I do not own any of this. It belongs to the magnificent JKR.

It was almost dark and the Hogwarts grounds were still and empty except for two figures at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. One was tall, with a curtain of black hair around his face; his eyes dark and devoid of any emotion. The other was a slightly smaller figure, with long dark hair and brilliant green eyes that were, at this moment, glistening with tears.

"Severus…" whispered Lily.

Severus did not reply.

"Don't do this, Sev" said Lily softly, but she knew that he had made his decision and that she could do nothing to change it.

A pained expression crossed his face, as he replied, "I have chosen my way Lily, and you noticed that a long time ago. I should never have been friends with you." He swallowed.

"Sev…"

"We can't be friends anymore, Lily. Not now that—" he stopped and continued, "I mean, it's only a matter of one year…" He sighed.

Tears were falling from Lily's eyes now. She couldn't accept this; she couldn't let her best friend ruin his life. "P-please" she sobbed. "Please, Severus…"

Severus bit his lip and turned away. "I'm sorry," he said and started walking away from her. "Don't go…" whispered Lily, but within a few minutes, he was gone.

Lily stared after him, silent tears continuing to slide down her face, but she barely noticed them. She breathed heavily, trying to calm herself, but it did not help. A cool breeze was blowing, and she was cold, but she stood rooted to the spot, crying quietly in the perfect stillness of the grounds.

Suddenly, she heard something moving behind her. She turned quickly and instinctively, took her wand out. She saw a large shape moving behind a tree, which was approaching her. "Lumos" she muttered and her wand tip ignited. In the wand light, she recognized the dark shape as—

"A stag?" she said, bewildered, because that's what it was. What in the world was a stag doing in the Hogwarts grounds? The stag had now reached her and was looking directly in her eyes.

Lily stared at it and couldn't help noticing that it was beautiful. Its skin was shiny and it had long, slender legs that moved gracefully as it walked. But what intrigued her most were its eyes. They were so intense, so human; it seemed to understand her sadness—why she was standing there all alone.

Lily raised her hand and stroked the side of its face gently. The stag closed its eyes but did not move. "You're beautiful, aren't you?" she whispered, wondering why on earth she was talking to an animal which couldn't understand her, or could it?

She shook her head at her foolish thoughts. The stag opened its eyes and rubbed its face against her hand. Lily smiled, in spite of herself.

In a moment, she stopped smiling. "He's gone…" she said. The stag looked up to find her crying once more. "He was my best friend, and I couldn't do anything to save him…"

"There's nothing I can do…he belongs to You Know Who now…"

The stag continued to look at her, its eyes looked concerned.

"May be he'll kill me someday…" whispered Lily and fresh tears poured out of her eyes.

The stag rubbed its face against her hand again. Lily looked down at it and smiled again.

"Yeah okay, that was a bit dramatic" she sobbed.

The stag looked up. "You really are strange…I wonder where you came from…" she mused and stroked it again.

She stood there for a long time, stroking it lightly, the cool breeze soothing her, but not as much as the presence of the stag which seemed strangely familiar.

Suddenly a distant noise brought her back to her senses. She looked at her watch to see that it was very late indeed.

"Good God!" she exclaimed and hurriedly wiped her tears. She took a deep breath and looked at the stag. "Well, bye then…" she said, "thanks for… everything…" she shook at her head at her stupidity and started walking towards the castle.

The stag did not move from its place but continued to stare after her.

I came up with this in school the other day. Hope you enjoyed it! I really love James and Lily :)