Severus Snape walked along the beaten pathway, kicking a stone. His father was yelling again; behaving like a drunken fool. His mother, either too naïve or too afraid, refused to use her wand against him and merely stuck it out. Severus hated this almost as much as he hated the abuse that his father had subjected her to. She was weak.

Severus didn't want to stay around and watch. Nor did he care to protect his mother. In the past, when he tried, she only told him to go outside and play. That was years ago, but it was still the pathway that she took whenever it began.

The stone flew off the path and Severus sighed. Nothing seemed to be going his way. He was seventeen years old and stuck at home for Easter holidays. He had wanted to stay at Hogwarts, his home way from home, but his mother insisted that he come home. Great idea that was though; after an hour he was already miserable.

He continued down the dirt path, his sneakers making imprints as he went along. He felt awkward wearing these Muggle clothes, but had no other choice. He was home now, in a Muggle neighborhood. If he had been spotted in his Wizard robes, he would be deemed a bigger outcast than he already was. Not that he cared, not here anyway. They were just Muggles.

He saw another on the ground and began kicking it. That stone was everything he hated in his life; his family, his neighborhood, the kids at school. There was no denying it, Severus Snape was not among the most popular boys in school. Apart from a small group of friends who shared the same beliefs about the Dark Arts as him, he had no other friends. He would show them, he would show them all.

He reached the playground and stopped kicking the stone. It was the first time he had been to the playground in over a year. Severus didn't even know why he was here. He didn't have any intentions of coming here, it brought back too many memories.

Just as Severus was about to walk away, he heard it. He heard the one thing that would make him stop dead in his tracks. "Lily!" the voice called out.

Severus's heart stopped. No, it couldn't be true. Not here, not at home. It was the only thing that kept him going while at home and it had just been ruined. He would recognize that voice anywhere. He had heard it's taunting sounds too many times to forget. He had heard the arrogant, know-it-all talk for the past seven years. Never here, but at school.

He stared through the bushes to confirm it all. James Potter was here, in his neighborhood playground. James Potter was his worst enemy. There was little that Severus would not do to make James suffer. It would be payback for the years of torture, the years of pranks, the years of hexes.

Disgust ran up and down his veins. Severus pulled out his wand and bitterly stared at James. Meeting up with James without his little friends had been Severus's dream for many years now. It would be retribution. James would finally get what he deserved after all these years, seven years of pure torture.

Just as Severus pointed his wand at the messy, black haired boy in front of him, a girl entered his sight. She was beautiful, always radiant. She had dark red hair and almond shaped emerald eyes. She was stunning; there were no other words to describe her. She was kind and gentle; she was Lily Evans.

Severus lowered his wand and watched from his spot in the bushes. He felt his heart beat faster as he stared at her. Lily had been his first real friend and the only one in all of Spinner's End to talk to him. When the other kids called him names, Lily told them off. She was wonderful like that, she made him feel special, for once in his life. She had been his escape from home, away from his bickering parents.

She sat down on a swing, right next to James. Neither of them used the swing for their rightful use, they just sat there. Severus noticed that James was staring at Lily while she spoke, a smile spread across his face.

Oh how he hated him. James had tried for years and years to obtain Lily's attention, but had failed miserably. Severus loved this; it was the one thing that he had that James Potter did not. For once in his life, he had something that someone else wanted.

Then it was over. By the end of fifth year, Lily had stopped talking to him. It was all of James's fault, naturally. James and his gang of friends had tormented him; it was their usual sport, their daily entertainment. Lily had tried to stop them, but Severus had made a mistake. He had called her a foul name for a wizard with Muggle heritage, a Mudblood. It had always been a word in his daily vocabulary, but not with Lily. He had never called Lily that before. And it was over, just like that.

Earlier this year, their seventh and final year of school, Severus had learned that Lily had gone on a date with James. He didn't believe it at first, it wasn't like her to do that. It was true though. James Potter had, once again, gotten everything whereas he, Severus, had gotten nothing.

James said something to Lily and it made her perk up and lightly push him away. She was laughing though; he hadn't said anything offensive, he had made a joke.

Severus watched her as she continued to laugh. Her cheeks were gaining color against her milky white skin. Her lips were pink and curved into a smile, revealing two rows of perfectly white teeth.

For a moment, she looked his way, directly at him. In that moment, Severus felt his stomach fill with butterflies. It was as if James was not there. It was as if there were no trees to shield him. It was as if he were standing in the playground with her.

He blinked and she looked away, back at James. The rush of emotions sailed out of him. She hadn't actually seen him, she wasn't looking at him. She didn't know he was there. She didn't care if he was there.

Severus stayed in his spot in the bushes for another hour, just watching. Once Lily and James exited the playground, Severus slowly walked up to the swings they had occupied. He sat down on Lily's; he could still feel the warmth from her body.

He grasped the chains holding up the swing and looked around. It was deserted, not a soul in sight. Severus closed his eyes and pictured Lily's smiling face. In his mind, she was smiling at him, with him. He took a deep breath in and cold almost smell her faint perfume. It was the closest he had been with her in the past two years.

He opened his eyes and stood up to leave, but a shining silver object caught his eye. He bent down and picked it up. It was a ring, small and silver with flower embellishments. He recognized it at once, he had seen this ring countless times in the past. It was Lily's.

He pocketed the ring and began to walk away. He didn't look back at the playground. Instead, he went back to the dirt pathway and kicked a stone. He slowly walked to the main road and passed several houses.

Once Severus came to a very familiar white house he came to a complete stop. He looked into the window and saw the outline of five people; Lily, James, Mr. Evans, Mrs. Evans, and Petunia. They were all seated around the dinner table. He heard laughter coming from the open window.

Severus pulled out the ring and clutched it tightly in his hand. He looked back at the house one more time before mulling down the street, back to his own home where there wouldn't be a happy dinner waiting on the table for him.

He approached his own house, which was as different from Lily's as day and night. It was slate grey with chips of paint coming loose. There wasn't laughter, there wasn't light. All that could be seen from the road was the flickering of the television.

Severus tightened his grip on the ring as he entered the house. His father ignored him, his mother was busy preparing dinner, and Severus headed straight for his bedroom. He put the ring on his nightstand so that it was always there to remind him of her, his playground love.

…

Author's Note: Thanks for reading, I hope you all enjoyed it. Please review!