By Noir Maria
Autumn's last days were drawing to a close. The wind was chilling and harsh; it stung one?'s face when one looked into it. The trees had all but lost their glory; crimson, gold, orange, and cinnamon lay forlornly on the ground, and Remus Lupin, as he walked down to the Quidditch grounds from Hogwarts, could only see one beautiful red-gold leaf hanging obstinately from a gnarled tree.
Remus reached the Quidditch grounds. He sighed; James wasn't here. Where the hell was James, then? Remus had checked the Great Hall, and the common room, and the dorm room, and the classrooms-although he couldn't see why James would be there-and the kitchens, and James wasn't anywhere.
Remus wanted to show James his new chess set, which he had gotten from his parents for his birthday. Sirius was still asleep, as he was on most Saturday mornings at 10:00, and had chucked a pillow at Remus when Remus had tried to wake him by yelling, "Wake up! I've got a new chess set!" Peter was eating. Nothing could distract Peter while he was eating. So Remus had gone off in search of James. But James was nowhere to be found.
Remus put his gloved hands on his cold face. His face was so cold that his hands could feel it through the gloves.
"James!" someone yelled.
Remus turned. Lily was walking down to the Quidditch field. Lily. His heart skipped a beat as he watched her walk. Her bright red hair was tossing violently in the wind. If only...if only...But no, James was her boyfriend. James was her boyfriend because he was perfect, just as she was perfect. James and Lily, girlfriend and boyfriend, head boy and head girl.
"No," Remus called, "It's only me."
"Remus? D'you know where James is, by any chance?" Lily asked, walking to where Remus stood.
"'I am not my brother's keeper,'" Remus said.
Lily rolled her eyes. Remus looked at the ground.
"It's bloody cold, isn't it?" Lily commented.
"Bloody cold," Remus said. He noticed that her hands, so small and pale and flawless, were ungloved. "Would you like my gloves?" he asked.
Lily smiled, "Thanks, but, then, y'know, your hands would be cold."
"Than I'll give you one glove," Remus said. He looked up at her green eyes. For a moment he couldn't speak, couldn't do anything, because he saw, in her eyes, the whole world. He saw everything in her eyes. And she, meeting his eyes, saw everything in his.
Finally, she said, "Are you going to give me that glove, or not?"
"Yeah," he said, pulling off his glove and handing it to her. He looked at the single leaf hanging on the gnarled tree.
"It's your birthday, today, right?" Lily asked.
"Yeah," Remus said, smiling.
"Here, I got you a present." She reached into her pocket and brought out a small package. On the package was written: To Remus, with all my love. All her love?
He opened the wrapping paper. It was a small ball of dark chocolate. "Thanks," he said, "How did you know dark chocolate was my favorite?"
"Because it's my favorite too, you idiot." She smiled at him and he felt his insides melt. "God, my hand is cold."
"Here," said Remus, and he took her ungloved hand in his gloved one. She loved the way his hand felt on top of hers. "Is that better?"
"Much better," she said. They were silent. "Remus," she said, "Do you believe is soul mates?"
"Yeah, I suppose so."
"James thinks that he and I are soul mates."
"Well, what do you think, Lily?"
"I'm not sure...I mean, I love James, but...but..." Lily's voice trailed off. But she loved Remus better.
"But what?" Remus asked.
She kissed him. This is wrong, a little voice told him. She's James's girlfriend. But he didn't care. Lily Evans was kissing him, and he kissed her back.
She pulled away, and stared at him for a second, before saying, "I'd...I'd better go find...find James."
"Yeah," he said. She walked away, her heart wailing, no, call me back, I love you, I'll stay with you, just call me back, say my name, anything! But he didn't. He just stood and watched the last red-gold leaf fall from the gnarled tree.