Half-Blood Princess Book One

Chapter 5 - The Boy at the Zoo

Third Person POV

10 Years Later

It's a peaceful, quiet, early morning at the Snape residence. All is right with the world. Tilly has forgotten about the night she saw Lily die. Severus is happy with his life with Tilly. Everything is perfect for the little family of two. 

Snape's room is lightened by sunrays filtering through his window onto his face, slowly waking him. Getting ready for the day, he gets into his classic black pants and shirt, and Snape decides not to wear his cape while at home. Walking into the kitchen, Tilly was already up and ready and had made breakfast for Severus and herself.

"Morning, Dad." Tilly smiled brightly at the man she called her father.

"Good morning, Pumpkin," Severus asked, weary of why Tilly was cooking for him this early. It was only seven! "Till...I know you better than anyone. What is it?" Tilly sighs,

"First, Draco knows me best, Dad. Second, I wondered if I could go to the London Zoo today." Snape still had not moved on his decision to get Tilly a snake, so Tilly enjoyed going to the zoo and seeing and speaking to the snakes.

"Of course, you can." Severus smiled, "But I won't be able to stay. Alright?"

"Yep, thanks, Dad." Tilly runs to Snape and holds him in her arms. Snape is not the most emotional person, but he is with Tilly. The father shakes his head, watching his young daughter rush up the stairs to her room, most likely getting changed for the zoo.

Severus apparates near the zoo, out of sight but still close enough that Tilly doesn't have to walk far. The girl hugs Severus quickly and turns, almost running into the zoo, but her Dad's voice stops her.

"Hey!" Snape calls after Tilly, reaching his hand out.

"Hm?"

"Always." Tilly giggles at Snape's words.

"Forever." Tilly then runs to the reptiles, spotting her favourite snake, the Boa Constrictor. Looking into the glass, she watches as the snake lifts its head at seeing her.

"Hello again." Tilly hissed in parseltongue to the snake.

"Hello." He hissed back. A boy about Tilly's age walked up next to her. He was a slight chubby boy with dark brown hair neatly slicked back. He started to bang on the glass annoyingly. Another boy, similar to the other but skinnier, smaller, and dorky, runs up, telling the annoying boy to stop disturbing the snake. Tilly is very grateful for what this boy has just done, as she can feel the pain Alfa, the name Tilly gave to the snake, just went through. The large boy turns to the smaller boy, pushing him to the ground. Feeling sorry for the boy, she offers him a hand up,

"Thanks." Harry thanked the girl before him. She had pale white skin, dark black hair, and, most notably, deep green eyes, just like him. Tilly smiled at Harry; both children felt an odd familiarity while looking at the other. "Sorry about Dudley, he is really annoying. I'm Harry, by the way." Harry smiled back,

"Matilda, but call me Tilly," Tilly said, extending her hand. Harry shook Tilly's hand poshly, and they laughed as they returned to Alfa.

Alfa looked up to Tilly and Harry,

"Sorry about my cousin. I didn't like how he banged on the plastic to your enclosure," Harry said to Alfa, not expecting a reply but getting one. Tilly had heard what Harry said but in English and was completely unaware that Harry was a Parselmouth. Harry's heart rate picked up, and, not wanting to scare Tilly away, Harry just stood there.

"Hold on a minute. I'll be back," Tilly said softly. She rushed over to the ice cream cart by the door and got herself and Harry an ice cream, allowing Harry to communicate with the snake quickly.

"You can understand me?"

"Yes", Alfa hissed back, Harry still naïve that he spoke a language called Parseltongue. "My name is Alfa." Alfa nodded to Harry, about to ask him if he knew Tilly could talk to him as well, but Dudley returned, shoved Harry to the ground, and leaned slightly too close to the window. From Alfa's view, Dudley is so close to the window that his face is squashed and looks ugly. The next thing they knew, the window keeping Alfa inside vanished, and Dudley fell in. Tilly returned to see this and giggled as quietly as she could while giving Harry a hand. Alfa slithered out of his cage and over to Tilly and Harry.

"Thanks! Alfa hissed and nodded his head.

"You're welcome", Harry said, out of breath, still confused and slightly winded from the fall.

"No problem," Tilly said as she watched her friend leave and scare people with the scream Tilly could hear as Alfa kept moving. A small smile graced her and enlarged even more when she saw Dudley stuck behind the glass. Harry was beside himself with laughter, and Tilly copied, laughing at the scene of Dudley's mother banging on the now-appearing window and his father glaring daggers at Harry.

Petunia Dursley turned to look at who was laughing at her son and followed her husband's death glare to Harry and a girl. Petunia couldn't help but notice how similar the girl looked to that awful boy from years ago when Lily had shown Petunia her powers that he shared. The boy looks just like this girl. The pale skin and black hair; expect that he had greasier hair than this girl, at least then. Her eyes thought...Petunia knew those eyes anywhere. Those were her sister's eyes. If this girl looked like that boy but with Lily's eyes and roughly Harry's age...this girl had to be a witch, just like Lily.

Dudley is released from his entrapment and is brought into his mother's arms.

"Harry, who is your friend?" Petunia asked her nephew with a robust and hateful voice.

"This is Tilly." The girl smiles at the odd family. None of them return Tilly's friendliness. Feeling quite uncomfortable, having the family's death glare strained on her, Tilly takes her leave.

"It was nice to meet you all," Tilly half-smiled at the dripping Dudley, destressed Petunia, and fuming Vernon. "I hope to see you again, Harry." Tilly helped Harry up, hugged him and ran out as fast as her legs would take her, waving behind her at the strange family.

She is panting hard after running a long distance, calling Snape to come and pick her up. A pop sound is heard behind Tilly, who turns and faces Severus, a smile resting softly on her face. The father copies his daughter's smile, hugging her tightly, then apparates them home. Severus turned to Tilly.

"Pumpkin, go set the table, please. I'll bring dinner in, okay?" Tilly nodded her head and left Severus, turning into their little dining room, just enough room for a table. Snape takes the two plates of shepherd's pie Woodley made and the tea Zinly brewed, placing the meals on the table and sitting opposite his daughter.

The two sat silently, eating their food and drinking tea, both content with the quietness that had taken over their house. The only sounds came from their cutlery on the plates and Woodley and Zinly talking as they cleaned somewhere else in the home. "Your Hogwarts letter should be coming soon, and so is your birthday." The father breaks the silence. "Oh, Merlin, you're turning 11," Severus said, horrified that his baby was growing up. It only felt like yesterday when Tilly became his daughter and he was given a second chance at life.

"Dad, do you think people will like me?" The father frowns at his daughter's question, unsure where this is coming from. "I mean, I can speak to snakes. I'm not stupid; I know that's not common and often feared."

"You will be fine, Pumpkin. You'll make many friends, plus you'll always have Draco and myself,"

"Dad!" the girl groans. "I love you, but having my Dad and teacher as my friend would be embarrassing." Severus chuckles deeply as his daughter huffs.

"Don't worry. Everything will be fine," Snape says softly, trying to comfort his daughter as they continue eating their dinner in more silence, broken up by small conversations for the rest of the night until they turn in for bed. 

(Edited)