After All This Time?

People Like You And Me.

   The boy looked no more than 9 or 10 years old, he was small and thin, his coal black hair overlong and he was wearing mismatched clothes : short jeans, a large coat and an odd shirt.
   He was hidden behind a clump of bushes, watching two girls swinging back and forth in an almost deserted playground.
   The boy looked greedily at the youngest of the two girls, swinging higher than her sister.

'Lily, don't do it!" Shrieked the eldest sister, looking horrified.
But the girl let go of the swing in mid-air, and flew literally in the air, she laughed loudly as she soared, staying up far too long and landing far too lightly on the playground asphalt.

'Mummy told you not to!' Said the other girl crossly, stopping her swing, hands on hips. 'You're not allowed!'
'But I'm fine!' Giggled the younger girl, Lily. 'Petunia, look at this, watch what I can do.'
   The latter glanced around. The playground was empty except themselves and, though Petunia and Lily did not know, the young boy.
   Lily picked up a fallen flower from behind which the boy was hidden. Petunia, torn between curiosity and disapproval, approached Lily with a haughty look on her face.
   Lily held out her palm. The flower sat there opening and closing its petals.
   'Stop it!' Shrieked Petunia for the second time.
   'It's not hurting you.' Said Lily, but threw the flower back to the ground.
   'It's not right.' Said Petunia, eying the flower. 'How do you do it?' She asked, longingly.
   'It's obvious, isn't it?' The boy jumped out from behind the bushes.
   Petunia jumped violently and ran backwards towards the swings. But Lily, obviously startled, did not move. A dull flush of color mounted his sallow cheeks as he looked at Lily.
   'What's obvious?' She asked, raising her eyebrows.
  'The boy looked nervous, then he lowered his voice.
'I know what you are.' He whispered excitedly.
'What do you mean?'
'You're... You're a witch.' He revealed.
   But Lily looked affronted. 'That's not a very nice thing to say to somebody.' She turned, clearly hurt, and marched towards her sister.
'No!' Cried the boy, highly coloured now, his cheeks flaming. He flapped after the girls, looking ludicrously like a bat.
   The sisters looked at him disapprovingly, both holding onto one of the swing poles.
'You are,' he continued. 'You are a witch. I've been watching you for a while. But there's nothing wrong with that, my mum's one, and I'm a wizard.'
   Petunia laughed coldly, recovered from the shock of his unexpected appearance.
'A wizard!' She laughed. 'I know who you are, you're that Snape boy! They live down Spinner's End by the river.' She told Lily, shaking her head. 'Why have you been spying at us?'
'Haven't been spying.' Answered Snape uncomfortably, the afternoon's bright sunlight made him feel stuffed and sweaty in his overlarge coat. 'Wouldn't spy on you, anyway,' he added. 'You're a muggle.'
   Though Petunia did not understand the word, she grabbed her sister's arm and said 'Come on, Lily, we're leaving.'
Lily obeyed her sister at once, glaring at Snape with her piercing green eyes.
He stood watching them as they marched through the playground gate, bitter disappointment was etched on his face. He wondered how his carefully planned moment had gone wrong.

( The previous scene was described in HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS. )

After a few minutes, Snape left the playground too, and headed home, Spinner's End.
   Severus Snape's family lived on the edge of a dirty river that wound between over-grown, rubbish-strewn banks. A line of old railings seperated the river from a narrow cobbled street, which is Spinner's End, over which a towering mill chimney seemed to hover like a giant finger. The Snapes live in the very last house on the street.
'Severus, where have you been? I was expecting you ages ago!' Mrs Snape scolded her son as he took off his shoes.
   She resembled him a lot, same features, thin, sallow face and dark, black hair.
'Sorry. Lost track of time.' Apologised Severus Snape, shaking off his coat, revealing the hideous smock beneath it.
'Spying on those two muggle girls, haven't you?' Said Mrs Snape, wrinkling her nose, beckoning her son to the kitchen.
'Haven't been spying!' Said Severus as he sat down on his chair. 'And they're not both muggles, the youngest one is a witch!'
'And?' His mum said impatiently, dumping roast potatoes on his plate.
Severus shrugged.
'Well, I'll mind my own business, if I were you.' Said Mrs Snape. 'Never hurry when you're dealing with relationships, Severus, you'll regret it for the rest of your life.' She muttered darkly, talking mostly to herself than to her son.
'Yeah.' Severus stabbed his potato with his fork, looking flustered.
They ate their meal in silence, and Mrs Snape glanced at the front door every once in a while.
Finally, as Severus cleared the table, someone knocked on the door. Mr Snape.
Although expecting it, Mrs Snape jumped violently, then hurried to open the door.
Severus rolled his eyes, and ran off to his room, he didn't want to witness another of his parents fights.
Severus' parents don't get on very well, and that's putting it mildly. They argue all the time. It's a miracle that they even liked each other in the first place.
Eileen Prince, now Eileen Snape, is a witch. She can do magic, like the rest of her kind. She married a muggle ( non magical person ) Tobias Snape.
He was a plump man, unlike his wife and son, with dull brown eyes and a thick moustache. A year after their mariage, they had a boy, Severus Snape.
Tobias Snape became short-tempered and mean. He hated being poor, and always blamed it on Eileen and Severus.
However, Mr Snape did not know what Eileen was. The latter disliked the way her husband began to treat her after Severus was born, and decided not to mention that she's a witch.
As Severus grew older, he started to show signs of magic. Making things fall when he's angry, or making them float in the air when he's bored. His mother noticed this, and, worried that Severus will reveal her secret to her husband, she made sure that he spends most of his time outside, or in his room.
Mr Snape wasn't bothered with the fact that he hardly saw his son anymore, and when he did, he'd comment grumpily that the last thing he wanted was another mouth to feed.
But, at the age of 8, Severus lost his temper when his dad called him a waste of space, and set fire on Mr Snape's moustache.
   Shocked and outraged, it was difficult for the father to remain calm whilst his wife explained the fact that she's a witch, and his son's a wizard.
'I... MARRIED A WITCH?' He screamed.
'Yes, you did.' Answered Mrs Snape calmly, raising her wand, muttering 'aguamenti' and water splashed on Mr Snape's face, causing the fire to die out.
   After that, magic was forbidden under the Snape's roof, Severus was to be ignored by his father, and the married couple argued almost everyday.
   One time, when Mr Snape was out, Eileen, told Severus that he will be attending a magic school as soon as he turns 11.
'It's called Hogwarts. I learnt everything I know there when I was young, it's an amazing school, really.' Mrs Snape smiled.
'There are 4 houses. Slytherin for the cunning, Gryffindor for the brave, Ravenclaw for the smart and Hufflepuff for the good.'
   She gave Severus her old battered copy of Hogwarts, a history, for his tenth birthday.
   Severus couldn't wait to attend Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry, it'll mean that he'll only go back to Spinner's End in the holidays, and that suited him just fine.
   Severus's room is really small, only big enough to fit in a single bed and a creaky wardrobe.
   He smiled as he imagined himself at platform 9 and three quarters, with Lily at his side, waiting excitedly for the Hogwarts Express to arrive...
   But after today's disaster, it seemed unlikely that this will ever happen.
   Severus pulled out his mother's worn copy of Hogwarts, a history, from under his bed and started to flick through the pages for the millionth time, with a dreamy look on his face. After a short while, the ten year old drifted to sleep, resting his head on page 109, chapter 41 : The Slytherin House.
   On a warm day in July, Severus woke up to the sound of someone knocking on the front door.
   His black hair was ruffled and he was wearing a pair of blue pyjamas he owned since he was 5.
   Severus waited for a moment. No one went to answer the door. Sighing, Severus got off his bed and ran down the stairs, bare-foot.
   The door opened before he even touched the handle. He glanced around nervously.
   He pulled the door wider and there was Lily, Lily Evans, the girl from the park, right on his doorstep, smiling.
   Severus gaped at her, then rubbed his eyes. It surely cannot be her, his eyes are playing tricks on him.
   But it is, and Severus Snape was still in his old, faded pyjamas that flaps around his ankles.
'Lily?' He croaked. 'What are you doing here?'
'And good morning to you too, Severus. It's Severus, right?' Said Lily.
He nodded.
'So, can I come in?' Lily asked as she stepped forward.
   But Severus can already picture his dad's face if he sees Severus with a girl inside his house, especially an "abnormal" girl, like him.
'Er, I don't think that's a good idea.' Said Severus, blocking her way.
'Oh, why not?' Asked Lily, looking bewildered and, slightly disappointed.
'My family's weird.' He blurted out, turning red. 'I'm sorry.'
'Sorry that you're family's weird?'
Lily turned to leave.
'Wait!' Cried Severus, and Lily stops. 'Just give me a few minutes, and we can go- uh, by the river,- it's not far from here, and we can talk about... Whatever you wanna talk about.'
   Strangely, Lily smiled, then nodded.
'Oh, and be careful with the railings.'
   Relieved, Severus went back inside the house, barely hiding the grin on his face.
   A few minutes later, Severus, now wearing a faded grey T-shirt and baggy jeans, leaves the house. As he walked, his footsteps echoed on the cobbles as he passed boarded and broken windows, he reached the railings, which he climbed dangerously. When he finally reached the river, he found Lily lying on the grass, her eyes closed, in the only small clean area near the river.
'Hi.' Said Severus as he sits down beside her.
   Lily opened her eyes and sits up.
'I wanted to talk to you about... What you told me the other day, about me being a, er, a witch.' She started.
'It wasn't an insult, I swear it wasn't, I-'
   But Lily put her hand up, and Severus' words die out.
   'And then you said something about you being a wizard, and your mum a witch. That means, I'm not the only one who could do this?'
   She takes out a black headband from her ginger hair, which falls like a curtain on her face, then, with a simple touch, the black headband turned an emerald green that matches her eyes.
   She puts it back in her hair, then looks up at Severus.
'Why can't Petunia do it, too? Last time, you called her a mug, wait, mag-'
'A muggle. That's what we call the non magical community. Muggles.' Said Severus.
'We? Who's we?'
Severus took a deep breath.
'You're not the only one who can do magic, Lily. There are billions and billions of witches and wizards all over the world who can perform spells and charms and curses, people like you and me.
   We have our own ministry, our laws, our prisons, even our own schools. The thing is, we stay hidden. Muggles don't know we exist, thanks to the status of secrecy, something like that.'
'And how am I supposed to believe you?'