Birthday Surprises
“Hi, I’m Lily!” Lily responded excitedly. It had been a while since she had met someone new, and she didn’t want him to not like her.
“Well, I guess my name isn’t actually Snape, but it's my last name. My first name is Severus. It’s nice to meet you, Lily,” he explained.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you too, Severus. May I ask though, what are you doing at this tree? I come here nearly every day, and I never see anyone else here.”
“Honestly, it was getting a bit loud at my house, so I decided to go on a nice walk, and I ended up here. Oh, happy birthday by the way, I heard you talking about it earlier.” he expressed.
“Oh, thank you. I’m sure that you think I’m weird now, though, like the rest of my village. Most other children don’t talk to trees, or have weird things happen around them all the time,” Lily said, feeling disappointed that she had already given up a new friendship.
“Oh, no. I always have unexplainable things happening around me. And I’ve talked to a tree or two before, trust me,” Snape reassured her.
“Wow, I’ve never met someone like me before… Do you want to be friends with me, Severus?” Lily asked.
“Of course, I myself don’t have many friends, surprisingly,” he said with a wink, which made them both giggle.
Snape and Lily talked for a bit longer before Lily’s watch hit four o’clock. Then she left, excited to have a new friend that was like her. She told her parents when she got home, and they went along with it, but they didn’t believe her. She had made up friends many times before, so they didn’t trust her very easily.
The next day, Lily went back to the tree at around the same time as the day before, and Snape wasn’t there. She told the tree about her day, and then talked to some hummingbirds, and then fed the ducks of the pond some bread. By the time all of her bread was almost gone, he arrived.
“I’m sorry I’m late, Lily, but it was your birthday yesterday. I got you a present!” Snape explained excitedly.
“It’s fine Severus! Wait no… It’s even better than fine! I’m just glad you came and weren't weirded out by me,” Lily admitted, because even though she was very oblivious to many things, she still knew that all the others thought she was weird.
“Why would I be weirded out by you? You are my friend after all,” he replied. That made Lily feel happy. She finally had a real friend.
“Thank you, Severus. Now let me open my present!” Lily suggested, basically jumping from excitement.
He handed it over, and not a second later was Lily carefully ripping through the wrapping and opening the box that it had covered. Inside were the most gorgeous crystals that she had ever seen. One was pink and one was white/clear, and it appeared to be small tower-shaped crystals held together in the shape of a flower with a wire stem. She couldn’t believe her eyes.
“Oh my gosh… Severus, they're absolutely gorgeous! Did you make them yourself?” Lily asked, still staring at the beautiful crystals.
“I did, yes. My mother has a lot of crystals lying around, and I have been practicing shaping wire. The pink one is rose quartz and the white and clear one is quartz and clear quartz. I hope you like them!” Snape explained, and when he was talking, Lily realized that she hadn’t gotten a proper look at him today. When she looked up at him, a new bruise, right on the center of his cheek had shown up. That had not been there the day before. Her face grew concerned.
“Hey, Severus, are you alright? You have so many bruises…” she said, glancing from his face to his legs and back. His face dropped.
“That is none of your business. We have barely known each other for two days!” he shouted. Then, he knocked the box from Lily’s hands, and muttered “and happy fucking birthday,” before starting to storm off. Lily broke down into tears, but then she realized, she had done nothing wrong. She was just looking out for him. Her sadness turned to rage, and then there was a bang.