Chapter Text
Lyra Eileen Evans Snape was a very lucky girl. She had loving parents and a house filled with everything a girl her age could hope for. However, she was certainly not normal; she was a witch capable of quite unimaginable things. Her parents, Lily and Severus Snape, were both professors at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a boarding school established over a thousand years ago by four of the finest witches and wizards of the age: Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff.
Her mother taught Muggle Studies, a class designed to educate witches and wizards about the non-magical world. This position wasn't merely a courtesy from the Headmaster due to Lily's heritage; although she was Muggle-born meaning she was born to non-magical parents—she was a highly talented witch. By the age of 25, she had earned her Masteries in both Charms and Potions.
Her father, Severus, was another matter. A half-blood wizard, his mother, Eileen Prince Snape, was a pure-blood witch, while his father, Tobias Snape, was a Muggle. Severus taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, his favorite subject.
While her parents occasionally disagreed on specific matters like friendships or discipline, their love for each other was evident. Life hadn't always been easy for them, as they were from rival houses at Hogwarts: Lily was a Gryffindor, known for bravery and loyalty, while Severus was a Slytherin, valued for cunning and ambition. Despite the historic hatred between their houses, they had been best friends since the age of nine, started dating at sixteen, married at twenty, and had Lyra at twenty-one.
This was the story Lyra had heard since first asking her mother, and she found it both boring and disgusting because her parents often started making-out while telling it, which Lyra considered an overt and unnecessary display of affection.
Tomorrow, on the sixteenth of January, Lyra would turn eleven and receive her Hogwarts letter. She had been waiting forever for this day, but she was also anxious. She knew her parents had great expectations; they were both immensely proud of their respective houses. Since she was nine, Lyra had become obsessed with her parents' lives at Hogwarts. Whenever she asked about her father's social life, Lily would vaguely say he wasn't popular. This only made Lyra more determined to uncover the truth about her parents' past when she attended the school herself.
Meanwhile, at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, lived a boy Lyra's age named Harry Potter. He lived with his godfather, Sirius Black, his father's best friend since childhood. Harry grew up on stories of his parents' glory, how they fought bravely against Lord Voldemort, the greatest Dark wizard of all time. He shared the same enthusiasm for attending Hogwarts.
Harry was small for his age with jet-black hair like his father's, round glasses, and a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead a permanent reminder of the night Voldemort killed his parents and tried to kill him. Sirius took good care of him, and they often spent their time playing Quidditch, Harry's favorite hobby since age six. He dreamed of one day joining the Gryffindor Quidditch team and winning the cup, just like his father and godfather. He also looked up to Remus Lupin, another of his father's friends, who visited every weekend with stories of James Potter's heroic actions and playing style. To Harry, James Potter was the ultimate role model, despite having no memory of him. Although Remus always mentioned that his father had his "share of bad," neither he nor Sirius would ever elaborate. With no living blood relatives, Harry sometimes felt sad, especially on his birthday. No matter how much he loved Sirius, he couldn't help but wonder what life would have been like if James and Mary Potter were still alive.
Like the boy from Grimmauld Place, Lyra Snape had few relatives. On her father's side, she knew only that her grandmother, Eileen Snape (whom she was named after), had died when Severus was eighteen. She knew nothing of her paternal grandfather, Tobias, beyond his name. On her mother's side, there was only her Aunt Petunia. Severus's comments about Petunia were that she was an "insufferable, jealous bitch" who had badmouthed Lily and him since they were nine. Lily, however, would always loudly disagree, insisting, "She is my sister, Sev!" Every year, Lily sent Christmas gifts to 4 Privet Drive for Petunia, her husband, and their son, Dudley, striving to maintain a connection despite years of silence and receiving only cold thank-you notes in return. As far as Lyra was concerned, the relationship between the Snapes and the Dursleys was strictly tit-for-tat.
Her parents also kept strikingly different company. Her father's friends included the Malfoy family. Lucius Malfoy, whom Severus called "Malf," and his wife Narcissa were former housemates of Severus, though nearly seven years his senior. As the wizarding community well knew, the Malfoys were Blood Purists, who traditionally despised those with Muggle heritage. Despite this, they socialized with the Snapes and welcomed Lily into their Manor a situation Lily described as "tolerating" her. On her mother's side, friends like Frank and Alice Longbottom would visit. They had a shy son named Neville, who always seemed to avoid making eye contact with Lyra's father.