"You were kissing that horrible boy!" Petunia accused, somewhat hysterically.

"His name is Severus! and No, I wasn't! Do you know why? Because you barged in! Petunia! Why can't you EVER KNOCK?"

"I can't believe you want to kiss him." Petunia said sourly from behind her crossed arms. They were standing in the hallway, Petunia before her bedroom door, Lily lingering in her own. "He's ugly," Petunia said meanly, "and he's creepy."

Lily ignored these comments. "You know what, Petunia? It's none of your business who I want to kiss! And anyway, I know all about that fat muggle Vernon you like so much!"

"You leave Vernon out of this, freak!" Petunia shrieked, and slammed her bedroom door.

Lily stood there for a moment, fuming.

She realized rationally that she couldn't possibly expect Petunia to understand what she and Sev shared. Lily knew for a fact that Petunia didn't have a real best friend, and probably didn't know what it was like to be close to a person in quite the same way that she and Sev were close. Petunia's comments still stung, however, and she found herself dwelling on them unhappily.

It was true that Severus wasn't good looking in the traditional sense- she could acknowledge that, and she knew that there were plenty of girls who looked him over because he didn't fit the usual idea of what 'attractive' was, and didn't take very good care of himself, but Lily liked him just the same, and liked him as he was, which Lily happened to think was quite special. She didn't think he was ugly at all- in fact, she thought he was rather handsome.

She wasn't exactly sure when she had started to think that Sev was good looking (or, at least, not bad looking). Her perceptions of him changed so subtly that she hardly noticed them changing at all, until they were radically different from what they had started out as.

Lily began to notice little things about him, as though seeing him for the first time; the narrowness of his hips in his faded black clothes, the hunch of his shoulders, always so guarded, the quickness of his mind when set to a task.

It seemed as though for a long time, she and Severus had maintained a kind of polite distance from one another. They were close, but not too close. Lily had always felt a little uncertain about what might happen if they did grow closer- However, over the holiday, it had seemed as if that distance between them had melted away.

They told one another secrets, they invented new spells together, they brewed potions they weren't supposed to, they had adventures and inside jokes and little games they played. She liked being with him.

She liked his long, capable hands with their sensitive, careful fingers, she liked his overlong hair, always hanging in his face, she liked his dark eyes and his sardonic nature. There was something about him that the other boys did not possess, something sophisticated and ultra-fine, sharp as the head of a pin.

And so what if she wanted to kiss him? There were worse people she could be kissing.

After their almost-kiss, Severus had spent most of the next week hiding in his house. He didn't even mind the oppressive presence of his father, so elated was he.

In the dim half-light of his dingy bedroom he would close his eyes, the better to relive that moment when he had been so close, the better to imagine again her soft voice saying his name.. He kept lifting his fingers up to his mouth in disbelief, trying in vain to recapture that faintest brush of Lily's lips on his own before Petunia had ruined everything.

When he finally got the courage to call Lily on the phone, she was friendly and eager to see him, but didn't mention what had happened, to his mixed relief and disappointment.

They agreed to meet under the trees by the river, and just to make sure that he didn't miss her, he went early, walking from Spinner's End through the nicer neighborhoods towards their spot.

Did she fancy him? Could it be possible? Never in all his dreaming did he imagine that they might actually kiss, or that she might possibly reciprocate what he felt for her. Not that he'd told her, but surely after what had happened she must know. How could she not? The way she'd said his name, the way she was always pushing his hair out of his face. There was almost no denying it.

Lily must fancy him.

When he reached their spot beneath the trees he sank in to the grass to wait, pulling the second edition of 'Unusual Potions for all Purposes' out of his bag.

He was just getting to the chapter on the various uses of Datura when Lily appeared beneath the trees beside him, smiling. She was wearing a lemon yellow sundress and had a long green ribbon in her hair, and was carrying a flask under her arm.

"I've missed you," she told him, settling down beside him. Severus' mouth twisted in to a small smile at this declaration, but his eyes followed her movements in a hungry fashion.

"You were gone all week! I brewed this while you were gone, it's a Pick-Me-Up potion."

"Out of curiosity, have you had any yet?" He asked, taking the flask from her. He undid the top and smelled it.

He had been afraid that he would feel awkward, or that he wouldn't know what to say to her to make things feel normal between them, but he was pleased to find that Lily seemed like her usual self, apparently unconcerned with what had happened before.

"No, I thought I'd wait for you," she told him. He smiled at her and took an experimental drink of the stuff. Lily might have been the only person he would accept a potion from, sight unseen.

"The peppermint is a nice touch," he told her, smacking his lips. A warm, invigorated feeling stole over him, spreading through his limbs and leaving him with a sensible, clear-headed feeling.

She took the flask from him and helped herself to some of the potion.

"I was just reading and I think I might have found something that might be fun to brew, it's called the Draught of Delight."

"I've heard of that!" Lily said suddenly. "Slughorn mentioned it last year."

"What did he say?" Severus asked. "Do you remember?"

"That he enjoyed taking it in his youth, so you know it must be a good one."

Severus nodded. "It's supposed to be. And it looks fairly uncomplicated compared to the Draught of Freedom. So, it should be easy."

"Do we have everything we need between us?" She asked, taking the book out of his lap and looking at the list of ingredients.

"I don't have any nettle."

"There's some in my back garden."

Lily, for her part, wanted to talk about what had happened just as much as Severus did, but wasn't quite sure how to broach the subject. She couldn't just bring it up out of nowhere, could she?

But just when she thought she might, Severus did it for her.

"So, what did Petunia say?" He asked, trying to sound casual, ignoring his heart hammering in his chest. In his mind, so very much was dependent on what Lily said.

Lily rolled her eyes, shook her head and laughed. "Oh, you know. The usual. You're horrible and creepy, I'm a freak, she can't believe I would kiss you, that sort of thing."

"What did you say to her?" He asked quietly, swallowing.

"I just said it was none of her business who I want to kiss, and I told her that we weren't technically kissing anyway, and then I called her boyfriend fat." Lily laughed again, and Severus smiled.

"Well, he is, isn't he?"

Lily nodded. "She's really just upset that her boyfriend isn't allowed over when you are. I guess it technically isn't very fair, but it's just that you.. well, you're different, and Mum and Dad like you. They hardly know Vernon."

But Severus had scarcely heard what Lily had said after that. Breathing a great sigh of relief, he sank back into the grass behind him and stared up at the shifting leaves, green and gold in the sunlight.

Being referred to as Lily's boyfriend was almost as good as getting a second chance to kiss her.