9 Chapter 08

Eileen's eyes lit up, "Really? What do I have to do? What's the pay? When do I start?"

Rosmerta chuckled, "Merlin's beard..slow down, will you. I will answer your questions one at a time."

"So the job is just to help me manage the pub and inn. I recently reopened it after finally getting it under my name. I don't have much savings left after renovating it so I can't hire many people."

Pausing to see Eileen's expression, she continued, " The pay will be decent. Since you will not be doing one specific job, the pay will be higher. Also, you must help me come up with new drinks, you are decent at potions so you can help me with mixing. You can start from tomorrow if you want.."

"There...have I answered everything?"

Eileen immediately nodded, "Of course, I will start from tomorrow. Thank you so much, Rosie. I-I.. don't know how to thank you.."

"No need to thank me, Eileen, this is the least I could do.."

"B-but.." Eileen protested but Rosmerta didn't let her.

After that, they chatted for a while before Rosmerta left after apparating. Eileen wanted to apparate too but she was out of practice and didn't want to splinch herself.

She bought some ice cream for Severus and left Diagon alley. She was relieved that she got a job. While things didn't go as well as she had wanted, at least she was not helpless anymore.

...

[POV Change]

As I neared Lily, I noticed what she was doing. She was using magic to change the colours of the flowers.

She noticed me approaching and quickly wiped her tears and stopped her magic. Her face still had the telltale signs of crying though. Her eyes were red too.

"Hello there." I greeted her as I reached the top of the mound.

"H-hello.." she greeted back but her voice cracked. She blushed at this and kept her head down.

I sighed as I knew this was going to be awkward. I had just about gotten used to interacting with Eileen and even then I felt awkward sometimes.

She knew I was mature for my age but I was still a kid in her eyes….

Now in front of me was Lily, a canon character but more importantly, was still a kid. Moreover, she appeared to have been crying. Comforting others was something I was never good at and I didn't know how to approach the situation.

Still, I knew I had to at least give it a try. Making a good first impression was important and I was sure I would make a better one than canon Severus.

"Right.." I began. "Haven't seen you around, you new?"

"Y-yes...I just moved in."

"I see...well then, I am Severus or Severus Prince if you wish to be formal. Welcome to the neighbourhood I guess…" I said, giving her a hand.

"L-lily, Lily Evans." she greeted me back and shook my hand awkwardly.

"So now that we are acquainted…" I started and sat beside her on the grass. "..What's gotten you down? Is it the dreary town because if it is...I totally agree with you."

"No...it's just that.." she began but couldn't finish her sentence.

"You don't have to tell me since we barely know each other but I heard that confiding in others helps.." I suggested.

I could half guess why she was upset but I wasn't too sure. My most probable guess was that it had something to do with Petunia, her jealous sister.

"Well, it's nothing much but I had a row with my sister...Tuney." She began.

Taking a deep breath, she continued, "You see, we were always close sisters but then something happened and then things changed. I don't know why but she keeps shunning me and always makes fun of me….I tried to be good to her but she just hates me…"

I calmly listened to her. She paused several times to think and I also noticed how she omitted anything magic related. I guessed she didn't trust me enough or her parents forbade it.

Or she is worried about my reaction to it. I didn't want to wait for her to slowly open up so I did the thing I was sure would make them trust me. I decided to show her my magic.

Of course not immediately as that would be too shocking and suspicious. I listened to her and tried comforting her.

After a while, her cheery self as portrayed in the book started emerging and she kept on talking while I made small remarks here and there.

Honestly, I was glad she was this active as I wouldn't know what to talk about. I was not only not her age, I was not even of the same era so I would have just made the situation worse.

Besides everybody liked a good listener.

"So how did you do it?" I asked in between.

"Huh? Do what?" confused she asked me.

"Well, I noticed you changing the colours of those flowers you know…"

A shocked expression appeared on her face as she quickly denied it, "W-what are you talking about?"

"See those flowers." I pointed at the colourful flowers a few feet away.

"T-those were always like th-that…" she began but I interrupted her.

"So you are telling me flowers grow like that?"I said. The flowers were in different colours each and it didn't look natural at all.

"Um...I...that…" she stuttered.

I could see that she was clearly nervous as sweat trickled down her temple and her eyes darted around.

"Well, I can only think of one explanation for what I saw Lily."

She looked up eager to hear what I had to say.

"You are a witch, Lily," I stated.

"I am a what?" she asked with a confused face.

"A witch," I repeated. I kept a stoic expression but inwardly I was feeling amused.

"B-but that can't be true...I am not a bad girl."

"I never said you were one though?"

"But you said I was a witch.."

"What does that have to do with you being a witch?" I asked, pretending to be clueless.

"I saw on the tele that witches were bad…"

"Oh...I see. You don't know about the magical world then?"

"Magic?" she asked with confusion in her voice.

"Yes, what you just did is magic and a person who can use it is a witch," I said.

"Really? How do you know all this then?" she asked not believing it or not wanting to believe it.

"Well, I know all this because I can use magic too," I said and then lifted my hand.

The flowers nearby were uprooted and came floating to my hand. I turned all the flowers to white and presented them to Lily.

"Now do you believe me?"

"Y-yes.." she said, not taking her eyes off the flowers. "You are a witch too then?"

My eyes twitched at that, " The more accurate term would-be wizard."

"Oh...I see. How do you know all about this?" Excitement shone in her eyes.

"Sit down...this will take a while," I asked her to sit down again. I knew I had her as her expression gave away her curiosity and eagerness to learn more about her powers and the magical world.