Lily's tone had brooked no argument. They were getting ice cream, and that was that. Severus heard the van first, and pointed Lily in the right direction, but she then seized his hand and dragged him along with her. He waited until they had joined the queue before whispering to her.

"Lily, I can't have it."

"Why not?" Lily sounded impatient, and she looked to be counting the number of people before them in the line.

"You know all about balanced diets, don't you?"

"Y-es," Lily said slowly, looking confused.

"Well, I don't have sugary foods often. By that, I mean, not at all. Therefore, by having ice cream this one time, I would most probably upset something. First and foremost, my stomach, and then my digestive system. It would be foolish of me to even consider eating it. But you, of course, can have it."

"What if we shared?" Lily questioned. "What if you tried a tiny little bit of mine?"

Severus tipped his head in thought.

"It would hopefully be alright, I suppose."

"Well then, that's sorted." Lily beamed, and moved forwards to say what flavour she wanted.

*

"Is it meant to be so cold?" Severus asked suspiciously.

"Of course it is, Sev, stop complaining!" Lily huffed. In the end she had ordered a classic Cadbury's '99 flake, and Severus had tried a mouthful of vanilla. Lily wasn't sure he liked it, at all.

The ice cream was finally finished, and Severus joined Lily on a nearby bench.

"So it wasn't that bad, was it?"

"Mmm," was all Severus responded.

"That's a 'yes', isn't it?"

"Hmm."

Lily sighed.

"Fine," she huffed. "I'll have it all next time." She turned away in mock anger. Severus was immediately apologetic.

"The gesture," he began awkwardly, "was obviously kind, and I respect that..."

"...But you do not respect vanilla ice cream?" Lily asked, grinning, turning back. Severus looked at her in surprise. "I was joking, Sev!" She hit him playfully in the arm. "Learn to understand jokes!"

"I find it_ hard," Severus stuttered, self-consciously. Lily laid her head on his shoulder.

"Well, try and understand mine, at the very least."

A small smile made its way onto Severus' face.

"I'll try."

"Promise?" Lily questioned childishly.

"Promise."

*

Summer once again brought about good news with the results of more of Severus' exams. He had taken his English Language, Astronomy and French O-levels, and scored As on all three. He was, however, aware that the funding for these exams was all coming out of his pocket, and so was undertaking all the jobs he could find, whether weeding elderly Mrs Oliver's garden, or washing the windows of Mr Reed's greengrocers. Despite the rumours of his affiliation with Lucifer, everyone did what they could to find more help, and if it meant hiring the strange Severus Snape of all people, so it did.

He toiled away in the sun, and froze in the night, and all for the hopes of a better future with a certain vivacious redhead. 

After all, if you worked incredibly hard to get something, surely you would?

*****

A.N. This ended on a slightly melancholic note - I apologise. To be fair, we all know that Sev's life is sad, so I must write it that way, unfortunately.

This is dedicated to the amazing @CharaXFNAF for their amazing comments - keep commenting! XD

Thank you for reading and PLEASE COMMENT TO YOUR HEART'S CONTENT!