~ by Josie Carioca

Cokeworth
December, 1969

Severus shivered inside his worn-out coat, his feet scraping the fresh snow that covered the ground as the swing moved lightly back and forth. He looked down at the misshapen package he held on his lap, his little fingers starting to go numb from the cold. He was in such a hurry to get to the park, he had forgotten to put on his gloves. But they barely had fingers, anyway…wouldn’t make a difference. The boy couldn’t shake his disappointment in the package. He had tried to find a pretty wrapping paper, but all he could afford was a boring pink one with white polka-dots. Even worse, he couldn’t ask his mother to help him wrap it, because if she knew he was about to give a Christmas gift to anybody when they hardly had any money to put food on the table, he’d probably hear a lecture. Not that Severus had spent any money on it, but that actually sorta made it worse…

“Sev! There you are!” a light and cheery voice called out as fast footsteps disturbed the snow.

He looked up to see Lily running his way. She was wearing a thick yellow coat that reached all the way to her knees, and her cheeks were as flustered and pink as the matching wool scarf and cap she wore, her long dark-red hair loose and flowing about her shoulders. She stopped in front of him and took a moment to catch her breath, puffing heavily, her eyes twinkling.

“You didn’t come yesterday,” Lily accused him, her voice sounding urgent.

“Sorry…” the boy mumbled, looking down again. Her red mary-janes were like rose petals blown over the snow as she shifted on her feet.

“Why?” she insisted, sitting on the swing next to him and taking her white gloves off. “I told you Mum was okay with you coming.”

Severus stared at the worn and dirty toes of his shoes, frowning. Lily had probably begged a lot to get her mum’s permission for him to spend Christmas with them. He knew Mrs. Evans didn’t like him. Mr. Evans was nice, but Mrs. Evans and Petunia…they really didn’t like him at all.

“I couldn’t leave Mum alone on Christmas,” Severus breathed out, his eyes still avoiding Lily´s brilliant green ones.

“Oh, your dad wasn’t home for Christmas?”

“No…” Severus lied.

His father had been home for Christmas…completely drunk, cursing at him and his mother. His parents had another argument…it lasted until about midnight…then his father left again, and Severus finally found the courage to leave his room and go to the kitchen, where his mother was crying, cursing, and breaking things. When she finally got tired of it, she saw him standing at the door. She held him tight and said she was sorry, over and over again. Severus didn’t know what she was sorry about, but he knew he couldn’t remind her that the Evanses had invited him to spend Christmas with them, or ask her to help wrapping Lily´s gift. He decided to just stay there with her. She looked like she needed his company more than Lily. Lily had her parents and even stupid Petunia. Mum only had him.

“You could have brought your mum with you! Better than being alone, just the two of you.”

“She wasn’t feeling too good…”

“Oh, I’m sorry. How is she doing now?”

“Better, thank you.”

“Here! I brought your Christmas gift.”

Severus looked up and only now noticed Lily had something hidden under her coat. A box wrapped in nice red paper with golden arabesques on it. He stood up and carefully set the package he was holding on the swing, so he could have both his hands free to get the box and open it.

“Don’t rip the paper too much; we can still use it for a collage. I got some new magazines at home,” she told him.

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” He unwrapped the box, trying to do as little damage to the paper as he could. Once the wrapping was all gone, Severus could hardly believe his eyes. “Wow! It´s Action Man talking commander!”

“Dad helped me choose.” Lily´s smile went from ear to ear, almost as if she was the one getting the sought-after talking action figure.

“Thank you, Lils!” he beamed. But suddenly it hit him…he couldn’t come back home with that.

She immediately noticed his expression changing. “You don’t like it?”

“I do! Of course I do! I really like it!”

“Then what?”

“It’s just…if I come back home with this, my parents will never believe me if I say it was a gift.”

“Oh, don’t be silly. If anything, they can just ask my dad. And if they still don’t believe it, you can leave it at my house. I think dad would like that…he was so excited, it looked like he was buying it for himself. I think he misses having boy toys.” She giggled.

“He can borrow it if he wants.” Severus laughed as well. The thought of Mr. Evans playing with action figures amused him. But if he was Mr. Evans, Severus would be tired of having dolls all over the house, too.

“We can go and ask him to put the batteries in for you.” Lily hopped off the swing.

“Wait!” Severus blurted out.

“What?”

“I…I have a gift for you, too”

“Oh, okay.” She laughed. She had been so excited about giving Severus the Action Man, she didn’t even remember he might have a gift for her, too.

Severus looked at her, then back at the pink and white polka-dot package on the swing. The paper was all crumpled from his various failed attempts at making a nice wrapping…but that wasn’t what concerned him. He knew the contents of the package could hardly compare to the nice gift she had just given him. Suddenly Severus felt entirely too embarrassed to even look at her. He hadn’t even bought it…but he had said he had a gift, so now he had to go through with it. He picked up the package and clumsily handed it to her. Lily smiled and started to unwrap it, just as carefully as Severus had unwrapped his.

Severus couldn’t even look. He knew she’d be disappointed.

“Sev! This is so pretty!”

Severus winced, taken completely by surprise. He looked up at her. “Y-you like it?”

Inside the pink and white polka-dot paper there was a woolen hat Severus´ mother had given him after his old one started to unravel because it was so old and used up. It was a dull little something…sage green with white stripes. Severus knew a pretty girl like Lily would never like something so boring, but he didn’t have any money to buy her a proper gift, and he couldn’t ask his parents for it.

“Of course, I do!” she squealed, taking her pink cap off and replacing it with the green one. “Mum is always giving me Petunia´s old caps and scarves and they are all pink and frilly. I hate them! I can never tell her I want different ones, because she says it’s silly to spend money on new ones because Petunia’s will suit me just fine. Now I have my own cap and it isn’t pink. Thank you!”

“You really do like it?” Severus insisted, timidly.

“I’m telling you! Look! Don’t I look much better in green than with this awful pink one?”

“You look great, Lily.”

“Thank you, Sev!” she threw her arms around his slim shoulders and planted a kiss on his cheek that almost made him lose his balance. Before he could recover from the surprise, she began collecting the wrapping papers and folding them neatly to fit into her pocket. “Now let’s go.”

“Go where?” He felt dazed.

“Oh, Sev! You’re silly today. Home, so my dad can put the batteries in your Action Man. And I have an idea for this polka dot paper, too”

“And what is that?”

“I got a new doll, but I didn’t like her dress. I’ll make her a new one with this.”

“But, Lily…it’s only paper.”

“I know. But you can make clothes with paper. I saw it on TV the other day; some fashion designer did it. And dolls don’t move like people, so it probably won’t rip.”

“I thought you didn’t like pink.”

“I don’t like it for me. But my new doll has brown hair. Pink will look great on her. Let’s go!” She got a hold of his cold hand with her warm one. “Blimey, Sev, your hands are cold. And why don´t you have a hat on? Your ears are all red.”

“I…forgot.”

“Here, wear my new one.” She put the green hat on his head “When we get home you can give it back, so I can show mum how much better I look in it. Maybe she’ll stop giving me Tuney´s pink old things. Now, let’s go. I have a new spell to show you, too.”

She pulled his hand and started to run. It took a while for him to catch up with his ill-fitting boots, but eventually he did. It didn’t matter how fast she ran, Severus would always find a way to keep up with her. He’d never let go of her, ever.