Disclaimer: JKR owns the Harry Potter world - I just like to play in it.
Hidden amongst the shadows, Severus Snape watched the couple unobserved. He'd taken to following Potter, hexing him whenever the opportunity arose. He hadn't needed any help from him. As if he'd done it for him anyway; he did it to save his own damn neck and that of his loathsome friends - that insufferable Black and his flea-ridden pet werewolf! He probably even banked on the fact of getting the Head Boy position out of it all. Snape still couldn't believe they hadn't been expelled last year! Apparently the Headmaster valued the werewolf's life above Snape's. And Black . . . well, obviously being pure-blooded does have its uses after all – why else would the Headmaster have kept him here? If Snape had pulled a 'prank' like that, he'd be out of Hogwarts faster than you could say 'Half-Blood'. Figures, for all the 'fairness and equality' tripe the Headmaster liked to spew, he sure seemed to have a hard time living up to his own ideals. At least the Dark Lord wasn't a hypocrite.
A strange chill went through him upon this thought. Should he join, as Lucius was always trying to convince him to do? Graduation was drawing near; he had his Potions Master apprenticeship all lined up (at least Slughorn was good for something!) It was tempting, though, to be part of something greater than yourself, to be powerful at last; those Griffindors would never dominate him again. Not that they got much of a chance anymore. Snape was always on the offensive now. Potter. Did he seriously think Snape would just 'back off'? Just walk away, after all they'd done to him? Simply because Potter now had a . . . hobby? Her. He still couldn't wrap his brain around it. Of all people . . . why'd she have to choose Potter? Well, if he could show her what Potter was really like . . . while at the same time proving how Snape himself was no longer that powerless oddball . . .
His attention was drawn away from his own thoughts and back to the couple, as James and Lily finally stopped kissing long enough to draw breath. Potter was looking very nervous . . . Lily was looking . . . radiant, as usual. Potter's words went unheeded by Snape as he was mesmerized by her beauty yet again. Watching the play of moonlight in her hair . . . wishing just once that's she'd look at him with those enchanting green eyes the way she was looking at Potter. With longing, with desire, with love. Suddenly she was crying and wrapping her arms around Potter, sobbing the words 'Yes! Yes, of course I will!'
What? What just happened? Snape's heart began to pound loudly in his chest as his stomach fell. Over the loud roaring in his ears, he distinctly heard the words 'marry you'. He couldn't remember how he got back to his dorm . . . the next thing he knew he was standing in front of his bed, staring blankly at the wall. A sudden decision made, he took several swift strides to the desk in the corner of the room and took out a piece of parchment. The note was finished in a moment, and he carried it to the Owlery, almost running the entire way. He wanted to get there quickly before he changed his mind again. Tying the note to a large tawny owl's leg, he watched it fly away into the moonlit night, shivering slightly as a chill of foreboding traveled down his spine. Somehow, he knew his life would never be the same. The note had contained a single line:
Lucius,
I'm in – when do I meet him?
SS