Summary: Severus attempts to celebrate Halloween with Lily.
He dipped his finger in the black paint again and carefully brushed it along her cheeks in a meticulous fashion, as if he were working on a beautiful piece of artwork. She scrunched up her face suddenly, twitching her nose. He removed his finger from her face and sighed.
"It tickles, Sev !" Lily smiled and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand. "Okay, keep going. I'll be good." The Gryffindor prefect gave a mischievous smirk and wiggled to sit up straight on the chair. Severus leaned forward on the opposing chair to apply the face paint.
"Why celebrate a muggle holiday, here at school?" Severus asked slowly, as he often spoke, his eyes focused on painting whiskers onto the girl's cheeks. While October 31st was celebrated at Hogwarts, he could never fathom why. He wasn't a fan of sweets, and found the costumes and fake scares to be boring.
"It's fun!" She grinned, and his hand slipped downwards from her sudden movement. Black paint smeared across her cheek and onto the upper corner of her lip. Severus looked at her seriously. "Oops." She smiled. Lily raised her hand to wipe off the paint, but he gently stopped her by the wrist and set it back down at her side.
"I've got it." He whispered and used his thumb to rub against her top lip to wipe away the paint. Lily watched his gaze, which was affixed on her lips, and she felt her face flush. He finished, removing his thumb from her face and looked up at her through his long dark hair that fell in front of his face, their eyes meeting for a brief moment. Severus was easily distracted by her bright eyes, and she had to look away to break the tension. She bit her lip nervously.
"I like Halloween because it makes me feel magical. I know that must sound silly being here at Hogwarts, but before I knew about this world, I would dress up as a witch every year. It made me feel right… less alone, I guess. Now every time this year I'm reminded that I belong here, with people who accept me." She gave a wistful smile to herself. She glanced back at Severus quickly, nervously, excitedly, and then looked down. She fell back into silence as he didn't give a response.
He placed a hand on her chin and had her look back up to him so he could resume his work. He worked quietly, staring at her intensely, as he drew symmetrical black lines along her cheeks. He dipped his finger in the paint one last time and dabbed it onto her nose.
"Done." He said curtly, leaning back to examine her. He held up her handheld mirror to show her his work. She looked into the mirror to see a red headed witch with whiskers and a black nose grinning back at her. "I love it!" She squealed and jumped up to place a black cat-ear headband on her head. "How do I look, Sev?" She twirled in her robes and turned to face him, holding up her hands like paws.
He stared up at her for a few seconds without reply. "… Good. You look good." He gave a small smile when she grinned widely.
"We should hurry, the dinner is starting soon. Oh, I can't wait to see what the ghosts have planned this year! Oh, now that I think of it, we should probably match, right? What are you going to go as?" She looked down at him. He paused and looked down at his hands and began to wipe the paint off. "Nothing, I… I don't care for muggle holidays. It just mocks our world. It's foolish." He shrugged and sat up without looking at her and began to walk to the other side of the room to throw away the face paint. When he turned around to look at her, she looked pained.
"Am I foolish?" Lily asked, her bright eyes looking at him with hurt
"That's not what I said." He sighed and gathered up his things. "Goodnight." He said as he turned and walked from the Gryffindor common room, leaving her standing in disbelief. She took a step forward to stop him from leaving, extending her hand. "Sev, don't be like th—"She winced as the portrait slammed shut.
Then she was alone.
As he left the room, he gave a flick of his wand to the portrait of the Gray Lady to remove the silencing spell on her. He lowered his head in regret as he walked down the steps, ignoring the loud huffing and shouting of the portrait behind him. He had to mend his relationship with Lily somehow. The years at Hogwarts were becoming increasingly difficult for the two to get along, and it felt like their friendship was tearing at the seams.
He reeled against the railings of the stairs as his shoulder was painfully bumped into.
"Watch it, Snivellus." The boy with glasses smirked as he walked by, kicking at the Slytherin's feet. Severus turned to watch James Potter shuffle up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room and disappear behind the portrait.
He knew what he had to do as he entered the Slytherin dungeon common room.
While Halloween was a muggle holiday, the students at Hogwarts seemed to anticipate it every year, whether for the pumpkin juice and sweets, the costumes, or the ghost performances, Severus didn't know. While it seemed ridiculous to him, he knew it was important to Lily. Otherwise, he wouldn't be subjecting himself to this sort of ridicule. He lowered his head as girls and boys from all the houses looked to him and snickered. He hoped he wasn't too late and that Lily would still be at the dining hall. He gave a sigh of relief when he saw her sitting at the Gryffindor table chatting away with some other girls, who were also in simple costume. He stood behind her and cleared his throat.
Lily turned and looked at him, clearly surprised. Her brows pulled together in confusion and frustration as she looked at Severus with gray paint on his face with whiskers similar to hers. His make up seemed more rushed and careless than hers was. She squinted at him.
"Sev. What are you doing here? And what's on your face?" Her questions seemed more like accusations. He felt his hands shake with embarrassment. He curled his fingers into fists at his side.
"I'm a mouse." He explained and stared at her. She looked up and smiled.
"James!" She said happily and held out one hand. An arm reached past Severus to pull Lily up to her feet from the bench. As she brushed by him she gave him a sad look. He turned around to see James in matching make-up with Lily.
"What are you dressed up as, a joke?" James scoffed at him. Severus reached for his wand but Lily quickly nudged James to look at her as she saw him reach into his pocket. She quickly glanced over at Severus to give him a look of disgust. Turning to James, she smiled. "I was waiting for you." James wrapped his arm around her and kissed her cheek "Sorry to keep you waiting, kitten." Lily laughed loudly and brightly as he poked her painted nose with his finger affectionately. "I know how much this night means to you." He apologized to her. She glanced over at a stunned Severus and looked back to her date. "Let's go see the ghosts, yeah?" James suggested and pulled her away from the dining hall. She turned around and gave him a disappointed glance as she was whisked around the corner.
Then he was alone.
A/N: I only write based on prompts. If you would like to see a drabble/one-shot, please let me know your idea. Thank you.
-VH