Severus Snape
He dreamt of her every night. Sometimes is was fleeting. Other times is was an odyssey- close but never close enough. Her auburn hair like autumn leaves ablaze, her green eyes deeper than the ocean. They would pierce his soul and drown him within them. He didn't mind. He didn't care. She was alive when he slept. Alive. Smiling. Happy.
He met Lily when he was a young boy. Lily was a breath of fresh air. Beautiful and kind. She was unlike anyone or anything he had ever seen.
He often thought of what could've been if he hadn't let his father get to him. Everything with Lily was ruined after he called her that name. He hadn't meant to say it. His parents had come to the school to inquire about his grades and being bullied. They blamed James and his friends- but they said it was Lily's fault. That as a Mudblood she would never understand and have true magic. His parents went on and on for what seemed hours. That word being used more than air being drawn. He never thought to correct them that they weren't an old Wizarding family. He was a half-blood and his father a Muggle. But he would never provoke his father lest he wanted another broken rib or series of bruises.
He hated that word. Lily. His friend. His...beloved. How could such word describe beauty and real magic. He was jealous of James and Lily. James was not kind as she was. He, Severus Snape, was kind. He had only picked Slytherin, because his father threatened to disown and exile him from his house and family had he not been sorted into Slytherin. His father was fascinated by the Wizarding world. He deduced that Slytherin had the most power and repute.
The sorting hat had told him Gryffindor was his path, but he said "I must be in Slytherin!" Any other house and my father will surely take his anger out on my mother. The hat did not agree and said his bravery and courage would be sorely wasted. "Please Slytherin." The hat proclaimed the house name and no he sat with his classmates in Green and Silver as Lily looked from the table of Gold and Red.
What it be like if he and Lily had been... together. Same classes. Same common room. Same passwords. The thoughts tormented him then and even now.
He had known her almost all her life. Lily Evans. He refused to call her by anything else- ever.
Why had he not protected her from him? From all of them? Deatheaters,Voldemort, Peter, and James.
What he would give to see her one last time.