Sev and Lily belong to JKR.

Thank you for your lovely reviews!

Thank you iphooqui for being my beta!

Chapter 3— Dog Rose

Severus tapped lightly on Lily's window at precisely 10pm. Lily had been pacing her room in her nightclothes before quickly letting him in. He could see that she was very upset. "Did your dad come?" she asked obviously trying to hide that something was bothering her. "He did, yes… and he's already passed out drunk on the comfort of the living room sofa— what's wrong? You seem…" Lily gnawed on a fingernail. "Distraught," Severus finished. Lily's face turned very red and she bit her bottom lip, fighting back tears. This put Severus's stomach in a knot. He wasn't sure what he should do. Lily rarely cried— he liked that. She was really tough so something big must have been upsetting her.

She wiped the moisture from her eyes and took a deep breath, "I despise that man, Severus. Despise," she said through gritted teeth, continuing to pace the floor.

"Vernon?"

"Yes. Yes. He is absolutely foul. I have never met a more arrogant, holier-than-thou, know-it-all fool in my life. He is boorish, tacky, grouchy, prejudice, cheap and smelly. And do you know what else? I think he is ugly. There. Yes. I said it. I said it! He is a beastly man, Severus. Fat too— just plain obese, actually. In fact, he shares striking resemblances with a walrus. I don't even feel bad saying it, Sev. He is a fat, ugly, atrocious man. If you could have heard the things he said. Talk about a superiority complex! Ugh and you know I love my sister, I do— but she is so damn two-faced I can't decide which of her personas I want to slap first! Telling that man I go to some school for the criminally insane! Really? Why? Why is that necessary? I could just scream," Lily said ferociously slapping a teddy bear off her bed.

"So… so the lunch didn't go well," Severus said feeling stupid and trying to push aside the thoughts about how freaking cute Lily looked carrying on the way she was.

Lily laughed in spite of herself. Severus gave a small smile, "do you feel better getting all that out at least?"

Lily exhaled deeply and tried running her fingers through her hair but they got stuck in a tangle, "yes, much better. I—I just want more for Petunia. I know you don't care for her much but she is my big sister you know. I mean— I know the real her. She puts on a terrible front and it is just so frustrating to me. I wish I could help her but I'm the last person she wants to talk to about anything and it just hurts. If I hadn't lost her already, choosing to marry this Dursley man really feels like the final straw. She is so enthralled by him and I haven't the tiniest idea why. I mean I honestly feel like she is trying to make some kind of point and just ugh! All this talk about 'normalcy.' I don't even want to talk about it. What happened with your dad?"

"Transitioning from one fabulous topic to another?"

"Right. Nevermind," Lily said with a laugh. Severus smiled at her. "I love it when you do that," she blushed.

"Do what?"

"When you smile, of course. You don't give them up easily you know. And you have—," Lily moved closer to him with a grin, "here… smile again." Severus gave a small smirk. Lily laughed, "You have one dimple right here," she said running her fingertips over the skin to the right of his mouth. "It's so cute."

Severus raised his eyebrows, "cute?"

"Very," Lily laughed before kissing him lightly on the cheek. She sighed. "I have experienced the hugest range of emotions today but when I really look back on it, the overall feeling is really, really good… sort of fabulous actually."

"I'm glad to hear it," Severus said, becoming increasingly distracted by their close proximity.

"Are you really?" Lily spoke with a lustful tone.

Severus nodded as she moved so close that she had to look up at him. "I like this. Being close to you," she said taking one of his hands and placing it on the small of her back. Severus was glad that Lily was good at communicating just how she felt about things; it made life a lot easier for him. She kissed his shoulder, breathed in his scent and pulled him into a tight embrace where she ran her hands up and down his back. Severus enjoyed the herbal, refreshing scent of her rosemary mint shampoo. She took a tiny step back and quickly scanned his face before kissing him on the mouth.

"Let's watch a movie," Lily suggested.

"Alright. You can pick."

Lily walked over to her small collection of movies.

Severus immediately regretted allowing her to pick when her hands landed on her battered copy of "Grease*." He so badly wanted to protest but she looked so happy when she turned to look at him.

"How about this!" she asked, almost bouncing with excitement.

Severus forced a smile, "Erm, okay."

Lily squinted her eyes at him, "Are you sure? I sort of got the impression that you don't care for musicals."

"What gave you that idea?"

"Well…I don't know," Lily shrugged away her concerns and put in the movie.

Her television was tiny so she grabbed the pillows and blanket off the bed and set up a comfy little mound closer to it for her and Severus to lounge on.

Lily was instantly absorbed in the movie. Severus felt tired and decided that Lily would be unlikely to notice if he snoozed for a little while, so he adjusted the pillows behind his head and closed eyes. It seemed like only minutes later he was being startled awake by loud, off-key singing. "Merlin's beard, Lily!"

"What— Severus, were you asleep?"

"Were you being tortured because it sure sounded—"

"Oh no. Don't you use my singing to get out of this. Sev, it's a really good movie! I want you to watch it with me. I'm sure you'll like it."

"Alright, Lily. How about I give the movie a fair chance if you agree to stick to lip-syncing. Plus, you're likely to wake your parents…and every dog in the neighborhood." he teased.

Lily put on a mock-hurt face and gave him a little shove. "Fine."

Once Lily caught Severus up on what he'd missed he actually began to enjoy the movie. Lily silently mouthed the words to the songs until the scene for "You're the one that I want" came up. She made a little squeal and slapped her hands over her mouth. "Sev, this is my favorite part!"

"Lily, I'd be glad to plug my ears and let you go at it but like I said, you'll probably wake your parents and I don't want to have to explain what I'm doing here in the middle of the night."

"That's alright! I don't have to sing," she said bounding off the floor and grabbing a hairbrush off her dresser. She used the brush as a microphone as she danced around her bedroom, flipping her hair around. Severus watched her. A small smile grew on his face as he was reminded of why he thought this girl was so amazing. After three straight minutes of dancing, Lily collapsed onto the mound of pillows and blankets with a laugh, trying to catch her breath.

"You are… energetic," Severus said, admiring her flushed skin.

"Is that all you have to say after that amazing performance, Severus?" Lily asked, in between breaths.

"Oh well, I'll admit that your dancing is slightly better than your singing."

"Slightly!" She said sitting up on her knees. "Is that all?"

"I'm a tough a critic," he said simply.

"You're ridiculous. And you know, now that I think of it, I've never heard you sing, nor have I seen you dance so tell me who exactly you are to be such a tough critic."

"Well there's a reason you've never heard me sing and probably never will."

"And what is that?"

"I, unlike some people I know, can accept when I am no good at something and just leave it behind me… you know, politely spare the ears of those around me."

Lily buried her face in her hands. "You're an absolute mess! And what about dancing? Are you saying you've got some skill in that department?"

"Some, yes… more-so the slow variety, however. My mother taught me."

"Really? You'll have to show that off one day," she said, a curious edge to her voice.

Severus smiled. "Let's finish watching the movie."

"Oh ho! Somebody's hooked."

"It's alright," Severus said, trying to sound indifferent.

For the second day in a row, Severus found himself wandering home in the early hours of the morning. He had to stop outside of his house to bring himself back to his senses when he realized he'd been absentmindedly humming one of the tunes from the musical. At that point he made a plan to sleep most of the day away. He felt like some happy-go-lucky character pulled out of a cheesy movie and that just did not go nicely with his brooding image. Severus felt even more ridiculous for thinking of himself as having an "image" at all. It was definitely time for bed. He very quietly crept through the backdoor making sure not to disturb his snoring father. Once in his bedroom, he shook his head at himself and collapsed face-first onto his bed. His dreams weren't as pleasant as he might have expected. His subconscious was all too eager to remind him that good times never last for Severus Snape.

Thanks for reading! Sorry if it was a bit heavy on the cheese lol. My first few chapters are pretty short so I'll try and post two at a time. I actually haven't written beyond the first few chapters but I intend to make future ones longer than these. Look for chapter 4 soon!

* I realize Grease may be an anachronism… technically Severus and Lily attended Hogwarts in the 70s but I generally imagine them in more recent times so sorry if I mention products/movies/events that don't quite align with whichever time period you are imagining. I picked Grease because I know it came out sometime in the 70s but is still popular today.