Severus was always set aside. Was it because of his parents, who lived in a small street outside of the center of the village or because of his clothes, too big or too short? Anyway, he was weird. Strange things happened when the little Snape was around. That was why nobody wanted to go near their house- well, house was perhaps a big word. The Snape lived in a little hut, near the river used by the washerwomen, which gave the water a shade of grey, with soap and filth. The house was made of driftwood, perhaps from this river, nailed roughly and covered with iron sheets, crinkled and rusty. This was not a very pleasant place, even more for a family with a child. The little one played often with pieces of iron sheets or driftwood. The mother didn't say a thing, too busy sewing clothes : she was a dressmaker. She took the clothes from the bureau in the morning, locked herself away in her house, and the evening, all were patched up, not depending on the number of clothes. This was a mistery of the village : how did she do to sow so fast ? The father was working in the mine, where his own father worked in times past. He left one day and five years later, he was back with his wife and son, a few months old. The village talked about it for a while, then everything went back to normal.
The little one began to go to the school of the village from his third birthday- from when the school had accepted him. He grew up in the same class as the other kids, but aside, mocked becaue of his clothes and his family. Then, in his fifth year of school, something strange happened. As the boy was in the backyard, during the break, the group of friends of Henry, the son of the teacher, taking advantage of the absence of surveillance, grabed Severus and forced him in the pigsty. When the teacher came back, he saw Severus in the pigsty, with many pigs around him, but some were outside, in the playground, with the fence closed. When he came back with some of the farmers to help put back the pigs, Severus was in the backyard, reading a book, as Henry and his friends were in a corner, talking in hushed voice, a look of perplexion on their faces. The village thought of an hallucilation of the teacher and nothing had happened. But the son Snape never came to class again.
The same year, a new family arrived in the village. The Evans family. A couple and their two daughters, all very nice. They had become intergrated into the village pretty easily, given the closed circle of families living there. The man tried to help as much as possible his neighbours, while the woman talked for long times to the other women in the café of the village. The two daughters were enrolled at the school. They were very intelligent, the older Petunia was the first of the class, while Lily had a very logical reasonning, disconcerting nicely all the adults she talked to. But Lily listened more than anyone to her sister, of eleven months older.
Petunia was a brunette, with straight hair, while Lily was red-headed, her hair wavering. They looked a little similar, but, whereas Petunia was stiff and straight, her sister was vivid. She colored the country, making everything shiny. She appeared as she was making all her childish dreams come true; as she was swinging, she seemed to go higher than any other child. And she was very pretty : while her sister had brown eyes, she had her mother's eyes, green almond-shaped eyes. She had small freckles all over her round cheeks which smiled in the sun.
Moreover, the first time he saw her, he thought she was an angel. They had approximataly the same age. Sometimes, he looked at the school, from the forest, thinking of the things he had learned. He saw two new students, who weren't her when he was. The bigger one raised her hand and talked a lot. From the small on, he could see nothing else than her hair. Very red, with small curls. He loved them already.
The second time he saw Lily, she was in the meadow with the swingset, with her sister. They were swinging but Lily was going a lot higher. Severus frowned. How was that possible ? She was not a witch... At least, her family had no magic, living in the center of the village. Suddenly, as she was in the highest point, Lily let go of the swing. She dashed up in the sky, only to go slowly down, as if she was flying. Severus was stunned : she couldn't be a witch, her family was muggle ! Then, he remembered that some wizards and witches could be bord in muggle families. Severus raised his eyebrows : it was possible for a girl like her to go to Hogwards ! Especially her, with her magical hair ! He continued to watch, even more interested. Lily had picked a flower up, and it was opening and closing its petals, like a oyster. Indeed, she was really a witch ! They could go to Hogwards together ! He could even become friends with her ! Friends with Lily Evans !