Lily was relieved when school was finally over for the year. It may be an essential part to Muggle life, but she wasn't fussed. She was smart, and could write and count, and that was enough. Severus was her life, and as he didn't go to her school, she didn't pay attention in class. But when they were together... They understood each other like no-one else could. They spent many fun-filled afternoons along the banks of the river. On either side of the brown river, which looked speckled with gold to their eyes, was their glade – sparsely-populated with trees, yet allowing a small mercy of sunless grass.

The two had made up long before: Severus could be prickly, but he couldn't be grumpy around Lily for long. She always brought out the best in him.

"With many a curve my banks I fret

By many a field and fallow,

And many a fairy foreland set

With willow-weed and mallow," he quoted softly. She gazed at him interestedly.

"I chatter, chatter, as I flow

To join the brimming river,

For men may come and men may go,

But I go on for ever.

"I wind about, and in and out,

With here a blossom sailing,

And here and there a lusty trout,

And here and there a grayling,

"And here and there a foamy flake

Upon me, as I travel

With many a silvery waterbreak

Above the golden gravel,

"And draw them all along, and flow

To join the brimming river

For men may come and men may go,

But I go on for ever."

He stopped in his recital and looked at her. Her face was alight with delight.

"Who said that?" She asked.

"Alfred Lord Tennyson," he replied. "The master of poetry. He wrote many things – I doubt that is even his most famous."

"How can you be so talented, Severus?" Lily questioned, watching him carefully. She noticed how he changed when he was around her; when she saw him from afar he was always hunched over and miserable, but when he saw her... He brightened with a happiness that flummoxed her, and was no longer the facsimile of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. His eyes – Severus had the deepest eyes – sparkled with an unfamiliar youthful hunger.

He looked at her carefully.

"I study," he replied finally.

"But how can you remember everything?"

Severus sighed.

"I can picture the words on the page," he explained. "I can see the layout, and from that, I can visualise the words. I remember every book I've ever read."

Her words were now round with amazement.

"You were reading that book about Dementors yesterday," she said eagerly. "What did it say on page... four-hundred-and-two?"

"'A Dementor is a gliding, wraith-like creature, widely considered to be one of the foulest to inhabit the world. Dementors feed on human happiness and thus generate feelings of depression and despair in any person in close proximity to them. They can also consume a person's soul, leaving their victims in a permanent vegetative state, and thus are often referred to as "soul-sucking fiends", rendering a person an "empty-shell". Dementors are closely associated with the prison Azkaban,'" he quoted solemnly.

Lily stared at him.

"Wow," was all she said.

Severus laughed, and it was the first time she'd ever heard his laugh – it was rich and vibrant with happiness.

"Oh, Lily, there aren't that many pages in that book!" He exclaimed, clutching at his sides as he laughed.

"What page was that then?"

"Page three-hundred-and-ninety-four."

It was Lily's turn to giggle.

"Honestly, Sev, what a big brain you have!"

"And what big eyes you have, Lily!"

The two children sat and laughed together, entirely content with each other's company until it was time for Lily to return home, and then Severus escorted her back to the Evans abode, before jogging home himself, fulfilled for the first time in a while.

*****

A.N. I find myself apologising way too often, but here I am again! I'm sorry for the long delay in updating; I got carried away with Severus... Reformed. Everything should be back to normal again, I hope!

Thank you for reading and ALWAYS comment!!!!!!! :)