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IF THERE WAS one thing severus snape hated more than harry potter, it was that when it rained, it meant that he had to go outside.

don't get the man wrong. he loved the musty clouds and moist air, but he'd much rather be inside coddled up by the fire and reading a book than outside sitting on a wet bench with an umbrella hanging over his head.

"PAPA LOOK!! LOOK AT MY LADYBUG RAIN BOOTS!!!", lily proudly showed off as she jumped into a shallow puddle of dirty water.

ah yes. severus snape was out in the breeze of a rainy day because his adorable little daughter had requested so.

lily was very excited to stomp in her new rain boots that snape had bought her for christmas last year.

the girl couldn't help but admire the cute ladybug prints that were patterned all over the black rain boots.

"papa, come join me!! it's really fun!!", lily urged.

"no thank you phoebe. I'm good staying here", snape politely rejected.

lily slightly pouted as she continued hopping from puddle to puddle, ruining her reflection.

another thing that made little lily quite confused was that snape never called her by her first name, only phoebe and never lily.

the girl didn't understand what the point was of having her first name as lily when snape refused to ever call her that.

lily then squatted down as she gazed into one of the more clearer puddles.

her red raincoat covered her entire body, leaving only her round face visible and a few strands of coffee brown locks.

she had always wondered who her mother was. perhaps she had the same eyes as her, or maybe even the same smile.

lily wondered many times who her real father was. it didn't take a genius to figure out that lily wasn't snape's biological daughter.

sure they had nearly the same colored hair and eyes, but the face structure was off.

lily's face was a bit more chiseled, even for a mere four year-old, meanwhile snape's jaw was more square.

"phoebe, are you done yet? we wouldn't want you to catch a cold now do we?", snape warned, bringing the girl back from her thoughts.

"yes! can we have some hot chocolate and mango parfait, papa?", lily sweetly asked.

"sure".

the man then held out his hand as he had learned that the little girl will almost never walk without holding his hand if given the option.

lily hastily grabbed on as she weirdly walked back into hogwarts like all children do.

and like promised, snape had brought the girl a cup of hot chocolate and a mango parfait in a plastic cup as he couldn't trust her with a glass one.

"a story??", lily requested.

snape went ahead and slipped a book off from the shelf as he gently patted his lap.

lily eagerly took her parfait and crawled onto snape's lap as her back faced the man.

snape then opened the book to the chapter that they had last left off and begun reading.

"evelyn then stuffed a cookie into the boy's mouth, perfectly shutting him up".

lily then leaned against snape's chest as she listened intently to every word that snape had read.

snape's tone had a soothing type beat to it, making the girl drowsy as soon as she heard it.

she enjoyed watching the crackling fire burn while snape had continued onward with their current story. and meanwhile the hot chocolate sat next to the armchair the pair were sitting in, lily felt her eyes droop.

lily's head slightly dropped as it had fallen to the side of snape's right arm, alerting him that he had successfully put the girl to sleep.

careful not to wake her up, he levitated the book back into its rightful place and carried the girl to a smaller bed that was beside his.

usually, lily would've slept in her own room back at snape's slightly worn down house, but since all professors were required to reside at hogwarts during school time, lily's living conditions were also slightly altered.

snape then tucked the girl in as she somewhat drooled a bit, most likely dreaming of the sweets that she was going to eat when she awoke.

snape gave a ever so rare smile as he picked up his book and continued reading by the fireplace.

//❁//

snape sighed as he brewed a healing potion for the grouchy lily.

the girl had indeed caught a fever like snape had predicted when she went out playing in the rain the previous day.

"no!! it's too bitter!!", lily whined, clearly not having it.

"phoebe, stop with the whining. you must drink it to feel better", snape sternly said, yet still not as harsh as he was with his students.

lily pouted, giving snape puppy eyes hoping that she could get out of it, but snape was not buying it.

"come on now. it'll be over in a second", snape convinced.

lily had heard that lie many times, and every time she had drank the potion, it had tasted like cucumbers mixed with asparagus.

"phoebe, if you don't drink it you can't play out in the rain anymore", snape threatened, to which lily had immediately grabbed the light cup from snape's hand.

taking a waft, lily pinched her nose as she swiftly chugged the concoction, trying her hardest not to taste it.

once she had finished, she breathed a fresh breath of air, only to realize that the bitter taste still lingered in her mouth.

"see? wasn't so bad was it?", snape said as he took the cup away from the girl who had felt her soul leave for a bit.

suddenly, just as lily was about to answer, a knock on the door was heard.

snape scowled—though that was his usual face for everyone who didn't know him—as he opened the door, revealing two ginger twins.

"FRED AND GEORGE!!"

"how did you two find your way here?", snape questioned, to which the twins just shrugged.

fred and george had their way of finding things and places that most had no idea where to even begin looking. though their secret, which wasn't much of a secret to snape anymore, was passed down to harry: the marauder's map.

"and what are you two doing here?", snape asked, clearly not pleased with appearance of the two ginger clowns.

"why we're here to pick up the princess of course!", fred answered.

"we heard she was sick, so we decided that we'd take her around all the fun areas around the school", george grinned.

snape obviously wasn't fond of the idea, but seeing lily so eagerly plead with her brown doe eyes made the man sigh in defeat.

"fine. bring her back by dinner", snape ordered, to which the twins sillily saluted and went to go grab lily.

george carried lily out the room while she waved to snape.

"see you later papa!!"

"later...phoebe".

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