Disclaimer - Not mine. Don't sue.
A/N - Thanks goes again to the lovely Zenny for being by beta reader. Also thanks to everyone who reviewed or has added this to their favorites or alerts! Please continue to let me know what you think by reviewing!
It was just after dinner one evening that Lily Evans found herself to be cornered in one of the numerous passageways that led up to the Gryffindor Common Room. The young woman had wanted to go straight up, relax by the warmth of the fire, and finish her Charms essay, but her plans were thwarted. She now found herself standing against the wall, arms crossed tightly over her chest, the strap of her bag digging uncomfortably into her shoulder, staring at Severus Snape.
"Yes, Severus?" she said coldly.
The young man looked resolutely downward, shuffling his feet, hair hanging in greasy clumps around his face. "I just…thought you might give me another chance..."
"Oh, Sev…" she whispered softly, shaking her head.
"...this being our last year and all," he continued, as if she hadn't spoken at all.
"Have you joined?" the redhead asked, hoping her voice didn't give away the turmoil she felt inside.
"Lily…" he pleaded.
"Have you?" she asked, voice rising.
Severus looked up and nodded; she saw a grim triumph in his eyes. "Over the summer," he said eagerly. "I came to your house but no one was there."
"Why would you come tell me this? Did you think I would be happy for you? Proud of you? Did you think I would look upon you with anything but contempt?" she hissed, advancing on him until he was the one pressed against the opposite wall. "Are you happy now, Death Eater? Pleased now that you've joined up with the side that would see me dead?"
He cringed away from her temper as much as the unyielding stone would allow, staring at her with wide eyes. "What? You dead? No…I told the Dark Lord about you – told him you were a great witch."
She paled, looking almost sickly now in the dim light from the torches that lined the walls. "You told…you told him about me? Oh, thanks for signing my death certificate."
"He doesn't want to kill you. He was quite interested in you."
"Oh, don't be stupid. You honestly think that? As your friends constantly remind me, I'm a Mudblood, and therefore must be stamped out of wizard kind."
"I thought you might be proud…" the young man whispered.
"Yes, Sev, so proud," Lily said scathingly. "Was there an initiation?"
He nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted as a loud bang issued from somewhere below, causing them both to jump and look about in alarm. They only relaxed a bit when the sounds of screams and laughter reached their ears. Lily recovered first and continued on by saying, "What was it? Capture? Torture? Murder? All three? It's widely speculated that there's an initiation involving the killing of Muggle-Borns. It's true, isn't it?"
He nodded again, looking as if he longed to melt into the wall.
"Three Muggle-Born students disappeared during July. Their bodies were found a week later. Did you play a part in it, Severus?"
He stared at her.
"Did you?" she pressed; this time he didn't even need to nod – she could see it in his eyes. She stepped away from him until she was once more against the opposite wall and, incidentally, as far away from him as she could get without leaving the passageway. "Madeline, a Ravenclaw Prefect; Georgia Harris from Hufflepuff, she was a first year last year; and from Gryffindor they took my dorm mate, Camilla. Who did you torture, Sev? Who did you murder?"
He stared resolutely at a spot just above her left ear, not speaking.
"Why those three and not someone else? Why those three and not me?"
Only then did he finally look straight at her. "What? Lily, I could never do that! I lo-" Severus' sentence was cut short when Lily lunged forward and clamped a hand firmly over his mouth.
"Don't! Don't say it."
"Why?" came the muffled reply; he appeared thoroughly bewildered.
She retreated once more, one hand pulling idly at a strand of her dark red hair. "Because I'm joining the Order as soon as I graduate. There is a very real chance that one day we will be fighting and one of us will have to curse or kill the other. We can't have feelings in the middle of a war."
The newly initiated Dark wizard stared at her intently and moved forward, placing a hand on either side of her as he whispered, "I could never hurt you. Never!"
"What if they were watching and it was you or me? You'd choose yourself. Don't deny it."
The two paused when they heard footsteps coming toward them and Severus stepped back, drawing his wand as he recognized the figure of James Potter. Lily gave the approaching young man a hint of a smile as his eyes darted back and forth between them.
"Is everything alright, Lily?" he asked, eyes resting on Severus.
"Yes, everything's fine, James."
"All right, then. Would you like me to take your bag up?"
"Yes, that would be great!" she replied, sighing in relief at finally being able to remove the heavy thing from her now aching shoulder.
"I'll leave it in your chair for you," he said, swinging it up onto his own shoulder. "See you later, Lily, Snape." James nodded at each and proceeded on his way, Lily smiling softly at his retreating back.
"Why are you smiling at him?" Severus asked indignantly.
"He didn't threaten you at all! And he called you Snape rather than Snivellus. He really can be a dear…"
"He's an arrogant prat!" the affronted young man spat coldly.
"People change; you should know that."
He advanced again, once more placing a hand on either side of her and effectively trapping her between his arms. "I haven't changed!" he hissed. "I would save you, at risk of losing my own life. I love you, Lily. I've loved you sinceforever!"
"Oh, Sev," she sighed, touching his cheek softly and causing him to sigh and lean into her hand.
"Please, Lily, can't you give me another chance?" the dark haired man asked, piercing her with the most sorrowful gaze she had ever seen.
"You may love me, but you lover power more. I can't," she murmured, voice riddled with pain.
"Kiss me?"
"What?"
"To remember you by."
She rose up on tiptoes, one hand still on his face, the other on his shoulder, and gently pressed her lips to his for a moment; then she pulled back, tears in her eyes.
"I could've loved you if things were different. If you loved me more."
"I do!"
"No, you don't, or you wouldn't have become a Death Eater. Goodbye, Sev."
She ducked under his arm and walked away, trainers making a hollow sound as they struck the stone floor. Lily could feel his eyes on her back the entire way down the passage and was quite distracted as she emerged from behind a large, heavy tapestry on the seventh floor, causing her to trip over James Potter.
She stumbled and caught herself, saying "What…?"
"I was just waiting here to make sure you were all right!" he said, jumping quickly to his feet and helping her up.
"I'm fine, James," she sighed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Well, I was just checking," the messy haired youth said in a rather surly tone.
"Thank you," she said, smiling up at him.
"It's no problem," he replied, the sullen look slipping from his face as he moved closer to her.
"You've really changed," she murmured, now standing so close to him that a slight breezewould have knocked the two together.
He nodded, leaning slowly toward her, lips slightly parted, when an ear splitting boom echoed in the air, followed by a war cry. Lily leapt backwards just as a flying blur struck James, sending him sliding down the corridor before finally landing in a heap against the far wall.
Lily looked and saw Sirius atop James, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans and a cape, looking decidedly ruffled, but happy. James was glaring daggers at him. She then glanced to the end of the corridor where Remus and Peter stood beside a large cannon, grinning from ear to ear and slapping each other high fives.
The seventh year girl shook her head and called back over her shoulder as she climbed through the portrait hole, "I don't know where you got that thing, but if anyone but you four gets shot out of it I will hurt you." The sounds of their laughter followed her in as the portrait swung shut behind her.
