Severus Snape wrapped his odd, smock-like cloak more tightly around his slight frame as the wind slammed against him. It was strangely cold for a summer's day, and the fact that he had virtually no body fat to insulate him didn't really help the matter. The nine year old boy rocked back on his heels and drew his scrawny arms around his equally scrawny legs, pulling himself into a sort of shell in an attempt to shield himself from the cold. And then he heard her laughter and he nearly leapt up, all thoughts of warmth forgotten. However, he immediately crouched back down behind the thick foliage of the bushes surrounding the playground as she skipped into view with her sour-looking sister in tow. Severus leaned forward and peered through the branches. His fathomless black eyes never left the girl as she danced to the swing set. Her dark red hair whipped around her pale porcelain face and her emerald green eyes sparkled with laughter. She was the perfect opposite of her sister, Severus thought. Her movement, her expression, her entire aura shone with a brilliancy that dulled the sun, while her sister was stiff and had a face that was always screwed up like she had eaten something bitter.

The red-haired girl was swinging higher and higher; her face was entirely lit up by the rays of her smile. She laughed again, and Severus found himself inadvertently leaning closer as if drawn to her by an inexplicable force of gravity. With a cry of glee, the girl launched herself into the air. For a moment she was suspended there in midair with her auburn hair rippling like waves behind her, caught in a gust of wind. Then she pitched forward into a somersault and cartwheeled through the sky, carried along by the crisp gales of summer air. Her laughter was carried to Severus on the wind, and he closed his eyes, imagining for a moment that those tinkling bells were ringing for him.

And then the laughter stopped; the bells cut off with a painful clatter. Severus opened his jet black eyes to see the girl's sister leaping up from a swing with her hands planted firmly on her hips. He couldn't hear what was being said between the two girls, but the pretty red-haired one had a look of hurt on her face that seemed so foreign, so wrong on such beautiful features.

At that moment, Severus wanted nothing more than to comfort this pretty little girl. He wasn't usually one to offer sympathy – he had given up on offering solace to his mother long ago – but, it seemed, his usual way of being was irrelevant whenever he found himself in this girl's presence. She emitted a pool of light that enveloped anyone near enough to feel its benefit, and Severus was not immune.

He made a move as if to rise to his feet. He wasn't sure what he was thinking, if he was even thinking at all, but his need to erase the sadness from the girl's face was directing him to her, and he could not refuse the call.

And then the girl turned to him. For a moment Severus thought she had seen him, but her emerald eyes were not focused on him. Instead, they were fixed on something on the ground only feet away from where Severus crouched. And then she began to walk toward him – a string attached to her eyes was pulling her in his direction. The dark-haired boy pressed himself against the ground, feeling the cool earth through his robes and causing him to shiver. Coward. The unspoken word tasted bitter on his tongue, but he couldn't bring himself to approach her.

A pair of tiny, bare feet appeared below the bushes, and Severus wriggled closer so that his face pressed into the prickly branches of the bush. He could just see the girl through the foliage, though his vision was broken by the coarse green leaves. The girl bent down, her auburn hair cascading gently over her face. Severus drew a breath and held it; she could have seen him if she had looked up. Fortunately, the girl's greener-than-green eyes never strayed in his direction.

She stood; she was holding a tiny pink flower blossom in the palm of her hand, and she wore a rather curious expression on her face. If he had to narrow it down to just three emotions, Severus would have chosen defiance, mischievousness, and…though he couldn't be sure, he could have sworn there was anger mixed in there somewhere. "Tuney, watch this. Look what I can do!" the girl shouted to her sister, and, albeit grudgingly, the blonde girl came to stand beside the pretty red-head. With her emerald eyes flashing dangerously, she stared down at the flower bud, and, though Severus couldn't see what exactly was happening, the blonde sister shrieked and jumped back a step. "Stop it!" she screeched in horror.

Her sister's scream caused the girl to drop the flower as if it had scorched her. "It's not hurting you," she muttered.

The sister took a deep, dramatic breath, as if to regain her composure, before saying, "It's not right." However, Severus didn't miss the look of envy that darted through her gaze. "How do you do it?" she whispered almost unintelligibly.

Suddenly, Severus couldn't wait anymore. He wouldn't be a coward. He would show himself to the girl, and he would tell her what she was. "Isn't it obvious?" he asked as he pushed his way through the bushes. The blonde girl screamed and dashed back to the safety of the swingset. She clutched onto the bars as though they were a lifeline. However, Severus paid very little attention to her – he spared her only one quick thought as he noted how irritating she was. But this momentary irritation was quickly pushed aside, and all of his focus was therefore fixed on the defiant little redhead in front of him. She lifted her chin to stare Severus squarely in the eyes, and she asked, "What's obvious?"

A sort of nervous excitement raced through Severus's body, sparking within him a kind of confidence he had never before known. "I know what you are." His voice was hardly more than a whisper, but the girl caught every word.

Though her eyes expressed distrust, her voice betrayed her curiosity as she asked, "What do you mean?"

"You're…you're a witch," Severus hissed.

The girl's nose wrinkled in distaste. "That's not a very nice thing to say to somebody!" she snapped, and she turned haughtily to join her sister at the swingset.

Panic surged through Severus. He couldn't just let her walk away. His heart was now connected to hers, held by an invisible string, and as she walked away he was dragged after her. He was defenseless – he had no way to sever the tie. But then, he didn't exactly want to.

"No!" He couldn't be sure if the cry that escaped his lips was his as he ran after her, his odd smock flapping behind him awkwardly.

The girl stood beside her sister, leaning against the sun-warmed pole. The expression on their faces was nearly identical, and it expressed obvious distaste.

"You are! You are a witch!" Severus panted in one breath, "I've been watching you for a while." Noticing the look of doubt on her face, he rushed to reassure her. "But there's nothing wrong with that! My mum's one, and I'm a wizard!" he insisted. The word 'wizard' was spoken in a voice filled with pride, and his somewhat slouched figure seemed to heighten so that he appeared oddly impressive.

The witch averted her gaze from Severus, but her emerald green eyes seemed to sparkle with an unspoken truth. She looked as if she were about to speak, but her Muggle sister cut her off with a high, grating cackle. "Wizard!" she shrieked, nearly beside herself with laughter, "I know who you are! You're that Snape boy." As her laughter subsided, the malicious grin on her face melted into a sneer. She turned to face her sister and said, "They live down Spinners' End by the river," and though she said nothing to suggest it, the tone of her voice made it obvious that 'Spinners' End by the river' was hardly an ideal place to live. Severus's hands curled into tight fists, and he briefly wondered if he could get away with hitting her, but before he could come to a decision she addressed him with a question. "Why have you been spying on us?" she demanded.

He smirked, although his reddening face probably diminished the effect. "Haven't been spying," he muttered, "Wouldn't spy on you, anyway. You're a Muggle."

He highly doubted if either of the girls knew what a Muggle was. However, his condescending tone made it obvious that he didn't think much of them.

Both of the girls gave him a withering glare, and the blonde Muggle spun around to storm away. "Lily, come on, we're leaving!" she shouted.

The witch – Lily – gave Severus one last glare before hurrying to follow after her sister.

"Wait," Severus tried to call after her, but his voice stuck in his throat, and he could only watch as her retreating form disappeared from view.

Dejected, he sat down on the dying grass and rested his face in his hands. He did not cry – he felt he had become immune to tears long ago . Instead, he watched her face dance across the forefront of his mind, and he wondered if he would ever again see those emerald jewels watching him with such curiosity or that smile hiding questioningly on her lips, almost ready to bloom for him.

Hanging upside down, he could just barely see the smile playing on her lips through the lanky black hair dangling over his face. He blinked hard to fight the tears he was surprised he was still capable of producing after all this time. Here he was, humiliated and defenseless, hanging upside down by his own creation turned against him, and there she stood with that smile he had fallen in love with hiding there on her lips, almost ready to bloom for him.

After all these years, he was still in love with her. They hadn't spoken to each other, really spoken, since that fateful day and that fateful word. He knew she didn't love him – but then, he knew she never could have. He wasn't one to lie to himself; he never had been, after all.

Now more than ever he knew he had no chance of being with her. Now as she stood before him on the altar – he who could never love her the way she deserved to be loved. He who could never love her the way that he, Severus, loved her.

But for some reason, his love seemed to be enough for her. Severus could read it in the smile sitting on her face like a rose in full bloom.

Fin