“Lily!�

“Sev!�

I whirl round, smiling, as the scrawny, black-haired boy jumps down from the oak tree and runs towards me. We hug.

“How was school today?�

“Alright. I didn’t get any homework, so I thought I would come and see if you were here.� That isn’t quite true. I do have homework, but it can wait until the morning. It’s only maths. It will only take five minutes.

“Oh, that’s cool.� Typical boy, I think. No conversational skills whatsoever.

“So how are you?�

“Oh, fine,� he replies. “Mum wondered if you wanted to come round one day next week. It’s your holidays, right?�

“Yeah, Sev, that would be great! I’ll ask Dad when I get home. I like your mum, she’s really nice.�

Being late November, it’s already getting cold and dark, even though it is only 4:30.

“You know, Sev,� I say, “it’s getting dark now, and it’s a bit cold out here. I’m going home before Dad gets mad. Do you want to come?�

~*~*~*~

Do I want to go to Lily’s house? There’s no question about it: of course I do! Her parents are really kind, and her sister, Petunia, is making biscuits: I can smell them from here.

“Sure,� I say.

“That’s great!� she answers, and then, without warning, sprints down the lane. “Race you!�

I run after her, even though I know I am going to lose. She always wins. If she is that fast on a broom, she is going to be incredible at Quidditch.

~*~*~*~

“Hurry up, Sev!�

I can hear his light footfalls behind me and his sleeves flapping as he runs. He arrives at the door and leans on it to catch his breath. “You win,� he says between gasps. “I really ought to practice,� he continues, “so that one day I will be able to beat you.�

I open the door and creep inside, slipping my shoes off and picking them up. Sev does the same: he knows the drill by now.

“Dad! Tuney! I’m home! Come on, Sev, I think Tuney’s in the kitchen. I can smell biscuits.�

“Lily? Is that you back from the park? Who are you talking to?�

“Oh it’s just Sev, Dad.� The smell of those biscuits was making my mouth water. “Can he stay for tea?�

~*~*~*~

Lily takes my hand and leads me into the kitchen. Tuney is sitting at the table, reading, with her feet up on a chair. I can hear the fussy sound of the Evans’ television broadcasting quietly. I think the programme is Camberwick Green, the one with the puppets that Lily and I sometimes watch, but I can’t really hear it properly.

“Hey, Lily. Hey, Sev.� She doesn’t look up from her book. “Don’t touch them yet; they’re a bit hot to eat.�

“Oh,� Lily says, looking a little crestfallen. “We’ll just go upstairs. Call us when they’re ready!� She races back into the hall and bounds up the steps two by two, her hair bouncing around her shoulders. I follow her.

All the doors upstairs are open. They’re always open. I can see each room with its familiar sights. We pass the pale blue bathroom which is always cold. We pass Mr and Mrs Evans’ room. I have never been in that room, and I don’t know what’s in it because although the door is open, there is just a mirror on that wall before you turn a corner into the room. Tuney’s room is opposite. You can see everything from the doorway: wooden wardrobe, neatly made bed with a pale green duvet, unmoving posters of Muggle singers and actors. At the end of the hall is Lily’s room. From the stairs you can already see the clothes carelessly strewn over the floor, and the massive bookshelf that is ever accumulating books from the one downstairs.

She takes my hand again as we enter. It’s sort of a ritual now, every time we enter the room.

“Together?� she says. I nod. “Ok then, one, two, three!�

We hold hands, close our eyes and run forwards. It’s what I imagine it’ll be like at Platform 9 ¾, when we go to Hogwarts. Except for the jump. We leap, synchronised, onto Lily’s bed and open our eyes. They meet for a second and then we burst into giggles and fall onto the mattress.

~*~*~*~

I get up first. Sev sits on the bed, grinning like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. I move the needle and put the gramophone on. The record crackles into life. I bob my head to the tune. Even though I’m a witch I still think that music is magic. It’s just a different kind of magic. It can change the way you feel about anything.

“I love your room,� says Sev, slightly absent-mindedly. “It’s so different to my house. Your parents are really cool to let you have a gramophone. We don’t have one at home. We can’t really afford one.�

“You’re always welcome here, you know,� I reply without thinking. “You can always come round and listen to mine.�

We sit on the bed for what seems like an age, listening to the music and talking about all the things we’re going to do when we go to his house. I don’t even notice when the record stops playing and the needle clicks back into place. Finally, Tuney calls us down to the kitchen where the biscuits are ready to eat. Personally, I think they’re a bit cold.

~*~*~*~

I look up at the clock in the hall. I nearly spit out the biscuit I’m eating when I see the time: it’s 5:30 already. I hurriedly thank Mr Evans and then run home. As soon as I throw open the door I hear my mum shout from upstairs.

“Severus? Dinner’s in ten minutes! Dad’s going to be home late, so we’re eating early.�

I lay the table quickly, wash my hands and then sit down at the table with my book. It’s a Muggle book that Lily lent me yesterday, but I’m almost finished. It’s a book about magic, but there are no spells or wands. There are lots of talking animals though. It’s funny what the Muggles think magic is. Lily lends me lots of books like this. I think this one is about a land called Narnia. It’s a good story for a Muggle book, but I think that the magical stories are so much more exciting. Maybe I should lend Lily our copy of Beedle? I think she would enjoy it.

~*~*~*~

It’s so nice that it’s the holidays now. Today I haven’t got school. Today I am going to Sev’s house. I put on a casual outfit - jeans, t-shirt, the like - but Mum insists that I dress nicely. I protest that it’s only Sev’s house, but Mum storms into my room and rams the only dress I own over my head. It’s a yellow sundress which really isn’t my colour, but I can’t do a lot about it. Mum then proceeds to tie a yellow ribbon around my unruly, red, morning hair. I look in the mirror, horrified at how terrible it looks, but Mum won’t let me out of the house in anything else. I pack my casual outfit in my bag though, along with some of Tuney’s biscuits and another book which I found the other day. I think Sev will like it.

Mum also insists on taking me to Sev’s. She rings the doorbell, and I can hear the sound of someone running down stairs to answer it.

Sev opens the door.

“Lily!� He grins and crushes me in a hug. Then he steps back and addresses Mum. “Please come in, Mrs Evans.�

Mum parades through to their dining room, where Mrs Snape is getting up from the table and hurrying to put on the kettle.

“Sev, take Lily upstairs to your room, or go and play outside. Don’t traipse your dirty shoes through the living room though, I only swept it this morning!�

We are up the stairs in a flash, and I only just catch the start of their conversation from downstairs: “Mrs Evans, would you like to stay for a cup of tea?�

Sev’s bedroom is the first one at the top of the stairs. His bed is, as always, unnaturally neatly made. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve said it was as if by magic, but of course, because as it was Sev, it probably was.

~*~*~*~

While Lily is preoccupied with my little bookshelf, I go straight to my desk and pick up the paper swan. Lily had taught me how to make them a few weeks back, but this one was crisp and more beautiful than the ones I’d made then. I’d been practising a lot since.

“Lily,� I begin, hiding the swan behind my back, “I’ve got something to show you.�

~*~*~*~

Sev unfurls his hand to reveal the paper swan. It is beautiful, and then, Sev closes his eyes and it lifts itself off his hand, flapping its paper wings.

“Sev, it’s… beautiful!�

Sev opens his eyes and looks straight at me, and smiles.