My Immortal Beloved

Hey, everyone! I'm trying something new with my style of writing. Here's the plot: The story takes place in 1827 in the English countryside. Lily is a stubborn young woman- she has just turned 18. She is intelligent, has her head stuck in a novel, and knows comebacks better than the latest comedian. Her best friend is Severus Snape, and she has never thought about marriage until she meets a young man- James Potter. James seems to be the only guy (besides from Snape) that can make her laugh, cry, and feel special. But in between all of this, Lily has to choose between her best friend and the man she has grown to love. What she doesn't know is that both seem to be hiding a secret bigger than she has ever imagined. So, here it goes. Please read and review :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A woman, especially if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can. The words practically jumped off the page as Lily continued wandering through the forest of trees, book in hand. These exact words, written by her favorite author, Jane Austen, seemed to relate exactly to her. Lily Evans adored Jane Austen. Not only because her novels were the newest "it" things since corsets, but because Lily could so very well relate to Jane herself. You see, these exact quotes seemed to mimic the situation Lily was in as of this very moment. It was a secret.

Lately, I've been realizing that I have been a freak. I have made one of my suitors blow up one time at dinner, much to my parents' chagrin. I have stared at an apple tree so long, I could have sworn it turned gold for a few seconds before I blinked and became a natural brown again. I'm not really sure what's wrong with me. Maybe it's some late teenage adult thing mama and papa have not yet mentioned to me about? I hate being an only daughter. It annoys me that I have no one to turn to. And mama and papa are always busy manning the cottage. We're too poor to afford any help. We once had a maid who would help us every now and then, but we had to let her go when she began asking for more money. All my clothes are hand-made, sewed by myself. My parents are becoming quite old, so as you can see, there's really only me. Living in the English countryside, I don't really have much to do. I've been to the city a couple of times, but not for very long. I'm always busy helping mama and papa out, but otherwise from that, I'm content reading.

I made my way across the hilly land. It was four in the morning, far too early for anybody to be up. The sun was beginning to rise and I was walking barefoot, tattered book in hand, red hair in a ponytail. I had some freckles across my face, and a simple nose, but otherwise from that, I wasn't that much special from everybody else. I wore regular clothes- mostly a long skirt with some casual shoes that I could wear everywhere. What I didn't understand most was the relationship part of life.

Mama and Papa are always pushing me. "Lily, it will only be for the better if you will just choose a man. Stop being so picky. You will never get someone like Mr. Darcy," mama would tell me. I wasn't being choosy. I was just being realistic. Every suitor that my parents have invited home so far haven't even gotten past the first round of my scorekeeping. The must have 1) looks 2) intelligence 3) a sense of humor. I don't even care about the money part and from the 

past eight men that I have met in the past year, none of them can even get through these three simple categories. Father wasn't being very helpful either. "If she cannot settle down with a man, then just leave it. She can always marry that Snape boy down the road that she always hangs out with."

Which brings me to Severus Snape. He's been my best friend from since we were little. We were born together, raised together, grew up and suffered through puberty together, all that good stuff. He's a great friend. He's always been there for me, and it's not like his family is exactly suffering for money either. Even though he only lives a couple miles from me, he has a heck of a lot more money than my family does. But I'm not really sure I want to marry Severus. I've never thought of him in that sense at all. But lately, since my father has said it three nights ago, it has been in the back of my mind. We always hang out together. We walk into the village together and run errands together. When we're bored, we go to each other's houses. We've even been to dances and balls together, but I've only kept our relationship strictly platonic.

I was just beginning to get out of breath when a voice suddenly called out to me. I knew it wasn't my parents. I had already walked too far for my parents to call out to me.

"Lily, Lily! Over here!" I looked down the hill. There was Severus waving his hands at me. He smiled at me and beckoned for me to come over. I walked down the hill slowly.

"Severus! How are you?"

"Good, good. The chickens are running around and the horses and not fed yet, but I thought I'd check in on you and see how you're doing. I haven't talked to you in about two days. I just wanted to make sure you weren't dead," Snape said laughing at me as he offered me his arm. I took it smiling. I never bothered thinking of him as any more because I didn't think he saw me as anything more either. We were just good friends.

"Well, actually, I might be a ghost, Severus. You see, because only people like you and I can be out at four in the morning taking a morning stroll, the ghost of Lily Evans has come to haunt you. I was killed last night, actually and I came to bring you back to the land of the dead with me," I said giggling at my own joke. I waited for a response, but he didn't answer. I looked at his face. It immediately looked grave after my content.

"Don't say things like that, Lily," Snape said quietly as we continued walking.

"Why not? It was only a joke," I said, trying to defend myself. This wasn't usual of Snape. He was usually laughing at everything I said.

"You never know what might happen tomorrow. Or the next day. I don't want you saying things and then having them happen to you, Lily," Snape said, still quiet. I had a feeling that his mind was thinking too much.



"You're just being paranoid, Snape. Nothing's going to happen to me," I said smiling at him. He rolled his eyes and tried to ignore the comment, but I had a feeling he was still overanalyzing something in his brain. "Anyways, I don't want to talk about my future demise. I want to talk about us. Right now." He suddenly straightened up.

"Us? Right now? Well, Lily, I think that might take a while, but if you want to talk about, you know. Us. Right now, we can talk," Snape said. I peered over at him carefully. We were almost at the front of his house, now.

I said the words to him slowly. "I don't think it'll take a while to decide what to do for fun, but if you really think deciding on something is going to take a long time, well, I guess we can wait until after breakfast." He suddenly heaved a sigh.

"Oh, no, nevermind. I thought you meant something else." I rolled my eyes, laughing. It was so typical of Snape to think of something too much. We walked into the warm house. Snape's house sits on the edge of a large river. There are trees that surround it. The Snape family calls it a little "cottage" but I would have to say that compared to my house, it's more of a mansion. We walked into the house. There was a sudden warmth that came from the fireplace. It was summer, but it was still a little cold outside. Severus opened the door for me and I came into his kitchen.

"Lily, darling, how are you?" I recognized the voice immediately. It was a kind woman, with dark black hair. It was Mrs. Snape.

"I'm well, thank you," I said politely as I sat down at the kitchen table.

"Join us for breakfast. Severus, I would like you to go pick up some things for me in the city today, if that's alright for you," she said holding a list out for Severus. "And take Lily with you, too, if you'd like." Severus turned around and looked at me, waiting to see if I would go with him. I smiled and nodded my head, agreeing.

We quickly ate breakfast and I chattered a little bit more with Severus's mother as he got the carriage ready for us. I bid her goodbye as I walked out and got into the black carriage next to Severus. He gave me a small smile and we were off on our way.

The city is about 45 minutes away from our homes on carriage. The path is small, but many people travel on it everyday. It gave me lots of time to talk to Snape and to see how he was doing.

"Jane Austen again, Lily? Don't you ever get bored of that stuff?" he asked me as we made our way along the bumpy road.

"Of course, not. You wouldn't be, either, if you actually picked up one of her books, Snape," I said to him smiling.



"I have not the time," he said ignoring my little comment and smirking a little.

"You know, I don't see you a lot, Snape. Your're always gone for a period of time and you come back in the winter and in the summer, but I've only just realized that it's not until now that I have actually seen you. What have you been doing? Secret witchcraft? What are you hiding from me?" I asked him jokingly. He gave me a sideways glance.

"Nothing of your concern, Lily. Don't worry about it. I'm just busy all the time, with school and helping out the family," he muttered. I looked at him. I had always been trying to bring on this topic to him, but he always finds a way to cover himself up and change the subject and/or make up some other random excuse.

The ride went on, shorter than I expected until we were finally in the city. It was bustling with horses and carriages. Compared to the high society women that were walking down the streets, I felt underdressed and raggedy poor. But I didn't care. Snape gave me his hand and helped me off the carriage. We walked down the street towards various shops. I wasn't really looking where I was walking, except I knew that Snape was holding onto my hand pulling me forward. Suddenly, something hit me. Hard. On my shoulder, causing me to let go of Snape's hand and do a 180 turn to see who it was that I had whammed into me. I turned around ready to see an ugly old man and allow him forgiveness, but instead, I saw a tall handsome man, no older than me, looking down at me with glasses. His hair was jet black and his eyes were a hazel color looking down at me. He was dressed extremely well. He had a friend who was almost as equally handsome as he was next to him. His friend looked the same age as he was. They were about the same height, but his friend had a more mischievous look about him. The friend had black hair and grey eyes that seemed to stare me down in a more perverted manner. I was only vaguely aware of what was going on around me as I suddenly regained myself conscious and forbid myself from staring at their seemingly perfect bodies and faces.

"Are you going to apologize to me?" I asked the tall boy with black hair and hazel eyes. He gave a grin that seemed to say are you talking to me. I could have sworn he gave me a quick wink, too.

"Why should I apologize? If you were actually watching where you were going, maybe we wouldn't have bumped into each other," he said. His voice was almost exactly like velvet. But what came out of it definitely wasn't.

"Well, usually when one bumps into a woman, they have enough courage and nerve to apologize and take the fault themselves."

"Well, what if the supposed woman was actually just being stubborn and still doesn't realize that it's her fault?"



"What if in reality, it wasn't the woman's fault at all but the man's fault for being a rude bastard?"

I hadn't realized it, but this whole time, we were slowly making small steps towards each other, sizing each other up the whole time. It wasn't until I had said that comment that we were barely an inch apart. I could feel his cool, minty breath on my face and I could feel his eyes bearing into me. I stared right back at him, my chest beginning to get tighter and tighter. He suddenly pulled back and took a deep breath.

"Well, then. If the bastard must, the bastard will apologize," he gave me a quick bow and straightened up and offered his hand. "James Potter. And this, here is my friend Sirius Black." I looked at both of them. Was this possible? Not only had this James guy apologized, but he also just bowed to me. I ignored both of them, realizing they were just playing me. I turned my back on them.

"Lily, where were you? I hadn't even realized that you had let go of my hand until now and I just spent the last couple minutes looking for you everywhere. I thought I lost you!" Snape exclaimed as he grabbed my hand. I still had a look of pure hatred on my face. "What happened?" he asked me, looking at my face. It was then that he looked behind me and noticed the two harassers staring back at him. His face suddenly contorted into one of hatred and fear at the same time. The two other men looked back at him, their mouths in O forms, seemingly shocked.

"Let's go. They're not worth your time," I said, recovering and grabbing Snape's arm as we walked further down the street, leaving the other two men standing. They both looked positively puzzled and confused.

"Wait!" a voice shouted behind me. I tried to keep walking. "Wait!" the voice got slightly closer. I still kept my back turned on them. "Did you say your name was Lily?" I paused shortly, Snape still clinging onto me, still in shock. I turned around, gave a quick look at James, who seemed to have recovered from whatever he saw in Snape. His friend, Sirius, however, still seemed to have been shocked. I turned my face around and continued walking down the street, dragging Snape behind me like a ragged doll. It seemed that he was not yet recovered either from what he saw.

I wasn't really sure what this all meant. I had never seen the other two men in my life before, but it seems that Severus must have met them somewhere before. That was the only reason I was able to come up with for all three men looking as white as ghosts. I would only have to figure it out later.

So what did you think? Please read and review. The story will get much better, but I definitely have to set it up. It's going to be a fairly complicated piece, and I hope you guys all enjoyed the first chapter! –Luxe.