"Lily, wait!"
It was several days after that horrible afternoon when he had called her a… It hurt too much; he couldn't even think the word. She had been ignoring him, and he knew that he deserved it. But he had to explain why… He needed to tell her as badly as he needed to breathe.
"Lily… please…" She finally paused, and her friends stopped giggling. As one, they turned around to glare at him, and a few other students, snickering, paused to watch.
"What do you want, Severus?" She said, her voice cold as ice.
He flinched, as if she had struck him. She hadn't used his formal name for years… But he supposed it was better than her calling him Snivellus.
"Lily… we need to… talk. Alone." He said, glancing hatefully at all the amused passerby. She sighed, put her nose in the air, and followed him as he led her down a fairly empty side passage leading towards the dungeons. "Lily… I never meant… to call you… that. I…" She wasn't even looking at him, but was instead inspecting her nails as though they were the most fascinating things in the world.
"… The only reason I hang out with the…Slytherins you don't like… is because no one else will accept me, except you, Lily. You're… my only true friend… But you're in Gryffindor, so we don't see each other very much…" He was mumbling, and half the words that came pouring out of his mouth sounded like someone else had put them there. Lily was staring at him, now, the faint signs of anger receding from her face.
"But… I didn't mean to call you that… I was just trying to make you leave, and I just said the worst thing I could think of. I… I didn't want you to see me like that… The outcast, the piteous victim…" Lily bit her lip, then reached out and took his hand, smiling at him. "Oh, Sev… I understand now… I forgive you. We're friends forever, remember? That will never change, no matter what happens…"
Another year went by, and something did change. Lily and James began to become friends, and despite Severus' attempts to stop it, their relationship grew stronger and stronger. Lily was still his friend, but things had changed… The bond between them that he had needed so desperately to maintain was slipping away through his tightly clenched fingers... And so he decided to tell her, while there was still time. He caught her on her way to Charms, and his heart almost stopped as she smiled up at him, a curious expression on her beautiful face. His mouth was dry, and he faltered for a moment, but then he gathered up his courage and began speaking. "Lily… I've never told you… But ever since we met… No, even before then… I've always lo-" There was a call from the hallway, and the laughing, spectacled face of James Potter appeared, Lupin, Sirius, and Pettigrew close behind him, as always. "Hey Lily, come on, I decide for once in my life to show up on time for class just so that I can see you're pretty face, and you're dilly dallying?" Lily turned away from Severus and smiled at James. "I'm coming, James! I'll see you later, Sev!" She said, smiling and shrugging her shoulders as she turned away and headed towards James. Severus left so quickly that he was almost running. He quickly made his way back to the Slytherin common room, and then hesitated outside of the hidden entrance, unable to remember the password. Lucius made his way past him, talking with several of the other young Death Eaters. He grinned at Severus.
"The password's 'Mudblood.'"
"Mud…?" Severus looked away, unwilling to speak the word, and hurried quickly into an empty corridor. He sagged against one of the walls, and he could feel the tears of anger and loss trickling slowly down his face.
"Lily… I've always… loved you…"