A/N: This is my first fanfic ever so please please please review! I will love you forever! Wouldn't you feel awesome to be somebody's first reviewer ever? And of course, only the story belongs to me- Lily, Severus, and the entire wizarding world are the property of the perfection that is J.K. Rowling.

"Merlin, Sev, hurry up!" Lily shouted, dancing in and out of Severus's view as she climbed boulders and examined trees.

"I'm coming, Lily." Severus called back. He surveyed the rocky path they were wondering through. He couldn't quite remember how he had ended up here, the buses and walks Lily had dragged him on blurring together until he found himself in some random portion of country outside Cokeworth.

The only thing that truly clued him into the fact that he had left Cokeworth was the blue skies- Spinner's End was known for a certain smoggy atmosphere.

Lily's voice popped in his ear. "Sev! Did you ever learn to walk?"

She was standing fifteen feet above him on what appeared to be the top of the hill, the sun directly behind her so that all he could see was a Lily shaped nimbus of light and red-gold hair. Severus squinted up at her, sensing her smirk.

"Walk? Please, Lily, I skipped straight from crawling to sauntering- nothing in between."

"Sauntering? If that's a casual saunter I suddenly understand why ."

"You're just jealous you haven't mastered my impressively billowing cloak walk." Severus replied, demonstrating his prowess with his oversized black cape.

"Cloaks are completely out of season- no capes before labor day." Lily bit back, giving him a hand as he hopped the last rock up to her. Her hand was small and delicate in his, peach instead of his own sickly-pale. He held on for as long as he could without her noticing, and then let go gently.

He swallowed heavily. "So are we here at our mystery location?" Sev asked. He finally looked away from her and around to her secret hideaway. The small hill they had climbed sheltered a small valley, the morning light glancing across a small pond and turning the wheat and grass within a burnished gold. He hated gold in any other situation- far to Gryffindor, but he had to admit that the valley was beautiful. Well, he had to admit it to himself. Out loud was another matter.

"Isn't it absolutely fantastically magical?" Lily asked, her words blending together in her excitement. She smiled at him, her left cheek dimpling, before scratching her nose.

Severus murmured dryly, "The fact that you are going into your fifth year at Hogwarts and yet need to drag me an hour away to find something magical is slightly disturbing."

Lily scrunched up her face and stuck her tongue out at him. She had done that at least once a day since they were ten, so often that he sometimes thought of her with that face.

Starting to pick her way down a small path, she called over her shoulder, "Spells, charms, creatures, potions, enchantments? That's all noise. This, the pond, the water- this is magic."

"Hippie."

"I am not!"

"Well at the least, don't lump potions in with the rest of that garbage- it is the antithesis of noise." Severus said in mock offence.

"Swot." Lily muttered affectionately.

"Less than you." Severus replied. That was true, and they both knew it. Severus did well in all his classes, but that was out of ambition, whereas Lily had a true love of learning that enabled her to beat him in all but his passion, potions.

Within minutes, he had begun working on his potions. It had taken Lily five minutes to decide upon a site for their picnic, and another ten for the two of them two unpack the monstrous meal she had forced him to bring. Once she was finally satisfied, a task of herculean efforts, they each pulled out their books.

Severus took notes furiously as he read, circling in black and red and scrawling notes in the margins. He was determined to create a cure for Sacium Warts, a magical disease that resulted in highly uncomfortable warts in an even more uncomfortable location commonly afflicting pureblood males. If he could only figure out what he was missing, he would quickly be rolling in galleons. Quite literally. Severus had always had a dream about rolling in the mountains of galleons in his own personal, imaginary Gringotts vault.

They spent a few hours that way, snacking as they read. Severus was distracted every now and then by Lily. Whenever she read, she gnawed on her lip and tapped her left foot. He watched it fondly, glancing at her every other minute. Lily and Sev were closest when reading. It was what they understood better than anything. It was the only time he didn't feel her slipping away.

By the time the sun was directly overhead, she had moved further into the sun and put down her book, lying languidly in the sun as if she could soak it up.

"Toss me a grape?" She asked tiredly. Sev leaned forward, rooting around the fruit basket, and then tossed it to her. "And a coke?"

He tossed that as well and hid a grin as she cracked it open. It exploded all over her hands, pouring onto her long white sundress.

"Bloody hell!" Lily shrieked. "Bloody….fucking…." She muttered swears to herself as she scrubbed at the stains. She glanced at him sharply and noticed his smirk. "You little…. You shook that!"

"Can't prove it." Severus drawled.

Lily stuck her tongue out at him, and then laughed. "I'm too happy to be angry."

"Well, that's abnormal." Severus muttered. He had been on the receiving end of her temper numerous times.

"Pfft. Anyways, what are you working on?" Lily asked. She scooted over next to him and peered over his shoulder at the book. "Obscure Medical Plants of Guam by Basil Harrington…" She read, and pursed her lips. "Sounds absolutely riveting."

Severus pushed his notes over at her. "You've already seen most of what I've got, but I'm stuck- I found that the aconite combined with stewed horseleaf will counter the redness around the warts, and if I modify the Insectius potion with nettles instead of dried thyme the raised bumps will go away, but…"

"The combination of the two would be explosive." Lily finished.

She paused for a second, and then started laughing. "It's so obvious! You looked so hard for the best… guamian medical plant…. That you forgot about oats! They both strengthen nettles and nullify the acids of the Insectius."

Severus stopped, and then started scribbling and erasing furiously. "A first year could have seen that."

"Yup." Lily said, popping the p.

"I've been working on this for two weeks. How did you...?"

Lily jumped up and walked to the pond, kicking off her sandals before she stepped into the water. As she waded into the water, her long white dress floating on the surface behind her, she looked over her shoulder at Severus, sitting in the shade under a tree.

She laughed lightly and shouted, "Well, I suppose I'm just better than you."

Severus watched her swim deeper into the water. Her hair floated in the water behind her, twisted strands of dark red and gold.

"Better than me?" He said to himself bitterly, his eyes filled with longing. "Was that ever in question?"