Lily and Tuney and Sev, Oh My

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 176325

OK, a disclaimer right off the bat. I still despise the Snape 
character that we saw for 3900 of the 4000 pages in the series. Yet,

I actually liked the young Severus like I never will the adult Snape. 
Yeah, he was geeky in his "too short jeans, shabby, overlarge coat... 
and odd smocklike shirt." (p.663) But I admire the kid's spunk, he 
tried so hard, you just can't hate the poor kid from Spinner's End.

****Mikefic
In a scene we didn't get, I pictured Eileen in the kitchen brewing up 
one of her regular potions. A seven-year-old Severus is sitting on a 
stool at the table and he has a slightly battered copy of Borage's 
Advanced Potion-Making open in front of him. Eileen is explaining 
what she's doing and Sev is trying to follow along in the book. She 
comes to a part where she deviates and Sev speaks up with, "But mum, 
it says to chop them up." Eileen answers, "Oh posh, that's old Borash 
mixing up his methods again. No Sev, it works much better to crush 
them with your pestle. C'mere, I'll show you." And of course she 
does. As Sev returns to his seat with a smile on his face, Eileen, 
without looking up, says, "Now write that down in there, dear. Next 
time, you can do the crushing, okay?" As Severus leans over his book 
to make the change, Eileen glances up at him with pride.


OK, back to real canon. :)

****The Girls.
The first words out of 11-year-old Tuney's mouth were "Lily, don't do 
it!" Is she scared of Lily's magic? Well sure, we know that attitude 
didn't change even as an adult. But I also think she's trying to be 
the protective older sister. Tuney doesn't understand how Lily can do 
what she can do, but Tuney knows if she were to do it she'd get hurt. 
I think her's is a natural reaction of the older sister.

Now when Tuney told Lily, "Mummy told you not to!", that sounds more 
like a bossy older sis. Because I'm not sure mummy ever said any such 
thing to Lily. I doubt Lily ever tried her trick in front of mummy to 
have prompted such a rebuke.

****The meeting
When young Sev steps in, he makes the classical wizard to Muggle 
mistake, he assumes they know in general what is obvious to him. So 
he calls Lily a "witch". Well of course she's going to be indignant. 
Hell, even after 7 books I find it hard to call the female 
characters "witches", it still sounds like I'm insulting them. 

And poor Sev, he "had been planning this moment for a while, and it 
had all gone wrong" (665). Ahh the angst of a pre-adolescent boy 
trying to make a good first impression and blowing it completely. I 
know from where you heart hurts, young Sev. We just aren't equipped 
to talk to girls until we reach the age of,... oh I'd say around 35, 
but maybe that's a little optimistic. ;)

****The friends
Sitting together in the shade, we see how much Sev has fallen for 
Lily. And he's learned a lesson already. When Lily asks if being 
Muggleborn makes a difference, Sev hesitates... then *lies*. He knows 
it does to some, especially to those in the house he hopes to be 
picked for. But things stay bright and cheery and Lily relaxes after 
this *news*.

When Tuney gets caught spying on this duo, she does what any good 
girl does... she changes the subject. :D  Ahh, but it is a mistake to 
pick on a poor wizard about his poor clothes. Sev can't bring the 
wrath of God down on Tuney, but he can manage the wrath of some good 
English Elm.

Notice the difference in what trasnspires next. Sev lies, again. This 
time, Lily doesn't believe him. Did Sev not deliver this lie well 
enough? The narrator (Harry's pov) says Sev "looked both defiant and 
scared." (668) So is he scared of being caught in a lie or is he 
scared of offending Lily again? My thought would be the latter, 
however, Lily won't read it that way now will she? Besides, Lily has 
no reason to want *this* lie to be true.

That's enough from me. Anybody got a different take? Would some care 
to expound or expand on my take? 

Mike, who thought another light canon would make a nice change ;)