Lily froze, her heart thundering in her chest. She kneaded her palms together. Why am I freaking out? There's nothing magical in the woods.
Severus saw her stiffen, and he frowned. What's he thinking? Does he think that a creep can just make up for everything with a swish of his wand?
"Severus," She snorted, as if she couldn't care less. "I see magic every day. I'm a witch; remember? I'm not a stupid muggle school girl."
"But this isn't something you usually see." Severus said so quietly that her skin crawled and her stomach twisted unpleasantly. Her curiosity was slowly overlapping her anger.
"Where is it then?" Lily asked, although she had already guessed where.
"In there, of course." Severus said, pointing into the Forbidden Forest.
"No way." Lily said.
"Scared?" He asked. Lily was about to attack him with a vicious retort, and then realized that he wasn't teasing her, he was just asking kindly.
"No." Lily lied. She had heard things about the forest that gave her goosebumps.
"Then come on." Severus said, his thin mouth curved into a laughing smile.
He wouldn't lead me somewhere dangerous. She curled her fingers into a tight fist. But I've got to trust him; he's my friend. She opened her fingers and then grabbed Severus's outstretched hand.
He strode forward at a quick pace, and Lily had to walk a fierce trot to keep up with him.
"Severus? Can't we go slower?" We might wake anything that's lurking in here if we continue at this march.
"No, we can't." Severus said. "They only come after starlight and before dawn."
What comes? "Tell me more." She insisted. But he remained quiet.
The continued at that same pace for a while. The shadows whispering in the trees made Lily's mind scream in fear, but her heart told her to go on.
"Severus, this better be worth it-" She said when they walked into a moonlit clearing.
"We're here." He said suddenly.
Lily glanced around excitedly. There was nothing. The clearing was empty. A autumn leaf was picked up by the cold whipping wind and was tossed out of the clearing. There wasn't anything!
"Severus!" Lily said furiously. "You drag me here in the middle of the night-"
"Shush." Severus said with a sharp glance at her. "Up here."
He skillfully climbed up a nearby oak tree, his robes flapping in the restless wind.
"You want me to climb a tree?!" Lily said, her eyes widening. "Okay, I've been good so far, but this is it. I am not climbing a stupid tree!"
Suddenly Severus jerked on her arm and and she was reluctantly pulled up the tree. Sitting beside him grumpily, her arms folded, she pulled her cloak around her and was shivering.
"Cold?" Severus said, pulling off his own cloak, motioning to put it around her shoulders.
"No, thank you." Lily said coolly, shrugging his cloak away, even though she was bitterly freezing.
"Well then, be quiet for a second."
Lily clamped her mouth shut before she could say something rude.
Severus pulled out something from his pocket that glistened in the moonlight.
Lily sat up straighter. "What's that?"
Severus lifted a single finger to his mouth, motioning for her to be quiet.
He raised the object to his mouth. Now Lily saw! It was a slim flute, and it looked as though it had been whittled by hand.
Curling his thin fingers around the flute gently, he began to play. Soft, swaying music flowed with the wind, and making it stop altogether, as though the breezes were listening as well.
Lily wondered why they had walked to the heart of the forest, at midnight, so that Severus could play her a song. Vile anger was boiling in her throat, but the music cooled it, like molten lava hardening.
Severus began playing faster and higher, as though he had found the right tune.
A rustle in the bushes made Lily shift her head, and her eyes shined over.
"Severus…" She said softly.
A slim, snow white unicorn had emerged from the trees.
It tossed it's silvery mane and raised it's horn to the moon.
"Severus…how did you know?"
How did you know that I love unicorns?
Severus didn't reply, but Lily swore she saw him smile.
Another unicorn appeared, this one was more grayish silver than white. And then to small golden ones came, and more.
Severus continued playing, his eyes dancing.
The unicorns gathered beneath the trees, and they were even more beautiful up close. One older unicorn reached up and nuzzled Lily's legs like a cat would.
Severus's song slowly came to an end, but the unicorns were still dazed. When the climbed down from the tree, the unicorns didn't run away, but watched them with curious eyes.
As they walked back to the castle, Lily held Severus's hand. Thank you.