Severus pushed his pale face hard against the metal fence; clutching onto the rungs with both hands, he contemplated climbing over the top. On the other side, he could see the juniors on their play break. A fierce game of cops and robbers had begun, so that twenty odd kids were pulling each other’s sweatshirts out of shape and falling on top of one another in the sludgy grass. For a while, Severus was content to watch them in strange amusement, trying to decipher the rough but playful tactics of boys his own age. Then his eye caught a flash of red in the corner of the field.
Lily tucked her legs neatly beneath her and opened Enid Blyton’s The Castle of Adventure where her handmade bookmark lay. The weather was too dreary for her to be tempted into play, and she was just getting to an exciting part of the adventure. Within a mere thirty seconds, she was completely engrossed into the words before her and oblivious of her surroundings. A droplet of rain plopped onto her shoulder, making her shudder and reach for her cardigan automatically, her eyes not leaving the page. Such annoying weather, to say it was the middle of April!
“Right, you lot, get queued up!” bellowed the dowdy-looking school teacher. She zipped up her raincoat and reached for the hood, even though it was only a light shower.
Her command was washed up in the chaos of the cops and robbers game, yet Severus heard it. Feeling disheartened, he let go of the metal fence and began to stroll away. He would have to wait until Lily had finished school before he could give her his present. Reaching deep into his pocket, he panicked when his fingers poked through a hole made by one of the resident mice. Where was it? Relieved, he located it in his anorak pocket.
“Oi, you!” yelled the school teacher. “Why aren’t you at school? Come ’ere.” She beckoned him back to the fence. Severus’ lips formed an irritable scowl. “I bet your one of those Valley Road lot. Were you one of them who was climbing on’t roof Monday neight? Don’t jus’ turn your back on me, boy. Come back ’ere and tell me who yuh father is.”
Shrugging his shoulders, Severus thought it might be mildly amusing to answer her question. “Toby Snape, Miss. Were in Court t’uther day. Got three month fuh starting a feight down at Welfare, Miss. Dun’t know nowt ’bout them Valley Road lot, Miss.”
Behind her, Severus noticed that the kids were beginning to organise themselves into sensible lines, under the authority of a second teacher. One red-haired girl proved the exception. Calmly, she approached the scene at the end of the school field.
“Mrs Prittlewell,” she said sweetly. The old lady turned to her. “Mr Mansfield told me to come fetch you. Kev and Tommy have banged heads, Miss. You need to take them to see the nurse.”
“One thing after another,” she moaned under her breath, though loud enough for both kids to hear. “Now you get out of ’ere! I don’t want to see you down ’ere again otherwise it’ll be police I’ll be calling.”
Too distracted by her own loathing mood, she didn’t think to check if Lily was following her. The innocent-looking girl winked at the scruffy boy, before moving slightly closer to the fence.
“I have summet for yuh,” Severus said, ferreting once again into the wrong pocket.
“Not now,” Lily hissed in reply. “I have to go. And mum is collecting me today from school, so I will have to come to yours later. You’ll be in, won’t you?”
“Yuh, and now my dad’s gone we might get sum peace. Mum’s working at Fox all neight,” he replied eagerly.
Lily blushed slightly. “And you will show me how to do that thing, won’t you?”
Raising an eyebrow provocatively, he replied, “What thing’s this?”
Behind her, Class Six began to filter back into the school. The rain was getting heavier and Lily was visibly cold, but too distracted by Severus’ teasing to notice her surroundings. “You know,” she whispered, leaning up against the fence. “That … magic thing.”
Then she flitted away like a bright butterfly into the dreary grey-walled school, the bright red of her cotton frock, cardigan and hair fading away into the rain. For a long time Severus just watched the vacant playground, his knuckles white as he clenched the rungs of the fence. Then, releasing a wolfish growl, he left for the woods, where there was a nest of young blackbirds he wished to check on.
Bang! Bang!
Severus pounded on the well-polished door, then leaned against the wall in a sloppy, disinterested manner.
From the other side of the door, he heard a young girl scream, “I will get it, Mum!”
As she opened the door, Severus couldn’t help but laugh at her flushed cheeks and the tendrils of red hair strewn across her face. Casually, he said, “You comin’ owt?”
Lily frowned. “I thought I said I was calling on you.” Then she pointed to the red frock she was wearing. “I haven’t even changed yet, or completed my homework. My mum won’t let me out until I am done.”
Severus shrugged. “Suit yuhself. Jus’ dun’t expect me to show yuh that thing next time.” He began walking away, but then screwed up his face as he anguished over whether or not he should just leave. Over his shoulder, he said, “Yuh cud always ask yuh mum to let yuh come owt after.”
The sound of a door clicking shut was all he heard in response. Cursing to himself, he turned to go. But then he felt a sudden jab in the ribs. “Owch!”
Lily giggled. “All right, I am coming out. But if I get this dress muddy …”
Severus raised an eyebrow at it. “We’ll jus’ go back to mine then.”
Spinners End was just one long row of terrace houses not far from the river. The couple walked along the river bank in silence, side by side, occasionally giving each other curious glances before turning away so that the other didn’t notice. Eventually they reached the corner of the road. Skinner’s Gang had perched themselves by the bus stop and were intimidating the old lady that waited there. When they saw Severus approach with this new girlfriend, the old lady received a moment’s reprieve.
“Oi, Gyppo! You washed yuh hair yet?” scowled the tallest, filthiest looking runt.
Severus gritted his teeth and walked straight past them, but not before Skinner grabbed Lily’s arm and yelled, “You berrer get away from scum like ‘im, Luv. Dun’t wanna catch lurgy.”
She let out a high-pitched scream and tried to pull away from him, but that only made the bully clasp tighter onto her frail arm. Twisting it around to try and escape his grip, her heart sped faster and faster as she looked into his hot, red face.
“Let go o’ her!” Severus yelled, tugging at Lily’s other arm so that she was skidding against the concrete tiles of the street.
“STOP IT!” Lily screamed.
Then suddenly, the bully flinched and lifted an enflamed hand to his mouth. “She’s jus’ dun summet to me.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Lily said, composing herself again, then walking past all of them as they gauped on in silence.
As Severus ran to catch up with her, he smiled and said, “See, that’s whut magic’s abowt. Yuh showed ’em!”
Lily was not altogether pleased by his approval. Her mum had always taught her to ignore any bullies and to not fight back. The fact she’d not only disobeyed her mum but used magic to achieve it, made her feel even worse. Still, at least she was learning how to channel her magic so that she could use it properly. Gone were the days when things would randomly explode, or move, or rattle. Hopefully, anyway.
Severus’ house was the plainest of the terrace houses, with drab curtains in the bottom windows and cardboard blocking over a smashed top window. If Lily didn’t know Severus lived there, she would have assumed it was being used by squatters. Worse still was the snicket that faced it, with the fog and dampness that seemed to loiter there all winter and through into spring.
“What’s all that row I just ’eard?” Severus’ mum bellowed, as they reached the door. She twisted her body out of the doorway and leered over her son, nostrils flaring and greasy hair falling limp over her gaunt face. “Ger inside before I give yuh one.”
They both skulked in, ever so quietly. Eileen looked at Lily as if she’d never seen her before, though she had on several occasions; she scrutinised her in the same suspicious manner and then scowled in such a similar way to her son.
“Sorry,” Lily politely said. “It wasn’t our fault.”
“Ger owt me road.” The tall woman pushed past the two children and headed back upstairs.
This time it was Severus’ turn to blush. “Sorry. She ain’t bin too ’appy since me dad were given three month.”
They followed her up the stairs once they’d waited a sufficient enough time for Severus’ mum to be settled in whichever forsaken hole of the old house she hid herself in. Severus led Lily to his shoebox of a room, which was very neat and tidy, for want of belongings to clutter it with. He sat down on the fold-up bed, then patted on the worn mattress. It creaked in an embarrassingly loud way as Lily sat down beside him.
“So,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ears because her hands were fidgety. “What’s this thing you have for me?”
“Oh,” Severus said, having forgotten all about it. He dug deep into his trousers pocked until his finger scraped against the skin of his leg. “I can’t find it.”
Then he remembered that it was in his anorak pocket, which he had awkwardly hunched around him in fear that Lily might see the hideous smock he wore underneath. Finding it at last, he said, “Hold owt yuh ’and.”
She did so obligingly. What he dropped into her white palm looked like a shining diamond and sapphire jewel attached to a necklace. But, on further inspection, Lily noticed that it was a square of glass imprisoning a live beetle! Shrieking, she dropped it onto the bare floorboards and then, composing herself, had to scramble on her hands and knees in the dust to find where it had rolled under the bed.
“Yuh dun’t like it,” he commented blandly.
“No,” Lily replied. “I mean, I do. It’s just … Well … Is it alive?”
She took hold of it carefully from the end of the black chord, then hoisted herself back up onto the bed. Dismayed, she looked down at her dusty knees and the strange brown stain that had formed on her dress. Nothing about Severus’ life was clean and orderly.
“I caught it sneakin’ up one of them floorboards,” Severus replied. Then he shrugged, and added, “I were bored, so I done summet wi’ it. Din’t get hurt, I promise.”
“So it isn’t alive?” Lily pushed, before holding it up to the light and watching its spindly legs move up and down.
“No. That’s jus’ this charm I know.”
Smiling meekly, Lily held up her auburn hair so that Severus could tie the chord around her neck. His fingers loitered inadvertently on her pale skin. “Ouch, your fingers are cold.” She shivered slightly before letting her hair tumble down again.
Severus furrowed his brow, and watched her carefully. She was just a girl, yes, but a very pretty girl.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Lily asked, averting her jade eyes from him.
Taken back by her question, Severus realised he was lacking an intelligent reply. This was something new to him, and slightly unnerving. After minutes of stifling silence, he asked, “Why’d yuh talk funny?”
Lily snorted loudly, doubling over herself with a wide grin on her face. “Me, talk funny? Severus, you’re the one who doesn’t string a sentence together properly.”
Severus lifted his head up, insulted by her remark. “I know how to talk properly when I want to,” he replied. “I jus’ dun’t feel like bein’ the owtsider.”
“Like me, you mean? Because my family is from Surrey? You don’t want to sound like you don’t belong here, on this creepy street in this horrific suburb.” She shuddered. “I really don’t know why my parents chose to move here. Something about Dad getting a new job in Leeds. There’s nicer suburbs of the city, though. Why here?”
“Well if that’s har yuh feel!” Severus rose up from his seat and pointed to the door. “Yuh dun’t wanna be in this crummy place then get out! I dun’t want yuh ’ere.”
Not wishing to stay a moment longer, Lily picked herself up and clambered down the rickety stairs. Severus watched from the landing, waiting until she had certainly left the house before silently following her. Using all his learned stealth, he watched her walk into the snicket, too wound up to realise she was walking the wrong way. The next thing he heard was a bottle being smashed against the ground.
Coincidence? Severus shuddered at the thought of her being harmed, and so peered into the mouth of the dark snicket. Two large silhouettes blocked the other side, and Lily stood frozen in the middle. He plastered himself against the dark wall and hoped that they hadn’t heard his footsteps approach.
“It wont nice what yuh did earlier. Gi’ us a kiss an’ I meight forgive yuh,” growled Skinner, as his dark form loomed ever closer to Lily. When she began to back away, she added, “Dun’t be shy, Luv.”
Severus cursed himself for letting Lily leave alone. He knew that his neighbours weren’t the good sort, yet his spite had deliberately forced Lily into trouble. His heart pounded so fast he could have sworn they could hear him, yet all Skinner and his mate could focus on was the terrified girl before them.
Skinner lurched forward to seize her, but she wiggled away from him with greater agility than his bulk would allow.
“Get her!” Skinner growled to his accomplice, who managed to grab hold of her and clamp her still.
“NO!” Severus yelled from the other side of the snicket. The wind suddenly echoed through the small alleyway, making leaves scatter around their feet and a piercing howl resound through the snicket. But the theatrics of Mother Nature would not stop the bullies. Skinner pounded towards Severus with clenched fists, whilst his mate held Lily in a deadly tight grip. Rooting his feet firmly on the ground, Severus gritted his teeth and shut his eyes. Severus opened up a tiny window in his mind, where he locked up all his anger and bad thoughts for the world he lived in. Then he opened them again, and let all the contempt gush out through his black stare.
Both men were thrown hard against the floor. Unfortunately, so was Lily, who banged her head against the wall as she fell. Whimpering, she crawled out of her tormentor’s grip, across the damp floor in her pretty dress, and towards Severus.
“Quick. They’ll be rousin’ soon,” Severus urged, taking her hand and pulling her out of the snicket.
They walked alongside the river in silence once again, watching the last rays of sun cast a low ethereal glow across the ground. As they turned to walk down the street that led to Lily’s house, the colossal chimney of the flax mill stood directly before them. Its huge, black form towered over all the houses, shops and cars in sight. Severus thought of Skinner as his eyes travelled right to the top: it was a symbol of brute force and power over the region. That was what Skinner thought he had over Spinner’s End. But even Lily had defeated him. Magic was on their side, and with magic one could create something much more powerful, much more enduring than any flax mill’s chimney. Turning towards the nice area of town, Snape felt like he really was moving into a place he did not belong. In his mind’s eye, he could see all the old ladies and middle-class snobs peering through their laced curtains at him with disapproving snarls.
As they reached Lily’s door, they both loitered, wishing to say something but not daring to. Eventually Lily looked down at her dress and cringed.
Smirking, Severus said, “Yuh were a real Yorkshire tyke jus’ norw.”
“Cheers,” she said, smiling widely. “And thanks for saving me back then.”
He shrugged, still feeling very guilty. “Har’s yuh ’ed?”
Lily didn’t have chance to reply, however. The door swung open with one great swoosh. Mrs Evans peered down at her daughter, first outraged by her familiarity with such a scruffy boy, and then at the sight of her dress. “Lily!” she exclaimed.
Behind her, the soft sound of sniggering could be heard, and Lily didn’t automatically look up to her mother but rather narrowed her eyes at her older sister. “You snitch!” she growled.
“You’re grounded, Missy, until further notice. Now get inside.” Then Mrs Evans turned, disgusted, towards Severus. “And I don’t want to see you around here again.”
Defeated, Severus turned away from the nice house in the nice area. For a long while, he wandered along the streets, lurking in the shadows and savouring the fresh evening air. Eventually, he arrived at his favourite place.
Knock, knock!
Nothing ventured, nothing gained, Severus figured. He had barely slept all night, seeing Lily bang her head against the stone wall over and over again. It had been all his fault, he was convinced. All his bloody fault.
This time he stood up straight and had even brushed his hair, put on one of his better pairs of trousers (the only pair that actually reached his ankles) and discarded the repulsive smock for one of his dad’s jumpers. Scratching at the rough material against his wrists, he waited patiently. He was fairly confident Lily was too ill to attend school that day, so surely she and her snobbish mother had to be in?
He knocked again, this time following it up by pressing the doorbell.
“All right, all right. I’m coming,” came the groaning voice of Mrs Evans. Severus’ heart sank. If she was already in a bad mood, she’d be in a raving bad mood when she opened the door. Yet she did so too quickly for him to turn away. “You again! What’re you doing here?”
“I am sorry, Mrs Evans. I wanted to know if Lily was okay,” he replied carefully, trying to hide his coarse, unacceptable accent.
“Sev, you came to see me!” Lily yelled bouncing up to the door, and under her mum’s arm, which she had pressed against the doorframe. This time, Lily was wearing old trousers and a t-shirt, and looked much more like the tomboy Severus wished she would be.
“I told you not to come around again,” her mother scolded.
Severus gave her a sheepish smile, the best he could muster without mocking her. “Sorry, Mrs Evans.”
The doting mother sighed. “Two minutes with him, and then I want you back in bed. I thought you had a headache.”
“The aspirin helped, thanks,” Lily replied. Then once her mother disappeared, she squirmed. “Actually it didn’t much.”
Severus winked. “I can ’elp with that. Meet me by the ash tree on riverbank at seven. Dun’t be late.”
“But Severus it will be getting dark “”
But he had already disappeared down the road. He’d heard her objections, but still a smile played across his face. She would be too curious not to meet him.
Severus sat on the tree stump and began skimming stones across the surface of the river. It was a knack he’d mastered entirely without magic, but through having lots of spare time to rehearse the wrist movement over and over again.
Quiet footsteps pattered up to him. “Sev?”
The stone plopped in the water with a heavy splash. Letting out a tiny groan, Severus chastised himself for looking stupid in front of Lily. He turned to face her and said, “Got summet to show yeh.”
Then he set off at a fast walk, so that Lily had to run to keep up. Severus led her over the river on the unstable footbridge, past the corner shop that was open all hours, and down a cobbled street Lily didn’t know. The distant churning of the train echoed through the still night. Looking up, they could not see the daunting chimney of the flax mill. No, what faced them was another one of the Industrial Revolution’s wonders.
“The viaduct,” she gasped. “You’re taking me to the viaduct?”
“Nurh,” he dismissed. When he saw her face drop he added, “I fownd this bloody brilliant place. Come on, I’ll show yuh.”
They reached what looked to be a neglected cavern. The tunnels stretched out like snakes, guiding the river and following abandoned train lines. There were round, sweeping arches of old viaducts; they were all bordered up, and some had even been converted into small buildings for businesses, including a mechanics workshop and a DIY store. Everything had been shut up for the night, though, and it was deadly silent. The red brick walls became a murky brown in the dusk.
“I don’t like this place. It’s creepy,” Lily decided, holding herself tightly and staring into the opening of one of the tunnels. There was a lit walkway through, obviously used still in daylight, yet there was a mysterious aura about the place. It no longer fulfilled its true purpose.
“It’s safe,” Severus replied, walking in. He craned his neck upward to admire the beautiful archway pattern. “I come all tieme. Let me show yuh where I keep me potions stuff.”
“Your potions?” she yelled in glee. “You mean you’re actually going to show me how to make a potion at last!”
He grinned widely. “Thought I forgot, din’t yuh?”
Keeping a hand firmly on the metal railing, Lily dared to step onto the gangway. A few steps forward, she realised that it was a pathway that led her directly over the river; the still, black waters below made her stomach churn. There was something unreal about the place; she imagined it was about to disintegrate at any moment. The drip drip sound of a leak somewhere added to the unnerving feeling, and occasionally she could hear a car swoop by as it emerged onto the ring-road of the city.
Eventually, after what seemed like an hour edging along the gangway, Severus beckoned her into a small alcove. The archway was bricked up, but large enough for someone to hide something in. Carefully, Severus rummaged through a pile of bricks that looked to have been discarded. Underneath was a tattered suitcase.
Grinning, he opened it up.
Lily stifled a gasp. There were vials, thermometers, jam jars, dried herbs, strange liquids - and what was that black saucepan thing? It looked like a witch’s cauldron! Before she realised it, Lily was grinning widely and sticking out eager fingers to touch the equipment.
“Careful wi’ it,” Severus snapped, then smiling he added, “I med this fuh yuh earlier. Strength’ning Potion. Will ’elp wi’ headache.”
Cautiously, Lily accepted the vial and uncorked it, smelling the smoky aroma of the liquid. Crossing her fingers in a mark of trust, she pressed the vial to her lips and swallowed the whole stuff. A refreshing feeling spread through her body and it felt as though a heavy weight was suddenly lifted from her head. She giggled excitedly, glad for the sudden burst in energy.
“I think it worked, Sev,” she said. Then, enthusiastic, she leant forward and kissed him on the cheek.
Severus’ face turned as scarlet as Lily’s hair. “What were that fuh?” he asked, bewildered.
Holding a hand to her mouth, she said, “Sorry! Just, you know, wanted to say thank you.”
Severus grinned sheepishly and focused his eyes on the suitcase in front of him. “Yuh welcome. Now, wanna see how I med it?”
After Note:
The setting of this story is based roughly on an industrial suburb of Leeds called Holbeck. The suburb is on the River Aire and has a Grade 1 Listed flax mill, Marshall Mill, with a large chimney.
The mysterious place that Severus takes Lily at the end of this story, namely the Dark Arches, does exist. It’s very difficult to describe, but technically is an abandoned series of viaducts joined and made into tunnels that have now been converted into commercial use. We used to pass through there on the road into Leeds when I was a child, and because memory fades the ‘mythical’ element of the arches seem more like a childhood dream to me! Not all the details will be correct. I used a fair bit of improvisation in this last section.
A snicket is an alleyway, and can also be called a ginnel in Yorkshire dialect.
I’ve based this one-shot roughly on the ideas in North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, specifically the difference in values and customs between the industrial north and the rural south. I wanted to have Severus more mature than most ten-year-olds. In Book Five, Sirius tells Harry that Snape knew dark spells before he went to Hogwarts, so I figured we needed to see this side of him. I’ve also played up the line of thought that he was northern and given him the local dialect to match, which I believe Severus would have been smart enough to drop when he arrived at Hogwarts ;-)
I think that’s about all. Reviews would be lovely jubbly.
The Dark Arches by Insecurity
Chapter Notes: See below for a detailled note on the setting and some of the references in the story. :-)