"You're all freaks!"
Petunia dropped this line and stormed off in a huff once more, leaving Severus and Camelia to look at each other in bewilderment, while Lily hurried after her sister.
Severus curled his lip in disgust, pushed himself up from the grass, and brushed the dust from his clothes.
Camelia's gaze followed his movements. She sat on the ground, eyeing Severus's ill-fitting, tightly buttoned women's coat, then looked down at her own noticeably short children's outfit, and suddenly asked with a cryptic tone, "Aren't you afraid Petunia will be mad?"
He lowered his gaze to sweep over Camelia, managing to keep himself from rolling his eyes.
"I imagine that if your eyesight is functioning normally, you can see that she is already mad." Severus's deliberate pauses made the remark sound all the more sarcastic.
Camelia stood up as well, dusting herself off as she spoke. "I think you know what I mean." Her meaning was that Petunia's anger would affect Lily and their interactions, and might even cause them to lose Lily as a friend.
Severus looked away and said nothing.
Camelia bent down and picked up the hardcover book from the grass. "Can I take this back to read first?" This Charms book was driving her crazy; she felt she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if she didn't finish it.
"Hn." Severus had no objection to this. At times he was remarkably generous with his friends, even though he hadn't finished reading it himself. "Only for tonight."
"I understand." Camelia knew he hadn't finished the book yet, so she was somewhat surprised that he would lend it to her. But since he had agreed, it was obviously an opportunity too good to miss. It was a pity the time was so short, or else she could have copied it out to read at her leisure.
They always went to read at a shabby little secondhand bookstore run by an elderly widow. Although at first Severus had been extremely reluctant to look at Muggle books, he had accidentally spotted a magical book wrapped in a Muggle book cover, which had spurred him to actively visit the shop to read and hunt for books.
The old lady was particularly fond of Camelia. It wasn't just out of a general affection; it was also because Camelia's name was very similar to that of her missing young daughter, whose name was Elia, so the old lady always called Camelia Lia. Camelia didn't mind; to her, it was a perfectly fair exchange.
"Tell me, do you really hate Muggles?" Camelia asked, clutching the book as she watched Severus prepare to leave.
"Muggles and wizards don't belong to the same world. Wizards possess powerful magic that Muggles don't." His first half-sentence was quite flat, but the second half carried a trace of fanaticism.
"Oh." Perhaps, thought Camelia. In that little bookstore, she had read many books about the Muggle world, and she felt that perhaps they weren't as weak as wizards thought. But she didn't say it—there was no need, was there?
"Then do you really hate Petunia?" Camelia asked again.
"Miss Groen, did you eat your fill today, or is this damned sun making you light-headed?" Severus was thoroughly displeased by Camelia's barrage of questions, and he countered with a sarcastic rhetorical question to rebuff her.
However, Camelia was not the type to cater to other people's wishes, especially since she knew that if Severus truly didn't want to answer, he would have walked far away by now instead of standing here chatting with her and waiting for her response.
"Of course not, Mr. Severus. Your humble old friend simply wants you to bestow an answer upon her," Camelia said slowly, imitating his tone.
"If you really must know, then my answer is yes," Severus said with some annoyance. With that, he turned sharply and strode off in the direction of Spinner's End.
(Forgot to mention, Camelia lived at No. 23 Spinner's End, diagonally across from No. 19.)
"One more question, you..."
Before she could finish, she was cut off by a furious Severus. "Shut up, Camelia Groen! Who gave you the right to probe and cross-examine me over and over again? Are you planning to lecture me on behalf of that Muggle Petunia Evans? If so, my answer remains the same: she is just a stupid, worthless Muggle who knows nothing but jealousy!" He spun around and roared with bitter sarcasm.
With that, he turned on his heel and strode away.
Watching Severus's retreating figure, Camelia didn't know what to do for a moment.
This wasn't probing, nor was it cross-examination, Camelia told herself. Perhaps Severus didn't realize it himself, but he cared a great deal about Lily, even though they had only known each other for a few days. From Camelia's perspective, Petunia was crucial to maintaining the relationship with Lily.
She didn't know what to make of her own mood. The feeling was somewhat familiar, a little like the sensation she'd had when she discovered Severus was also a wizard—back then, there had been a bitter reluctance and regret at having her only friend snatched away, but there had also been a measure of comfort because Severus had become her friend.
This time it was slightly different. Alongside the regret and reluctance, there was also a faint touch of what she had read about in books as loneliness. There was no jealousy; she liked Lily too, which was why she wanted to understand Severus's perspective so she could help ease the tension between him and Petunia.
Yet it seemed too blunt. But with Severus, if you weren't blunt, you could only leave things to time.
A week passed before Lily finally came back to the abandoned playground to read with Camelia as she used to. Camelia had come here every single day that week; even when it rained, she would pull a black plastic sheet over her head and wait in the one sheltered spot in the playground. But regretfully, it had always been just her.
"Camelia, where's Severus? How come I don't see him?" Lily asked curiously as soon as she arrived.
Camelia kept her eyes glued to her book and said nothing.
"Could it be... did you guys have a fight?" Lily asked hesitantly, observing Camelia's expression.
Camelia remained fixed on her book, pressing her lips together in silence. This was a book she had copied out beforehand; the one she had borrowed from Severus she had faithfully finished reading that very night, she simply hadn't returned it yet.
"Yes," Camelia said gloomily after a moment.
"Why?" Lily's green eyes were filled with curiosity and surprise. She felt that Camelia and Severus had a very good relationship; there was an atmosphere between them that no one else could break into, and one could tell at a glance that they were good friends.
"Because I asked him something about Petunia," Camelia said despondently. She now regretted being so direct, as it left her clueless about how to approach Severus again.
"By the way, is Petunia still mad at you? If she stays mad, will we not be able to be friends anymore?" Camelia felt even more depressed.
"Um... Petunia is still mad at me. Sigh—" Lily cupped her face in her hands and sighed despondently. "Don't we look like a pair of shipwrecked sisters, both stuck in the same predicament?" Lily made a joke, trying to lighten the gloomy atmosphere.
"Lily, Petunia is mad because she envies us. We talk about things she can't join in on. I think anyone would be angry if they were ignored by their friends," Camelia tried to reason with Lily.
"What you're saying makes total sense, but it seems we have no way of hanging out and talking about ordinary people's stuff either. I really want to learn about wizarding things."
Lily was caught in a dilemma where she couldn't have both her sister and the things she wanted to learn, but Camelia could offer no help.
"Then I suppose we just have to let nature take its course. However, I might have to first make Severus stop being mad at me."
"Pfft—" Picturing Camelia begging a grim-faced Severus for forgiveness, Lily couldn't help bursting into laughter. "Well, good luck with that." That certainly wouldn't be an easy task, she thought to herself.