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After a string of bright and sunny days which marked the beginning of July 1972, the weather took a nosedive, and for the next couple of weeks, there wasn’t a day when it wouldn’t at least drizzle.
Rain ran down the dusty windows and rooftops of Cokeworth, and its waters flowed into gutters and storm drains, some of which soon became clogged with an accumulation of cigarette butts, all manner of discarded food wrappers and general dirt, so that the water spilled over and turned roads of the lower part of the town into lakes. But no matter how much water washed down the countless identical row-houses, it didn’t leave them clean, for the raindrops have been soured by the smoke from the many surrounding factories, and so while it did away with dust, it left a layer of soot in its place.
One rainy morning, a door at Spinner’s End opened, and out walked two raincoat-clad figures, one short and one tall.
It was Severus Snape and his mother Eileen, going out to get some shopping done.
He’d rather stay home and sleep in, but his mother had told him she needed help with bags, and he could tell by that familiar shadow in her eyes that there would be no arguing with her on that day.
Not that he’d argue either way.
They went to the greengrocer’s for some onions and potatoes, to the baker’s for bread, the butcher’s for cheap offal, and the general store for some odds and ends.
He remained silent that entire time, neither asking for a cinnamon swirl nor gum or to visit the toy store, even just to look.
After all, there was some other thing he wanted, and he spent most of the trip gathering enough courage to speak up.
The last place on their list was the tobacconist’s, where they had to wait in line to buy the same thing as everyone else - papers and two packs of cigarettes. As they slowly moved up the queue, few inches at a time, he kept staring at puddles, at their constantly changing pattern of interlocking ripples made by raindrops. His hands were clutching a bag of offal tight enough for the knuckles to turn white, and his nervousness didn’t allow him to think about anything much.
Eventually he was gently nudged by his mother.
“Alright, time to go back.”
Now or never.
He wouldn’t be able to ask her at home.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Would it be okay if Lily came over, so we could practise our wandwork together?”
His mother’s brow furrowed.
“I’m not sure about that. You know our house isn’t as nice as the Evans’s. Why don’t you practise over there instead?”
Severus took a moment before replying. He felt like his stomach was tying itself into knots, and there was an unpleasant weight on his chest.
“…well, uh, we can’t. The Decree for Underage Magic restriction would…”
“Oh yes, I completely forgot about that thing. The Ministry would not be fine with two schoolchildren practising for their classes, right? Even though almost everyone does it, as far as I remember. That does sound like them. Very well. I don’t particularly mind. But your father will, so if you want to practise, you’ll have to do so in the cellar.”
“Great! Thank you!” Severus replied, smiling brightly while feeling like he was about to float above the ground from the joy and satisfaction. And indeed - his feet were starting to lose contact with the pavement, prompting his mother to put her hand on his shoulder and push him back down.
“Do control yourself, Severus. You’re not a little child anymore to allow spontaneous magic to get hold of you.”
“Sorry, mom.”
A couple of days later, Lily came in for a visit.
Mrs Snape had stopped by at the Evans’s the previous day and explained the matter surrounding the Decree for Reasonable Restriction of Underage Magic, adding that their daughter is welcome to practise at her house. Later that day, she had also made Severus promise that they’d only practise those spells which could be found in their textbooks.
It was raining worse than the day before.
Lily arrived wearing a brand-new raincoat and a matching waterproof hat decorated with a large yellow flower.
As soon as Mrs Snape opened the front door, she could tell how excited the girl was.
It was slightly disconcerting, that Lily carried her wand in the pocket of her raincoat just like that, with the tip jutting out, but then again, those who’d actually notice would probably think it’s simply a random twig, or maybe a toy. A pretend wand for a pretend witch.
The thought amused her.
She ushered both children into the cellar, where she had prepared an old table along with two chairs, and went back upstairs to listen to the radio and lose herself in crocheting.
“Practising magic in a cellar…that’s a new one. Can’t wait to tell Mary about it!” Lily exclaimed as she looked around the dank room with interest.
“I’d rather if you didn’t,” Severus muttered awkwardly, picturing the expression on Lily’s friend’s face.
“Why?”
“Everyone will laugh. That we have to do it in a place like this.”
“Do you think everyone else practises over the holidays?”
“Yeah, probably.”
“But that’s quite unfair to muggle-borns. How can we practise if the Ministry immediately blows a gasket?”
“Ah, well…-“
“Are there any ghouls in here?”
“No. It’s just a cellar,” Severus mumbled, wishing Lily would sit down already.
Seeing her in her blue shorts and clean, flower-print blouse zoom so excitedly around their dirty cellar made him second-guess his idea. Though there was decidedly less coal around than in winter — just small piles in the corners — there was no denying that it was a very filthy place indeed. Especially since water kept leaking from the narrow window just below the ceiling and pooling on the floor. And this was also the first time he noticed the shocking amount of cobwebs.
“I-I wish we could practise in my room,” he stuttered, feeling more and more embarrassed.
“Nonsense! This is great! We can go wild without having to worry about destroying something!”
“Ahh, I s’pose. But first-“
Severus took out his wand, aimed at the ground swallowed up by an inch of water, and flicked it.
“Desicco cubiculum,” he said.
Lily watched as a small dry isle appeared in front of him and rapidly spread, the edges of water glowing faintly. The amazement in her eyes slightly buoyed his confidence.
“Ooh, we didn’t learn that one, did we?”
“No. Mom taught it to me just before you came. She told me to keep the cellar dry while we’re here.”
“Your mom’s great! I wish my parents could do magic as well.”
“That would be no good. Poor Tuna would probably pack her things and leave,” he remarked, and both children snickered.
“So what should we start with?”
“You could start with showing me that drying spell. It might come in handy.”
“Okay.”
Lily managed to successfully perform it on her third try.
After that, the children practised the charms they had been taught during the previous ten months. They’ve used Spongify to turn the floor and the walls soft, and then practised knockback jinx on each-other, laughing as they landed on the ground in progressively sillier fashion. At one point, Lily climbed up on the table and just before she jumped, she asked Severus to jinx her. Bouncing off the wall, she made a clumsy back-flip, landed on her backside and sprung up again, prompting Severus to quickly spongify the table as well, lest her impact would flatten it.
He then quickly stopped her from practising the Fire-Making Spell, reminding her that they are surrounded by coal.
Once they’ve had their fun with making pieces of it dance across the table, they came up with a wizarding version of handball, throwing a particularly large chunk of coal to each other using the Levitation Charm.
At one point, Severus was slightly too slow, and he had to dodge, so the coal wouldn’t hit him straight in the face.
It hit the wall instead, and part of the plaster crumbled and fell off.
Severus turned pale and quickly went to mend it before anyone could find out, even though the one who was sent to the cellar most often was him.
“Wait.” Lily stopped him just as he was raising his wand. “Look.” She pointed.
And indeed, there was something there in the wall.
She strode over to his side and was about to knock more of the plaster off with the back of her wand.
“No,” he said breathlessly, his palms turning clammy.
The thought of his father finding out about this damage made him feel ill.
“We can just mend it after we’ve looked. Y’know. With magic?” Lily argued.
“O-oh, of course.”
Several knocks revealed a strange little door, although it wasn’t the door itself what was strange, but rather its placement. It looked like one from the bathroom cabinet, albeit without a knob, Severus thought to himself. So what was it doing in here?
“Want to open it?” Lily asked, lowering her voice, her eyes flickering towards the narrow staircase leading up to the ground floor hallway.
Muggle-born or half-blood, they both could feel it. This fifteen-inch door was not supposed to be there, so caution was in order.
Not wanting to lose face in front of his friend, Severus quickly stuck his pinky into the small hole left behind a doorknob and pulled before he could second-guess himself.
He hoped it wouldn’t open, that it would be locked, jammed, or somehow enchanted, but contrary to his expectations and wishes, it opened smooth and without a sound.
Inside was a box. One large enough to fill out the entirety of the hole. The gaps along its circumference were too narrow for even a fingernail, and there was no handle, no knob, no way to remove it, except-
“Stand away,” Lily whispered, and Severus noticed she was holding her wand again.
The box was removed from its hiding place and lowered onto the table.
He looked at his friend, whose eyes were glued to their find. She was radiating curiosity. He, on the other hand, though curious as well, was somewhat more reserved. There was no telling what they would find inside. What if it was something dangerous, like a strange critter or a dormant curse? For all they knew, it could be even full of rats. Or something gross, like tangles of hair or dead insects or teeth.
“…perhaps we ought to dry the floor again,” he said timidly, and received a kick in the ankle for the trouble. “…right,” he muttered, rubbing the sore spot.
Lily removed the lid, and as she shone some light inside, he unwittingly bit his lip.
To his relief, his worries were proven as baseless.
The ray of wand-light gleamed on faded brass and polished ebony.
The brass was that of a few trophies. 1st place in European Gobstones Student Championship. 2nd place in British Gobstones Championship. 2nd place in International Gobstones Tournament. They were all wrapped in dust-covered silk paper, which had slipped here and there.
“Woooow… these are… your mom’s, right? Look, they all have ‘Eileen Prince’ etched into them. So your mom’s name used to be ‘Prince’? That’s great!” Lily exclaimed, laughing. “That makes you a Prince as well! And look here! How gorgeous!”
She pulled out an exquisite black comb, decorated by countless tiny flowers painted in gold.
His attention was, however, drawn by something else.
A photo.
In a mahogany frame, with a hair-thin crack running through the glass, it depicted a girl and a boy standing side by side. The girl was around fifteen and wore an expensive dress of lace-trimmed emerald silk with a high collar and trumpet sleeves. Though her hair was pulled up in a bun secured by a couple of long hair-needles and she wore some make-up, Severus could safely recognise his mother.
The boy, or rather young man, for at least five years seemed to separate them, was half a head taller. He wore elegant dress-robes with green accents.
Severus had never seen that person, yet he could tell there was some familial connection between the two. They both shared a slender physique and the same long face with a heavy brow, but in spite of this it looked like the two weren’t close, both figuratively and literally. There was a distance between them, a distance which the young Eileen seemed to discreetly increase.
“That’s your mom! Oh, she looks gorgeous! Like a princess! And who is that? He looks just like you.”
Severus thought to himself that this was just a matter of opinion.
The man in the photo stared directly at him and Lily, his expression intense, unflinching and cold, while his mother’s likeness avoided looking at the camera, her eyes very deliberately following something on the ground and out of frame.
The air around the two made Severus feel uneasy. It was like he’d end up cursed should he look at them for too long.
“I had no idea your family was rich.”
“Yes. Me neither,” Severus muttered before starting to put everything back inside. It felt wrong, to be digging through these relicts. Every single one pulled out of the box added a strange, sickening weight into his stomach, until he feared that two or three more, and he’d really hurl, right there and then. “Let’s return it back.”
“But-“
“I don’t think mom would be very happy to find out we went through her things without asking.”
“Oh. Alright, makes sense. I’m always annoyed whenever Tuney does it to me.”
She helped him put everything back inside, levitated the box into its hiding spot, and together they mended the plaster over it.
“But still,” she added after a while. “Wouldn’t it be nice, to have heaps of money? We could buy golden cauldrons and new brooms and fancy dresses… and if I was filthy rich, I bet the girls would shut up as well. You wouldn’t believe how high and mighty some of them act, just because they’re from pureblood families.”
“Even in Gryffindor?” Severus asked, surprised.
“Even in Gryffindor.” Lily nodded, a dark expression on her face.
Though he was sorry about her being subjected to such treatment, in his heart of hearts Severus also felt strangely relieved, although he’d never ever admit it, even under the pain of Unforgivables. Lucius Malfoy, the Slytherin prefect, usually managed to keep everyone off his case, but the mutterings, the looks, the derisive laughs he and his worn, badly-mended clothes and possessions got still found their way to him. ‘But at least I’m not alone. Lily too is-‘ he mused before putting an immediate stop to that train of thought, angry at himself.
“Don’t worry about them. They’re just a bunch of stuffy, inbred cow abortions,” he said heatedly.
“You’re right! Stuffy, inbred cow abortions!” she repeated and laughed with delight, her spirits lifted.
Severus wanted to feel happy, but he had a feeling the man in the picture was still watching him, even from inside the wall.
They spent the rest of the afternoon practising their spellwork, neither of them mentioning their find even once.
“So, did you have a good time?” Severus’s mother asked later on, voice calm, her back to him as she was cooking.
It was difficult to think that she and the girl from the picture were one and the same.
“…yes.”
“But? Did something happen?”
“We…” Severus looked around to make sure his father wasn’t nearby. “…we were practising some charms and spells and accidentally hit the wall with a piece of coal. The plaster, kind of, crumbled a bit, and there was a box there.”
“Oh? And did you look inside the box?” Mrs Snape continued to ask, her voice still completely flat.
“…yes. But… but we put everything back inside and mended the wall and everything,” Severus assured her quickly.
“Good. That is good,” she replied simply.
The atmosphere in the kitchen became suddenly quite dense.
He wanted to leave, but his feet just wouldn’t move, and though it was not particularly hot in the kitchen, sweat started to trickle down his back.
It almost seemed his mother forgot about him, but then she turned around, her eyes meeting his.
He quickly dropped his look to the floor, but when she spoke up, he could tell her back was turned to him again.
“Severus. There are families out there, both wizarding and not, that view girls as nothing but things to possess and sell off in exchange for power or something even more meaningless. To those people, the aspirations and wishes of those girls simply don’t matter. Do your best not to become such person, okay?”
“Okay.”
“You might be thinking we’re not exactly living the best of lives, but don’t forget that things can always get so, so much worse. Now go wash your hands and get your father. Dinner is almost done.”
He nodded in spite of the fact that she couldn’t see and made himself scarce.
For some reason, the prospect of disturbing his constantly grumpy father from the game of cricket he was listening to did not sound as scary as usual.
The End