Disclaimer: I own nothing. I am just borrowing the amazing works of J. K. Rowling.

Prince and Princess

Severus Snape was sitting on the lawn under a willow tree where he was shielded from sight, unless you knew where to look, trying to finish a potions essay but kept getting distracted from the sounds of other students playing by the lake. Dinner had finished and he had been hoping for some peace and quiet out here but unfortunately that wasn't going to happen. He bent lower over his essay and tried to block out the surrounding sounds.

He looked up when he heard someone sit down next to him on the grass and saw his red headed best friend Lily Evans smiling at him.

'Hi,' she said brightly.

'Hey,' he said before turning back to his essay. 'Why are you grinning?'

'Gee can't I just be happy to see my bestest of best buddies?' she said and Severus raised an eyebrow.

'"Bestest of best buddies?"' he repeated and she grimaced.

'Yeah, yeah, I know, I know,' she said shaking her head.

'Anyways, I know that smile,' he continued.

'Meaning?' asked Lily, fighting a smile and instead she adopted a look of mock hurt.

'Meaning you've done something that's going to really annoy someone,' he said, smiling slightly as he remembered the last time he'd seen that smile.

'True, I should probably avoid Gryffindor Tower for a while,' she said. When Severus looked at her questioningly she continued. 'With his chess pieces all glowing fluro colours, acting like bunnies on caffeine and sounding as if they've all sucked in a tonne of helium, Frank will probably be plotting my very painful and gruesome death at this very moment.'

'Severus snorted and started laughing and Lily grinned.

'Bunnies on caffeine?' he managed to say through his laughter and Lily shrugged, still grinning.

Severus went back to his essay still chuckling and shaking his head. Lily picked up his potions book and flicked through it.

He looked up trying to find his book to double check something and found Lily flipping through it.

'Give it back,' he said, holding out his hand expectantly.

Lily spared him a look before turning back to the book, the corner of her lips turned up into a smirk.

'Lily,' he said threateningly and she looked at him innocently.

'Yes, Sev?' she asked and he glared at her.

'Give it back,' he repeated.

'Give what back?' she replied innocently.

Severus pushed his essay off his lap and went to grab Lily but she was too quick and darted away.

'Lily!' he cried in exasperation. Lily stuck her tongue out at him and flipped to the very first page and paused.

'"The Half-Blood Prince"?' she asked and Severus blushed.

'It's nothing,' he muttered. 'I was just bored one day.'

'So you made yourself a nickname?' Lily said before adding teasingly, 'your highness.'

'Shut it,' Severus said, flushing a darker red. Lily noticed and smiled kindly at him.

'I'm not trying to be mean,' she said. 'Just a joke between two bestest of best buds.'

Severus couldn't help but smile at that.

'Now, let's see,' Lily sat back down next to him. 'Half-Blood Prince. Well, you're a half-blood and … you're mothers' maiden name is Prince!' she smiled triumphantly and Severus shook his head again before smiling slightly and taking back the book.

'Congratulations,' he said mockingly and Lily stuck her tongue out at him as he turned back to his essay.

'So, if you're the Half-Blood Prince,' she began slowly and Severus looked up at her. 'Does that make me the Muggleborn Princess?' she asked.

Severus shook his head again and laughed. 'Sure,' he said and Lily smiled before mock glaring at him.

'That's your majesty to you,' she said in a stuck up voice with her nose in the air and Severus laughed even more.

'Of course, your majesty,' he choked out and Lily nodded snootily before bursting out into peals of laughter.

They laughed for a while until they finally calmed down and their stomachs hurt.

'Wow, time flew,' Lily said startled, looking up at the sinking sun. Severus glanced around the now deserted grounds.

'Yeah, sure did,' he said,

Lily lay back down onto the grass and Severus lay down next to her.

They watched the sun sink out of sight and the sky turn from gold and red to a velvety purple-blue.

They both they should get inside soon but they remained where they were, watching thousands of stars flicker into existence as the half-moon hung low in the sky.

'We haven't done this in ages,' Lily murmured.

'Yeah,' Severus said softly.

They lay in silence for ages until Lily suddenly sat up, gazing at the sky.

'Look, Sev!' she cried. 'A shooting star!'

Sure enough she was right. Lily closed her eyes and Severus watched her, smiling.

When Lily had lain back down and had opened her eyes Severus spoke again.

'What did you wish for?' he asked.

'What I always wish for,' Lily said taking Severus' hand and she held onto it with her own pale hand.

They lay there, not talking; just watching the stars, as the lights in the castle slowly went out.

'We probably should go in,' Lily murmured after another hour. 'It's way after curfew.'

'Yeah,' Severus said sitting up.

Lily sat up too, and they picked up Severus' stuff and slowly made their way up to the now silent castle.

Lily crossed her fingers and to her relief they found the front doors unlocked. They crept into the Entrance hall and slowly snuck along it until they reached the marble staircase.

'Night,' Lily said, hugging Severus.

'Night,' he replied and he headed down to the dungeons while Lily climbed the staircase to the upper floors. Twenty minutes later Lily was at the portrait of the Fat Lady who, reluctantly, let Lily in after she had woken the Fat Lady up.

Lily climbed in and found the common room deserted and the fire almost out. She smiled when she Frank's chess pieces still glowing, bouncing around and talking in shrill voices.

She glanced at her watch and saw to her surprise it was two thirty am.

'Wow,' she muttered before climbing the staircase up to the girl dormitories. She hesitated before opening the door to the fourth year girls' dorm and found the other girls asleep.

She quickly got changed and crawled into bed. Three more weeks until they went home for summer. She smiled at the thought of a whole summer with Severus and, still smiling, she fell asleep into a sunlit dreamland of past summers with the bestest of best buds.

The Prince and the Princess

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