A/N: This chapter contains aliteralscene as shown in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: The Prince's Tale.
By the time morning came, Severus and his mother were bruised and black at the hand of Tobias. He had passed out around five and Severus and his mother barely got any sleep before it was time for school, and work, again.
He didn't dare ask his mother how he looked – if he looked half as bad as her everyone would still know exactly what had happened. It was obvious. Everyone could put the two things together, even a class of six and seven-year-olds. The Mill closed down, the only logical response was that the children were the victims of their fathers' anger.
His father was still asleep when he went out of the front door.
He passed the poor brick houses and followed the river to school the best he could. His head was pounding. He was probably still bleeding in some spots, from last night, but he tried to put that thought away. It wasn't something he wanted to think about now.
He could barely see anything with his swollen right eye, but his left one compensated enough… he hoped.
He entered the classroom just on time, and sat down in his seat. He allowed himself to skim the classroom and saw more children look awful. The Mill had a lot of victims still, even though there weren't even that many workers left to fire at the close-down, as most had been fired in previous weeks.
For once, there were no mean comments from the class about how he looked. Maybe they were too shocked to see 10 of the 34 children in the class beaten up, or maybe they finally knew they were being mean. It was hard to tell.
The teacher didn't seem to care, or perhaps she just didn't notice, for her teaching continued as usual.
Most of the class ignored the happenings, like there was nothing unusual about today. But there was one girl who did care or notice. It was the same girl as who'd pushed him aside when he cursed off the hair of that other girl.
During recess he saw many more beaten up children, and the girl from his class asked a few students if they were okay, until she was stopped by the girl called Tuney. She seemed nice.
He didn't go up to her though. Of course not. But she sure was interesting. He had watched her from a distance during class and break, and continued watching her the coming days.
And weeks. Because after a few days he'd seen her do something he didn't know Muggles could do. She had dropped her pencil and it flew back to her hand, much to the girl's delight. She had done magic.
When he got back home that day he immediately ran upstairs and started to search through the books. There had to besomethingin them about what Muggles could and couldn't do. He stayed up there until he heard his parents come home. He then took his mother's wand, grabbed a few spellbooks, and sneaked out after they'd gone to bed like he had done a few times by now. He practiced in the silence of the night.
But now, he was working on finding a spell to impress the girl, the only one in this town like him, except for his mother. And impress her he would.
Weeks turned to months before he finally had the nerves to even think about possibly going up to her and telling her what she was. She seemed to have no idea. He had asked his mother about it, and she had explained to him that sometimes Muggles get magical babies. So that had to be what was the case now.
He had been... well, spying wasn't really the right word, he'd been interested in this girl who had come to help Tuney, the girl who could make pencils fly, and had followed her because he wanted definite proof she was a witch before taking action. Okay maybe he was spying. By now, he had seen her do more than enough magic to tell her, ask her, if she wanted to be his friend. She was like him, after all. Not a muggle. She could be his friend... A real friend... it would be amazing to have one. Everyone was always talking about that. He had to experience it for himself.
But he hadn't dared for months. What if she would make fun of him? What if she hated him because of where he lived? Because of what he looked like? He couldn't risk making the only person that was like himhate him.
Until today, apparently, because he somehow just could nothold it back...
He had followed the girlsafter school to the playground the girls always played. He hid himself in the bushes as usual and watched the younger girl. She was the only one he cared about, Tuney could drop dead right now and he wouldn't even blink. Well maybe he wouldbe surprised because someone randomly died, but that would be about it.
But it was the older one he was interested about. Lily Evans he was interested about.
He needed her. He needed a friend. He was lonely, and this town was packed with Muggles. Only she was to be trusted. Only she could be his friend.She was swinging higher and higher. Way higher than Tuney. Which was good, because swinging low was never as fun.
Suddenly Tuneyshrieked: "Lily, don't do it!" but she had already let go of the swing, flying off it again as she'd done so many times he'd watched them. "Mummy told you not to!" Tuneyshouted as the girl had landed, making her own swing stop as well. She leaped up and put her hands in her sides. "Mummy said you weren't allowed, Lily!"
"But I'm fine," Lily giggled.
"But look at this. Watch what I can do." But Severus couldn't see what Lily was showing or doing, as he was blocked out of view by the bushes. But he could tell it was magic by Tuney's: "Stop it!"
"It's not hurting you," Lily replied.
"It's not right," Tuney said, but almost immediately added: "How do you do it?"
Severus, who had been looking for a moment to introduce himself for months, found this to be the perfect timing: he could explain! He could explain she was a witch and Lily would thank him for clarifying it and maybe, if he was truly lucky, they'd become... friends?
"It's obvious, isn't it?" he said, jumping out of his hiding space, sending Tuney off running back to the swings, shrieking. Severus was already regretting him revealing himself. It wasn't as if he looked like he belonged here, and he didn't. He should have stayed hidden, because this way it wouldn't work at all.
But Lily had stayed and as he looked at her, he felt himself blushing in embarrassment. If only he could turn back time...
"What's obvious?" she asked.
He glanced at Tuneyat the swings and lowered his voice. Tuneywasn't allowed to hear, because she was a Muggle. "I know what you are." He had to pick his words carefully to not scare her away.
"What do you mean?"
"You're..." he started to whisper. "You're a witch."
Oh no. He'd thrown away his only shot at getting to know her. She looked mad.
"That's not a very nice thing to say to somebody," she said, turning and marching off towards her sister, nose in the air.
"No!" he said, desperate to get her to talk to him again. He knew he'd gone fully red by now but he just needed her to listen, to understand. He ran after them. They were standing next to each other by the swings, holding the poles tightly.
"You are," he told Lily, "you are a witch. I've been watching you for a while. But there's nothing wrong with that. My mum's one, and I'm a wizard." Tuneylaughed at him.
"Wizard," she shrieked. "I know who you are. You're that Snape boy!" Severus hated the mention of his father's name. It wasn't his. It was his father's. He wasn't a stupid Muggle like he was.
"They live down Spinner's End by the river," she explained to Lily and he shrunk. She knew where he lived. Of course she did. And she knew he was poor. The contempt in her voice alone was evidence enough. "Why have you been spying on us?"
"Haven't been spying," he defended himself, even though he knew what he had done could probably fall in that category. "Wouldn't spy on you, anyway," he added spitefully. "You're a Muggle." He hoped he'd put in at least the same amount of contempt as she'd done to him. And he seemed to have succeeded.
"Lily, come on, we're leaving," she said shrilly. Lily obeyed and glared at Severus as they left. Severus, utterly disappointed, watched them leave the gate. He felt tears coming up but pushed them down.
He wasn't a crybaby.
On his way home that day, he decided he would try again tomorrow. He had to plan it out. He shouldn't have just jumped into it and scare her off. He had to carefully plan out everything he wanted to say.
He stayed up that night to work on this instead of his usual practicing. He had perfected a spell he had been wanting to show her he could do to explain magic to her, but his impulsiveness had put an end to that.
Why had he allowed himself to get overly excited about this? It was stupid. She clearly hated where he was from, thanks to her sister. It would be pointless to try and figure out what to say to her if she wouldn't ever give him a chance to explain.
And she'd find out on her own eventually, too. There was no need for him to explain. He almost let his frustration get the better of him, and quit.
But there is, he thought. There is a need. My need. I need a friend.
And that, he did. He needed a friend, someone he could talk to, someone he could trust.
Someone who cared about him.
And his only chance at a friend was this magical girl, and so it was best he continued his little plan.
And so, he would. He'd show her the spell, convince her he wasn't bad. He'd do it all. He'd do anything to get a second chance at her friendship.
Anything at all.