The late-autumn mist hung still and heavy over the Hogwarts grounds. The sun was dissembled somewhere behind the curtain of gray clouds which seemed to be neither coming nor going, though a slight wind picked up the long grasses on the hill of the standing stones. Lily Evans, cloaked and equipped not with a wand, but with a pencil and parchment, was translating the runes.

Anyone looking at her, as she cast her gaze upon the ancient etches in stone, would immediately notice that she was strikingly beautiful. Her calculating, transfixed eyes were purely and stunning green, wide and almond-shaped. Her face had a perfect symmetry to it, her cheekbones were high, and the contrast between her pale cheek and deep red hair was intense. And yet she did not hold her chin high; there was no trace of haughtiness in her glance or suggestion of a sneer on her lips. She had the air of someone who was beautiful without meaning it or knowing it.

There was a rustle of footsteps in the wet grass. Lily looked up, searching through the fog. She could hear the climber before she could see him, but as his sallow face and dark eyes appeared on the hilltop, she looked away with pained disdain.

"Lily…" he began in a strangled sort of voice.

"What do you want, Severus?" Lily asked, still translating the runes.

"I wanted to speak to you. I knew I would find you here," Snape said. "Your dedication to your studies has always…inspired me."

"Go write a book about it then," Lily said sarcastically. "I daresay you need something healthy to occupy your spare time." She paused, looked up and with an entirely different tone, something more serious and closer to pleading, said, "The Dark Arts don't suit you, Severus…"

The gaunt teenage boy was quick to change the subject. He leaned against the stone, crossed his arms across his chest, and said, "So I hear you're dating Potter." He spat the name with very obvious dislike.

Lily turned to the next stone in the circle, not because she had finished translating the last, but to remove Snape from her line of sight. "Whom I chose to date is none of your business," she said stiffly.

"Potter doesn't suit you, Lily."

"Obviously I disagree. And your opinion is of little consequence in the matter." She pulled a thick dictionary out of her bag for the translation of an unknown rune. With a flick of her wand, she charmed it to hover beside her and flipped through the pages with quick, rather spastic movements.

"But it is of some?" Snape asked hopefully.

"None," Lily answered with finality.

Snape was silent for a moment. He took a step closer, but Lily did not turn around. He tried again. "What do you see in him?" This time his voice sounded hurt, and a trace of a whine had escaped through the wall of his pride. He was like a wounded animal.

Lily had been writing, but she stopped for a moment. She said slowly, "I see a man who is kind and brave, who saved your life last year at great personal risk—"

Here Snape interrupted. "Let it never be said that James Potter saved my life!"

"I'm afraid I've just said it, and it happens to be the truth."

"It wasn't like that, it was his trick in the first place. You can't think him a hero for it!"

But Lily was no longer listening, "who takes his studies seriously and strives to help younger students, and who, I think, has loved me for years."

Snape did not speak for a moment, and even without looking at him, Lily could hear the next question forming in his mind. He struggled with it, furrowed his eyebrows deeply and closed his eyes, but did not ask. Instead, he took a step closer and put his hand on her shoulder. He spoke in a very low, quiet tone that sounded nothing like his usual speech. "I have loved you for years, Lily," he said.

Lily could not help it. She turned around to see his tortured face over her shoulder, but was entirely lost for words.

"I, who have never truly known love! My father loathed my magical blood too much to love me and my mother didn't have enough hope left in her to love me! You…" he stopped and sounded for a moment as though he were going to cry. "You were the first to love me, I know it."

"Severus, I loved you as the only childhood companion that could understand me, and then the first friend I had here at Hogwarts! It's different now; you're different now!" Lily exclaimed. She had stopped her translations.

"I'm not," Snape said, and then without reason or warning, he roughly turned her around by the shoulders and kissed her fully on the lips. Shocked, Lily stayed for a moment, and then suddenly, frantically sought to free herself from his clutching fingers on her shoulders. She grabbed his forearms to push him away and he winced as she broke the connection.

"You had… no right… to do that!" Lily exclaimed, livid. Her face was suddenly red, and her eyes wide with shock and anger.

Snape seemed not to be listening, however. He was coddling his right forearm, as though it hurt very much where she had touched it.

"I…oh Severus, I didn't mean to," Lily said, and her demeanor suddenly changed with pity. "Was it your father? Has he been hurting you again? I didn't realize… here…" she took his arm, and before he could stop her, pulled the sleeve of his robe up to his shoulder.

The sight that met her eyes made her gasp aloud and jump suddenly backward, so that she was backed up against the standing stone. Hot tears immediately spurted from her eyes, and she looked at him as if she had never really seen him before. "The D-Dark Mark?" she whispered. "But…then Severus… you've… really…." Such was her disbelief that she could hardly piece her words together. "You've really gone over to the Dark Side?"

Snape grabbed her by the shoulders again and looked her straight in the eyes. "Lily, you must tell no one! No one!" he said forcefully.

But Lily was sobbing now. "They sent the Dark Mark into the sky where they murdered my mother! Your people! In a muggle shopping center… just Christmas shopping… and then dead… and that mark in the sky, the one you now wear on your arm! How—How could you?"

"Lily, I would never do anything to hurt you, never!" Snape yelled adamantly.

"They've made you a murderer!"

"Lily, you don't understand! You… you must not tell anyone! No one! You must promise!" He was digging his thumbs painfully into her shoulders now. "Promise me!"

Lily was quiet, and looked up at him with immense sorrow in her streaming eyes. "You stand for a cause that has killed my mother and taken away my best friend. You cannot possibly love me. And I could never love you."

Snape made a wild noise and turned away from her. His black eyes were now glistening too, but rather than make him look weak or sad, the tears gave his glare a dark menacing glow.

And Lily was backed against the standing stone for support, her face buried in her hands as she shook with high, piercing sobs.

"Snivellus, I think you'd better leave now." James had just emerged upon the hilltop, his dark hair ruffled by the increasing wind, and his face unusually serious.

Snape's eyes found Lily's, imploringly. Would she breathe a word? She looked down and covered her eyes.

"Potter, I am no pawn for you to command," Snape replied, glaring with contempt.

James drew his wand warningly. Snape regarded it for a moment, but did not draw his own. He would not duel Potter in front of Lily. "I have other business to attend to." And with a sudden turn of his heel, he strode off haughtily down the hill and out of sight.

James went to Lily. "Lily, what did he do to you?" he asked, touching her shoulder where Snape had only moments before. There was not a more obvious difference in the two men than this: James's large hand on her shoulder was gentle, beseeching, comforting; softly caressing where Snape's had carelessly bruised.

"N-nothing…" Lily said quietly. She lifted her hands to wipe her eyes, but found James's thumb there already, swiping tenderly beneath to dry her cheeks. "You know I've just been… easily upset…these days," she said feebly. "And you know he was…" she took a deep breath and suppressed a fresh sob, "an old friend of mine…"

"Yes, but I never understood why," James said with disgust. Then his face softened and he put a hand to her chin to lift her face to him. He kissed her for a moment, and then said, "Never mind that. This will cheer you up. Hestia's cat is having kittens in the common room."

"Kittens?" Lily smiled. "How many?"

"There were three when I left. One orange, one white, and one striped. I think Sirius and Remus sneaked off for Butterbeer to celebrate. Shall we go see them?"

Lily laughed at the idea of Sirius throwing a birthing party for a cat. "I'm glad you came for me," she said as they set off, hand in hand, back down the hill and toward the castle.

Author's Note: For me this was an exercise in dialogue and character drama, to help improve my writing craft. I may decide to write another chapter, depending on reader feedback. Please, review and tell me what you think!