AN: The characters belong to the Queen. The story however...

Lily sat under the alcove outside the great hall for what felt like eternity, yesterday she was bemoaning the fact that she had to go home for Petunia's wedding; today she would give anything to go back to that state of perfect happiness. The letter from her father was crushed in her hand, her ears were ringing, and she didn't know what to make of the news. Only this morning, Alice was teasing her about Petunia's wedding, only five minutes ago Sirius was offering to gate crash the wedding and save her and then Athena had dropped off the letter. She recognised her father's handwriting, she couldn't believe her own naiveté, she had joked that she wished her father had written to inform her that the wedding was called off, she didn't know her wish would be granted and horribly so.

Lily looked at the letter again, willing it to burst into flames or something and tell her it was all a very sick joke. But the letter remained crushed in her hand. She opened it and read it again, though the words did not make any sense at all.

Dear Lily,

I don't know how to tell you this, but your mother and Petunia met with an accident last night, on their way home from the wedding rehearsal. Your mother is fine but unfortunately Petunia took the brunt of the impact and is in a critical condition. We had to terminate her pregnancy to save her life but she is still in a coma. We don't know when will she wake up, or if she will wake up at all. I know we could have waited to tell you this in person, but you needed to know before you come over. Your mother above all else needs you, so does your sister and so do I. I am sorry I had to tell you about it like this.

I will come pick you up from the station and we will go straight to the hospital, your mum will be discharged today.

Just come home, love.

Dad.

Lily still couldn't make sense of this letter, only day before yesterday her mother had sent her an excited letter about the wedding and now Petunia was in a coma.

In a coma…

In a coma…

Lily scrambled to her feet, she had an idea, she could create a potion to re-enervate Petunia, there must be something, somewhere. She turned towards the dungeons and bumped into someone, nearly falling back into the alcove.

"Steady there, Evans." Potter said, holding her arm to prevent her from falling. "Everything alright?"

Lily nodded, her eyes darting towards the stairs leading to the dungeons, she had to meet Slughorn and beg him to help her. Potter was still prattling on about something, Lily nodded hurriedly before saying, "Potter, I really don't have the time. I need to go see Professor Slughorn for something."

James stepped aside; he watched Lily run down the stairs to the dungeons, his eyes then followed her on the map. Severus however, followed Lily down to the dungeons; he slipped next to Lily and started assisting her in preparing the potion. Severus didn't need to ask what potion it was, from the general ingredients he knew it was some potion to wake someone up. Severus almost lost his temper when Lupin stepped in to assist Lily too but said nothing, sensing Lily's relief at seeing Lupin. From the corner of his eye, Severus could see Black and Potter hovering at the doors, but not entering. Preparing the potion was a long, tedious and precise task; the three struggled all day, missing their train. Professor McGonagall had written a letter to their parents explaining that they were working on a project and would reach home by night through floo.

Lily lost balance and fell out of Severus' fireplace, gentle but firm hands picked her up, she looked up to see a visibly upset Mrs. Snape. "Quickly," she whispered urgently, pulling her to the front door. "Severus' father is not very well, I am sorry dear that I am being so inhospitable but you must leave now." She said as she dragged Lily out of the front door. "I will tell Severus, that you said Goodbye." She said with a very worried glance towards the ceiling before shutting the door at Lily's face. Lily made her way down Spinner's End; she was halfway through when Severus caught up with her. He slipped his hand in hers and they walked silently, like they once used to as children.

Mr. Evans was waiting for them outside their house. He looked worse for wear with his unkempt hair, the shadow of a beard and ruffled clothes. He looked he had aged several years and his face had lost all its radiance and happiness. Severus gaped at the now shrunken man in front of him. As soon as Lily saw her father, she ran to him, hugging him fiercely. She turned to look at Severus and let him know she appreciated everything he had done for her that morning before getting into the car and driving away to the hospital with the potion in her pocket. Severus nodded his acknowledgment and stepped aside to allow the car to leave before making his way back home. He was half infuriated and half intrigued by the conversation he had with Potter and Black before leaving Hogwarts.

Severus was about to step in after Lily when Lupin's hand landed on his shoulder. "Stay away from me, wolf." He snarled, "I might have tolerated you all day for Lily, but don't even think for a moment that I stopped seeing you as the monster that you are."

"Watch your mouth, slimeball." Black snarled stepping up next to Lupin.

"Or what, you would ask him to bite me?" Severus retorted back

"For the last time Snivellus, if you know what is good for you, keep your mouth shut." Potter said heatedly, "In case you forgot, you owe me."

Hatered peaked inside Severus like molten lava ready to burst out, "I-

"That is enough." Lupin said sharply, "We are here for a specific reason, so everyone play nice."

Severus was amazed at how Potter and Black listened to the half-breed. "You call yourselves wizards?" He sneered, "How can you call yourselves purebloods and wizards when you take orders from a half-breed?"

Potter and Black both started to protest but Lupin held his hand up silencing them with one stern look.

"While I enjoy your hypocrisy and bigotry Severus, we are not here to fight you. We come with one request." Lupin paused, looking pointedly at Potter and Black who unwillingly stepped back. "I don't know why Lily was preparing the potion, but please take care of her." Lupin continued. A muscle was twitching on Black's jaw and Potter looked beyond worried, if anything this infuriated Severus.

"I don't need you tell me to take care of Lily, I was the one wiping away her tears when you were torturing her to no end." He retorted angrily.

"Look here, Snivellus." Black said heatedly, "We have apologised to Lily for everything and she has forgiven us, she looked awful this morning. All we are asking you to do is to be there for her, don't run off with your Death Eater pals like I know you planned to."

Before Severus could say anything Black had stalked out of the room and Lupin had followed him, Potter stayed in his place, leaning against the wall, eyeing Severus curiously. Severus ignored him, as he threw floo powder into the fireplace.

"I know your secret, Snape. I know you won't hurt her, but if you dare abandon her during her time of need for your Death Eater internship, I swear on Merlin, that you would never see her again." Potter said, as Severus stepped into the fire.

It was a kind of pact between them at that moment, there would be only two contenders for Lily's affections and both would do anything to make the other fall from her grace. Severus sighed as he entered his home; his father was up and shouting again. Severus ignored him and went back to his room, pulling several scrolls of parchments towards him. He started writing letters to his friends and fellow Slytherins, full of elaborate excuses for not joining them this week.

AN: Sooooooooooo... another chapter! Sorry I have been out of it for a while. Well, the next chapter would be the big heartbreak. As you can see now, Severus and Lily are really close. So, please brush up on your memory of the mudblood incident. I won't be writing that down, but I will write about things that happened before and after the incident.

Anyway, do read and review. Your comments really push me to write more.

Happy Reading.

Love,

The fishes.