Author's note: So this is a James and Lily story told through Snape's point of view. It's a little dark, but what do you expect from Severus Snape? He's not exactly a smiley happy person, now is he?

The first time I saw her, her hair shone brightly in the light and her eyes glittered with youthful innocence. She didn't know about the evils of the world or the feuding between Muggle-borns and PureBloods (and everything in between).

I watched her for an hour, playing in the small park near Spinner's End. She was beautiful and I wanted to speak to her so badly. But every time I saw her, she was with her sister. Her sister was nothing like her. She was horse-like and plain. Lily, on the other hand, with her red hair and green eyes, was like a goddess.

And so, every day, between the hours of 4 and 6, I would walk down to the park and hide behind the tall bush to watch them play. Whether they were on the swing set, the jungle gym or the teeter-totter, I would just there and watch.

After six, when the sisters would go home, I would find my way back to our small flat, with its two bedrooms, one loo and one kitchen which also converted into a "drawing" room. It was grimy and the wallpaper was peeling in certain spots. And even though the sink in the bathroom leaked and half the time there was no water, it was home.

My father, a Muggle named Tobias, was sitting at the dinner table, impatiently waiting for supper. Or maybe he was waiting for me; the scowls on his face are usually the same in either case. My mother, Eileen Prince Snape, bustled in with three plates of supper. She placed the first plate in front of Tobias and the next in front of me. She sat next to her husband and in front of me. Tobias was always at the head of the table.

We ate in silence, the food too liquid for my taste, until my mother attempted at idle conversation. "So Severus, where were you?"

Tobias told my mother to shut up and she bowed her head in silence. "Where were you boy?"

"I was at the park."

"Why are you always at that stupid park?"

"I like it there."

Tobias grunted at me. "Find something better to do." I didn't reply and Tobias gave me a hard look. "Got it?" I nodded, too upset to say anything. I could feel anger boiling inside of me and my mother looked up from her plate. She gave me a look that said 'control yourself'. Taking a deep breath, I pushed the feelings down. They were stored with everyone other feeling and I displayed a neutral face.

Supper continued in quiet, well, at least from the three of us. Outside, birds were cawing, cars were driving, and people were talking as they walked down the street. It was basically normal evening sounds. When supper was done and I was sent from the table, I went to check if there was any water in the tank. I was able to fill in half the tub with lukewarm water. I washed my hair and my face before the water turned cold and I quickly dried up. I drained the tub and walked into my bedroom, throwing myself on the thin mattress that was my bed.

My mother came in and sat next to me. "Listen Severus, you need to keep your temper under control. We can't have accidents happen anymore. You know you are a wizard. There's no reason for you to lose control."

"But I didn't!" I protested.

"I know, but I could tell by the look in your eyes that you were about to. Your father does what he can to support us and he can be abrupt sometimes, but without him we couldn't have a house."

"Is Tobias my real father?" The words blurted out of my mouth faster than I could stop them. I knew that he was, but I was hoping, no wishing, that he wasn't. I had only slight similarities to his appearance; I looked a lot more like my mother than my 'father'. It could have been possible. "Fathers are supposed to love their sons, no matter if they are different. Fathers are supposed to play ball with their sons, encourage them to be the best they can be."

"He's your father, and he does the best he can."

"Fine." I didn't want to talk about it any longer because my mother would always defend him. No matter how many times he hurt us, she would always love him.

My mother rubbed my back and left my room. I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the yelling sounds coming from the kitchen. I imagined the soft red hair in my hand, her bright green eyes shining as she smiled at me. Her soft voice whispering my name.

The first time I found out her name, Lily, was when her mother had brought her to the park to play. Lily was on the swings, pumping her legs to get higher. "Mummy, look how high I am!" she cried out, smiling widely. Her mother called back sharply, "Lily, don't go too high. You'll hurt yourself."

After that, whenever I saw her, I called her name softly, under my breath. I imagined her replying to me, or having her come to my hiding spot and invite me to play with her. It never happened, but I still hoped that one day it would.

At four o'clock the next day, I sat in my bush and waited for Lily and her sister to arrive. They did and Lily was all excited about something.

"Petunia! Look! I want to show you something I learnt to do!"

Petunia smiled with excitement. "Lily, tell me what it is!?"

"You would never believe me if I told you. I have to SHOW you."

The brown-haired girl sighed and said, "Fine. SHOW me what you learnt. It better not be something silly." Lily just smiled and tugged at her arm impatiently.

I watched as they went over to a bush of flowers opposite to where I was sitting. Lily stood in front of it, her sister standing so close next to her that I couldn't see what was going on. Silently, I crept out of the bush where I was hiding and made my way over, trying not to make noise. I stayed far enough back to make it look like I wasn't paying attention to what the two girls were doing. I sat on the swings, pretending not to look in Lily's direction as I watched what she was doing, but I still wasn't able to see. I found another bush to hide behind and from it I could see what Lily and her sister were doing.

Lily's hands were splayed out in front of her over a flower, her eyes closed in concentration. The open flower suddenly closed its petals and then reopened them. She did it a few more times for her bewildered sister and it clicked in my mind. She was a witch.

I jumped from the bush and ran over. "You're a witch!" I told her, sounding a little more accusatory than I would have liked.

The red-head turned to me with a weird look on her face. "What did you just call me?"

"You're a witch. I saw you opening and closing the flower."

"You're a prick!" she said, glaring at me before turning about face and dragging her confused sister with her.

I walked home feeling slightly guilty, but I shrugged it off. She was a witch, so why was she getting all upset? Maybe she thought I meant it in a different way. That might explain her reaction. I shook my head. Girls were complicated.

The next day I went to the park, but Lily wasn't there. I waited for half an hour but when she didn't show up, I left. Every day for a week, I waited for Lily to come back to the park but she never showed. I was beginning to feel discouraged but I went one last time to the park. I sat on the swing and began slowly moving, not really trying to swing high. A voice behind me made me jump and I stopped swinging.

"Why did you tell me I was a witch?"

"Because you are. You are a witch. In a magical sense." I made sure to add that because she had taken it badly last time.

"Oh." Lily chewed her lip in thought. "How would you know?"

"I'm a warlock."

"Oh." Again, she paused. "How do you know?"

"My mom is a witch." I didn't add that she had to suppress her abilities and do things the hard Muggle way because Tobias hated it. Let Lily think I had a happy life like hers. "And I can make things happen."

"Like my flower?"

"Yes, but I don't exactly play around in the garden." My father would beat me more than he already does. "I make objects move mostly. Potion brewing with natural elements as well." When I could find the elements. Eye of newt was hard to come by in the Muggle world.

Lily looked at me with wide eyes. "Really? Wow. That cool."

I couldn't help the smile that was tugging on my lips. It was a new feeling this, the desire to smile. I embraced it and let the smile spread. "Yeah, I guess it is."

"When did you know?"

"Since I was little. My mum told me that she was a witch and wanted to know if I could do magic as well."

"Could you help me?"

"Well, it's all about your own magical abilities. If they're weak, well then it's harder to build on them." I wasn't sure if that was true, but I thought it might be the best thing to tell her if I wanted her to stick around longer. If she was taking magic lessons from me, in a sense, then she would be around long enough to become my friend. And maybe, when we were older, she could fall in love with me.

My future suddenly didn't seem as dark and bleak. I never thought I could be happy, not with my father being the way he is and my mother just taking it. Maybe I could have the ending that everyone should have, magical and non-magical person alike. Just maybe I could be happy with my life.

At first I met Lily once a week at the park, although I went to watch her play there with her sister every other day. Soon, it turned into twice and three times a week. And then she wanted to play at the park every second day.

By the end of July, we were nearly inseparable. We played at the park all the time, staying out late and getting up early. I almost always went to her house for lunch, since I didn't even want her on the same street as where I lived. Some of my neighbours were pretty shady and I was worried as to what might happen to her. Sure, she lived about a few streets away, close enough to say we lived near each other, but it was still the fact that it changed so dramatically between two streets.

One day she explained why being called a witch was so upsetting. Muggles hadn't dealt with real witches for three centuries, and they had the most bizarre notions. Their idea of a proper spell was "hocus-pocus". Their favourite witch tale was about an old witch who Transformed children into gingerbread and ate them. Small wonder that they considered "witch" an insulting word.

I wasn't there when she got her letter, but when I got mine, I knew that she would probably be getting hers that same day. I nearly ran out of my house and down the street with anticipation. Would she actually have hers? What if Dumbledore didn't recognize her talent? It nearly stopped me in my steps the thought, but I banished it. Lily HAD to get one. It was impossible for her to not have one.

When I knocked on her door, she answered right away, as if she was about to leave her house. "I got the letter!" she nearly screamed. She hugged me tightly and I could smell her floral scent. When she pulled back, we were wearing identical smiled. Simultaneously we held up our respectful letters.

We were going to Hogwarts together.

I went with Lily and her mother to Diagon Alley, partly because my own mother didn't want to go and see some old friends of hers and partly because Lily and her mother had no idea where it was or how to get in. She wanted to go into every store and ogle each item. She would constantly ask me what certain objects were or did and I would explain it all, loving the attention she was lavishing on me. A few times, I saw people I knew walking about, but none recognized me. My family didn't exactly have people over for parties and we weren't the first on the list when other wizarding families had get-togethers. I was a little unhappy about that (mostly because I wanted everyone to see me with the most beautiful girl ever) but I was glad that I didn't have the "being stopped on the side of the road to catch up with family because they're too lazy to owl a letter". Once we had all the things we needed for school, we stopped at Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour. I spent the absolute last of my money to treat Lily and her mum. When they asked if I didn't want one of my own, I claimed that ice cream didn't settle in my stomach properly.

Mrs. Evans asked me if I wanted to stay for supper and as much as I would have loved to, I told her that my mum was cooking me my favourite supper because of my acceptance. She smiled at me and told me next time I would stay.

Lily gave me another hug before I left and told me to come back the next day so that we could go through everything she bought (again) so that I could explain (again) what everything did. I nearly skipped home with joy. This had to have been one of the best days of my life and I was sure that more were on their way.

We spent the rest of the summer together, talking about what school was going to be like, what we planned to do, and all the things we would like to try. I felt bad for Petunia because we found a letter in her room from Dumbledore explaining that she didn't have magical abilities and that she would not be able to attend Hogwarts. Apparently, she had written to him after Lily got her letter. But when she caught us with the letter and cursed us thoroughly (in the Muggle sense, which meant it was insulting but had no actual effect), I no longer felt bad. I was glad she wouldn't be going to Hogwarts as well because then she would take away Lily's attention.

When Petunia became mean and rude towards her sister, I was there to comfort her. My feelings for her were growing each day and the desire to be with her at all times grew. Sure, we were only 11, but I felt like this is how it should always be. I knew it was wrong to think of things going well for me; they never had in the past. Things were looking up and if Lily would be my friend forever, nothing could ever go wrong.

Author's note: I'm not sure how many chapters I'll put in this one. Depends on the feedback, but I was thinking one for each Hogwarts year and one for life after Hogwarts and after Lily dies until Severus dies.