He took a steady breath, before turning to his mentor and closing his eyes.

"Do it," he said, voice dead and emotionless. Albus Dumbledore sighed.

"Are you sure you want to do this, my boy?" the older wizard asked. "Surely there is another way."

"Do it," he hissed, fighting to hold onto his restraint. He was so tired of this, it was like a piece of him had been ripped away, and was so mockingly close. The pain was killing him.

"Very well. I'm sorry it has to be this way, Severus," the older wizard consoled, his voice soft. Dumbledore then raised his wand and aimed it at him. The young man jerked as the flash of green light hit him, and as his eyes rolled back he went crashing to the ground.

It really wasn't hard to find what he needed to. It had all been at the forefront of Severus' mind as of late, and so not much searching was required. He then latched on and began muttering as he kept eye contact with his currently disoriented pupil. He just hoped that he wouldn't be causing Severus too much pain.

A much younger Severus Snape and Lily Evans were walking across the castle courtyard, evidently arguing about something.

"... thought we were supposed to be friends?" Severus said. "Best friends?"

"We are, Sev, but I don't like some of the people you're hanging around with!" said Lily. "I'm sorry, but I detest Avery and Mulciber! Mulciber! What do you see in him, Sev, he's creepy! D'you know what he tried to do to Mary Macdonald the other day?"

Lily had reached a pillar and leaned against it, looking up into the thin, sallow face.

"That was nothing," he said. "It was a laugh, that's all –"

"It was Dark Magic, and if you think that's funny –" frowned Lily.

"What about the stuff Potter and his mates get up to?" he demanded. His colour rose again as he said it, unable, it seemed, to hold in his resentment.

"What's Potter got to do with anything?" said Lily.

"They sneak out at night. There's something weird about that Lupin. Where does he keep going?"

"He's ill," Lily said. "They say he's ill –"

"Every month at the full moon?" he said doubtfully.

"I know your theory," said Lily coldly. "Why are you so obsessed with them anyway? Why do you care what they're doing at night?"

"I'm just trying to show you they're not as wonderful as everyone seems to think they are."

The intensity of his gaze made her blush.

"They don't use Dark Magic, though." She dropped her voice. "And you're being really ungrateful. I heard what happened the other night. You went sneaking down that tunnel by the Whomping Willow, and James Potter saved you from whatever's down there –"

His whole face contorted and he spluttered, "Saved? Saved? You think he was playing the hero? He was saving his neck and his friends' too! You're not going to – I won't let you –"

"Let me? Let me?" Lily demanded.

Lily's bright green eyes were slits. He backtracked at once.

"I didn't mean - I just don't want to see you made a fool of - He fancies you, James Potter fancies you!" The words felt wrenched from him against his will. "And he's not... everyone thinks... big Quidditch hero –" His bitterness and dislike were rendering him incoherent, and Lily's eyebrows were travelling farther and farther up her forehead.

"I know James Potter's an arrogant toerag," she said, cutting across Severus. "I don't need you to tell me that. But Mulciber's and Avery's idea of humour is just evil. Evil, Sev. I don't understand how you can be friends with them."

Severus didn't pay much attention to her strictures on Mulciber and Avery. The moment she had insulted James Potter, his whole body had relaxed, and as they walked away there was a new spring in Severus's step...

And the scene dissolved...

Mulciber and Avery had been particularly cruel in Severus' fifth-year when he had started changing for the better and was growing closer with Lily. All it would need is some minor changes.

Severus left the Great Hall after sitting his O.W.L. in Defence Against the Dark Arts, watched as he wandered away from the castle and settled himself on the grass in the dense shadow of a clump of bushes. He was as deeply immersed in the OWL paper as ever. It was sometime later when he was on his feet again and was stowing the O.W.L paper in his bag

As he left the shadows of the bushes and set off across the grass, Sirius and James stood up. Severus hadn't even noticed he had strayed inadvertently close to the place beneath the beech tree where James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew sat together.

Lupin and Wormtail remained sitting: Lupin was still staring down at his book, though his eyes were not moving and a faint frown line had appeared between his eyebrows; Wormtail was looking from Sirius and James to Severus with a look of avid anticipation on his face.

'All right, Snivellus?' said James Potter loudly.

Severus reacted so fast it was as though he had been expecting an attack: dropping his bag, he plunged his hand inside his robes and his wand was halfway into the air when James shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

Severus' wand flew twelve feet into the air and fell with a little thud in the grass behind him. Sirius Black let out a bark of laughter.

"Impedimenta!" he said, pointing his wand at Severus, who was knocked off his feet halfway through a dive towards his own fallen wand.

Students all around had turned to watch. Some of them had got to their feet and were edging nearer. Some looked apprehensive, others entertained.

Severus lay panting on the ground. James and Sirius advanced on him, wands raised, James glancing over his shoulder at the girls at the water's edge as he went. Wormtail was on his feet now, watching hungrily, edging around Lupin to get a clearer view.

"How'd the exam go, Snivelly?" James said.

"I was watching him, his nose was touching the parchment," said Sirius viciously. "There'll be great grease marks all over it, they won't be able to read a word."

Several people watching laughed; Severus was hardly popular. Wormtail sniggered shrilly. Severus was trying to get up, but the jinx was still operating on him; he was struggling, as though bound by invisible ropes.

"You-wait," he panted, staring up at James with an expression of purest loathing, "you- wait!"

"Wait for what?" said Sirius Black coolly. "What're you going to do, Snivelly, wipe your nose on us?"

He let out a stream of mixed swear words and hexes, but with his wand ten feet away nothing happened.

"Wash out your mouth," said James coldly. "Scourgify!"

Pink soap bubbles streamed from Severus' mouth at once; the froth was covering his lips, making him gag, choking him—

"Leave him ALONE!"

James and Sirius looked around. James's free hand immediately jumped to his hair.

It was one of the girls from the lake edge. She had thick, dark red hair that fell to her shoulders and startlingly green almond-shaped eyes.

"All right, Evans?" said James, and the tone of his voice was suddenly pleasant, deeper, more mature.

"Leave him alone," Lily repeated. She was looking at James with every sign of great dislike. 'What's he done to you?"

"Well," said James, appearing to deliberate the point, "it's more the fact that he exists if you know what I mean…"

Many of the surrounding students laughed, Sirius and Wormtail included, but Lupin, still apparently intent on his book, didn't, and nor did Lily.

"You think you're funny,' she said coldly. "But you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him alone."

"I will if you go out with me, Evans," said James quickly. "Go on... go out with me and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again."

Behind him, the Impediment Jinx was wearing off. Snape was beginning to inch towards his fallen wand, spitting out soap suds as he crawled.

"I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid," said Lily.

"Bad luck, Prongs," said Sirius briskly, and turned back to Severus. 'OI!'

But too late; Snape had directed his wand straight at James; there was a flash of light and a gash appeared on the side of James's face, spattering his robes with blood. James whirled about: a second flash of light later, he was hanging upside-down in the air, his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs and a pair of greying underpants.

Many people in the small crowd cheered; Sirius, James and Wormtail roared with laughter.

Lily, whose furious expression had twitched for an instant as though she was going to smile, said, "Let him down!"

Certainly,' said James and he jerked his wand upwards; Severus fell into a crumpled heap on the ground. Disentangling himself from his robes he got quickly to his feet, wand up, but Sirius said, "Petrificus Totalus!" and Severus keeled over again, rigid as a board.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Lily shouted. She had her own wand out now. James and Sirius eyed it warily.

"Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you,' said James Potter earnestly.

"Take the curse off him, then!" she demanded.

James sighed deeply, then turned to Severus and muttered the counter-curse.

There you go,' he said, as Severus struggled to his feet. "You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus—"

"I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!" Severus replied, immediately regretting the words that had come out of his mouth.

Lily blinked.

"Fine," she said coolly. "I won't bother in future. And I'd wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus."

"Apologise to Evans!" James Potter roared at Severus, his wand pointed threateningly at him.

"I don't want you to make him apologise," Lily shouted, rounding on James. "You're as bad as he is."

"What?" James yelled. "I'd NEVER call you a-you-know-what!"

"Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can - I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it," said Lily. "You make me SICK."

She turned on her heel and hurried away.

"Evans!' James shouted after her. 'Oi, EVANS!'

But she didn't look back.

"What is it with her?' said James, trying and failing to look as though this was a throwaway question of no real importance to him.

"Reading between the lines, I'd say she thinks you're a bit conceited, mate," said Sirius.

"Right," said James, who looked furious now, "right—"

There was another flash of light, and Severus was once again hanging upside-down in the air.

"Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?"

Severus felt completely humiliated, as he fought to keep the tears at bay that were threatening to fall.

The scene changed...

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not interested."

"I'm sorry!"

"Save your breath"

It was nighttime. Lily, who was wearing a dressing gown, stood with her arms folded in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, at the entrance to Gryffindor Tower.

"I only came out because Mary told me you were threatening to sleep here."

"I was. I would have done. I never meant to call you Mudblood, it just -"

"Slipped out?" There was no pity in Lily's voice. "It's too late. I've made excuses for you for years. None of my friends can understand why I even talk to you. You and your precious little Death Eater friends - you see; you don't even deny it! You don't even deny that's what you're all aiming to be! You can't wait to join You-Know-Who, can you?"

He opened his mouth but closed it without speaking.

"I can't pretend anymore. You've chosen your way, I've chosen mine."

"No – listen, I didn't mean –" he pleaded.

" – to call me Mudblood?" said Lily. "But you call everybody of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?"

He struggled on the verge of speech, but with a contemptuous look she turned and climbed back through the portrait hole...

The corridor dissolved, and several scenes passed by. Dumbledore latched onto several memories after that and obliviating them. Scenes with him and Lily in the summer were obliviated and replaced by him sitting alone. The future Hogsmeade trips were replaced by him going alone, or staying back at school and going to the potions lab or staying in the Slytherin common room or library.

Instead of Severus and Lily growing closer, it was her and James Potter.

James did lay off him more in the following years, as he changed, although he still gave Severus a rough time when Lily was not around. Lily did not even speak to Severus anymore and had changed lab partners for Potions.

Dumbledore had to completely Obliviate all Severus's memories of the Order meetings, as well as all of any of Severus's memories to do with Lily and their little boy.

He then searched his own memory and gave Severus his from his interview with Trelawney. Severus was to be the eavesdropper, the spy.

The sound of heels thudding and creaking against the floorboards signified to Severus that a woman had entered the Hog's Head and the sound of jangling beads told him that this woman was wearing dozens upon dozens of bracelets and other jewellery. He waited silently as the woman strode across the bar into his parameter of vision, and he recognised the form as she clunked and stumbled across the room and ascended the staircase. She quickly disappeared from view.

He arose quietly from his seat, following the silly woman, still wearing the Disillusionment charm. However, his feet creaked on the wooden floorboards, and Severus looked about wildly for a sign of the barman. He relaxed slightly as he noted that the barman was now concentrating with all of his might on a blackened something that was stuck to the bar table. As Severus arrived at the stairwell, he glanced upwards and saw the door at the top of the stars close with a snap. He crept up the stairs, moving as quietly as possible, and finally settled in a small heap at the foot of the door. He found a scrap of parchment within the depths of his robes, crumpled it into a ball and threw it lightly at the door. It hit the wooden surface and fell with a sound of wrinkling paper: the door was not charmed. They had gotten a private room, but hadn't warded the door.

At last, Severus pressed his ear to the door and listened with all of his might.

"Good evening, Professor Dumbledore," said a dazed, slightly drunken feminine voice.

"Good evening, Sybill," Snape heard Dumbledore's familiar voice float throughout the room within. "May I offer you a drink?"

Severus rolled his eyes – Dumbledore was probably the only man on earth who still possessed ridiculously old-fashioned manners. He had probably risen and bowed upon her entrance, too.

"Thank you, Dumbledore," Trelawney responded graciously, and Snape heard the sound of a chair sliding across the floor followed by the sound of a body sitting down. Glasses clinked from within the room, and Severus heard the distinguishable sound of liquids being pouring.

"To your health, my dear," Dumbledore said. There was a temporary silence as the duo drained their glasses. Snape waited impatiently for the cordial introductory scene to pass.

"Now then," Dumbledore spoke again, "I feel we should get on with the application process, seeing as we both already know why we are here. Shall we begin?"

Sybill must have nodded because Dumbledore only continued to speak.

Severus's thoughts were filled with the background noise of the interview, as he half-heartedly listened to Dumbledore ask Trelawney about her family history, how many others claimed to be Seers, where she had gone to school, and how long she had been a Seer herself.

"I have been a Seer from birth," Trelawney said indignantly. "It is a gift, Dumbledore, not something that a common wizard or witch can learn," she explained, and there was a clear sense of arrogant, stubborn superiority in her tone.

"I see. Well, yes, I'm not too sure we are in need of your, ah, 'gift', at this point in time my dear Sybill," Dumbledore said, and Severus heard him rising to his feet: the interview was over. Snape's heart sank slightly – he had failed Voldemort.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere a strong, echoing voice boomed out from the room, filling the entire bar with volume. Severus retreated in a crawl, away from the source of the noise.

"THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES. BORN TO THOSE WHO HAVE THRICE DEFIED HIM..."

Severus paled as he realized he was hearing a prophecy. His body became frantic, as he scrambled back to his spot at the door, pressing his ear firmly against it even though the action was quite unnecessary. His heart raced with excitement. There were plenty of families in the opposing Order of the Phoenix who had thrice faced Lord Voldemort and escaped – the Longbottoms, the McKinnons, the Potters...

"BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES..." the prophecy continued.

Severus felt his mouth drop open in horror. Neither Lily, James or either of the Longbottoms were born at the end of July... but weren't their children? Severus's brain grasped at bits and piece of information that he had heard about the Order members over the years. Somewhere in all that chaos, Severus remembered that the Potter's child had been born at the end of July...

But Severus could not hear the rest of the prophecy. He felt his Disillusionment charm being lifted as the feeling of water trickling over him occurred yet again, and suddenly there was a grubby, furious hand at his collar, dragging him down the stairs. He bit back the pain as his backside consistently collided with the hard staircase, and he felt the wood splinter below him as he slid further and further away from his mission.

The world seemed to be sliding away from him as he continued to be dragged away from the prophecy His mind was a whirl – it could not be, he simply refused to believe that the prophecy applied to the Potters because if the Potters were the answer, it meant Lily was doomed to die. Nothing else mattered in the world anymore – not the fact that he was about to be thrown out in the thunderous rain, nor the fact that Lord Voldemort might actually punish him for failing to retrieve the entire prophecy. All that existed was the fact that Lily Evans was in danger.

He managed to pull himself together somewhat, and started going off about his having come the wrong way up the stairs, but it was evident that the barman, nor Dumbledore, believed him.

At last, Severus felt himself being thrown backwards - out into the rain. He landed with a sickening splash into a large puddle of sludge-water, and he groaned as he rose slowly to his feet.

"And stay out!" yelled the gruff voice of the barman from the foot of the door. Severus watched furiously as the barman wiped his hands on his apron and re-entered the Hog's Head. He stood for a moment with the water pouring down around him, allowing his heavy breathing to subside, and his black, slick hair to hang straight and heavy over his face as he became wetter and wetter.

He began to turn on the spot, prepared to apparate, but a nagging sensation held him back. He had a choice – for the first time in his life, Severus Snape had a moral choice. He could report to Lord Voldemort and put Lily's life at risk. Or, he could defy his master, thereby forcing himself to go into hiding for the rest of his life at the expense of Lily's safety. The choices were taunting, one benefit equally matching the other. Severus put his face in his hands and let out a small roar of frustration, kicking the puddle he continued to stand in. Surely, Lily mattered above all else and so surely, he must not tell Voldemort what he had heard. But what if he were caught? He'd be killed and forced to convey the prophecy. Perhaps if he faced Voldemort with the information he'd be able to bargain for Lily's life. It seemed reasonable enough.

With that, he spun on the spot and began to apparate.

"Coward," he felt himself say as he disappeared. "Coward, coward, coward, coward."

Despite the rain pouring down around him, it was clear that a tear was streaming down his face.

As Hogsmeade dissolved the next scene took a little longer to reform: Severus Snape stood on a hilltop, forlorn and cold in the darkness, the wind whistling through the branches of a few leafless trees. Severus panting, turning on the spot, his wand gripped tightly in his hand, waiting for something or for someone... His fear infectious. Slowly he looked over his shoulder, wondering where the person was he was waiting for. Then a blinding, jagged jet of white light flew through the air. Severus dropped to his knees and his wand had flown out of his hand.

"Don't kill me!" he cried.

"That was not my intention," stated Dumbledore.

Any sound of Dumbledore apparating had been drowned by the sound of the wind in the branches. He stood before Severus with his robes whipping around him, and his face was illuminated from below in the light cast by his wand.

"Well, Severus? What message does Lord Voldemort have for me?" inquired Dumbledore.

"No - no message," declared Severus. "I'm here on my own account!"

Now Severus was wringing his hands. He looked a little mad, with his straggling black hair flying around him.

"I - I come with a warning - no, a request – please –" he pleaded.

Dumbledore flicked his wand. Though leaves and branches still flew through the night air around them, silence fell on the spot where he and Snape faced each other.

"What request could a Death Eater make of me?" inquired Dumbledore.

"The - the prophecy... the prediction... Trelawney..." he explained.

"Ah, yes," said Dumbledore. "How much did you relay to Lord Voldemort?"

"Everything - everything I heard!" he said. "That is why - it is for that reason - he thinks it means Lily Evans!"

"The prophecy did not refer to a woman," said Dumbledore. "It spoke of a boy born at the end of July –"

"You know what I mean! He thinks it means her son, he is going to hunt her down - kill them all -"

"If she means so much to you," said Dumbledore, "surely Lord Voldemort will spare her? Could you not ask for mercy for the mother, in exchange for the son?"

"I have - I have asked him –" he admitted.

"You disgust me," said Dumbledore with much contempt in his voice. It this Severus shrunk a little, "You do not care, then, about the deaths of her husband and child? They can die, as long as you have what you want?"

Severus said nothing but merely looked up at Dumbledore.

"Hide them all, then," Severus croaked. "Keep her – them - safe. Please."

"And what will you give me in return, Severus?"

"In - in return?" he said, gaping at Dumbledore. "Anything."

Dumbledore then pulled out and found both of them back in the office where they had started.

Severus was still groggy but was waking up.

"What happened?"