Snape sat in the coffee shop, waiting for someone. He had exchanged his black wizards robe for jeans and a white dress shirt that had made him feel uncomfortable. He couldn't stand the way the jeans rubbed against his legs, clinging to his body as if never letting go. He wished the meeting would go by quickly so he could change, but at the same time not too quickly so he could see the woman he loved.

"Meet me in the coffee shop at the corner of Theodore and Hamilton," the note he clenched in his hand said. Well, he was here, but the red hair, green eyed woman he expected to meet was not. Lily Evans wasn't here yet, so Snape preoccupied his mind. He began thinking about the past and how he had hurt the woman coming to meet him. He hurt her, but so had James. Could she really choose the man who tormented him throughout school over him who made her laugh, smile, cry, and was the only one there when she didn't understand her powers? So far that answer was a yes.

"Snuffles" James' voice rang through his mind, playing back the past. "Snuffles! Snuffles! Snuffles!"

Other voices rang in his mind as the other kids in the past repeated a chorus of "snuffles." Severus Snape had hated that nickname and it was Lily who had given it to him to begin with. James turned it into a tortuous event by having everyone call him that, but Snape was the outcast. While Lily, James Potter, Sirius Black and their friends were all in Gryffindor, Snape was in Slytherin where no wizard remained on the side of good. They were too easily tempted to the dark side while young and Severus fell victim to that fact.

He thought he needed to get his mind off of the past and instead looked around the room. There was a couple at the back table making out that made Severus even more uncomfortable. He quickly looked away as not to disturb them. Snape hated teenagers. He hated teenagers when he was a teenager and he couldn't see that changing in his lifetime. A table over to his left, an older man with a white beard and no hair on top of his shiny head sat reading the newspaper. Severus looked in confusion when he saw the pictures remained still. He wasn't use to the muggle world and wasn't sure he ever would. He had lived his entire life with magic and the thought of going without left him with an uneasy feeling.

The bell to the door rung and Severus turned his attention to the door, but allowed his face to fell when he saw an older woman with a teenager walking behind her. It wasn't the person he was waiting for and he only had eyes for that one woman.

He had loved Lily Evans from the moment he had gotten to know her. Her green eyes were always lit with hope and he didn't see how someone could not love her, but somehow people looked past her appearance or who she was to her blood. She was a muggleborn and most people of pure blood wouldn't fathom being with her, but Severus had. He wanted to spend his life with her, but he had a bad feeling about everything.

He began to look around the room again, but instead of studying people, he began to study the paintings. There was a standstill painting of a bowl of fruit which didn't impress him. The paintings here didn't move. What was wrong with this world? Unmoving photos weren't impressive. How could muggles watch them if they didn't move or talk to each other or to the viewer? There was another painting of a person that Severus didn't know either. A dark red chair was placed just below the painting as well as a plaque that Severus couldn't read where he was. Round tables were scattered among the floor, causing people to weave through them to get to the counter.

Severus was getting tired of waiting, but he was not willing to give up. He wanted to change into the clothes he was more comfortable in, but he wasn't leaving without seeing Lily. The bell rang once again and as if the gods were granting his wish, a tall, red haired woman walked in. Severus looked her up and down glancing at her dark blue dress that suited her skin tone and hair color and it clung to her body in all the right places. Her black, strappy shoes clicked on the horrible looking tiles of the shop. The woman flipped her red hair over her shoulder and noticed him, but she didn't walk over right away. Instead, she walked over, placed an order and waited at the counter for it. When the brunette behind the counter passed a to-go cup to the woman, she headed away and sat right across from Severus. She refused to look at him and looked either at her cup or around the room instead. She avoided the gaze of everyone and pretended to be content.

"Lily," Severus said, barely whispering. "I… It's…"

He didn't know what to say. It was the first time he saw her since their final year at Hogwarts and she looked exactly the way she did then. Young, innocent beauty shined off of her and Severus couldn't help but stare, but he was making her uncomfortable. He wanted to look away to make her comfortable, but he couldn't tear his eyes away. He watched as she shifted her eyes from the cup in her hands to his face, but she always quickly looked away from him, not really knowing what to say. She looked like she didn't know why she was even here, but she was. She had written him the note to meet her here, but she had a goal behind it. He had to know and she had to tell him. She would tell him.

"Sev," she said using the nickname she always called him in high school. She still wouldn't look him in the eyes. She was nervous about something, but Severus couldn't really say what it was. She was hiding something and that wasn't like her.

"Lily," he said as he reached over and took her left hand in his. "I needed to tell you something."

He paused when he felt her secret. He looked up from her hand and he saw it in her eyes. Severus' heart broke and fell, shattered in a million pieces. He had felt the ring on her finger. He turned it over and there it was. A diamond shined in the light and his insides felt as if they were tied in a knot. Lily appeared about to cry and her cheeks got almost as red as her hair.

"Severus," she said, trying to hold in the tears. "I needed to tell you."

"Who?"Severus asked, almost glaring at Lily.

"You know who," was all she said.

"James."

Lily nodded finally letting the truth slip out. She reached into her purse which was slug on the back of her chair and pulled out a stack of envelopes. Severus immediately recognized them as all the letters he sent Lily over the years. They were the letters he never received a reply from, except for the last one which told him to meet her here. He now understood.

"It can't continue," Lily stated placing all the letters on the table top and sliding them towards Severus. "I'm sorry, but you have to stop."

"Lily…" Severus said her name, not wanting her to go, but she did.

She stood, grabbed her purse and walked out of the coffee shop just like that. Severus had to hold back his tears as the woman he loved walked out of the shop to go be with the school bully. Maybe James Potter had changed, but Snape had severely doubted it.

Severus placed his hand on the stack of letters and picked them up. He needed to get out of here before he really lost it. How could he not lose it? The woman he loved walked out on him and asked not to speak to her again. There was only one way to go from there. He would follow what everyone but Lily wanted him to do. All he needed was to contact the Dark Lord and his future of wealth and power would be set. He wanted Lily to tell him not to, but she left without another word. She wouldn't come back to say no ever again. There wouldn't be anyone else to tell him not to.