A/N: This story was done without the help of a Spell Checker. And, considering that I'm a lazy bastard, it's probably riddled with spelling errors. But, seeing as I don't care, don't bother to point them out. Also, I hope that the italics show up, or else this might be a tad confusing.



Being around her caused so much pain. Every time he looked at her a dull ache would infiltrate his body and settle at his heart. Severus grinned wryly and thought to himself, 'You used to hate shit like this, Snape. You're getting soft.' Severus gave his object of desire a flippant wave as she enthusiastically waved at him from across the commons. Then she promptly turned her attention back to her object of desire.

Snape winced as he saw this. He usually wasn't a jealous guy, but this girl had managed to infiltrate his defenses. Now he was paying for it tenfold. 'It would be so easy,' he thought, 'so easy to just close the door. Get up right now, go back to the Slyth Common Room and start reading, and ignore her for the rest of the year.'

Severus grinned wryly again. "And If I had a knut for everytime I make that silent little threat," he mused, "I would be able to retire after graduation."

One could say many a thing about Severus Snape. He was cruel, sarcastic, slimy, and a million other things, but he was also brutally honest. With himself and everyone else. That's why he knew for a fact that he would as soon volunteer to be slow roasted on a spit for the End-of- the-Year Feast as 'leave' his beloved.

It still hurt though.

Severus didn't lower his defenses for just anyone. It took a grand effort to become his friend, and, when he gave someone the title of 'friend' he felt that he had a lot invested in the relationship. It was hard to become Severus Snape's friend, but once you were you couldn't ask for a more attentive or loyal one. However, there was a considerable downside to a friendship with Severus Snape.

Since, according to his sensabilities, he had a huge investment in the friendship, he expected the other person to care just as much as he did. Which was rarely the case. The other party always had other people to attend to, and seeing his friend with another person hurt him. This came from years and years of not having any friends. Snape's fear of abandonment was so innate that he rarely realized what was causing his irrational feelings.

Yes, it would be easy to just leave. Snape had spent most of his life alone, and the idea of spending the rest of it alone didn't shake him the way it seemed to others. In fact, Snape often wished that he had never opened up to anyone. A solitary existance left to his own devices without these feelings of hurt, anxiety, and abandonment sometimes seemed like the best thing in the world to Severus. This sentiment never lasted long, however, because she would waltz into the room and, with the slightest smile would make him happier than he had ever been.

Severus sighed and readjusted himself where he sat with his back against the trunk of a huge oak tree. From his vantage point he could see the entire commons. The tactician in him recognized the spot for it's value in surveilance. And the romantic in him recognized the spot because it was a comfortable place where two people could lay out and watch the stars. And the Slytherin in him recognized the spot as a nice place to look brooding. Severus grinned again.

Once he was positioned, he looked at his watch to see that it was nearly lunch. Pretty soon his object of affection would come running up to him, grinning, ready to go to lunch, wondering why he hadn't joined her in play. 'As if she would even notice if I were there,' a sneering voice in his head expressed.

Severus shrugged in response to the voice. He wasn't going to deny it. When Severus was with her, he wouldn't notice if a dragon burst into the room and started to polka. He had no reason to believe that she was any different when she was with her object of affection. While he was thinking this, she came running up to him. "C'mon Sev, it's almost time for lunch. We need to get going. Why didn't you join the fun?"

She said all this in one breath.

Hearing her words, Severus burst into laughter. Shooting a glare at him, she asked, "What? What are you laughing at?"

By this time they had begun to head towards the Great Hall. Walking side by side, their hands swung to opposite times and brushed together every couple of seconds. It was things like this that caused Severus never to lose hope. If she truely didn't want him at all, then she would simply move a fraction of an inch so that their hands didn't touch. Right?

Severus shot his lady love a grin and said, "You, Lily, are far more predictable that you dare admit."

Lily gave him an affronted look, and shrieked, "Predictable? I'm predictable huh? Well, I'll show you!"

With those words, she grabbed Severus by the shoulders and turned him to face her. Then, standing on her tip toes, right in the middle of the commons, in front of everyone, she kissed him. She kissed him long and hard. And, when, finally, they broke for breath, Severus looked down at Lily, who seemed just as shocked at what she had done as him, and said, "I should call you predictable more often."

Lily blushed crimson and muttered, "That wasn't planned, I hope you know."

Severus grinned widely (perhaps the most real grin anyone had ever seen him give), and said, "Indeed." And then he continued on his way to lunch.

Lily hurried after him. There was no more dramatic snogging in front of everyone between the two of them that day. But, when Lily had caught up with Severs, she very discreetly, so that no one but Severus noticed, slipped her hand into his and gave it a squeeze.

Severus kept waiting for her to slip her hand away form his, but that didn't happen. Not for a long while.