William Palmer … SHUT UP.

Now that is out of the way, here's chapter 4, I hope you enjoy it and can excuse my bad grammar. Thank you for reading!

(Again, Character's belong to J.K. Rowling, got to love her :D)

Everything seemed easier when Lily was your friend. Severus thought she was brilliant, so kind and caring, a little bit crazy at times but knowing Lily had made Severus believe all the best people had to be.

Lily and Severus were lying in the shadows of the large Oak tree by the river, discussing their favourite topic; The Wizarding World. Lily sat up, crossing her legs, hooked on Severus's every word; he continued to speak as he mimicked her actions, removing his overcoat.

"…and the Ministry can punish you if you do magic outside school, you get letters."

"But I have done magic outside school!" Lily said panicking.

"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 couldn't help but nod, feeling important, "and they start training you, then you've got to go careful."

There was a little silence, Lily had picked up a fallen twig and twirled it in the air, imagining sparks trailing from it. Then she dropped the twig, leaned in toward Severus, and whispered, "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 replied firmly. "Not for her. But we'll get the letter, you and me."

"Really?" whispered Lily.

"Definitely," said Severus, and even with his poorly cut hair and his odd clothes, he struck an oddly impressive figure sprawled in front of her, brimful of confidence in his destiny.

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

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

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

He hesitated slightly. His black eyes, eager in the greenish gloom, moved over the pale face, the shimmering red hair.

"No," he said. "It doesn't make any difference."

"Good," said Lily, relaxing. It was clear that she had been worrying.

"You've got loads of magic," he said, glad she had relaxed, "I saw that. All the time I was watching you…"

His voice trailed away; she was not listening, but had stretched out on the leafy ground and was looking up at the canopy of leaves overhead. He watched her, how could someone be so pretty? He thought.

"How are things at your house?" Lily asked suddenly.

A little crease appeared between his eyes.

"Fine," he said, not wanting to talk much about him.

"They're not arguing anymore?"

"Oh yes, they're arguing," he said, picking up a fistful of leaves and began tearing them apart absentmindedly, "But it won't be that long and I'll be gone."

"Doesn't your dad like magic?"

"He doesn't like anything, much," especially me, he added in his head.

"Severus?"

He felt himself smiling when she said his name.

"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 turned red again and shredded more leaves. Then a small rustling noise behind them made them both turn; Petunia, hiding behind a tree, had lost her footing.

"Tuney!" said Lily, surprise and welcome in her voice, but Severus jumped to his feet, the hatred clear in his face.

"Who's spying now?" he shouted. "What d'you want?"

Petunia was breathless, alarmed at being caught, thinking quickly of something hurtful to say to him.

"What is that you're wearing, anyway?" she said, pointing at Severus's chest. "Your mum's blouse?" There was a crack. A branch over Petunia's head had fallen. Lily screamed. The branch caught Petunia on the shoulder, and she staggered backward and burst into tears.

"Tuney!" But Petunia was running away. Lily rounded on Severus.

"Did you make that happen?"

"No." He said, looking both defiant and scared, as Lily frowned at him.

"You did!" She was backing away from him. "You did! You hurt her!"

"No - no, I didn't!" But the lie did not convince Lily. After one last burning look, she ran away from him, off after her sister, and Severus felt miserable and confused.

Rain fell fast and heavy the next day and Severus sat in his room staring out the window, feeling utterly miserable. He missed Lily so much and couldn't help wondering if she missed him too, but probably not, he thought, she would be too busy worrying about 'Tuney'.

"Aaagghhhh!" he huffed, pushing up off his bed, and walking out of his room hunching his shoulders, with no idea what he was going to do.

He wandered about the empty house, his father had, again, not returned the night before and his mother was out shopping. The house seemed bigger without her there; he wondered if this is how she felt when he was out all day with Lily. He quickly pushed that from his mind, he didn't want to think about yesterday, or about his mother, alone in the house all day long, it was then, that the old, rickety staircase caught his eye; it lead up into the attic. With a glint in his eyes he slowly made his way over, climbing the stairs carefully one by one. He had always been told to stay out of the attic, but he needed a distraction, and this one seemed perfect. When he reached the top of the stairs, he pushed the wooden tile upwards, revealing a small, square hole; he pulled himself upwards, into the darkness of the attic.

Severus spent all day long up in the small, damp attic. He had found the most wondrous things, all the old Prince belongings that had been his mother's and her family's; Severus assumed Tobias had forced Eileen to keep them out of view. He sat in the same spot hour after hour, reading book after book, all about Potions, and Magical Plants, and changing objects into things they are not, but the most fascinating books he read were all very old, very large, and very tattered books all about 'The Dark Arts'. He read and read, taking in as much information as he could. And when it began to get late, he took a large pile of the books, and stored them under his bed. He couldn't wait to show Lily, but then his heart sank when he remember the reason for going into the attic in the first place. I'll make it up to her, and with that thought he grabbed some parchment and a pencil, scribbled a note, and then not bothering to get his coat, he ran out into the rain, and he kept running until he reached her house. He walked slowly up the drive to the cottage. It was beautiful and looked incredibly cosy and warm. Severus sighed and shoved the note through the letter box before trudging back to his cold, damp house.

I'm not sure about this Chapter, but for the life of me can't seem to fix it, I promise I'll try to make the next one better :L I'll work on it this weekend so it should be up by Monday Thanks again!