A/N- These are vaguely chronological, but also vaguely unrelated incidents between Snape and Narcissa. They don't happen over a couple of days, but are spread over a few months in sixth year. However, they are, for the most part, posted in order of occurence.

He sat, curled against the wall of the corridor, cold wind shuddering through him as he ran through that day's torment again in his mind.

'Hey, Snivellus,' James Potter. The last person he wanted to see. Not when he was marrying her. Not when he had everything that Snape had ever wanted. Not when he was going to torment him.

'Snivelly, are you ignoring us?' Better than just Potter, it was Potter and Black. His day just couldn't get any better, 'Because I might just have to curse you if you are. Ignoring people isn't very nice, now is it?' Snape gathered his books and made for the door of the classroom, ignoring their taunts. It was then that he heard something that cut him to the core.

'Leave it James,' it was her, 'He's not worth the detention. He's nothing but a slimy slytherin. He's not even worth cursing.'

Snape felt the sob catch in his throat as he fled the classroom, running past his fellow slytherins who jeered at the tears on his face. He just kept running. It was the last class of a Friday. He wouldn't be missed until Monday. None of his house cared about him, none of the other houses did so long as he didn't present them a target. Nobody cared. She didn't even care any more. His breath hitched again and he cursed the tears pouring down his cheeks as he collapsed against a wall somewhere unknown in the castle and sobbed out his love for Lily bloody Evans.

'She's not worth it,' a voice from somewhere above him muttered as a girl slid down the wall next to him. Ashamed, he quickly wiped his tears and pulled his emotions back under control, but it was pointless denying that something had upset him.

'Why do you assume it's a girl, Narcissa?' he spat instead.

'You're telling me it's a boy?' she grinned at him. He spluttered. That was not what he had meant at all.

'No, it's...I meant...it does not...why assume that it's a person?' He tried to recover himself as she giggled quietly before sobering up and looking at him with sad eyes.

'Tears like that? It's a safe bet to say you've had your heart broken.' She said.

'Well I most certainly have not!' Snape huffed indignantly, trying and failing to school his features away from thoughts of Lily, hating the slight crack that appeared in his voice.

'What was she like?' Narcissa asked after a time. Snape bristled, glaring at her, but there was nothing but sympathy and innocent curiosity in her eyes. He sighed, burying his face in his hands.

'She was...perfect, fair-minded, brave. She'd defend anyone who needed her. She was honest and truthful, but clever as well, so clever. There's no one that could rival her mind. And beautiful. So beautiful. But now she's gone and it's all my fault.' He felt her hand come to rest across his shoulders.

'She sounds really special.' Narcissa continued, 'But I'll say it again, she's not worth it.' Snape opened his mouth to refute it, to defend Lily against the insinuation, but Narcissa silenced him with a look.

'No matter how wonderful she was, no matter what, she's not worth the amount of pain she's put you through. Nobody is. That's what you learn in Slytherin. You can't trust anyone apart from yourself. Love is a weakness, it leads to heartbreak. You need to put her behind you, and become stronger without your heart, because then it can never get broken.'

He looked at her.

'Do you really believe that?' he asked. She continued looking at him before nodding once, slowly and tightening her arm around him. They sat in silence for a long time, gradually relaxing into each other.

'But...if you don't believe in love, why are you marrying Malfoy? It's not money, or power, you can see in your eyes that you love him, even when he's got some other tart wrapped around his neck right in front of you. Why?' he asked. She looked up from where her head has come to rest on his shoulder before looking briefly around the corridor.

She shushed him and took his hand, pulling him to standing. He followed, perplexed, as she dragged him through the corridors lit by the orange glow of the sunset before bundling him into a room that he'd never been into before. The door shut and locked behind him as he stepped into what looked like a sitting room.

'Where are we...?' he asked, peering around the strange room. Narcissa looked over, confused as to why he wouldn't know it seemed.

'This is the Room of Requirement. I thought all the Purebloods knew about it.' She said, looking confused and flopping down on a sofa that appeared as she fell.

'I'm not a Pureblood.' Snape said unwillingly. She looked highly uncomfortable.

'Oh...yeah...I'd forgotten. Sometimes you act so much like one.' Snape smiled at that, pleased that he had been able to pull off the deception well enough to fool a real Pureblood.

'It's not something to be proud of,' she snapped at him, bringing him out of his reverie. He looked even more confused.

'Look Snape, I like you, always have done. I always thought you could use a friend, and of course you could, a friend who actually understood the workings of Hogwarts. You have no idea that half of the sixth year Slytherins were watching that conversation outside do you?' she said kindly, watching the shock and the horror dawn on his face and felt the need to explain.

'It's what we do. We find someone at their lowest, and explain things to them in the way that makes it sound most appealing, makes being heartless sound like a viable option, makes love seem like its for the weak. They change their ways, and we count it as another point off on our list. You get points for the number of people's lives who you affect, the number of people that you bring to the Dark, that you get to swear away from love and ally themselves only to themselves and to power. It's like sport from about fourth year up among the Purebloods.'

'You mean...they were watching...?' Snape said, flabbergasted at the idea.

'Yes, but don't worry, I don't think any of them will have guessed that you're in love with Lily Evans. They're not as observant as we are.' She smiled sadly at him.

'Wait...what? You know...'

'Of course I know. You could see that I loved Lucius, how could I not see how you felt for Lily? You wear it plain as day on your face, if you're skilled at reading faces that is. Occlumency doesn't work on expressions you know.' Snape felt his jaw drop.

'But Snape, trust me on this. I brought you here to tell you something important. And you need to believe me, and listen to me, and not to what anyone else might say, and what I'm going to say is going to be hard to accept, but you have to, ok?' she was deadly serious now. He looked at her, cautious, but decided that he had nothing left to lose.

'It's worth it. Love. It's worth every little shard of glass that it embeds in your heart. It's worth every time your heart breaks just a little further when you see them with someone else. It's worth every tear, and every sleepless night, and every time you've felt like you were going to fall apart and cease to exist. When they come to you, if they come to you, finally and at last, then you have those brief moments of perfection, the feeling of loving and being loved in return, that is worth all the pain and heartbreak that you go through to get to it. What I'm saying is, no matter what anyone tells you, never stop believing in love.' She finished. He sat, trying to take in everything she said. After a time of silence she stood up, crossing the room and laying a hand on his shoulder.

'Remember that Snape,' she passed him, and by the door she turned 'Oh, and meet me here tomorrow at seven thirty.'

'What, why?' He stuttered out.

'Because I'm failing potions and that advice wasn't free,' she grinned cheekily at him and turned, unlocking the door and leaving him there to consider.

A/N- Reviews make me happy. Flames make me sad. Hope you liked it.