Her lips appeared as plump as a peach. He wanted nothing more than to touch them, feel them, perhaps even taste the sweet tang of her soft mouth.

Underneath a tree they laid. No one else in sight. Only the sound of them breathing.

In-sync, in-tandem; intricate and intimate.

Lily's red hair curled under her chin and spread down over her chest. He loved watching her twirl her finger through her hair. Over and over again.

"Severus? What do you think it's like to die?" she whispered in his ear.

He stared at her emerald eyes twinkling curiously at him. Her mouth was straight and serious, the look she got whenever she was deep in thought.

"Well Lily, I suppose it's just like before we were alive. We're just not there."

"You don't believe in anything after death?"

"The dead are merely the dead. It doesn't really matter once a living being is gone. At some point or another, we leave and are forgotten."

He watched her sit up suddenly, a look of hurt in her face and a fire in her eyes.

"So if I die, you'll merely forget me?"

"No Lily, of course not. Don't talk like that, it makes me uneasy."

"But it sounds like you're saying that the dead don't matter. So you care about me now, but you won't once I'm gone."

Knots swarmed his stomach, he felt like someone was continuously kicking him from inside.

"It's nothing like that."

"Then what? What is it?"

"...You're different. That's all."

She carefully searched his face for a sign of deceit. Her green eyes pierced through him, watching each of his moves with careful consideration.

"I'm...different?" she slowly asked.

His body was shaking and he felt a clog in his throat. There was no way to explain to Lily the emotions she made him feel, the deep thoughts she made him think, the actual care that he never realized he could have for a person. Truly, she was different from everyone else.

"Y...Yes. You always have been. If anything were to happen to you...I couldn't even imagine how I would feel."

She gently placed her hand over his.

"Try."

Her petite hands covered his wide dry palms. With each of her finger tips, he wanted to kiss and feel the delicate touch of her skin.

"You're...You're my best friend, Lily."

"...And?"

"Well, you've taught me many valuable lessons."

"...And?"

"You're great at keeping company."

"...Anything else?"

"And you help me when I don't understand my Transfiguration homework."

Lily suddenly stood up and stomped away from him. He watched her make her way back to the castle, fiery red hair blowing behind.

The familiar cold feeling started creeping through him. It was the chill that made him revolted in himself and everything else. The dread that made him believe that there was no reason for anything in the world. But he knew there was at least one reason.

He scrambled himself up and starting running towards her.

She heard trampling behind her. With a harsh glare, she turned around and crossed her arms. In front of her, her best friend was panting but had a rare look of passion in him.

He put his hand on her shoulder.

"If you were to die... I would be nothing. Absolutely nothing. There's no one, dead or alive, that I care more about than you, Lily...That's the truth."

He continued to gasp for air and she couldn't help but let a little smirk pass across her lips. He loved the way the little wrinkles of her mouth scrunched together.

They walked towards the castle together. Along the way of their conversation, she let him wrap his arm around her shoulder for 'support'.

"Hmph. You must've ran only ten feet."

"Oh Lily, I'm injured. Just be thankful I'm not asking you to carry me."

She let out a hearty laugh.

"You're lying, but I'll go with it."

"And to think that I was going to share my Shepard's Pie with you, Lily."

With a sly smile on her face she started running.

"Last one to the castle is Troll Boogers!"

"H..Hey! That's not fair!"

Running together, she looked back at him with a bright smile on her face as he tried to catch up, wanting nothing more than to be next to her.