CHAPTER SIX
Lily's Kiss
"Lily, please! Lily!" Snape called out to her, but she was still moving away, tearing at her chocolate-stained robes and sobbing. "Where are you going?"
"Back to Hogwarts. Or I'll wait by the carriages until everyone else shows up. I just want to be alone right now."
"Are you mad at me?" Severus asked timidly, sweetly, innocently.
She turned to look at him. Despite her pudding-layered hair and robes, and her eyes, bloodshot from crying, or maybe even because of her current imperfections, she was the most strikingly beautiful witch he'd ever seen. "No, Severus, I'm not mad at you," she replied, softly, lovingly.
For a moment, they were frozen in time, a warm spring breeze playing about them, the traffic of Hogsmeade milling around, green eyes and her bright red hair, onyx eyes and ebony tresses. Their gaze was frantic and hungry as they strove to retain the image of each other in the evening light.
And then the moment was gone, and Lily somehow found herself moving towards him, and he was opening his arms to her, holding her more tenderly than he'd ever have thought possible, and she laid her head on his chest, comfortable.
"I'm sorry, Severus," she breathed softly, warming against him with every word. "I'm sorry that I ruined our dinner."
"You didn't," he replied, enjoying the feel of her body cradled in his arms, "That dolt Potter and his dolt friends did."
Lily looked up at him. "Does the entire evening have to be ruined now, because of that?" she asked, sounding to him like a child begging not to leave a toy store.
"No," he said, startled, "We could go to Honeydukes, or ma-"
Reaching up to meet him, Lily placed her lips tentatively over his, waiting for his response before she carried their kiss any farther. His soft reply was all the encouragement she needed, and she deepened the kiss slowly, letting him taste her lips and enjoying the surprisingly pleasant taste of his.
It was Severus' first kiss.