In your skin

A lake and a mother

It didn't take long for them to be called for dinner. James and Lily walked downstairs, smiling contently, finding the Evans and Petunia already sitting on the dining table. Lily and he sat next to each other, and James felt his heart beating faster every time she came closer. Even though he wasn't being himself, he found out that nothing was so hard now that he was close to the girl he liked.

They ended up dining chicken with salad and juice. Luckily there was nothing that James didn't like, and apparently nothing Snape didn't like, since no one asked any questions. They ate in silence, which James found odd, but didn't comment on. After all, every family did things in a different way, and if he wanted to date Lily, he needed to get used to her family.

After the main dish, Mrs. Evans brought a cake she had done and they ate it with ice cream. Then, Petunia went off to her room and the Evans went to the living room. Lily smiled then, pulling James to her room and looking down her window.

"Alright. Put on some winter clothes. It's going to be cold outside" she said, smiling, before she started to grab a few pieces of clothing that she would wear. He did the same, going to the other room and looking through Snape's clothes. At first, he chuckled at how old his clothes looked, but then he realised that he wouldn't find any fluffy clothes that would protect him from the cold in there. He just accepted the challenge and grabbed every single coat he saw, putting all of them on and then returning to see Lily all cute in all her winter clothes. She looked at him and smiled before nodding. "And now we jump"

Why didn't this Lily appear in Hogwarts every now and again?

"Sure thing" he said, walking with her to the window. She opened it up and nodded for him to go first. He saw there was a pile of snow down there and jumped down, laughing quietly as he hit the pile and rolled away. Soon, she jumped and looked at him from where she laid on the floor. He reached down and helped her up, watching how red her cheeks were. She was just so beautiful.

"Come on" Lily giggled at him, grabbing James' arm again and rushing inside the forest. He followed quietly, wondering if she and Snape did this all the time or if it was something especial. He could only wish she knew it was him. He could only wish she saw him as how he really was, and not how Snape told her he was. He wanted to be with her for real, but she never gave him the attention he deserved.

At least he would find out what she saw in Snape.

They arrived in the lake quickly. The lake was completely frozen, and wasn't even that big. It was a small, good looking lake. James liked it. It was nice. Lily sat by the frozen water and he sat next to her, ignoring how the coldness of the snow was reaching his bum through the clothes. She smiled and leaned against him quietly, playing with the frozen water around them.

"Do you remember when we used to come here when we were younger?" she asked, and James didn't answer. He had no idea how to. "You taught me how to control water, how to make small waves. We would watch the ice melting when spring came. We did snow balls and snow angels. We watched the stars..." then she stopped, but honestly, he could listen to her talking all day long. "Sev?"

"Yes?" he asked, his heart beating faster when she turned to look at him. Her eyes were so green.

So bright. So pretty. She was wonderful. Her lips full and pink from the cold, just like her cheeks, her nose, her hair. She was so perfect.

"I know we are only in the fifth year... But... After all of this is over... You won't forget about me, will you?"

"How can I?" he asked, but that was James talking. How could he forget her, ever? She was the most wonderful girl he had ever talked to. "I will never, ever forget you. I promise you"

For a second, he honestly thought they would kiss, but then she just smiled and nodded, giving him a kiss on the cheek and standing up. He felt his heart beat so fast he could swear it was leaving his ribcage and jumping to his hand. And then she was gone, and he was simply staring at the most beautiful person he had ever seen.

After dinner was over, Severus excused himself and walked off to find Potter's room. It was easy to find it, since it had Gryffindor and Quidditch all over the place. He would feel sick after two weeks inside that room. He picked up a parchment and started to write to Potter himself. He needed to end all of that as soon as possible. He signed up as James Potter, knowing that Potter would know it was him, and told the owl to give it to the Evan's.

Then, he decided to put on some pyjamas and searched for them inside Potter's closet. He wondered if he should take a shower, but decided against it for the time being and just pulled on more comfortable clothes before searching for a book. He knew that every rich family had a library of their own, so he went off to look for it and soon enough he was standing in front of a huge room with more than thousands of books. That was heaven.

He got inside quietly and started to search for any books he hadn't read yet. Soon, he found one about Merlin's history that seemed interesting and walked back to Potter's room to read it. It was indeed curious. It talked about his early life, how he met King Arthur and so on.

He was so focused in the story that didn't even hear Mrs. Potter walking inside. When he finally noticed her, he jumped and grabbed Potter's glasses, looking at her a bit scared.

"Mi... Mum. Mum hey! What are you doing here?" he asked, and she smiled a bit fonder, walking to his bed and sitting by his feet.

"I missed my boy. Just came to see how he is. Since when you're interested in reading about Merlin?" she asked, and Severus bit his lip. Potter didn't like to read. Fuck.

"Um... It's a school project. I decided to start it now" he said softly, and she smiled even more to him. She seemed proud.

"Oh. I'll leave you to it then. Have fun darling" she said, and kissed his head in a way that his mother didn't do since he was younger. That touch made him melt on the bed, and he stared at her as if she was the best person in the world. She waved goodbye and walked out, while Severus curled up on Potter's bed.

He stopped the tears before they could come.