Determination

I: Exposition

August 1973

Severus Snape first met her, on the cusp of his third year, in Diagon Alley.

It was an unusually bright August day for the temperamental weather of London. Lily and he had already purchased all their books earlier that summer for the coming school year. Regrettably, he'd already finished reading through them, and was in need of something else to occupy his mind the remaining holiday.

He noticed the accent first, an accent like hers was hard to miss in a town like London after all.

"Wow..." the accent fell from her lips easily, proving his thoughts that the girl really didn't belong here.

He often thought the same of himself, as of late.

The second thing he noticed, was her choice of company.

"It truly is a remarkable sight, I often find myself looking back on the first time I shopped for my own School supplies rather fondly."

Knowing Eyes twinkled behind the half moon glasses of the man accompanying her.

Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.

The young girl with the golden hair twirled around now to look at the man fully, and this, is when Severus noticed the third thing about her.

A bright smile, full of straight white teeth, that scrunched up her nose and narrowed wide ocean grey eyes. Full round cheeks filled out a face defined with a strong square jawline. She was small, no older than a first year. She held herself differently to the people surrounding her. Her posture was stiff, with rolled back shoulders and every muscle in her tensed, ready to either fight or run. She did all this without drawing much attention to her, like she could blend into the background without a care.

It was a stance, he to, had become familiar with.

He briefly wondered what she was doing here with Dumbledore, he'd already deduced she was most likely from a muggle family. Usually, Professor McGonagall was the one to escort new Muggleborn students through purchasing their school supplies, at least that's what Lily had told him.

Perhaps it was because of the distance?

He was passing by them, trying to shake his head of rampant theories running amok.

"Ahh... Mr. Snape!"

Severus winced and slowly turned around at the sound of his name, trying and failing, to hide his displeasure at being called.

He nodded his head at the older man.

"Headmaster" he toned while forcing some semblance of a polite smile onto his face, as he faced the two.

Lily was really the more amiable of the two when It came to niceties.

He chanced a look at the small girl beside the man, her eyes were narrowed in a surprising bout of curiosity.

Who could possibly be curious about him?

"Beautiful day out today isn't it? Yes, I dare say, it's perfect for a lovely stro-" The Headmaster started.

Before he could finish whatever inane speech he had about the weather, the small girl next to him stepped forward and held her hand towards Severus.

"Hello, I'm Masondrit but I like it better when people call me Mason. I'm 11 so this is going to be my first year and I have to find these books for my classes but you look older so you probably know what I'm looking for you should come with me and help!" She said quickly with wide dazzling blue eyes.

Severus stood staring blankly at this girl- Mason, in front of him with her hand outstretched. She had spoken so quickly it took him a minute to fully comprehend what she had just asked (demanded) of him.

He hesitantly shook her hand with his and briefly felt a warm shock run through him.

"Severus Snape, do you always bull people over into doing what you want?" His eyes widened a bit, upon catching the words coming out of his mouth.

He hadn't meant to say all that, his plan was to simply say he couldn't

he could, he was planning on going to the bookstore anyway.

She smiled up at him as though unfazed by his brazen accusation.

"You seemed quiet, but not in a shy way, and it probably sounds weird but I have a feeling we'll be good friends. So no, but confidence and determination is the key to life, so I'm facing it head on." She told him.

Severus found himself staring at this strange little girl. the warmth hadn't left him since they'd shook hands, and he wasn't sure if the warmth was because of the weather or the presence of such an interesting individual. He didn't like people much, just Lily. While the girl- Mason, was like Lily in a few ways he'd now noticed. He was sure there were many ways in which she wasn't like Lily at all, and yet he was still intrigued to know just how they would be different.

Her presence wasn't unwelcome for him, but it wasn't the same as Lily's either. He loved Lily, he was sure, but Mason felt comfortable. Severus wasn't sure if he'd ever felt truly comfortable in the presence of another person before.

The warmth of this girl, of Mason, well he'd tolerate it for now.

"Alright."

The smile on her face became beaming as she jumped forward and grasped his hand in her own, before tugging him down the row of shops presumably in search for the right one.

Severus cast one bewildered glance behind him towards the man with a small pleased smile on his face and twinkling knowing eyes staring after them.

Unbeknownst to all.

There was another pair of eyes that day, down the alley, that watched after them as well.

Authors note:

Hi! Really not sure what I'm supposed to be writing here but... yeah. First time ever attempting this sort of thing, and I'll maybe really suck at it. Not sure! Anyways, yeah the idea got stuck in my head and I couldn't get rid of it so here I am.

Writing it down... scary as hell gotta tell you.

Thank you for your time.

Any mistakes are my own I don't own anything from the Harry Potter verse all rights go to J.K. Rowling.

No matter how much I wish I could magic myself in there and fix shit.

This is the closest I got.

my punctuation and grammar sucks!
try your best to ignore it.

Much love! -Kensay