Chapter 1 - One Word Too Many
It was cold and overcast, yet Hogsmeade was bustling with activity as Hogwarts pupils made their way around the village. Old Tom at the Leaky Cauldron was most definitely making a galleon or two selling firewhiskeys. Among the scattered bodies moving across the brick lane were two young students. They were an unlikely pair, and that didn't go unnoticed.
"Can we please go somewhere else to talk about this?" the girl pleaded.
"You want to go somewhere else? Why? Are you ashamed to be seen with me?" the boy accused. "Very well, then. Let's go somewhere else."
The tall, pale boy took the girl's arm and led her out of the village and onto an old stone bridge that led our of town. The steam of his breath swirled in the winter air.
"Very well. We're out of earshot now. So, Lily? What is it?"
"Severus, I —" the girl stammered. She tried to look into his dark, kind eyes - the first magical eyes she had ever seen - but the tears she could see welling up in them made her drop her gaze.
The two stood in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Gentle January snow began to fall. Lily's strawberry blond hair moved with the light breeze as Severus stared at her in awe.
"Lily," Severus began, "I waited for you last night."
"I know," she replied.
"I waited for hours."
A pause.
"I know." Her eyes never left the ground.
The boy lifted his hand and, hesitantly, brought up Lily's chin so her eyes met his. The touch of her skin made his icy fingertips tingle with warmth. If only he could kiss her right then and there. Would it make her understand? Or would it only make things worse?
"Will you answer a question?" he asked.
"Does this one count?" Lily tried to joke.
"No," Severus replied, unamused.
She turned from him and looked over the bridge's wall as she sighed. "I guess, but I can't necessarily say you'll like the answer."
"I don't have to. I just want it to be truth, Lil. Please." The last word was a whisper.
She closed her eyes. "Well, what is it?"
"I waited. Where were you?"
Lily hid her face in her mittened hands. That's all he needed. He knew now.
"Oh. I get it. You were with him." He couldn't help the strain in his voice as he choked back tears
Lily heard, and her head shot up. "Please, Sev —"
"Don't 'please, Sev' me! I hardly get to see you as it is."
"I know that, Severus! Just hear me out. It's not easy to be with them, Sev. Not when they talk about you the way they do."
"Oh, it's not easy? It's also probably extremely difficult for you to try to say a word in me defense, as well. It's not easy, is it?" he managed in a cracking voice. "And how do you suppose it is for me, Lily? Do you think I enjoy being tormented by your boyfriend?"
"James is not my boyfriend."
"Really? Then why did you sand me up last night? Four years, Lily! Four years of meeting every Friday night at the southeast stands of the Quidditch pitch and you leave me there? Without an owl? Without anything?"
Severus was pacing frantically. Lily gawked at him, not knowing what to say to comfort him. That is, if there even was something to say.
"Sev, I'm sorry. Like you said, though, it's been four years. Even longer since I've known you. Five years since we've been at Hogwarts together. " Her voice wavered.
"Five years, four months and sixteen days since sorting," he said more calmly.
"You — You kept count?"
"Of course I did. That's how long we've had to deal with this bloody situation, Lil."
"Severus," she said, her voice stern. "There's no need to curse."
"No need to curse. Right. Of course there isn't Lily!" He began to wave his hands in a frenzied fashion as he spoke, the calm finally leaving him in a massive burst. "Why not, dear Lily? Because you have friends, Lily. You haven't been made an outcast because you're a Slytherin in love with a mudblood!"
Lily's face turned from concerned fear to complete and utter revulsion in a flash. Severus churned inside as a knot formed in his stomach.
"Oh my God. Lily, I"m sorry. I —"
"What did you just call me?"
"Lily please I —" but his words got lost somewhere between his mind and his mouth.
"Severus. I'm leaving now," Lily managed through the aching of her throat. "Please don't try to speak to me again."
"Lil, I don't know where that —"
"Where that came from? It came from you, Severus."
As she walked away, the tears flowed freely from both pairs of eyes, and neither appeared in the Great Hall that night.