A Lily For Lily

I don't have anything to hide, I don't have is not for certain…..

Beginning Flashback

His eyes darted across the corridor, books held tightly to his chest as his lengthy and dirty black hair bounced with each step he took. His robe was slightly stained with dampness and smell oddly like the freshly grown flowers which bloomed just outside the castle walls. His skin was pale yet it remained blemish free unless you counted the large slightly hooked nose jutting from his features. He was lean boarding on skinny yet holding a height that often left him towering over other students in his year. Yes, Severus Snape was indeed an odd boy…

The black, worn shoes covering his long feet clipped upon the stone ground as his pace quickened. A tardy in transfiguration would equal another detention on his plate; he wished to avoid that at all costs. He wasn't sure just how much Lupin, Potter, Black, or even…wait what was that pathetic boy's name again?

Severus for the life of him couldn't recall it, but then again he could never recall what started the bitter hatred between the group. Maybe it was because he was born into what other families considered beneath them. No, that couldn't be it at all. His mother carried the proud bloodline in her veins and therefore he had to at least amount to half of that right? Even if his own blood was tarnished with his muggle sire's. No, the cause had to lie somewhere else.

Lily perhaps? That was a more creditable solution. Potter had been scurrying after her like a lovesick puppy for the last few months. It was very amusing to watch her turn him down time and time again in favor of spending the afternoon reading books or walking the grounds with who else? Him of course. Severus Snape.

A thin smile spread across his features as the memories began to replay themselves, like a newly released movie fresh off the presses. Severus thrived in moments like those. Happiness for him was something of a drug. Wonderful to get and quite addicting, yet something of rarity; it always seem to be plentiful in Lily's presence though.

"You're almost late…"

A small giggle danced across his back, traveling upwards to his ears burying deep. God how he loved the sound of her laugh.

"I could say the same for you, besides I have a reason…"

The red haired girl paused reaching up grabbing onto Severus's shoulder halting him as well. Her green eyes narrowed studying his features much like a detective hot on the trail of a criminal. Doing his best to keep a straight face, he fought back the grin allowing his trademark scowl to take his place.

"Well, what are you looking at?"

"Severus, what did you do? You have that look about you…"

"I have a look?"

Lily nodded her head, stiff with determination. Her hands fell upon her hips as glared up at the taller boy.

"You do when you've done something. I've known you for most of our lives..I know that look quite well."

Severus shrugged his shoulders feigning innocence, but Lily was right though. She did know him to well. More than anyone else in his life would ever if he had his way. Though they were but school children now, Severus had ever intention of marrying her one day. After all, he loved her…

"Well, I guess I better come clean then, no? Before you get the question police on my arse?"

"Don't speak like that! If one of the professor's heard you then…"

"Then it wouldn't matter..."

Taking a step closer, Snape's hands drifted into his robe pocket's the smile returning as their eyes locked together. It wasn't moments later when he produced a beautiful lily holding it out for her.

"Happy Birthday, Lily…"

She was quick to embrace him, arms wrapping around him thoroughly almost crushing his gift, but very much aware of it.

"Oh, Sev, it's beautiful!"

'Not as beautiful as you…' his inner voice screamed out though he wouldn't voice it. Never would he put his friend in that position lest of all on her birthday. There would be another time; they had forever after all….

"I thought you would fancy it…."

End Flashback

His black eyes stared off into the misty distance, his hand ghosting over the glass window as condensation covered over his fingerprints erasing all evidence of his time there. The moon was now shining brightly in the sky, illuminating the fields just below him with incomparable beauty. It was almost if the flowers were glowing just for him.

His students were already tucked away safely in their bed chambers, unaware of the danger lurking just outside the hallowed hallways. Voldemort was coming and so was the end of a peace. He had tried so hard to keep them away; all of them including that dunderhead Potter and his two best mates. Humph, he wasn't even qualified enough to be a babysitter.

'What am I doing this for…'

It was a question that tugged at his broken heart every day, but in the end he always knew the answer. It never varied. Never changed. Even in death, he was still devoted to everything that was or ever had been Lily Evans.

'I wonder what you would say to me now…seeing what I did and what I've become.'

Severus leaned back fixing a few creases in his robes and tugging them tightly around his bony frame. His skin had grown even paler over the years, features turning more statue like ever day.

'You would be so ashamed of me. Yell at me, curse me, tell me how stupid I was…and you'd be right…"

With a swift movement, he brought out his wand aiming it at meadow face shifting to determination. A small murmur of a spell then sudden the field came alive, each bud blooming no matter the species into a wonderful white bed of lilies.

'Happy Birthday, Lily…..'