Author's Note: this was written at… interesting hours of the morning by a sleep deprived teenager, and therefore is probably completely horrible but… the idea wouldn't let me sleep. So there it is. The usual plea for reviews ensues, and the normal disclaimer. Thanks.
She was His
Severus Snape thought he was going to die. He was almost 100 sure that his life was over, due to a heart that could no longer function. Because Lily Evans had just walked away from him. Not in the sense that she had waved a cheery goodbye, but she had…gone. Forever. She would never come back. Snape's body sagged, and he slumped against the wall, his eyes never leaving the portrait hole that she had disappeared through. The fat lady was perched on a wooden stool, calmly sipping tea, and staring at him in return. Only hers was not a stare of longing and sadness, but one of pure disgust and approval for Lily's cruel words. Snape put his head in his hands. He welcomed death.
One Month Later…
He watched her from across the lawn, watched her as she laughed and snuggled with…him. With James Potter. He flinched, feeling a knife pierce his heart, as he did every time he saw them together. He knew that his claim on her was long since gone, and that she belonged to him now, but that didn't stop the pain and the… fury. Fury that his enemy got to hold her, got to kiss her, got to love her. And she loved him too.
That should have been him over there, under that beech tree, but instead, he was over here. Watching. That was all he had ever done. Maybe, just maybe, if he had stopped watching for a minute and acted, this would not have happened. Or maybe it still would have. Maybe fate just hated Severus Snape, and he was destined to be miserable for the rest of his life. It seemed like a likely possibility at this point.
With a sigh, he rose from the bench he had occupied for the past hour and a half, and headed back up to the castle.
Two Weeks Later…
"Watch it Potter," Snape sneered, looking down his hooked nose at him.
"Hello, Severus," came his calm response. Snape was floored. He had expected, had hoped for a witty response, a curse, a smug taunt that he had Lily. But instead, he got… politeness. Something was not right here.
"What's wrong with you?" Snape asked, looking at James in utter bewilderment.
"Well Severus," James replied, smiling softly, "I've grown up. Changed. Been changed." Here his face took on a faraway expression, and he was clearly lost to thought. But Snape knew what he meant. He had been changed by her. By Lily. And that was when Snape came to the worst solution imaginable.
He loved her.
She loved him.
It was over.
One year later…
Snape watched from an upstairs window as it happened. Out on the grounds, at one 'o clock in the morning, surrounded by a ring of lilies, he was asking her. Asking her to marry him. And she would say yes.
He turned away from the window, not wanting to watch when she actually replied, when she actually sealed his fate. He pounded down the stairs, not caring who heard him, and stormed into the dungeons. He had made a decision.
"Bellatrix," he called, standing in the doorway. "I accept the Dark Lord's proposal."