Waking up the next day, Severus now felt extremely nervous at what he had to do. He had been told to arrange to meet Lily when school had finished for the day and tell her that it was very important. The morning lesson of History of magic dragged even more than usual, which was boring even to an attentive student such as Severus. Then the next one of Transfiguration, which was not his favourite subject, went quite quickly. He decided that dinnertime would be the best time to pass on the message to Lily, but he would have to be very discreet, as it was likely she would be spending it with James now. It had been stressed to him that James should not find out about the meeting, until the last minute.
He finished his meal quickly, then, waiting for a moment when James and his friends were distracted he made his move. They were laughing at something very amusing to them and looking only at each other for a moment; this gave Severus a chance to drop a note into Lily's lap. She'd seen him coming, but knew better not to smile, their friendship was a secret between only them. As the note hit her legs she quickly screwed it up; hiding it in her hand and slid it into her bag to read later.
Severus waited in a small grassy clearing in the forest that evening, pacing up and down. He had not had the nerve to tell Rodolphus that he had never done anything like this before and that he had very little idea of what to do. He had done some research in the library beforehand, (6th and 7th years having access to the restricted section) to get some ideas. He had actually been quite disgusted at what he had seen, never being very comfortable with the thought of physical affection. He also felt sad, as he knew it would probably mean the end of their friendship. But he told himself that he had needed no one before and would be perfectly fine without her.
A rustle of leaves made him jump and turn around quickly; it was Lily. She was smiling as usual, completely oblivious to what was going to happen to her. Severus started to shake inwardly and outwardly with nerves as she got closer to him. There was an old fallen tree in the clearing and he invited her to sit down on it, next to him. Lily obliged looking at him expectantly.
Suddenly he felt like he was going to chicken out and make a run for it, this was so hard, she trusted him completely and he was going to break that trust. He knew that the whole basis of Rodolpuhus's plan was to make James angry, so angry he would lose concentration momentarily. This would be just enough time for Rodolphus and his gang to be able to capture and overpower him, hopefully. He could hardly bear it as he waited for the signal, which was to be a brief flash of light from a wand in the bushes. But he knew it must be soon, so he began to speak:
"Lily.. I have to tell you something, something I have wanted to tell you for a long time, but had lacked the courage to do so." He paused looking down. This statement was true, even though he had been told to say it by Rodolphus, who hadn't known. "I ..I feel.." he looked up again slightly to see if he could see the signal yet.
A light suddenly flashed and he knew it was time to make his move. Grabbing Lily by the arms, he lunged at her, but in his inexperience he pushed too hard and they both ended up on the damp forest floor. Lily looked shocked for a moment, but before she could say anything, Severus had covered her mouth with his own. He had not expected what happened next; feelings he normally kept well under control, began to stir within him. He felt pleasure, yes kissing her felt good! Really good! He realised he wanted it to carry on. Even though this was the first time he had ever kissed a girl properly, it seemed like his body knew what to do. Still holding on to her arms, he felt her start to struggle beneath him as the shock wore off. But he knew he had to keep her there until James arrived - which he soon did.
"What the hell is going on! Get off her you greasy creep! NOW!" As James said the word 'now', Severus felt himself being lifted up into the air magically and being thrown through the air. He came to land hard against a tree, this impact sent a great searing pain up his back, but he did not let on or cry out. He tried to get up but his head whizzed around so much that he slumped back down again, closing his eyes to shut out the spinning world around him.
Suddenly he heard scuffling and muffled shouting going on. Rodolphus and his friends must have turned up to carry out the second half of their plan, which Severus had not been told about. He hoped that they would not hurt Lily too much. They had assured him they did not want to harm her, only James.
He had felt bad before but never as bad as now; he was sickened and disgusted at his own actions. To force himself on her like that, someone as trusting and unsuspecting as Lily. She was like a Lily to him, beautiful and pure and he had now tainted the purity that he felt was in her, forever. She would never be as trusting again and never as friendly to strangers as she had been.
As the scuffling faded into the distance, Severus got unsteadily to his feet and walked back to the school, being thankful that his part was now over. He didn't doubt that Rodolphus would be very pleased with him, maybe even rewarding him, but he would not feel any kind of exultation whatsoever. Though knowing that he had just got James back for his relentless teasing, better than anything he had ever tried to do before, at least made him feel a little better.