This world and these characters belong to JKR of course.

And as soon as the summer started it was back to the good days. Severus longed for these days. Early walks to the beach, long naps under familiar tees, books and books and books. It was as if he needed to endure the year if only to live for these days. He looked over his notebook to see that Lily has fallen asleep curled up in his sweater. She was his home. He thought of reaching out and touching her face, but decided against it, knowing it was just as wonderful to see her so peaceful. He looked back to his notebook. He couldn't help but think of different ways to channel this new magic he was learning about. The distinct power of personal magic. Something more than intention. Put your soul into the magic and the possibilities were endless. Severus noticed that the more he spent time reading about this strange and powerful form of magic, the better he was able to perceive the magic around him. He thought about the progression of how he understood the magic that flowed through his body. When he was much younger and without a wand, it seemed as if magic crackled around him all the time. He could think of doing something, and it seemed much more possible to be able to do that thing. Of course he didn't really understand how to channel his magic back then. When he finally received his wand, it was as if he now needed the wand to use magic. As if the wand were an extension of his hand, and it alone connected to his magic. More recently though he found that he could feel magic start in his mind, with his intentions. He would think of something and it was if he didn't need his wand, as if his body and mind just needed to will the magic to take action. He found that he could do magic he wasn't really invested in with his wand, magic with little intention with his wand. But then, without his want, if he willed himself hard enough, he could do it. He started this theory in the previous weeks while he was still at Hogwarts. He would sit at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, stare at his plate, focus intently on the idea that he wanted lily to look over at him, and then look up to see if she noticed. She did the first time. She looked intently at Severus, and he smiled. She smiled back and went back to her dinner. At first he was unconvinced, assuming it much have been a coincidence. Then he started trying this only on the days she had her back to him. After the fourth time this happened at dinner she waited for him to leave the table and she followed him out of the hall.

"Sev" she said.

Severus quickly stopped and turned around.

"Did you need to talk to me about something?"

"Umm, no Lily, why do you think that"

She looked hard into his face. "Liar" and she laughed. "I know you're doing something".

"And how do you know that?" he replied with a smile.

"Mmm, I'll tell you later" she finished with a laugh.

And she walked in the opposite direction toward her next class. Severus was so excited. He wondered what she felt. How had she known.

He looked over to the lovely sleeping Lily next to him. He concentrated on getting her attention and her eyes slowly opened.

"Sev?" she mumbled. She blinked twice. "What's up?"

Severus tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"Didn't you just tap on my shoulder?"

Severus grinned. "I didn't. What did you feel?"

Lily slowly sat up. She stretched her arms over her head and yawned. "Mmm, it felt like you had your hand on my shoulder, like you wanted my attention.." Lily stared at the spot on the ground next to her. Her eyes shot an amused look and she smiled. "This is the thing you kept doing to me at school! At dinner! How did you do it?"

Severus gently smiled at her and took her hand. "It's weird, I just kind of focus on the thought, like I think I want to get your attention, I think of it kind of intensely, and then you look right at me". "That's so strange Sev. Like I felt a touch on my shoulder, but for some reason I knew it was you, as if it was your hand on me".

Severus took the notebook off his lap and stretched his legs out. Lily took this moment to crawl over to him and sit between his legs. He wrapped his arm around her, and used his other to move her hair to one side of her neck, he rested his chin onto her now bare shoulder. She snuggled into him. He breathed in the smell of her. His Lily, sweet, with the smell of the earth on her still. This smell, the summer, the smell that had become home to him, how he longed for the summer to last forever. But for now, he would cherish every day of it, knowing it would be weeks before he would have to think of it ending.

His attention snapped back to the witch in front of him as he felt a snip of pain at his wrist. "Hey!"

Lily started laughing and turned to face him. "So are you going to teach me how to do that then?"

She smiled brightly at him and moved up to place a small kiss on his nose. He put his hand on the side of her head.

"Whatever you want to know, though I'm not sure how good I am at it yet".

"Well just show me won't you"

Severus moved his hands to her waist. He slowly moved his hands under her sweater. He watched as Lily slowly closed her eyes, relaxing into the feel of his hands. He took advantage of her unguarded moment and started tickling her. Lily jumped up and started laughing as Severus followed his hands which now had a mission of their own. Severus tickled her until her adorable face was as red as her hair. He finally stopped once she was pinned under him. He moved her now mussed hair out of her face.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "you're mean".

He smiled down at her. "No, I just like hearing your cute little laugh - oh and I liked getting punched by you."

He peppered her face in kisses. She laughed and pushed his chest up to put distance between them.

"Fine, but for future reference, I'll happily punch you anytime".

She flashed a full smile at him. His chest fluttered with happiness. He slowly stood up and dusted the dirt off his pants with one hand, holding out the other to her. She took his hand and stood up, lacing her fingers through his.

He spent the rest of the afternoon explaining the strange bit of magic to her and she practiced it on him. By her second try Lily had managed to get Severus' attention. Severus noticed that when Lily concentrated on him, he could feel her hand on his chest, right over his heart. He debated telling her this, but thought it might be better to mention it later. He wasn't sure how he felt about her feeling his hand on her shoulder, while he could feel her over his heart. He wondered if it meant anything.

They spent the rest of the day walking around the lake hand in hand. Eventually as she always did Lily threw off her sweater and jeans and jumped into the water.

"Sev, get in here".

Severus hesitated. He knew he would end up in the water anyways, but he always felt self-conscious taking his clothes off. He knew she had seen him in this very lake several times, but he couldn't help how awkward he felt. Lily had grown into a beautiful girl. She had a slim but soft body, peppered in adorable little freckles. Severus could spend hours, days, years, counting and recounting them. She had a beautiful tan from the days earlier running around in the sun. Her hair lighter and her freckles darker. He couldn't help but feel awkward as he pulled off his sweater. Though he was thin, he was still pale as ever. He knew his recent growth spurt had made him look thinner. Standing in his swim shorts, Severus walked over the edge of the lake. Lily swam toward him and then walked over to him as the water shallowed. Already drenched she ran over and jumped onto him. His arms automatically ready to catch her, as her legs wrapped around his waist and settled onto his hips. Her cold body making goosebumps appear where she was touching him.

"Let's go in now!" she commanded as Severus walked carrying her into the water.

He couldn't help but forget all his insecurities when she was so close to him. She never seemed to mind that he was too thin, or too angular. When he was chest deep in water she released her arms from his neck, using his chest to launch her feet off of as she broke into a back stroke away from him. He dived into the water after her. It took a moment to get used to looking into the water. He could see her long legs gracefully swimming away from him. He followed her. Her long red hair clearly visible in the water. He noticed how natural it felt to follow her. It always did. He would follow her anywhere. She stopped swimming forward coming up for air, treading in place. He swam up to her.

"oh look" she said, "it's like we're in a movie"

She looked exactly like that. Her hair perfectly wet down her back. Her green eyes reflecting the water. She put her hand on his face staring into his clear black eyes.

"You have the most handsome face Sev."

She laughed as she wrapped her legs around his waist, and gripped his shoulders.

"You make me want to be in a fancy romantic movie. Play the part for me, will you".

Wrapping his arms firmly around her, he moved his lips to her, kissing her hard. Slowing moving one hand up her back, feeling her soft skin. He tangled his fingers into her hair. He kissed her deeper, and she sighed into his mouth. They stayed that way for a few moments. Both excited and content. He felt her shiver and he slowly broke apart the kiss. She rested her forehead on his. She always felt so safe in his arms.

"I think it's time to swim back, I'm freezing".

She untangled herself from him, and started to swim back to the shore. He followed her naturally. As they approached the shore they walked out of the shallow water, the heat of the afternoon sun drying their skin immediately. Severus stood back and stretched out his arms, tilting his head up to the sun. How he wished the sun would bring even a little colour to his skin. He ran his fingers through his damp hair. He felt wispy fingers on his flat stomach. Lily's fingers danced up his stomach onto his chest. She lay her hands flat on his chest and moved them up behind his neck. Her body pressed into his. Somehow standing outside with so little on and so close to her made him nervous. It didn't matter that only minutes ago, he was much closer and more intimately connected to her, it was as if the water kept his thoughts from getting out of hand. But out here where her skin was warm, and her hair damp and cool brushing against his neck, his thoughts were racing and his heart beat sped up. He looked down into her face. She kissed him lightly and stepped back.

"Let's go get our stuff…are your parents' home Sev?" Severus followed her, taking her hand.

"No, they won't be home till 10. It's so depressing there Lil."

Though Lily had been to Severus's house several times before, Severus was still embarrassed by it. "Aw, but it won't be depressing with me there to cheer you up!"

Severus smiled. She was right. She had never made him feel embarrassed or sad about his house. She was always polite to his parents, even his father didn't mind if Lily was there. They walked back to the tree that they had kept their things next to and packed up. Lily put Severus's sweater back on and undid her bathing suit top from underneath it. Severus felt himself get nervous. He consciously made sure not to look beneath her chin. She put the small bit of fabric into her backpack and threw it over her shoulder. She smiled up at him and grabbed his hand, dragging him back toward their street. Severus noticed as his mood shifted. There was nothing nice about living in Spinners End. Though he loved the summer, having to walk back to his house always made him solemn. Summer was Lily; bright, and lively, and warm. This street though, both he and Lily lived on this street, neither house made him happy. He knew he belonged with Lily, but both of their houses reminded him of how much neither of their lives complemented one another. His family so unhappy and resentful, and hers, weary of magic, and weary of him. He was grateful though. His mother worked until the evening, and his father always made it home as late as possible. They could have spent all day in his house if they wanted to, Lily wouldn't have minded. But Severus wanted to bring Lily to places that complimented her, sunny and warm and pure. They walked through the front door. The inside of Severus's house looked as though someone has put great detail into decorating it and then left it to age for fifty years. The surfaces were all clean and tidy. Everything was dated. Lily walked inside and immediately into the kitchen, opening the fridge and looking for something to eat. Severus smiled. He loved the way she could warm up any place she was in. Looking at Lily busying herself in the kitchen he could picture a future for them, even in this dull little house. He threw that image to the back of his mind, He would buy them a proper house, one with blues and greens, and the warmth of the sun.

He walked into the kitchen as she handed him a cookie. She smiled at him with a mouthful of cookie. He jumped over to her, kissing her cookie-filled mouth as she started to laugh. He stepped back and grabbed the cookie packet, taking her hand with his other, he lead them to the basement. Severus flicked the light switch on as Lily walked over to the couch and made herself comfortable.

"sev?"

"hmm?"

"the cookies?"

He tossed the packed to her, and walked over to her and settled down beside her. Severus couldn't help how much he loved everything about her. How he would never think to watch tv when his father did, but he loved the muggle device when Lily wanted to watch something. He imagined he wouldn't so much mind being a muggle if they both were.

Looking over at her, relaxed and leaning into him, Severus forgot that he told himself not to look below her neck. Suddenly he was nervous again. He knew they had never talked about it, but he couldn't remember when the lines of their friendship had blurred into something more. She was his first kiss, well the only one he had ever kissed. But at some point during the last year the lined had blurred more than it ever had before. He knew he had been in love with her forever, but the tension he felt, this was new. And he found himself nervous so much more often than not. Lily would kiss him often, passionately. And he would kiss her back. He would kiss her playfully, softly, sadly, and it never felt wrong. And still he couldn't help the nervousness. In the last year when they had been kissing, he found his mind racing to other thoughts quite quickly. Leaving him feeling flustered. His hands wanted to go places they never had before. We wanted to see, and feel every part of her. And though he had never felt the need to hide anything from her before, for some reason he couldn't bring himself to tell her about this. He did notice though, that though Lily was always relaxed, she too had been acting differently around him. sometimes after kissing for a bit, she would blush heavily and he would notice that her hands would hesitate. He wondered if she was as nervous as he was. He reminded himself to look at her face, and not any lower.

"Sev?"

"hmm?"

Severus looked away from the movie playing on the television and turned to Lily.

"Will you lend me something else to wear, this is starting to get uncomfortable"

He realized that she was probably still wearing her bathing suit bottoms under her jeans.

"yeah of course, sorry I didn't think of that"

She leaned over and touched his face. Looking into his dark obsidian eyes, she kissed him. At first, lightly, and then passionately. As quickly as the kiss started, it stopped. Severus felt himself get nervous again. He stood up and walked up the stairs, passing the kitchen and up the next set of stairs to his bedroom. He grabbed a pair of clean boxers, and some flannel pajama bottoms. Figuring he would probably be more comfortable in shorts that he didn't go swimming in, Severus changed his clothes as well. He walked downstairs, and handed her the boxers and flannel plants. She smiled up at him and grabbed them.

"Thank you".

She got up and walked into the bathroom, returning wearing his sweater and only the boxers.

"I'll probably be too warm in those".

He noticed her legs. Tan and perfectly freckled. Long and lean. Her small delicate looking feet, perfectly painted a rosy pink. Severus gave her a hard look and jumped up. He picked her up around the waist and threw her onto the couch pinning her underneath him.

"You. Are. So. Cute." She laughed breathlessly. Sev could go from romantic to silly in half a second.

Taking her face in his hands he kissed her face, from her forehead to her chin, kissing the tip of her nose several times, before kissing her mouth. He kissed her softly and looked into her green eyes. His thumb lightly stroking the side of her face. He noticed a tension in the room. He was suddenly aware of her body pressed into his. Her hips pressed into his stomach, her breasts pressed into his chest. Without thinking his hand moved him her face down her neck. His fingertips trailing the side of her body. His thumb stroked her breast over her sweater. He heard her breathing quicken. His hands moved down her body till it reached the edge of the long sweater. His hand moved underneath the edge of the sweater feeling the soft skin of her flat stomach. He continued to slowly move his hand up her bare skin. Lily's fingers threaded through his soft hair. She pulled his mouth to her, slipped her tongue into his mouth. The slow kiss becoming more passionate by the second. She moved her body against his. She felt a hardness between his legs, and heard him moan into her mouth. Severus stopped moving. He moved his face from her, a deep blush covering his cheeks. Feeling flustered Severus sat up. After a few moments he relaxed and leaned his back into the couch. Lily was nervous. Her thoughts about Severus lately had made her blush. She was in love with him, but lately she was constantly nervous around him. She could remember the days when she could be entirely relaxed around him, but these days she had thoughts about where she should put her hands, and whether or not he thought about her when he was alone. She knew Severus was shy. She knew he would care more about her than himself, and this applied especially when the two of them were together. Severus wouldn't do anything to make her uncomfortable, which is why she knew that she needed to make the first move. She knew she wanted her body to be close to him, closer than she had been to anyone. She stood up and walked over to him. She decided she would be brave, for both of them. Putting her hand on his shoulder she lowered herself onto his lap, one knee on other side of him, her bum on his thighs. She could feel Sev get nervous beneath her. She looked into his face fiercely, and proceeded to kiss him. His hands reached her back, and slowly moved in circles feeling her over her sweater. One hand moved down to her waist, and then hesitated. Lily kissed him hard, her fingers in his hair. She felt his hand go over her bum, and the hardness between his legs press into her clothed center. It suddenly came into Severus's mind that Lily had nothing on beneath his sweater and boxers. She ground her hips into him, and without thinking a loud thought entered his mind - you don't deserve her. Severus felt his forehead crease. Lily kissed him harder and suddenly his thoughts were lost and he found his hips moving against hers. The sound of keys in the lock echoed down the staircase. Severus and Lily both froze. She looked into his face and giggled and she climbed off of him, her eyes lingering on his erection through his pants. He shifted slightly to hide it, an obvious blush on his face. He ran a hand over his face to hide an awkward laugh. Lily stood up and slipped her jeans over Severus' boxers. They hadn't realized that it was past ten.

"I'll walk you home."

Severus stood up, he gently took hold of her hand and led her up the staircase.

Mrs. Snape was sitting in an armchair staring out the living room window. She looked up to see her son and the sweet girl from down the street.

"Lily dear, I didn't think you'd still be here. Your mum might be worried."

Mrs. Snape smiled at Lily, and Lily returned the smile. She noticed her son holding Lily's hand. Severus noticed his mother's eyes fall to their joined hands and quickly let go of Lily's hand. Mrs. Snape watched the interaction with curious eyes. Lily looked to Severus out of the corner of her eyes and blushed. She noticed that her son looked both nervous and happy.

"I was just going to walk her home now mum, I'll be back in a bit".

Mrs. Snape nodded, "Take care Lily, come 'round during the weekend, will you?"

Lily beamed at Mrs. Snape. "I will. Good night Mrs. Snape."

Mrs. Snape turned her head toward the window again. Severus walked to the door and picked up Lily's backpack as she put on her sandals. Closing the door behind her, she took Severus' hand as they walked down the street.

"Your mum always seems friendly before your dad gets home".

Severus looked straight ahead, not knowing what to say to that. He knew his father made his mother miserable, he found it strange how Lilly seemed to notice everything. Both of his parents liked Lily. His father found it easy to talk to Lily, as her family were muggles, and they had many muggle things to chat about. His mother was fond of Lily, often asking her about Hogwarts, and her favorite subjects. Lily always wondered how Sev's parents could be so kind to her, but never to one another. She also knew how harsh his father was with him, and she felt guilty about the ease with which both of his parents interacted with her. She knew Severus didn't particularly like his father, and that he loved his mother. Severus never specifically said it, but by the way Severus acted around them, she had the sense that his father might have been particularly nasty toward them because they used magic. She knew Severus had felt like he needed to protect his mother for most of his life.

After a few moments of silence Severus said, "She was probably friendly because you were around, she likes you", he smiled at her.

Lily tightened her grip on Severus' hand, hoping it could convey what she felt.

"Will your mum be upset? I didn't even notice that it was dark".

" She won't be mad, she trusts you. Petunia will bratty about it."

"I'm sorry Lily".

Lily kissed his cheek. Severus had a way of blaming himself for everything. The truth was, she could have gone home ages ago and Petunia would have still made some snarky comment about Severus. She knew things between Petunia and Sev weren't great in the beginning, but it had been years, and Petunia refused to accept Severus, or anything magical Lily talked about. Lily still felt guilty about being the only witch in their family. She remembered how much Petunia had wanted to go with her to Hogwarts. Lily's family wasn't terrible wealthy, but they definitely were not lacking for anything. Petunia being the spoiled one between the two of them, forever held a grudge that there was something that Lily could have that she never would. Lily loved her sister dearly, but lately, she was finding it hard to see Petunia's softness. Her sister was becoming an adult, and Lily was realizing that she was becoming an adult that she might never really know. It was even harder in the last few years, when Petunia would call Severus rude things to his face. Since starting at Hogwarts Severus had always been polite with Petunia. Before he started school he could barely stand to be around her, never bothering with politeness. After starting school though, Severus noticed how sad Lily was without her sister. He soon realized being friends with Lily required some form of a relationship with Petunia. He was certain he would not get in the way of their relationship. It did come as a surprise to him that Petunia seemed to prefer not having Lily around. Lily would never admit it, but it broke her heart. Severus held her hand when she talked about the things Petunia would say, he never said anything bad about her, but gave her the space she needed to share her sadness.

They finally arrived at Lily's house. Lily turned to look at Severus. She pulled both of his hands toward her. She was swaying back and forth with their hands joined together. Severus couldn't help but notice how adorable she was. Long wavy hair lightly tussled and blowing behind her. Wearing Severus's much too long sweater with the sleeves rolled up.

"I'll see you tomorrow Sev?"

He smiled and brought one hand up to his lips and kissed it.

"Anything you want."

Lily looked down, still swaying, a soft smile on her lips. She looked up at him, bit her lip, and let go of his hands. She walked toward her house. Severus stood still and watched as she walked into her house and closed the door behind her. Severus turned around and walked home, happily replaying the day's events through his head.