Hello! Lady Seinu here with a new one-shot. Don't everyone jump up at once with surprise. [I don't know why you would... but anyway. XD]
I wrote this one for a roleplay account of mine. I play Snape's character and the prompt that was given to me inspired this little piece... Takes place right before Severus and Lily set off for their first year at Hogwarts. And yes, it's Snily-esque. But they're children, so. Hope you enjoy!
Warnings: Does cuteness overload count?
Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own Harry Potter or it's characters. They all belong to the fabulous J.K. Rowling.
The fluttering hadn't stopped.
Maybe he was imagining it or maybe he was sick. He really wasn't sure which, because honestly, a lot of things were wrong with him the majority of the time. Severus half believed he made these issues up subconsciously merely to distract him from the negativity that seemed to rule his life. Headaches, stomach aches, achy digits. It took away from personal pain, after all. Mental pain.
This fluttering in his stomach couldn't have been any different. It was in his head. A way to take his mind off of the fact that his father had hurt his mother earlier that morning, because Severus couldn't control his emotions, because his anger manifested itself in uncontrolled magic. If he'd had a wand, he could've done something about it. He hated being so useless.
He felt foolish, admittedly, his fingers combing through blades of grass as the two sat comfortably side by side. Lily in her prim and proper white dress dotted in baby-blue flowers. Severus in his pants that were much too short and a beige sweater that dripped past his wrists. It was thick and sweltering and Severus felt ridiculous.
And still he felt irrationally happy.
It was the summer of 1970 and he and Lily had been getting along for almost three months now after her initial unease with him watching her and assuming certain things of her. Like the fact that she was clearlya witch. The first month of something almost akin to a hesitant friendship was rather rough, admittedly. Especially since Petunia was still hounding them, but even more so that very first month. She was jealous, that much was clear. He glanced sideways at Lily, situated on his left side, a corner of his mouth lifting despite himself. She was chattering about how eager she was to learn some of the spells Severus had talked about. So ambitious and eager to learn. Severus wondered what House she would be in once they got to Hogwarts. Slytherin? Ravenclaw? He chanced another small look at her, marveling at the fact that she wasn't repulsed sitting so close to him.
"And this one, 'To charm an object to become light as a feather, one simply uses the incantation,Pondusine. Roll your wrist from your body, sweeping your wand up, as if to pull your inanimate object along by an invisible string rendering it weightless. If done correctly combined with the incantation—' Sev? Are you listening?"
"Huh?" Severus detached his gaze from Lily's wildfire hair to focus on those startling green eyes. His cheeks burned suddenly as he realized he'd not really been paying attention and his gaze darted off again. "Are you still on about the Levitating spell?" He mumbled, sorely hoping he'd not zoned out as long as he was guessing he had.
Lily huffed her irritation for a moment, before jabbing a finger at the book in her hands, drawing Severus's attention to it. It was the Charms text that Severus had snuck out of his house under his beige sweater. With living in a Muggle neighborhood, he knew it wasn't exactly okay to bring Wizarding texts out. But his mother didn't exactly keep track of them anymore and Lily was eager to get a head start on learning, wand or not. A sizeable stick, perfect for pretending with, laid limply by her side on her left. She picked it up briefly, practicing the aforementioned motion. "No, I'm not. I'm on the Weightless charm now. Like this?" She rolled her wrist outward delicately and the corners of Severus's lips lifted yet again. Ah, his stomach was performing leaps and bounds. It was the oddest sensation and it made him feel a myriad of emotions he wasn't accustomed to. His nerves were jittering. Not the sort of fright that he associated with home, but a warmer kind.
"You should probably roll out your wrist quicker… like—" Severus reached out for the makeshift pretend wand, their small fingers brushing delicately and briefly. He quickly whipped the stick outward, having practiced such motions time and again. "—this." He finished finally, demonstrating again.
Lily pulled her knees up to her chest, laying her left cheek on the knobs beneath the fabric as she gazed out at Severus. "Seems a bit more abrupt then I imagined." She commented on his motions. "I thought magic might be a bit more graceful."
Severus flushed for a moment. Honestly, he'd had no experience with a wand before, considering he was underage. He shrugged, handing the stick back to Lily as she relaxed her legs again and straightened. "Well, I've only watched my mum, really. But that's how she moves and it works every time." He defended mildly.
"I believe you." The girl exclaimed reassuringly, beaming at him happily. Oh, how brilliantly cheerful she was. Severus's eyebrows came together, in awe over her honest cheerfulness. This was the girl he'd been watching since late March. It was amazing she'd given him the time of day at all and even befriended him. "…You're staring again."
Severus could've slapped his own forehead at his absentminded actions. He wasn't generally like this. He glanced away, a bit angry at himself. "Was I?" He retorted, feigning ignorance where he drew a blank as to how to react.
"Yes. You were." Her voice was even. Perhaps even a little inquisitive. Severus attempted to ignore it. "Why?"
His breath caught for a moment. He hadn't been expecting that. He turned back toward Lily with a bit of wariness. "Why what?"
"Why do you keep staring at me."
It almost sounded like a challenge rather than a question. Severus felt his face burning up again, wishing she'd backed down. Thinking quick and saying the first thing that came to mind, something he was unaccustomed to doing around someone he liked and felt jittery around, Severus defensively snapped, "It's what they do in those films, is it not?"
"I beg your pardon?" Lily's eyebrows came together, completely confused.
Right. Where was Severus going with this? He sighed irritably, as if he were explaining another common Wizarding quirk to a Muggle and it was an inconvenience. There'd been a lot of that in the past few months, after all. Severus was rather fortunate Lily was so open-minded and patient with him. "The Muggle films, they're—" He cut himself off, completely unsure as to what straws he thought he was drawing at with this. Lily still adorned a confused expression, watching him intently.
His reasoning behind his next course of action was as jumbled as how it had gotten into his head to begin with and Severus had never acted so impulsively in all his life. Without even giving himself a chance to blink, Severus awkwardly and rather abruptly leaned in toward the girl he'd been following every day for the past four months and pressed thin lips delicately into the fairest and softest skin he imagined existed. His eyes had closed in his nervous plunge as he pressed a quick kiss to her cheek.
He pulled back as quickly as he'd dived in. If his face hadn't been beet red before, it certain was now. Lily's hand reached up to touch the spot on her cheek that Severus had just invaded and he looked away, forcing a scoff to fall from his lips, as if his actions had been planned. "M-Muggle friends. Do that in films. That's— why I was staring." He finished, standing on weak wobbling legs. Merlin, why had he done that? Why was his heart thudding so erratically in his chest? Was he really sick and what in the blazes possessed him to do that?
He didn't glance back to see if she'd follow him or what her reaction following her shock had been. He needed to walk off the chocolate frogs that seemed to be leaping about in his stomach. As it was, he heard footsteps hasting to catch up not a moment after he'd started his embarrassed trudge and the two walked side by side in silence.
Was she angry? Did she wish him to stop staring at her? Did she believe his excuse regarding Muggle films? He twisted his hands together nervously, irrationally furious with himself all of a sudden, because really, his actions hadn't made sense. She'd only been sitting there, being herself, and what was that poppycock on Muggle films, anyway?
"I'm sorry, Lil', I didn't—" He was cut off abruptly by a gentle touch to his cheek, which he realized a moment later could only be Lily's lips. His cheeks flared all over again, blood pounding in his ears from the sudden flutter that rifled through him. He turned bewildered eyes to Lily.
And a smile. A true and lovely smile was what we was met with as Lily took up his hand suddenly. "We're friends, then. Like the films." She declared. And Severus realized it was the first time they'd spoken of each other as such out loud.
Hand in hand, they ambled across the field between their neighborhoods, a Charms book tucked under Lily's arm and a brilliant unfamiliar yet sensational jitter for the first time in Severus's heart.
Review if you could, please! They make me smile. Thanks for reading! :D