Introduction
I may not have mansion, I haven't any land
Not even a paper dollar to crinkle in my hands
But I can show you morning on a thousand hills
And kiss you and give you seven daffodils.
"Seven daffodils" The brothers four.
It was already August, “summer passed in a glimpse of an eye”, Lily thought. Just one month until the start of autumn. Lily took a deep breath feeling the warm summer air, it was sunny and she just laid down on the grass after swinging. Her face filled up with freckles everywhere us if someone dropped little brown stars all over her body. It was the best time of year and she passed nearly all of it outdoors, playing, tanning and the most important of all, taking care of plants. She loved gardening just like her father and most of the summer she helped him in the backyard. It wasn't much, some tomatoes and flowers, that's all, but they loved spending time together so the numbers didn’t matter to them. Her dad used to say her hands were magical, when she was little he even nicknamed her “my garden fairy” and kept calling her that even though she was a full grown up twelve-year-old girl. But everyone could see that just by touching a seed or watering a sprout Lily could make a plant grow tall and bloom with its brightest colours. So it wasn’t a very enormous shock to her family when Lily's letter arrived. It was brought by one of the school's professors, professor McGonagall. A tall and thin witch dressed in black robes, you could say she already witnessed plenty of students and being a teacher had become part of her personality even when she was outside the classroom. She reminded Lily of her mother who also happened to be a teacher. They both had the same wise and patient look. That similarity made it easy for Lily to like McGonagall, she knew it would remind her of home when the classes started. The letter's arrival was a common joy for everyone in the family, except Pet. Which marred a little bit of the mood for Lily.
Her big sister, Petunia, kept repeating that everyone was just making a fool of Lily. How could a magic school be real? And if it really was, why on earth was Lily the one who was supposed to go? That was the first summer they didn’t spend together, Petunia kept insisting on going to some summer camp alone and finally had her way, spending all July and August away from everyone. They always used to be so close, it broke Lily’s heart seeing her sister shutting away from her like that. Maybe it always was about to happen and just needed some trigger to put it in motion, in the end Petunia’s whole personality was based on things she disliked. Petunia didn’t like nature, not even a butterfly could make her smile. She spent most of her days locked in her room. She was the only one in the family who openly hated flowers, including her own name and always preferred being called Pet.
“If someone gifts you a bouquet, it is something that is already dying, it will rot in less than two weeks, why is everyone romanticising it anyway?” she used to whisper to Lily when their dad brought flowers for mom, something he did more than often. Maybe some smaller details like Petunia’s pollen allergy had something to do with this hatred. But Lily knew she loved her, even though that was never said out loud. Pet was more of an “actions speak louder than words” person. She always brought Lily a jacket when it was cold, brought Lily’s favourite cookies whenever going shopping or helped with her homework (despite calling her stupid every time she had a chance to). And despite hating flowers, she used to flop on the porch glancing through a magazine, never saying much and just sitting in the near, hearing Lily and their dad talk.
“Hi Lils!” , said a voice behind her back, brought her back to reality. “Have one hour before going back home again.”
“Hi Sev” , she smiled at the slim boy with long black hair that nearly touched his shoulders. “But you just came and it’s still summer, no duties. Why would you have to go home so quickly?”
“Mom wants to spend more time before I leave for Hogwarts. She hasn't been feeling well lately and dad is out of town again.”
Lily smiled encouragingly, Severus didn’t smile a lot so sometimes she felt as if she had to fill that gap herself. She knew that things at Snape’s household didn’t seem alike to her own.
“Mom says hello,” he added. “and I brought you this from her.” he started looking for something in his string bag.
He handed her a heavy bundle covered with newspaper. Inside Lily found a book and it wasn’t just any book.
“Magical plants-guidance for beginners” she read at the front page. “Oh, Sev it’s amazing! You know I've wanted to find something about magical plants since forever.”
“Since your letter, I know.” the boy said in a lower voice. “Glad you like it, my dad has plenty of books on potions and herbology, he works on the new developments of potions in the Ministry of Magic. But this one we bought with mom in Diagon Alley when shopping for classes.”
“Thank you so much, I will have to bring something for your mom, she is always so kind to me.”
“You know you don’t have to. Let’s take a walk, don’t have a lot of time anyway”
Something about Severus felt so familiar to Lily, their relationship sometimes reminded her of the one she had with Pet. They were two of the most important people in Lily’s life and she wanted the best for them both. Pet was her older sister and she didn’t let Lily take care of her, but it was different with Severus. He was always so gloomy and not without a reason, his family came with some dark baggage, none chose their family so what was his fault? Sometimes she wished she could do something about it, protect him, take care of all the bad things that kept happening to him. One day she actually asked her dad about it, would it be possible for them to adopt Severus? Her dad took the question seriously and instead of shushing her off with a simple “no”, insisted on having a chat.
“My love,” he said, “you can’t go fixing everybody, protecting them like you cover strawberries from storms. They’re human beings. And not all of them can be saved, not everyone wants saving.” and hugging her he added, “My little girl, your heart is so kind, but it’s going to get broken if you don’t take good care of it.”
Lily wasn’t sure why, but the conversation stuck with her. She was twelve and couldn’t understand the words in the way they were said. But they would keep her company for the rest of her life, changing their meaning while she grew up and learned. And sometimes, those words would pop from her memories, travelling through her thoughts, paying her a visit now and then. So one day she would really understand their meaning. But it wouldn’t happen any time soon. And for now on she was just a regular twelve year old girl who loved flowers, cared for her family and wished on saving everyone important to her from getting hurt.