Archive of Our Own

“A stranger’s light comes on slowly.
A stranger’s heart without a home.”

~ Fade Into you, Mazzy Star

It was the summer of 1977 and eighteen-year old Petunia Evans was done with high school and couldn’t wait to start her life as an adult and leave the dull, dingy, industrial town of Cokeworth behind.

All the jobs were in London, as was all the glamour. Petunia was ready to leave behind her melancholy childhood in a melancholy town and spend her late teens and early twenties basking in city life and then eventually settle down with the most respectable, rich, decent, ordinary man she could find, and become a mother to a decent, respectable, ordinary child.

Petunia was sick to death of her strange yet perfect little sister and her foolish wand-waving and silly incantations.

“There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in my home!” The non-magical sister declared to herself and she was adamant about that.

She had always felt excluded by the magical world and her way of getting payback was by excluding magic itself, pretending it didn’t exist, prohibiting the use of it in her presence.

Little did she know that one summer morning would be all it would take to transform her feelings about magic.

One morning, in that summer of 1977, the older Evans sister woke up, expecting another ordinary, frankly boring day to pass by. She had risen at the crack of dawn, as always. Lily always slept in and Petunia wanted to be as different from her as possible, better than her.

The blue-eyed Evans sister prided herself on being disciplined and orderly, even if she sometimes took those qualities to extremes, bordering on obsessive-compulsive, bordering on masochistic, especially when it came to eating, or lack of eating rather. She loved to cook and bake and was rather good at those activities but she often wasn’t kind enough to herself to enjoy the fruits of her labor. She gave her left-overs to Lily, secretly hoping the girl would get fat, she had a voracious appetite, and yet it never happened. The witch remained slender and beautiful.

Occasionally, Petunia would pity herself. She would look in the mirror and recognize herself for what she was - a cartoonish villain almost - the wicked step-sister in a fairy tale, but worse because she was the actual sister, she was going against her own blood.

Petunia had a moment like that this morning as she brushed her thin blonde hair at her vanity, but she shook her head, pushing the thought out of her mind. She put on a green and pink floral dress and then went downstairs to have a cup of tea, only a cup of tea.

Since no one else was awake and she was feeling restless, the young woman decided to go for a walk. She grabbed her favorite purse, the green one with the silver buckle that matched the green in her dress and set off for a leisurely stroll near the park not far from her house. It was very sunny and hot so she also wore her favorite flouncy pink sun hat.

Despite being a muggle, and a magic-hating muggle at that, Petunia had an uncanny knack for getting sucked into situations related to the magical world and normally she blamed her witch sister for that but today she was by herself and would simply have to chalk up what was about to happen to her rotten luck.

An unexpected breeze began to blow, and it took the young woman’s hat with it. She chased after it, only to find herself in a grove of trees that she had never stepped foot in before. An eerie feeling washed over her. The unfamiliarity of the grove unsettled her. She tried to move but found herself rooted to the spot where she stood. She felt trapped. Had she stumbled into dark magic?

Moments later, a feminine figure emerged and before Petunia could protest, the figure wrapped her arms around her and she shut her eyes, hoping this was all just some fever dream and that she was actually still at home in her bed, sleeping in.

But then she felt a new sensation that was like being pulled through a tight rubber tube. She felt like her whole body, including her insides, was being pulled, stretched, and dragged. And then she was on her knees vomiting. Unless real life could count as a nightmare, this was no nightmare.

When Petunia stopped puking and regained her equilibrium, she stood up expecting to be in a dungeon, perhaps captured and about to be tortured by that evil wizard cult she heard her sister talk about. What were they called? Death Eaters? She couldn’t remember why they were called that, she just hoped that they weren’t cannibals or necrophiliacs, as their name seemed to suggest.

To her surprise and relief, Petunia did not find herself in a dark, dingy dungeon or locked in a cell somewhere, quite the opposite in fact. She found herself on a beautiful beach, watching the waves crash. There were tall, green cliffs all around. Was this the Irish coast?

“Sorry getting here wasn’t so pleasant but I hope you’ll find that the trip was worth it.” The figure who had taken her here spoke. She could see her clearly now, a witch, she was dressed like a witch, wearing the robes and hat Petunia recalled seeing everywhere that one time she had gone to Diagon Alley with her parents and Lily, and she must have been about her age or Lily’s age, definitely no younger than sixteen and no older than twenty.

So Petunia had been kidnapped by one of Lily’s kind, by some freak.

“Where am I? Who are you? Is this some kind of illusion?” Petunia demanded.

The witch laughed a melodious laugh, like bells in the wind. “Where do you think you are?”

“I imagine this is the Irish coast but I’ve never been to the Irish coast before. I’ve just seen pictures of it in books. But I’m sure I’m not really standing on the Irish coast. I’m sure you’re just making it appear that way. I’m sure this is all just happening inside my head. You creepy people enjoy playing these sorts of tricks on normal people like me, don’t you?”

The witch laughed again, a deeper, heartier laugh this time and she didn’t seem at all offended by Petunia’s caricature of wizardkind.

“Of course this is all happening inside your head but that doesn’t mean it’s an illusion! And you’re right, we are at the Irish coast. Also, if I did anything to harm you, I’d be sent straight to Azkaban you know.” The witch, who wore all black with some blue and silver embellishments here and there, stated the obvious.

Petunia didn’t know why, but she suddenly felt compelled to take off her low-wedge heels and step into the waves, as if being able to feel the sand and the water would prove to her that she was experiencing something tangible and real. To her delight, she could feel the sand grains tickle her feet and the frothy seafoam caress her toes. Living in Cokeworth, she didn’t get out to the beach very often.

“I still don’t know who you are or why you’ve taken me here but I must admit, this is wonderful.” The blue-eyed girl shouted over her shoulder as she walked a little deeper into the water. The sundress she was wearing ended right at her knee, so she was able to go in deep enough that the water was just a bit above her ankles.

“This,” the witch smirked, “is magic.”

____________________________________________________________

From that moment on, 18-year old Petunia Evans, who had once sworn off all magic and magic-related things, was like a young woman bewitched.

She began to spend all her time that summer with the mysterious witch who wasn’t her sister. As awful as the sensation of side-along apparition was, the witch had been right, it was so, so worth it.

Petunia, who had never left England, barely left Cokeworth - she was young and although her parents were not like the working-class of Spinner’s End, they still classified as lower-middle class and so vacations were not really a thing for them, another reason she had been so jealous of Lily, because with magic she could travel so easily, spirit herself away to any enchanted land her heart desired - had seen almost all of Europe in just one summer, thanks to the witch, who she followed hungrily and never questioned.

It was so unlike the older Evans sister to trust a stranger, and a magical one at that. She did wonder at times if she was under some spell but would quickly shake the idea off as she was enjoying herself far too much.

Like a butterfly breaking free from its cocoon, Petunia was breaking free from all the years of repression she had inflicted on herself. Magic had always felt off-limits to her, and now here she was, vicariously wielding it and tangibly benefitting from it.

For so long, she had wanted a taste of that forbidden fruit and now that she had it, she found it to be nothing short of ambrosia. Was it safe for a muggle like her to be so intoxicated by magic? She didn’t know and she didn’t care.

The witch not only introduced her to new places, but also to new creatures. As a muggle, Petunia could not fly on a broom, but she could fly on a hippogriff. The old Petunia would have went running for the hills upon seeing such an intimidating-looking beast, but the new, bewitched Petunia delighted in bowing before the beast and watching as he bowed back, signaling that it was okay to ride, and so she climbed upon the creature’s back and went soaring over lakes and forests, and she wondered, had the magical world really rejected her or had she rejected it?

True, Dumbledore rejected her from Hogwarts but she wasn’t a witch so what could she have done there? School was about preparing yourself for life, for a job, wasn’t it? She knew deep down a letter from Hogwarts wouldn’t have helped her in any way.

Then there was that awful Snape boy who had sneered at her and called her “muggle” like it was some kind of slur. But would he have said that so spitefully if she hadn’t first insulted him? After all, she had shrieked “wizard!” at him and then went on to mock him for where he lived, the clothing he wore, and finally, accused him of spying.

Yes, Petunia realized now, in protecting her pride, she had done more rejecting herself than being rejected.

She felt a fool now for not realizing how lucky she was, just for simply knowing about the existence of magic as a muggle. It occurred to her that if she mended her relationship with her sister, then she could reap the benefits of her powers and she knew from snooping that Lily was a singularly gifted witch.

But there was a war raging, wasn’t there? She knew this too from snooping and from the increasing worry she would sense from Lily. Could she really be part of this world and did she want to be, knowing the dangers? There was time still to ruminate on that.

Petunia began going to the witch’s cottage and she learned about potions there. While potion-making may not have seemed as exciting as flying or apparating, Petunia found it to be the most enchanting of all magical subjects.

The elegance of potion-making moved her and the potential power in a properly made potion impressed her greatly. Wasn’t potion-making, Petunia recalled vaguely, Lily’s best subject?

Did it matter though, weren’t all of these subjects Lily’s domain? So what if the one she liked best was also Lily’s “speciality?” For once, Petunia decided to enjoy something without comparing herself to her sister.

One day, the witch showed Petunia a potion with a distinctive mother of pearl sheen. Steam rose from the magnificent concoction in characteristic spirals.

“This is amortentia. It’s the most powerful love potion in the world.” Petunia’s eyes widened. She didn’t know love potions were real. She knew muggles, like herself, had some distorted ideas about the magical world and she always thought the concept of a “love” potion was one of them but apparently not.

“Of course it can’t actually make someone fall in love. That’s impossible. It just creates a deep infatuation. Glory and fame can be brewed and bottled, but not love.” The witch explained, further intriguing Petunia, making her wonder how magic even worked in the first place, the mechanics behind it.

“Amortentia smells different to everyone based on what attracts them. You might be surprised by the smells you pick up.” The witch continued as if giving a lecture, and there was a faint smirk on her face.

What do you smell?” Petunia asked, raising her eyebrow. “That’s not too personal to ask, is it?”

“Not at all,” the witch assuaged Petunia’s worries about being impolite. “At sleepovers when I was younger, someone would always have some amortentia they had smuggled and we would all sit in a circle and say what we smell. The scents can change over time anyway. Currently, I smell the ocean, musk and” she sniffed a bit more, “warm stew, I think? A strange combination.

Petunia smiled, “May I smell it?”

“Only if you tell me what scents you detect!” The witch declared with a sly grin.

The blue-eyed girl stepped towards the cauldron and inhaled its pearly, spiraly fumes, expecting the smell of the ocean in there too and maybe Earl Grey tea and fresh laundry, things that brought her comfort and peace. Instead to her surprise, “interesting...I smell leather, like worn leather shoes, candle wax, tea, black tea, Assam perhaps? And,” she took one last whiff, “something bitter, herbs, bitter herbs.”

________________________________________________________________

The witch gave Petunia a small vial of amortentia that she could keep with her.

“Just don’t use it on anyone!”

“It doesn’t create true love, so what’s the point? I just want it for the scents.”

Petunia had blushed but she knew the witch understood, the smells of what attracted one were a tad intoxicating .

Walking home that evening, the older Evans sister found that she did not mind the dark or the feeling of the cool summer night breeze on her bare arms. She, a muggle, felt protected by magic.

But then, while walking through the park to get to the other side where her house was located, she could feel her heart stop as a tall, dark, male figure appeared, coming towards her.

She cursed under her breath, chastising herself for not having left the witch’s cottage earlier.

Cokeworth wasn’t safe at night and she was a young woman in a sleeveless dress, carrying nothing but her purse and a love potion.

Well, if it worse came to worse she could always use the potion on her assailant. She imagined it would have the effect of making someone respect your wishes at least.

Caught up in her scheme to use amortentia as a defensive weapon, Petunia stopped paying attention to the path and ended up bumping right into the figure, who had been walking with his eyes glued to the ground.

Startled, the flaxen-haired young woman let out a girlish scream.

“Petunia?” Severus Snape’s eyes revealed that he was just as surprised as her.

“Se-Severus?” Petunia sighed with relief, the first and only time she would ever be relieved to run into Severus Snape.

She didn’t like him, the boy had always been strange, a little creepy even. He reminded her of a greasy little bat or a vampire. She knew now that vampires were real and wondered if it was possible to be part vampire, that might explain Severus Snape’s sallow skin, fang-like teeth and piercing black eyes.

Petunia also knew that he was no longer friends with Lily because Lily had cried to their parents last summer about how he had called her a slur. Snape thought himself superior to the older Evans sister because he was a wizard and she was just a muggle, and nothing got under Petunia Evan’s skin more than people who stood their noses up at her, and the fact that someone as foul and poor as Severus Snape had the gall to do that to her, made her all the more irate.

Wait, so why was she relieved then? Wasn’t he on his way to joining the wizard superiority cult, the Death Eaters? She had never forgotten that time in their youth when he had dropped a tree branch on her. He had never harmed or attempted to harm her after that but if he was even looking down on Lily now and insulting her, then what would stop him from doing something unspeakable to someone who was just a lowly muggle? Being relieved to run into Severus Snape, soon to be Death Eater, was like being relieved to run into a werewolf, it made no sense.

“Not very prim and proper for you to be out so late.” He sneered, in his usual haughty, disdainful way. He had always looked down on Petunia for being ordinary and abiding to social norms. However, his expression and tone quickly changed as he asked “Uh, you’re okay, right? You screamed like a banshee. There wasn’t someone following you before, was there?”

It seemed Snape hadn’t changed and while still unpleasant and mocking, Petunia felt comfortable, like she was a kid again. Severus Snape may have not been a particularly pleasant or nice person, but he did not at all seem like a criminal, at least not the kind who would harm people, assuming they didn’t cross him first.

“Did he just ask me if I’m okay?” Severus’s question suddenly hit Petunia and threw her off guard. “And, is that genuine concern in his eyes?” But the older Evans sister was so used to taunting and being taunted by Severus that she did not know how to respond to him earnestly, and instead, responded to him in her usual sardonic, snobby way.

“I was okay until I ran into you. Thanks for asking.” She said, her voice dripping with contempt and sarcasm.

After the words left her mouth, she regretted them, wondering if she should be more polite to the boy in case he actually had changed, had become darker. Hadn’t she thought he was evil as a child anyway, or had the potential for evil at least? But she thought that way about most witches and wizards, except for her sister, whom she loathed for being so perfect but never worried about her becoming impure.

Fortunately, for Petunia, Severus didn’t seem to be paying attention to her now. He was looking at something on the ground. Petunia observed him for a slight second. She hadn’t seen him up close for about two summers now. It was dark but she could see that he had grown a lot. He was still just as greasy and sallow, and his hook nose was as big as ever, but he had also grown tall, his bone structure was more refined now, and his long limbs that once made him seem like a clumsy baby giselle now made him appear lean and striking.

The older Evans sister liked her men muscular and athletic. Severus Snape was the antithesis of such a man, but to Petunia’s horror and embarrassment, she found that there was something oddly and inexplicably handsome about Severus. With his height and large hands, and dark style of dress, he possessed his own unique kind of masculinity.

Petunia would obviously never like him but she did wonder, if he hadn’t called her that slur, if Lily would have become more than friends with him. He loved her, hadn’t he? The older Evans sister was a keen observer of others. Severus’s deeper feelings for her sister had never escaped her notice. For once, she found herself wondering about the boy and his life. What could have led him to hurting the girl he so obviously loved?

Lost in thought again, the flaxen-haired girl failed to realize that the thing Severus was looking at on the ground and had now picked up, was the vial of amortentia she was carrying, which had fallen when she and Severus bumped into each other.

Similar to the girlish scream that escaped her lips when she and Severus bumped into each other, a gasp now escaped her lips as her eyes widened in realization, and she covered her mouth with her hand to hide her expression but the action only served to emphasize her expression instead.

Severus opened the vial and held it up, watching the pearly spirals dance in the air. He suddenly looked very serious and grim, well more grim than usual.

“Petunia, do you have any idea what this is?”

She rolled her light-blue eyes at him. “I’m a muggle, not ignorant. Why would I just carry some random potion? Of course, I know what it is.”

The young wizard’s serious expression did not change. “Tell me then.”

For a split second, the flaxen-haired girl swore she could feel herself blushing from the intensity of the dark wizard’s gaze. Severus’s eyes were like two black pools with enormous depths, and when he stared at her so smolderingly, she felt like she could drown in them.

Petunia narrowed her eyes in consternation. “Where were you walking from anyway, Severus? You weren’t coming from my house were you? I wouldn’t put it past you to stalk my sister. You always were so pathetically in love with her.” Once again, she regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. She found herself biting her lower lip, afraid of his reaction this time.

He took out his wand. “Don’t make me waste precious magic on a muggle like you.”

Although Petunia knew that Severus was more bark than bite, she was not about to provoke him any further.

With a sigh, she answered his original question. “It’s amortentia, the strongest love potion in the world.”

Severus’s eyes widened. “Why do you have this, Petunia? Where did you get it from?”

The blue-eyed girl raised her eyebrows, “What are you Severus, the muggle police? The statute of secrecy doesn’t apply to me and I’ve been to magical places, like Diagon Alley before. You really shouldn’t be so surprised that I of all people might have a few artefacts from your world.”

“This isn’t an artefact! It’s a potion, and a highly dangerous one at that.”

Petunia threw her long neck back laughing. “A love potion? Dangerous? It doesn’t even create true love. That’s impossible. It just creates a strong infatuation. If you ask me, the stuff is completely worthless. I only kept it because of the smell…” For the third time in the course of this interaction, the older Evans sister cursed her big mouth, literally covering it with her hand again.

The dark wizard’s serious expression waned as his lips twisted into a wry smile.

“What do you smell? That awful muggle cologne or a freshly mown lawn perhaps?” He sneered, as if her aspiration to live a comfortable, bourgeoisie, suburban life was the most painfully dull and disdainful thing he could imagine.

“No, actually! For your information, I smell...herbs! Lots of herbs!”

Severus raised his eyebrow curiously then lowered it and shrugged his shoulders, almost as if defeated and said, "S'pose I can’t mock you for wanting a garden. It would be useful if you were a witch." Then he crossed his arms and had that curious look on his face again.

It was Petunia's turn to sneer. "I don't need to be a witch to appreciate potions." She huffed.

Severus had an inscrutable expression on his face now.

"S'pose if you married a wizard, you could play with all the potions you wanted, but couldn't imagine you lowering yourself to be with one of us freaks." He spat sarcastically and went on to add, "of course I wouldn't look too highly on any wizard who would lower himself to be with a muggle, particularly a muggle like you."

"That's funny coming from a boy who's only half a wizard himself! Do you look down on your own mother, for lowering herself to be with your father?" Petunia bit back, remembering that Severus’s mother was a witch and his father, a muggle.

Even with all the fear and anxiety in her chest, she found it impossible not to verbally spar with the Snape boy. After all, when had they ever had a civil conversation?

The blonde girl’s eyes closed as she felt the tip of Severus’s cold, rigid wand pressed at her throat. “My mother hails from the pureblood Prince family. If you insult her or the Prince line ever again, I won’t hesitate to do something to you that could send me to Azkaban. You know about Azkaban right? You should, if memory serves me correctly, you were eavesdropping the first time I told Lily about the wizard prison.”

He stepped back, with a self-satisfied smirk on his face and Petunia opened her eyes the moment she could feel that his wand was no longer at her neck.

The Snape boy had done horrible things. He dropped a tree branch on Petunia when they were kids, he excluded Petunia, he stole Lily and then he called Lily a slur. And all of that seemed to be culminating into his eventual initiation into some kind of a cult or gang.

Petunia had every reason to believe that Snape would bite. He was a feral teen who had bitten before. So, why did she feel like Severus’s threats to her were all bark?

“It’s true isn’t it?” The non-magical Evans sister spoke in a whisper.

The question, but the tone of her voice even more so, the softness, the fact that she still had courage to speak, piqued Severus’s interest. “What’s true, Tuney?” He asked, using her childhood nickname, saying it in a mocking way.

“You’re going to join that group, those wizards who kill people like me and Lily for sport, who want to eradicate us. Yes, both of us. You can try to separate me and Lily all you want just because she’s a witch and I’m not, but that group, they don’t see any difference.”

“You don’t understand anything, Tuney, about the world Lily and I belong in. I’ll let you go, you’ve irritated me enough tonight. But I will figure out how you got your prim, magic-hating hands on a vial of amortentia.”

“First owl mail, now this stupid potion. You never stopped underestimating me, Severus.” Now Petunia was simply being petulant with him.

“I don’t think it’s me underestimating you so much as you lying to yourself. You like magic, don’t you Tuney?” Severus lifted his head up slightly so that his hair wasn’t falling in his eyes and Petunia could see a twisted smile on his face. It was rare that the boy smiled and it was unsettling, as it revealed his crooked teeth and his pleasure at her discomfort.

“You always could see right through me, Tuney, see my feelings for Lily, I admit it. But I always saw through you too. Lily is the most brilliant witch of her age, but brilliant people can often lack common sense and miss the obvious. Your sister couldn’t see it until I suggested we read your letter, but your jealousy was always clear as day to me.”

Petunia could not handle feeling so vulnerable and having her emotions so exposed, by Severus Snape of all people. She always knew he knew, that deep down she didn’t want to be ordinary, that it was all a facade, that she wanted to be a witch. He was the person she despised most and yet he knew her heart’s deepest desires. She couldn’t take it, she felt sick.

“You said you would let me go, so I’m going now!” The blonde said swiftly as she bolted away from him and towards the safety and security of home. She did not look back at him, but as she passed him, she smelt a faint bitter scent, though she did not linger on what it could be.

To her surprise, he let her go.

All bark, no bite, that boy.

__________________________________________________________________________

Petunia was right. Severus had been walking back from her house, but not for the reason she thought. He had not been stalking Lily, and he hadn’t even intended to go to the Evans’ house in the first place.

The young, newly of age wizard, had been contemplating about his life, his future. It was what he was doing all summer, when he wasn’t practicing his craft of course.

He knew what the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters were capable of but Severus couldn’t imagine himself rising to the Dark Lord’s inner circle, couldn’t imagine himself ever being branded with the dark mark. If a poor half-blood like him joined, he’d probably be given grunt work, and as someone who was primarily a potioneer (even if he did know a lot about the dark arts and dueling) he imagined he’d be the person working behind the scenes.

Since it happened two years ago, Severus had not stopped thinking about how he effectively destroyed the only good relationship in his life, by insulting his best friend. Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to feel guilty for what happened.

In his mind, James Potter was to blame. Potter had not only humiliated him in front of the student body for no reason except sadism, but had also emasculated him, not only in that moment, but all the time.

Severus constantly went back and forth between Spinner’s End, where Tobias told him, from the time he was just a kid, that he wasn’t man enough, to stop walking like that, to stop stuttering, to stop being a pansy, he resented his son not only for being a “freak,” and he spat the word just as Petunia did, but also for not being the big hulking monster of a man that he was, and Hogwarts, where Potter, another brute, arrogant Quidditch star, resented him simply for existing but subconsciously his reasons were probably the same as Tobias. Severus was different and the nail that stuck up had to be hammered down.

A bout of melancholy and nostalgia led Severus to walk to Lily’s house but he was neither waiting for her nor watching her. He stood under a tree, his signature hiding spot as a child, his safe space as a child, far from the house, and stayed there, thinking about life, thinking about the past, fearing the future.

Lily was one of the only, maybe the only, muggleborn invited to join Professor Slughorn in his pretentious Slug Club. This past year, she had started dating Potter, in the spring. She would have no problem in the wizarding world upon graduation, her Slug Club membership and Potter’s wealth would make sure of that.

Severus didn’t possess the same good fortune. Despite being hailed a literal “potions prodigy,” and being an all-around diligent student with a knack for inventing his own spells and improving upon spells and potions in his textbooks, Severus lacked the social skills and charm to go along with his brilliance, barring him from from ever being considered for the club. On top of that, he did not have a wealthy pureblood girlfriend, or really interest from any girl. He barely had any friends, just his fellow Slytherins, most of whom only wanted to use him for his talents.

Regulus Black, despite being younger than him and another pureblood Quidditch seeker brat, may have actually qualified as his one real friend, but still, the boy did not know him the way Lily did, and being a Black who lived up to the Black ideals, he was still rather prejudiced towards Severus for being a half-blood. After Regulus Black, there was Lucius Malfoy and his wife Narcissa. They were two of the biggest users Severus could think of, but they paid him handsomely for his assistance with potions from time to time and that money really helped Severus keep him and his unemployed, depressed mother afloat.

There wasn’t much hope for Eileen Snape, all Severus could do was one day take back the Prince surname and bring honor to the wizarding side of his family once again. He imagined that would make Eileen proud, even if she was already dead at that point, he could picture her smiling from beyond the veil.

Without the Slug Club, without any galleons and without a good family name, Severus Snape had a lot to worry about after his impending graduation.

Joining the Death Eaters seemed like the only way forward and everyone expected it of him anyway. No one had any faith in him, not Professor Slughorn, and not even Headmaster Dumbledore, but the kooky old headmaster was a biased Gryffindor anyway.

Severus had a lot of anger, at his father, at snot-nosed muggles like Petunia Evans, at the marauders, at the headmaster for not punishing the marauders more severely when they had utilized the werewolf in their gang and nearly killed him, and even more so, for making Severus stay silent about the incident and the bloody werewolf.

Not a day at Hogwarts went by without him worrying about another student, perhaps one of his housemates, perhaps a first-year, stumbling upon that monstrosity. Severus had never been a huge fan of Dumbledore. Sure, he recognized the man’s greatness, only a fool wouldn’t, but greatness and talent didn’t stop one from having flaws and Albus Dumbledore had glaring flaws.

This anger combined with a lack of opportunities made the young man vulnerable to corruption. And yet, when he ran into Petunia Evans, someone he had despised all throughout his childhood and adolescence, all he could think about in that moment was if the girl was safe.

Of course, his concern came from what Petunia’s sister had meant to him. Lily would never forgive him but that didn’t mean that he would ever forget her, or forgive himself.

He couldn’t care less about Petunia, but he knew if anything happened to her, Lily would be devastated. Protecting Petunia was Severus’s way of protecting Lily.

This put him in a difficult position however. If he really was going to join up with the Death Eaters, then it would it be possible for him to convince them to spare a few muggles and muggleborns? That didn’t seem likely. Severus lamented the harshness of his circumstances.

“What am I going to do?” That was the question that haunted him all summer.

Severus’s mind wandered to another dilemma, a less dire one but still a worrisome one, and a curious one. Prim and proper Petunia Evans was not only walking home alone at night from some mysterious location, but the girl was also carrying a vial of amortentia with her! How in the hell? He had always sensed that Petunia’s fear and repulsion towards the unknown belied an odd attraction, that was where so much of her envy and bitterness stemmed from. Severus could always clock people, and he didn’t even necessarily need his skill in legilimency to do that.

But he never thought the day would come when Petunia would actually embrace anything magical or out of the ordinary. He thought she would take her secret desires to the grave. How quickly topsy turvy life becomes.

And then there was the fact that she said the amortentia was useless and that she was only carrying it because she liked the smell, like it was some sort of muggle perfume!

Well, actually, he could believe her. Amortentia smells like whatever one finds attractive, naturally then the smell of amortentia is highly addictive and intoxicating, and she claimed it smelled like herbs to her, herbs!

Normally Petunia Evans was not worth a thought, but it seemed as if she had been replaced by someone new, someone with dangerous secrets and rest assured Severus would sniff them out.

He not only worried about her involvement in magic and its potential to harm her, because of her connection to Lily, but Severus also found himself sadistically delighted at the prospect of getting to taunt Tuney, who had always called him a freak and magic “unnatural,” about her hypocrisy. He wanted to call her out on it. For Severus Snape, there was no taste sweeter than the taste of sweet revenge.

So, the young wizard gained a new mission this summer - protect Petunia Evans, for Lily’s sake, and make sure she never bad mouths magic or wizards ever again, especially not while indulging in magic herself.

_____________________________________________________________________

Petunia continued to make her almost daily trips to the witch’s cottage.

She did not realize that Severus was now stealthily spying on her.

“So, she befriended a witch. How did that happen when she resents her own sister for being a witch? Since when does Petunia Evans trust strangers, magical strangers no less.”

Sev did not like the queasy feeling he had in the pit of his stomach, like there was something entirely off about this scenario.

He was surprised that Lily seemed to have no idea about Petunia’s new friend. He thought she might be spying on her sister too, but in all of his outings, over the course of a week so far, he had never once spotted Lily.

One day, when Petunia was walking back at night, Severus decided to make his presence known to her. He walked behind the girl and as much as he despised her, her ordinariness and closed-mindedness when she was a child, he had to admit that Lily wasn’t the only sharp Evans sister.

The older, blue-eyed girl saw the dark wizard from the corner of her eye and promptly turned on her heel to face him head on.

“Why are you spying on me, Severus?” She demanded with her arms crossed. “And don’t you dare try to tell me that you weren’t spying, that you wouldn’t spy on a muggle like me. I’m not stupid.”

Severus grimaced as Petunia’s tone and words brought him back to the first time they met.

“Wizard!” Petunia had shrieked in disbelief and disgust after Sev had introduced himself to the girls, well really to Lily. Petunia had then gone on to say, “You’re that Snape boy! They live down Spinner’s End by the river.” Severus had never forgotten the way she had stuck her nose up when saying that, as if him and his family were the scum of the earth.

She then accused him of spying, to which he retorted that he wouldn’t spy on a muggle, and he had spat the word muggle just like she had spat wizard, his name and the street he lived on. Severus had never gotten along with the muggle children in his neighborhood but Petunia Evans was by far the worst. How ironic that she was the sister of his best friend, one of the brightest witches of their age.

Petunia pitied him for being poor and awkward, but he pitied her just as much for lacking magic, and for paling in comparison to her younger sister, in looks, intelligence, kindness, everything.

There was an uncomfortable moment, however, when Severus was at Hogwarts, being bullied by Gryffindors and then seeking solace in the Slytherin common room, only to have to hear about how wizards with muggle parents were “tainted,” in which he found himself thinking of Petunia and her predicament, being the lesser sister, and for once, not feeling only pity, but sympathy.

He knew how badly she had wanted to go to Hogwarts. He had convinced Lily to sneak into her room so they could read her letter after all. He himself had wanted so badly to go to Hogwarts too but it hadn’t been the fairytale castle he naively dreamt it would be, had it?

Faced with a glaring Petunia, Severus found himself looking into the young woman’s blue eyes. They weren’t as bright as Lily’s green ones but Severus, whose eyes were pitch black, found himself admiring their lightness. Petunia’s hair was also light and somewhat thin compared to Lily’s thick mane of red waves.

Severus’s eyes wandered down. He noted that she had a rather long, elegant neck. She looked like she had gained weight recently. He wondered if she had been sick before because of how bony she was but now there was a healthy glow to her, an aura around her that was reminiscent of Lily’s.

Okay, maybe Petunia’s personality sucked but Severus had to admit that looks-wise, she wasn’t any less pretty than Lily, just different.

The young wizard’s mind wandered to less appropriate thoughts but he didn’t want to acknowledge them. Petunia being an attractive member of the gender he preferred didn’t mean anything. All it did was make her a little more tolerable than the marauders and that wasn’t saying much.

“Well, Severus?” She was getting impatient now. “Why would you be interested in my boring muggle business?”

“You know damn well I’m not interested in your muggle existence or anything related to it, Tuney. I’m interested in your involvement in magic. I told you last time that I would figure out where you got a vial of amortentia from and I think I have. You got yourself a witch friend. Interesting, Lily used to always complain about how you would shut her out anytime she tried to tell you about school or magic. It was a taboo subject. But you have no problem learning from a suspicious stranger. I suppose Lily is the problem then, not magic.”

“I’m not the only one Lily is a problem for.” Petunia said smugly.

Severus started reaching for his wand but the older Evans sister’s shrill laugh surprised him.

“Are you going to point that stick at me again without even using it? I told you, I’m not afraid of you anymore, Severus, not like when we were kids. I’m not a witch and I’ll never be a witch. I made my peace with that. But that doesn’t mean magic can’t be mine. My new friend is rather generous, you see and she has a way with potions. Who knows what I could be carrying on me?” There was a glimmer in her eyes as she spoke.

But Severus was not amused. “You’re playing with fire Evans. Witches and wizards don’t just go around befriending random muggles and letting them play with magic. That witch is up to no good and she’s using you. Just when I was starting to think you might be a little bit smart after all, you prove what a fool you are, Tuney.”

“Shut up, Snape! You hate muggles but guess what? You don’t represent every wizard or witch. You just don’t want to believe that someone of your kind would take an interest in me, just like you refused to believe that I was clever enough to send your headmaster a letter by owl mail! You were convinced I sent that letter through the muggle post and that there were wizards working undercover in the post who dealt with that sort of thing. But you were wrong then and you’re wrong now!”

In a moment of impulse, Petunia took the vial of amortentia that she was wearing around her neck and flung it at him, expecting the vial to explode open and make him infatuated with her, in the hopes that the infatuation would make him obey her, and then he would be out of her hair, for however long the potion lasted.

Unfortunately for her, Severus reacted quickly and deftly caught the vial in his larger hands, his long, spindly fingers wrapping around it. He smirked.

“Maybe I did underestimate you, Tuney. I should probably stop doing that. Merlin knows, I hate when people do it to me.” Now he had a glimmer in his eyes, as he disappeared with the vial.

He didn’t hear Petunia, in a not very prim or lady-like manner, cursing his name.

___________________________________________________________________

Amortentia was on the curriculum for 6th year NEWT potions so Severus had learned about it this past year. He had made a perfect batch of it too and even improved upon the formula in his Advanced Potion-Making textbook.

It wasn’t really a potion he cared about however. Amortentia was the strongest love potion in the world, and still it could not produce true love, only a lousy imitation of it. Such inauthenticity held no appeal for Severus.

He supposed the stuff could work well for manipulating someone and he figured that’s what Petunia was trying to do when she had flung it at him, but there were better ways of getting someone to do what you wanted.

Alone in his room, he opened the vial and watched the pearly spirals swirl into the air. He inspected the concoction closely. It was well-brewed, grade-A amortentia, and that made it all the more dangerous.

Out of curiosity, Severus inhaled the fumes. He only vaguely remembered the scent from last year.

Herbs, specifically elderflower, which had always been one of his favorites because of its versatile medicinal uses, bergamot oil, like Earl Grey tea, flowers but he couldn’t make out exactly which kind, fresh laundry... fresh laundry? How strange.

Severus would always be devoted to Lily Evans, who was his only friend throughout most of his young life, and from ages 13-16 he had pined for her.

But at age 17, he wasn’t sure what he felt for his former friend anymore. He hadn’t spoken to her in over a year and to make matters worse, she was now dating James Potter.

Was Severus jealous of James? Certainly, even without Lily by his side, Severus had always been jealous of James, and Sirius Black, both purebloods, both wealthy, good-looking, they were the winners and he was the loser, even before any girls came into the picture. But jealousy wasn’t what made Severus resent James and Lily’s relationship.

What really broke Severus’s heart was that his best friend, the girl he now realized he had put on a pedestal, had decided to date the bully who made his school years a living hell.

If Lily could love an arrogant prat like James Potter, then what did that say about her?

Loyalty was important to Severus and he realized he had not lived up to his ideal of loyalty when he had slung the slur “mudblood” at Lily and he felt ashamed of himself for that moment of weakness. She had a right to end their friendship over that.

But dating James Potter? The same Potter who threatened to hex her if she didn’t go out with him, and he had done that while letting Severus hang pants-less in the air no less. Was that not worse than accidentally saying “mudblood” in a moment of anger?

Sure, he had gone around saying that word a lot that year, to prove himself to Mulciber, Avery and Wilkes but didn’t Lily understand what being in Slytherin meant? For a destitute half-blood boy like him, it was sink or swim, eat or be eaten.

Why was he even thinking about this again. Oh, right, the amortentia. Aside from the flowers, nothing else seemed reminiscent of Lily. She was good at potions, almost as good as him, but didn’t have any particular fondness for Elderflower. Earl Grey tea...funny he knew for a fact that she loathed Earl Grey.

“It’s like liquid perfume and nasty perfume at that!” She had once said.

Fresh laundry...of course Lily was clean and smelled good but she had always smelled like flowers or herbs or even fruit and she loathed muggle chores like doing the laundry. Why bother with that when you have magic, but even then, domestic spells had never exactly been her forte.

Severus hoped this meant what he thought it meant, that he was not in love with Lily anymore. He wanted to be free of her, just as she had made herself free of him.

If that was the case, as he expected, then he wondered whose scents he was detecting in the potion? Not that he could afford to think about romance when he had so much on his plate, but he was only a wizard, and on an even baser level, only human.

He was just as motivated by a desire for sex and love as anyone else.

__________________________________________________________________

“You’ve been quite busy these days, Tuney.” Lily said one morning. “You go out early, stay out all day, and don’t return home until dangerously late in the evening.”

The red-head had a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eyes. “You haven’t been swept up into some summer romance, have you?”

Petunia rolled her eyes at her nosy little sister. “Why would I want to date anyone in Cokeworth?” She spat haughtily.

Lily looked annoyed. “You’re right. I can’t imagine you dating anyone actually. What bloke could possibly live up to princess Petunia Evans standards? He’d have to be a prince and there certainly aren’t any of those around here.”

“Isn’t that Potter boy you’re seeing loaded? I overheard you say his parents are successful entrepreneurs and he has a vault full of wizard money. Don’t act so self-righteous when you yourself would doubtless never date a Cokeworth boy either. If you get to have a rich wizard, then why shouldn’t I look for a rich normal man when I move to London?”

“I’m not with James because he’s rich! I don’t care about that! I’m with him because he’s funny, brave, adventurous, charming, good-hearted, sweet-”

“Lovely, that’s lovely Lils but I’m heading out now. See you later!” The older Evans girl interrupted her sister’s protesting to make her swift exit. She waved out the door as she finished munching on a piece of toast that was in her hand.

“Tuney, wait! Regardless of what it is that you’ve been doing, I am worried about you coming home so late. Cokeworth isn’t safe and you don’t have-” Lily bit back her tongue, it was never a good idea to remind Petunia of the thing that she was lacking.

Now that Lily was 17, she could use magic outside of school but she wouldn’t dare use it in her older sister’s presence, not that the two were around each other much anyway.

“I’m quite aware of the fact that I’m not a freak. Thank you very much. I take great pride in that, you know. As for my returning home late, mum and dad don’t notice or care, so why should you? Not to mention, you’re the younger sister, and if anyone is going to get into trouble, it would be you, wild, impulsive, disorderly Lily. But we’re both of age now, aren’t we? So there’s no reason for us to reprimand each other like children anymore. ”

The green-eyed girl frowned. What Petunia said about their parents was true. Mr. and Mrs. Evans were good people. They loved their girls, but they were so enchanted by Lily’s magic and her world that they often overlooked Petunia’s life. Petunia was like someone they had to love because she was their child, rather than someone they loved for being special and talented.

“Petunia, I just want you to know that if you ever need my help, you can ask me, okay?”

“Thanks, Lily but I’m fine. I don’t need you and your abnormality intervening on my behalf. Have a good day.” Finally, she was out the door.

The younger Evans sister sighed defeatedly. “Whatever you say, Tuney.” She murmured as her petulant older sister left the house.

A Gryffindor, however, would not be defeated so easily, nor would a Gryffindor sit around doing nothing. Lily Evans, a Gryffindor through and through, did not lack determination and doubtless, would discover what her sister was hiding.

_________________________________________________________________________

“My amortentia. Severus Snape has my amortentia.” The voice in Petunia’s head anxiously repeated. She had been nervously biting her nails and pulling at her hair over this fact since the evening it happened.

She didn’t think he would actually use it on her considering he hadn’t used his wand on her when he drew it that one time, but potions and spells were two different things. Besides, in the case of Severus Snape, it was safer to assume the worst, right? Well, if that were so, why was she continuously assuming the best of him?

He was probably bored. This was all just a game to him, until he could return to Hogwarts and presumably never return to Cokeworth, to the muggle world he hated so much, ever again.

Still, better safe than sorry. Petunia decided to tell the witch what had happened.

“He stole my, I mean your potion? And you know for a fact he’s stalking us?” The witch grimaced.

Petunia nodded vigorously. “Snooping Severus Snape. There’s nothing he loves more than putting his great, big nose somewhere it doesn’t belong.”

The witch smirked. “Don’t worry, this spying Snape will soon come to learn that curiosity killed the cat.” She had a hollow and wicked look in her eyes.

_________________________________________________________________________

No muggles could see the cottage where the witch lived, for it had muggle-repellant charms all around it. These charms were lifted for Petunia and so she was an exception.

Severus Snape, however, was no muggle and so it had been too easy for him to surreptitiously follow Petunia and find the strange witch’s home.

As he hid behind a tree, his mind took him to places he’d rather not return: Hogwarts, 5th year, the Shrieking Shack. Severus’s intense curiosity combined with the marauder’s stupidity and cruelty had almost gotten him killed.

Looking upon the witch’s cottage, an eerie feeling washed over Severus and he couldn’t help but wonder if his curiosity was getting the better of him again. He could handle muggle Petunia Evans but did he want to potentially deal with a witch who could get nasty? This was a witch who had brewed a perfect batch of amortentia, in other words a skilled witch.

Just as Severus was ruminating, he heard the sound of someone stepping on a tree branch behind him.

He glanced back and was met with familiar emerald eyes and flaming red hair.

Last summer, the first summer after Lily had ended their friendship, Severus did not see the girl once. This past year at school, he barely saw her too. To see her now, up-close, with no one else around, felt surreal.

“Severus!” She instinctively yelled out of shock.

“Li...Lily.” He replied in almost a whisper.

Suddenly her eyes narrowed. “Severus!” She shouted, her voice full of fury, as she pulled out her wand, charging at him.

Using his quick reflexes - something he had been working on ever since James Potter targeted him at the lake that day- he pulled out his own wand and deflected the spells his former best friend was now throwing at him.

“Lily, it’s not what you think!”
He tried to protest but the young witch wouldn’t have any of it.

“Save your breath, Severus. My sister can be a harsh judge of people but she was right about you. You’re nothing but wannabe Death Eater scum!”

Just as Lily was about to attempt to hit him with another spell, a spark of flames came flying from an unknown direction, causing both Lily and Severus to duck.

“Nobody steals my potions!” A high-pitched feminine voice screeched.

The witch, with her long brown tendrils coiling around like snakes, made her appearance, jumping out of the bushes.

“Give me back my amortentia or suffer the consequences!” She bellowed as flames shot from her wand directly at Severus.

Lily, without even thinking, shouted “aguamenti!” as Severus shielded himself with the cloak he was wearing.

“I stole the amortentia from a muggle which begs the question, why is a witch going around giving amortentia to muggles in the first place?”

Lily’s gaze went back and forth between Severus and the brunette witch. The younger Evans sister had followed her sister for the first time today and when she encountered Severus on her way, she was sure that he was out to hurt her, maybe as a way to prove himself to the Death Eaters.

But now she was learning that a strange witch, who had no problem casting “incendios” without discretion, had given her sister amortentia and that Severus had stolen the amortentia from her sister. What was Lily supposed to make of this information?

“Where is my sister?” The red-head interrupted the verbal sparring going on between the witch and the wizard.

“Your sister? The muggle girl is your sister? So you’re a mudblood then? Well, I’m not about to let a mudblood thwart my plan! Crucio!”

“Nooooo!” Severus hollered as he flung himself in front of a gasping Lily.

“Severus!” Lily shouted and this time, there was no anger or suspicion in her voice, only horror over the fact that the witch had cast one of the unforgivable curses mixed with awe for the way her old friend had just sacrificed himself for her, worry for him, and guilt for having lost her faith in him after that incident during 5th year.

Unlike Petunia, who thought that Severus was all bark and no bite, Lily knew better. She knew about the dark spells he invented and sometimes used, usually to defend himself, but still, a spell like sectumsempra for example, was a pretty aggressive defense.

Nevertheless, Severus was truly good at his core and he had just proved it. Lily meant more to him than anything and he had just proved that.

“What’s going on?” Another voice entered the grove. It was Petunia.

She was in the cottage brewing potions when the brunette witch had abruptly decided to step outside for a bit, telling Petunia to stay put, but the stubborn Evans girl could not stay put when there was such a commotion going on nearby. She hated being kept in the dark about anything and had to know what events were unfurling around her.

Severus was lying on the ground now, in intense pain, as angry tears rolled down Lily’s face, which now matched the red of her hair.

Petunia looked from Lily to Severus and back again, as realization colored her face.

“No, my plan! Well, I guess I’ll just have to get out of here and find a different muggle I can use.” The witch thought to herself, as she pointed her wand at Petunia, a girl she had built up a relationship with, a girl who trusted her, ready to cast the crucio curse.

“Sectumsempra!” Still lying on the ground, but clutching his wand, Severus aimed his signature curse at the traitorous witch.

But she dodged the curse and it was Petunia instead who took the hit.

In that moment, Lily cried out “expelliarmus!” and managed to get the brunette witch while she was caught off guard. The red-headed witch now held two wands in her hand.

Meanwhile, Petunia had just been accidentally lashed in the ribs by sectumsempra, and Severus instantaneously jumped up and rushed over to her.

He knelt over her, drew his wand and traced it over the wounds he created, muttering an incantation that sounded like a song. It was Vulnera Sanentur, the counter-curse to Sectumsempra. Severus never created curses without also creating healing spells for them.

The flow of blood seemed to ease. Severus repeated his song-like incantation and the wounds began knitting.

Thankfully, he had dittany on his person, which he applied on Petunia’s skin to prevent scarring.

Meanwhile, the younger Evans girl casted a spell to ensnare the brunette witch in thorns.

“Authorities from the Ministry will be here shortly to inspect you and hopefully throw you in Azkaban!” She sneered triumphantly as the evil witch writhed and screamed.

Lily then turned to Severus and Petunia. The young wizard had finished casting his counter-curse and applying the dittany, and was now cradling the older Evans sister in his arms.

The whole time Severus cradled Petunia in his arms, her scent, like fresh laundry and earl grey, overwhelmed him and he knew. He knew why and nothing could have shocked him more.

Severus looked up and could see tears welling in Lily’s emerald eyes.

“Tuney! Se-Sev!” She exclaimed through sobs.

“I- I meant to hit the witch but she flitted away so quickly. It’s okay though. Petunia, I mean. I healed her immediately, with the counter and dittany. There won’t even be so much as a scratch on her.”

The younger Evans girl didn’t say anything. She just crouched down and pulled her old friend into a hug. “I’m sorry Severus. I’m so sorry.” She said, and the young wizard could now feel the warm, fresh tears wetting the sleeves of his robe.

Since Petunia was lying in Severus’s arms, she got a bit smothered when Lily wrapped her arms around the boy’s waist, and this caused her to awaken.

“Tuney!” Lily included Petunia in the hug without suffocating her this time.

The gravity of the situation and her own naivety, stupidity and recklessness hit Petunia over the head and made her pale face flush a brighter red than her sister’s flaming locks.

She broke away from Severus and her sister.

“I knew better as a child than I do as an adult apparently. Well, no matter. I hated magic then and I hate magic now. And I want nothing to do with freaks who practice it!” She shrieked, in between sobs, as she darted out of the grove.

“Tuney, no, please wait!” Lily was about to go after her but Sev grabbed her arm.

“Let her go. She doesn’t really mean it, what she says about magic. Surely, you must realize that by now. Besides, I’m sure she’s running home and she’ll be safer there.”
“Sev…”

“Listen to me, Lily. Also, we need to stay with this sorry excuse for a witch until the Ministry comes. After we deal with that, I’ll tell you everything.”

The fierce, famously stubborn Lily Evans, brightest witch of her age, begrudgingly nodded her head and stayed put.

_____________________________________________________________________

A few weeks later…

Petunia Evans found herself at the park again, under the big tree with the hollow. She always found herself here whenever nostalgia gripped her, whenever fear of her muggle mortality and envy of magical folk, the “freaks,” those lucky freaks, clouded her mind.

It had been a few weeks now since the incident. She refused to acknowledge it or speak with Lily about it. She had actually been bouncing back between her friend Marge and her friend Lorraine’s place. Naturally, her parents didn’t even seem to notice her absence.

“Well, it happened.” She thought. “I gave in to my desire. I dropped the facade of hating magic. I embraced magic, and look at what I got in return. That witch was a death eater and she wanted to use me as a sacrifice, her first muggle kill, an act that would endear her to that sick, depraved dark lord. It’s not right. Humans shouldn’t possess powers like that.”

“If I could expose the world of those freaks, I would.” Petunia thought, sighing to herself.

Then an image appeared in her mind - flaming, cascading red hair and emerald green eyes, water shooting from a wand, a snake-like young man leaning over her, his dark locks falling into her eyes, his spindly fingers grazing her injured her arm, his deep, melodic voice performing an incantation. Petunia’s heart palpitated.

What if Severus and Lily were normal like her, ordinary muggles? Would they have all been friends then? Would Petunia’s childhood have been happier? Would she have felt more included? She wondered about that a lot.

Suddenly, she wasn’t alone anymore. She looked up and the snake-like Severus Snape was leaning against the tree, arms folded and looking down, with those dark locks falling into his eyes.

She hadn’t seen or spoken to him since the incident. Thought about him she certainly had though.

“Oh, lucky me, I’m in the presence of the prince!” Petunia exclaimed sneeringly. “Did my sister send you, Severus, or perhaps you just found me by chance and came over here to mock me? Well, go on then, berate me all you want. I assure you no one thinks me more foolish than I myself. Nothing you say will have any effect on me.”

Severus let out a long sigh. “I always knew you wanted to be a witch, Petunia. You may have considered that your secret but it was never a secret to me. I won’t berate you for it. In fact, I understand. There are a great many things I wish I could be too.”

Petunia’s eyes widened, oddly touched by the young wizard’s heartfelt sincerity.

“You’d like to be a prince for real, wouldn’t you? One of the pureblood princes on your mother’s side, I mean. But Lily is a so-called “mudblood” and throughout her time at Hogwarts everyone has raved about how she’s blossoming into one of the brightest witches of her age. You don’t need pureblood or the Prince name to be a great wizard, Severus. You already are because like my sister, you have talent and intelligence. You think you weren’t born lucky and maybe you weren’t but you don’t need luck. You’re better than that.”

The older Evans sister looked up at the familiar Snape boy from her youth, with burning burgundy cheeks and pale blue eyes soft and glimmering.

Severus wasn’t sure what flustered him more, her beautiful, kind words, or the beautiful, kind expression on her face.

He remained silent and Petunia spoke again. “I’m sorry by the way, for speaking disparagingly about your mother that one time. I hope she’s doing well. Lily used to tell me about you being worried for her. Of course, I didn’t care when I was younger, I didn't understand but it’s different now.”

“She...she is doing well, much better these days. Thank you.” The wizard stammered slightly, still taken aback by the usually cold and distant Petunia’s warmth and softness. Severus was also surprised by his own vulnerability with her, even if he did understand now that it was her scent he had detected in the amortentia. Was that why he sought her out in the first place?

He had been avoiding her since the incident, both for the sake of his comfort and hers, but he couldn’t take the separation any longer. He had rekindled his friendship with Lily. He made things right with her. Was it possible to make things right with Petunia? Someone he never even was friends with in the first place. Someone he had scorned until he came to realize, in recent times, was just like him. Perhaps that was why he scorned her in the first place.

“I never thanked you, Severus. You saved my life with that spell, the one that was like a song, and that healing ointment.”

“I’m also the one who hit you, by accident of course, but still. Never in my life did I ever feel so thankful for my foresight in creating a counter-curse for every curse I create.”

“Why do you create curses in the first place?”

“You have to be your own advocate in this world. No one else will. The more curses I have under my belt, the more people fear me.”

Petunia laughed. “You always struck me as being more on the defense than on the offense, even when you did drop that tree branch on me when we were kids.”

“That was an accident too!” Severus exclaimed.

“I know that now.” Petunia replied with a sage smile on her face.

Severus stopped leaning against the tree and moved to sit down next to the blonde Evans girl. He took a vial out of his pocket.

“This is the amortentia I took from you. Truthfully, I do think it’s dangerous and that you’re better off without it. But I also trust you to be wiser after that incident. I’m willing to give it back to you, if you’d just like to keep it, for the scent.”

Petunia touched the little heart-shaped vial as Severus dangled it above her. The vial was closed and yet she smelled the scent she had remembered smelling from it and remembered that same scent from when Severus held her in his arms to heal her. She had already been starting to realize it on her own, but this just made the fact clearer.

Not saying a word, Petunia gently took the vial and walked toward the pond at the bottom of the hill that the tree sat on. Severus chased after her and watched as she poured the contents of the vial into the pond.

“What? You destroyed it! Why did you do that?”

The older Evans sister turned around smirking. “I smelled leather-worn shoes, candle wax, black tea and bitter herbs.” She got close to the wizard, her nose almost pressed into his shirt. “I still smell all those things.”

Now Severus’s pale face was washed in burgundy.

“What does amortentia smell like to you, Severus?”

“It smells like a flower, a quite common flower, but one that some ancient civilizations, such as the Maya and Inca, believed could ward off monsters and evil spirits. Many believe that this flower will only thrive where there is positive energy, that it cannot grow in negativity, in a sad, dark, dull, dingy place like Cokeworth. It can be many colors: black, white purple, pink, spotted, striped. It can symbolize anger and resentment but also the desire to spend time with someone, care for someone, and a feeling of comfort. I believe it’s called a petunia.”

The empty glass vial fell from Petunia’s hand and shattered onto the ground as the wizard who longed to be a prince embraced her and she stood slightly on her tiptoes to kiss him.

“I need the undoing, need the aftermath
The cold water slap, the narrow hatch
The stairs to where the stars collapse
The great unknown, the great relapse

I need an ultimatum in red-rimmed constellation
More than a realisation, a clean transfiguration

I need more than words
I need more than words

I need the return, need the violent edge
The wake up call, the hidden ledge
Take me to the entrance, to the scarlet thread
The one-shot arrow, the sacred pledge

I need the truth verbatim in waves of infiltration
A brave approximation, a hallowed reformation

I need more than words
I need more than words
I need more than words
I need more than words
I need more than words

I need more than words affixed to meanings
More than sky and ceilings, I need more than words
Empty pages bleeding to contain a feeling

I need those airwaves, the pen, the tongue
That nervous laugh, the setting sun
I need an answer, thought I had one
Oh, I need an answer, thought I had one
I need more than words”

“Explosions of Grandeur” - Fleurie

It was corny but Petunia couldn’t help but think that Severus Snape really was a prince, at least to her. She was a witch’s sister. She needed more than the ordinary. She needed the right kind of magic, and she found it in the least likely of places.