Disclaimer: I unfortunately do not own any of this, characters belong to JKR.

Author Notes: Hey everybody!

First, thank you for reading my fanfiction despite the awful summary I've written. This is basically the story of Lily and Severus at Hogwarts, but it's absolutely not exhaustive. In fact, this is part of a giant fanfiction I plan to write, which will be probably be called "Marauders" — but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

This story contains spoilers about "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", so do not go further if you haven't read it.

I must probably warn you about this: this is the first fanfiction I write in English; indeed, I'm French and I usually write in French, so if my spelling is wrong, or my sentences sound bad, please let me know and I'll try to fix it.

Please review, whether you loved it or loathed it, whether you found it good, bad, awful, or if you have advice, critics, questions, or even if you truly enjoyed it and feel like you must let me know (I would love that )

Choices and Abilities

"Sometimes I think we Sort too soon…" – Albus Dumbledore.

"This is it, Sev, I've had enough!" The tone of her voice was tough, and could not be mistaken — she was angry.

"Lily, I'm sorry, I —"

"No, don't think that just by saying sorry you'll make everything go right! You always say you're sorry, but, but…" She seemed on the verge of breaking down to tears.

"Lily, calm down," Severus said, gripping her wrist to prevent her from going away.

"Did you see her, Severus? Did you even see what they did to her?" He felt a little ashamed now, because she had the exact same tone of voice than when she was speaking with James Potter, which meant she was not only mad at him, but she also felt despiteful towards him.

"No. But what do you care, you don't even like her —"

"So what, Severus? So what? This is still an evil thing to do! She looks terrible, and when she entered the infirmary, Mulciber was actually laughing! It was just disgusting, and I know you would have too, if you were there. I don't understand…"

"I wouldn't have laughed," Severus said, most sincerely. "I'm not like them, and you know that."

"I don't know anymore," whispered Lily, almost for herself. Something inside Severus' insides broke apart. "When you're with them, you're not the same… you were actually defending them rather than Mary, and you even yelled at me in the Great Hall, remember? Why?"

"Because," Severus started, and then he stopped. She could not understand. He did not have a lot of friends, other than Lily, and he intended to keep the few he'd made, even though it meant « not being himself » from time to time.

"You see? You don't even know. It's just the way you are — and I can't put up with this anymore."

"I don't want to loose you!" he shrieked at her. Oh Lord. That was the dummiest thing he had ever said. What was she going to think of him now? What a fool. He swallowed.

Lily raised her eyebrows, but did not smile.

"Well then, you're going to have to make a choice. I hate to say this, but it's me or it's them."

He looked deep inside her beautiful, intense green eyes, trying to tell her. He just couldn't. He took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and —

"Are you okay, Evans? We thought we heard some — oh, hello, Snivellus."

James Potter had just entered the room, looking amazingly proud, along with his fellows Black, Lupin and Pettigrew. Severus did not fear them when he was with Lily, knowing that she would stand up for him, tell them to go away… but the weirdest thing happened. Lily did not say anything. She looked at Severus a little fiercely, then opened her mouth, still looking at him, and with what seemed an unbearable effort, she said:

"Oh, hello… James"

Though she looked as if she had eaten half a dozen rotten oysters in a row, Severus knew what it meant. It was the first time she would call Potter by his first name and it was deliberate provocation towards him. But still, he couldn't help but feeling awkwardly bitter — this meant she was veritably angry at him, and mostly, not ready to forgive.

James gazed at her as if she wasn't real — he looked, if possible, more like a jerk than usual, his mouth half-opened, wide-eyed —, Sirius gave a "did-I-miss-something" look to Lupin, who shrugged his shoulders, and Pettigrew glanced at James, waiting for him to talk.

"So you will go out with me, then?" is the only thing that came out of his lips. Severus smirked. Lily shrugged, then turned on her heels and walked away, leaving Severus furiously alone in the middle of the Marauders.

To Be Continued…