A/N: It's official. I do hate myself. A sixth story? I must be bonkers. Bu, somehow, this story came to me in the middle of the night and it was just begging to be written...I feel sleep-deprived because I was up at 3 a.m. typing this. School's definitely going to be fun today...Anywho, this will NOT be a Snily fanfic, so just keep that in mind while reading this. It's entirely a Jily fic-J-I-L-Y not Snily. I don't ship Snily, even if I do like Snape. It's just the prologue and it's my way of explaining what happens next.

By the way, this story starts at the end of their fifth-year, just so you all know.

Disclaimer: I think we all know I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize.

Prologue

There was a time when Lily could have sworn their friendship would be infinite.

Sure, they were as different as two people could possibly be; he was a Slytherin to her Gryffindor, quiet and reserved, while she was loud, spontaneous and almost inhumanly cheery. But that had never proved to be a problem between them. Severus had always said he enjoyed her lively personality and she found that his was the balance she needed.

They had known each other since their childhood days and even then, they had always been inseparable. Wherever Lily went, Severus was sure to be by her side; everyone in Hogwarts knew this. Her friends had long given up trying to get her to end her relationship with the quiet Slytherin and had gradually accepted him into their group, although they made sure to tell Lily why their relationship was a mistake every chance they got.

But Lily found that she didn't care. He was her best friend, almost like a brother to her actually, had been since they were both seven and Severus had told her of his world—her world, where magic was real and everything was possible.

He was her best friend and nothing could ever change that, she was sure of it. But, what Lily hadn't counted on was a little, impertinent thing called love to come between them. Even worse, that that love would be unrequited.

It had happened one warm day in May, soon after the end of their first OWLs exam. She had been sat under the giant beech wood tree by the Black Lake that she had claimed to be her spot ever since first-year; everyone knew this and tended to leave it alone.

She looked out into the distance, observing the setting sun as it cast its warm glow onto her pale face as she played absentmindedly with the yellow bracelets adorning her wrists; yellow was her favourite colour, had been ever since she could remember, despite the fact that it clashed horribly with her dark red hair. It was the colour of her favourite flowers, sunflowers that Lily had always admired the way they seemed to grow strong and proud and tall and oozed of confidence and happiness.

When she had been younger, yellow had been her choice of colour for anything from clothing to shoes, but as she had grown older, she had grown out of her 'sunshine phase' as Marlene McKinnon, one of her closest friends called it, and started wearing other, more appropriate colours. But she always wore the yellow bracelets her grandmother had given her before her death.

"I hate History of Magic," a voice huffed, plopping down on the ground next to her. "Worst bloody two hours of my life."

Lily smiled and turned to the pale, gaunt boy who had spoken, giving him a smile.

"It wasn't that bad, Sev. I thought it was kind of easy."

Severus rolled his eyes. "That's because you're the only one who pays attention to Binns." He smirked. "And you're a swot."

Lily laughed, giving him a playful shove. "I'm not."

"Says the Prefect with the highest grades of her class."

Lily sighed, resting her head against his shoulder. "You're lucky I love you so much, or I'd have hexed you already."

She felt Severus' muscles stiffen, before relaxing again and Lily thought nothing of it. They stayed quiet for a while and she removed her head from his shoulders, picking up a stray curl and braiding it with fast, agile fingers.

She could tell something was on Severus' mind, by the way he kept plucking the grass out of the ground and she mused over the best way to question him. Severus was special in the way that, if questioned too much, he would close himself up and refuse to talk and it would take sometimes days to get him to open up again.

She observed the people walking in the distance, most of them fifth-years as herself, glad to finally be out of the castle. She spotted a familiar mess of black hair in the distance, its owner tall and proud as he animatedly talked to his shaggy-haired companion. She rolled her eyes as James turned around, as if sensing her gaze, catching her eyes and giving her a cocky wink, before turning back to Sirius.

Both boys turned to look at her then, and Sirius gave her a suggestive grin and Lily rolled her eyes again, turning away from them.

"Arrogant prat," she muttered to herself.

"Hmm?" Severus questioned, still intent in his quest to rid the Hogwarts' grounds of any grass.

"Nothing," Lily said, before sighing again. "I suppose we should get back to the castle. It's almost dinner."

Severus finally looked up, a hint of determination in his black eyes as he stared at her. He looked on the brink of telling her something, before shaking his head and looking away.

"Is there—is there anything you wanted to speak to me about, Sev?" she asked softly, gently placing a hand on his shoulder.

He turned to look back at her, his black eyes boring into hers. "There's something I've been wanting to tell you. I've always wanted to tell you actually, but you're always with your friends when I finally talk myself into doing it or it was always the wrong time…" He trailed off, shaking his head. "To hell with it," he muttered, before leaning in and, before Lily could even move, he pressed his lips against hers.

Lily just sat there, her eyes wide in astonishment. The kiss was chaste yet felt so, so wrong and before she could even register what was happening, it was over.

Severus turned away from her, a scowl on his face, facing away from a still-shocked Lily who was trying very hard to process what had just happened.

"Severus, I-I'm sorry. I-I didn't know," she stammered and she could see Severus stiffen, see him retreating into himself. She reached a hand to touch him, but he moved away from her, standing up. "Sev?" she asked tentatively.

He turned around at the sound of her calling his name, his cold, black eyes boring into her green ones. "You didn't know?" he hissed, curling his hands into fists. "Of course not! How could you? You're always too wrapped up in your own little world to notice anyone else!"

"Severus, you're not being fair—" Lily started, but Severus cut her off.

"It never occurred to you that there might be more to me just trailing after you like a lost puppy, other than our 'friendship'." He spat the last word out as if it were something vile in his mouth.

"But you're my friend, Sev and I do love—"

"No," he bit out cutting her off again, his voice composed, colder than Lily had ever heard it. "I don't want to hear it. I don't want your pity."

He gave her a cold look, before stalking away from her, his black hair hanging over his face like a dark curtain, the ends of his robes billowing around him.

Lily stared after him, an overwhelming sadness taking over her as she watched her best friend walk away from her, wondering how things had gone so horribly wrong and feeling as if her life had come to an end.

What she didn't know, though, was that her life was just beginning.