This is my story for the eleventh round. My task was to base my fic around a song lyric. The song our team got was Hero by Enrique Iglesias. The lyric I chose from the song is: "Would you tremble if I touched your lips?". Enjoy.

ROUND 11-WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

I've always wondered, how would you react if I kissed you? Would you kiss back, shaking in lust as I touched your lips? Or would you deny me? I never did get enough time to find out. Soon you were gone, and my question was never answered.

I never really expected to see you again after we departed ways after our seventh year. I remember you looking at me, a sad look in your eye, as you held onto Potter's arm. I also remember the contemptuous look I gave you, the anger and hurt in my eyes evident, as I turned around and walked the other way with my friends. My "precious Death Eater friends", if I were to quote you. I thought I would never forgive you for choosing Potter. You could have chosen anybody over me. Anybody. You chose Potter. You choose that arrogant, bullying, self-absorbed fool. I knew from then on that it was truly over. We were never going to relapse back into our friendship. We would never see each other ever again.

Never.

I was wrong.

Every day after graduation I thought of you, sometimes crying, sometimes shouting, always in a temper and always shaken with grief. I hated you; I loved you. I never wanted to see you again, yet I did. Yet I did, if only to just see your eyes again, your smile.

I didn't know I would get my wish today...

I stand still at first. It is raining heavily, and the sky is dark with grey rain clouds. We are both alone, in a dark alleyway, blocking each other's way. You're crying, tears rolling down your red face, sobbing, a hand on your mouth as you try to stop your cries.

I can just stare. I can't believe you are here. I can't believe we bumped into each other. I can't believe you are without Potter for once.

You look up, green eyes swollen and bloodshot. You're surprised too, and you back away.

I just stare, gulping. My throat bobs. "Lily." I say, my voice surprisingly steady.

"S-Severus?" you whisper. "I...I didn't think I'd see you..."

My hair is wet and limp from the rain, falling over my face. My eyes have dark circles underneath them. My coat is shabby. I look a joke. I always have, yet I still approach you.

"You're crying," I say quietly. "What happened?"

You shake your head, gasping. "N-nothing. Nothing important."

"Lily," my voice hardens. "Who made you cry."

You break down, fall to your knees. I have never seen you like this. I am rooted to the spot until I catch hold of my senses and kneel, taking hold of your shoulders.

"What's happened to you?" I ask. We haven't seen each other in months, and you look strangely older, more mature. "Lily? Answer me,"

You pull yourself away from me, shaking your head again. "No...no, please let me be."

"You know I can't stand you crying," I say softly, the rain pattering down on the both of us. We may not be friends anymore but she is the one who has forgotten about our friendship, not me. "Where is your umbrella?"

"Didn't get it. Didn't care."

I keep pressing her, comforting her, trying to wrench out details from her, until she finally says, "James. I'm just… It's James..."

My face contorts. The man's mere name has my blood boiling, my face flushing. "What did he do?"

"We had a fight, a big fight," Lily whispers before she dissolves into fresh tears.

I stand her up, eager to hear everything. Every. Small. Detail. She stands near the alley wall, trying to calm herself.

"He-he's so immature, so childish. He called me sensitive. I mean, I'm being sensitive? He was the one who ruined my dinner party with his ridiculous rude comments to Petunia and her husband! And he has the gall to say that I'm the trouble in the relationship!?"

I listen, drinking in her complaints. Oh, I miss those days. When Lily would go on and on about how much she hated Potter. I keep staring down at her anguished face until she blurts out everything to me, every last detail.

"That prick," I snarl. "Who does he think he is? I told you he wasn't right for you, I told you that you were making a mistake. I knew this would happen. Why didn't you listen, Lily? Why? Why did you choose him?" I'm starting to get more and more worked up but Lily stops me with a pleading look in her green eyes.

"Severus, I… I love him. I love him unconditionally. He does so many stupid things. Yet I can't abandon him, my heart doesn't let me,"

"Why him, Lily?" I grit my teeth as it starts to rain more heavily. Our faces are streaked with the salty rain water. "Why him?"

The atmosphere is tensing. I am close to her, very close. I only have to tip my head downwards, and I can capture her beautiful lips in a kiss. But who am I to? I'm not even a friend—just an enemy: an enemy now and nothing more.

Her back is now completely against the wall. I have been unaware that I was walking closer to her, trying to catch more of her scent, trying to get an answer from her.

She looks up at me, guilt and defiance both sparkling in her eyes. "I love him." She answers me.

"Even after what he just did to you?" I ask her, my voice low and fierce. "Even after he called you that? Even after he completely ignored what you wanted, how you felt?"

"Like you did?" She snapped, defiance overruling the guilt.

I have no answer to that. But then I suddenly do. "At least I'm sorry," I whisper. "Is he? He never is, but I always am! I was always there for you! Always..." I don't even know what to say anymore. She looks so beautiful, all I want to do is kiss her. I still don't know how she will react if I do.

"Severus? What are-what are you saying?" You look at me blankly.

I wonder what you would do, Lily.

Would you tremble if I touched your lips?

Would you shiver if I kissed your collar?

Would you smile if I whispered that I loved you more than anyone? Needed you?

Would you whisper yes if I knelt down right now, in my ragged clothes, and held out a ring?

"I love you, Lily Evans," I finally admit, the rain soaking my coat so I have to take it off and squeeze it dry. I hold it above her to stop the rain from soaking her.

Lily looks up at me, mouth agape. "You-you do?"

I bend down and finally do it. I capture her lips in a fierce, passionate kiss. The coat falls to the ground. I barely think about how long I've wanted this. I just kiss, delirious. I love her. I love her so much more than Potter. Potter, who made her cry and didn't come after her when she stormed away. Potter, who bullied her friend and expected her to be impressed by it. Potter, who didn't love Lily nearly as much as I did. She leans into the kiss, and I sigh, face flushed with lust.

Then she pulls away. "Severus..."

The rain around us makes everything much more beautiful. Lily looks into my wet face with a look of dismay.

"No," she shakes her head, crying again. "No. You are very dear to me, very dear… but, I… I don't… love..."

She might as well have slapped me, pushed me away. That would have been better.

"Why?" I demand hoarsely. I can cry, I am so broken. "Why?" Then, I growl, "Potter. Potter."

"Yes," she sobs. "I can't...I can't leave him...please, please don't be..."

I turn away, disgusted. I almost want to wipe my lips. How many times had Potter himself kissed them, happy that he had finally gotten what he had always wanted?

She touches my shoulder in apology, in an effort to comfort me, just like I was comforting her just minutes ago.

I shake her hand off. I'm trying to control myself. "I..." I trail off, eyes burning.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please understand," she says. "Forget me, Severus, find someone else. Please."

When I turn around, there's only guilt in her eyes. No defiance, no anger.

It was never meant to be.

Potter had won. He always did. I knew he would, but I never wanted to think about it.

"No," I say. "No, I won't. I may find somebody else, but I will never forget you." I look at her one last time, drinking in her green eyes, her dark red hair, her soft face. I cannot force her into this, even if I wished I could. If only just to show her that she's wrong about me, wrong about Potter.

"I hope things get better between you two." I am lying, but I do want her to be happy. "I'll see you later then." I pick up my coat.

"Goodbye," she says quietly, her eyes miserable. "Thank you."

I nod. Then, I disappear from the alleyway. I walk down the street, subdued, thinking.

I got my wish, didn't I? I met her again.

Maybe that is enough.

I head for home, thinking of my warm quilt and the wine in the kitchen cabinet. Then, I realise something—I got my answer. I now knew that if I bent down to kiss her for the first time, she wouldn't mind and would kiss back, but she would want nothing more.

Nothing more.