I smeared a balm mother made on To-Cassius' bruises. He did it again and got into an argument with Father. Got the belt. "Why do you do this?" I asked.
He smirked. "If you don't fight, you will always lose Sev. But always know when to and how to fight, I would never argue with him when he's drunk." I nodded, after finishing, he put his tattered shirt back on, which was too big for him as like most of his clothes it was a hand-me-down.
"JUNIOR! COMEDOWN AND CLEAN THE DISHES!" Their father ordered, and He ran to the kitchen.
There was a fight in the morning when my brother received his Hogwarts letter and we were all thrilled, except father. He demanded my brother to burn the letter, but before mother could argue brother yelled back. That led to a heated fight between Casparius and Father. Mother didn't try to join the argument, as my older brother and father cursed at each other. Then ended with belt lashing. Cassius would work at the local Pub the moment he turned 15 during summers, father thought some hard work would erase the magic if only because the beating hadn't worked for me or Cassius.
"Is Cass going to Hogwarts?" I turned to my younger sister and smiled. It was funny how me and Cass inherited our mother's nose, yet she inherited everything but the nose which mother was so thrilled about.
"Yes, he goes to Hogwarts at the end of summer." I sighed, it would be hard and Julia suddenly hugged me.
"Don't worry Sev, I'm not leaving you anytime soon." I smiled and she was still innocent and Cass made sure we spent at least some time as children.
The next day Mother took Cass to Diagon Alley. Mother never left Julia alone with father, mostly because it was a Saturday and father would be drunk the entire bleeding day.
So I decided to bring Julia to the playground, til Mother and Cass returned. We hid far from the other children close to a stump where we carved our names into and where we would look for potion ingredients, mother's mail-order apothecary had kept the house afloat and would allow us to go to Hogwarts as Father yelled, he would never pay for us to play around in some school for freaks.
Though Julia froze when she saw two girls heading toward us. "What are they doing?" She asked, we both hid behind a bush.
I watched as the red-headed girl jumped off a tree and then fell like a feather and the blond girl pouted. "Mother said you shouldn't do that Lily!" I thought the older girl was a muggle til Julia led my eye to the grass beneath the blond girl, they had dried up.
Lily girl then smiled at her sister. "Relax, Tuney! You're doing it too." She pointed out the circle of dried grass under her.
Petunia blushed "But mom said we should do our special things when we're outside Lily! I Don't Even know why this happens sometimes." Petunia sounded worried and scared.
I decided to reveal myself. "It's because you're witches," I said with a smile but both looked offended.
Lily was the first to speak. "That's mean! You shouldn't go around calling people that!"
"But he's telling the truth! You two are witches like me and my mum!" I Already started missing Cass.
"If you're magic then show us." Julia in her excitement to show off did the only spell she knew, which she had learned from Cass when we couldn't pay for the electricity for a month.
She rubbed her and slowly separated her hands, whispering a chant. Creating a ball of light between her hands and with a proud smirk. "Tada!"
Both sisters looked amazed while I sighed as the ball disappeared. Being seven her core wasn't large enough to support a spell without a wand. "How did you do that?" Petunia asked.
I smiled. "It's magic, you learn more when you go to Hogwarts."
From there me and Julia told the two everything we knew about the wizarding world. From Diagon Alley to Hogwarts, though I did most of the explaining as Julia got her hair braided by Lily. "Wait, your birthday is next week!" Lily said excited..
Petunia was worried. "What if I don't get a letter? What if I'm not magical enough?"
I answered honestly. "You did accidental magic. That's enough to get into Hogwarts."
Her sister added to the fire. "Yea! Don't worry yourself Tuney."
Petunia continued. "What house would I end up in?" I couldn't tell.
"Ravenclaw. You're smart." Julia bluntly said and Petunia took the compliment.
"Thank you— You never introduced yourself." She realized.
I was the first to do so, even if I didn't want to tell our last name"My name is Severus and she is my sister-"
"-I'm Julia Eileen Snape." Julia sounded proud with a gap in her smile. Petunia's eyes widened, I knew she realized our situation.
"Lily, we should head home, mum will get worried." She pulled Lily back to the playground and I knew why Petunia decided to leave but I bit it back as Julia showed an apologetic look.
"Did I scare them?" I took a knee and looked into her eyes.
"No, it's just their parents could get angry if they stay away too long." She pouted.
"They sound mean." I smiled, biting back any comment that would be my real views.
"At Least they are worried unlike them." I stood back up. "Let's find some slugs and get back. Mother and Cass will be Home soon."
"Yay!" She screeched, taking the jar to find the slimy creatures.
Dinner as always was a fight between mother and father. Cass taking us upstairs with our dinner.
"We met witches, they're sisters!" Julia excitedly announced.
Cass gave a short concerned look and then smiled. "That's great, it will be good for you two to have friends and another person to reign in our ball of energy here." Julia crossed her arms. "Someone summoned the tickle monster!" She screeched and laughed.
"One of them is the same age as you," I said and Cass stopped tickling who was breathing heavily from the exercise.
"Really? What's their name?" He said.
"Petunia and her sister's name is Lily." Cass nodded.
"Well maybe we will be in the same house or we can share a compartment on the way to Hogwarts." He said I could tell he wasn't excited.
"Do you know Petunia?"
"No, just worried if she ruins our new start at Hogwarts." I nodded though I didn't understand what he meant.
When Petunia got her Letter from Hogwarts. She and Lily were overjoyed, they had met a woman named McGonagall and the air of power she radiated. Petunia and Cass stayed studying like their lives depended on it. "Cass said he has to make sure that he isn't behind those spoiled children who live in the wizarding world," I explained as we lay next to the creek.
Lily nodded. "Tuney said she doesn't want to disgrace herself by being behind."
Julia gave an honest opinion. "They're boring." Lily and I laughed, yea they were boring through the lens of the seven-year-old.
We spent most of our time with Lily as the summer went on, as Cass had spent the summer either helping our mother or breaking the spines of books. Though at the end of July, they had made and sold enough potions to afford mine and Julia's Diagon Alley trip when the time came of course. Cass was competent when it came to potion making, but his true talent was Substituting expensive ingredients for either more affordable ones or those simply found in the forest or meadow.
"One day left," Julia said in a voice filled with dread. "You will write to us right?" The youngest demanded and Cass opened his arms for her to jump in and hug.
He looked at me. "You two Sev." I got off my bed and joined in on the hug. It was the last time we were together for the next few months. "I will be back by Christmas, don't worry."
The next.
He looked at me. "You hold down the fort, Sev. Keep Julia out of trouble." She pouted and he just pulled her ear. "You behave." She nodded and hugged his legs.
"I will miss you." She spoke in a mournful tone.
"Don't be like that, I will be back by Christmas and if I can I will bring some sweets."
"Tobias Cassius Snape You come down now!" Our father yelled and He went down.
They drove away, and Julia started crying. "Don't Cry Julia, I'm still here and We will meet him at Hogwarts too."
"But he will be in his seventh year!" I cursed how smart she could be at times.
"You will be with men for five years." She calmed down.
"What if we find new friends and don't want to come home?"
"We will always be there for each other, Julia. No matter what."
She smiled and nodded. "No matter what!"