He was following her again. She could feel it. She could hear him. His steps were heavy and tired. But she didn't stop, she kept going on with her friends. They hadn't noticed anything…lucky them. She looked back as she pretended to brush dust off her shoulder. Yep he was a few meters behind. Hiding in the shadows, waiting. She sighed. It was getting to be too much now.

"I'll meet you in the Great Hall." She smiled pleadingly at Alice. Alice glanced back, saw him and proceeded on dragging Molly and Carla down the hallway with her supernatural strength.

"We'll see you later Lils!" She called as they vanished down the stairs.

Lily closed her eyes, counted to ten in her head and turned to confront him. He was in the same spot as he had been when she looked back last.

"Come here. Into the light." Lily ordered and waved him over.

"No. I feel safer here." He retorted without budging.

"I need to talk to you. So get your self in front of me." She gasped for air, "NOW!"

Slowly he shuffled from the dark into the musty light coming from the dirty windows.

His hair was as greasy as ever and he had large dark circles under his eyes. Lily remembered ignoring all this when they used to be best friends. Such a long time ago. His lips were dry and chapped. His eyes were bloodshot. He was wearing the same clothes he had been wearing since he had...since he had said that…Lily shook her head to make the bad memories go away. Instead she concentrated on the good ones. Their first kiss, their first meeting, how protective he had always been of her…

He cleared his throat. By her face he could tell she was somewhere far away. To say what he had to say he needed her here. In the present. Lily shook her head again and looked at him.

"Severus…this has gone too far. I want you to stop following me and promise that you will never talk to me again. Ok?" she paused the silence filling her ears, her eyes welled up with tears, "You should be fine with it…since…you wont have to make anymore excuse for…hangingoutwithamudblood." She blurted out, the tears spilling out of her eyes. She was about to turn and leave when he raised his head looked at her with pain in his eyes.

"Lily…I'm so…so…sorry. I never meant to hurt you. You know how much I love you. We cant just throw all that away…please…Lily…" her tear filled eyes filled his head. He knew that he'd remember this moment forever. He'd always remember how much her hurt her.

Lilly sobbed softly and prepared herself for the next sentence.

"I…I…I'm sorry Sev, but you know it never would work…and…and I don't love you anymore…so why are you hurting me like this? We have to move one sometime…and I think…I think that now's the time." She managed to say all this in between sobs. Lily his her face in her hands, afraid of his reaction.

"But…we can't just ignore each other! The memories will never fade away. We used to be so close…PLEASE!" Severus sputtered and grabbed Lily by her shoulders trying to shake some sense into her. Just then another set of footsteps approached and Severus found a wand poking in his neck.

"Let. Her. Go." James Potter forced through his teeth.

"Ahh…so THIS is the real reason you hate me…" Severus let go of Lily's shoulders and glanced from her to James, Lily was shaking her head fervently and mouthing now while James was nodding, "Well, I guess I'll be going now…"

"You are not going anywhere Snivellus!" James pointed his wand at the retreating coward, "Fight like a wizard!"

Great Lily thought. She was now standing behind James. This is the 5th time they're fighting because of me. Doesn't life just get any better? And just as Severus was pulling out his wand…her world went black. This usually works…was her last thought.