A/N: This chapter contains aliteralscene as shown in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: The Prince's Tale.

The next morning he was fully prepared. He had taken his mother's wand and hidden it in his bag, and had prepared a whole speech for the girl, explaining what she was, what he was, what they were. Where they would go.

To Hogwarts.

He left for school like always, his mind going over the words as he walked. He spotted her on the school grounds before school began, but he didn't dare go up to her. There were too many people. Tuney was there, too.

During class he could barely pay attention, nervous as he was for his meeting with the girl. He kept staring in her direction, but she ignored it. Or didn't notice. Either one was possible.

When break time finally came around, it had taken ages in Severus' mind, as he had been very excited for this, he was dead nervous. He stopped her as they left the classroom.

"Lily Evans-" he began. He wanted to ask her to go somewhere private, but she didn't let him.

"You're the kid from yesterday!" She said, loud enough to attract the attention from the other students.

"I — Well, yes, but—" she didn't let him finish again.

"Why are you spying on me?"

He looked around the growing number of students in the hall, listening in on the conversation.

"Nevermind," he mumbled, and went outside. He'd try again tomorrow.

And he did. He tried for days on end, but every time something interrupted them, be it other students listening in like the first time he tried, a bell interrupting (which happened four times), or Tuney finding them talk and pulling her away from him.

He was starting to think this conversation was cursed, when she came to speak to him!

"Hey," she said, smiling. She smiled at him! He opened his mouth but no sound came out. Come on, it couldn't be that hard to talk to her, could it? He had prepared a whole speech and all! But he didn't want to make the same mistakes as he had before.

"Is it true? What you said? Am I... Am I a - a witch?" she was whispering so that no-one could hear them.

Severus nodded. "You are. You're like me. I'm a wizard, that's a male witch. It's magic. What you can do, it's magic. I can do it too. And so can my Mum."

"So, it's... it's magic?" he nodded again, but they had to be interrupted:

"Lily! Lily you can't talk to him!" her sister shrieked as she saw her sister talking to Severus. She grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away and Lily didn't seem to mind. But at least she didn't hate him.

This quickly became a regular thing, them meeting at break to say a few words to each other before Petunia would cut in. Severus didn't mind at all.

He used these moments to explain to her what he had wanted, to explain why he had been spying on her and how they were the same even if he came from a very different kind of life. And she seemed genuinely interested in meeting up with him, and learning more.

At first it was just about what magic was, and then they would discuss things like creatures, like Dementors or Kelpies. He showed her a few spells behind the school. It was all very secretive, and if his parents found out what he was doing, he'd be done for.

But she seemed to understand that she wasn't supposed to tell anyone even before he told her not to. He had repeated his mother's words to her, telling her how dangerous it was to let the secret out into the world.

He explained terms like Muggle, Muggleborn, Halfblood and Pureblood to her, and told her that everyone in this town, except them and his mother, were Muggles.

That they were different from them. Because they could do magic.

He spoke of Hogwarts and that he couldn't wait to go there, and that's when it became personal. They had been doing this for a really long time, and Tuney had even stopped harassing them by now. It had been almost a year since the first time he spoke to her, on that playground.

"Why do you want to leave home so badly? I don't want to go at all... You say it's a boarding school! I'll be away from my family for so long," she sighed.

"Yeah but... It'll be fun! You'll get to learn magic!" He avoided her question and it was silent for a while.

"Severus?"

"Yes?"

"Who gave you that black eye?"

He was taken aback by the question and had no time to think. It had been his father's doing. He had dropped his pencil while working on his homework, and his father had lost it. He was getting more violent with the day, and his parents argued more and more.

"Oh, I — I fell down the stairs–" it was the best he could come up with.

"Severus!"

He jumped at her exclamation. "What?"

"Don't lie to me. What happened?"

"Why do you care, anyway?" He liked it better when they were just talking about magic.

"I care because you're always showing up at school looking like you've never lived with a parent ever in your life."

"I have parents!"

"How much do they really care for you?"

He only sighed.

"That's what I thought."

Their talks continued and soon they became close friends. It was nearing the Christmas Holidays when something happened Severus never even dared to think about. Things started as usual. He was sittingalone and she joined him, but after talkingfor a little while she stopped him, and said:

"Do you want to hang out this weekend? I know a place. We can just... talk. Alone."

Severus had never felt as good as he did when she asked that. It was as if he could do whatever he wanted for she, Lily Evans, was willingly spending time with him, after school! She had chosen him over her friends and more importantly, her sister!

"I'd like that, yes," he answered, not showing how excited he actually was.

"Great! I'll see you tomorrow!"

And so they did. She was waiting for him alone by the gate of the school that Saturday. They walked a while in silence before Lily started asking questions about how the wizarding world was ruled.

Severus started to explain.

"There is this ministry, you see, and they decide what's happening in our country. Every country has their own ministry and they're all working together. The minister for magic is also working with the Muggle government." He was glad he'd read his mother's books.

They had reached a place, a small thicket of trees. They were close to the river since he could see it through the trunks of the trees, but he didn't recognise the area. They sat down facing each other while Severus continued explaining.

"They also set up rules and make sure you follow them. There aren't a lot, really. Most make sense, like, don't kill anyone. Oh, and a very important one is the Statute of Secrecy," he nodded to indicate its importance.

"What's that?" she asked. Severus removed his coat. He was getting hot and he didn't care about his mother's blouse. Not in front of Lily.

"It's the most important rule. We mustn't do magic around Muggles," he told her again. His mother had stressed that rule so much. "And then there's the law against underage magic, and the ministry can punish you if you do magic outside school, you get letters." He was happy he could help her understand the magical world.

"But I have done magic outside school!"

"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 go careful."

They were silent for a little while and Lily picked up a fallen twig and was twirling it in the air. She loved pretending to be doing magic. Then she dropped it and leaned towards Severus.

"It is real, isn't it? It's not a joke? Petunia says you're lying to me. Petunia says there isn't a Hogwarts. It is real, isn't it?"

"It's real for us," he said. "Not for her, but we'll get the letter, you and me."

"Really?" she whispered.

"Definitely," he was confident in his answer, knowing that would be somewhere he would belong.

He didn't belong here, not really. He knew that.

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

"Normally. But you're Muggle-born," he explained, "so someone from the school will have to come and explain to your parents."

"Does it make a difference, being Muggle-born?" she asked.

"No. It doesn't make any difference." He lied. It was best she didn't worry about that now.

She looked away after a few seconds, looking relieved. "Good," Lily answered with a smile.

"You've got loads of magic," he said, trying to change the subject. "I saw that. All the time I was watching you..." his voice trailed away, she wasn't listening. It didn't matter. She had stretched out on the leafy ground and looked at the canopy of leaves overhead. He was watching her. These were the times he felt true happiness. Until she ruined it for him.

"How are things at your house?" he hated that question as he hated his house.

"Fine," he said, even though things weren't 'fine'. They'd never be 'fine'.

"They're not arguing anymore?"

"Oh yes, they're arguing," he said, picking up a fistful of leaves and tearing them apart. If only they'd leave it at arguing. But no, arguing turned into fighting and fighting turned into... a mess. "But it won't be that long and I'll be gone."

"Doesn't your dad like magic?"

"He doesn't like anything, much," he sighed.

"Severus?"

He looked up. "Yeah?"

"Tell me about the Dementors again."

"What d'you want to know about them for?"

"If I use magic outside 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 could stop himself from continuing before it was too late, but couldn't stop turning red and he started shredding more leaves to distract himself. Then he heard rustling behind him and quickly turned and saw that, hiding behind a tree, Petunia had lost her footing.

"Tuney!" Lily welcomed her with surprise but Severus wasn't having any of it.

"Who's spying now?" he shouted. "What d'you want?" Petunia looked taken aback and was struggling to say something hurtful.

Finally, she decided to go with: "What is that you're wearing anyway?" she pointed at his chest. "Your mum's blouse?" How dare she insult his clothes, in front of Lily, of all people! His anger had quickly grown and there was a crack and before he knew it, a branch from above Petunia had fallen and caught Petunia on the shoulder.That would teach her, he thought bitterly.

Lily screamed and Petunia staggered backwards and burst into tears.

"Tuney!" but she was already running away. Lily turned to Severus.

"Did you make that happen?"

Severus had, but answered defiantly.

"No." But Lily didn't believe his lie.

"You did!" she backed away from him.

"You did! You hurt her!" Yes, he hurt her. But she had deserved it! He didn't understand why he didn't just tell her that, but he just couldn't make himself form the words needed to speak up, telling her the truth...