Love was the one thing Voldemort did not understand and therefore could not have foreseen. Love was unpredictable and uncontrollable and in the case of Severus Snape, it took the form of a beautiful red-headed muggle girl with vibrant emerald green eyes and her family.

He saw her one day while hanging around the local playground and was instantly captivated by the beautiful angelic girl. Whilst she was truly something to behold he might have walked past her without a second glance as he was not normally interested in the local children were it not for the fact that he happened to see her perform a truly stunning piece of accidental magic swinging in a high arc before somersaulting from the swings like a trapeze artist to land gracefully on her feet in front of her older sister.

He had never seen another person with magic except for his Mum and was determined that he would find a way to convince her to be his friend. He spent long hours watching and planning the perfect way to convince her and yet his planning was almost all for nothing as he stumbled blindly out of the bushes he'd been hiding in and in his own socially inept and awkward way explained that she was a witch succeeding only in offending the girl and her cruel sister and almost blowing his chance at friendship.

Fortune favoured him, she had a kind, forgiving heart, and was able to see his awkward attempts for what they really were. She was curious enough about him to come back and give him a second chance and they soon struck up a friendship.

She was quick to drag him back to her house and introduce him to her parents. Fortunately, they lived in a nicer part of town which had not been affected so much by the dark cloud that loomed over Spinner's End and they paid little attention to the rumours that abounded about the Snape family instead recognising the young boy for the emotionally starved and neglected child that he was and being just as kind-hearted as their youngest daughter they vowed to do everything in their power to help him and accept him unconditionally as part of the family.

In that way, they made sure he knew that he was always welcome to come round to their house whenever he needed to, they always did their best to feed him and invite him on any short trips they were planning and Severus knowing his parents would not miss him was only too eager to accept.

It was in this way that a nine-year-old Severus, an emotionally starved boy who had so far been deprived of attention and affection slowly learnt the basics of what it meant to be loved, and he came to learn that maybe not all muggles were bad.

Author's Notes:

I've so far resisted the urge to do any notes for various reasons, but a few quick ones. First, off I know the next few chapters are going to be short and perhaps not that interesting, but they are setting the scene for a few chapters time where things will start speeding up as we get more into the plot and the action as the full extent of Voldemort's plans come to light.

The other thing is that this story does follow a lot of events from canon but it also dips in and out or in other words things may happen as in the books/movies but how they get there, where they go from that point and the reasons behind it may be quite different. Severus's childhood and upbringing is one example of that, it still reflects what is hinted at in canon but for totally different reasons.

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James Birdsong:

Thank you, glad you're enjoying it