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Year Five, Hogsmeade

Lily had always enjoyed going to Hogsmeade because it meant a day away from the castle to shop, eat candy, and enjoy a mug or two of butterbeer. Rain or snow, heat or cold, the Hogwarts student body headed to the Wizarding village for a Saturday. Lily, Garrett, and Lucile had been attending Hogsmeade since the third year together, but since Garrett left last summer the girls had been going alone. They had been doing everything alone, as they usually did, except their relationship was now void of Garrett. Lucile wrote to him nearly every day, but letters to Greece by owl took some time to deliver. Therefore, Lucile had to send a few letters at a time and then had to wait for his letter in return. Her owl had been tired out for weeks. Thus, Hogsmeade visits were no different, until this Valentine's Day trip.

Originally, Lily had felt guilty when she had been asked to go to Hogsmeade by Scott Warner, a Ravenclaw. Like Lily, Scott was a fifth year, and he shared many of her classes. She had been quietly eyeing Scott for a few months now; still, the Hogsmeade invitation had been a surprise. Apparently, Scott had been interested in Lily for a few months as well, and he had been doing a very good job of hiding it. It was after Potions, in the corridor, when he asked her. Lily had never been asked on a date before that, so her first reaction was to blush at his offer. Her second reaction was to stammer embarrassingly. Luckily, Scott seemed embarrassed as well. He nearly turned around and walked away from her, giving up. At the last moment she blurted out an affirmative answer, and a smile broke out on his face.

Lily had only been able to feel guilty about this date for a week before Lucile secured a date with Frederick Hast of Hufflepuff. Now, they were both going on their first dates on the same day.

Since Scott had asked Lily out, he paid extra attention to her in and in-between classes. He threw her extra smiles over desks while Professor Binns was lecturing, he passed her notes in the busy corridor, he engaged her in conversation in the Great Hall. Lily often felt redness creeping up her neck and face when he approached in an obvious show of attention to her. She felt a little awkward talking to him, but she hoped all of that would change on their date.

She had been waiting for this day for weeks, and it had finally arrived. Lily arose early in order to give herself enough time to get ready before they left for Hogsmeade. She was to meet Scott in the Entrance Hall in three hours. Presently, she was holding two sweaters up to herself in the mirror; one was black, one green.

"The black one," Lucile told her sleepily, peering out from her bed hangings. Lily tossed the green sweater onto her four-poster, taking Lucile's advice.

"Do you know what today is?" Lily asked her sleep-drugged friend.

"Of course I do, silly."

"Then what are you doing in bed?"

Lily took her time getting ready. She had to look perfect for the entire day, which she knew would be a hard feat to accomplish. Lately, she had been experimenting with some beautification charms, but she didn't know how long they would hold her hair up.

She and Lucile left the common room, as pretty as could be, with then minutes left before it was time to leave for Hogsmeade. The pair made their way down to the front doors in silence, each contemplating their upcoming day. They parted company in the Entrance Hall, both wearing smiles of nervousness.

Lily was trying not to shake as she looked around the crowded hall for her date. "There you are," came a voice from behind her, and Scott appeared by her side. Lily pulled her school robe closer around her to hide the outfit she was now having second thoughts about. These thoughts were springing up into her head because of Scott's delectable attire. Under his robes, he was wearing a lovely grey turtleneck that definitely showed off that body of his, and a pair of pressed, black slacks. His Ravenclaw scarf was hanging around his neck. All of a sudden, Lily's nervousness felt like it was going to burst from every pore of her body, sending pieces of her flying everywhere. That would certainly be a way to start, and end, the date.

The Entrance Hall was beginning to empty: the students were filing out of the warm castle and out into the snow.

"Erm…are you ready to go?" Scott asked her hesitantly, his cool demeanor slipping away, letting anxiousness through.

"Absolutely," Lily replied, trying to appear confident. He looked, for a moment, like he was going to grab her hand, but then decided against it.

They followed the mass of students out of the heavy front doors and into the cold, wintry grounds. Snow was falling lightly, sprinkling the heads of the students like jimmies. The grounds of Hogwarts were embodied in a snow globe.

James had been courting girls since his fourth year, so Lily assumed that her parents would be all right with her going on a date to Hogsmeade. Still, she wanted to ask them, just in case. She added the fact about James's dating for added support for her point. She had already told Scott that she would go out with him, so she hoped that her parents would give her their blessing. The letter back told her that she was absolutely allowed to go with him, and her mother wished her luck.

Now, she needed that luck. She and Scott were making their way to the Wizarding village in silence. She knew that she could blame the silence on the icy wind and the scarf wrapped around her mouth, but the fact of the matter was that Lily couldn't think of anything to say. Her hands were beginning to sweat inside of her mittens. The nervousness was flooding her stomach. She breathed in deeply through her Gryffindor scarf, trying to calm her breathing.

When they finally broke the silence, they both did it at once, asking different questions. This caused laughter between them and the awkward air that had settled over the couple was lifted.

Lily's father had told her about his first date. Said date occurred in his fifth year, with a girl named Cho Chang. He told her how awkward the date had been, and succeeded in making his daughter thoroughly apprehensive about her own first date. She hoped that Scott would not be as tactless with her as her father had been with Cho Chang and mention some other girl he had to make later. She also hoped that Scott was not leading her into a tea shop filled with fluttering cupids and heart-shaped confetti.

They reached the town of Hogsmeade with the rest of the students in a few minutes. Scott led her up the High Street and into a little back corner café near the end of the street. He held open the door for her and she entered the small, dimly lit place, muttering a thanks at him. The heat inside immediately made it necessary for her to remove her scarf from her mouth. The place was fairly crowded, witches and wizards gathered around tables and at the bar. "Pick a table," Scott offered, removing his own scarf from around his face. "Is coffee okay?"

Lily smiled at him. She knew that her nose and cheeks were tinged with the wind and cold, which made her a little self-conscious. "Coffee sounds wonderful," she told him.

The truth was, she didn't much like coffee, but she figured sugar had the wondrous capability of overpowering the coffee flavor. Scott approached the counter and Lily took a seat at a two-person table in the corner. She didn't recognize anyone in the café, but that was just as well. If the date turned sour and she had to escape, at least no one would know of her humiliation.

When she had written James of her impending date, he had responded with a lot of advice on the subject. He gave her lots of ideas about what boys liked to talk about, (Quidditch), and warned her against kissing him on the first, (or second), date. The last part of the letter consisted of a threat to Scott. This had made Lily giggle. James had always been overprotective of her. She knew that he was serious in his warnings against Scott's misbehaving, so she wasn't planning on reporting to him anything offensive Scott did today. She hadn't informed Albus of her date. He hadn't been getting any nicer to her. Instead, he had begun to avoid her more and more. Lily hoped that he was not up to any shenanigans with his Slytherin friends.

Once a pile of sugar packets had accumulated net to Lily's coffee cup, the drink was not so bad. Conversation was flowing nicely. Lily was getting warmer as the day wore on, so she removed her coat, hoping that her outfit choice was not a mistake. Scott definitely noticed the move. "You look really nice," he said.

Lily played with the silver locket hanging around her neck.

A few years ago, Lily's mother had told her about the start of her and her husband's relationship. Mrs. Potter had told her that their relationship began with an impromptu kiss, not a date. They had merely shared a few short, happy weeks together before Mr. Potter nobly left to hunt the Dark Lord Voldemort. Once he was destroyed, however, Lily's mother had been there to pick up the emotional mess that was her father. She took care of him and looked out for him through the aftermath of the battle. The rest had sort of unfolded naturally, and they were married within three years. Theirs was a story of true love; a story that Lily wished to have to tell her own children.

The talk ad moved naturally to Quidditch, Lily unaware that she had pushed the conversation in that direction. She could talk of Quidditch all day, but Scott seemed a little less interested in the subject that most boys, which surprised her. A line of James's letter popped into her head: Blokes can yammer on about themselves for hours. Thus, she turned the conversation to Scott's interests.

The nervousness had all but faded away by the time their second coffee cups were drained and they were ready to leave the café. But when Scott reached for her mittened hand as soon as they were outside, the nervousness came flooding back to her stomach. They stepped out into the showy afternoon hand-in-hand. Lily wondered vaguely how Lucile was doing.

"Would you like to go back to the castle?" Scott wondered through the howling wind. "I thought we could play some chess or something."

It appeared, however, that there was no time for such games; students were all filing out of shops and back up to the castle. Scott looked slightly crestfallen.

"How about we do that sometime this week?" Lily suggested boldly. He looked brighter at this comment.

They endured the bitter cold up to the school. Once inside, Scott walked her up to Gryffindor Tower.

The nervousness was mounting again as they neared the Fat Lady. She liked Scott. She liked him a lit, and she didn't want to ruin any possible future with him by acting awkward and obnoxious. At the portrait, she dropped his hand and turned to face him. "Well…er…thanks for the coffee," she stammered. She wanted to kiss him, but remembered James's advice against such an action.

"I had a really great time with you, Lily," he said. "I'll see you this week, then, for that chess game you owe me." He smiled, broadly and genuinely at her. Then his face was coming towards her.

She had never been kissed before. Lily began to panic, wondering if she could back out now. From what she'd heard, first kisses were always uncomfortable, clumsy messes. She didn't know if Scott had already had his first kiss and knew what he was doing, therefore expecting her to know what she was doing. As Scott's lips descended onto hers, she wondered vaguely if Lucile was experiencing her first kiss as well today. Her eyelids fluttered closed.

His lips were a little chapped from the brutal wind that had bettered them outside. They were also surprisingly warm and gentle. He seemed to be hesitant with his mouth, which gave Lily a little courage to push back with hers. She wondered how long this was going to last—it seemed like an age already. Right as that thought was passing through her head, Scott pulled away.

Lily snapped her eyes open, not wanting to be caught looking like a ninny with them closed. Her lips were tingling. Scott was smiling widely at her, showing all of his nice, white teeth.

"Good-bye," Lily said breathlessly, nearly in a whisper. She couldn't help but smile back.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Lily," he said. He sounded almost breathless as well. Lily touched her locked for the second time that day, wondering if Scott's picture would fill the last heart-shaped slot.

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