I dropped the twigs, the rotting wood to the floor as the memory burned, but quickly retrieved them, placing them gingerly on the table that was not covered by the large box, and pushing the twigs, and the memory aside, I reached in yet again, and when my hand rose from the box, clutching in my palm was a photograph, a photograph of Lily and I in our third year.

My heart ached.

Her hair was so long then, almost to her waist which was so very slender. Her wide smile and long bangs gave her the appearance of an 11 year old, but the prettiest 11 year old girl you'd ever seen. She donned a Gryffindor sweater and scarf with a long black skirt and tights, and I stood beside her awkward and a bit too tall for my Slytherin robes. I tried to smile as she put her arms around me smiling and pulled away clapping her hands while I laughed slightly at her enthusiasm. We stood out on the quiddich pitch, you were unable to decipher it in the black and white of the picture, but we were both flushed with autumn cold…

"We won!" Lily exclaimed happy that Gryffindor had won their first match since our attendance at Hogwarts, "The losing streak is over! Long live the lion!"

"You only beat Hufflepuff," I reminded her, laughing at the enthusiasm.

"Hey you two," Some seventh year girl with tight knit curls called to us, "You want to be in the school paper about the win? Give me a smile and some inter house pride!"

And thus, the picture was born.

"We must celebrate!" She exclaimed, "Let's do something fun!"

"Like what?" I inquired, unable to help but grin at her happiness

"Let's do something crazy," Her eyes gleamed mischievously.

"Such as, petal?" I smirked as she dashed away, the autumn leaves blowing in the breeze behind her as she frolicked off, and I followed, quickly, ignoring the cheers of the raucous Gryffindor victors which grew closer

"What did you call me?" She turned, walking backwards now and I found myself nervous of any rouge branch or root that might trip her lovely form.

"Petal," I said, quickening my pace to avoid the onslaught of a Gryffindor triumph, and catching up with her as she slowed, a grin spreading across her lips, "I called you petal. You're name is Lily. Lilies are flowers, you're beautiful, and tiny… like a flower petal."

"You're so sweet for a Slytherin," She teased lightly, and turned back around, scurrying towards the lake and removing her outer cloak, "Let's go swimming!"

"Its freezing!" I argued, laughing as she plopped herself onto the October ground, removing her shoes and socks, "We'll become wee icicles!"

"Are you in or out, Sev?" She grinned up at me. And begrudgingly I removed my cloak and shoes

Hand in hand we jumped into the deep icy water, gasping for air and clinging to each other to stay warm.

It was then that James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew strolled by singing victory songs at the top of their tone deaf lungs

"Lily is he trying to drown you?" Sirius called out, bursting into laughter, "Or are you two snogging?"

"Don't be pervserse, Black," Lily said, tossing her wet air out oher face as she shivered in the freezing water defiantly, "This is how I decided to celebrate!"

"By freezing to death?" Sirius scoffed, "What a brilliant idea loony lily and Snivellus"

"Actually it is a brilliant idea for Snivellus to freeze himself to death," Potter chortled, "But maybe this situation is a plus for him, its probably the first time his hair has ever met water."

"Maybe it'll catch on and he'll shower every once in a while," Sirius sneered

Lily and I climbed out of the water, soaking wet and full of indignation. I saw James eyes lock on Lily as she shook her long red hair, water droplets sprinkling the ground, her clothes pressed tightly against her…

"Too bad the giant squid didn't eat you, Snivelly," Peter drawled.

"The squid has better taste than that," Sirius snickered loudly as Lily and I retrived our cloaks, but Potter had grabbed my shoes while Lily was sitting on the grass, glaring at the group of them and putting her own shoes back on.

"Give him those back, Potter," Lily hissed furiously.

"Sure, if you'll accompany me to Honeydukes on Halloween!" He proposed, a goofy grin on his young face.

"I'd rather take the squid," She replied flatly.

"Fine," James shrugged and tossed my shoes to Sirius, "Those things are from 1919, nice style Snivelly."

"Fuck you," I snapped furiously, "Give me those!"

I held out my wand but before I could curse Sirius's smug face he had thrown them into the water.

"Oopsy!" Sirius called, laughing until I performed a tripping spell and he found himself tumbling over the edge of the lake, shouting as the rush of cold water covered his fully clothed body.

"Accio shoes!" I called irritably and began drying my shoes with my wand once they returned to me, while Lily laughed loudly at Sirius flopping in the water with his cloak weighing him down.

"It that some new Dark Arts stuff?" Peter said coldly as he and James lifted Sirius from the water while Remus, like Lily, was chuckling softly.

"No," I was both amused and aggravated, "It's a tripping spell. Quite elementary."

"Quite amusing," Lily added smirking and linked her arm through mine, sticking her tongue out as they finally managed to pull Sirius to shore.

"Oh yes QUITE," Sirius mocked shaking his wet mane, splashing both Potter and Pettigrew In the face, "When you two get married I hope for Evan's sake that your spawn don't look a think like Snivellus!"

"They're not getting married," Potter grumbled, "I'd put more money on the squid than that nasty excuse for a wizard."

"Say that to my face like a man, you so-called brave Gryffindor!" I called back, despite Lily's insist tugging on my arm, half dragging me to the castle doors.

"I'm not a man, I'm 13," Potter called back, "And I'd say it to your face, but every time I get too close to you, I get sick, you ugly slime ball!"

"He's an immature toerag," Lily pressed as we entered the castle, while my head was still turned, glaring harshly at the group of them, "They all are. I'm ashamed to be in their house."

"They're so-" I seethed

Lily patted my arm and hugged me gently, "I know, Sevvy,"

"I'm sorry," I sighed, sweeping my wet hair from my face.

"For what?" She asked brightly as I walked her towards the Gryffindor tower, the gentleman that I was.

"Getting so worked up…"

"Are you kidding?" She laughed, holing my arm tighter, "Seeing Sirius dumped into the lake was just glorious, maybe that'll show the arrogant berk that he isn't immortal."

"I doubt anything short of death with convince him of that," I snickered.

"Don't laugh!" Lily frowned, "There's all these reports of muggle deaths in the prophet because of that Lord Voldemort guy, apparently he's a muggle hater, and well, seeing as my whole family are muggles, it concerns me a bit."

"I didn't mean to upset you," I said gently, "You're not supposed to say his name though."

"Oh, why not?" She rolled her dark green eyes, "VOLDEMORT, VOLDEMORT, VOLDEMORT! What's going to happen? He can't hear me, muggle killing bastard."

"Just be careful," I cringed at the sound of his name, the name of the man that my friends referred to as "The Dark Lord" The man they said would lead our world to glory.

"Careful?" She giggled, 'Me? Never! What's life if you don't live it?"

"Wasted," I agreed as we reached the portrait hole, "Have a good night… Petal…"

She swooped down and kissed my cheek gingerly, "Good night, Sev!"

And she disappeared into her common room. I walked quickly back to my own Slytherin dungeon, not wanting to run into Potter and company, not after that moment when her lips grazed my cheek. I must have been bright red and smiling like a fool, but I was 13 and I was in love.

That photograph I held, grasped so tightly in my hand that I bent one of the corners, it showed our youth, the epitome of our adventures, of our friendship when we were still 13 and anything was still possible.

With a painful sigh, I placed the photo beside the twigs and reached into the box yet again, my eyes closed to the world, wishing I was still 13, innocent and with the girl I loved in a freezing lake below a gray autumn sky, waiting tomorrow and all the glory it promised.

When I removed my hand, clutching in my long fingers was a note in her lovely cursive hand… and it began….

"Deaestr Sev…

Authors Notes:

So I hope you're all intrigued, its about to get a bit more exciting I think =]

I really hope you've enjoyed what you've read, and reviews are so very very very loved.

Xo

April summer your hopeful author!