Summer Romance

By: marauderette-47

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter:(

A/N: It's been a long time since I've written a Lily/Snape story, so bear with me here! I hope everyone enjoys it - I'm debating whether or not I'm going to make this a multi-chapter story, so let me know what you think of Chapter 1:) Enjoy!

The warm summer breeze blew through the trees, releasing a fragrance of lilacs and cherry blossoms to the small community. It was early morning, just after sunrise, and the occupants of the little homes on the little streets were just beginning to wake up and prepare for their days. It was a quaint little town, with perfectly normal stores, perfectly normal restaurants, perfectly normal houses, and perfectly normal citizens. Although...there were a few citizens in this seemingly perfect town that were anything but perfectly normal. And on this perfectly cheerful morning, one of these citizens - fourteen year old Lily Marie Evans of Number 6 Rosemary Avenue - was just waking up. She had been home for exactly three days since summer holidays began, and she had yet to see anyone outside her home. She had a good reason for her absense from the community - coming home from a magical year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had exhausted her, and she wanted to spend a few days recuperating before setting out to enjoy her summer.

Unfortunately, Lily didn't have a very nice morning on the Sunday our story begins. She had been in a deep sleep, dreaming of house elves and pumpkin pastries, before hearing a loud, buzzing noise right next to her ears. Sadly, this shrill sound had been the nasally shrieks of her sister, Petunia. Petunia was two years Lily's senior, and had every problem in the world with her sister's life. Petunia Evans's world revolved around three things; school, friends, and normalcy. Lily used to fit into Petunia's equation, but ever since her friend, Severus, told her that she possessed magical abilities, a great schism had emerged between the two sisters.

"Petunia!" squealed Lily, covering her ears. She jumped out of bed angrily, and shoved her older sister out. She wasn't even sure she knew what Petunia was yelling about - all she knew was that she didn't need to be treated in such a way so early in the morning. Once she was once again alone in her room, Lily figured that she might as well get ready for the day - it didn't appear that she was going to be able to sleep in for once.

Lily robotically got changed, not really looking at the clothes that she put on. She was still so tired, she did not want to go anywhere. But she figured that Severus, at least, would begin to worry if she didn't check in with him by now, so she swallowed her complaints and ran a brush through her long, ruby locks. Lily's hair was called beautiful by so many - it wasn't the ordinary, carrot-top orange that you saw on most 'redheads' - Lily had real red hair, that fell in beautiful waves down her back. Lily didn't see what was so special about it - it was just hair, wasn't it?

Once Lily made sure she was decent, she stepped out of her tiny bedroom (that was still painted the same mint green it had been all her life) and went down the old wooden stairs to the kitchen. Her parents were not yet awake, or else she would have smelled breakfast cooking. Her parents were the kind of old-fashioned people who woke up before their children to prepare an incredibly large meal - usually. In rare cases, Lily would wake up before anyone else in her family and go for long walks around the river that ran behind the neighborhood. Lily figured that this was going to be one of those mornings, and went through the white, plastic back door that led to the garden. Lily was careful not to step on her namesake (but didn't shed a tear when her foot 'slipped' and she ruined a few petunias), and she hopped the picket fence to the rolling hills that led to the Brightdale River.

For nearly half and hour, Lily strolled lazily on the river's edge, allowing her feet to graze the cool water. She watched as ducks swam ontop of the beauifully clear liquid, and smiled as the sun shined on her face. She was so lost in her thoughts, that she screamed in absolute terror when the sound of another voice reached her ears.

The voice who had interrupted her laughed, and came up alongside her. Lily grabbed her heart, and felt it racing. Severus was grinning ear to ear (which was something he did only in her company) and Lily felt an overwhelming urge to slap him. "Severus!" exclaimed she, trying not to giggle. "That was not funny!"

"I don't know, Lily." said Severus, his face flushed from laughing. "I thought it was fairly amusing."

"You would," said Lily grumpily, trying to even her breathing. She risked a glance at her best friend, noticing that he looked better now that he was at home. While at Hogwarts, Severus often looked pale, and perhaps a bit too peaky. His hair was often a little greasy, but it seemed worse while they were at school. His eyes would be hollow, and it was plain to see that he didn't get much sleep. But here, in their hometown, Severus looked almost like a completely different boy. His eyes shone with mith and happiness, and his skin was pale, but not in a sickly way. Lily assumed that the reason he looked so much better now, as opposed to while at Hogwarts, was due to the absense of the Marauders, the four Gryffindors whose sole purpose in life - so it seemed - was to make Severus's life a living hell. While Severus admitted to Lily that his home life wasn't the best, he often stayed out of his house, and it made him a much cheerier person to be near.

But the Marauders and Spinner's End were the furthest thing from Severus's mind now, and he gave Lily another rare smile. "I could have sworn that you'd disappeared, Lily. Where have you been?"

"I've been around," said Lily softly, in no hurry to explain anything to Severus. This was how it had always been between the two friends - simple and easy, with no need for fast reasoning or explanations. "Home, mostly. I think Hogwarts exhausted me a bit more than usual this year."

Lily - now tired from walking - sat down in the cool, damp grass and Severus followed her lead. For a few minutes, the two did nothing more than stare at the river, watching the currents flow and the fish swim. Nothing needed to be said - one of the unique things about the relationship between Lily Evans and Severus Snape was their ability to understand each other without the need for words. It seemed, however, that Severus had a specific topic of conversation in mind today, and he wasn't sure how to bring it up.

"So...how has your summer been so far?" asked Severus awkwardly, not meeting Lily's eyes as he spoke the words.

"Not the best," admitted Lily, shrugging her small shoulders. The first week of summer was never good for the poor young girl - her parents, of course, were always elated to see her. Petunia, however, was another story completely. All she did was moan and complain that she didn't want a 'freak' like Lily living so close to her during the summer, and Lily would have to be strong and pretend like she didn't care. In truth, though, Lily did care, and she knew that Severus knew that.

"Petunia?" guessed Severus, knowing the answer before Lily spoke it. His guess was henceforth confirmed. "I'm sorry about that," he said, kicking a nearby stone with his large, over-sized tennis shoe. "But...I mean, she never did seem nice, even before you knew about magic."

"I never noticed," said Lily, memories of her happy childhood taking the center stage in her mind. "When we were little, Petunia and I played together all the time. We were best friends, even though she was older than me. I never thought that that could change. But...I guess people just...grow up."

"There's a big difference between growing up and being cruel," stated Severus. Lily simply shrugged once more, and did not argue. It was a rare day when Severus and Lily ever actually fought - they had their disagreements, of course, but they usually resolved any conflicts between them before it erupted into a full blown argument.

"Is everything alright, Severus?" asked Lily suddenly, forcing Severus to meet her beautiful, emerald eyes. She could always tell when something was off with Severus - and something was definitely off. He was never the first one to bring up topics of conversation unless he had something important to say, and even then he had a terrible habit of beating around the bush. Severus seemed to realize that his intentions for speaking were caught, and he suddenly seemed very interested in the grass beneath him. "Well?" Lily pressed, raising her eyebrow into a perfect arc. Severus sighed deeply, before chuckling slightly to himself.

"You know me all too well," he said softly, a knowing smile on his face.

"I do," affirmed Lily, smiling as well. "But I'm afraid you've yet to answer my question."

"I need some advice," said Severus impishly, as though he was afraid to admit this small weakness to Lily. "It's about a...girl. And since you're a...well, girl, I was hoping you might help me?"

Lily threw back her head laughing, and her hair blew around her face in the sharp breeze that suddenly seized the air. Unbeknownst to her, Severus was gazing at her beauty in amazement. She was no longer the little girl who played on swings and held her sister's hand. She was growing up, and she was turning into a beautiful young woman by the looks of it. Of course, Severus had always known that Lily was beautiful, but now it was more evident to the world. Severus knew that if he didn't take his chance, she'd soon belong to someone else.

"How may I be of service?" chuckled Lily, her thin pink lips still bursting spontaneously with giggles. The thought of Severus having girl troubles was fairly amusing to the young witch, and - while she was willing to help her friend any way that she could - she couldn't help but laugh under the circumstances.

"S'not funny," mumbled Severus, looking down to hide his own smile. He simply couldn't help it - when Lily smiled, he smiled. It was just a natural part of life - Lily was just a natural part of life. And he couldn't take his eyes off of her as he continued. "Don't laugh at this, alright? You'll have plenty of time to laugh later, I promise. But I think that...I think that I'm in love, and I don't know how to tell her."

Lily pressed her lips in a thin line to keep from laughing, and she forced herself to meet Severus's pressing gaze. She took a deep breath to steady herself, before answering seriously, "Have you ever tried talking to her before?"

"Oh yeah," said Severus, nodding profusely. "I talk to her all the time - but I don't think she sees me as anything more than...a friend. Or a brother, at best. And I'm afraid that if I tell her that I love her, she won't love me back, and then our friendship will be ruined."

"But if you don't tell her, she may never know how you feel, and then the two of you will never reach your full potential because you didn't speak up," explained Lily, hoping and praying that Severus understood this viewpoint. "For example, if I was this special girl, I would definitely want you to tell me how you feel - it'd be better that I knew the truth, rather than live the lie of believing that you wanted nothing more from me than friendship."

Severus wasn't sure if he was going to regret what he did next - all he knew was that Lily had not said that - in the event that Severus loved her - she would run for the hills. Severus took his hand and placed it under Lily's chin, turning her head so that she was forced to meet his gaze. Severus knew that he was just a kid, that he didn't know the first thing about love, that Lily could never feel the same - but he couldn't stop himself. Lily was his everything, and it was time she knew. "Lily," he murmured, pouring as much emotion into the words as he could. It was rather difficult to do so - Severus was a naturally monotonous boy, and the only person he was ever real with was Lily. "I love you."

Lily seemed a little taken aback at the words, but she did not appear to be too surprised. Lily was one of the cleverest witches of her age - she knew almost the moment that Severus had been so vague about his little crush that he was talking about her. But she hadn't expected Sev to be quite so blunt with his affections - he didn't seem the type to be so open about his emotions. Nevertheless, Lily smiled broadly, and replied, "I think I love you, too."

Severus seemed even more surprised by Lily's statement than Lily had been about his. His eyes opened wide, so that they bore a striking resemblance to those of an owl, and his face gravitated towards Lily's. For a moment, the world was still - no sounds could be heard, and no animals could be seen. Severus and Lily gazed at each other intently, before simultaneously leaning in. As their lips pressed together the sparks were tangible, and Lily experienced - for perhaps the first time - true and utter bliss. It was her very first kiss.

Wow - that was an emotional rollercoaster! Lol. My prompt was "I love you", so I tried to have the entire conversation leading up to that:) Hope everyone enjoyed & please review!

Until next time, marauderette-47

Mischief Managesd.