Always (A Severus Snape Love Story) Years 1-2 (Sylvia's Version)

Chapter 5: The Letters

I woke up the next morning when Harry came out to get the mail.

"Violet, what are you doing out here?" He cried. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure," I said.

"Well, come on in!" Harry helped me up and took the letters on the doorstep.

I went in with Harry to the dinning room and Petunia kept throwing me nasty looks. Harry handed Vernon the letters and kept two of them. He handed me one and I gasped. It was addressed to me.

Ms.Violet Potter

Cupboard under the stairs

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging, Surrey

I couldn't believe it. A letter. For me.

"Oh, Marge is ill!" Vernon cried, reading a postcard from Aunt Marge. "Ate a funny whelk..."

"DAD, LOOK! THEY'VE GOT LETTERS!!" Dudley yelled, and ripped the letters out of our hands.

"GIVE THEM BACK,THEY'RE OURS!!" Harry screamed.

"Course," Vernon chuckled. "Who'd be writing to you?" He turned the letters over with Dudley and Petunia peering over his shoulder and they all looked up in shock.

The next day, more letters appeared on the doorstep and Vernon ripped them all up before we could get them. MORE letters came the next day and Vernon tossed them in the lit fireplace. Who were they from? Why did the Dursley's dislike them so much? That Sunday, Harry and I were serving cheese and crackers to the Dursleys and Vernon was in a particularity good mood.

"Fine day, Sunday," He said, smiling. "In my opinion, best day of the week. Why is that Dudley?"

Dudley shrugged, but Harry had an answer.

"Because there's no post on Sundays?" He asked.

"Right you are, Harry!" Vernon said, taking a cracker."No post on Sundays. HA! No blasted letters today! No sir!"

I saw a shadow outside and I went to open the curtain with Harry. Hundreds of owls sat everywhere on the house and the lawn, and a man in black robes stood across the street. There was something familiar about him. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. though. He held some sort of necklace and a lily in his hand. He smiled and blew the lily. It fluttered across the street and into my hand. I smiled and he smiled back. There was a note inside that said 'Always.' Suddenly, everything clicked into place. The lily. The locket. The note. The man. Severus Snape. He was the man who I saw at the zoo. He was the man who I kept having dreams about. He was the man who sent me the locket. I clutched the lily tightly, but whipped around when a letter whooshed up the fireplace and hit Vernon in the face. The fireplace started to rumble, and then millions of letters started to fly around the living room. Dudley jumped into his mother's lap, screaming. I flipped the curtain back, but Severus was gone. Harry lept in the air trying to catch the letters, and I joined him, managing to get one. We ran to our cupboard, but Vernon caught Harry.

"GIVE ME THAT!!" He yelled. "GIVE ME THAT LETTER!!"

"GET OFF!" Harry cried.

The letterbox suddenly broke and more thousands of letters flew into the hall and circled around in the air.

"THAT'S IT!" Vernon bellowed, his face beginning to get covered by letters. "WE'RE GOING AWAY!! FAR AWAY!! WERE THEY CAN'T FIND US!!"

"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he!? "Dudley asked, trembling.

We managed to get into the car, and the last thing I saw of the Dursley's house was Severus Snape watching from the other side of the street.