A/N: Thanks for reading :) As always, the characters belong to the magical J. K. Rowling, and the lovely song "Vanilla Rain" that this fic was inspired by belongs to Alexa Wilkinson. I wrote it pretty quickly, so I apologize if it's a little rough – and don't worry, I'm still working on Clover. Once again I just had this idea floating around my head, and I had to write it down.

This one's for my sister, who loves the tragic Snape/Lily romance.

...Never been so let go
Never been so composed
From my fingers through my toes
I'm calling out...

"Did you heat the oven?"

"Um..." Severus looked up guilty from the muggle contraption that he had been poking with his wand. He had been trying for several minutes now to turn on the oven, but for the life of him he couldn't figure it out. He wasn't made for this, he thought crossly to himself. Lily, who breezed through a muggle kitchen more easily than wind, was.

She laughed and waltzed over to him, her red hair swinging in tandem with the rest of her swaying body. Lily placed her left hand on his shoulder, and her ring dug lightly into his skin. She politely nudged him aside.

"Sev," she said, laughing, "You're supposed to press it forward first, then twist it. And put your wand away, it's no good trying to use it."

Even after all these years the way her voice caressed his name, the special nickname that only she had for him, affected him, and he couldn't help but smile quietly. He watched her turn on the oven easily, and curiously pondered the quiet click-click-click noise the oven made before it caught and presumably started to heat.

Muggles and their contraptions, he thought. How they got on without magic was a mystery, honestly. Severus wouldn't bother with these silly things normally, but for Lily... he'd do anything. And she was so proud of her muggle heritage, for some baffling reason. Besides, he loved it when she shared her life with him, even the muggle parts. Maybe even especially the muggle parts, which began to explain the part of her that Severus didn't know, the deep mystery that was her previous life. Severus wanted to know all of her. And he'd learned, now, that the muggle parts of Lily were some of the most important parts of her. When he was younger, he had been deluded by his blind hatred of muggles, but now he knew better. She had taught him as much.

...Spin me round
Like a child
I need some to satisfy
My arms are, open wide...

"Right," she said, turning around thoughtfully. "That's set. And I've already got the pastry crust sorted, so now we just need to make the filling." Lily eyed him scientificallyfor a moment, looking him up and down, her lovely green eyes narrowed in concentration. "Dunno if you can handle it, though."

Severus stopped admiring her eyes to scowl in indignation. "Of course I can! I can do anything muggles can do."

"Doubt it."

He reached a hand out to capture her, and like an exotic, fluttering bird she settled for a moment near his chest. He could feel her heartbeat and her tiny hands balled into fists on his skinny chest. Severus kissed her, and then she laughed, pulling away to whisper in his ear, "Prove it."

Smirking at her he nodded, accepting the challenge. She leaned forward to kiss his nose and then spun away from him, landing on a chair near a old rickety table. Lily raised an eyebrow as if to ask, what next?

He stepped forward, trying to seem confident. But then Severus faltered. Treacle tart, he thought to himself. Treacle tart, treacle tart...how do I make bloody treacle tart?

It was her favorite, and she had decided to teach him how to make it for her. But she had insisted on doing it the muggle way – she said it tasted better than the tarts made by magic.

...'Cause I
Miss you on a Sunday
Just smile cause
Things are going our way...

Lily watched Severus flounder for a few minutes, and then finally rescued him as he reached for a cheese grater. She rolled her eyes and gently pulled it away from him. Then she raised an eyebrow at him, and he smiled sheepishly.

"...help?" Severus asked hopefully.

"Sev, you are utterly hopeless!" she said, but she was laughing. "I've explained it only a hundred times."

"Just once more, Lily."

Lily sighed but he knew she found his utter lack of culinary skills endearing.

"You mix those – " here she pointed to a handful of dry ingredients, before pointing to the already finished pastry crust, "and sprinkle half of it into the crust. Then you pour the syrup and the lemon juice on top of that. Then you add the rest of the first stuff."

...Your suitcase gets bigger every time
Will I ever sleep tonight?
Now you're mine...

Severus had pretended to take notes while she was talking on a spare bit of rubbish paper with an odd muggle writing instrument that didn't need to be dipped in ink – it was like a self-inking quill. Lily had caught on, though, and tore it firmly from his hands.

"'Lily Snape'," she read out, before smiling at him. "That's not my name yet, you know."

"Soon enough," he argued, having to smile too.

"Mm," she said. "No, I don't think I'll marry you unless you can make me treacle tart. What good is a husband who can't cook?"

"No good at all," Severus said, mock seriously, catching out at her red hair and tugging it. She smacked at him playfully with the piece of paper then gave him a push towards the ingredients. With a long-suffering sigh he walked forward, although not before stealing another kiss from her.

... You were a surprise
Like vanilla rain from the sky
From the ocean to my room
I feel it, too...

Miraculously he managed to mix the ingredients together without any serious damage. He nearly ran into trouble with using the lemon juice instead of the lemon zest, but Lily saved him. When Severus had clumsily pushed the tart into the magically now-hot oven, Lily stood up and embraced him.

"My man can cook!" she said facetiously in a dramatic tone, but Severus could tell she was pleased.

"And he can fight You-Know-Who for you," he said. His humor was odd, but Lily was used to it – and besides, she knew how proud he was of having switched sides in the war. Lily firmly believed he was a good person, but she thought that perhaps he was the sort of person likely to forget his goodness unless something, or someone, tethered him to it – someone like her.

"He can fight You-Know-Who with me," she amended.

"Together, we can beat anything," he agreed. "Be it pastry, evil wizard, or weather, we can succeed against all."

Lily giggled. "Weather? Why weather?"

Severus arched an eyebrow. "Why, only the greatest of the greatest can take on the weather."

"Hmm," she said. "then thank Merlin you're the greatest of the great." Lily looked out the window, and saw the rain that was streaking intricate designs on the London pavement.

"Only because I've got you," Severus whispered, and Lily moved her wandering green eyes back to him, smiling softly.

"Good thing I love you, then, Sev," she murmured, drawing closer to him. Severus opened his arms and she embraced him like it was the most natural thing in the world. Not for the first time Severus reflected at this wonderful creature that loved him – loved him! – and wondered how he had been so lucky.

"I love you too, Lily," he said, and his eyes met with her perfect green eyes and then his lips found hers.

...Lying right there next to you
The sun is rising soon though
We both could use some sleep
Before the dawn...

"Professor!"

She slipped away from him, and the kitchen blurred. Panicked, Severus looked about, trying to find her, find himself, find where he was –

"Professor Snape!"

Severus opened his eyes and then relaxed as he looked into her eyes, her perfect green eyes. He stood, nearly knocking over his chair in his haste – but wait, where had the chair come from? He looked back quickly to find Lily's eyes, but where red hair was supposed to be he found black instead, and in place of Lily's face there was James's.

He saw not Lily, but her son.

Severus slowly collapsed back onto his chair, his fingers shaking and his vision blurring bitterly. NO, he thought, anguished, no, not this time, please, it was too wonderful this time to just be a dream.

"Sir?"

"Get out!" he roared, not looking at Potter, not composed enough to be able to look at those eyes without breaking down completely. My fault, I should have done more, please, PLEASE, bring her back, I'll do anything, I'll even protect his son, James's son, just bring her back.

But she didn't come back, and Severus was left alone with his false dreams and a tired, empty heart.

...Of all the things I could do without
The only thing I doubt's your
Company in the middle of the night...