Severus

How scared I was of fighting those kids. I shudder to remember it. I don't like fighting. But I'm glad we beat them.

And as for the tree branches hitting Timmy, I don't want to tell others, but that was because of my uncontrolled power as a wizard. It's something that my mom has explained to me several times. When you're a kid and you accidentally do magic, they leave you alone. But when you turn eleven and start training at Hogwarts, then you have to be more careful because then you can really get into trouble.

But even so, I don't like to let on that I'm a wizard, not even to these children who have become my friends, because they're muggles and would probably be scared of me and not want to be friends anymore. I've seen my dad's reaction to the fact that my mom is a witch and I am a wizard more than once. His reaction is one of fear, disgust and contempt, and I don't want these children to start looking at me the wrong way, like the children in my neighborhood in Cokeworth.

'Did you realize, my friends? We won!' Tommy exclaims, turning his attention away from the tree, and I'm glad.

'Yessss!' Phil and Lil say in unison, high-fiving each other.

'Now you can continue being the Viking queen of this park, Angelica,' Kimi tells her happily, and Angelica smiles with an air of superiority, nodding her head.

Angelica is the one I like least in this group of kids. She thinks she's superior to us, babies, she looks down on us, she bosses around, and she doesn't treat us very well, although I admit there are worse ones. The kids in my neighborhood and Timmy McNulty and his brothers are a hundred thousand times worse than her.

And when she's part of this group of kids, it must be because she's good deep down. But deep, deep down, it seems to me that she is.

I head back home because it's already getting dark, so I step into the time machine and find myself back in Cokeworth park, where my mom usually takes me.

Speaking of my mom, she's sitting on a bench reading a book, as is her custom. Here in Cokeworth, it's still early afternoon, and I approach my mom, eager for her to hold me.

Mom looks up from her book and looks at me. I reach out for her, and she picks me up, sits me on her lap, and says '

'You know, Severus? At Hogwarts, the best house of all is Slytherin. That's where you'll make your true friends,' I suppose she says this because she's noticed that I haven't managed to make a single friend in all the time I've been coming here, which is a long time.

But mom doesn't know I already have friends, just in another timeline and in a very different place from Cokeworth. By the way, the next time I see them, I have to ask them where they're from, so I can better orient myself and know where I am every time I visit them.

I'd like to show the time machine to my mom, but I'm afraid she'll turn me away, since it's not a magical artifact but a muggle one, so I don't say anything and decide to keep it a secret for now.

Mom takes me in her arms, stands up, and with her free hand, picks up the book she was reading. What does that book say? I'm very curious, but I don't know how to read yet, so I'll have to wait until I do.

She takes me home, where my dad isn't yet because he's working at the car factory across the river. It's better if he isn't at home because when he is, he's always making nasty comments about magic. Dad is a muggle, while mom is a witch, and she teaches me about the magical world when dad isn't around. Dad works long hours at the factory, so he's not at home very much, and therefore, mom has plenty of time to teach me magic.

This afternoon, mom teaches me how to cast some simple spells. I don't do anything, I just watch, but she tells me the names of each spell and what they are for, and I find it all fascinating. Of course, she won't let me touch her wand without her permission because she's afraid I'll accidentally hurt myself, since I'm still just a baby.

She also teaches me how to make a few simple potions, and I think how cool it would be able to teach all these things to my friends. But I can't because they're muggles.

I wish I had a wizard friend to share these things with. I sigh and I watch again how mom prepares the potion she told me was called the Antidote for Common Poisons. Fascinating!

Then, she starts talking to me about Hogwarts again, a place I'd like to go to. I'm sure I'll make wizard friends there, and I'll be able to become a great wizard so I can get out of this house as soon as possible. But I still have a few more years until I go to Hogwarts. I'm currently one year old, and you can start Hogwarts at eleven, so I'll have to be patient and settle for the time machine, where I can escape for a while from the sad and bitter reality that is my house, my park, and my neighborhood.

I reach out to touch the Antidote for Common Poisons but mom slaps me and angrily says 'Don't touch it, Severus! It's dangerous to touch it like that!'

I pull back my hand, which hurts from the slap mom gave me and I flinch, scared of mom's reaction, so I decide to stay still.

Mom continues with her today's lesson on magic, and I look at her in surprise, and glad that I was born a wizard and not a muggle, because muggles have very limited capabilities. For example, the time machine, although fascinating, seems to have many limitations. But with magic, there are no limitations, as long as we don't harm anyone with it, of course.

Although there's one thing I don't understand. If dad is a muggle and mom is a witch, why doesn't mom use magic to defend herself against dad? Yes, I know it's forbidden to use magic on a muggle, but I'm talking about casting a spell in self-defense, not to harm dad.

My friends and I have defended ourselves much better against those idiot McNultys, and that was only with branches as if they were Viking swords, although I liked to imagine my branch was a magic wand. Although the blow the tree gave Timmy was already a matter of magic. Accidental magic, but magic nonetheless. And that's what we can't do to muggles, although since I'm a one-year-old baby, any magic that occurs unintentionally from me is overlooked by the Ministry of Magic and nothing will happen to you.

Although I'd also like to know exactly how the time machine works, because apparently it didn't work the same way for some of my friends. Helena and Leonor seem to use it the same way I do, but the others don't. Because Helena and Leonor aren't witches. The mystery surrounding the time machine intrigues me as much as the magic lessons mom teaches me.

Then it's time for my dinner, and my mom makes a porridge with the help of her magic wand. Since dad isn't back yet, mom has the luxury of using it to prepare the meal. She's also preparing dinner for dad and herself at the same time, also with the help of her wand.

Dad is about to come home, and that scares me. Mom also scares me when she gets angry, which she often does. Although she spends most of her days reading or crying.