Submission for The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition

Ballycastle Bats

Team Motto: For the Greater Good.

Relationship Type: Friendship

CHASER 3: SeverusLily (1,4,and 5)

Optional prompts:

Undercover Martyn – Two Door Cinema Club.

"Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia." – John Green, Looking for Alaska.

Dialogue: "We can't do that!"

Lily woke up early. She'd taken a bath the night before, so she only had to brush her hair before heading down to the kitchen. She ate her cereal as fast as she could before she began to forage for supplies. She'd borrowed Petunia's school bag from last term so she could carry all the things she'd need. She carefully prepared two sandwiches – one with Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jelly and the other Peanut Butter and Grape – and wrapped them up in newspaper, packing them away. Next she found the two reddest, prettiest apples in the fridge and added them to her bag. After an extended search of the fridge Lily found the grape soda that Petunia had tried to hide behind the juice and added two cans to her supplies.

Lily carried the heavy bag upstairs, taking extra care not to wake Petunia, and she began to search their room for anything they might need. She brought Delilah, her favorite doll, along with some rope and a tin of broken crayons just in case. She headed to the bathroom next and added bandaids and a wrap around bandage to her bag. With her supplies fully loaded Lily slung the bag over her shoulder and headed for the door. Just as she was about to leave she remembered something and dashing back to the kitchen, leaving a quick note to her mother:

Gone Adventuring. Will be back for Dinner.

Love, Lily Marie Evans

Lily stepped out into bright morning sun with a smile pulling on her lips. She could hear birds singing – her only companions this early on a Tuesday morning. She walked with quick steps down the street toward the slightly more broken down houses on the end closest to the river. Mr. Oprey was just pulling in, home from his night shift at the hospital. He waved to her.

"Good Morning, Miss Evans, you look like a lady on a mission."

Lily nodded solemnly, her green eyes wide. "Severus and I are going on an adventure."

Mr. Oprey frowned, "You be careful with that Snape boy, his daddy's awfully mean." He called after her even as she continued down the street.

Finally Lily reached Severus's house. She looked at her watch hoping to have got there before Mr. Snape got home from his midnight shift at the factory. Unfortunately, even as she thought it, the disjointed clanking of Tobias Snape's truck met her ears. She moved quickly, running to the back of the house and out of sight. She heard the truck cut off and a muffled curse as Tobias Snape slammed the door closed. Quickly Lily rushed over to the soapbox Severus had put out for her. Climbing onto it she peered into Severus's window: The room was dark so she knocked carefully on the window. She waited but got no response; inside she could see lights flipping on and hear the angry roar of Mr. Snape as he charged through the house.

Lily knew if Severus wasn't in his room there was only one other place he would go so she climbed down and made her way over to the basement door. There was a deadbolt and a chain designed to keep people out but Severus had taught Lily how to open it. She put her hand over the lock and closed her eyes as tight as she could. She thought about the lock popping open and made sure she wanted to find Severus badly enough.

"Alohomora, Alohomora , Alohomora," She heard a click and looked down to find the lock opened. Lily grinned and carefully removed the lock and pulled the chain loose. She lifted the door careful to go slowly so it wouldn't squeak and peered into the darkness.

"Severus," she whispered but got no response, so she tried a bit louder. "Severus–" but still no answer. Steeling her nerve Lily took a deep breath and slowly crept down the stairs and into the darkness. She waited as her eyes adjusted: The basement air was thick with dust and she could see it floating in the air every place the sunlight touched. She was careful not to breathe too deeply to avoid coughing and giving herself away.

"Severus?" she whispered again. There was no response, but a movement caught her eye and she went toward it. Severus was curled up in the farthest corner; he'd pulled a thin blanket over himself and was sleeping. Lily knelt down next to him and shook his shoulder. "Severus, wake up."

Severus's wide, black eyes suddenly jumped open, and Lily thought he looked a bit like a vampire waking up as the sun sets. She giggled as he blinked at her in confusion.

"Lily?" he asked.

"Shhh your father is already home." Lily cautioned, Severus eyes went wide as he quickly looked around as if expecting the adult to jump out from a shadow.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed at her, keeping his voice low.

"Rescuing you. We're going on an adventure to London." Lily told him. Severus's became, if possible, even paler and he began to shake his head.

"We can't do that!" He exclaimed forgetting to whisper. Both children stiffened, listening they heard a creak from above and Lily's eyes went wide.

"RUN!" she exclaimed, grabbing Severus' hand and pulling him up. They ran full tilt up the stairs and out into the sunshine. They kept running as fast as they could all the way down Lily's street, hearts pounding heavily in their ears. When they turned the corner they stopped, breathing heavily and looking behind them.

"I don't think he followed us!" Lily declared, grinning. Severus shook his head and began to laugh.

"You're so brave, you're crazy!" he exclaimed and Lily laughed.

"I bet I'm a Gryffindor," she told him sounding smug "You said Gryffindors are brave."

"You're definitely crazy enough to be a Gryffindor! You're too smart though; I bet you're a Ravenclaw," he informed her seriously.

"Let's hurry, the bus will probably come soon and we don't want to miss it!" Lily exclaimed and started moving toward the stop that was across the street. Severus shook his head.

"We can't go to London all alone, Lily."

She frowned at him. "We can! I'm ten years old! Next year we're going all the way to Hogwarts all alone. London is just a little test trip." Severus looked at the ground his cheeks turning red.

"I don't have any money for the bus." He told her but Lily smiled wider.

"Me either! We'll just do your trick." She told him as though it were obvious but Severus shook his head.

"It won't work on a whole bus full of people!"

Lily paused thoughtfully, obviously having failed to consider this. "I know!" She exclaimed suddenly "We'll just find someone to give us a ride!"

Before Severus could respond Lily had started down the street, so Severus quickly chased after her. By the time he caught up Lily was talking with a young man.

"Where are you going?" Lily asked him and the man smiled at her.

"I'm driving down to London actually. Where are you going on such a nice day?" he asked kindly and Lily grinned.

"We're gonna go to London too! We're having an adventure," she told him eagerly. Lily reached out and took Severus' hand once he had caught up. She leaned over.

"Do your trick so he lets us in then forgets us," she whispered. Severus frowned but didn't want to tell Lily no, so he turned his eyes on the man.

"Show us the back of your car." He told him in a firm voice. The man blinked, as though confused, before he nodded.

"How would you kids like to see my back seat? It's leather." He told them, climbing out and opening the door for them. Lily and Severus climbed into the back seat, still holding hands, and Severus turned to him again.

"Forget about us," he told him, and the man blinked. Lily watched as his eyes slid away from them to stare down the street before he jumped.

"Shit! I"m gonna be late!" He exclaimed, and, slamming the back door shut, he rushed back to the front of his car. Severus leaned over to Lily.

"Imagine you're invisible as hard as you can," he told her. "You have to wish it hard or it won't work."

Lily clutched Severus hand all the way to London thinking invisible thoughts the whole way. The man glanced back in his mirror once or twice and every time Lily held her breath, but he never spoke to them and always looked back at the road quickly. When he finally pulled off the road and into the parking lot of a large building Lily and Severus waited with bated breath until he climbed out and locked the doors. Once he was well out of sight the two friends slipped from the car and looked around with wide eyes.

"Now what?" Severus asked, frowning slightly.

"Adventure!" Lily declared green eyes sparkling.

Adventure turned out to be wandering around until they found the Zoo. Using her newly discovered invisible trick Lily and Severus snuck past the gate attendant. Once inside Severus insisted they go visit the snakes first but as they were heading in that direction Severus stomach let out a terrible growl. Lily looked at him.

"Did you make that noise?" She asked, Severus scowled at her.

"You made me miss breakfast and I only had letter soup for dinner yesterday," he told her.

"But I brought lunch!" Lily declared taking his hand and tugging him toward one of the many picnic tables. They sat and Severus watched as Lily dug through her bag pulling out a variety of different things until she reached the bottom. Pulling out the sandwiches, she handed the grape jelly one to Severus. It had a large circle imprint in the middle where the grape soda had sat on it.

"Sorry, it got squished. But it's grape, and I got grape soda, and apples too."

"Grape's the best!" Severus exclaimed excitedly, and Lily beamed at him.

"I know you like it; that's why I made sure to get you some – even though strawberry is better." Severus reached out and tugged her hair.

"You just like strawberry 'cause you've got strawberry hair." He told her, and Lily scowled at him.

"I do not! My mamma says it's auburn, which is much nicer."

Severus shrugged, not wanting to argue. "Can you imagine Hogwarts?" he asked instead "I can't wait till we get there! We can study together and do magic with our own wands."

"Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia." Lily responded seriously.

"What's that mean?" Severus asked. Lily shrugged.

"I don't know. That it's nice maybe? Papa told me that when I told him about how I was a gonna be a witch. I don't think he believed me though. Sometimes he says things to make me be quiet. I think its from one of his books." Severus nodded solemnly he'd seen all the books Lily's father kept and the other man was forever quoting things he called 'deep thoughts'.

Once they had eaten they wandered around the zoo looking at the different animals. Severus wanted to stay forever with the snakes but Lily dragged him off after only a few minutes. She wanted to see everything, so they visited the elephants, the birds, the lions and tigers. They even went to see the Liger, which looked quite ill and sad which made Lily want to cry. Eventually they had to tackle the trouble of getting home.

They returned back to the parking lot where they'd arrived only to find the man's car already gone.

"What shall we do now?" Severus demanded his voice quavering. Lily patted his hand.

"Don't worry. I'll call my papa, and he will come and take us home," she told him soothingly.

"Won't he be angry?" Severus asked in worry but Lily just shook her head.

"Oh no, Papa never gets angry at me."

Sure enough, when Mr. Evans arrived it was with a wide grin that stretched his face almost to the limit.

"Hello my little Lily Flower – young Snape. Have you had a good day of adventuring?" he asked, but before Lily could answer Petunia began to speak her words firing at them rapidly like bullets from a machine gun.

"Well I hope you have, because I'll tell you I wasn't even up to coming, and I got sick in the car seat. I feel quite dreadful in fact! I think you ought to be grounded for a year from seeing that dreadful Severus if you think running off to London is a good sort of adventure!"

"Petunia!" Mr. Evans exclaimed sharply, cuffing his daughter on the back of the head. "Don't call Severus names! It's not polite, and I want you to apologize right now!"

"But, papa, he is a dreadful boy! Look at his clothes, and besides, that's my bag Lily has, and she didn't even ask to take it!" Petunia wailed. Lily scowled at her.

"I needed it, and I would have asked, but-"

"Lily darling, in the words of the immortal Lewis Carroll, 'The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time.' Tell me about your day in London," her father interrupted. Lily beamed at him as Petunia's face flushed red with anger.

"Well, first I had to rescue Severus. He was hiding in the basement, but that's where he hid last time I went looking too, so of course I found him..." Lily chattered nonstop back to the house as she told her father all about their day together. Mr. Evans laughed when she told him how she'd used magic to make the man forget they were riding with him.

"Oh Lily! Such ideas you have!"