She had been trying in vain to strike his window with a pebble for three minutes now, but none hit their target. The small stones bounced off of the rusted siding of the building, and fell back to earth with a soft plunk. Her efforts seemed to be in vain (for she was not a very good shot).
"This is it," she said quietly to herself, picking up the last pebble from the ground, "Forty second time's the charm!"
She rolled the rock back and forth in fingers, feeling its smooth surface. She gripped it tightly and fixed her gaze on the window with the dilapidated shutters. Even in the darkness she could tell the glass was grimy; the window could have quite possibly not been cleaned in years. Her eyes moved from the window to the rock; she finally hurled the pebble at the window, and her persistence paid off.
Lily Evans hit the window.
Lily stood still, anticipating a figure to appear at the window. Moments later, the shutters swung open and hit the side of the house with a loud bang. The dark silhouette stood, looking down into the yard. At first, Lily feared that she had awoken the wrong person, but at the sound of his voice, she smiled.
"Who's there!?" a young boy hissed from his bedroom window; his eyes scanning the garden in the darkness, his wand clutched in his left hand.
"Sev!" Lily called out in a low voice, "It's me!"
"L-Lily…" Severus Snape's voice cracked as he spoke her name, "W-what are you doing here?" He dropped his wand.
The stars shone brightly in the night sky, as did the moon, which was nearly full and bright yellow in color. It was a hot midsummer's night; Severus had all ready gone to bed and was not expecting Lily to show up at his house at this time of night.
"Severus! Come down!"
Whenever he heard the voice of Lily Evans, he could not help but to obey.
Lily was standing amongst the knee-length grass and weeds of the Snape family yard, hands on her hips. She had grown rather impatient. Not wanting to upset her any longer, Severus called out to her, "I'll be right down!"
He turned back to the darkness of his bedroom and started to rummage through a drawer for some clothes he could change into; he did not want Lily to see him in his too small, too ratty, too old pajamas. Severus changed quickly into his clean clothes: jeans that hit just above his ankle and the odd, smock-like shirt he had worn on the first day he had met Lily. He held the shirt in his hands and remembered that day on the playground. "How many years has it been?" he thought to himself as he pulled the still over-sized shirt on. Severus closed his eyes and went back to that day; he could still see Lily soaring through the air, red hair flying about her face, laughing…
"Severus Snape! Get your arse down here right now!" Lily was impatient now; it was not the time for Severus to reminisce about the past, not when he had his future waiting for him in the backyard of Spinner's End.
Severus was lucky because his father had not shown up at home on this night, and if his mother had woken up, she probably would not even bother to see what all the commotion was out in the yard. She would just let him go. Whenever Severus would disappear during the day, his mother would just smile, and let him go. Although Eileen Prince had never met Lily Evans, she knew all about Lily. Severus did not need to tell her. She knew by the excitement in his eyes whenever he was getting ready to go out, the way he smiled when that time drew near: he was in love with a girl.
Severus crept as quietly as he could down the creaky stairs, out the back door, and into the yard. As he moved closer to Lily, a grin crept onto his face. Her thick, red hair fell to the middle of her back, her green eyes shone brightly in the pale moonlight. She was wearing her Hogwarts school uniform: a black, pleated skirt, a white button down shirt, school shoes and knee high-socks, and her scarlet and gold Gryffindor tie.
In Severus' eyes, Lily was perfection.
"Sev!" Lily cried out and rushed toward him; she proceeded to fling her arms around his neck. Severus stood motionless, not knowing what to do. Suddenly their eyes met. His face flushed and he quickly averted her gaze. She smiled.
"Lily…" Severus said in a gentle voice, still staring at the ground, "what are you doing here?" Lily finally pulled away from him and rolled her eyes.
"I came to see you, silly!" she giggled, "I have something to show you!"
Lily grabbed Severus' arm and dragged him through the overgrown grass and the dilapidated gate. The squeaking of the gate was rather unsettling for Severus; it felt strange to suddenly be awoken from his sleep, rushed out of bed, and dragged into the night to who knows where. And despite the fact that his heart was throbbing in his chest, running in the darkness, Lily's hand that grasped onto his arm reassured him that he had nothing to fear.