Authors Note: This takes place around Harry's first birthday. It is just something that I wrote and am quite pleased with. I actually have a whole bunch of other stuff that I wrote. If I get a lot of responses from this I might post some more of it. This is just a meeting between Snape and Lily. It is the last time he ever sees her alive and I like to think that I got the emotions and stuff right. Perhaps my details aren't perfect. But I think this is a viable glimpse of what could have happened before Lily and James died.

Lily led Harry up the stairs of the playground smiling as he bounced in an imitation of a walk. They went over the unstable bridge that made tinkling noises as they passed over individual pieces of wood. Harry looked at Lily tremulously, terrified of the wobbly path. She smiled as picked him up and walked the rest of the way. She sat on the sliding ledge that was about waist high. She swirled around and scooted forward. Harry, seeing that they were about to go down the slide started to shriek with joy, his gumless mouth opened wide in unabashed happiness. They slipped down the hot metal slide, Harry squealing. Lily stood up and swung him around, laughing at his giggles and his attempts at speech, "Muh! Muh! Muh! CAAAAAA!"

"Yes! You like the slide don't you? Yes you big boy, we went down the slide." Lily spoke to him in a high pitched mommy voice. Harry's joyful face became confused as he glimpsed someone coming towards him. Lily hitched Harry onto her hip and whirled around grabbing her wand, pointing it towards the newcomer.

She froze as she saw who it was. Severus Snape seemed to always have that freezing effect on her. Terror mixed with betrayal and anger, with just a dash of hatred and love always made her brain cease to function. There were too many reactions available and it took her a moment to choose just one.

"Stay away from me Snape." She finally said her green eyes narrowed into slits.

"Lily. You've got to come with me. Please."

Lily looked at him directly and responded with all the ease of years of frustration and anger.

"No." Lily said simply.

"The Dark Lord…He's going to…" Severus seemed at a loss for words. "He's going to…" Ice seemed to grip Lily's stomach and her heart was somewhere around her feet.

"What? What is he going to do? Sev?" She asked dreading the answer.

"He's going to kill you!" Severus said vehemently.

Lily blanched and then shrugged. "What else is new? I've foiled him three times now. It's just a matter of time before he comes after us."

"Not you. That boy. He heard a prophecy and…"

"I don't hold much store by prophecies. We make our own destinies." Lily said this scornfully.

"A boy. Born at the end of July. Born to those who have thrice defied him. Lily. Can't you see?" Snape said a bit desperately. And Lily could see.

"But that could be any number of children. I wasn't the only one in the maternity ward that day." Lily said quickly. Snape shook his head, tendrils of hair flying every which way.

"No Lily. He thinks it him." He said jerking his head in the direction of Harry, who was pulling at his mother's hair and gnawing on an auburn lock. Lily's eyes turned slowly to look at Harry, widening in horror.

"I've got to get you out. I've got to get you away." Snape said grabbing her arm "Just get some clothes and leave Harry with James and get out! Get out while you still can!"

Lily's eyes which had been fixed upon Harry, suddenly turned to Severus. He took a step back as he saw the anger in her eyes.

"My child Sev? You want me to abandon him. And his father? So that I can live? There would be no life without them Sev."

"Take him with us. Just PLEASE!" Severus shouted desperate. "PLEASE! Just! Do it! I can't bear…"

"You can't bear what Sev? Me? Being dead? Well what about what I can bear? I would not be able to live without Harry. And abandoning James? I LOVE HIM SEV! WHY WILL YOU NOT SEE THAT!" She shouted at him. Harry began to wail. She gripped him under his arms and held him to her chest.

"I know honey. Mommy's sorry. It's ok. We'll be fine, Love." Harry seemed to take heart at the soothing words and buried his face into Lily's thick hair. She turned to Sev.

"I will not leave Harry. Or James. I made my choice. You made yours. But you can still change." With this she turned and placed Harry gently into his stroller and clicked the seat belt shut. She grabbed the diaper bag and as she was pulling it over her shoulder she turned again to Severus.

"Goodbye Sev. I know you meant well." She turned and walked away.

He ran to catch up and stood in front of her.

Snape broke Lily's heart one last time. It wasn't the same fierce agonizing pain that it was that first time. It wasn't the burning anger of the second. This third time was a dull throbbing farewell. A goodbye to the dear friend and almost love. In a strange way it was almost more painful than the others. It contained all the bittersweet memories that Lily had kept and buried in the back of her mind. This final tearing moment where heartstrings ripped, fell apart, and separated. The part of her heart that had clutched closely to the memories took all those burnished flickering memories and drifted away.

Lily let them go. She looked into the anguished face of her formerly dear friend and was finally able to forgive. Snape saw the change in her face. He knew what it meant. He misinterpreted it however. Forgiveness was given, but what he had always associated with Lily's absolution wasn't going to come. She wasn't going to come with him. He didn't realize this however, and his hopes soared so very high. She spoke before he could however.

"I've known that death has been coming for me for a while now. I knew it ever since last July when I faced You-Know-Who. I think it was always just a matter of time. It was always coming for me. I looked into the face of the Grimm and now I've got to face the music."

Hopes crashed, burned and died. Snape felt as though his insides had turned into ice. He could only take in tiny breathes of air. His feet wouldn't move but his hand reached out and touched a lock of her long red hair.

"Please…" he whispered.

Lily's emerald eyes gazed steadily into his dark eyes. "I'm sorry. I waited for you to make another choice for a long time Sev. But I moved on. Maybe if things had turned out differently. But we can't go back. I made my choice. I chose James. I chose Harry. You chose Him. Now I have to go."

Lily leaned forward, and brushed Sev's cheek with her lips. Harry gurgled and she moved back and adjusted the baby higher on her hip.

"It's too late for me Sev. But it's not too late for you. You can always change."

Lily walked away from the defeated and broken Severus Snape. She grabbed the cheerfully colored diaper bag and placed Harry into the little stroller and clicked the safety shut. She grabbed onto the handles and then murmured, "Occulo Inimicus" to hide herself from the eyes of enemies. She became somewhat blurry in Snape's eyes. But not quite.

Something within him snapped. As she left the park and became completely invisible to his eyes he came to an abrupt and terrifying conclusion.

Snape was not going to accept her death. He had seen the forgiveness. The warmth of her kiss was still upon his cheek. There was nothing that could stop his resolve. He would stop the Dark Lord or die trying. He took a very deep breath and decided to do the thing that filled him with more fear than the betrayal of You-Know-Who.

"Expecto Patronum" his thought was Lily, alive and laughing. With him.

The doe erupted from his wand. It ran the length of the park and then cantered back to him.

"Dumbledore. I must meet with you. This is a matter of the utmost importance."