A/N: Okay, folks, I've decided to run a little contest. There is a foreshadowing in chapter two that is referred to in this chapter. The first one to figure it out and post it in a review wins a story written to prompts of their choosing. I've two more stories outlined already, but would like a few more on the burner. The contest will last until someone figures it out or until days end on 3/27/2014, whichever comes first.

Update: That was fast! You all are better readers than I am! Contest closed! Reznora got it first, but CameronSister found one I'd missed (the hair spell), so I'll give her one too. And since The Baroness got it, what the hey, I'll let her do one too. Thanks all!

Also, at the beginning of Unto the Breach, One Last Time I mentioned that it stayed true to all the books with the exceptions that Snape lived and I discarded the Epilogue. Although that is completely true, it doesn't mean I haven't interpreted the facts as my imagination sees fit.

Now on with our tale!

Chapter Eleven: Lumos

"Legilimens!" Potter shouted.

Nothing happened. Potter looked at his wand, obviously perplexed, and lifted it to cast the spell again.

"No need. Unlike many of your spells, this one is actually working." Snape sneered at him and crossed his arms over his chest. "You do recall the Dark Lord's particular talent?"

"Supposedly, he was the greatest Legilimens that ever lived," he scoffed.

"There was nothing supposed about it, Potter." Snape stared at the boy. "He was the greatest Legilimens in the history of the entire wizarding world," Snape said. Potter shifted uneasily. "What do you suppose that makes me? He never suspected I was a spy." Snape saw a grudging respect creep into the boy's eyes.

"But it didn't work like this during our lessons. Your spell rebounded and I saw flashes of your memories."

"You only saw what I threw at you," Snape said silkily. "You see, Potter, in the advanced practice of Occlumency, it can be very much like using a Pensieve. In fact, the skull is actually what a Pensieve is modeled after: it has the same chemical composition and structure as bone; it is smooth and dish shaped, like the inside of the top of the skull and it is heavily charmed to replicate the magic inherent in the body of a witch or wizard."

Potter looked about, confusion easily read on his face. Both Hermione and Ron seemed frozen in place.

"And a memory can be only seconds old," said Snape, indicating the scene in front of them. "In actuality, Weasley is Stunned on the floor and Hermione is holding onto my arm, begging me not to hurt you. For her sake, I will not. Not physically anyway. Here is what I didn't share with you in the Shrieking Shack."

It had been a long time since Snape had reviewed these memories of Lily. Of necessity, he had purposely kept them submerged deep in the recesses of his mind. Any tendrils rising too close to the surface would have allowed the Dark Lord to follow them.

The scene dissolved . . .

The car swayed gently as the Hogwarts Express transported its load of students to King's Cross Station for the Christmas holidays. Lily Evans was curled in one corner, wrapped in her robes and staring out of the window at the snow cloaked landscape whipping past. She was twisting a lock of long red hair around one finger.

"Severus?"

"Lily?"

Snape was stretched out on the bench seat opposite her, his robes scrunched up under his head, serving as a pillow. Propped up on his stomach, he balanced a large leather-bound book, the face of a skull grinning malignantly on the front cover. They were alone in the compartment.

"Are you still a virgin?" Lily asked.

"What kind of question is that?"

"It's a best friend question. Are you?"

"Yes, but what has that got to do with anything?"

"I'm still a virgin too," she said. "And I don't want to be anymore," Snape closed his book and sat up. This wasn't a casual question and he suspected the upcoming conversation would take some time and attention.

"What brought this on?" he asked her. She turned from the window and looked at him with those green, green eyes. The eyes he had trouble refusing whatever they wanted.

"My dormmates. Especially Mary and Esther," she said, twisting the strand of hair more tightly around her finger, a habit she had when truly distressed. "They asked me if I was and I said yes. They've been teasing me ever since."

"When did you start letting a bit of teasing bother you?"

"It's not a bit. It's all the time." She looked down at the floor, then softly said, "They've started calling me Virginia."

Snape was at a loss. Lily was the popular one, the one that got along with almost everybody and had so many friends he couldn't keep track of them all. Why would her dormmates harass her so? He thought about Mary and Esther and what might motivate them to do such a thing.

"They're jealous of you, Lily," Snape told her, knowing she would reject that argument. She always did. She shook her head.

"What's there to be jealous of?"

"You're best friends with me?" Snape queried sardonically. Lily's eyes sparkled as she laughed.

"Then rightly so, Severus."

"I can curse them for you," Snape said, smiling at her. Lily frowned, but then gave him a smirk that rivaled one of his own.

"You're not around all the time," she said.

"I can create a hex you can use to prevent them from speaking."

"That might be too obvious. I could get in trouble."

"And when did that stop a Gryffindor?" he said. He expected a dirty look from her, but instead she turned toward the window again. She was really upset if she didn't rise to his usual baiting.

"It's very likely that they are still virgins as well, Lily. They are just pretending they're not so they can provoke you," he said. She continued to look out the window. His solutions were not making an impression. He eyed his friend suspiciously. That usually meant she had one of her own. He was struck with a sense of foreboding.

"Would you do it for me, Severus?"

He was thunderstruck. That wasn't the solution he was expecting. Sex with his best friend? That could get so complicated. She was the smartest studying companion he had and their O.W.L.s were only a few months away. But if he didn't, would she find someone else? He had always thought that they would end up married, but he hadn't expected to really get serious until after they both graduated.

As the silence stretched on, Lily abandoned the lock of hair and began twisting the hem of her robes. She alternated glances out the window and back at him.

"You don't want to? I mean, with me?" She glanced quickly over at him

"It's not that, it's just that I never thought . . ." he began, but knew that wasn't entirely true. He had thought about it several times. Like when she had snatched his wand once and he had grabbed her from behind and leaned over top to snatch it back. She had pushed backwards and it had definitely occurred to him then. But he had always neatly packed those instances away for future consideration. They had to finish school first.

"Petunia and my parents are leaving the day after Christmas for a week in France." Her cheeks started to pink. "I told them I had too much studying to do. Since I'm going to be sixteen next month, they figured I could be by myself for a few days." She took a deep breath and looked at him. "I want you to come and stay with me."

Snape met her gaze for a few moments, pretending to think about it yet already knowing he would accede to her wishes in the end. He always did. He smiled and nodded.

"Thank you, Severus." There was an uncomfortable silence for a few moments and then Lily pulled a planner out of her pack. "So let's start scheduling study sessions for our O.W.L.s"

The train continued on its way as the two friends outlined their semester.

"No! My mother wouldn't . . ." Potter blurted out, but Snape flicked his wand and hexed him silent. There was something unsettling him as he watched his younger self with Lily. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. He needed to concentrate on these memories and it was better if Potter kept his mouth shut while he did so. No longer caring whether he saw everything or not, Snape didn't bother to spell the boy's eyes open.

The scene dissolved . . .

Lily and Snape were standing next to her bed, one little lamp on a side table casting a dim glow about her room. She had lent him an old bathrobe of her father's and although it was a bit baggy around the shoulders - Snape had always been on the thin side - it's length was a bit short. Last summer had seen a growth spurt.

She moved closer and looked up at him. "I suppose we should try kissing first."

"First, you need to take this." He handed her a phial with a purplish potion inside. "Birth control." He wasn't going to make the same mistake his parents had. They needed to finish school.

"Oh. That was thoughtful. Thank you." She opened the phial and downed the contents. Snape watched her as she set the empty phial on the side table and took a sip of water from a glass next to the lamp. Her hand was shaking slightly.

He was as confident about the evening as he possibly could be. He had spent the last week at the Muggle public library reading everything he could get his hands on about sex and thought he had a good part of it figured out.

He had learned not to pay any attention to what his contemporaries at school had to say on the subject since he was sure most of them were making it up anyway. What he found at the library made things a bit clearer and he had made copious notes, organizing the ideas in somewhat of a checklist detailing what he would need to do and when. The books seemed to be almost as confused as his classmates but he managed to pick out a few important points. The rest he would have to handle as he did his potion-making: try one thing, observe and then adjust quickly to the results.

Lily lightly took hold of his arms and, on tiptoe, pressed her lips against his. He responded to soft, soft lips by gently wrapping his arms around her. As they became used to each other the kisses deepened and he felt his checklist beginning to slip from his mind.

She pushed out of his embrace and turned off the lamp. Faint light filtered through the bedroom window from the street lamp outside and he watched as she shrugged out of her bathrobe and slipped under the blankets. He followed after, sliding in next to her. She snuggled up to him and pulled one of his arms over her. He gasped as her naked skin came in contact with his. He had repeatedly run through this scenario in his mind, as he did with everything that he studied, but the practical in this case was orders of magnitude beyond the theoretical. His body was rushing his mind and he needed to slow things down.

He gently pressed his lips to hers and concentrated on engaging her with long, lazy kisses. She hummed with pleasure. As he gained a bit more composure his thoughts unscrambled. From the books he had read he had cobbled together a strategy. First, he had added a pain potion to the birth control he had given her. That should help. Next, he had decided breaching her natural barrier would best be done quickly. He had debated whether or not to discuss it with her and had decided not to bring it up if she didn't.

He moved over her and she accepted him, adjusting her position and moving her legs apart. Settling down against her, he did his best to keep his wits about him. They resumed kissing and he worked his way down her throat.

"Severus?"

"Mmm?" He maintained steady progress downward.

"What are . . ." she began, but he took a nipple into his mouth. "Ohhh . . ." The sensation caused her to squirm and he thought he was going to loose it right then. He left off that one and tried to pull back in order to steady himself, but she would have nothing of the sort. Tangling her fingers in his hair, she urgently pushed her other nipple against his lips. He could not refuse but suckled it a bit more vigorously than he had intended. Her breathing sped up and she writhed against him in response. He wasn't going to make it.

He moved up quickly and pressed himself somewhere near where he needed to be, he hoped. She gasped at the contact and adjusted so he was at the right spot. In the back of his mind it registered that she seemed moist enough for him to continue and it took every ounce of willpower to gently push into her and not just shove himself in as far as he could go.

The feeling was overwhelming and could not compare to anything he had ever experienced. He was so hard it was almost painful. He couldn't hold on much longer. Then he felt the expected resistance and readied himself. A quick strong thrust and she stiffened and cried out. He held on to her as she struggled against him and found his release a moment later. Soft kisses to calm her were in order . . .

The scene dissolved . . .

Snape drowsed awake and it took a moment for him to place where he was. The frilly curtains anchored his mind, recall returned and he remembered who should be in bed with him. But Lily was gone. He sat up and looked around. She couldn't have gotten too far. This was her home after all. He was just about to slip out of bed and shower when he heard her coming up the stairs.

"Good morning, Severus." She bumped open the door and sidled in with a tray. "I've made us breakfast. He watched as she walked around to the other side and sat down, putting the tray between them. He'd never had breakfast in bed before. She had outdone herself and the tray held a hearty breakfast for two complete with a small pitcher of orange juice. She pointed to that pitcher.

"Fresh squeezed, even."

"It's lovely, Lily," he said and stabbed a couple of sausages with a fork. "Thank you." Lily buttered a piece of toast, took a bite and carefully avoided looking at him. Snape put away two more sausages and started on the eggs. Lily sat forward and poured juice into glasses for each of them. Just at that moment the sun inched passed the window frame and threw a beam of morning light into the room. Her red hair lit up with rich golden highlights and he stared at the sight before him. Those green eyes looked up at him, but then, suddenly shy, she lowered them. It was at that moment Snape realized he was completely and totally in love with this girl.

He continued to gaze at her, his eyes wandering a bit lower, and watched as the thin nightgown she was wearing outlined the hardening of her nipples. She looked up at him finally, blushing.

"What?" she said softly.

"We're not quite done, Lily." He stood and lifted the tray off the bed.

"Severus!" She averted her eyes, cheeks still pink. "I lent you a bathrobe for a reason."

He ignored her and took the glass of juice from her hand, setting it down on the side table. He got back in bed, pulled her to him and began nibbling at her neck. She squirmed delightfully and pulled him into a heated kiss.

Snape flipped through his memories as if turning the pages of a book, seeking those moments that, his concern growing, he now had to revisit. Those crucial moments in his relationship with Lily that would clarify the realization that was dawning.

He leafed through the next few days that they had spent together, alternating between studying for their O.W.L.s at her kitchen table and experimenting in her bed upstairs, occasionally stopping for a meal here and there, until he found what he was looking for.

"You start moving around too much, Lily," he murmured into her ear.

"But it's so intense," she said. "Maybe if you hold me tighter so that I can't?"

Snape watched as his younger self did just that and remembered the feel of her as she climaxed for the first time. He quickly examined the rest of their holiday break, the trip back to Hogwarts and their decision to use the Room of Requirement for secret trysts during the week. He lingered a moment on the memory of when Lily met him late one night and she was beaming.

"They've stopped teasing me, Severus!" She said, her happiness dazzling. "I told them I met a guy over the holidays and had finally done it."

Snape had ignored the pang in his heart when he realilzed she had chosen to lie about who she was with. Looking back now, he recognized it as the beginning of the end.

There was another memory he had to examine.

They entered the Room of Requirement, Snape behind her with his hands over her eyes. The door closed and he let her see what he had required the room to become. It was a replica of the luxurious prefect's bathroom on the fifth floor. The steamy water was still pouring into the huge, bubble-filled tub and they had complete privacy. Lily stopped abruptly and backed into him.

"I can't, Severus! My hair!" she protested, turning and trying to get past him. "You know how long it takes to fix it the right way!"

He swept her up in his arms, strode to the tub, pool really, and jumped in. She squealed right up until the water closed over their heads. She surfaced first, sputtering, and dripping wet with blobs of bubbles slipping over her now naked body. He had spelled off their clothing at the last instant.

She was on him in a second, splashing water and slapping at him in her ire. He laughed at her attempts and she finally gave up, fuming her way to the edge of the pool. He snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her back against him. Trying to push away, she almost made it, being so slippery. But he started nibbling on the back of her neck and her resolve weakened. Sensing an advantage, Snape turned her around and transferred his attention to her throat.

"Oh, all right," she conceded, but smiling in defeat. "What about my hair?"

"That," said Snape, "is the actual surprise." He backed them up to sit on one of the bench seats along the side of the pool and she straddled his lap. "I created this spell just for you." He began running his fingers gently over her head, heat radiating from the tips and warming her scalp.

"That's heavenly," she cooed. She closed her eyes and snuggled a little closer to him. He played with her hair, drying it and fashioning it into curls and ringlets of red silk.

"What do you think?" he said a few minutes later. She ran her hands over her hair.

"It feels wonderful, Severus." She played with a lock. "You have to show me this spell!"

He planted a kiss on her shoulder, another a bit lower down. "Sure. After." She pulled his head up and kissed him.

"Spell now, sex later," she stated emphatically. He grinned mischievously.

"Okay," he said, pressed his palms against her knees and shoved her off his lap. She let out a brief squeak before going under for the second time. She floundered a moment and then stood up. Oh, he liked to look.

"Severus!"

He pulled her back onto his lap. "What did you expect? It only works on wet hair, Lily."

Snape quickly moved on to the next memory and then the next in rapid succession. He watched as they experimented with sex, studied hard and, with chagrin, he watched as Lily's happiness wore down and she became more and more distracted whenever they were together. Then he found that memory.

"What's wrong, Lily?" The Room had been required to be a study and they were at a table in the middle, textbooks open and strewn about. He was almost afraid to ask.

"Mary and Esther," she said morosely.

"What now?"

"You were right, Severus. They're still virgins." She sighed and her eyes grew moist. "Apparently, it was all a set up. A trick. To get me to . . . " she looked away. "Now I'm a slut."

Snape brought his mental to-do list to the fore and in bold letters imagined "Curse Mary and Esther to oblivion" at the very top. They weren't going to get away with this. He looked at her and didn't know what to say.

"And worse," she said in a small voice. "I'm a slimy Slytherin slut."

"What?" Snape was incredulous. "I thought you had told them it was someone you met over break?"

"Their plot was to bully me into losing my virginity and they suspected I would turn to you since you were my best friend."

Snape was silent, struggling with another bout of foreboding.

"But I have a plan," she said. "We could pretend to have an argument and not be friends anymore." Snape still didn't say anything, so she prompted him with a question. "Could you do that for me, Severus?"

"How would that help? They could just call it a lover's spat and tease you about that," he said, his stomach sinking.

"Not if you . . ." she lowered her voice, " . . . not if you called me a Mudblood."

"Lily!"

"That way they would think I would never sleep with someone who felt that way about my blood status," she added rapidly, before he got the chance to protest further.

"Please, Severus?" she begged. "We would still be friends and could still meet here whenever we wanted. And summers."

And Snape had agreed, denying her nothing. They had planned to take advantage of any situation that might present itself to make a big scene. The opportunity came after their Charms O.W.L. when Potter attacked him with Snape's own spell. When Lily approached, furious, he saw that fleeting almost-smile and he knew this was the time. He called her that horrible name.

Later, in the Room of Requirement she had come to him and said that neither Mary or Esther had heard it. He had gone to the Gryffindor common room for act two and Lily had ensured Mary, at least, was eavesdropping.

And his Lily had been happy again. Although they couldn't associate with each other outright, the secret meetings continued and all through the summer they had been together.

School started again. They had planned to start up their meetings in the Room again and Snape had gone there in anticipation. But Lily had not shown up the first night, nor the second. She had never shown up again. Eventually he stopped going. He would see her around and in class and she simply pretended he wasn't there. With bitterness and despair eating him raw, he had turned to the Dark Lord.

But there were other memories he had to review. This, Snape didn't want Potter to see. With a flick of his wand, he broke Potter's spell and then brought forth his memories of the last twelve days.

"Hermione?"

She froze, there on the hearth, his black cravat, now mottled grey, dangling from two fingers.

"Severus?" she said, twisting to look up at him. He stared at her, a sudden sensation of deja vu sweeping over him. He tried to process the feeling as he watched her stand up and hold out the length of splotchy black silk.

This can't be . . . it can't be, he thought, horrified, and flicked his wand for the next memory.

The two of them were at the table each with a book Summoned from his library. They had spent most of two hours discussing the merits of various brewing techniques. He hadn't enjoyed himself that much in a very long time.

Snape conjured another memory.

He stopped and looked down at the hand on his elbow and then turned around to look at his companion, who was looking up at him. He fully expected to see an eleven year old girl standing there. The eyes were warm brown instead of bright green and the girl was a woman, but the same look was on her face. She was completely overwhelmed.

He turned toward Potter and lowered his wand.

He swallowed hard, again experiencing that feeling of wanting to spare hurting the woman with the warm brown eyes. The next memory . . .

He had her on the table and she was eager for his contact. Weasley barged in and Snape read the look in the git's eyes: jealousy. Jealousy and anger at Hermione. A sudden urge to protect her against this intrusion surged through his body and he flicked his robes over the witch, then picked her up and Disapparated.

With a vicious stab of his wand, Snape stopped the memories.

Any other man would have staggered backwards into the wall under the emotional realization that hit him. But he was Severus Snape, the consummate spy, and he only took a half step back.

He looked over at Potter. Any other man's face would look like Potter's did now, shock paralyzing every feature. But he was Severus Snape, the emotionless potions master, and he simply pursed his lips.

"Harry," she said shaking Potter's arm. "Harry, are you okay?" Slowly she turned her head toward him. For a split second, the warm brown eyes met his before he could tear his own away.

Any other man would have run down the hallway in a desperate attempt to escape from this disaster. But he was Severus Snape, the ruthless headmaster, and he strode from the room with a determined step.

He managed to gain the front door. Slipping out, he slammed it on the chaos behind, hoping that action would calm the chaos within. It did not. He felt as if he could not catch his breath. How could this have happened? He had been so sure that Lily was the one great love of his life. The despair was overwhelming, realizing that his own heart had betrayed him. As he turned on his heel to Disapparate, one thing was now crystal clear.

He was in love with Hermione Granger.