WARNING: SUICIDE ATTEMPTS! MENTIONS OF CHILDHOOD ABUSE! ALTERNATE UNIVERSE!

The flowers died three weeks ago. The flowers that she had received from her friend, Severus Snape had died and she wished there was a spell that would bring them back to life. It was a remnant of the time when they had gone on a walk together at Hogwarts when he had picked some marigolds for her. The flowers were now dead. There was no bringing them back to life.

Lily looked at the flowers with resentment in her eyes. She didn't hate Severus for giving them to her- she appreciated it very much- but she hated the flowers for dying on her. Despite putting multiple charms on the flowers to make them last longer, they died as soon as they could. It was almost as if they were totally against him, just like how everyone was against Snape.

James Potter and Sirius Black were absolutely terrible. They sent sharp and cutting words at Severus, expecting him to just take it. They didn't know how the poor boy desired to end his life all the time. They didn't understand the abuse he went through at home. Severus always looked greasy because there were no opportunities for him to practice good hygiene. At home, his father preferred not to spend money on luxuries like water, preferring to buy beer. And as much as he hated to admit it, Lily knew that Severus didn't know the proper way to take care of himself. He didn't eat as often as he should, despite the limitless food at Hogwarts, and he didn't bathe as often as he could, despite the opportunities. This led to endless bullying that he didn't know how to control or handle.

And he also hated himself. Lily knew that the boy would come to her, close to tears about how he wished he could be someone else, or he could just erase his past entirely. It was terrible and it always ended with the two of them crying in an empty classroom. She couldn't bear to see him cry over his own unfortunate circumstances- she would have preferred that she had been raised in that environment. She would have gladly taken the abuse if it meant that Severus was free of the mental scarring that characterized him.

She wished Potter and Black could see all of this before they bullied Severus before they inflicted irreversible damage on him. He already hated himself enough, but to have this exacerbated by the bullies made his life unbearable. It was at the point where Lily was constantly worried that they had killed him or something. That was a complete possibility. Despite her objections, the bullying had persisted. No one had stopped it.

Currently, she was sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room, which at this point, contained very few people. Everyone had gone for Supper, herself included; but she had finished her meal rather quickly, mostly because she didn't see Severus at dinner. This only worried her mildly, the boy didn't come to meals very often and Lily was used to not eating with him there. She was admiring the silence whilst she worked on a transfiguration essay due next week. It never hurt to be too prepared, especially when it came to the subject that was taught by her head of house.

She focused intensely on writing the correct words down, proofreading her essay as she went to make sure that everything that she wrote down made complete sense. The words flowed together wonderfully and came together to create a wonderful essay that Lily was sure would get a good grade. That was until Professor McGonagall approached her from behind by tapping her on the shoulder. She jumped ten feet into the air, thinking it was James and didn't realize it was her Professor until she said, "Looking good so far, I'm excited to read it,"

"Thanks. I've been working really hard on it," Lily replied with a blush on her face. Despite multiple compliments from all of her teachers, she always appreciated receiving them. She smiled as McGonagall replied, "I need you in the hospital wing."

"Oh, how come?" Lily asked with a frown on her face.

"There's been an incident."

"What happened?"

"I need you to come with me to the hospital wing, I'll explain to you there."

The two of them walked up to the hospital wing. The walk seemed to take forever and Lily couldn't bring herself to say anything to her professor; she was honestly quite worried. Once they arrived in the actual room, an overwhelming feeling of dread passed over her and the antiseptic smell burned her nose. Multiple medi-witches were attending to her best friend.

Lily felt tears prick at her eyes and she wanted to cry out and grasp the hand of her friend. She felt immense worry and didn't know why Severus would even be in the hospital wing in the first place, but something would have had to happen to him. Running towards him to check his status, she felt her hands being grabbed by her Professor. "Not now Lily, they're trying to stabilize him," McGonagall said.

"What happened?" Lily asked, tears beginning to fall down her face endlessly. Severus couldn't be that far gone, could he? Just this morning he was his typical self in Potions class.

"Poppy, could we get a private room please?" McGonagall asked, noting the state of Lily and how she appeared to be five seconds away from having an emotional breakdown.

"Of course Minerva," the medi-witch replied, "Thomas, take my spot and work on his respiratory system. We need to prevent further damage to his fragile lungs."

Madame Pomfrey led Lily and Minerva to a room that was decorated similarly to a church. Lily assumed that this was the place where parents went when they prayed to a Higher Spirit when their child was deathly ill here. She had been in one when she had prayed for her grandmother to recover from her disease. Eventually, her grandmother recovered and Lily knew that her someone did exist "up there". Oh please, please help Severus. Please make him feel better, please, she prayed, please make him feel better and curse whoever did this to him.

Now that they were in complete privacy, McGonagall swallowed a lump in her throat and whispered, "Unfortunately, Severus was found outside the Slytherin Common Room. He attempted suicide."

The tears flowed down Lily's cheeks and she cried, "He has been depressed for so long. He would have told someone, but they would have ignored him."

"Why's that, Ms. Evans?"

"He's told me that no one ever cares about him and how he constantly feels alone and lost in this world. I would too if Hogwarts wasn't a sanctuary from the abuse I endured at home."

"You're abused?" McGonagall's voice went up an octave. She raised one eyebrow and hugged a sobbing Lily. "Don't worry, you can tell me. Your abuser will never get you here."

"No, it's not me," Lily whined.

"Then who is it?"

"It's Severus. There's no place that he's safe. He's abused by his father at home. He's abused by Potter and Black here. A sanctuary anywhere for him is nonexistent."

"No one ever told me that he was being bullied by them."

"He was too proud to do that. Severus always thought that he could take them on. Unfortunately, the verbal abuse is comparable to knives for him."

"So he tried killing himself? Merlin," McGonagall sighed, tears forming in her eyes. Seeing her Professor tear up made Lily cry even more. It definitely meant things were serious.

"How did he do it?" Lily asked, slight curiosity in her voice,

"Severus Snape slit his wrists with a dark cutting spell, inhaled and drank a toxic poison, and he had tried to hang himself before Professor Slughorn had found him. Even if he makes it-"

"He might not make it?" Lily shrieked, feeling lightheaded all of a sudden.

"There's a fifty-fifty chance of him living, but it all comes down to his choice. I've known people who have been in comas before and they told me that they had been given the choice whether to stay or not. Anyways, he filled a journal and I'm pretty sure you'd like to read it."

Lily took the journal, opening it slowly and began reading the familiar handwriting.

Dear reader,

I hope that if someone has gotten into my journal, I am dead. Here goes nothing.

I'm so tired of the lack of happiness in my life. Ever since I expressed my first sign of accidental magic towards my father, I was constantly beat to the point where I would fall unconscious. I also didn't have access to hygiene supplies, leading to my appearance being dull and greasy. As a child, no one wanted to be my friend and that meant that I thought my constant abuse was normal, that every single father beat their children and wives. I constantly lived in fear and poverty, I feared my father all of the time due to the damage that he could inflict on me.

As soon as I had met Lily Evans, something had changed. Finally! I had found someone that had understood me, someone who did the best that she could to ensure that I got the meals that I needed to sustain life. Through her, I learned that not all fathers abuse their children and that they are supposed to love their offspring like they were a precious diamond. Through her, I learned that kids had the option to be kind to one another and the people that hated me were against me.

When I got to Hogwarts, I thought that I had the chance to make friends and escape the abuse. I had come to school with countless welts on my raw back and my ribs were completely exposed. Yet, people still thought that they could choose to hurt me. I was constantly mocked and teased, occasionally spraining my ankles and wrists because people thought it was funny to push me down the stairs. The pain was less than the pain that my father caused me, but it hurt more because I thought these people could be my friends. They could have been, but they chose not to. I understand that decision. No one cares about me. No one seems to understand my pain.

Anyways here are some things that I have written for some specific people, hoping that they'd change.

James Potter: I hope you rot in HELL! You've done nothing for me except torture me the moment I arrived. You don't seem to care about anyone except for your stupid Gryffindor followers and Lily! When it was just me and Lily on the train, I had a hope, a hope that I would be safe from home. But when you entered into the compartment and called me "Snivellus", all hope was lost. You've done nothing except make me hate myself. Your words cut through me like a knife cuts through flesh. By the time I was done with my first year at Hogwarts, I was excited to go home. Did I mention that my father was physically abusive to me and would constantly beat me to the point where I passed out at home and yet I'd rather be there! I hope you're happy that I'm dead because you hated me that much.

Sirius Black: You can rot as well. You thought it was a good idea to perpetuate the bullying and make everything at least ten times worse for me! And yet you seemed to think that it was funny to see me sprawled out by the stairs because you think torturing people is amusing. Well, I hope my death is amusing to you because you won't have to see me again. But maybe you'll be a little sad because your little "pet" has died.

Peter Pettigrew: Stop being such a coward and realize that your "so-called" friends don't care about you, they only rescued you because you looked lonely. They don't appreciate you at all- maybe you should go find someone else.

Remus Lupin: You were probably the only decent person in Gryffindor other than Lily. Maybe if you grew a backbone and stood up for people once in a while, I wouldn't have killed myself. I know that every single time your "friends" pushed me down the stairs and I tumbled down, or they thought it funny to hold me down and punched me, I could see the pity in your eyes! Not to mention during the other times that they thought it funny to damage me. You're in Gryffindor for a reason, you should show it once in a while! If Potter and Black abandon you for standing up for me, they aren't your real friends.

Lily Evans: Thanks for being the only light in my life. You always cared about me, no matter the cost. You always showed concern for me and you were a shoulder for me to cry on. YES IF ANYONE ELSE IS READING THIS, I DO CRY! But I know you'll be a lot happier now that I'm dead.

Professor Slughorn: If you treated everyone equally, you wouldn't be reading this right now. Screw you! Don't waste your time reading this. You won't change your ways ever! You won't care about any abused Slytherin. So don't even bother anymore. Go back to hosting your silly Slug Club meetings or whatever.

Professor Dumbledore: Learn to treat every house equally and suicide rates will decrease.

Professor McGonagall: You were probably the fairest Professor I've ever had.

Maybe if someone took the time to understand me, I wouldn't be dead! I would be happy and free from all of my tortures and burdens.

Lily looked at Professor McGonagall as she closed the journal. The Professor took Lily into her arms as she cried loudly, never actually understanding how much pain Severus had actually been in. And he had told her several times how depressed he was. She felt so tempted to kill James and Sirius for they had led her best friend to kill himself. For all this time she had thought that she had understood her best friend, but that all changed when he killed himself. Lily wasn't sure if anything was real anymore, or if the truth was even true.

The only thing she knew for sure was that SOMETHING had to change.

Thanks for reading! I know I was challenged to write fluff (ugh), but everything I wrote turned out terrible and this "moose" would not leave me alone until I wrote about it.

Words: 2,410

Position: Prefect #2

House: Gryffindor

Prompt: [First Line] The flowers died three weeks ago.

Category: Themed