Chapter Text
If you asked anybody in Cokeworth where the best place to fight was, you would honestly get a handful of answers. Mrs. Hubbard would tell you it was in the old chapel's backroom, Mary Lynn would most likely say the graveyard, and maybe one or two people would give you a halfhearted response that fighting was unseemly. If you really wanted to get to the best place to fight, you had to go behind the Tesco, just between the chain-link fence and behind the dumpster so no one saw you.
Snape got into his first fistfight there. The girl had a red leaf necklace, her fraying crop top showing off a midriff slick with sweat. She had been sitting out front of the Tesco on a dragster bike, a glass bottle of coke in one hand, her other beckoning him closer.
"Oi," She said, shaking her bell-sleeves back as she smiled at him. "Yer Ms. Eileen's boy, yeah?"
"Severus," Snape replied, wiping sweat from his brow. He stared at her, confused. The only pretty girl who had ever wanted to talk to him was Lily. "Whaddya want?"
"Name's a bit posh fer 'round here, yeah?" The girl laughed prettily, offering him her coke. "I want some fun, and yer the only one I think I want it with. Fight me, Severus."
"What," Snape spluttered, choking on the swig of coke he had taken. The girl laughed again, louder, and took back the coke. "I can't fight a girl!"
"Sure ye can just swing yer fist like so." She jabbed him lightly in the side. "A bit harder and we're on our way."
There was a pause, Snape thinking, the girl watching him with a small smile. He finally nodded, snatching the coke from her.
"Where would we even fight," Snape grumbled, drinking heavily from the bottle.
"Right back there." The girl jabbed her thumb over her shoulder. She set her feet on the pedals and nodded at him. "Get on. Loser has to buy an ice lolly for the winner."
Snape huffed but clambered on behind her. She grabbed his free hand, wrapping it around her waist. She pedaled hard, circling to the back of the Tesco. Snape had chugged the last of the coke by then, and tossed the bottle away, hearing the faint tinkle and smash as it met the concrete. The girl let her bike fall to the ground, turning to him with a smile. She raised an eyebrow, and Snape gulped, raising his fists. It was a blur after that. Fists flew, hands grabbed and scratched, pulling at hair, feet landing swift kicks to shins. The girl had pulled his long hair, he had most definitely scratched her arm, and both were panting by the time they had fallen apart, bruises coloring and blood dripping from wounds.
"Well," The girl huffed out, her grin back as she stood. She offered Snape her hand, pulling him to his feet and grabbing her bike. "That was fun. I'd say you won that'un."
Snape blinked owlishly, wiping blood from his nose. The girl paused, watching him with a sly smirk.
"Come on then," She giggled, nodding her head back. "Get on. I owe you an ice lolly, don't I?"
They sat sometime later, underneath the tree near the murky black river that ran through Cokeworth. Lily had joined them, her bright red hair like candy floss with all its flyaways. Snape and the girl, (Y/n), held dripping ice lolly bars, the girl's Fab bar diminished to the strawberry center.
"You're name's (Y/n)," Lily said, smiling slowly. She flipped to lay on her stomach, kicking her legs through the air. "That's pretty. You must be (M/n)'s daughter. I’ve heard older people call you such dreadful things."
"I stole chips from Mr. Nantaki's shop when I was six," (Y/n) said with a shrug. She hung upside down from a branch of the tree, her lolly stick dangling from her mouth. "Wanna see something cool?"
(Y/n) grinned crookedly, closing her eyes as Lily nodded. Severus raised an eyebrow, and she stuck her tongue out at him. (Y/n) scrunched up her nose, her brow furrowing in concentration as one of her arms dropped, just grazing the grass. He turned sharply at Lily's gasp, only to find her ducking under a rush of flowers that flew up from the dirt, turning in the air like a mist of petals. Snape reached out, his finger brushing one slightly. A thud sounded, followed by a sharp yell. The flowers dropped.
"Ow," (Y/n) groaned from the ground. She pushed herself up on her elbows, looking between Snape and Lily apprehensively. "So, whaddya think?"
"You're a witch," Lily said breathlessly. "Just like me and Sev!"
"A witch," (Y/n) sat up, interest sparkling in her eyes. "Like the ones in the books?"
"You don't steal babies," Snape said, smiling as she rolled her eyes. "There's a school. It's called-"
"Hogwarts," Lily finished, taking (Y/n)'s hands. "It has four houses, like teams!"
The three stayed there all afternoon, talking about Hogwarts and magic, (Y/n) sitting still with wide eyes and a smile. Even when Lily left at sundown, waving goodbye as she ran back home, Snape and (Y/n) remained, Snape speaking softly as he told her all he knew about Hogwarts.
"I'll get to go," (Y/n) breathed as she set her head in Snape's lap. "We'll get out of Cokeworth."
"Free," Snape hummed. He laid back, feeling her head drift up to lay on his stomach.
"No more pollution, no more yelling." (Y/n) traced small patterns on Snape's forearm. "No more ice cream van, or Nancy Vancob yelling at Miranda and Jack to get back inside at 3 am."
They both giggled at the last one, thinking of how the Vancob twins caused chaos whenever they could. After a moment of silence, (Y/n) lifted her head.
"Lily called you Sev. Is that her nickname for you?" She searched his face in the dim light, before smiling. "I'll call you Russ. That will be mine and mine alone to call you."
"I don't see why I need a ‘special’ nickname," Snape huffed. "Besides, Lily's known me longer than you have."
"I feel like I've known you for years," (Y/n) said softly.
Snape smiled. (Y/n) sat up with a grunt, stretching her arms over her head.
"Guess I'd better head home," She sighed and looked down at him, smiling. "I'll see ya here tomorrow, yeah? Right under this tree?"
"I'll be here all day," Snape said, waving her goodbye.