Half-blood Prince’s tale (A hp fic)

It was evening by the time I finished explaining things about the magical world. Lily had way too many questions but I answered most of them.

Honestly I still didn’t know what to do with her. I was not canon Severus so I didn’t feel anything for her.

I was just interested because she was a canon character and she was good at magic. I figured that I might need her help in the future so it wouldn’t hurt to know her.

That said I didn’t want her to go the same route as in canon. I didn’t care whether Harry would be born or not. From the moment I arrived in this world, it was inevitable that there are going to be changes from canon.

I can’t rely on plot too as I am here pre-canon so the only thing that's useful for me are that I know things from an outsider’s perspective. I could even say that I have an insight into traits of characters but I can’t be too sure as the story was told from Harry’s point of view and me being before canon also means that characters could have been different before.

So I had decided not to bother whether my actions would change plot as my very existence probably already did so.

Speaking of Lily, she was not present in canon and was already dead so what little I knew about her was all from memories of other characters and people tend to glorify dead people so I didn’t have a proper assessment either.

And besides all they said was that Harry had her eyes and that she was good at magic.

People forgot about her even though she saved Harry. I could see why they hailed Harry as the one who defeated Voldemort since he was the one who lived.

Also why did no one even try to investigate what happened?

Nobody even bothered how he survived. Dumbledore just bought a group of meatshields together who didn’t accomplish anything in the end.

I didn’t believe Dumbledore was some evil mastermind but I did think he was horribly ill suited to lead people. He used his reputation to bring some people together and did nothing.

Coming back to Lily, I decided to inform her more about the magical world so that she doesn’t go in blind and naive otherwise she would end up as a useless Order of phoenix member.

For now though, I just told her about Hogwarts and briefly mentioned what magic was.

I decided to hold back on purebloods and muggleborn issues for now as I didn’t want to scare her away.

I just had to set her mentality right and once thats done, I could tell her more. I had to make sure not to portray it as some magic filled utopia and that would be enough to make her cautious.

Also had to show her that Gryffindor was not the only house there was. I would prefer her going to Ravenclaw which would prevent her from falling under Dumbledore’s influence.

That old man never let any gryffindor go and with his good grandfatherly vibes, he got them onto his side.

I had no doubt that if Mcgonnagall came to Lily’s house then she would subtly mention her house whether consciously or not, it would still make the kid subconsciously prefer her house.

No wonder most of the Muggleborns ended up in gryffindor. The ones who couldn’t went to Hufflepuff.

Ravenclaw and Slytherin had the least number of muggleborns with Slytherin not getting any usually. If they did though...then they wouldn’t last very long there.

Lily after becoming a gryffindor had been influenced by their opinions and probably even felt the bias they had against Slytherins. This put a dent in her relationship with Severus and one blunder from him was enough to sever it completely.

To be honest, I felt Lily gave up on him too quickly, didn’t even give him a chance to set things right but she forgave James for all his pranks and bullying he did to Severus.

From what I recalled, Lily only started dating James somewhere between fifth year and seventh year so I had enough time to make her not fall for him.

……….

Eileen was already back by the time I reached home. She greeted me with a smile which made me think things went well.

“So..I presume things went according to plan?” I asked.

She tilted her head, “Well...they didn’t go exactly as planned...We can’t access the vaults for now. Once you turn 11, you will be eligible to become the Heir and then we can open it or we have to wait at the very least six months before those geezers in the Wizengamot move a finger.”

I wondered why she was happy then.

“..But don’t worry, I met an old friend who offered me a job. I will start working there from tomorrow. The pay is decent and I don’t have to do much either.”

“Old friend? What's the job?” I asked.

“Ah...we went to Hogwarts together. Rosmerta is her name, she was a Hufflepuff a year below me and we bonded over potions. She inherited the three Broomsticks inn.”

I just raised an eyebrow. The name felt familiar but I couldn’t recall it.

“Of course, you wouldn’t know it but the three Broomsticks is probably the oldest building in Hogsmeade and Hogsmeade is the village outside Hogwarts just so you know...Anyway Rosie reopened recently and offered me a place there. I don’t have to do much here and just help her around there and give some new ideas for drinks.”

“I see…”

It was an unexpected outcome. Who would have thought Eileen would meet her friend and get a job. I felt the name Rosmerta was familiar and then I remembered who she was.

She was there in canon and was probably a milf. I kept these thoughts to myself and asked, “She seems like a nice person.”

“Yes...she is, she was understanding when I told her about my situation…”she answered.

I felt my back stiffen. “Wait, you...told her..”

Seeing my expression, Eileen said, “Ah..I didn’t give her all the details and I told her that I was the one who killed him..”

My lips twitched, “That doesn’t make much difference you know….a murder is still a murder. Aren't you worried she might tell anyone? Also you could have just stuck with the ‘he ran away’ statement we used here…”

I couldn’t believe that she had done this. This was too risky and admitting to a murder never leads to anything good.

“Severus, you don’t have to worry so much...Rosie wouldn’t tell anyone and besides I would just say I killed him in self defense if the Ministry questioned me. They wouldn’t convict me as I am a witch and Tobias was a muggle.”

“At worst, some nosy Gryffindors might frown but that's it.”

While this calmed me down, I still felt it was a bad decision on her part. But I decided to let it slide for now. Her answer gave me more insight into wizarding society.

For them, muggle lives were not as important as theirs and it was understandable. Eileen being a pureblood would also give her more leeway. And if Rosmerta did keep her mouth shut, then there wouldn’t be any problems.

“Alright...but don’t tell more people okay?”

She nodded and tried patting my head but I dodged her hand.

“So what ideas are you going to pitch to her?” I asked her. I did have some ideas from the modern world that might do well in Hogsmeade but they might fail too as wizards had weird tastes.

“I don’t know but I will think of something..”

“Want me to help?” I offered.

Her eyes brightened and she flashed me a smile, “Sure...that would be great.”

“Hmm...I will write some ideas down later. For now,you could try introducing some muggle beverages there. Who knows they might do well there?”

“That's a very good idea. I am sure nobody has muggle drinks there and with the inn being the only one selling it, we would make a good profit if they did well.”

I was about to head back into my room but I remembered something. “Oh right...I almost forgot, I made an acquaintance at the park today..”

“You made a friend !!” Eileen shouted with unhidden excitement in her voice.

“I guess...you could call it that too.”

“Severus, tell me is it a boy or a girl?!”

Her excitement was a bit jarring. “It's a …” I began but before I could answer.

Eileen said, “ It's a girl isn’t it?”

I nodded. “You guessed correctly…”

“Oh I never guessed Severus, I knew it was a girl. I just asked to make sure.”

I just stared at her speechless.She smiled and asked, “So tell me more about her? How is she? Is she pretty? What’s her name? Where does she live?”

I sighed at this bombardment of questions, “Could you please calm down mother, why are you so excited anyway?”

“How can I not be excited? You made a friend and it's a girl at that…”

I couldn’t refute that. I had seen Severus’ memories and he didn’t have any friends and certainly not a girl. No wonder he fell for Lily so hard, she was literally the first person he interacted with after his dysfunctional family.

“Well for starters, her name is Lily and she lives on the other side of the town. She recently moved in...I think her dad’s a factory supervisor or something. But most importantly she is just like me and can use magic.”

Eileen’s eyes widened, “What?! Are you sure about that, Severus?”

“Yes...I saw her transfigure the colors of flowers. She also told me of some incidents where she used accidental magic.”

“Wow...this is just..I mean what are the odds of this happening..” Eileen was rendered speechless by my revelation.

“She seems to be a muggleborn as her parents don’t understand her magic. I told her a few things about magic and agreed to meet her tomorrow.”

“Severus did you show her your magic?”

“Yes…”

She sighed, “ Severus you have to be more cautious about this. You can’t show your magic to people just like that. Imagine your new...friend telling her parents about it and how they might react. Muggles don’t like things they can’t understand and they might react like…” She trailed off but I knew what she was getting at.

She thought Lily’s parents might act like Tobias and it did seem logical from her point of view but she didn’t know about Lily’s parents like I did. I knew they didn’t fear or hate her so even if Lily did tell them, they wouldn’t react violently.

Petunia was the only one who didn’t like magic but she was powerless to do anything.

“I suppose but I don’t think her parents will do anything. They know about her magic and don’t fear it, they just don’t know what it is.”

“B-but still….” She began but paused to think.

“They might be nice people but I want to make sure..Tell you what Severus, try asking her if I could meet her parents. Tell her that I want to explain in detail about our world to them. I will go meet them and make sure they aren’t mistreating her.”

It seemed too much of a hassle but sensing her concern, I agreed. It wouldn’t hurt to have her talk to Lily’s parents. It might even save me the effort of explaining to them myself.

I shrugged and walked back to my room to practise magic.
………
[POV change]

The sun shone in through the windows and a petite figure woke up. This figure was one Lily Evans, she stretched her arms and got off her bed.

Her mind recalled the memories of the previous day.
‘So it was not a dream huh…’

She was excited to meet her new friend Severus. Never would she have thought that she would meet someone just like her in this depressing town.

When she had seen him use magic, a feeling of relief had spread through her. After all, she had been called special by her parents and her sister hated her for it.

Sometimes she felt bad for having these powers and even hated them for ruining her relationship with her sister but after meeting Severus, these feelings had faded.

Knowing that she was not the only one with magic made her happy. She wouldn’t feel lonely anymore , there was someone out there who could understand her.

Clearing her head, she quickly completed her daily routine headed downstairs. Her father was sitting by the fireplace reading his newspaper and her mother was in the kitchen preparing breakfast.

“Ah...Lily you are up early today.” Her father said seeing her in the hallway.

“Morning Dad.” Lily greeted him.

Her father greeted her back and went back to reading his paper. This was his daily routine and he disliked having it interrupted. He was a man of timing and had a schedule he strictly abided by.

Harold Evans seemed cold and strict on the outside but he was a loving father on the inside.
….
It was breakfast time and Evan's family were sitting at their seats. Petunia had not woken up so she wasn’t present much to the displeasure of Harold. He felt his eldest daughter was becoming worse as she grew. She didn’t have half the manners Lily had.

“Lily dear, why are you in such a hurry today. Eat slowly.” Rose Evans scolded Lily who was gobbling the food up.

“...Yes, Mum but I need to go to the park.” Lily answered with some food still in her mouth.

“The park? Why would you want to go there? Her father asked.

Lily thought her words over and answered, “Well….I made a friend there and promised to meet them today.”

“A friend? Who is it?” her mother asked.

“Its a boy..” Lily began. Her father’s face stiffened at her words.

Before he could retort Lily continued, “His name is Severus and he lives here in town and..he..”

‘Should I tell them that he is like me too..’

She couldn’t hold it in any longer and decided to tell. “He is gifted like me too.”

Both her parents stopped doing what they were doing and a solemn expression appeared on their face, “What did you say?” her father asked.

“H-he can use magic too…”Lily answered.

“Magic?” her mother questioned.

“Yes…” Lily took a deep breath and explained what Severus had told her. Her parents didn’t interrupt and listened attentively.

After she was done, they exchanged looks with each other and turned to Lily. “Lily if what you said is true, then we must know more about magic. So when you meet the boy today, ask him if we could have a talk with his mother. You said she was magical too right?”

Lily nodded. Severus had indeed said so. He had told her that she was a muggleborn and that his mother was a witch too.

“Alright can you do that?” her father asked.

Lily thought about it and felt nothing wrong about it. She was curious about Severus’ mother too so she agreed.

“Sure..I will ask him, I don’t know if he will agree though…”

She got ready and left for the park.

Harold and Rose looked at each other. “So do you think its true?” Rose asked Harold.

“Well...it was too detailed so it most probably is. What do you think?” he answered.

“I think so too.”

“We can’t do much now except gather more information and understand more about this magical world. Hopefully Lily convinces the boy to get his mother. She must know more about this.”

Rose nodded. She had a lot of things to take in and she felt worried about Lily. For now all they could do was wait and see.