A/N: I want to thank everyone who has reviewed and added this story to their favorites.

These characters do not belong to me and I make no money from my meagre offering to this site.

This chapter has not beta read please forgive any errors, be they in the for of spelling or grammar.

December 1998

Severus

When I felt that someone had overstepped the boundaries of my wards I was not surprised. I didn't think she was such a glutton for punishment and that she would be back so soon. Opening my door to find her son standing there did not cause a loss of self-control, but I was forced to quickly reevaluate my plan of attack. The boy would be easier to bait than Lily. She knows me better than most people, so I had to work harder than usual with her. This was going to be easy by comparison.

"Tell me Potter," I spat his name out; it was always bitter on my tongue. "Are we to draw wands at dawn?"

"Draw wands?" His confusion was quite amusing. "What are you talking about?"

"It was a simple question." Making him sputter like that almost made me smile.

"I don't know what you're going on about, Snape." I often wonder if he would have been able to defeat the Dark Lord if he had not become the master of the Elder wand. He has so little control over his emotions. Nothing I taught him seemed to stick.

"Are you here to defend your dear mother's honor?"

"No, of course not sir, my mum is a powerful witch and quite capable of defending herself."

I didn't respond to that. It was quite true. Lily didn't need her son to defend her. "So what do you do want from me?"

It was a poor comeback, but I figured that the best way to get rid of him was to use the direct approach.

"I know that it isn't any of my business," I snorted at this, "but after everything that's happened I need to understand why?"

"That is the understatement of the year Potter."

"It still doesn't answer my question sir." I would never answer his question. Not that I had the answer myself, but it was not something I was likely to ever admit, and certainly not to Potter.

"You will just have to leave here without having your curiosity satisfied, I'm afraid." I responded, hoping that he would take the hint and leave. Unfortunately this boy was as dense as his father before him.

"I believe you are." He said to me, while squaring his shoulders and daring to look me in the eye.

"You believe I am what Potter?" I glared at him knowing full well that the boy was baiting me, but something in him, so reminiscent of his father was causing me to lose control of my emotions.

"You're afraid sir," he had the gall the say, but it was the smirk on his face after the fact that cause me rage at him like never before.

"How dare you!" I bellowed, not caring what damage I would be doing to my throat. "You had better leave this instant boy. My vow to protect you scrawny hide has been fulfilled, and if you value your life you will cease to darken my door with your presence."

"I… I…" he stammered. There, that will teach him to respect his betters. It felt quite good to knock him down a few pegs. Savior of the wizarding world, indeed.

"Please sir, I didn't mean to offend you." The boy was backtracking now. How typical.

"I don't care what you meant. I want you to leave now. I neither owe you nor your mother, anything." It should have ended there, and anybody with even a small amount of common sense would have left already, but not Potter.

"I grew up without a father; my mother is growing old without a husband." He was really pushing it now.

"Yes, and I sacrificed my youth and nearly paid with my life for the part I played in your father's untimely demise." This conversation was accomplishing nothing, and yet I felt powerless to end it. For all that I claimed to have paid my debt; even I knew that I would never be completely free of the Potters.

"You love her, or at least you did at one time. Why would you push her away when she is reaching out to you?"

The gloves where off now, and he was going in for the kill, metaphorically that is. It was now or never. I had to end it now.

"What transpired between your mother and I happened long before you were even a thought in anyone's conscience. That is precisely where I would like to leave it. Any chance of reconciliation between us died in the corridor that led to the Gryffindor common room. Now Potter, if you have any sense of respect towards me you will leave at once and never return."

There, that should do it.

"Alright sir I'll leave you be, but you really shouldn't wait another twenty two years to make things right. She knows she was wrong and she cares for you."

With that he left. I should have been happy to see the back of him. So why were his words playing in my head over and over again? I never stopped loving her, that's why. For all that I treated her coldly and callously, my heart stilled pined for her. Would I ever be free of these blasted Potter's? It seemed that I would not.

The fact that I owed her a life debt never left my thoughts. Thankfully, neither she nor the boy had thrown in my face. I hadn't asked her to save my life; I fully expected to die that day. Not that I was in position to ask for anything at any rate. Still, she could have left me there to die in a pool of my own blood. A rather undignified way to die, but when have I ever been afforded any dignity?

I would not let that boy affect me. I would not be paying any visits to Lily Potter anytime in the near or distant future. I don't understand why the boy came here. Cleary, she hadn't sent him. The Lily I knew would have been too proud to do a thing like that, and she was no shrinking violet. Anything that she would have had to say to me or anyone else for that matter would have been said without the benefit of an emissary. If she was hurt by my rather rough treatment of her, then so be it.

It was she who left me broken hearted and friendless. How dare she and her wretched son try and turn the tables. These thought are not doing anything to make me feel any better about the way I've chosen to deal with my past. Not that it matters much. The more I think on it the more it becomes painfully obvious that they don't understand that I could never be just a friend to her. Pushing her away was the best thing I could do for me. My heart would never withstand being near to Lily and being unable to love her. Living with the knowledge that she will never return my feelings is torment enough. For once in my sorry life, I've done what is best for me.

End notes: I'm not sure how I should end this which is why I've taken so long to update. Most of my reviewers have stated that they would not like to see Severus and Lily end up together. I'm not saying that it will happen one way or another but I'd like some opinions.