I woke up late Sunday morning. My friend Dahlia shook me awake. "Lily, get up!" she exclaimed.

I groaned and pulled the blankets over my head. "Let me sleep," I moaned.

"Lily, it's ten minutes to noon. You have to get up. You've been asleep all morning."

I opened my eyes. I stared. "Are you serious?" I cried. Looking at my watch, I saw she was right. I forced myself to sit up.

Dahlia sat on my bed, grinning at me. "So, tell me, Lily... what's the reason?"

"What do you mean?"

She sighed impatiently. "You know what I mean. Why were you out so late? I stayed up till eleven waiting for you."

"You did?" That was strange. "Why?"

"Because I - No, you're avoiding the question. Tell me, Lily. What were you doing out so late? You weren't in the common room."

Oh great. She had me cornered. How could I answer?

"I don't know what you mean," I replied stiffly.

She poked me. "Lily! Oh do tell me!"

"There's nothing to tell and if there was, I wouldn't tell it to someone who pokes me." I poked her back.

"Ow - -hey, Lily! Why won't you tell me?"

I ignored her and stepped out of bed. I walked over to my wardrobe and began pulling out clothes to wear that day. After laying them on my bed, I gave Dahlia a gentle push. "Please get off, Lia, I'd like to get dressed." I pulled the curtains around my bed shut. Oh how I loved four-poster beds.

I was almost done getting dressed when Dahlia drew the curtains and plopped down on the bed beside me.

"Have you no decency to ask first?" I exclaimed.

"You're just putting on your socks," she pointed out.

"Yes, but--"

"Aw, Lily, why won't you tell?"

I remained silent.

"At least tell me who the guy was."

I froze.

"What do you mean - who was the guy?"

She tsked, annoyed. "If you were out past eleven at night, you were obviously with a guy, right? It's not like you're going to wander the hallways for fun. And don't you dare say you were studying, Lily - I know for a fact the library's closed at that hour."

I stood up and walked to the mirror. I began brushing my hair.

Dahlia went on, "So who was the guy? You have to tell. Oh, I know - was it James Potter? He's--"

"No!" I interrupted loudly. "What a jerk!"

"You may be right that he isn't the sweetest guy in the world, but he sure likes you. And he has that totally handsome friend - Sirius Bl--"

"Trust me, Dahlia, don't go for looks."

"Why not? I could stare into that handsome face for hours."

"And you won't get tired of staring at it after a while? When you realize he can't make intelligent conversation?"

"Oh sure he can make intelligent conversation. He and James are two of the smartest in our year."

I opened my mouth to argue. No, some people were smarter - but then I closed it again.

"So anyway, I think you should give James Potter a try. He could be nice underneath all that conceitedness. He just needs the right girl and I'm sure you're--"

I whirled around to face her. "Oh, shut up, Dahlia," I snapped. "You just want a date with Sirius."

I threw my hairbrush to the floor and flew down the stairs.

* * *

It was one in the morning and I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned for an hour, and then got up. I might as well clean up this place, I thought to myself and began picking up clothes on the floor and folding them. But the floorboards creaked loudly and I was afraid to wake up the other girls in the room. So I pulled on a bathrobe, picked up my book and went down the stairs, planning to read in the common room.

As I stepped down the stairs, I realized the common room was not empty as I had expected.

"What on earth are you doing?" I exclaimed. Severus stood by a table, apparently making a potion.

He looked up at me.

"Lily?" he asked, surprised.

"I couldn't sleep so I decided to come here to read. What are you doing?"

He grinned sheepishly. "Experimenting with potions," he said.

"Haven't you already got a good enough grade in that class than to need extra credit?"

"Extra credit? No, it's fun!"

I stared blankly.

"Oh, Lily, I'll show you! Here, look."

I walked over to the table. "Okay, you know how dragon blood is so powerful?" he asked me.

"Yes..."

"I was just thinking - what would happen if you mixed it with Doxy wings?"

"But we learned that in Potions last year. It would bubble, and then the dragon's blood would lose any power. You would even be able to drink it and not get hurt, but it would taste bad." I stared at him in surprise. "Don't you remember?"

"Of course I do. We even got to try it ourselves. But the thing is everyone has been putting in the wings first. And if you do that, of course the potion would--"

"But if you do it the other way," I protested, "then the blood would splash on you and it's very--"

"That's what everyone's thought. So no one tried it. But what if you first grind the wings into a powder? It wouldn't splash or anything."

"But how would a different order do anything different?"

He sighed. "Lily, don't you remember the first potion we had to make in our second year?"

"Uh..."

"Unicorn hair with--"

"Oh that. What about it?"

"Remember we had that class with the Gryffindors. Peter Pettigrew did his wrong. He didn't put the unicorn hair in first. Remember what happened?"

I laughed. "Yeah, I remember now. The potion exploded all over him and turned him blue."

"But no one else's did that. Because he did it in the wrong order!"

"Oh fine. You're right. But what's going to happen to this?"

"I'm only guessing, but ever after we did that potion last year, I've been wondering why it happened the way it did. How could such powerful ingredients cancel each other like that? It's not like they are opposites..."

"Well, anyway, what did you think would happen?"

"I hope I'm right," he whispered. "Look."

He lifted the bowl of powder and let it slowly fall into the bubbly red liquid. It began to bubble furiously and I knew I was right. It would be no different. But then -

I gasped. "It turned white and shimmery!"

He nodded. "In fact it looks like--"

"Phoenix tears!" I exclaimed.

"Yes. Look at this." He pulled a dagger out of his pocket and drove it into his arm.

"Severus! Stop!" I screamed as blood spilled onto the table.

"Oops, it's a bit too deep. But anyway--"

He dipped a handkerchief into the pearly liquid and pressed the handkerchief to his arm. When he pulled it away, the wound was gone. I touched the skin, in wonder.

"It's completely healed," I whispered.

He nodded, grinning. "Isn't it great? It had to be like this. How could two substances, each with healing powers to its own animal not make a powerful healing potion?"

"But surely someone's thought of that already. And we just haven't learned about it."

"Actually, I did quite a bit of research in the library. Wizards for centuries have puzzled over the mystery, but no one figured it out." He grinned.

"You mean - you discovered it?" I gasped.

Severus shook his head bashfully. "It wasn't all me. I had to do research. Some of the things I'd thought of doing - like heating the wings over a fire would never have worked. I'm lucky I looked that out, because it you heat the wings up before mixing them with dragon blood, it makes an enormous explosion and fire."

"Yes, but - you discovered it! Wow..."

"Oh, Lily. It's not such a big thing."

"Just something wizards have pondered over for centuries."

He grinned. "Yeah, well...."

I grabbed his hands and began dancing around the room. "That's amazing, Severus - only in your seventh year and already making new discoveries!"

He laughed.

"We can celebrate if you want to, but I have to clean up."

It was two thirty in the morning, but I still didn't feel tired at all. I perched on the sofa, waiting.

After packing everything into a neat little bag and wiping up the blood on the table, he sat next to me.

I stretched out on the sofa and laid my head in his lap. He stroked my hair gently.

"I always knew you were smart, but this is amazing."

"Oh, Lily, you're making me embarrassed."

I sat up and kissed his cheek gently. "Sorry."

"It's ok."

Before we knew it, we were kissing.

But then Severus broke it off.

"I'm sorry, Lily."

I looked at him, confused. "What are you sorry for?"

"I'm going too far. I shouldn't even have kissed you on the first date. A gentleman never gives a kiss on the first date."

I laughed. "Do you really think I mind?"

"But it wouldn't be proper--"

I acted hurt. "Are you saying you can't even stand the idea of kissing me?" I crossed my arms and turned away. Of course I wasn't serious, but he didn't know that.

"Lily," he begged. "Oh don't say that."

He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer. His lips pressed against mine.

In the middle of the kiss, a creak on the stairs made me pull away. I looked up, horrified, at the landing.

Dahlia stood there in her blue nightgown, a look of horror and shock on her face. A second later she was gone.