"Severus."

"Hmm?"

"Sev-er-us."

"Yes, Lily?"

"Nothing, I just like saying your name."

"Is that so."

"Yes. Se-ver-us. Sev-er-us. Sever-us. Did you know that your name sounds like Sever Us?"

"How very clever of you."

"You tease, but I mean it! Wizarding folk have such interesting names. Severus Snape, for instance. Albus Dumbledore. Sirius Black-"

"That ass."

"Yes he is, but his name is neat."

"Hmph."

"Whereas I'm just Lily Evans. Plain old Lily Evans."

Severus set down his notes for the Astronomy exam, looked into her eyes. They reflected the glow of the sun on the summer grass, creating a double layer of green in her gaze. Her small mouth was squared into a pout, which Severus decided was only half pretending.

"Lily Evans," Severus said, scooting closer to her and staring right into the black of her pupils. "You're a lot of things, but trust me, plain isn't one of them."

"Such as?" Lily asked without missing a beat, the pout replaced by a coy smile.

"Vain," Severus replied, suppressing a grin when her smile twisted into a frown. "Temperamental," he added when she punched his arm. "And-and spoiled!" he yelped when she yanked his hair and he got up and ran away from her, but she was right behind him.

She chased him along the banks of the lake, scattering ducklings and knocking first-years over, till they both collapsed in a panting heap of laughter some distance from their starting point.

"You-you prat!" she shouted, pummeling him with her fists even as she laughed fit to burst. "I...am not...spoiled, Severus Snape!"

"But you agree you're, ah, a bit temperamental?" Severus rejoined, smirking each time a blow landed on his head.

"I hate you," she giggled, then lay down next to him and stared up at the sky.

"It's going to rain soon," she observed after some moments, pointing at the clear blue above.

"Nonsense, there's not a cloud in sight."

"It's true, though," Lily nodded sagely. "I can predict these things."

"Meteorology magic?"

"Well, why not? Wizards can make storms, can't they? So why can't they predict them?"

"True, but I doubt you have that ability."

"Remember that time when I said it was going to hail, and then it did?"

"That was hardly a 'prediction' since it was already raining."

"But no one knew it was going to hail."

"It was possible to make an educated guess."

"Let's bet on it then."

"Fine."

"If I'm right, you have to do my History of Magic homework for a week." Lily snickered when Severus emitted a groan in response.

"And if you're wrong," Severus replied, "you have to do my History of Magic homework for a week." He'd wanted to request something else, but he wasn't entirely sure how well it would be taken.

"Deal." Lily picked up his hand and clasped it into hers for a clumsy handshake.

Where they lay, her head was less than a foot from his own, and he could smell the scent of her hair, something both flowery and like sawdust, and he could see its copper shimmer out of the corner of his eye; he could feel the sweat of her palm where her hand had been in his, the sky above was a brilliant azure, and neither Potter nor his merry mates were to be seen. At that moment something in him swelled with what he supposed others identified as happiness, and he felt he couldn't love her better than he already did.

It had rained that day, after all.

Hogwarts

June, 1983

It was the end of term, and with a great deal of relief Severus had given his last exam the day before, sending the students off with dire maledictions of their inevitable failure to amount to anything useful in the world before he closed down his classroom for the summer, and packed his trunk to be sent to the Malfoys'.

Lucius had graciously invited Severus to the Malfoy estate for the season, and with only a few misgivings Severus had accepted, partly because he didn't have anywhere else to go besides Spinner's End, and he avoided that place as much as he could since the years had hardly softened his feelings for his father. But it was also because Lucius always had news of the goings-on in the Ministry, and as a former Death Eater comrade, Lucius trusted Severus with all manner of useful information, which Severus was more than complacent to accept. The main drawback would be that he'd have to endure the Malfoy brat climbing into his lap and tugging on his hair, but as the child seemed genuinely fond of him, Severus supposed he could tolerate it temporarily.

He was to leave this morning, after breakfast; but he tarried a bit, waiting until the last student had left the grounds for Hogsmeade Station before he stepped out of the castle and made his way toward the lake.

Severus had visited it only that once on Christmas night, because to go there while students crawled the grounds was not to be contemplated. Also, he wasn't entirely sure how his heart would respond if he were to see the lake again in daylight, and (aside from his madness on Christmas) he didn't try to find out until the school was completely abandoned for the term.

The last time he'd set foot on the soft ground of the bank beneath the June sun, his left forearm had been as bare as his right, and his suffering was due to bitter scorn, rather than the tragedy of loss. Back then, he'd gone to the lake by himself to say a silent farewell (forever, he'd thought) to Hogwarts, and to all the might-have-beens that he knew now would never come to pass.

But today, it wasn't a schoolboy's revenge against his rival that he thought of as he gazed at the quiet, peaceful blue waters of the lake; no, he thought of the last time he'd ever felt a glimmer of hope here, the very last time Hogwarts had been a place of happiness for him. For, despite their growing differences, at the end of their fourth year Lily and he had still been the best of friends, and he still had harbored the belief that one day, when he was great enough and powerful enough, when he was good enough, she'd be his, his forever. One day.

He gazed up at the blindingly blue sky, where there wasn't a cloud to be seen for miles. Ah, Lily, where are you to make it rain for me? It was never your prediction, my dear, but your will, that had made it come to pass. You could never fool me. And that is how I know things would have worked out differently, if only you'd wanted it to.

Severus with some clumsiness crouched down and picked up a smooth grey stone from the bank; held it against his chest for a moment; then threw it as far as he could into the water. It disappeared beneath the surface with barely a ripple, as if it had never been.