"Higher, Sev- Higher!"

A gleeful voice rang out through the nearly deserted park, tinted orange in the approaching twilight.

The voice belonged to none other than the nine- year- old Lily Evans, soaring back and forth through the thick air as she held on tightly to the rusty swing, her musical laugh echoing throughout the eerie silence of the park.

Severus Snape pushed his hair out of his eyes and rushed as far back as he could, his small frame anticipating the incoming weight of the rickety swing. As his small hands collided with Lily's back, sending her flying even higher than she was before, Severus caught a glimpse of her emerald green eyes, dancing with joy as she leaned backwards to give him a huge grin. He had never seen eyes like hers, he thought, in his entire nine- and- three- quarter years. "Like emeralds," he thought to himself. "Or like that forest, in the springtime." Severus was just thinking to himself how nice her eyes would look with the Slytherin badge she would wear every day once they got to Hogwarts when-

BAM.

Lily's swing collided with Severus's face, and he felt his lip split, though not for the first time. "Ow," he whimpered, his hands pressed up against his face in an attempt to stop the bleeding, tears stinging his eyes as he willed himself not to cry. "Not in front of Lily," he thought. "No way."

"Oh my goodness, Sev, I'm so sorry!" Exclaimed Lily, rushing towards him with a grimace on her face. "S'Okay," he mumbled, not wanting Lily to see his injury, his one moment of weakness.

"Rubbish. Lemme see !" Lily persisted, prying his hands away from his face. By now his lip had stopped bleeding, but Severus could already feel a bruise blossoming across his mouth and chin.

"Here," Lily said in a no- nonsense tone, handing him a small handkercheif that she had somehow extracted from the one of the pockets on her blue jumper. Grateful, Severus took it and pressed it to his face. "Y'Know..." he heard Lily say.

"Yes?" Said Severus.

"My mum always said, well, that when someone's hurt, you're supposed to kiss it better," she said authoritatively.

"What? That's absurd, why would anyone ever-" Severus started to say, but was cut off by Lily's face pressing up against his, her nose narrowly missing his own as she touched her soft lips to his. The kiss lasted only a second or two, but it was enough.

"See ? You're all better, look at you," Lily said in a smug, self- satisfied tone, while Severus blushed furiously and raised a shaking hand to his face. Soon after, Lily bade him a cheerful goodbye and skipped off to her house for supper, but Severus ambled over to the swing and sat down, his toes just skimming the ground and his still- shaking fingers never leaving his face.

It was November 1st, 1981. A cold wind blew throughout the now- abandoned park, a solitary swing moving through the air. A short while away, a slim man with long, dark hair and a crooked nose seemingly appeared out of nowhere and gingerly walked over to the swing, each step growing heavier as a solitary tear rolled down his cheek. His eyes flicked over a single chip in its otherwise smooth surface, and the memories of his first and only kiss with the girl he loved all came flooding back to him. The man reached into his pocket, and pulled out a single white lily, tied at the base with a emerald- green ribbon. He placed it on the swing, twining the stem through its rusty chains so it wouldn't blow away in the bitter wind, and walked away, tears still rolling down his face. A short while later, he once again disappeared into the twilight.