"Sev! Sev, wait!"
Two pairs of footsteps echoed down an empty corridor.
"Severus, where are you going?"
One pair of feet stopped, waiting for the others to catch up.
"You'll see."
Severus Snape grabbed Lily Evans' hand and took off running again, jumping through hidden tapestries and hurtling trick steps as though they were nothing. To someone who didn't know him, he might have even appeared athletic. As they reached the base of the West Tower, Lily stopped, leaning against a wall and clutching her side. "Sev, seriously, where are we going?" she panted.
"Right here," he said slyly, indicating the stairs to the top of the tower.
"You made me get up early and skip breakfast to go to the Owlery?" Lily asked quizzically.
"You'll see."
Severus grabbed her hand again and dragged her toward the stairs. "Common, Lil, we want to get good seats!"
"Seats?"
"Hypothetical."
Curious, Lily stopped struggling and followed her friend up the winding staircase. The Owlery looked no different than usual. It was strewn with droppings and contained dozens of owls all on little perches ranging from floor to ceiling.
"So enlighten me, Sev. What am I going to see? Did you get a new owl?"
Severus shook his greasy head, his dark eyes alight with anticipation. He kept glancing at the oversized watch on his wrist and then to Lily and then to the windows of the circular tower.
After several minutes had passed, he finally grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her so she was facing the open windows at the east side of the room. "Stand here," he said with a smirk, turning his eyes back to his watch. "Three, two…"
'One' was drowned out, however, by a sudden loud rush of wind and wings. The morning post owls were all returning to their perches, and Severus and Lily suddenly found themselves in a tornado of owls and feathers. Lily screamed in surprise and turned toward Severus for protection, and as happy as the boy would have been to hold her close, he wanted her to get the full experience and spun her back around. "Lil, just watch!"
Lily forced her eyes open and watched as the owls all swooped around them, careful to avoid actually hitting them. Feathers fell around them like confetti and the rush of wind blew her hair all around her like a red ring of fire.
Her screams transitioned into laughter as she spread her arms out to her side and spun in a slow circle. "How did you find out about this?" she asked Severus loudly over the din as the owls began to settle into their perches.
In truth, Severus avoided breakfast with the rest of the school at all cost, and found things to occupy his time instead, but he would never admit that to Lily. Instead he just shrugged his shoulders and smiled at her.
Accepting this as an answer, Lily grinned and threw her arms around him. "Thank you, Sev. This was absolutely beautiful!"
"Yeah, beautiful…" Looking into her green eyes, Severus learned the true meaning of the word.
A/N: Okay, so anyone who knows me knows that Snape is one of my favorite characters, but I'm a hardcore, to the max shipper of James and Lily. However, I like to think that before Severus's big mistake, he and Lily had a fairytale friendship, so I imagine little scenes like this one quite often. I wish they had managed to stay friends, but Merlin knows that James and Severus couldn't have put up with that. So here is my imagination coming to life. I hope you found it as adorable as I did while I was writing it!
-Ashley
