Hello my lovely readers, I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK! Thank you all for letting me take a much-needed holiday for a week and a half. I hope you all enjoy the second book as much as the second! I'm going to draw a cover for this one as well eventually, but since Sabrina's faceclaim is Saorise Ronan, her picture will usually be a placeholder of a cover until further notice. Anyway, enjoy the first chapter!

1st July, 1972

It's only been a week of summer and I'm ready to go back to Hogwarts. Being home was far less exciting that I'd built up in my head when we'd been on the train back to London. I'd forgotten how lonely my summers usually were, as I hadn't had more than a few friends at a time. Before, I pictured how cool it would be showing my parents all the spells I'd learned, and pulling a few pranks that I'd done all through term with my friends at Hogwarts.

That dream had come crashing down, nearly immediately, when I'd received the notice banning the use of magic at home until I turned 17. So the only magic I really had contact with on a consistent basis was the adventures that Archie went on when he delivered my letters from me to my friends.

In one week, I had written to Remus no less than three times, read the whole of my textbooks front to back, and braided friendship bracelets for each of my five friends.

Lily seemed to be having a lonely time as well. She wrote to me about how Petunia, her twin sister, seemed to be obsessively jealous of her magical abilities. It had gotten to the point where she had demanded their rooms be separated, and had ceased talking to her altogether.

Lily was even depressed about Severus being absent. The two had made plans to meet nearly every day, but Severus was never there. Apparently she had taken her bicycle all the way down to Spinner's End, the poor area where Snape lived, but the windows of his house were dark and silent.

8th July, 1972

I sat in the grass, staring at the reflection of the clouds in the still pond water. Lily was next to me, her chin resting on her knee. The clouds reminded me of the mirror and the adventures I'd had with my friends back at school. It made me miss Hogwarts even more.

Lily decided to teach me how to braid my hair while we waited. "Are you sure Severus won't mind my being here?" I asked nervously.

Lily shrugged, "Assuming he even shows up," she sighed.

I went down to one of the meadows to pick some flowers, and by the time I got back, I saw that Severus had shown up, to my surprise, sitting down in the grass beside Lily. His hair was even longer and greasier than I remembered. He had his wand strung through the belt loop of his dirty, too-small-at-the-ankle jeans.

They seemed to be having a pleasant conversation, and I knew my presence would disturb that. Sure enough, Snape gave me a sneer. "What's she doing here?"

"Well she happens to be one of my friends, Sev. Don't you know how boring this summer's been? I haven't got any friends 'round here, 'cept you, and you've been off...wherever, and I invited Sabrina to stay a week before term ended."

"I said I'm sorry about that," Severus mumbled.

"I didn't say it's your fault," Lily said.

I held my hands up in surrender. "Don't worry, Severus, I come in peace. We have a friend in common, let's just call a truce."

He eyed me suspiciously, but relented. I sat down on the other side of Lily as Severus reached down and grabbed a leaf. He spun his fingers 'round it, blew upon it, and it became a butterfly. It flew over and landed on Lily's knee, and she stared at it. "You shouldn't be doing magic outside of school," she scolded him gently. She reached out her hand and the little leaf-butterfly stepped onto her fingertip. We studied it a moment before...poof...the charm wore off and it was just a leaf again.

It made me think vaguely of Cinderella. Poof, no longer a princess.

Severus shrugged, "I can do magic whenever I like. The Ministry of Magic can't stop me."

I raised an eyebrow. "They can, too."

Severus looked like he wanted to retort back, but Lily held up a hand to stop him. She tried to change the subject, "So how is your mum? Are you lot having a nice summer? And where did your father go?"

"Who knows," Severus shrugged, "Don't really care, either. He's gone that's what matters, and mum's doing a lot better for it. She's getting on better with her family now he's out of the picture, and I'm doing so well in school and everything." He smiled. "Summer's been alright. Malfoy Manor's better than being in that old stink hole on Spinner's End, let me tell you. Mum says she's going to scourge it clean, but it still smells something rotten. Doubt she'll even bother with as well as she's getting on with her family. We can just stay with them."

Lily looked down at her lap, "So you aren't staying."

"No, of course not. We came back to get some of mum's things that she needed."

I looked Lily over, she seemed visibly upset. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Lily answered.

"You miss your friends," Snape said.

"Of course I do, Sabrina's the only friend I've had as company all summer!" Lily snapped.

Severus was biting his lip, "So, you consider them your friends now, too, I see."

Lily shrugged. "I miss you, that's all, and I never get to see you at school because you're so afraid of what all the Slytherins are going to think and we finally are out for the summer and you're not around...it's not fair." she looked at him, frowning.

"I can't help that," Severus said. "I have important things I've got to do. I don't have the time to just be sitting around a pond with you every day, like I used to." he stood up, "I'm the man of the house now, Lily, and I've got my mum to take care of and responsibilities and other friends."

"Oh, that's rich. You've got other friends, but you're angry at me for having other friends." Lily stood up, too. She was slightly taller than both Severus and I now, having hit a growth spurt.

"I'm not angry at you for having friends, I'm angry at who they are. They're awful. Why would you want to be friends with gits like Sirius Black and James Potter?" Severus demanded, "You've seen how they treat other people."

I stood up, furious. "They don't treat everyone like that!" I snapped.

"They treat me like that!" Severus said, "And you join in!"

"Well look at Lucius Malfoy, for instance!" I said, furiously, "If you want to judge a person for who their friends are, let's start with you! To those Slytherin chums of yours, Lily and I are simply...Mudbloods or whatever it is they call us!"

Severus' face grew quite hot. He seemed taken aback by the word. He seemed like he didn't know what to say.

Lily pursed her lips and said, "I'm going home. It's getting dark out. I don't suppose I'll see you again soon? I hope you have a good summer and...and make new friends." She choked on the last words and hurried away across the grass before either of us could stop her.

I sighed, "Nice job, mate." and ran away to go comfort Lily.