A disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the Harry Potter Series, just the ones I make up.

Saving Lily

Harry Potter

Chapter 2

***Severus POV***

I sigh, running my palms down my face as I continue to gaze at the large tree that I had recently rediscovered since my return to Hogwarts. A tree that witnessed so many of the few happy memories in my life. How had Dumbledore thought that I could instruct these students, especially after what just happened to my friend? And somehow, he still managed to convince me to be here….though not many people actually said no to Albus Dumbledore.

Keep the students engaged, they said… if you teach it properly, they will enjoy it, they said. Lies! All of it lies! The first year students were incorrigible! It really gets under my skin when they start passing notes about me back and forth as if I can't see them… so I spend a lot of my time deducting points from houses. Yes, I even took a few points from my own house which was particularly painful… and I managed to make a Hufflepuff cry. No matter what I did it just isn't right. It won't be long before Dumbledore figures out that I am not cut out to teach potions. They detest it, and I cannot tolerate the lack of effort.

The Dark Arts would have been a much better fit for me because it is one of the few things at which I am particularly good at. I started young, how could I not? With my father being who he was, and the way everyone around me treated me… my moral compass had become permanently skewed. I had to learn how to defend myself somehow, but that mechanism I developed over the years for self-defense is what drove my only one true friend away and I was too stupid,blinded by my own need to fit in and be accepted by my Slytherin peers to notice. I was so embarrassed and angry. That is something I am going to spend the rest of my life repenting for.

Lily by all accounts should have walked away from me long before that. Hell, everyone else in my life practically had. Except for the few "friends" I made in the Slytherin house whom I had to work harder to keep because I wasn't a pureblood descent. They had used me, and I was too young and naive to notice. Lily had tried to warn me, but I couldn't believe what she was telling me to be true. She was right… as always.

Look what you've done, you greasy Git! She'll never forgive you for this! She doesn't even want to talk to you and yet here you are, every day waiting to see her. To what? Make excuses? Apologize? As if you deserve to be forgiven? The sight of you disgusts her! So just go.

I stumble back as I remember the amount of force James Potter used when he shoved me to the ground.

Get lost, Snivellus!

I will always regretted listening to him and walking away. I should have tried harder… but what I had done had truly been unforgivable. With a wave of my wand, my initials vanished from the tree bark. I clenched my fist and hit directly on top of the initials of the one person that took the most pleasure in tormenting me throughout my time at Hogwarts—James Potter. He was the most relentless of my Hogwarts persecutors.

I stare at the symbol that marred my arm. What would she have said if she had seen it? If it weren't for this damned mark would she still have been living happily with that damned fool? As much as the thought of her loving that imbecile crawled beneath my skin the reality was a far deeper wound. She would have at least been alive.

The sound of students drew me from my thoughts, reminding me that I had left a book in the infirmary. I had to take one of the first years there to get looked over after one of the potions we were brewing in class exploded. That was, obviously, because they had not followed my explicit instructions. The child, of course, was fine. They would be blue for a while, but they weren't injured in any way. The thought of going back to collect my forgotten book still irritated me nonetheless.

Dumbledore POV

I lean over gazing at the still raw wounds that refused to mend, no matter what Madam Pomfrey did to try to encourage healing.

"Still no change in your patient, Madam Pomfrey?"

She shakes her head slowly. "No, at least not enough to make a significant difference. I am getting the smaller wounds to heal nicely, but these larger ones are refusing to repair themselves. I am doing as much research as I possibly can to attempt to figure out what else I can do for her. Other than keeping the wounds free of infection."

"You will think of something; I am certain of it," I say pushing myself up off the mattress where I sat.

She nods, "I will, but I fear it will take me too long, and the poor girl will lose her life waiting on me."

"It seems far worse than we originally feared. I will reach out and see if I can find someone that can assist you."

"Thank you, Sir."

"I had hoped someone here would be able to help you, but I fear his state has yet to improve enough to do so."

"Who, sir?"

"I will inform you the moment I have found someone who can successfully aid you." I smile. Perhaps Alister Moody could be of some assistance, maybe he has seen something like this.

"Yes, Sir."

Severus POV

I walk down the hall trying to avoid the scrutinizing gazes of the other professors. Their resentment of me is apparent on their faces. In truth, no one could resent me more than I begrudge myself.

As I walk past the great hall, I can hear the chattering chaos of the students as they eat their dinner. Crystal clear memories flood my mind.

"Can we just talk?"

She never turned around to look at me, she continued to eat and converse happily with her Gryffindor friends who glared daggers that pierced my flesh.

"Lily, please?"

Before I knew what happened, chunks of pudding made contact with my face. All I could do was stand there in shock.

"I thought I told you, Snivellus! Evans wants nothing more to do with you, stop stalking her and get lost!"

More pieces of food were propelled at my body. Not once did Lily turn around, nor did she say a word, she sat there silently with her back to me. I did the only thing I knew to do besides retaliate with my wand. I fled, as I had many times in my life from my father and from the tormentors at my school. However when I turned to look back at her… those tears….her tears were not lost on me.

As I enter the infirmary, I see Madam Pomfrey pull open a curtain and step into view.

"Hello, Professor Snape." She draws the curtain tightly closed behind her.

"Yes, hello." The flare of red that lay spread along the white fabric of the pillow catches my attention briefly.

"Here for your book?" She asks as she wrings out the bloodstained cloth into the pink liquid-filled basin that it came from.

"Yes."

"I placed it over there." She points to one of the nightstands next to an empty bed. "If you won't be needing anything else professor, I am going to return to my work."

I walk to the nightstand, take my book, and start toward the door. I stop only for a second to glance back at the only bed with its curtains drawn…