The Garden Encounter
The summer heat pressed down on the Evanses' back garden like a heavy blanket, but the girls didn't seem to notice. Lily crouched in the dirt between the flower beds, her red hair catching the light as she cupped her small hands around a drooping rose. Her twin sister lounged on the grass nearby, copper curls spilling over her shoulders as she absently made daisy petals dance through the air in lazy spirals.
"Watch this one, Talia," Lily whispered, her green eyes bright with concentration.
The rose in her palms began to straighten, its wilted petals plumping with life. Color flooded back into the bloom—deep crimson spreading from the center outward like spilled wine.
Natalia—coz she hated being called Ramonda—glanced up from where she was weaving stems together with nothing but focused thought. A smirk played at her lips.
"Show off," she drawled, but there was warmth in her voice. "Try the whole bush."
"I'm not ready for that yet," Lily said, though she eyed the struggling rosebush with obvious longing.
"Course you're not. You're too careful." Natalia sat up, brushing grass from her sundress. "Look—"
She gestured toward a patch of half-dead marigolds, and they burst into brilliant orange life, petals unfurling like tiny suns.
"Talia!" Lily gasped, half-admiring, half-worried. "What if someone sees?"
"Let them see. What are they gonna do, call us names?"
That was when their older sister's voice cut through the summer air like a blade.
"They will if you keep doing that."
Both twins looked up to find Petunia standing on the garden path, her pale hair perfectly combed despite the heat, her blue dress unwrinkled. At eleven, she already had the bearing of someone much older—back straight, chin lifted, but her eyes...her eyes held something raw and hurt.
"Tuney," Lily said softly. "We're just playing."
"Playing." Petunia's voice was brittle. "Is that what you call it?"
Natalia rolled her eyes, making another handful of petals swirl upward. "What else would we call it? Advanced botanical studies?"
"Stop it," Petunia snapped, her composure cracking. "Just—stop doing that thing with your hands and your...your whatever it is you do."
"Thing?" Natalia's voice dropped to a dangerous purr. "It's not a thing, Petunia. It's a gift."
"It's not normal!"
"Neither are you, but you don't see us complaining about it."
"Talia!" Lily hissed, but Natalia was just getting started.
"What, Lil? She's the one who came out here to ruin our fun." Natalia stood up, brushing dirt from her knees with deliberate slowness. "Tell me, Tuney, what exactly is your problem with us being happy?"
Petunia's face flushed pink. "I don't—I'm not—"
"You are, though. Every time we do something you can't, you get that look. That pinched-up, sour look like you've been sucking on lemons."
"Girls," Lily tried, stepping between them. "We don't need to fight—"
"She started it," Natalia said, never taking her eyes off Petunia. "Didn't you, sister dear? Coming out here with your little speeches about normal and natural and what people will think."
Petunia's hands clenched into fists at her sides. "Because it matters! What people think matters! You can't just...just wave your hands around and make things happen and expect the world to accept it!"
"Why not?" Natalia challenged. "We're not hurting anyone. We're making things beautiful."
"You're making yourselves freaks!"
The word hung in the air like a slap.
Lily flinched as though she'd been struck, but Natalia's expression went perfectly, dangerously calm.
"Well," she said softly. "At least we're interesting freaks."
She raised her hand, and every flower in the garden bloomed at once—roses unfurling, daisies lifting their faces to the sun, the hydrangeas shifting through every shade of blue and purple and pink. It was beautiful and wild and completely impossible.
Petunia stumbled backward, her face white.
That was when they heard the rustle of leaves behind the old birch tree.
All three girls whipped around to see a figure emerge from the shadows—a thin boy with lank black hair hanging in his eyes, wearing clothes that looked like they'd been handed down too many times. He moved with an odd, careful grace, like he was used to not being noticed.
Lily jumped to her feet, magic forgotten in the face of this intrusion.
"Excuse me!" she called out, her voice sharp with indignation. "This is private property! You can't just lurk around in our garden!"
The boy stopped, dark eyes flicking between the three sisters. When he spoke, his voice was quiet but oddly intense.
"I wasn't lurking," he said. "I was observing."
Natalia snorted. "Oh, well, that's completely different then. Observing. Much more dignified than lurking."
"I'm Severus Snape," the boy continued, ignoring her sarcasm. "I live on Spinner's End."
"Never heard of it," Natalia said dismissively, though something in her posture had shifted. She was studying him with the kind of sharp attention she usually reserved for particularly interesting insects.
"It's..." Severus hesitated. "It's not far."
"Not far from where?" Lily demanded. "And that still doesn't explain what you're doing spying on us!"
"I told you, I wasn't—"
"You were hiding behind a tree, watching us," Petunia interrupted, finding her voice again. "That's spying."
Severus's jaw tightened. "I was watching because you're like me."
"Like you?" Lily's eyebrows shot up. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You're witches."
The word dropped into the summer heat like a stone into still water, sending ripples of shock through all three girls.
Lily's face went scarlet. "How dare you! That's—that's a terrible thing to call someone!"
"It's what you are," Severus said simply. "What we are."
Natalia's eyes narrowed. "We? As in you and us? What exactly are you claiming to be, Snape?"
"A wizard."
The silence that followed was broken only by the distant hum of bees and the whisper of wind through leaves.
"Prove it," Natalia said finally, her voice deadly quiet.
Severus reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a stick—a piece of wood about nine inches long, polished smooth. He pointed it at a cluster of dead leaves near his feet.
"*Ventus,*" he murmured.
The leaves stirred, then lifted into the air, swirling in a perfect spiral before settling gently back to the ground.
Lily's mouth fell open. Petunia took another step backward.
But Natalia just tilted her head, studying him with those sharp green eyes.
"Fancy," she said. "But we can do that without the stick."
"The wand focuses the magic," Severus explained. "Makes it stronger. More precise."
"Magic," Lily repeated faintly. "You're saying it's actually magic?"
"What else would you call it?" Severus asked. "What else would you call what you just did to every flower in this garden?"
Natalia crossed her arms. "A coincidence. A trick of the light. Mass hallucination."
"Don't be ridiculous," Severus said, and for the first time, there was a hint of humor in his voice. "You made a rose bloom in your sister's hands. That's magic."
"Says the boy with the mysterious stick," Natalia shot back.
"It's not mysterious. It's my mother's wand. Made of birch and dragon heartstring, if you must know."
"Dragon heartstring," Lily echoed, her voice barely a whisper.
"Dragons aren't real," Petunia said suddenly, her voice too loud in the quiet garden.
Severus looked at her with something that might have been pity. "Dragons are very real. So are unicorns, and phoenixes, and house-elves, and—"
"Stop it," Petunia said, backing away. "Just stop it. This is insane. You're all insane."
"Tuney—" Lily started.
"No!" Petunia's voice cracked. "I won't listen to this anymore. Magic isn't real. Witches aren't real. And if they were, they'd be evil and horrible and—"
"And what?" Natalia's voice was dangerously soft. "We're evil now? Is that what you think of us?"
Petunia's mouth worked soundlessly for a moment. Then she turned and ran toward the house.
The three remaining children stood in awkward silence.
"She'll come around," Lily said quietly, but she didn't sound convinced.
"No," Severus said matter-of-factly. "She won't. People like her never do."
Natalia shot him a sharp look. "People like her?"
"Muggles. Non-magical people." Severus pocketed his wand. "They're afraid of what they can't understand."
"My sister isn't afraid," Lily said defensively. "She's just...she's just upset."
"She's jealous," Natalia corrected bluntly. "She always has been. We can do things she can't, and it drives her mad."
"That's not—"
"It is, and you know it, Lil." Natalia turned back to Severus, studying him with renewed interest. "So. Magic is real. We're witches. You're a wizard. What happens now?"
Severus blinked, clearly not having expected the question. "I...well...I thought you should know. About what you are. About Hogwarts."
"Hogwarts?" Lily perked up despite herself.
"It's a school. For people like us. You'll get your letters when you turn eleven."
"Letters?"
"Acceptance letters. Everyone gets one. Everyone magical, I mean."
Natalia was still watching him with that unsettling intensity. "And how exactly do you know all this, Severus Snape from Spinner's End?"
Something shifted in Severus's expression—a flicker of vulnerability quickly masked. "My mother told me. She went to Hogwarts."
"Your mother's a witch?"
"Was. She...she doesn't do magic anymore."
There was something in his voice that made even Natalia pause, some note of loss or bitterness that was too adult for a nine-year-old boy.
"Why not?" Lily asked gently.
Severus shrugged, but the gesture was too casual, too practiced. "She says there's no point. That magic just makes things complicated."
"That's stupid," Natalia said bluntly. "Magic is the best thing that's ever happened to us."
"Is it?" Severus looked around the garden—at the impossible profusion of blooms, at the house where Petunia had disappeared, at the twins with their bright hair and brighter eyes. "Look what it's already cost you."
Lily frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Your sister. She'll never forgive you for having something she doesn't."
"You don't know Petunia," Lily said firmly. "She'll understand. When she sees how wonderful it all is, she'll understand."
Severus said nothing, but the look he gave her was almost pitying.
Natalia, meanwhile, was still studying him like a puzzle she couldn't quite solve.
"You're an odd one, aren't you, Snape?" she said finally. "Lurking around in gardens, carrying mysterious sticks, talking about dragons like they're house cats."
"No odder than you," he replied. "Making flowers dance and reading people like open books."
"I don't read—" Natalia stopped, tilting her head. "Can you see it too? That I do that?"
"You've been trying to read me since I showed up. I can feel you poking around the edges."
"Fascinating." Natalia's smile was sharp as a blade. "And here I thought I was being subtle."
"You were. To them." Severus nodded toward Lily. "But I know what to look for."
"Do you now?" Natalia stepped closer, and Severus tensed slightly. "And what is it you think you see when you look at me, Severus Snape?"
"Trouble," he said without hesitation.
Natalia laughed—a bright, delighted sound. "Oh, I like him, Lil. Can we keep him?"
"He's not a pet, Talia," Lily protested, though she was smiling too.
"Pity. He'd make an interesting one."
Severus flushed, but there was something almost like a smile tugging at his lips. "I should go. My mother will wonder where I am."
"Will you come back?" Lily asked quickly.
Severus hesitated, glancing between the twins. His gaze lingered on Natalia, wary but intrigued.
"Maybe," he said finally. "If you want me to."
"We want," Natalia said before Lily could answer. "Don't we, sister dear?"
Lily nodded eagerly. "Yes. Yes, we want. You can teach us about magic. Real magic."
"I can try," Severus said. "But I don't know much more than you do. Not yet."
"Then we'll learn together," Lily said firmly. "All of us."
Severus smiled then—a real smile, small but genuine. "I'd like that."
He turned to go, then paused. "Your sister. Petunia. You should be careful around her. People who feel left out...they don't always make the best choices."
"She's our sister," Lily said. "She loves us."
"Love and resentment aren't mutually exclusive," Severus said quietly. "Trust me on that."
And with that cryptic warning, he melted back into the shadows between the trees, leaving the twins alone in their impossibly beautiful garden.
"Well," Natalia said after a moment. "That was interesting."
"He seems nice," Lily said thoughtfully.
"Nice isn't the word I'd use." Natalia was still staring in the direction Severus had gone. "Damaged, maybe. Lonely. Definitely dangerous."
"Dangerous? Talia, he's nine years old."
"So are we. Doesn't mean we're not dangerous." Natalia turned back to her sister, eyes bright with mischief. "I think this summer just got a lot more interesting."
Lily looked toward the house, where Petunia had disappeared, then back at the garden where magic had bloomed like flowers under their hands.
"I hope you're right," she said softly. "I really hope you're right."
—
The Training Ground - One Year Later
The Evanses' back garden had transformed over the past year. Where once only flowers had bloomed under magical touch, now the grass was worn thin in patches from constant movement. Makeshift training equipment—old cushions, rope tied between trees, even a few wooden posts driven into the ground—had turned the peaceful space into something resembling a miniature obstacle course.
Natalia stood in the center of it all, copper hair pulled back in a practical braid that kept flyaway strands from her face. At ten, she'd grown taller but remained lean, all sharp angles and coiled energy. Her green eyes held the same mischievous glint they always had, but there was something else there now—a calculating intelligence that made her seem older than her years.
She was currently circling Severus like a predator sizing up prey.
"Come on, Snape," she called, dropping into a low crouch. "You're thinking too much. Stop analyzing and just move."
Severus wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, leaving a streak of dirt across his pale skin. His black hair had gotten longer over the year, hanging in lank curtains that he constantly had to push out of his eyes. The bruise on his cheekbone from yesterday's session was fading to a sickly yellow-green.
"Easy for you to say," he muttered, adjusting his stance. "You move like you've been doing this your whole life."
"Maybe I have," Natalia said with that trademark smirk that meant she knew something nobody else did.
"That's impossible. You're ten."
"So are you, genius. Doesn't mean we can't be good at things."
Severus shot her a look that was equal parts irritation and grudging admiration. "There's being good at things, and then there's whatever it is you do."
From her spot on the sidelines, Lily looked up from the flower crown she was absently weaving. "She's always been like this," she said matter-of-factly. "Remember when we were seven and she convinced Tommy Fletcher that she was secretly a ninja?"
"I never said I was a ninja," Natalia protested. "I said I had ninja training. Completely different."
"You made him believe you could disappear into shadows."
"I can disappear into shadows."
"That's magic, not ninja skills."
"Who says it can't be both?" Natalia grinned, then focused back on Severus. "Speaking of which—you ready, or are you going to stand there analyzing my mysterious past all afternoon?"
Severus rolled his shoulders, settling into the ready position she'd taught him. "I'm ready. But when I inevitably end up face-first in the dirt again, I'm blaming you."
"When you end up face-first in the dirt again, it'll be because you're still fighting like you're afraid of getting hurt."
"I am afraid of getting hurt. That's called self-preservation."
"That's called being boring." Natalia's eyes glinted with mischief. "Tell you what—if you manage to actually land a hit on me today, I'll let you borrow my copy of 'Advanced Potion-Making' when I get it."
Severus perked up immediately. "You don't have a copy of 'Advanced Potion-Making.'"
"Not yet. But I will. Eventually. Maybe."
"That's not even a real bribe!"
"It's a future bribe. Much more motivating."
"You're impossible."
"I'm creative. Now stop stalling and try to hit me."
Severus lunged forward, and Natalia danced aside like water flowing around a stone. But instead of the clumsy tumble that would have followed a year ago, Severus rolled with the momentum, coming up in a defensive crouch.
"Better!" Natalia called approvingly. "You're learning to think like a fighter instead of a victim."
Something flickered across Severus's face at the word 'victim'—something dark and raw—but he channeled it into his next move, feinting left before spinning right.
Natalia blocked easily, but there was genuine approval in her voice when she said, "Much better. You're starting to get angry properly."
"Angry properly?" Lily looked up from her flowers, concerned. "That sounds horrible."
"Anger's just energy," Natalia explained, never taking her eyes off Severus as they circled each other. "The trick is using it instead of letting it use you. Right, Snape?"
Severus nodded grimly. "Right." He tried a different approach this time—a series of quick jabs that forced Natalia to actually work to block them.
"Ooh, fancy," she said, deflecting the last punch and immediately countering with one of her own. "Someone's been practicing."
"Someone's had plenty of motivation," Severus muttered under his breath.
The comment was quiet, but Natalia caught it anyway. Her expression softened just slightly—enough to show that beneath the teasing instructor, she actually cared about the scrawny boy she was teaching to fight.
"Motivation's good," she said more gently. "But don't let it make you stupid-angry. Smart-angry is much more useful."
"Is there a difference?"
"Stupid-angry gets you hurt. Smart-angry gets the other guy hurt." Natalia demonstrated with a quick combination that left Severus stumbling backward. "See the difference?"
"I see that you're terrifying," Severus said, catching his balance.
"Good. That was the goal."
Lily set down her flower crown and came over to where they were sparring. "Talia, maybe you could teach me some of this too?"
Both Natalia and Severus turned to look at her, and Lily flushed slightly under their combined attention.
"I mean," she continued, "if something happened and we got separated, I should know how to protect myself too, right?"
Natalia's face lit up. "Absolutely! I've been waiting for you to ask."
"You have?"
"Well, I couldn't just suggest it. You had to want to learn." Natalia grinned. "But yes, I'll teach you everything I'm teaching Severus. Won't I, Snape?"
Severus nodded quickly—perhaps a little too quickly. "Of course. You should definitely learn. It's important to be able to protect yourself."
Lily smiled at him, and Severus's pale cheeks took on the faintest hint of pink.
Natalia noticed, of course. She noticed everything. But instead of teasing him about it directly, she just filed the information away for later and clapped her hands together.
"Excellent! Sister-bonding through violence. My favorite kind." She gestured for Lily to join them in the center of the worn patch of grass. "Okay, Lil, first lesson—never let anyone bigger than you get close enough to grab you."
"What if they're not bigger than me?"
"Then you're probably fine. Unless they're Talia," Severus added dryly. "In which case, run."
"Hey!" Natalia protested, laughing. "I'm not that bad."
"I heard you once made Marcus Thompson cry just by looking at him."
"He was pulling on Lily's hair! He deserved to cry."
"You were six!"
"Your point?"
Severus just shook his head, but he was smiling—a real smile, not the bitter twist his mouth usually made. "My point is that you've always been terrifying, and age hasn't mellowed you out any."
"Why would I want to be mellowed out? Mellow is boring."
"Mellow is peaceful," Lily suggested.
"Peace is overrated," Natalia shot back. "Peace is what happens when everyone's too scared to start trouble."
"Or when everyone's happy," Lily countered.
"Same thing, really."
Severus snorted. "You have a very cynical worldview for a ten-year-old."
"I have a realistic worldview for anyone," Natalia corrected. "The world's not all flowers and sunshine, even if my sister likes to pretend it is."
"I don't pretend anything," Lily said quietly. "I just think there's enough darkness without us adding to it."
Something in her tone made both Natalia and Severus pause. For a moment, the garden was quiet except for the distant sound of traffic and Mrs. Evans calling to a neighbor over the fence.
Then Natalia reached over and squeezed Lily's hand.
"You're right," she said softly. "There is enough darkness. That's why we need to know how to fight it off when it comes looking for us."
Lily squeezed back. "Promise you'll teach me everything? Not just the basic stuff?"
"I promise." Natalia's voice was serious now, all traces of her usual mockery gone. "Everything I know, you'll know. Both of you."
She looked at Severus when she said it, and he nodded gravely.
"Everything," he agreed.
"Good." Lily straightened, and suddenly she looked less like a ten-year-old girl and more like someone much older—someone who understood that the world was darker than she wanted it to be, but was determined to be ready for it anyway. "Then let's get started."
Natalia's grin came back full force. "That's my girl. Okay, first thing—if someone grabs your wrist, you don't pull away from them. You pull toward them. Throws them off balance."
She demonstrated on a willing Severus, who obligingly stumbled forward when she yanked his arm.
"Like that?" Lily asked, trying the move on her sister.
"Exactly like that. Now, once you've got them off balance, you've got options. You can knee them, elbow them, or—this is my personal favorite—you can use their momentum against them and throw them right over your shoulder."
Severus looked skeptical. "Lily can't throw someone over her shoulder. She's barely four and a half feet tall."
"Size doesn't matter if you do it right," Natalia said confidently. "It's all about leverage and momentum. Physics, Snape. Magic's not the only useful subject."
"You don't know physics. You're ten."
"I know enough." Natalia demonstrated the throw on him, sending him tumbling onto one of the old cushions they'd scattered around the garden. "See? Physics."
Severus sat up, dirt in his hair, looking impressed despite himself. "Where did you learn to do that?"
Natalia's smile turned mysterious again. "I told you. I know things."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only answer you're getting."
Lily was studying the move with the same intense concentration she brought to her magic. "Show me again. Slower this time."
"Gladly." Natalia walked through the throw step by step, explaining weight distribution and pivot points with the casual expertise of someone who'd been doing this for years instead of months.
As the afternoon wore on, the three of them worked through increasingly complex combinations. Lily proved to be a quick study, her natural grace translating well to the fluid movements Natalia taught them. Severus was more methodical, analyzing each technique until he understood not just how to do it, but why it worked.
"You know," he said during a water break, sprawled on the grass with his dark hair sticking to his forehead, "this is not how I imagined spending the summer before Hogwarts."
"What did you imagine?" Lily asked, settling beside him.
Severus was quiet for a moment, staring up at the sky. "Reading, mostly. Practicing magic. Maybe brewing a few simple potions if I could get the ingredients."
"Boring," Natalia pronounced from where she was practicing her footwork against an imaginary opponent.
"Practical," Severus corrected. "I want to be ready for school. I want to be the best."
"Why?" Lily asked gently.
Severus's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. "Because I have to be."
There was something in his voice—a desperation that was too adult, too raw—that made both girls look at him more closely.
"You don't have to be anything," Natalia said, stopping her practice routine. "You just have to be yourself."
Severus laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Trust me, being myself is not going to be enough."
"Says who?"
"Says everyone." The words came out more bitter than he'd probably intended, and he flushed. "I just—I need to be better. Smarter. Stronger. More than I am now."
Natalia studied him for a long moment, her green eyes sharp and knowing.
"Is this about your dad?" she asked quietly.
Severus went very still. "What about my dad?"
"The fact that he's the reason you show up here with new bruises sometimes?"
Lily gasped softly, but Natalia just kept watching Severus with that steady, unflinching gaze.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Severus said carefully.
"Sure you don't." Natalia dropped into a crouch in front of him. "Look, Snape, I'm not going to make you talk about it if you don't want to. But I'm also not going to pretend I don't see what I see."
"And what do you see?"
"Someone who's been hurt by people who were supposed to protect him. Someone who thinks he has to earn the right to exist by being perfect." Natalia's voice was matter-of-fact, but not unkind. "Someone who's angry about it but doesn't know what to do with the anger."
Severus stared at her, his dark eyes wide. "How do you—"
"Know things. I told you." Natalia reached out and poked him in the shoulder. "The good news is, you don't have to figure it out alone. You've got us now."
"Us?" Severus glanced at Lily, who nodded immediately.
"Of course us," she said firmly. "We're friends. That's what friends do—they stick together."
"Even when things get complicated?"
"Especially when things get complicated," Natalia said. "Besides, I like complicated. It's more interesting than boring."
Severus was quiet for a long moment. Then, so softly they almost didn't hear him, he said, "Thank you."
"Don't thank us yet," Natalia said with a grin. "Wait until you see what I'm planning to teach you next week."
"What's next week?"
"Weapons training."
Severus and Lily both stared at her.
"Weapons?" Lily squeaked.
"Just basic stuff. Sticks, mostly. Maybe a few kitchen knives if I can sneak them out of the house."
"Talia, we're ten years old!"
"So? Age is just a number."
"It's a number that determines whether or not we're old enough to play with knives!"
"Who said anything about playing?" Natalia's grin turned positively wicked. "I'm talking about training. Completely different thing."
Severus looked like he wasn't sure whether to be terrified or excited. "Your sister is insane," he informed Lily.
"I know," Lily sighed. "But she's also usually right about things, which is the most annoying part."
"I prefer 'ahead of my time,'" Natalia said loftily. "And you'll thank me later when you're the most dangerous students at Hogwarts."
"I thought we were going to school to learn magic, not become assassins," Severus said.
"Why can't we be both?"
"Because we're children!"
"Temporary condition," Natalia said dismissively. "We won't be children forever. But the things I teach you now? Those you'll have for life."
She stood up and brushed grass off her dress. "Besides, wouldn't you rather be prepared for anything than caught off guard by something you never saw coming?"
Severus and Lily exchanged a look. In that look was the recognition that Natalia was probably right, even if they didn't want her to be. The world was bigger and darker and more dangerous than any of them really understood yet, but somehow, she seemed to know that better than either of them.
"Fine," Severus said finally. "Weapons training. But if I lose a finger, I'm blaming you."
"Deal," Natalia said cheerfully. "But you won't lose a finger. You'll probably lose some pride, but that's good for you."
"How is losing pride good for me?"
"Builds character."
"I have plenty of character, thank you."
"You have plenty of anger and defensiveness. Character is different." Natalia held out a hand to help him up. "But don't worry. By the time I'm done with you, you'll have that too."
Severus took her hand and let her pull him to his feet. "Promise?"
"Promise," Natalia said seriously. "You'll be everything you need to be, Severus Snape. And more than anyone expects."
Something passed between them in that moment—an understanding that went deeper than words. Natalia saw the scared, angry boy beneath the sharp tongue and defensive posture. Severus saw the fierce protectiveness beneath her casual cruelty and mocking smile.
And Lily, watching from the grass, saw the beginning of something that looked like family in the way they stood together—three children who'd found each other just in time to become the people they needed to be.
"Same time tomorrow?" Severus asked.
"Wouldn't miss it," Natalia said. "But next time, try to actually hit me. All this holding back is getting boring."
"I wasn't holding back!"
"Sure you weren't." Natalia was already walking toward the house, probably to raid the kitchen for snacks. "See you tomorrow, Snape. Try not to get yourself killed before then."
"I'll do my best," Severus called after her.
"Your best is terrible," she called back. "But it's improving."
Severus shook his head, but he was smiling. "Your sister is the strangest person I've ever met."
"I know," Lily said fondly. "Isn't it wonderful?"
And as they watched Natalia disappear into the house—probably to terrorize their mother into making sandwiches—Severus thought that maybe, for the first time in his life, wonderful was exactly the right word.
---
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