Author's Note:
CRACK CHAPTER!
NOT TO BE COUNTED AS PART OF THIS FIC!
Request from 786, one I found I just couldn't refuse: Snape NEVER meeting Lily.
"Everyone has the right to be stupid, it's just that some people abuse that privilege."
Unknown
The sun hung low in the sky, casting a warm golden hue over Cokeworth as a ten-year-old Severus Snape trudged through the narrow, dilapidated streets, his worn shoes kicking up dust with every step he took. The boy felt the weight of the heavy, oversized jacket he wore, yet, and despite the warm weather, he refused to remove it. It was the last remnant of his father, a man whose memory Severus both wanted to escape, but also never forget.
He had heard about a park nearby from another runaway, a place where children played and laughter filled the air, and he thought that he could find some solace there, away from the grim reality of his life.
The memory of his feeble attempts to stand up to his father still lingered in his mind and left a bitter taste upon his tongue. However, and as the laughter grew louder as Severus approached the park, the boy slowed his steps. He cautiously observed from a distance, watching on from the safety of the trees as two sisters played on the swings. One of them immediately caught his attention, a redheaded girl with an air of vitality about her. But as Severus continued to observe the scene playing out before him, another feeling begun to stir within his chest and left a bitter taste upon his tongue - a familiar souring of distaste.
"Lily, don't do it!" scolded the pale-haired older sister as the girl let go of her swing at its peak, soaring into the air and landing gracefully on the ground. It was a display of reckless whimsy that Severus Snape could only roll his eyes at. Anyone could have seen!
"Mummy told you not to!" the older sister chastised as she pulled her own swing to a stop, heels digging into the ground and her hands flying to her hips.
"But I'm fine," the red-haired girl, Lily, retorted with a nonchalance that irritated Severus. He despised recklessness, knowing just how dangerous it could be to give in to the whims of his so-called 'childhood', and seeing this casual disregard for the rules - magical rules or otherwise - reminded him of everything he loathed about his own life.
Severus found himself further disillusioned as he witnessed the older sister's envy at the redheaded girl's indifferent placating response. It was a scene that hit far too close to home for the boy, one that echoed the dynamics of his own household - a stronger individual placating the weaker.
"Stop it!" the older sister exclaimed as the younger begun to toy with a flower, making its petals open and close. Severus scoffed at the display of what he considered to be pointless magic. The flower didn't interest him, nor did the two girls. A year on the streets had put his life into perspective, and even at the young age of ten, Severus found that such displays that had once fascinated him were as mundane as the rise and fall of the sun.
When one didn't know if they would live to see another day, priorities tended to shift.
Yet, the boy couldn't deny that he had hoped to find something different here. Even if it had been a kindred spirit who, just like him, defied the norms and expectations, someone who wasn't afraid to challenge the mundane. Instead, Severus had found the same dynamic he was trying to escape. The sisters, in his mind's eye, represented nothing but weakness and unnecessary compliance.
The Wizarding World, Severus had discovered, was no better; the ten-year-old having grown dissatisfied with their emphasis on blood purity and the dominance of the so-called 'superior' Purebloods. He felt suffocated by the expectations and prejudices that seemed to surround his world, and he yearned for a place where he could be free from the constrictions he felt both the Wizarding and Muggle aspects were trying to trap him in. The sudden realisation struck Severus Snape - hard.
He didn't want to be associated with anyone who willingly placated a Muggle, temper their powers to soothe another's fears. His mind instantly recoiled at the thought. Lily's actions, as childish as they may have seemed, reminded the boy far too much of his mother's feeble attempts to keep peace with his drunk of a father, to fit into the Muggle's view of society that had her placed as his inferior.
The boy suddenly turned away from the scene playing out before him, feeling a surge of bitterness and disappointment. Severus Snape wasn't one to be disappointed easily, but this encounter had left a sour taste in his mouth. He didn't want to be a part of a world that perpetuated such weakness, wherein magic was used for trivial displays and childish tricks rather than a force to challenge the status quo.
As the sisters continued their argument, oblivious to the dark-haired boy's presence, Severus once again made a firm decision. He would not introduce himself, would not befriend Lily or her Muggle of a sister. In fact, he wanted to distance himself from the redhead's complacency, from the very traits he despised. And so, Severus turned on his heel and walked away from the park, from the ever-escalating argument between the siblings, and from the potential friendship that could have been.
The ten-year-old was clearly on a different path to them, one that led not towards those who didn't dare question, didn't dare challenge, who simply went along with the expected norms, but one where he could forge his own destiny. It was a destiny that would defy every expectation that life could throw at him. Yet, and even if it meant walking the path alone, that he may face challenges with every step he took, he would do so with his head held high, for Severus Snape knew that it was a path that would eventually lead him to greatness, where he would wield his power and strength without compromise.
Lost in his thoughts, the image of Lily's behaviour towards her sister continued to gnaw at him, and Severus knew that he did not want to be a part of a world where people were content to bend to the will of others, where they willingly subjugated themselves before their weaker companions. The story of Hades and Persephone resonated in his mind, but the boy suddenly saw himself differently.
He did not want to be Hades, to be like his father, ruling a realm with nothing but a submissive companion by his side. He wanted to be something far more, something greater, a force to be reckoned with.
But, he also found that he did not want to do any of that with a submissive partner at his side.
What Severus Snape was seeking, what he wanted was an equal.
He wanted someone who would stand at his side without flinching, without the need to pacify, without the fear to show who and what they were truly made of. He wanted - well, the ten-year-old wasn't exactly sure as to what it was he was looking for, but having witnessed Lily's magic, and whilst he could admit it did hold a certain allure, it lacked a power he craved. He knew that he desired strength, to be able rise above the expectations that both the Magical and Muggle world, and Severus Snape found he would not settle for anything less in a partner.
As he retreated from the park, memories of his own childhood begun to surface. He could recall every weakness he saw in the witch that had been his mother, the woman enduring the abuse from his Muggle father without protest time and time again; how she would try and pacify the drunk she called her husband, just to avoid his wrath.
It sickened him to think that Lily, too, was already showing a similar kind of submission.
The memories of his mother's bruises, his father's rage, and now Lily's willing compliance to pacify her sister all blended together into a dark cocktail of determination within the ten-year-old's mind. Severus absolutely refused to be like his father, a cruel man who saw himself superior over the one he supposedly loved. But to settle for anything akin to his mother stood against everything Severus had come to believe in.
He would not allow himself to become like Hades, but he would also never become akin Persephone. He would not allow himself to bend to the will of others deemed weaker, to adapt to their will rather than relying on his own. If anything, he would emulate another figure from the myths and legends he had read - Prometheus; the defiant Titan who stole fire from the Gods, who defied Their authority, and gifted those very flames to Humanity.
Severus would be the one to challenge the Gods, to take what they withheld, and to reshape the world in his image.
The determination coursing through his skinny frame solidified into a silent vow.
He would carve his own path through the world, leaving his indelible mark upon it.
He would come to master the arts of magic and intellect.
And he would rise above the narrow confines of blood purity and societal expectations.
In doing so, Severus knew that he would be able to transcend the shadows of his past, leaving behind the weak and the compliant. The darkness within him would be his source of power, not a chain to bind him, but a beacon of strength and resilience that would guide others in the tumultuous journey that was life.
With his resolve now set, the boy continued down the dusty streets, the weight of his father's jacket more of a comforting reminder of his thoughts rather than the man who it had once belonged to. He was no longer just the son of Tobias Snape and Eileen Prince. He was Severus Snape, a name that would echo through the annals of wizarding history. It was a name that would one day command respect, fear, and awe. And with each step he took, the fire within him burned brighter, fuelled by the promises he had made to himself.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows across the decrepit town that was Cokeworth, within the heart of young Severus Snape, a new dawn had already begun to rise, promising a future where he would be the master of his fate, unyielding and fierce as he stood against the tides that had once threatened to swallow him whole as he forged the path to his own destiny.
Prometheus he would become, and what flames he would unleash upon the world...