Prompt: happy and sad

Position: Seeker

Word Count: 1,332

Abuse will be mentioned/showed

Enchanted

It is a bright and sunny summer day. A cool, gentle breeze is flowing. Nine-year-old Severus Snape sits under a great oak tree as the birds sing happily. For some reason, nature has decided to display the opposite of his current mood. Severus sighs as he looks at the meadow that stretches out in front of him. Flowers dot around in bright, beautiful colors.

What a surprisingly peaceful day, Severus muses. He was lucky enough to sneak out of his house before his father realized that he was gone. He might get a beating later, though only time will tell. Severus looks up at the sky. He glares at it, feeling as if it is mocking him because of his misery.

Suddenly, Severus hears some noise at his far right. He glances over in that direction and sees a girl with auburn hair come tumbling out of the bushes. She mutters something under her breath, that Severus can't clearly hear due to the distance between them. She stands up and brushes the dirt off of her pale yellow dress. She looks up and her green eyes meet his raven ones.

The mysterious girl smiles and waves at him. Severus gasps lightly, his heart beats faster as his cheeks start to warm up. Severus waves a bit awkwardly back at her. Her eyes light up with joy. She's about to shout something to him, when a voice from behind her catches her attention.

Severus takes her distraction as a cue to quickly and quietly leave. He'd love to stay and chat with her, but he was nervous about what she would think of him. Maybe another day.

Severus looks out of the window as the rain continues to pour down. His father is currently passed out drunk on the sofa. Severus is glad for that, for there is a chance that he can get through the day without earning a bruise. He turns away from the window and walks towards his room. Severus enters his room and heads towards his chest which is pushed up against the end of his bed. He opens it up and removes one of his many books about magic. Severus then opens the book, Advanced Potion-Making written by Libatius Borage, and starts to read it.

Severus reads quietly as the rain continues to fall outside. He moves on to read three more books about magic. One is about Potions, another one is about Curses and the last one is about different magical creatures.

Suddenly, he hears footsteps approaching his room. Severus quickly hides the books back in the trunk. He then gets under his covers and closes his eyes, silently praying that whoever was there would leave him alone. The footsteps stop in front of his closed door. Severus holds his breath for a couple of seconds. Luckily, the footsteps continue past his door and he releases the breath that he was holding. Severus closes his eyes, deciding that a nap sounds like a great idea. Soon enough, he is fast asleep.

Severus is once again sitting under the great oak tree. He continues to read the book that he brought with him. He flips the page as the world slowly melts away. Severus is so busy reading that he doesn't notice the mysterious girl from before approaching him. She stops in front of him, and tries to read the title of the book.

"Watcha' reading?"

Severus exclaims in surprise and falls to his side, dropping the book in the process. The girl giggles and bends down and picks up the book. Severus sits back up as she hands the book back to him.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's alright. You didn't mean to," Severus mumbles, trying to hide the blush on his face.

"Were you here last week? I saw someone sitting under this tree, but they disappeared when I turned around to talk to my sister," she explains.

"Y—yeah. I...er...I had to go home. I help my mum cook dinner sometimes," Severus lies.

"Oh, ok! Anyways, my name is Lily Evans. What's your name?" Lily asks, offering him her hand.

"Severus Snape," he says, trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach.

"Nice to meet you! You want to be friends?"

"S—sure? I—I mean yes! I—I'd love to be your friend," Severus says, face getting warm at the thought of being this sweet girl's friend.

"Great! So, what do you want to do?"

"W—we can talk under the tree and just get to know each other," Severus suggests.

"Sounds perfect!"

Severus smiles for the first time that he can remember. He doesn't know why, but he knows that Lily is going to brighten his miserable life.

It is a crappy day for Severus. His father isn't in a good mood and his mother is off who-knows-where. At least they aren't arguing like they were at two in the morning. Their arguments can get very loud and sometimes his father gets physical.

Severus peeks out of his room. He looks around to see if his father is in view. Slowly and quietly, Severus starts to sneak towards the front door. He steps around the broken vase at the top of the stairs. Severus looks up to see freedom in sight.

"Where do you think you're going, brat?!"

Severus cries out in surprise as his father grabs the back of his shirt and yanks Severus towards himself. Severus stumbles backwards and he falls down.

Severus gasps as a foot connects to his ribs. He instinctively curls up in a ball as his father aims another kick at him. Severus closes his eyes, knowing that fighting back would only make the beating worse.

It feels like an eternity, but is only minutes before the kicking stops. His father grunts and walks away. His footsteps fade away as he heads to the basement. Severus gasps and crawls towards a nearby table. He grabs at the edge and uses it to lift himself up. After successfully getting off of the floor, Severus hobbles to the sofa. He grunts as he lays on it. Curling up in a ball, Severus passes out on the couch.

Severus sits next to Lily as she tells him a story. She waves her hand around, using them to bring life to the story. Severus allows himself to get lost in her gorgeous green eyes. A soft smile graces his lips.

"...and then it explodes, like WHOOSH!" Lily says as she throws her hands up in the air. "Petunia screamed bloody murder and ran to her room. I couldn't help but laugh at the whole situation."

"It sounds like you had an eventful night," Severus says.

"Yeah. Though I don't know why my accidental magic did that. Do you?" Lily asks Severus as she looks at him, tilting her head slightly to the right.

"No. It's hard to predict what the accidental magic will do," Severus tells her.

"Oh, ok."

Severus is glad that Lily has magic. It means that they can be friends at Hogwarts as well.

"So, have you brought any more books on magic?"

"Yeah. I brought the one about magical history," Severus tells Lily as he pulls the book out.

"History, huh? I can't wait to read what it's about," she says, smiling brightly.

Severus opens the book and holds it in a way that they can both look at it. He glances at Lily as she starts to read. She mouths the words that she is reading. Severus smiles at her cute quirk. Everything about her is enchanting.

Yes, Lily Evans is different. But she's a different that Severus knows that he needs. Severus looks up at the cloudless sky, watching the sun shine bright at the pair.

Yes, Lily is just the friend that Severus needs.