Determination

III: Exposition

September 1, 1973

Severus had learned early in his life how to ignore Tobias's endless yelling. Today it was quiet however, which wasn't unusual for the household, but Severus hadn't seen his mother all morning and he'd thought she would at least want to say goodbye before he left for school.

Nevertheless, he was thankful it was quiet. The Evans were going to be picking him up this morning, so he and Lily could arrive at Kings Cross together.

He eyed the letter he'd received a few days prior sitting on his nightstand.

Mason had gotten herself an owl and taken the liberty to continuously write him the remainder of the holiday. While usually he had written back, he hadn't this last one. The contents of the letter had unnerved him, it wasn't anything horrifying or mean, in fact, it was the opposite.

She'd asked him to save her a seat and good conversation on the train. She's even expressed her hopefulness to him introducing her to Lily. She was rather a pleasant girl, if not a bit stubborn, incorrigibly strange, and rather blunt.

No, it was nothing to do with her and rather everything to do with him.

So far in his life Lily had been his only real friend, and before school started it had really only been them. But of course as the way things go, once she'd been sorted into Griffindor and started to make other real friends, he'd started feeling as if she was leaving him behind. Lily was brilliant, there was no doubt there, and she was an excellent witch. She could really do anything she set her mind to, Severus had just always assumed he'd be by her side when she did it. Now though that end just seemed so far out of reach, especially with that Potter prat always vying for her attention.

Severus was afraid.

It'd been a while since he made a new friend, and Mason was easy to be friends with. He was positive she'd have no difficulty making friends at Hogwarts despite whatever background she was from. But he didn't want to lose her, the way he felt he was losing Lily.
So he had a decision to make, two options that would determine how his friendship with Mason proceeded. Either he ignores her request and ends their friendship before she can forget about him, or he doesn't and this whole situation with Lily happens all over again with a new person.

Honestly, he should have known she wouldn't give him the option.

As soon as Lily and he were through the barrier onto platform 9 3/4, he heard a loud, high pitched, shriek. Seconds before an overly enthusiastic, bright haired, blue eyed, 11 year old was barreling him over. Severus barely had time to remember his name once his head hit the pavement, before she started excitedly babbling away to him about her journey getting there.

He thinks he remembers her saying something about a shoe and vomit, before his eyes catch the oddity of her appearance in front of him.

She notices his confused frown and cuts herself off mid babble.
"What's that look for?"

He just stoically points to her hair before cautiously looking around the platform to see who witnessed the spectacle the girl had made the two of them out to be.

Her eyes go wide as she realizes what has him so confused.
"Oh my hair right! Well yeah one of the boys at home thought it would be hilarious to dye my hair while I was sleeping. I think the point was to humiliate me, but jokes on him cuz my hair looks amazing in any color."
She promptly flipped her hair over her shoulder with her hand as if to prove a point.

Although Severus had to admit he'd never seen a girl with Blue and Purple hair before, especially one whom was confident enough to show it off as if it was purposefully done that way.

The color really didn't look bad in anyway, just very different from most girls.

Mason wasn't like most girls, was she?

She suddenly turned around and grabbed his hand again tugging incessantly.

"Oh also, I've been here forever I swear! I found us a compartment inside, it's the perfect placement. I checked and did all the math in my head! Exactly equidistant from where your house your friend Lily's and the first years all sit. Do I still get to meet her? you said she was really nice right? What if she doesn't like me?"

Masons rambling continued on as she tugged him by the hand towards the train, barely allowing him time to drop off his luggage and give a quick glance towards where he last saw Lily.

She was still standing in the same spot as if in a trance staring after them, shock written all over her face.

"Mason!"

He hadn't meant to be quite that loud, just intending to stop her nervous rambling.

She turned towards him, eyes wide, but nerves easy to read all throughout.

"Mason calm down, yes you can still meet Lily, yes she is very nice, and I don't think it's possible for someone to not like you. But you did make me leave her behind back there, so we should probably go back for her."

Her eyes widened in surprise before looking behind him at the redhead a few yards away.

Mason jumped in surprise before sprinting over to Lily and tugging on her arm as well to get her moving.

"Oh my goodness I'm so sorry! I didn't realize you were there. Hi I'm Mason. Severus is like my only friend here right now but he said you were nice so I'm hoping we can be friends too. Let's go drop your stuff off so we can get on the train, I've never ridden in a train before! I mean I've never really gone anywhere outside of Montana before so this is all kind of like one big adventure for me."

To be completely honest Severus had been a little nervous for Lily and Mason to meet. As he watched Mason excitedly tug and talk and Lily's slow approaching smile as she looked on fondly at the girl, he realized he really had nothing to worry about.

The train ride was pleasant for the three of them. Lily and Severus explained the sorting ceremony and the differences between the houses, with only a small disagreement between the two whether Slytherin or Gryffindor was the better choice. Mason had left sometime during the journey to chase down food, while Severus opted to stay put, and Lily decided to go say hello to some of her other friends.

Thankfully before Severus could even think about feeling lonely, Mason came back with her tiny frame practically swallowed in every sweet imaginable.

"Mason are you planning on hibernating this winter? What in Merlins name are you doing with all that?" Severus asked wide eyed at the young girl.

"No, well maybe, but actually I thought it'd be rude not to get you and Lily some too. I didn't know what you liked though so I got a little of everything." Mason simply shrugged her shoulders after depositing her horde on the seat next her.

"A little!? Mason you didn't have to do that, you spent too much money.." Severus tried to explain but the girl cut him off

"Oh I'm not worried about the money, apparently I have a lot of it from my parents, and I worked all summer so I made some of my own. Although, I don't really know how the conversions work..."

Severus wanted to ask about the 'apparently' comment, but he decided to let it go for now and he explained the conversions of British muggle money to Wizarding money. Which then lead the two into a talk of Arithmancy in which Severus pulled out the book he found that day in Diagon Alley, to show her the concept of it. They discussed the similarities of the subject to muggle Maths throughout the rest of the train ride.

When Lily finally came back into the compartment towards the end of the trip she smiled fondly towards the two. Glad that Severus found someone he could be this open and comfortable around. He didn't normally get to have intelligent conversations with someone just as excited about the topic as he, it was a nice change.

Lily thought Severus having a friend in Mason would be good for him.