Severus closed his eyes and slumped against the wall of the Shrieking Shack. He could not die. He knew if he died Voldemort would be undefeatable. Snape had fought for too long to protect Lily's son and he could not let the boy die for nothing. He has her eyes, he thought to himself
. ~ * ~ * 21 Years Earlier
Seventeen year old Severus Snape walked out to the tree where he and his former closest friend Lily Evans used to meet. He went there alone now. As he got closer, he stopped. He heard a girl crying. For a moment, he thought it must be Lily, and he hurried around the corner. To his dismay, it was a little girl curled up against the tree. Bitterness made him angry and for a moment, he thought to hurt the child. When he got closer, however, he saw she already was hurt. A large black bruise spread across one side of her face and another one on her neck. The girl held her wrist as though it were broken. Severus immediately felt pity for the child and slowly walked over to her.
"Where is your mother?" he asked.
She jumped, having not heard him come close to her. "I-I- I don't know. She left when I was a baby. M-m-my father said she was no good. He says I'm just like her," she sobbed.
"Did he, your father, hurt you?" She nodded and said she was scared to go home. Her daddy had never hurt her this badly before. Severus didn't know what to do. He was supposed to be a mean, uncaring Death Eater, not some fool feeling sorry for a useless little muggle girl. He knelt down to look at her wrist and gasped. Her eyes were green, as green as Lily's eyes. He'd never seen pain like that in any child's eyes but his own when he looked into a mirror.
"Please help me, Sir," she whispered, looking with her own green eyes into his dark ones.
He whispered the spell to heal her wrist and told her to wait for him where she was. She said that she would, even if it got dark. He smiled at her innocence and ran home to get something for the bruises on her face and neck. His own mother and father were fighting when he got home, so he was delayed in getting back to her. After he told her what to do with the potion, and not to tell anyone about it, hewalked her home. Right before she walked in her door, she looked back at him and smiled. She knew she'd always be alright if he would always be her friend.