It was Christmas Eve. Snow had been falling heavily the day before, but now it fell lightly and gently, landing without noise on the soft, fleecy ground. He was watching from the window, gazing out occasionally before returning quickly to his work. His mother and father were out for the night, and he knew they wouldn’t be back until late. This didn’t bother Severus Snape: he liked it better when they were gone.

He had stolen one of his mother’s freshly baked gingerbread cookies as soon as she and his father had left. No one in the family liked them much – no one except Tobias Snape, that is, and that counted for a lot. Severus knew his mother hated them, but she dutifully baked them year after year. His father might be upset when he saw one of his precious cookies was missing, but Severus hoped he wouldn’t notice. Besides, he needed that cookie.

Severus and Eileen Snape may not have liked gingerbread cookies, but Severus knew of one very special person that did. He felt butterflies in his stomach at the thought. The day when they had been trekking about the snow-covered fields, Lily Evans had mentioned how much she looked forward to her mother’s gingerbread cookies. Severus had listened carefully and quietly, taking in all the details he could. She liked cookies with three thick buttons down the front. Her favorite part of the cookie was the face, and he imagined her studying it long and hard before finally deciding to eat it. She was like that, thorough and careful. Perfect in every way. He loved that about her. Everything she did seemed to just make sense.

He had searched for nearly half an hour to find where his mother kept her frosting. It had been shoved back in the cupboard above the refrigerator; it looked like it hadn’t been touched since last Christmas. Severus had slowly removed the tubes from the cupboard, and carefully climbed down from the top of the counter he had climbed up on to reach. He scampered out of the kitchen and back to his room, where he was planning his surprise.

He spread the different coloured tubes out before him, taking in his options. He had red, green, blue, and yellow. He instantly removed the red tube: that would be saved for Lily’s red hair that had him so fascinated every time he saw her. He wondered if he’d be able to show the way her hair curled at the bottom on the cookie, but he doubted it. He’d never used these tubes before, and he didn’t think he’d be very good at it. He looked at his remaining colors. He removed the green tube next – he would use green only on her eyes. He smiled to himself at the thought of them. He then decided he would use blue for the buttons, and yellow for whatever else needed to be done.

And so Severus set to work. He uncapped the tubes slowly, and picked away at the dried frosting from the previous year. He squeezed and he squeezed, and was rewarded very little frosting each time for his efforts. But he refused to despair, because he knew it was worth it. He was used to hard work to get what he wanted.

After nearly two hours, he had finished it. Capping the blue tube once and for all, he sat back to admire his work. It would have taken him less time with fresh tubes, but he didn’t mind. The red hair could have been a little neater, and Severus didn’t think he had pulled off the curl at the bottom quite as nicely as Lily might have been able to, but it would have to be good enough. He thought her eyes looked perfect though. They were big and green, just like Lily’s. He was glad he’d thought to add a smile at the last minute to her face in yellow. He loved it when she smiled.

It was darkening quickly outside. Severus knew he didn’t have much time if he hoped to deliver Lily’s cookie to her before Christmas day. He didn’t know how to wrap presents, so he just found a plastic bag and placed the cookie gently inside. He thought that looked a bit plain, so he ran to the Christmas tree, found one of his few presents, and pulled off the green sticky bow. He added this to Lily’s bag. It was the best he could do.

Quickly he found his coat and a pair of shoes. He left the house without bothering to lock any doors – he wasn’t even sure he knew where to find the key. The snow was coming down lightly still and nestled in his hair. Severus shivered in the cold air; his coat was not that warm. He slowly walked over to where Lily and her sister lived.

He didn’t go all the way to their house, seeing as he had no idea where that was. Instead he walked to a thicket outside the park where she and her sister sometimes played. There were children playing with the snow in the park. He watched them eagerly, hoping one of them was his Lily, but he couldn’t find anyone with her red hair or her startling green eyes. He waited nearly half an hour, freezing his hands on the bag (he hadn’t worn gloves), and was about to turn back defeated, when a voice startled him from behind.

“Sev - Sev! I can’t believe I found you!�

He whipped around and there she was. Her red hair was just visible under her thick woolen hat. A colorful scarf was wrapped around her neck and she wore thick mittens on her hands. Her cheeks were tinted pink from the cold, but her eyes shown bright as ever.

“I was hoping you’d be here,� she was saying. “I wanted to give this to you. Here-�

She handed him a perfect, store-bought Christmas card. He supposed her family sent Christmas cards to everyone, and she alone had thought to give him one. With shaking hands, he opened it. The text inside shown merrily at him – May all your Christmas wishes come true! Beneath this, in green ink, Lily had written her name, with a little heart next to it. On the top half of the card, a candy cane had been taped.

Severus looked down at his shoes, suddenly embarrassed. Her gift was so perfect, flawless, and his was not. He shuffled nervously, holding the bag with the gingerbread cookie, and wondering if he could stuff it away before she noticed anything. Maybe he shouldn’t give it to her at all.

Lily’s smile faltered. “Is something wrong, Sev?�

Severus forced a smile. “No, nothing’s wrong. It’s great, Lily, really great. Thanks.�

She looked a bit doubtful.

“I just – I just can’t stay long. My parents are waiting for me back home,� he lied.

“Oh,� she said. “Okay. Well, I probably won’t see you tomorrow, so Happy Christmas, one day early!�

He smiled back at her. “Happy Christmas, Lily,� he murmured.

She smiled and waved and walked away. She was still just barely in earshot when Severus called out, “Lily, wait!�

She turned and looked back at him and he beckoned her forward. She ran towards him. He had worked too hard to let this pass by. He was going to give her the cookie no matter what.

“Here,� he said as she approached. “I made this for you.�

He handed her the bag, noticing with a sinking heart that some of the frosting had smeared. He watched her pull off the bow and examine the cookie. Her face broke out into a huge grin. She stepped closer and kissed his cheek. Severus was so shocked, he barely knew what had happened.

“Oh, Sev!� she exclaimed. “It’s perfect, I love it! Thank you, thank you!�

He grinned. He loved seeing her so happy and her smile lit up her green eyes. He was relieved that she had liked the present, and she had even kissed him! She was waving good-bye to him again now, and he knew she had to leave because she had her family waiting. He smiled and waved back and then left for his own house. He may not have a loving family, but he still had his love for her.