Disclaimer: Okay, okay…*mumbles* I don't own Harry Potter. There. Happy? *runs into a corner and cries*

A/N: I've been in a writing-mood today, and I dunno where the hell this came from, but I had Box Car Racer- There Is on constant repeat when I was writing it.

Review please! ^^

#Arien#

The Tainting of Innocence

It was six o 'clock in the morning on Christmas Day, snow was falling lightly over Hogwarts, the grounds and castle were covered in a thick blanket of snow, and fourteen year old Severus Snape stood staring across the iced over lake in shock.

His best friend, Lily Evans, had just ran up to James Potter and threw her arms around his neck, before he covered her face with kisses.

Severus watched, his eyes filled with hurt, disappointment and envy, as James took her gloved hand in his and kissed it, before pulling her onto the ice.

From the beginning of Lily and James' sixth year, Severus had noticed a close friendship growing between his best friend and his flying tutor, but had said nothing, casting it aside as just that: a close friendship.

And yet, as he watched them from behind a large oak tree, he wondered why he could only notice the obvious lies in retrospect.

Lily and James had been put together as Potions partners, and from the first Potions lesson of that year, being in the same House had drew them closer together. Lily had started to abandon she and Severus' study sessions, explaining that she was going to go and help the James devise new tactics for the Gryffindor Quidditch team (he was the Team Captain), and when he'd asked to join them, she'd told him that the other Gryffindors wouldn't allow it because they'd think he was spying for his House.

During Lily's first dance with Severus at the Halloween Ball, James had arrived and asked if he could intervene, and for the rest of the evening she had danced with the Gryffindor, while Severus sat at their table watching them, telling himself at the beginning of every new song, the next would bring his turn to dance with her.

The two Gryffindors had also started to spend most of the Hogsmeade weekends walking around the grounds, with Lily explaining to Severus that they were going to visit Hagrid. It would have been a bad idea for him to accompany them, as the Groundskeeper had an unprovoked and utmost dislike for the younger Slytherin. So meanwhile, he had sat in the library, or wandered around Hogsmeade alone.

And now, Severus stood staring at the couple, his eyes brimming with tears and once again, very much  alone.

They'd lied to him. They'd _betrayed_ him.

Lily had probably only gone to the Halloween Ball with him because she'd pitied him because no one else would.

'That was if she ever had actually been friends with me', Severus thought bitterly.

His silky chin-length hair whipped around his face in the wind as he stepped out from behind the tree. The couple stood about one hundred yards away from the tree, and looked up at the movement.

'Don't pity me!' Severus screamed inwardly, as their faces softened, noting his tear-filled eyes and hurt expression.

"Sevvie, what're you doing out here? Shouldn't you be opening your presents with your friends?" Lily asked gently.

The younger boy stepped back, almost as if her words had burned him. He looked down at the floor and shook his head.

"Why not?" she asked, misinterpreting it as an answer.

He shook his head more violently, stepped back and looked up at the two of them, his eyes on the brink of bursting with tears.

"You just don't get it…because I was friends with you, you two _were_ my only friends!" he cried as tears began to stream from his eyes, before turning and running up the hill back to the castle.

"Were? We still are!" James cried after him in confusion.

"Sev, what's wrong?" Lily called desperately.

He didn't hear any of it, the blood pumping in his ears drowning out any other sounds as burst into the castle. Stopping in the entrance hall, he glanced around frantically, unsure of where he could go for privacy.

In his overload of emotion, he failed to notice his accidental exploding of the light bulb. He heard shouts coming from the Great Hall, and, terrified someone would see his tears, started running up the stairs, straight past a confused Dumbledore.

Severus had no idea where he was going, until he found himself looking over the wall of the Tower, staring down at the icy lake where Lily and James had been, tears streaming down his face and freezing before they reached the ground below. His small, thin body shook with the force of his sobs, as he felt the remaining pieces of his innocent heart breaking.

He felt so small, so pathetic and young. They were only one year older than him, but suddenly it felt like five.

How could he have ever been so stupid, to think that Lily could ever have liked him? Ever have been so foolish as to have written the poems and letters he had dreamed of having the courage to send someday, along with the pathetic hope that when he did, she'd tell him she felt the same.

And then there was something other than his unrequited love that had hurt him even deeper. The reality of his best friend, his only friend, wishing that when she was in his company, she was dreaming of being with another; that suddenly, his companionship wasn't good enough for him to offer.

A bitter, self-hating sob burst from his chest as he cursed himself for his selfishness.

A hand fell upon his shoulder, stirring him from his thoughts. He quickly wiped his face on the back of his hand and sniffed, before whirling around, his wand drawn and pointed at the place where the person's neck should've been. Only, Severus was faced with a much taller wizard. The much taller wizard being a concerned Albus Dumbledore.

The Fourth Year blushed and immediately stuffed it back into his sleeve.

"Headmaster," he mumbled, ducking his head.

"Severus, you are allowed to be young and in love. Just as Lily and James are. They are happy, and as their friend, you, in turn, should be happy for them." The Headmaster chided, defensive of his Gryffindors and suspicious of the boy's plans of vengeance which he presumed he had already begun to plot.

Suddenly, Severus felt even smaller, and tried to swallow the growing lump in his throat.

Damn Gryffindor bias, damn House rivalry and damn House stereotypes. The Headmaster, had the boy been in any other House, would have been anything but cold.

He would've probably been invited up to his office to talk it out over lemon drops and hot chocolate, Severus decided.

"Severus," the old wizard was using that threatening tone again. "I want you to swear that you will leave them alone," he commanded, an aura of power appearing out of nowhere around the Headmaster, his piercing blue eyes fixed intensely on the young Slytherin.

"Yes Sir," he whispered, his voice thick with unshed tears.

The Headmaster reached out for him, concern written all over his face. Severus winced and recoiled.

"You needn't worry, Headmaster, I wouldn't ever touch your precious Gryffindors," the boy choked, before running back out of the Tower and into the maze of corridors that is Hogwarts.

The Headmaster stood in the Tower for a long while, staring out over the grounds, while the Slytherin retreated back into the dungeons, already plotting the breaking of his promise. At least, that's how the Headmaster saw it.

And yet, a small part of his heart told him that sometime in the future, he'd deeply regret that belief.

#~#~#

There you have it.

Ickle Severus welcomes any hugs you have for him!

Review please ^^

#Arien#