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

Meeting Witches

The chilly mist ... drifted over a dirty river that wound between overgrown, rubbish-strewn banks. An immense chimney, a 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 nine-year-old boy, was hiding.

The boy had an ashen look about him like he had spent almost all of his time away from the sun, with long greasy 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 were the second-hand clothes his mother bought him. She would always buy him 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 boy's name was Severus Snape and he was special, the young boy was a Wizard and 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 raged at each other hitting and screaming in fury. The most significant argument was when he was five. Severus had a hazy memory of the fight, he was sure it had been about him attending the local school.

His father had been determined that he would learn about normal things and not just foolish wand-waving, and his mother was adamant that he was different and that the non-magical children would hurt him. The fight had lasted for what felt like hours and ended with a vase being thrown at his father and his mother getting a black eye courtesy of his father's fist.

Severus, who remembered feeling very worried, went off to the local state school to learn how to mingle with Muggles. He had been tense the entire first day waiting for the other children to deliver blows or for them to discover he was a wizard but apart from them not doing magic, there was no difference between him and the other children. He remembered his mother looking disappointed when he had told her he had liked school, his father however was delighted and had given him a switchblade as a reward, Severus, who could see yet another fight brewing, took the blade and hid it under his mattress after locking himself in his room. All the while his parents' fight exploded below him.

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 then landing back on earth.

But it wasn't until Wednesday, December 15, 1965, three months after he had started school, that he actually got to see a rocket launch. After Lunch the whole school was assembled in the gymnasium, luckily Severus and his fellow Year One students were the closest to the television or they might not have 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 at 2:37 PM. 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, considering 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 on Monday, September 02 1968, the very first day of school, Severus got his first crush. He was starting Year 4, and 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 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. Alerted to the noise, the teacher 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 the girl to see if she had any more magical outbursts. The thought of having to talk to the girl so that he could tell her she was a witch was a terrifying thought for Severus, but he had to muster a sliver of courage, for this could be the only chance he had of having a friend at Hogwarts.

There she was! He had finally found her just over a week after his ninth birthday, happily playing at the boundary playground, with three other little girls.

There she was! He had finally found her just over a week after his ninth birthday, happily playing on the swings, with three other little girls, each trying to go higher and higher.

Severus was confused, why would the girl choose to play with non-magical children when she was just going to be leaving them behind when they went to Hogwarts? Or maybe she didn't realise how hard it was for Muggles to remain friends with Wizards and Witches when they were away at school all year.

'Lily! Rose! Tansy! Don't do it!' shrieked the tallest girl. Her long blonde hair was blowing slightly in the wind as she swung.

But the auburn-haired girl let go of her swing at the very height of its arc and had flown into the air, quite literally flown, launching herself skyward with a great shout of laughter, and instead of crumpling on the playground asphalt, she soared like a trapeze artist through the air, staying up far too long and landing far too lightly. The two other little girls copied her move with equal success.

'Mother told us not to do anything outside our house. Lily!' The blond yelled stumbling a little as she landed from her own high arc, standing up straight and tall with hands on her hips, she towered over the three other girls looking to Severus like she was trying to cow them into submission.

'But I'm fine!' Lily, still said giggling 'Come on Petunia, we can all do something! I've seen you. Do your trick! Please' Lily pleaded, her vibrant auburn hair shining out in the sunshine.

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

'Mother said we weren't allowed.' The girl called Petunia tried to argue

'Come on Tuney! Please?' The other two little girls cajoled. 'You know how much we love to see your trick'

Petunia must have agreed because she glanced around the playground, as her eyes passed over the bushes where Severus was hidden, he held himself still hoping to blend into the shadows.

Severus watched with bated breath as Petunia picked up a fallen flower from the ground. Holding it up to the other girls in the palm of her hand, Severus could see the flower begin opening and closing its petals, almost looking like it was breathing.

Severus then saw her pass the flower to Lily who caused the flower to levitate, dancing and fluttering above her palm. Lily lifted her hand and the flower gently floated over to the next girl.

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

The girl called Rose looked at the flower intently. Rose had a sweet face 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 black hair. She bent down cupping her hands above the flower and Severus watched in awe as a light sprinkling of water fell gently onto the flower.

'You're all Witches!' he yelled 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, hurt shimmering in her emerald green eyes. Severus felt regret at having accidentally hurt the pretty girl.

'But you are all magical witches! Just like my mum.' Severus said emphatically

'Are you a witch too?' Tansy asked her dark eyes gazing up at him

'NO!' shrieked Severus, blushing bright red. 'Boys are Wizards and girls are Witches'

'I know who you are!' Petunia yelled suddenly standing in front of the others as if to protect them, her icy blue eyes glaring down at him. '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, her almond-coloured eyes peering around Petunia.

'Yes, my name is Severus Snape, but it doesn't matter where I live now. I'm going to become the greatest Wizard ever and leave Spinners End behind.' Realising that he had gained their names by spying on them, he thought he should get the girls to introduce themselves anyway, just to change the subject. 'What are your names?' He asked.

The oldest girl stared down at him like he was some errant little bug she wanted to squash, but she eventually answered the question.

'I'm Petunia Evans. My younger sisters are Lily, who is the next oldest and the twins Rose and Tansy. If you're like us then how about you prove it? Can you do what we do?' Petunia asked, sounding almost like she wanted him to fail.

Looking around, Severus spotted a stick on the ground picking it up, he concentrated with all his might directing his magic towards the stick. In the blink of an eye, the whole stick had turned white.

'Wow, so cool' Lily, Rose and Tansy chimed together, even Petunia looked mildly impressed, although she suddenly frowned and bit her bottom lip.

'We're not going to get in trouble for this, are we? Whatever it is that we are actually doing?' She asked nervously looking around the playground as if she expected an adult to suddenly appear and tell her off.

'It's called Magic,' Wizards and Witches are born with the ability to use it. But you have no need to worry, we're all right. We haven't got wands yet. The Ministry of Magic lets you off when you're a kid and you can't help it. Once we're eleven and we start training with a wand that's when we've got to be careful. The Ministry can punish you if you do magic outside of School, you get letters and can even get expelled.' Severus basked at the chance of being able to show off his intelligence.

'What's the Ministry of Magic? And are you sure they won't send us to prison for using magic? Lily asked looking just as worried as Petunia

The Ministry of Magic is the government for the Wizarding world. They wouldn't send you to prison just for doing magic outside of Hogwarts. Dementors are for people who do really bad stuff.' Severus explained

'What's Hogwarts?' 'What are Dementors?' Rose and Tansy questioned simultaneously

'Dementors guard the wizarding world's prison, Azkaban. Mum refuses to tell me much more about them. But she has told me heaps about Hogwarts. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is where we will go to learn everything about magic, Mother said it was the best school for learning magic. When we turn eleven we'll get a letter delivered by an owl, all magical families get their invitation to Hogwarts that way.'

'But Mother and Father can't do magic. Does that mean we won't get a letter?' Petunia asked sorrowfully

'But I thought you said your mother –'

'How do you know what we said? Petunia was back to screeching again 'Have you been spying on us?'

'I haven't been spying, I saw Lily do magic at school and thought she was the only one. It's rare to have so many magical kids born from Muggles.' Severus said honestly

'What's a Muggle?' Tansy asked

'A Muggle is what Wizards and Witches usually call non-magical people. Since you're all 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 delivered by an owl.' Severus said, keeping an eye on Petunia to see if she would start screeching again.

'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 don't have a normal party.'

Severus thought that she sounded highly stuck up, but since Petunia would most likely be going to Hogwarts at least a year before he did and it wasn't a good idea to upset someone who would learn spells before he knew how to defend himself from them, Severus reined in his snarky reply and replied calmly.

'Someone from Hogwarts is most likely going to come on your eleventh birthday, probably in the morning so they 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 would 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 and Severus thought he was finally getting through to the stubborn girl. It didn't last long however since she was back to pompously ordering the younger girls around when she saw the time on her watch.

'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 still bouncing on her toes. 'You do want to know everything about the Magical World don't you Petunia? We all know how much you hate not knowing something.'

Severus' eyebrows rose in astonishment, he never knew girls could be so devious. But he had to hand it to her since Petunia had gone from looking like she wanted to object to his presents to actually accepting him near her, even if it was just to use him for his intelligence.

'Alright, Snape. But if this is all some horrid joke, you'll be sorry! Our address is 10 River Street. We shall expect you at three pm, not a minute later. Now let's go girls.' Petunia said bossily, nodding in farewell 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 on the narrow, cobbled streets he hoped the girls were sincere when they had invited him over but apart from Petunia's frosty attitude he hadn't detected any dishonesty in the girls.

A line of old railings separated the street from the river on his left and side by side on his right were rows and rows of dilapidated brick houses with dirty windows gleaming dully in the evening light.

Severus moved deeper into the deserted labyrinth of brick houses passing broken street lamps and cutting through alleys between houses.

At last, he hurried up Spinner's End, the street sign having collapsed some years prior to his birth.

The Mill, where his father had worked before it had closed down, sat at the end of the street broken and disused, the towering chimney casting a shadow along his street. His footsteps echoed on the cobbles as he passed boarded and broken windows until he reached the very last house. His home, number 13 Spinners End, the house that looked like it was on the brink of collapse.