`~*Chapter 1*~`

Narrator

The Library was peaceful and quiet, as a red-headed teenage girl, by the name of Lily Evans, is working on Professor Slughorn's essay, while all the other Hogwarts students were out enjoying the rare gorgeous Saturday morning. Lily was so absorbed in her essay, that she didn't notice the silhouette of a boy lingering behind a bookcase, watching her work. The boy blended in well with the books; he wore all black, and had greasy, long, black hair to match his eyes. He had a hook nose, and unusually pale skin; it looked as though he hadn't been in the sun for months. The boy was standing on his toes, trying to get a better view of Lily working. He put one of his hands on an unsteady book attempting to keep his balance, but instead he caused several heavy encyclopedias to fall on him. Lily jumped at the unsuspected noise, and immediately stood to see what caused it. She bent down to help the boy up and put the books back. Seeing who the boy was, she smiled and giggled softly.

"Geez Sev, you almost gave me a heart attack! I didn't think anyone else was here." Lily said as she took 3 heavy books off Severus Snape at a time, stacking them one on top of the other on the floor.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Snape said, rubbing his head where a particularly large book had landed. He started help pick up some books to hide his blushing face. After Lily had pushed the last of the books back into the right place on the bookcase, she turned to Severus.

"I'm almost done with that potions essay from Slughorn. After, we could go out on the grounds and get some fresh air, Okay?" Lily said before she went to go sit back down.

"Potions? I could help you," Snape said quietly, "If you want." he followed Lily and sat down in a seat across from her. She looked up and smiled but shook her head.

"Thanks, Sev, but I think I should finish it on my own."

"Okay, but I'll wait here in case you need help" Snape said as she went back to work. He sat there patiently for another hour while she finished up, and didn't take his eyes off her the entire time. By the time she finished, it was lunch time.

"Done." she declared as she rolled up her parchment and put away her quill. "Now we can go outside." As they were walking down to get to the grounds, they quickly noticed that it was unusually empty in the corridors. Lily pointed out that most people were probably at lunch in the great hall already.

They turned the corner, and stepped onto the still wet grass. The sky was cloudless and blue, and the sun beat down on them with hot rays. It had been weeks since the sun was out at Hogwarts, since it was in the middle of fall. Snape followed Lily to a small meadow, just west of the green houses. The meadow was Lily's favorite spot to relax and do school work. There were white daisies growing everywhere, which made the meadow smell wonderful.

Lily threw her bag down on the ground and lay down next to it. She laid there for a few moments, inhaling the sweet scents. Then, she took a daisy that was right next to her head, and traced each delicate petal with her finger. Snape watched Lily a moment, with deep longing in his eyes. Eventually, he decided to lie down next to her. He folded his arms underneath his head, but still watched Lily out of the corner of his eye.

"Sev?" Lily asked after a short pause, still admiring the flower.

"Hmm?" he turned to look at her fully, and she him. Their eyes met for a second; her beautiful green and his cold black. Lily smiled and Snape turned before she could see him flush pink again.

"Well…Never mind." Lily said with her eyes still on Snape. She turned over on her stomach and put her head in her hands. Her eyes went unfocused, and dreamy. Snape on the other hand had a troubled expression. Why couldn't Lily trust him with a simple question?

"Lily? You know you can trust me, right?" He asked cautiously; the last thing he wanted was to upset her by accident. Lily didn't answer right away; it seemed to take a minute for her to come back from her day dreaming.

"Hm? Oh, yeah of course…" she said, still not completely focused. Her answer seemed to satisfy Snape for a while, but he wanted assure Lily she could always trust him.

"Okay…Then what was your question?" He asked hesitantly. Lily sat up, and so did Snape. She looked at her best friend, and met his eyes. For the first time since arriving at Hogwarts, he didn't look away when they're eyes met. She sighed, debating whether or not to give in. Snape seemed to think her sigh was an agitated one. "I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't-" he stopped talking abruptly when Lily placed her hand on top of his. She giggled when she saw his eyes widen and pupils dilate.

"Okay…but don't laugh. It's actually a really stupid question…" Lily said. She heard Snape mumble something like "You never have stupid questions…" She smiled at his sensitivity. Why didn't he ever show this side of him to anyone but herself?

"Okay, fine. Here it is: what's it like growing up in a magical family?" she asked quickly while turning slightly red. When Snape didn't answer right away, she said, "You know, like do your parents ever take you on vacation? My mum and dad used to take me and Tuney to the beach every summer…" Snape hesitated, and Lily could tell if it was anyone else asking this question, he wouldn't answer them at all. Severus' family has always been a touchy subject with him; Snape used to tell her before they went to Hogwarts that his parents would fight a lot.

"No. My parents aren't like yours, Lily." he said with a scowl on his face. She gave his hand a small squeeze and decided to drop the subject. She lay back down on the soft grass and closed her eyes. They sat there, for what seemed like hours; days even, when in reality it was barely more than 10 minutes. The two friends sat in silence, lost in their own thoughts.