don't own Harry Potter

SPOILERS

"After all this time?"

"Always."

One: Playground. Age 10

Severus Snape was stunned into motionlessness. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't look away from the young girl that stood no less than three feet away from him. Beauty seemed to radiate from her, making him momentarily speechless.

When he was able to move, he stepped forward to her, his mouth moving, but he was unaware of what he was saying, especially after the young redhead turned to him. Her eyes were the most beautiful shade of green.

Severus had never seen eyes that shade and he doubted he ever would.

Two: Courtyard: Age 15

There was no one around. He would have smiled if they weren't arguing. If they weren't arguing about the one person Severus hated more than anybody.

"What's Potter got to do with anything?" Lily demanded.

The argument continued. Lately, it seemed, all they did was argue. But Severus always apologized almost immediately. He didn't want to lose her. Not for a second, not for a day, not for a lifetime. Without her, his life was cold, and empty. If Lily ever expressed some sort of liking for that…Potter, he didn't know what he would do.

"I know James Potter's an arrogant toerag-" The rest of her sentence was lost in his ears. He breathed in relief and relaxed.

He apologized and told her he'd try to make better friends, or whatever the argument had been about. She smiled at him and he just about fell head over heels in love with her smile again as she let him lead her back inside the castle.

That makes four times in the past week.

Three: Great Hall: Age 31

It couldn't have been a more inappropriate time. Severus had somehow managed to forget Lily Ev-…Pot-…Evans. She would never be known to him as Lily Potter.

He was listening to a fellow teacher, Quirrell, trying not to get annoyed by him constant stuttering, when Severus first laid eyes on him. The boy was an exact duplicate of the man Severus hated, still hates though he'd never say anything about it now that James Potter is dead, when he was at school. The man who managed to steal the love of his life away from him.

The boy, Harry, he knew his name to be, turned and Severus almost jumped back in shock. He hated the way the feelings he spent so long trying to keep down rushed through his body. Harry Potter wasn't an exact duplicate of his father. Harry's eyes were the most beautiful shade of green…

Staring into Harry's eyes made him want to cry, or die, because Severus Snape had only seen eyes that shade once before.

"Look…at…me…"

The green eyes found the black, but after a second, something in the depths of the dark pair seemed to vanish, leaving them fixed, blank, and empty. The hand holding Harry thudded to the floor and Snape moved no more.