Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of this work of fiction and am not making a profit, monetary or otherwise, through the writing of it.
A/N: Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry assignment number 2, Introduction to Quidditch: Quidditch Balls, Task 1 - Quaffle: "Write about someone or something being fought over."
"Give it here, Sev, it's mine," Lily says, reaching for the marble that Severus had won from her. There's a hint of laughter in her voice that belies any true anger and Severus holds the marble just out of Lily's reach above his head.
They're both grinning madly and Lily's got a glint of mischief in her eyes that promises there will be retribution for Severus winning the variegated marble from her collection. It is a pretty glass piece with streaks of violet, gold and a green that matches the color of Lily's eyes, running through it. It refracts the light of the sun and creates a prism in the sand. Severus has no intention of giving it back to her, or letting her win it back. He loves Lily, but he's won the marble fair and square and wants to keep it.
"I won it," Severus says. "And we said we were playing for keeps."
Lily pouts, and when Severus merely looks at her straight faced because she's used that tactic before and he's not buying it this time, she gives him a sweet, sinister smile that makes him shiver, and sighs. She sits back on the sand of the playground and makes a show of setting up her shooter marble.
Severus is familiar with this tactic as well. They've been meeting at the neighborhood playground for years now and have played a number of games together. Severus is not about to be bamboozled by Lily's act of nonchalance because if he's learned anything about playing with her, it's that she does not fight fair.
He pockets the marble, aware of Lily's narrow eyed gaze on him as he does so, and sets up his shooter marble. He's got his eye on a milky white marble with an onyx swirl running through it as his target. From the looks of it, Lily's got her eye on the same marble.
They're playing for keeps, so Severus wants to make sure that he bumps the coveted marble out of their crudely drawn circle before Lily does, which means that he needs to distract her because she gets the first shot. Severus casually reaches into his pocket, making sure that Lily is watching and keeping the smile to himself when her gaze turns to take in what he's doing. He fingers the marble that she'd tried to steal back from him and makes a show of taking it out of his pocket to inspect it.
Tossing her hair behind her shoulders, Lily huffs and glares at Severus before taking aim and shooting her marble. It's a solid shot, but it sails past the milky marble, barely nicking it before bouncing off of it and stopping at the very edge of the circle.
Lily growls and Severus returns the special marble to his pocket before he settles down to aim at the marble that he and Lily are currently vying for. It's a tricky shot for him to make, given his position, but his aim is true and he knocks the marble out of the circle, winning it.
Where Lily would shout in triumph, Severus merely smirks in satisfaction and plucks the marble from the sand, holding it up to the sun and looking at it from several different angles. It isn't as nice as the other one that he won, and doesn't reflect the light at all, but the onyx that runs through it is rather fetching. It matches the dark color of his eyes. It will fit in nicely with his current collection.
It's while he's admiring his newly won prize that Lily makes her move, and really, Severus should have taken this into consideration because Lily's not a fair fighter at all. She's sneaky and wily and has very deft fingers. She is also very quick, and once she's picked Severus' pocket while he's distracted with his latest win, she darts off toward the far side of the playground, crowing triumphantly over her steal.
Glowering, Severus pushes to his feet and runs after the girl. He tires far more quickly than she does, and, winded, lies full out on the grass at the edge of the playground.
"Fine," Severus says, pushing the hair from his face, panting from running around the playground. "You can have the ruddy marble."
"Language," Lily says without any real heat behind the word.
Lily stands over him, grinning like a lunatic, red hair a tangled mess, cheeks pink from their game of chase, tongue sticking out of her mouth. She's beautiful, the sun a halo behind her, and suddenly Severus can't breathe. He's always loved Lily as a friend, but there's something more throbbing in his heart for the marble thief than that of friendship.
When Lily offers him a hand up, he takes it and they return to their game of marbles, playing amicably. Severus loses far more than he wins, and he doesn't spend any time wondering why that is, or why his heart hammers in his chest whenever Lily's hair brushes against his hand when she leans over to fetch a marble she's won, or when their fingers accidentally touch.
Just before the sun sets, he and Lily part ways.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Sev," Lily says, smiling as she waves.
Words stick in his throat and he feels like a fool as he waves in return, nodding dumbly at his friend. He stands there for a long time, watching Lily until he can no longer see her, and then he turns and slowly makes his way home, the sun setting at his back.
As he walks up to his room, he reaches into his pockets to take out his meager winnings and is surprised when the marble that Lily stole from him is there, but the milky white one with the streak of onyx running through it is missing.
Smiling to himself, Severus races up the rest of the stairs, ignoring his father's bellowed reprimand for stomping up the stairs like an elephant, and hides his treasure in the box that he keeps beneath the floorboards in his room. He doesn't understand what it means that Lily returned the stolen marble to him and stole another in its stead, but it makes his heart flutter and makes him want to never stop smiling for as long as he lives.