?" Severus replied sarcastically. The idea seemed rather unbearable to Lily at first, but they both laughed anyway.
The little redhead sensed an strange warmth in Severus' laughter - something she couldn't yet grasp, but it came so much that she wasn't thinking about the other nice boy.
"Hey, did you read Chapter 12 yet?" he turned a few pages in the book and moved to Lily's side so she could read.
"Oh, 'The Veltroma curse....spits out...' that's amazing!" Lily exclaimed, and the two continued to talk about curses and spells, all the way until the train stopped at Hogsmeade Station.
Chapter 1
"Have you got all your books, dear?"
"Yes, Mum, I hope so!" Lily was frantically throwing her backpack over her shoulders while she received a small napkinfold of fruitcake from her mother.
"Alright then, you should hurry up, your father's waiting outside!" Mrs. Evans brushed the girl's wavy red hair with a hand before giving her a huge hug and kiss.
"Bye, Mum! I'll write to you every week, I promise!"
"Have a wonderful time - make lots of friends."
"I will. Bye Petty!" Lily gave a slight hug to her older sister Petunia, who didn't say a word.
"Goodbye dear!" Mrs. Evans replaced with a smile as Lily went out the open door.
"See you on holiday!" And with that final farewell, Lily jumped into the front seat of their family car, her Dad reversed out of the driveway, and she was off to King's Cross Station.
To her, it seemed like all summer had passed in a day's length; ever since that mysterious letter arrived for her in mid-July, nothing within the Evans household had been the same. Mr. Evans had taken extra days off of work to research the best bargains for wizardry parchment and robes, and Mrs. Evans couldn't help talking to her girlfriends about her grandmother witch and how she used to travel all over the world. Lily, though incredibly nervous being on her own, couldn't imagine the "adventures that lay before her", as Mrs. Evans would say every night until then.
Lily knew about this magical place ever since she and Petunia heard stories about their great-grandmother, Gwyndolen, and her travels to find certain ingredients for charmwork. Petunia found the ideas hard to believe, since neither of the girls had even met her before. Lily, on the other hand, felt like she'd known Granny Gwyn all her life after reading a few pages in her Incredulous Charms of the Century book for school. "I can't wait to be a witch!" she said to herself, as the car pulled up to King's Cross Station.
Mr. Evans unloaded the car trunk with all of Lily's things, carried them to a little cart, and pushed it alongside Lily towards the intended Platform 9 3/4. When they arrived near Platforms 9 and 10, only Lily could see a group of kids making line to get onto the magical platform.
"Well, I guess this is where I leave you to go," Mr. Evans implied a bit sadly, and moved the cart over to Lily. She hugged him tightly. "Take care of yourself, alright?"
"Okay." Lily gave her dad a small peck on the cheek and slowly pushed the cart towards the line. "Bye Dad!" she called after him.
Mr. Evans waved a last goodbye to Lily, then left for the car.
The line for the platform barrier had moved rather quickly, and the little girl brushed her long hair with hands to spare the time. As the students pushed their carts toward the red brick wall and disappear, Lily found it quite funny. It seemed strange, really, that people around them didn't make the slightest reaction, but the group of students continued to disappear through the wall as if it were merely crossing a street.
Once her turn came, Lily nervously got hold of her cart. "Here goes," she thought, then ran with all her might towards the platform.
CRASH!!!
Lily screamed as her cart slammed squarely with the wall, her bags leaping out to the ground. And with the giggling that came afterwards, she wished she could melt into the stone floor.
"Look here! Another Mudblood, if you ask me!" laughed a raspy voice. Lily glanced at the boy, who had incredibly white-blonde hair. "Why don't you walk home. It'll be less painful."
Lily blushed and hid her face under her messed-up bangs, wondering if her father had left the station yet. She would have made a run for it right then and there, only--
"Give it a rest, Malfoy......Are you okay?" another young boy then crouched over Lily.
"I'm fine," she lied with a whimper, lifting herself up. Lily started putting her things back onto the cart as an excuse to not show her splotchy face.
The laughing then faded away, but the same boy reluctantly remained where he stood. "Here, let me help," he advised after Lily struggled to lift her heavy trunk back onto her cart. With one lift they both managed to move it into place.
"Um, thanks," Lily said shakily, finally brave enough to meet his light brown eyes. He wasn't much taller - perhaps the same age, too - and his angular face reminded her of a cute elf.
"Don't get scared - Malfoy likes giving first-years a hard time. You just need to relax." The boy smiled encouragingly and moved the cart handle to her. "Just pretend it's not there, it's simple," he referred to the wall, right before Lily took a deep breath, shut her eyes, and ran towards the platform again.
She felt as if her stomach was being pulled forward, but when she heard a train engine fueling the next second, she breathed pure relief.
After luggage check and ticket retrieval, Lily walked alongside the front part of the train, reading the "HOGWARTS EXPRESS" sign painted in gold letters. It must have been only a few minutes until the warning whistle was blown and she ran to a seating compartment.
Finding a spare seat in the train was the next challenge for her, not only because they were full, but because she always got butterflies when sitting next to strangers. She peered into one stall - hoping it was empty - but it had girls talking like long-time friends. She then peered into the next stall, noticed the white-blonde boy, and left immediately.
"I've got to find somewhere to sit!" Lily panicked, feeling the engine warming up under her feet. At the corner of the compartment, she saw the profile of the boy who helped with her cart and almost leaped for joy! But as she got closer, she noticed he was very much in company - three boys were talking and laughing along with him in the stall.
She turned around, feeling hopeless, but then noticed the stall door that faced her; it looked completely deserted - and was the perfect place to gaze at that nice boy! The train lunged forward, which cued her to open the stall door in a heartbeat. She slammed it shut and propped her backpack onto the cushioned seat, but it only took her a few seconds to gasp when seeing there was somebody else on the other seat.
"Oh!" she squeaked in reaction. "I--I didn't think......"
The occupant just stared at her like a statue. He was lying down with a book over his stomach as if he was near napping, but obviously got interrupted.
"Sorry....." Lily continued, noticing the boy's strange combination of pale skin and black hair. "Um...I'll find someplace else...."
"First-year, right?" the boy spoke up.
"What? Oh...yes," she replied, now feeling very uncomfortable.
"Me too," the boy said, sitting himself up. "I'd eat dirt before knocking on their door," he pointed to the stall across the hallway, "they'd probably give me a hex or something."
Lily forced a small laugh, not really knowing what he was talking about.
"Besides, there's more space in here anyway."
"Um, I guess so." Lily then sat stiffly onto the cushion, wondering how anyone's hair could be that dark. The boy looked at her oddly.
"Which line are you?"
"Sorry?"
"Line - wizard family?"
"Oh, um.....well my great-grandmother, Gwyndolen, she was a witch....I don't remember her maiden name...."
The narrowed his eyes at the girl, as if he were reading her mind.
"So you're a Muggle-born?"
Lily had heard the term 'muggle' before from her mother, but she didn't know whether or not to take this one personally. The girt just nodded, downheartedly, wishing she'd been related to Merlin or somebody like---
"Well that makes two of us."
"Really?" Lily's green eyes lit up for the first time.
"Yeah, my grandfather was last in my line (until now, of course). Lucifer Snape - he went to Hogwarts too, and Dumbledore was his professor back then. This'll be strange." The boy turned his head to the window, briefly admiring the moving countryside.
Lily knew about the famous Headmaster Dumbledore from her mother's telling (apparently, she had researched on the school quite a bit).
"What did he study after Hogwarts?" Lily attempted, trying to avoid silence.
"Potions mostly," the boy said, still gazing at the window, "He worked for the British Society of Manual Magic a while, and they named him Grand Master."
"That's incredible," Lily said, feeling foolish. Yet the boy didn't show a sign from it.
"He's retired now, living in Ireland," he added.
Lily did not understand how the Magical World could be so complex, yet so hidden from ordinary people. The idea of becoming a famous witch was intriguing to her, yet how would she explain that to her old friends back at home?
The girl brushed a few strands of her red hair with a hand (which came as a habit). She remembered how her mother hugged her tightly after finding that strange letter in July; it was then that Lily had noticed a certain spark in her mother's eyes, and she had begun to tell stories of their Magical Ancestry as if she had known about it forever. Indeed, this turning-point was exciting for Mrs. Evans as much as it was for Lily.
It was like all of Mrs. Evans' wishes - all of her dreams that were building up since childhood - were beginning to take form on her younger daughter.
There was a long pause in the stall, and Lily's back swished from the train's movement. She thought about the nice boy from the other stall, recapturing his cute dimples when he had smiled at her---
"Funny, it's not so common nowadays," the boy then commented.
"What is?"
"Muggle-borns. I heard there was only one in last year's class. She was hexed on the whole term."
"That's awful!" Lily said, a bit too dramatic, "Um....do you think that....that we might......?"
"I doubt it, the Wisps usually aim at a loner."
"Who are they?"
"Just a Slytherin gang - Malfoy's the leader, naturally."
"Malfoy?" Lily remembered, "He -- he called me something --'Mudblood.'"
The boy's head turned towards Lily curiously, and she blinked.
"Er....is that bad?"
He just stared, thinking.
"I...don't know...I've never heard it before--" It was an awkward moment then as Lily wondered what the boy must have been thinking, but a loud KNOCK KNOCK came from the door, and she almost jumped off her seat.
"Anything off the cart, dears?" an elderly woman bellowed into the stall.
Lily breathed in relief, and the boy laughed amusingly.
"What have you got?" he then asked, and the woman opened the door and showed them a variety of pastries and sweets that neither of the two had ever seen.
"Er....I'll have a peach cobbler...you want half?" he asked Lily.
"Oh, thank you," she replied as the boy handed the trolley woman some bronze coins. Lily tasted the cobbler, and a smile told him it was delicious.
"I'm Lily," she said quickly so not to blush.
"Severus," the boy exchanged simply, and another pause came as the boy reopened the gray hardcover book that was next to him.
"So what are you reading?" Lily then asked.
"Skimming, really - it's Lexington's book: Surviving the Damiene Mist and Other Phenomena."
"Oh, doesn't he teach Defense --- Defense of...?"
"Defense Against the Dark Arts? Yeah, I heard he's Head of Slytherin house, too. I hope I'll get sorted there - my grandfather was."
Lily had already known about the Sorting Hat, yet she hadn't really thought about where she'd be placed, now that it came up. "Do you think it matters where we get sorted?"
"Nah, probably just a way to scare people."
Lily smiled. "Well, I hope we'll be in the same House."
"That'll be interesting....'Two Muggle-borns in Slytherin!? So Malfoy, who's scheduled to be hexed this week'?" Severus replied sarcastically. The idea seemed rather unbearable to Lily at first, but they both laughed anyway.
The little redhead sensed an strange warmth in Severus' laughter - something she couldn't yet grasp, but it came so much that she wasn't thinking about the other nice boy.
"Hey, did you read Chapter 12 yet?" he turned a few pages in the book and moved to Lily's side so she could read.
"Oh, 'The Veltroma curse....spits out...' that's amazing!" Lily exclaimed, and the two continued to talk about curses and spells, all the way until the train stopped at Hogsmeade Station.