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"HOW IS SHE progressing?", voldemort questioned, to which bellatrix ecstatically replied with a "very well!"

"u-umm...f-father?", lily begrudgingly squeaked out, making voldemort quite delighted.

"yes lily?"

"I-umm...I was wondering for christmas if I could spend it with pa—I-I mean mr. snape?"

voldemort's smile immediately dropped as he listened to the girl's request.

"why's that? are the malfoys not treating you right?", voldemort asked, glaring at the family of three who just flinched in response.

"no no no!! I just...I just miss pa—mr. snape. so I was hoping I could spend christmas with him? I promise once I get back I'll work extra hard on my spells!!", lily exclaimed.

lucius sighed a breath of relief as he internally despised how him and his family's life was constantly hanging on a thread by how well they treated lily.

a little girl, seven to be exact, held to power to behead him with only a few words to the dark lord.

"hm...I suppose that should be fine. but I expect you to be able to transfigure a pen into a bee the next time I arrive", voldemort said, making lily nervously nod.

the girl had just barely been able to cast simple spells, and the man already wanted her to do transfiguration?

granted, lily did have plenty of hours to practice, as she had nothing better to do since no one really dared approach her except for bellatrix, narcissa, and draco.

lucius and the house-elves—with the exception of mrs. alma—tried to avoid her at all costs if possible.

"thank you...father".

"remember lily, I have high expectations for you", voldemort said, making lily nod in acknowledgement.

"of course, father".

//❁//

"PAPA!! I MISSED YOU!!!", lily exclaimed as she had arrived in snape's classroom, running over to the stoic man.

snape opened up his arms as he embraced the seven, nearly eight, year-old girl.

though snape may have not been the most hygienic, lily missed the aroma of her papa's dark coffee mixed in with parchment and old shoes smell.

snape hadn't realized how much he had truly missed the girl until he had spent majority of his nights sleeping peacefully without the little girl trying to crawl into his bed and hide under the warmth of his blanket.

"I'm glad you're back...phoebe", snape whispered into the girl's hair.

"how's being headmaster papa?? how is it??"

snape's mood immediately dropped, as he internally knew that the students and staff complied in fear, not respect.

dumbledore was truly a great leader and a role model for all students, and snape...he was neither nor.

"it's quite fine. how've you been? it has been a while since I've last seen you", snape said, redirecting the conversation.

"oh papa! you have no idea how lonely I was!! if it weren't for draco, I'm afraid I would've gone mad inside that mansion!", lily pouted, making snape slightly smile at the girl's cute expression.

"but I did get a wand! would you like to see the spell I've recently just learned??", lily smiled.

"you got a wand? and you're learning spells already?", snape questioned.

he then suddenly recalled the dark lord asking bellatrix to educate lily on magic, specifically the dark arts.

however, he didn't actually think that they'd start using magic. perhaps the discussion of how to apply the spells, but definitely not actual practice.

"papa?"

snape snapped out of his trance.

"impress me then", the man replied.

lily cleared her throat, making snape relax at the girl's easygoing personality.

he had definitely missed having his little ball of sunshine around, offering him pieces of chocolate whenever he was stressed.

"engorgio!", lily casted, pointing her smooth wand at the quill on snape's desk.

indeed, within a moment, the quill had enlarged, making lily smiled at her accomplishment.

the girl had worked on that and reducing the size of objects for nearly a week! she had practiced it over and over again so she knew when she showed it to snape, it'd be nearly perfect.

"quite the skill you've got there", snape complimented, making lily smiled even wider.

no one's praise could compare to snape's. though the man only said a few words, it had meant the world to little lily, as she had wanted nothing more than to make snape proud.

"do you still remember what the tolipan blemish blitzer does?", snape questioned, making lily slightly freeze up.

the girl had been so focused on spells that she had not studied about potions at least once.

"umm...helps treat blemishes??", lily sort of guessed, to which her answer was correct.

"what's the main ingredient?"

"dragon scale??"

"dragon claw", snape corrected, making lily slightly sigh.

"just because you've picked up charms and transfiguration, doesn't mean you should forget about potions", snape reprimanded.

"of course, papa".

"I want to watch you brew the blood-replenishing potion", snape said, to which lily had immediately went to go prepare the cauldron.

lily opened a textbook that snape had in his spare room as she sighed at the instructions.

not only was this potion way above her level, she doubted that even hermione granger was able to brew it and not screw it up.

"I'm mentoring you, aren't I?", snape said as he sensed the girl's unease.

lily nodded her head.

despite the two not seeing each other for a while, lily actually enjoyed spending time making concoctions with snape, as this was how the two bonded other than reading pieces of literature together.

lily first poured honeywater in the silver cauldron, letting it simmer in the low heat.

what made these instructions rigorous was not how to do things, it was the specifics, like "how long do I let it simmer?", "what color should it be at this point of the recipe?", or "how do I easily chop up the mandrake roots?"

"make sure you pulverize the valerian roots into a fine powder", snape instructed, to which lily had hardly grounded the roots using the mortar and pestle.

after what seemed like hours of working, and a lot of instruction and advice from snape, the concoction was finally accomplished.

snape carefully poured some into a small flask, making sure that it was secured tightly as he handed it to the little girl.

"remember phoebe, you can never be too safe. bring this along with you at all times, do you understand?", snape lowly whispered.

lily just nodded as she gripped on tight to the blood-replenishing potion.

little did the girl know, she should've saved some of it for the upcoming future.

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