Flying Lessons

Author's Note: This one shot is a look back at Lily and Severus from their first year and is a memory from the characters featured in The Infamous Marauders.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters featured in this story they belong to J. K. Rowling.

The Gryffindor and Slytherin first years were wrapped up tightly in their cloaks and scarves as they made their way onto one of Hogwarts many lawns for their flying lesson, winter had been approaching for weeks and a thick blanket of snow covered the ground. For many of the first years it was their first Scottish winter and as such they were grumbling about being outside, many were also jealous of the older students who had mastered warming charms. However, some of the students were very excited to be outside, the flying lessons were only scheduled every two weeks, and the last lesson had been cancelled due to bad winds.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle and the chatter quickly died down "Good afternoon students, this is going to be your last flying lesson before the Christmas holidays, so I thought we could have some fun. I have been impressed with your progress as a group so far, you have all managed to call your brooms and hover above ground and for many of you fly a short distance steady, so for today I thought we could play some mini games of Quidditch"

"Wahoo!"

"Rolanda you rule!" Sirius Black shouted as he fist pumped the air.

"Mister Potter and Mister Black, you will be quiet this instant or you will be polishing brooms not flying them" She quickly silenced them with a stern glare. "As I was saying, I know many of you will be intrigued by Quidditch since the first match of the House Quidditch Cup was last month, and as you know first years are not allowed to participate, so I thought we could play a slightly adapted game today, there will be no bludgers so as long as you stay at reasonable height on your brooms it will be perfectly safe"

A ripple of excitement had spread through the group, the cold and snow forgotten about at the prospect of getting to play Quidditch. "Professor McGonagall was kind enough to transfigure us some goalposts, so I'll quickly set them up while you get yourselves into teams of five, each team needs a keeper, three chasers and a seeker, I have a slowed snitch as well as we don't want these matches lasting all afternoon, there is also a height limit placed upon the pitch, so the snitch can't leave the barrier"

With that Madam Hooch strode off flicking her wand to place the small goalposts into the lawn, she set up two pitches to make sure all the students would have a chance to fly before the lesson was over. Lily grinned over at Severus, where he was stood with the other students from his house, he gave her a small smile in return, whereas the other Slytherins looked at her with either indifference or sneers. The students quickly got into groups there were two full teams from each house and some extra students left, who would have to switch with a student in a group halfway through the match.

"I see you have all split into house groups, so it seems we will be having some Gryffindor vs Slytherin matches" After Madam Hooch went over the rules the students could begin, the hoops were significantly smaller than those on a real Quidditch pitch and many of the students still flew slowly and unsteadily.

The students who were waiting to be switched in could either watch with Madam Hooch or could do some small laps around the lawn, however all of them decided to stay to watch their friends play as Madam Hooch refereed and offered supportive comments. The two matches were finished with time still left over so Madam Hooch decided to hold an extra match with the two winning teams as a friendly final to wrap up the lesson which coincidentally was one of the Gryffindor teams and one of the Slytherin teams. The students not playing all sat on the side lines to cheer on their friends.

The team Lily was on unfortunately lost so she had to sit out however she got to watch Severus play and decided she would support her friend as well as the Gryffindor's. On the winning Gryffindor team was Sirius and James as chasers, Remus and Peter who had swapped out halfway through the match also sat on the side lines to watch instead of participating. It was clear Sirius and James intended to embarrass Severus and made a point of snatching the ball from the smaller boy's grasp, James and Sirius were some of the strongest flyers from the first years, Lily had heard them bragging about flying at home when they were children. Lily would never admit it aloud, but she was envious of Pureblood and some Halfblood children who had gotten to experience magic and things such as flying before arriving at Hogwarts. Gryffindor eventually won the match and the boys bragged loudly on the walk back to the school, Lily rolled her eyes at their obnoxious behaviour and ran ahead to find Severus who had stormed off as soon as their flying teacher had dismissed them.

Lily didn't catch up with Severus until they reached the entrance hall "Severus wait up"

"What do you want? Shouldn't you be celebrating with the rest of your friends?" He snapped.

His tone was cold and harsh, but Lily knew he was just upset about the outcome of the match "You're my friend I would much rather hang out with you, your team beat mine by a mile the first time so let's celebrate that win instead shall we"

"You were really good at playing seeker Lily it was just the rest of the team that was bad, I'm sure you would have caught the snitch if your own chasers hadn't got in your way"

"Thanks, Sev but I know you're just being kind, I'm not a good flyer, I just wish I could practice more"

"If we could practice more would you want to?"

"You know I would, but first years aren't allowed brooms and we couldn't have them at home Sev"

"If I said we could practice flying tonight, would you?"

"I would love to" Lily's eyes had begun to shine with hope and joyfulness.

"Right meet me after dinner at the east courtyard"

The sun had already set when Lily and Severus met that night, the snow glistened and crunched underfoot, whilst the cold wind nipped at their noses as two first years began to walk away from the courtyard "Where are we going Sev?"

"To the broom shed"

"The broom shed?! We can't steal school brooms Severus"

"We aren't stealing them we are only going to borrow them"

"But what if we are caught? We would lose so many points and probably get detention for the rest of the year!"

"We won't get caught I promise"

They soon arrived at the broom shed, Severus tried the door, but it only rattled in its frame "Oh well its locked looks like we will have to go back"

Severus grabbed Lily before she could rush back up to the school, he pulled out his wand pointing it at the door before muttering an incantation the lock clicked open loudly, Lily looked at her dark-haired friend in amazement "How did you do that? I've never even heard of an unlocking charm?"

Severus looked sheepish before he shrugged "Well you never know when you need to break in somewhere" His face darkened slightly before he quietly muttered "or escape" Even though the last words were spoken softly Lily had heard them but refrained from passing comment, she knew Severus hated pity as much as he hated his father.

"Grab a broom then Lily and let's go"

Giggling in nervous anticipation the young girl grabbed a school broom, brooms in hand the two friends ran away laughing, they only stopped once they had reached the far side of the lake.

"I can't believe we are doing this" her voice sounded scandalised, but the mischievous gleam in her eyes caused Severus to grin in response.

The pair quickly hopped on their brooms and flew higher than they had ever been allowed to in their flying lessons "Having fun?" Severus asked smiling widely to his best friend.

"This is brilliant Severus, even if we are breaking way too many school rules"

"Want to race down to that crooked tree and back Lil?"

"I'll accept the challenge if you're ready to lose Sev"

"We'll see about that" He smirked before speeding off.

"HEY you cheat!" Lily shouted before she darted off to pursue her friend.

"That's Slytherin cunning not cheating" he called back to her.

The two friends flew around for an hour unnoticed by students and staff alike as Severus gave Lily advice on improving her flying, with Severus' encouragement she even attempted an upside-down loop on her broom, which caused her to whoop loudly in excitement as Severus grinned happily for his friend, amazed at how much her confidence had increased on a broom in only one nights extra flying. Severus had been lucky and had picked up flying relatively quickly in comparison to the other students, due to his excitement but also his pride, it had annoyed him that Sirius and James could fly so well. So, he had once asked a second year Slytherin to help him learn to fly in private for a couple of hours after their first flying lesson of the year in exchange for doing their potions homework for two weeks. Severus already had a vast knowledge on potions, as they were the only magical books his mother had managed to hide from his father and had given to Severus as a gift, he had read the books many times at home before coming to Hogwarts memorising the knowledge and developing a deep interest in the subject.

After an hour had passed they returned the brooms and hurriedly returned to the warmth of the castle, saying goodnight as they departed, Lily heading for Gryffindor Tower and Severus to the Slytherin Dormitory deep in the schools dungeons, this would be the first time the two snuck out to fly but it wouldn't be the last.