AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've never written this pairing. So let me know how I do... If I ever get any readers, that is.

DISCLAIMER: Still don't own Harry Potter.

Word: desinence: a termination or ending, as the final line of a verse.

Characters: Severus Snape and Lily Evans

Genre: Angst

Word Count: 449

The word rang in her ears as she stood and started at a very guilty looking, Severus Snape. The word rang through the corridor that he'd shouted it into. The word had startled everyone in the corridor to stop and stare at the red haired third year. At the sound of the word, the paintings stopped their eternal chatter to see what the reason for the utter insult.

The girl's face was almost as red as her hair. Her green eyes were large and open. Her books were clutched tightly to her chest. The only things running through her mind were the word that he'd uttered to her and the thought of how could he? She was his friend. She'd been there for him when other's had not. She'd gone to his house when they were children and secretly did magic in his backyard. He'd comforted her when Petunia called her a freak. He'd been there for her through this magical journey, and he called her that?

"Lily," Severus said softly. His oily voice cracked slightly. The girl turned her green eyes to him and then looked anywhere but at him. "Lily," he tried again. "I'm sorry. I never meant to call you that." The girl just glared. "Lily, I'm sorry," Severus tried again. However, he knew that it was useless. She wasn't listening. This one sided conversation was desinential, the last that they would have.

Before he could speak again, his body was lifted from the ground, and he was hanging upside down. Snape growled inwardly, but he felt as if he deserved the punishment that James Potter was about to inflict on him. The public humiliation would be nothing compared to what Lily had just endured at his own hands. No matter how hard she tried, Lily Evans would always be a mudblood. It was a fact, and everyone knew it. However, did he have to say it aloud? Did he, her friend, have to call her that hideous word in front of what seemed like a third of the school? He didn't.

"James," Lily said her voice hoarse, probably from clenching her throat to keep from cursing him. "Put him down."

James Potter looked at her as if she were crazy, but couldn't deny her request. Severus wasn't sure that anyone could deny a request from Lily Evans. However, it would have been especially hard to today. Her green eyes were swimming with tears; tears of pain that he, Severus Snape, had brought upon her. James Potter lowered him to the ground roughly, and have him a glare that said 'We'll-finish-this-later'. He then turned oh is heel and left with Lily Evans, truly ending their friendship.