Life like a swamp became a little easier to bear thanks to the existence of magic. After getting to know Severus, his eleven-year-old hope belonged to Camelia as well.
Hogwarts—what a truly enchanting place.
Ever since he had agreed to teach Camelia magic, Severus frequently found himself unable to tolerate her foolish questions. She knew nothing of the most basic common knowledge in the wizarding world; although he knew this was because she was a Muggle-born, it did not mean he would show her any tender consideration.
Consequently, their method of teaching shifted to having Camelia study on her own first, and discussing anything she didn't understand afterward. It was then that Severus discovered Camelia possessed an extraordinary talent for Charms, and he had to admit that her Charms were stronger than his.
Although the lack of wands made their learning progress quite slow, their understanding and application of magic grew deeper and more proficient. Sometimes they even practiced magical duels.
Neither of them attended school, however—one because he disdained to go, and the other because she had no money for it at all—so they had plenty of time to practice magic.
Of course, being a wizard meant knowing not only Charms, but Potions as well. Fortunately, they were penniless children, but they had a Herbology textbook, which allowed them to use the desolate local terrain—woods and the like nearby—to find the ingredients needed for brewing potions.
Their domestic situations were equally wretched: one had an alcoholic, abusive father and a mother who had the ability to leave but was cowardly and incompetent, while the other had a gambling father who showed nothing but neglect and indifference toward the family, and a blind, neurotic mother.
The only respect in which Camelia's plight was better than Severus's was that she did not suffer physical violence from her father. Yet, was cold violence not a form of violence as well? Moreover, her mother, gripped by the anxiety of living in darkness, would pinch and bite her to vent her frustrations—and her mother was unnervingly sharp when it came to grabbing her for this purpose.
They never confided their home lives to one another. Even though their plights were identical, ripping open one's sordid reality to expose it to someone else was simply too painful. Thus, by unspoken mutual consent, they never mentioned these things, and by the same tacit understanding, they remained silent whenever they saw new bruises on each other.
The days passed amidst their study of magic. The hope sustained by two people seemed more real and powerful than that of just one.
In 1969, they turned nine—ah, no, ten, since one's birthday was January 9th and the other's March 11th.
In April, Camelia's mother's mental state deteriorated further. From initially staying only inside or around the house, she began wandering away from home, with no one knowing where she went.
Camelia acquired a new task: finding her mother. Occasionally she went to her father, trying to plead with this man to help her look, but all she got was impatience and a small amount of money—just enough to keep her from starving to death for a little while.
Yes, she should have understood long ago: through his actions, this man was showing her that apart from keeping her and her mother from starving to death, he would have nothing more to do with them. Ensuring she didn't starve was the limit of his conscience as a father.
Soon enough, however, Camelia no longer needed to look for her mother, because she finally found her. Lying in the sewage on the other side of that abandoned factory was her mother.
Camelia did not know what she ought to feel. With a calm expression, and with the help of the elderly priest from the nearby old church, she buried her mother in a desolate graveyard using a thin wooden coffin.
Severus was rather worried about his partner Camelia. Ever since her mother's death, she had remained entirely calm, only occasionally slipping into trances. Yet he could sense that beneath this calm lurked something rather terrifying.
"Camelia Groen." Watching his partner slip into another trance, Severus pressed his lips together and called her name softly, his eyes filled with worry.
They were currently at Camelia's house; ever since her mother's death, their study location had shifted to her home.
Yet this hardly seemed like a good place, Severus thought to himself.
"Hm? What is it, Severus?" After a long moment, Camelia finally snapped out of her inexplicable trance.
"Let's change places." Severus climbed up from the rug and walked toward the door.
"All right." Camelia felt somewhat puzzled, but she had no strong feelings either way; truthfully, it didn't make much difference where they studied. She quickly followed in Severus's footsteps.
They walked toward a nearby abandoned playground. From a short distance away, they heard a burst of crisp, pleasant laughter.
With one accord, they crept over and hid behind the bushes beneath a tree.
"It's them," Severus said in a low voice.
"Who?" Camelia asked, somewhat bewildered. Severus spoke as though he had been watching them for a long time.
"One of them is a witch," Severus said softly, watching the two little girls on the swings. "I've observed them before."
Camelia bit her lip lightly, glanced at Severus, and said nothing.
In the bright sunshine, a remarkably pretty girl with shoulder-length red hair and startlingly green eyes sat on a swing, pushed from behind by an older girl with reddish-brown hair and a smattering of freckles on her face.
They must have been sisters. The younger sister sat on the swing, laughing with uninhibited joy. She kept laughing as she called out, "Petunia, push me higher!"
The girl pushing the swing behind her laughed as well, but refused to comply with her sister's request: "No, it's too dangerous! You can only go this high!"
"It's not, there's no danger at all," the red-headed girl said with a smile. "If you don't believe me, look!" With that, as the swing reached its apex, she jumped right off it.
"Lily!" Both of them were startled, and Petunia cried out in alarm.
Petunia lunged forward, wanting to catch her sister, but her eyes widened as she watched in utter amazement as her sister was gently caught by the wind and lowered slowly to the ground.
"Petunia, look, there was no danger at all!" Lily said excitedly.
"Lily! How could you do that, it's too dangerous!" Seeing her sister safely on the ground, Petunia rushed over, a mix of lingering terror and anger, to check if she was truly all right.
Seeing her older sister so angry, Lily felt a twinge of regret for what she had just done. She looked at Petunia's angry, worried face and was at a loss for what to do. Suddenly, an idea struck her.
"Petunia, don't be mad. Look." Lily squatted down, picked up a withered flower, and placed it in the palm of her hand.
They both watched as the flower slowly, gently hovered above the girl's palm, gradually growing vibrant and life-like, even opening and closing its petals.
"How did you do that?!" Petunia asked, extremely astonished and somewhat agitated.
"I don't know, Petunia, but I can just do it," Lily said, smiling at Petunia.
Severus could no longer hold back. He stood up from the bushes, looking somewhat nervous as he said in a low voice, "Because you're... you're a witch."
"Who are you?!" Petunia nervously pulled Lily behind her, staring with vigilant eyes at the boy with curtain-like greasy black hair, a hooked nose, a pale, malnourished, and skeletal face, and oversized women's clothing.
Severus pressed his lips together nervously, his right hand behind his back while his left hand, hanging at his side, clenched uneasily.
Seeing this, Camelia felt she ought to do something. She too stood up from the bushes, standing shoulder to shoulder with Severus.
Petunia jumped in fright, eyeing Severus and Camelia with even greater vigilance. "And who are you?!" she demanded.
She looked at the girl who had popped out—even thinner and smaller than the boy, with messy hair and also wearing oversized women's clothing—and said, her tone filled with a reluctant pity yet retaining its wariness.
"Camelia Groen." Petunia heard the girl look at her with dark, unblinking eyes, clutching the hem of her oversized garment with both hands as she spoke in a small voice.
"Severus Snape." Hearing Camelia's reply, Severus immediately followed.
"My name is Lily Evans!" the red-haired girl poked her head out from behind Petunia and said excitedly.
"Lily!" Petunia was somewhat displeased by Lily's friendliness.
"It's all right, Petunia, they aren't bad people," Lily said, smiling at her sister. "This is my sister, Petunia Evans!"
"Can I call you Severus and Camelia?" Lily asked amiably.
"Yes." "Mm." Camelia and Severus replied one after the other.
Petunia looked on with a mixture of helplessness as Lily chatted with them. Glancing from Lily to the two frail children, she thought her sister was truly adorable. At the same time, she couldn't help feeling that the two of them were rather pitiful.
She thought she knew who they were now.