Snape sighs as he looks at the sleeping princess, his sleeping princess. He couldn't understand what had gone wrong, why it had gone wrong but it had
Like always the princess couldn't sleep due to her regular night terrors so she had come to him, the castle physician, for a powerful sleeping draught
The next morning the princess hadn't awoken and he had been called upon, when snape arrived he was shocked by what he found. It was clear to him she was under the effects of the draught of living death and yet the night before he had only given her a mild sleeping draught
The king had demanded she be awakened before the ball the next night and snape had locked himself away to make a wiggenweld potion. Even though he was a physician he also dabbled in magic, not enough that anyone would notice and condemn him for sorcery but enough that he could mix up most potions
As the day drew to an end he nervously held her hand as he gently fed her the potion. For minutes he sat there waiting as time passed and dusk became dawn, he could no longer pretend this would work, it was clear he had failed
That night at the ball the king announced that the eligible princes were no longer here to see which one his daughter took to but rather he decreed which ever prince could wake her would take her hand in marriage. That night snape couldn't bring himself to leave her side, in the morning those idiots would begin their attempts and he would return to brewing cures he doubted would work
It had been a week since then and snape stood by as the final prince, a prince by the name of James was set to try his worthless attempt at waking his sweet flower
As he rubbed something from a vial on his lips, snape reacted quickly but the king stopped him "my king?" He questioned and was met with a tired sigh "if it doesn't work there is no difference, for he is the last one" begrudgingly Severus stood by as the prince smirked. "It'll work" he says confidently "some friends of mine worked some fairy magic to get this recipe" he informs confidently before he presses his lips to hers. He pulls back after a minute and then she sits up gasping
The king smiles happily and announces the two's engagement before either can think
Snape isn't sure if it's confusion, shock or horror he sees in Lily's eyes as her new prince carries her away but he is overcome with rage and sorrow. Angrily he throws his fist into the closest wall, memories of the two's secret rendezvous and plans to sneak away flash in his mind, he thinks of what could of been and as he shuts himself away he remembers his failure