SNOWFLAKES

It was the middle of winter, and Severus Snape decided that he hated the cold.

The solitary fourth-year Slytherin sat on the front steps of Hogwarts, his Potions book opened across his knees, working feverishly on his homework; the only reason he dared brave the cold was because he risked facing the rest of his very foul-mood House-mates in the common room (they were all exceptionally cranky these days because Gryffindor had beat them out last Quidditch game two-hundred twenty to ten), and James Potter's gang seemed to be staked out in the library this afternoon. Normally Severus did not mind a confrontation with them...sometimes he welcomed it...but today of all days he did not feel up to the challenge.

It was just his luck that today had gone so foully; a week's worth of detentions for getting caught with Avery and Mulciber while they tried to hex people...his homework load was piling up drastically on the very brink of the holidays...and on top of it all, he felt himself coming down with a head cold that not even the thick green-and-silver Slytherin scarf wrapped around his neck could waylay.

It was going to be a very unpleasant Christmas indeed.

With a low groan of frustration, Severus scratched out the last line he had written, pushing his unkempt, dirty black hair behind his ear as he did so. He was getting frustrated with this homework...he couldn't seem to find the answer, to identify the uses of a bezoar...

It was as though the darkness of the day had seeped into his heart; he felt as though nothing in his life was going right.

The doors of Hogwarts banged open behind him; Severus jumped, his hand already halfway to the wand stowed in the pocket of his robes, when light footsteps hopped down the stairs two at a time and arms encircled his neck in a stranglehold.

" Freedom at last! Hey, Sev!"

" Lily!" Severus removed his hand at once from his pocket. " What are you doing out here, it's bitter cold, you should be inside..."

Lily Evans unwound her arms from their embrace around his neck, and she pounced down the last two steps to glare at him from ground level, tucking her fiery red hair behind the flaps of her hat as she did so. Severus's eyes followed the movement with rapture, then turned back to Lily's dancing green eyes.

" I should ask you the same thing!" She pointed out. " I heard you hacking and wheezing in the Great Hall over your eggs and hash this morning, if you don't watch yourself, you're going to wind up sick."

" I'm flattered you care." Severus replied with a smile. " But you of all people should know how hard it is to escape for a moment of solitude inside the castle."

Lily's face twisted at his words.

" That prat James Potter..." She muttered, shaking her head. " He followed me all the way to the library. It only just figures that I'd be sorted into his House instead of yours." Lily returned and flung herself down beside Severus, leaning her head against his shoulder. " It's really hard being in Gryffindor sometimes, Sev...I miss spending all of my time with my best friend...the girls are all very nice, but it's not like it always used to be with you and me..."

Severus wrapped his arm around her shoulder and silently agreed.

" It gets easier." He assured her, thinking of Avery and Mulciber...they weren't quite his friends, and they were nowhere near as dear to him as Lily, but for the first time in his life, boys his age accepted him...

" I suppose." Lily grumbled, wiping her nose on her sleeve.

" So." Severus began, eager to change the subject, because if there was one thing he could not stand it was to see Lily Evans crying, " Are you staying for Christmas?" In his heart he desperately hoped so...last year she had not, and there had only been a few who stayed from each House, and he had longed for the opportunity to spend hours of time with her uninterrupted...

" I am if you are." Lily replied firmly. " Mum and Tuney and Dad said I can come home if I want, but I've been home every year since first...I'd like to spend Christmas with you for once."

" Thank you." Severus replied simply.

Lily turned her face to grin up at him; then she got to her feet, shook all over, and pointed to the book in his hands.

" Want some help with your Potions homework, Sev?"

" That depends." He pretended to think it over. " Are we even yet on the Defense Against the Dark Arts incident?"

She shot him a highly disparaging look.

" That was a fluke, Sev, I only needed your help on..."

" The whole lesson." He interrupted, beaming at her as she glared.

After a moment, Lily relented.

" Oh, alright, if you insist." She sighed. " So I suppose you won't owe me for this...but you have to promise me something."

" Anything." Severus replied, and he meant it.

" You have to promise to actually apply yourself from now on."

Severus suppressed a smile and raised his hand solemnly.

" I vow, on this day, to my best friend, Lily Evans, that I will apply myself to my Potions studies and one day advance to the position of Professor of the whole class, and I'll tell every one of my students that I'm forever indebted to Lily Evans for saving me from a lifetime of lacking in Potions prowess, and will furthermore..."

" Alright, that's quite enough." Lily said, flushing. Severus dropped his hand.

" Well, there you have it." He said, smiling. " Now then..."

But before he could say another word, Lily glanced heavenward; her eyes widened, and then she pointed at what seemed to be nothing.

" Sev, look! It's snowing!"

Severus looked up, down, and all around; sure enough, the white flakes were clinging to his cape, to his Potions book, and he could see them melting on Lily's gold-and-red Gryffindor scarf as well. He watched as the flakes—beginning to fall faster with every second—clung to Lily's bright red hair and her pale cheeks.

" Sev, this is it! The first snow of the year! C'mon!"

Severus had only just enough time to snap his book shut before Lily grabbed his hand and tugged him to his feet, releasing him the moment he was upright. Then she was off—running and laughing, arms flung to the sides, her hair streaming behind her. Her hat fell from her head and rolled away across the cold grass. Severus, following more sedately behind her, retrieved her hat and continued to walk in her footsteps, watching as she twirled, eyes closed now, looking as though she would embrace the heavens themselves...

His heart wrenched; when had he ever seen something so beautiful? Not the most brightest, simmering potion, not the most powerful, blazing spell, could compare. Lily Evans was truly a goddess of their world, finely honed and beautiful...and somehow, incredibly, she had befriended the one person who had never gotten a single thing right in his life before she had come along...

The snow piled up all around them; Lily was still spinning and Severus was still watching her, feeling as though he was fighting an internal war.

And then Lily came staggering toward him, slightly vague-eyed, laughing loudly. She looked very disoriented.

" Sev, that was so much fun, you've got to try it..."

And then she collapsed; Severus caught her by instinct, just as he had on the numerous times that she had tripped on the hard asphalt of the playground where they had first met; their scarves, the crimson-gold of Gryffindor and the silver-emerald of Slytherin, wove together like snakes. Lily buried her face in his shoulder and laughed so hard she trembled. Severus was not sure when her weight became dead in his arms, but he was fully conscious of the moment when her laughter turned to sobs.

Her hands gripped the back of his robes tightly; her tears were warmer then the snow dusting his shoulders as he sank to his knees, still holding her.

" Lily...Lily, what's wrong?" He demanded, terrified that she had been in some way hurt.

" T-Tuney doesn't want me to come h-home for Christmas." Lily gasped into his collar. " Sh-She wrote me...sh-she said she wanted me to s-stay away...mum and dad can't r-reason with her...she's th-threatening to run away i-if I come home...a-and I can't do that to my family, Sev, I c-can't... "

" I-It's okay, Lily..." Severus said helplessly, running his fingers through her soft red hair. He refused to let her see his euphoria...his euphoria in the realization that he was holding her, holding her as he wanted to do almost always, her body so warm against his... " I know what it's like, Lily, but...you can make it, I know you can...you can still stay with me, you know, I'll make sure you have a good Christmas...and your Muggle sister...she might come around, who knows...I heard you say a long time ago that she wanted to come to Hogwarts, maybe she's just jealous..."

Lily drew in a great, shuddering breath, and nodded into his shoulder; her hand loosened from around his robes, and she pulled away a bit. Compulsively, Severus tightened his arms around her—he didn't want to let her go...

Lily looked up at him, her face flushed, and wiped one hand against her cheeks.

" You dropped your hat." Severus said quietly, inclining his head to the soft, warm object still clutched in his hand.

" I know." Lily murmured.

And then her arm lifted and she pushed the lank curtain of dirty dark hair behind his ear again, and she offered him a watery, teary-eyed smile. " You're the best friend any witch ever had, Sev."

And then—unbelievably, he was not even sure how it happened—her warm, full lips were on his; his body stiffened for an instant before he gave over and acted by reflex, letting his lips follow hers, follow the course hers desired. He played by her rules, restraining himself as necessary, and he could taste her so fully on his tongue...

His senses governed; Severus moved one hand to the back of her head, brushing the snowflakes from her hair, moving to dry the tears and the snowflakes that mingled on her cheeks...

Lily pulled away without warning, licking her lips and looking acutely embarrassed. She touched the place on her cheek where his hand had wandered, and she looked up at him, smiling tentatively.

" You're a good kisser, Sev." She admitted after a very awkward pause. " But now I'll bet I've got your cold."

He laughed, feeling better and happier and more alive than he ever had; he was on his feet before she was, offering her his hand.

" Come with me." He pleaded. " I know an empty classroom on the fifth floor where we can try that again."

Lily laughed, accepted his hand, and allowed him to pull her upright; Severus pushed Lily's hat back onto her hair haphazardly, and she laughed, taking a swipe for his arm.

" Manners, Snape!" She teased. " That's no way to treat a lady!"

Surprising himself with his own daring, Severus wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her closer.

" At least I know how to make a lady happy." He chuckled lowly. Lily flushed, but a keen glint had entered her eyes.

" Then don't keep a lady waiting!" She commanded, and she pulled on his hand, drawing him back toward the castle. They ran through the empty grounds and back through the wide front doors, which slammed closed behind them, sending a shower of snowflakes whirling upward, then drifting down to conceal their footprints that led into a snowy white world of silence, where their laughter still hung warm on the chilly air.

And Severus Snape decided that day that he loved the cold.

In years to come, the memory of that glorious day would fade. Severus Snape would not recall exactly what the snow looked like as it clung to Lily Evans' lashes, or the precise shade of the flush on her cheeks, or the distinct warmth of her hand in his. In years to come, he would not remember how the wind felt as it tugged at his cloak, or the way his raw, abused throat ached like his cheeks did when she made him smile.

He would only remember her eyes, warm and full of laughter, and remember that he was her very first kiss.

And her second, and her third...