A/N: Erm... no flames please. This is not the end of the story.

SheElf- Thanks so much! That was a really nice complement!

Audriella- Yes, great timing. Severus really loves teasing James when he is too socially constrained to defend himself properly. The lily absolutely has symbolic possibilities. Care to take a stab at it? (lol dual-meanings).

Frayedsoul- Yeah. I would imagine Snape mentioned Voldemort being a half-blood, like him. That would probably piss off Bella, as well as other things, and as you say, she is nutters. James is certainly starting to admit that he loves him, but I think that it's still only in times of stress (I assume you're referring to when he says "my love is writhing on my bloody sheets in agony") and it's still only to himself.Aww… don't be sad. They'll be romance.

When my mother finally comes upstairs with some fresh hot cloths she lets out a shout of shock. She must see a scene that looks like mayhem: my father rolling around the place, packing imaginary school things in my imaginary trunk, my sheets soaked with black ooze and blood, Severus' bloody and scabbing foot hanging out at an odd angle with needles poking out of it, and me, who is leaning half-naked over his unconscious body, face, I'm sure, lined with worry.

Her shriek sends father abruptly out of his revelry (the doctors told us not to do that but he appears to be alright). He starts apologizing rapidly. I only partly hear it, still staring into Snape's pale and peaceful visage. He looks oddly calm and serene, dark hair fanning around his face, black eyelashes resting on rosy cheeks… like Sleeping Beauty or Snow White or something.

I lift my forefinger and stroke one deviant black strand out of his face. "James! Oh, God. It was the stress of the moment… I could feel myself going and I couldn't do anything to stop it," my father babbles. "How is he? Did he faint?"

I stare at the torn shirt, buttons ripped and shredded. In between the torn layers of black fabric a needle is sticking out of the tattoo. It's freaking me out; it looks like he's been stabbed in the heart.

I swallow, "We should probably take the needles out now."

"Not to worry," Dad says, slowly regaining his usually calm, "They're magical. They'll disappear once I say the password. Devious Leprechauns!"

I don't even see them go, I am too occupied by Snape's eyelashes, which are fluttering open. "J-james?" he's tossing his head from side to side.

I rub his forehead tenderly, like how my mom used to when I was sick. I've forgotten that Mum and Dad are watching, and once I remember I try to make it look like I'm checking his temperature. "You alright? Does anything still hurt?"

"I'm all right," he whispers. "Just… here… stings a little," he motions toward his heart.

"It'll prob'ly go away," I take a glance at the tattoo again; besides the black goop it looks normal. "That was scary."

"Yeah," he shifts on the pillow, and as if just remembering says, "You stabbed me."

"I did it because I love you," I whisper playfully.

Oh, damn my cursed mouth! My parents are right there! Shit, man. I'm so stupid sometimes. I chance a glance at my parents, who had, apparently, been listening and had, apparently, been staring right at us the whole time.

At least they have the decency to suddenly look away and play with the extra cloths when I catch them. "Anyways…" I mumble, "all better."

"Yes," He sits up. "Thanks James. And you too Mr. Potter…"

Dad frowns, "I only wish I could have finished the job faster. Lucky thing, too, that James used to watch me do acupuncture when I was studying it. Otherwise, he could have caused some damage."

"Nearly gave me a heart-attack," Severus says.

"I'm sorry."

"No probl-ah!" Snape twirls round to see my mother dabbing his ankle with a hot cloth. She smiles up at him, washing off the goo and caked blood that had settled there, throwing dirty cloths into my hamper.

"Sorry, dear," Mum smiles. She then grins at me, "Awful jumpy, this one."

I grin at him too. "He is somewhat of a scaredy-cat."

"Well, I am a Slytherin. Cowardly is smart in our book."

"A Slytherin?" There's no need for Dad to have such a surprised tone. "Sorry, just never thought my son would date a Slytherin."

I feel like my face has hit the floor.

"S-sorry?" Snape asks as if he didn't hear it the first time.

I catch the scolding stare my mother gives Father.

"Er…" Snape gives a glance at me, asking me in his black eyes whether he should deny it or not.

Father coughs loudly and with the tact of a muggle at a quidditch match, says, "Er… I meant 'be friends with', not date, sorry… I was thinking of… something else." He ventures a glance at Mum, who just barely nods.

Mother grabs the hamper and beckons father to follow her. "I'm just going to freshen these up… they're not hot anymore."

"Can I borrow one?" I ask. Mum hands me a lukewarm towel and I begin to dab the black pus off his chest. He lets me do it, but is apparently uncomfortable from all of this undo attention. When my parents are finally gone I whisper in his ear, "It's alright. They already knew. I didn't tell them. It was that bartender down at the pub…"

"Blimey!" Snape says. This is not a word in his day-to-day speech so I know he must really be astounded. "How long's it been? A week? I wish my parents were that sensitive about what their son was doing…" His voice carries off, high-pitched like a twelve-year-old. "How did they know it was me?" Severus whispers.

"Dunno… by the way we were acting around each other, maybe."

"James…" Severus licks his lips, "Thank you."

"Of course."

"No really," he whispers, "I mean it."

"Bloody hell, Severus!" I make my voice deep and jock-like. "No, I won't help you… I'm just gonna let the curse eat through your whole body. Is that what I should have done?"

"No... for just being here," the Slytherin's spare hand trails up and down my arm. "Do you want to go out tonight?"

"Ok," I was about ask him that.

My stomach lurks ever-so-slightly. I really don't want to get drunk again. But Severus wants to go to the Warehouse- it is Friday night after all. So go we will.

He insists that it'll be great… he'll get us some really good pot and we can hang out where we did last time, on the roof, and nobody will bother us up there. I ask him if people will be annoyed if they see two queers necking on the roof and he just shrugs.

I don't really care. I'll follow him anywhere.

We're at the door of the Warehouse when I can see this old black man strumming at a beer-stained cheap guitar. He has no teeth in his mouth besides a pair of canines, and his flimsy guitar case open and full of tuppence. The stoners ignore him on the way into their haven, and the bum just sits under one of the warehouse's many windows.

"You got any change?" Severus mutters. "Muggle change, I mean?" He frowns when I shake my head at him.

"I got a letter this morning. Yeah- Written in Red

It said hurry, hurry, the gal you love is dead

Got a letter this morning. Yeah- Written in Red

It said hurry hurry cause the gal you love is dead

So I packed up my suitcase and took off down the road

When I got there she was layin' on the cooling board

I packed up my suitcase and took off down the road

There she was, Yeah- layin' on the cooling board"

I tug at the corner of the sleeve of his jacket, trying to tear him away from the music that seems to have Severus entranced. Finally I toss a few spare muggle coins inside and Snape smiles at me, but doesn't leave.

"I walked up close. Looked down at her face

I said, the good ole gal got to lay here 'til the Judgement Day.

I walked up right close and I said I looked down in her face.

I said the good ole gal, she got to lay here right up 'til the Judgement Day"

I grimace when I finally notice what Severus had been staring at all this time. The old man's fingers were bleeding just a little; sending smears of blood on the nylon strings, on the wooden fret. A frothy drip of drool settles at the bottoms of his lip. And yet the man keeps playing on.

"I said I didn't feel so bad till the good ole sun went down

Then I didn't have a soul to throw my arms around

I didn't feel so bad till the good ole sun went down

I didn't have just one little soul to throw my arms around"

Finally, I bury my nose in his greasy hair and whisper into the shell of his ear, "C'mon!"

"I'm listening."

"Must we listen to this nigger?"

Severus' face drains of color. He glares at me. The insult has made his jaw drop with disapproval and disgust. "And you call me a bigot? Bloody bastard!"

The old man yet still keeps singing, apparently not even noticing the couple of men fighting over him. Or not even noticing us at all…

"You know I cried last night,

And the night before

I'm a gonna change my way of livin'

So I don't have to cry no more

I cried last night,

And I say the night before

I'm a gonna change my way of livin'

So I don't gotta to cry no more."

Severus jerks his arm out of my (oddly very tight, I hadn't noticed) grip and utters to the old man. "The music is good. You just keep doing what you're doing."

The vague instruction seems to mean quite a lot to the old man. He just nods his head gratefully at Severus and gives him a wide, toothless smile. Apparently it means something noteworthy to non-bigots.

He saves the lecture until we are just inside the door.

"Where in the bloody fuck did you learn that word and why would you use it so freely?" His nose is centimeters from mine.

Tsk, Ok mom. Gonna make me eat soap now?

"I just-"

"It's probably the most racial thing ever!"

I ruffle my feathers, "Well, you say 'mudblood'."

"That's not the same thing!"

"It's not?"

"No!"

I glare at him and he glares back. "Yes it is."

He huffs and he puffs and he nearly blows me down when he says, "You know I didn't mean it when I said that to Evans."

I raise my eyebrow, trying to come up with a time and place… I do slightly recall something happening in fifth year. Lily had stopped hanging around old Snivellus at the end of that year. I think he might have insulted her? Or something? All I know is it gave me an open window to ask the girl out without his negative influence. With him gone, she finally saw that I was more than just an "arrogant, bullying toerag".

"Yeah, well. It's still a racial slur."

"So is 'nigger'!"

"So is 'mudblood'!"

"So is 'faggot'!"

Both Severus and I turn to see an unruly, drunk and aggressive-looking Remus (so different from the calm and quiet one that I used to know) stumbling towards us. Severus gasps, not out of fear, but out of pure astonishment. Snape has had little experience with what I call gibbous-Remus. Right before the full moon he becomes very domineering and testy. He carries his shoulders differently, hunching impressively like a barbarian, growling like a giant. He is pale and peaky as ever. And if I know Remus, his hormones are getting the better of him.

"Hey Remus," I adopt a friendly tone. It's important to remind Remus that he is indeed human, (and indeed not the alpha male of the pack, I am).

"Why are you still hanging around Snape?!"

He's slurring and gazing from my friend to me with surprise and disdain.

"Remus," I say in what I hope is an authoritative voice, "Calm down."

"I am calm!" Lupin bellows. "Does it not look like I'm calm?!"

Severus just barely shakes his head back and forth. His eyes are as wide as a mouse that has just run into a tiger. Moony just inaudibly growls.

"I've had a rough day. Ok? Is that ok with you?"

"No," I mumble, "You're as testy as Filch when he has his broom up his ass."

"What do you mean 'when'?" Snape grins.

"Ok! Ok… I get it… I'm grouchy…" He stumbles back to his stool, taking a seat on the plushy fabric.

"What's going on?" I ask taking a seat on the plushy stool next to him. Severus rolls his eyes.

"Sirius," Remus puts his head on his hands, elbows on the bar in a way that well-manned Remus usually wouldn't.

"What about him?"

"He's gay."

"So what?" I ask indignantly, impatient because his bigotry indirectly applies to me as well.

The werewolf rubs the palm of his hands on his eyes. "You don't understand."

"Apparently not," behind my back I am squeezing Severus' fingers.

"No, you don't!" Remus nearly-shouts again. "Why didn't he tell us sooner?"

"Would you have reacted better if you were fifteen?"

"Yes!" I raise my eyebrows at him. "I would have totally understood. I'm a werewolf! I know what it's like to be an outcast. To have something about you that you can't control. That everybody else looks down upon! Why didn't he trust me with it? I mean, weren't we friends?"

For a moment I don't know what to say. I didn't think that this was why Remus was so mad. I just assumed he was being prejudiced. I guess I should know better. Moony's exactly right. Being a werewolf is sort-of similar to being gay after all, with all of the negative stereotypes and restrictive ministry legislation. "Of-of course you were friends! It's just you don't trust everyone with that sort of secret, you know?"

"I trusted him!"

Well, I can't argue with that logic. Even though many times Sirius wasn't worthy of that trust (Severus almost getting killed being the primary example) Remus had trusted him.

"It's not fair! I feel like he double-crossed me. Did he think that I would just explode in his face or something? I mean, really…" He tosses back some fresh Guinness. I try to get a hold of the bartender to grab us drinks as well, "How could he think that I would…" he burps, " 'scuse me… stop being friends with him? Honestly."

I pat him on the shoulder, trying, like my father had when he called me "flirtatious", to come up with the most sensitive and delicate words. "Remus…" He whirls round; I've captured his undivided attention. Something about using his name in the week before the full moon makes him jump. "He's… Sirius…" I struggle, "he thinks that's why you're mad at him now. He thinks you've stopped being friends with him just because he came out to you."

"But that's not it at all…" He whispers up at me from his Guinness mug.

"I know it isn't," I sooth. "But maybe you should talk to him about it…"

"I can't!" Remus looks terrified.

"Why the fuck not?" Severus pipes in.

He looks like he is about to say something, but when he opens his mouth a great gurgling escapes. I can hear it squelch up from his intestines to his throat. And he closes his mouth quickly with a snap, turning a repulsive shade of mint.

"Can we have a bucket over here?!" I bellow to the bartender, who turns and lunges at the drawers.

He gets back with a giant pot just in time.

"Ugh," Snape plugs his nose at the unsightly view of Remus retching yellow chunks into the pot.

The bartender glares at us, "Get him out of here, will you? He's been here all night…"

We crabwalk, one on each side, him out of the building and take a seat where the black man had been moments before. Severus glances at me nervously as he settles down next us in the dirt of the crumbling cement foundation. Lupin looks terrible, the skin of his forehead is sweaty and pasty and he can't keep his eyes open due to the tears running down his face. I can tell that Snape is annoyed; once again his plans to have a good night with me have been spoiled, but he is being patient and kind so I stay and pat Remus on the back comfortably.

He retches into the pot again, "I'm pathetic!"

My eyes widen suddenly.

"Pathetic? What's this rubbish? You just got too drunk. It happens to everybody," Snape says.

I swallow, suddenly realizing, suddenly knowing, "Remus… is there something you'd like to tell us?"

His glossy eyes blink at me. He spits into the pot and says, "No."

"Remus…" Oh, God. I can't believe I'm about to ask this absurd question. But what if I'm right? "Remus… tell me honestly. We're trustworthy. Do you…" God, I feel like I'm going to puke too, inhaling the rancid fumes of the mess and having a truly mind-altering thought pass through my brain. "Do you like Sirius?"

He burps, staring at me.

I gulp, trying to slow my racing heartbeat. Severus is caulking his head sideways, I don't even have to look at him to know that. "Like him, like… more than a friend?"

He clutches the silver pot closer to his chest, tears spilling into the puke like a waterfall. "How did you…? Don't tell anyone!"

"You- you mean you do?" I ask, never imagining my friend as a homosexual. I slap myself on the forehead.

"Since when?" Severus asks shrewdly.

He stares at his shabby converse shoes, "Since… forever..."

"ARE YOU?! FUCKING! OH MY GOD!" I must sound like Lily's brother-in-law Vernon, like a chimp trying to make speech. My chest squeezes like a giant metal-clad fist has closed around my lungs. I can't tell him about Sirius… I made a promise. But I have to! How can they be so stupid? Stupid! Just talk to the other person about it!

"I know… I'm disgusting," Remus mutters. Severus is rolling his eyes at the heavens. I know he's thinking the same things I'm thinking, only he doesn't care about Remus and Sirius, he just finds this overly dramatic and childish. "And now he's going out with other guys. I don't want it to be a burden. I don't want to just assume… just because he's gay doesn't mean he's interested in me. He shouldn't have to go out with a werewolf. Much less a werewolf who can't hold down a job…"

Severus, who has put his face in his hands, looks at me between his middle and ring finger, a small nervous smile asking, so what should we do about this?

"You are assuming, Remus," I growl at him. "A number of things."

"You've got to take the risk," Severus says. "If he doesn't like you back then it'll suck, but at least you'll know you tried and not live in regret."

"Sirius loves you, you've been best friends for such a long time! Don't let a little thing like this ruin your friendship!"

"It isn't a little thing! I used to write fantasy stories about how he and I would end up together… and…"

Sev and I look at each other.

In that moment, although I hadn't told him about what Sirius told me, he knows I know. He knows I know he knows. And I know he knows too. We both can't hide a crack of a smile, and are about to walk away and laugh hysterically about it. Remus doesn't notice.

"You need to tell him," Snape recommends

I was about to say that. "Remus, he's right. You really do. Don't be scared."

"Do you love him?" Severus asks. The man is taking words out of my mouth.

Remus blinks and two fresh tears stream down his face as he nods.

"Then you need to tell him," Severus pats his arm and stares up at me.

If those aren't bedroom eyes, I don't know what are.

I pat Remus on the shoulder too, but he gets up slowly, stumbling from foot to foot. "Scourgify," I whisper, and the pot is now gleaming. "I'm gonna go home," says Moony, "and go to bed."

"Do you want me to do Sidelong Apparation?"

"No… no…" Remus sanders a few feet, "I'm fine." And with a pop, he's gone.

Severus lets out a sigh and shakes his head back and forth. "They are ridiculous." He turns, eyes gleaming, at me. "When did he tell you?"

"Few days ago," I mutter.

"Really? Huh…" he eyes the black man who is returning with a burger in hand. "I would have thought he told you years ago…"

"Well, Sirius has a lot of pride in his masculinity."

"Hmm…"

"He told me you knew…"

"Hey boys!" The black man hollers at us. "Aye has got a gift for you, man." He beckons us toward him and lifts a paper bag. "You'se coins gave me enough money for my dinner. So aye'll give you somethin' good back too. Come over, lookit here."

"You want to sell us something?" I ask shrewdly.

"No, man!" He shakes off that idea with a shake of his thick wrist, "Ay'ze just got a gift from some boys aye know…but aye don't whant it, see… Aye gave it up." He hands the paper-bag-covered bottle to Severus, whose eyes widen when he looks at the label. "Aye figured you'se guys deserve to have a good time. You'ze be-in so nice to me before."

"We can't accept this!" Severus whispers quickly. "If you sold this… it's a lot of money."

"Aye has dis thing about selling gifts…" The black man shakes his head. "Anywayz you have fun wid it." He then breaks out his guitar and begins to strum again as if that was the final word.

Severus hands me, wide-eyed, the bottle. I unwrap the package to find a handsome wine-shaped glass with the label in French, "Lamoure et Rêves." It is a deep green liquid that I think I've heard of before.

"Absinthe!"

Snape nods feverishly.

"Let's try some!"

After Severus thanks the man profusely we dart inside. We take no notice to the hippies and whores, the pot and the coke and the children of darkness as we leap to the bartender. I hand him the pot and ask him to pour us a drink.

The man's eyebrows lift so much that his crow's feet disappear. He takes out two vase-shaped glasses and pours a liberal amount in. We watch, practically salivating as he sets a slotted spoon on each. "It's supposed to give you hallucinations, you know…" Severus hisses a warm puff of air in my ear. The bartender puts sugar on the spoon and pours ice, cold water over it.

"That's just a myth," I whisper back.

Handing us our glasses, he smirks, "I'll just hold this here for you?" He hides the bottle in the mysterious area under the bar and nods.

Our glasses clink. "To freedom," I mutter.

He licks the rim before downing nearly half the glass. "And love," he whispers.

We make our way upstairs, taking two steps at a time but making sure our glasses don't spill a drop of this fine green liquid. I goose him on the way up and he turns and glares at me, smilingly.

No one else is there. Thank God. It's not as cold as it was the other night, but my fingers still feel a bit chilly on the rim of the cool glass. I take a tentative sip. It's like no drink I've ever tasted before. I swirl the green contents on my tongue, realizing that, more than likely, I'm not going to get drunk tonight- I'm going to get completely smashed.

"Aren't you glad you called him a nigger?" Severus takes another liberal sip of the spirits, black eyes glowing green in the reflection.

I run my hand through my hair, "Alright, I get it. I shouldn't have said it." My fingers trail through the back of my head, rustling my hair to look like I've come off a quidditch pitch. It's become a nervous habit of mine. Lily used to hate that. That's until she realized that I wasn't really trying to be pretentious, it was just something I did, like how she bites her nails.

Severus plays with my bangs affectionately and takes a seat where I had found him only a few nights ago. His arms lie out wide as an eagle's, tipping his head towards the sky so that a long shaft of delectably moonlit neck is showing.

I take a seat next to him, wrapping myself in one of his arms, settling against his warm chest and biting his neck. "So…" I purr, "What shall we do?" A hand wanders to his knee.

He smiles.

The next minute later I'm straddling him, tongue in his mouth, his cold hands riding underneath my shirt. We only break to quench our thirst for the green liquid; I pour some of my drink into his lips. When we kiss, the taste is only of the heady absinthe. So this is what sex tastes like?

"HELP!"

My lips suction off of his with a "pop". Moans fill the air and they aren't coming from Severus, who is staring up at me in shock. The pained sound of an alley cat being shot can't compare to this sort of moaning.

"HEEEEEEEEEEELP!"

Sweat trickles down my brow and freezes against the cold night air. Snape's dark eyes flash with worry.

The black man's voice, ringing with husky anxiety fills the air, "Hey dats… stop it there you guyz… leave dat girul alone!"

A group of men laughing. The clanging sound of a guitar being smashed, the bloody, nylon strings echoing their last note.

"Stop it! STOP IT!"

The glass of expensive absinthe falls to the ground, the green fragments flying in a thousand directions.

That voice… is so familiar…

I'm still staring into his eyes when we leap up together, as one, and dart to the edge of the roof, leaning over the embankment.

A red-haired girl is being pulled into the dark alley away from the safety of the neon lights. Her handbag is being torn from her. The black man is punched in the face with a sickening thud; surely he's lost the rest of his teeth now. The girl is surrounded by at least ten men. She screams, the hair that was tied back in a knot being pulled and ripped down, so that a flash of red curls fall over her shoulders…

My heart stops.

"Lily," Severus whispers.

As I turn to see him, Snape has already leaped over the embankment and is falling into the street, black fabric swirling around him. "SEVERUS!" I hear myself shout, but before I even have time to think he has landed, dust swirling about him, one foot and then the other.

Breathing again, I dart through the building, leaping three steps at a time through the creaky staircase, past the hippies and the smiling bartender, and the first thing I see is the black man on the cement, holding his mangled and bloody hand, tears streaming through dark eyelids. "They haz taken huuh!" He shouts, pointing his other hand in the direction of two tall boys.

One of them lunges at me with a knife. I don't flinch, "Petrificus Totalus!"

His eyes widen as he stops in mid-air. I've attacked a muggle…

The other one, seeing my dark stare into his eyes, runs off screaming, clutching his hair, "Witchcraft!"

I enter the alleyway, slowly taking in the scene as Severus flails his wand like a wild man. One has been stunned, another petrified, and the rest are fleeing toward me, with the eyes of wild boar being hunted by a tiger. I don't let one of them escape, stunning each and every one of them wordlessly. One doubles back, lunging himself onto of the woman, trying desperately hitch up her skirt, trying to get at least one shot at her.

"SECTUMSEMPRAAAA!" Severus looks maniacal as the man's shoulder is ripped to shreds.

I breathe.

Lily's green eyes flood with tears as the predator's limp body leans against her. Blood has stained her blouse. She pushes him off of her with all of her might, moaning softly. Severus' arms are around her instantly.

She shrieks with sobs into his shoulder. Black hair mixes with red hair.

I stare at them passively and lift my wand. They're both all right. It's ok now. "Expecto Patronum!"

A silver stag erupts from my wand. "Tell Kingsley Shacklebolt in the Ministry of Magic our coordinates. A woman has been attacked in attempted rape. Nine men have been stunned. They appear to be muggles." The Stag's eyes glisten at mine. "One of them got away. Tell him also to bring a medic." I glance at the black man who is clutching at his hand; he might never be able to play again. "Please hurry."

The stag nods it's head, antlers and all, and gallops off into the night sky.

I watch it dance off into the cool night air and turn to see…

Severus and Lily… kissing…

Impossible.

Yet, here they are. His hands are cupping her cheeks and her green eyes widen with shock. Severus lips are mushed into hers, where my lips should be.

And suddenly I realize.

I feel something boiling within me, white-hot anger blinding me. So it finally makes sense. His tongue is swirling against hers hotly. Her tears stream down both of their faces. He clutches at her, fingers deep in her white blouse.

I'm such an idiot. The Lily tattoo… him calling her a "mudblood"…. All this time…

My gut clenches. No. It can't be... he was just kissing me... we had just been about to have a night on the rooftops...

But it all makes sense. Everything is falling into place. He was trying to get at her through me. Because he loves her.

He must've heard about our possible engagement and tried to get her to change her mind. Luckily enough I stumbled across his path. He thought he'd take advantage of me… to make her think that I was cheating on her. The "birth control pills"… they were aphrodisiacs… to try to get himself hard around me. Because he's not gay and never was. Perhaps he slipped something into my tea as well…

She is moaning disconcertingly against his mouth, and he looks at me with one, glaring black eye.

Finally…

We understand each other…

The dancing, the drugs, the kisses and the secrets. They were all. A very poetic.

Lie.

My fist is in his face before I can stop myself. Lily lets out a gasp of shock as his lips are ripped from hers. I punch him in the stomach. He claws at my face, fingernails sinking into my cheeks. My knuckles dive into his stomach again.

"Stop it!" Lily gasps, tears spilling out from her eyes onto my neck. "Stop it, please!"

"You lied to me!" I bellow into his face. He kicks me in the shins and we topple over each other.

His big nose is in my face when he replies, "Slytherin."

"How could you- BASTARD!"

My fingers wind into his silky black hair and I pull as hard as I can.

He lets out a shriek of pain. I pull him close. My mind is whirling with how many times he's lied and led me on. I have no attraction for the red head. Don't worry. – Well, maybe you should wonder…Do you think I could have another kiss? Only because you asked so nicely… His honest grin… his laughter…"How could you?"

Everything we shared. Everything he said to me. Every calm glance and slight touch. How could he? Bourbon, meatballs, burger's and shakes, the Gay bar, even Barry, my parents! His soul must be filled with slime!

I keep his face close to mine with one, strong hand, and he spits into my cheek. "How could I? How could YOU?" He hits me round one cheek and I barely feel it. "Every day for seven years you tortured me into thinking I was someone less than everyone else! You drove me into thinking that I didn't deserve to EXIST! Every fucking day was torture! You drove me to push away anyone I've ever loved," Lily has her hands to her face, tearfully gasping, "You deserved it, Potter! You deserve what you get!"

It isn't the lies that hurt now; it's the truth.

"I HATE YOU SO MUCH! You don't DESERVE to be with Lily- YOU DON'T DESERVE TO LICK HER FUCKING BOOTS! I've loved her all my life and the moment you get a chance with her you cheat on her!"

"I thought we…"

"Had something? HA!" Severus looks truly ugly now. Uglier than I've ever seen him. How could I think someone like this was beautiful? Tears spill out of my eyes mixing with his spit on my cheek. I set my jaw, trying to hide the immense hurt. He must be a great actor, the best. I fell in love with a persona. A façade.

"Severus…" Lily whispers, taking pity on my pathetic form, "… stop…"

She's so fucking kind.

"You… love me…" I whisper, struggling against sobs. "When we met here. I apologized. Those were real tears. I know they were!"

"I – NEVER- LOVED YOU!" His hands grip my neck, squeezing hard. I can't breath. But I've hit a nerve. I've hit something. Tears are starting to well up in his eyes. He's trying to be strong but I can see a sliver of weakness. I don't lift a finger to stop the crushing of my trachea, even when my breath has gone from me.

He lets out a sob, digging his fingernails into my flesh.

"Leave him alone, Severus," Lily whispers. This is now less of a plea and more of a command. She has wiped the tears from her eyes and is now standing with her wand at his back. "Let go."

"Why did you do it?" I ask.

He grins a nasty grin that lifts his nostrils and leans over to whisper in my ear, hands still on my neck, "It's the fact that you exist if you know what I-"

"STUPEFY!" Lily shouts.

His dead weight falls across me. I stare up at her freckled face, at her green eyes, thankfully. She's wonderful. Had I forgotten how beautiful she was? I lurch forward and slowly make to stand up, "I'm sorry, Lils."

"For what?"

"For everything," I wave at Snape's limp form. "For not telling you I cheated on you. For not apologizing."

She sighs, "It's alright." She stares at him with certain disgust. My heart lifts, "If Snape wants something nothing will stop him from trying to get it. Not even you."

"Is he why you didn't say yes at first? When I asked you to marry me?"

She nods. "Yes. I guess I have no right to claim you've been cheating on me, since he's been trying to get me to go out with him since then." She sighs. "We should probably get him out of here. So that he's not prosecuted as a predator."

I think we should leave him be, but don't say anything. I lift him into the dumpster.

"Do we have to wait until Kingsley gets here?" she asks.

I put an arm around her shoulders. "No… we can go…"

The black man nervously glances at me; he had been watching the whole time.

"You should wait here. Someone's coming to fix up that hand."

The man's face is contorted with emotion. He stares at the dumpster, where Snape's arm is sticking out at an angle, and back at me, whispering a nonsensical platitude, "You know… hate isn't de opposite of love… hate just be wounded love…"

I ignore him and walk on. Lily is wrapped in my arms, as it should be. "Let's get something to eat," I muse and she nods. "There's a lovely little shack around here that sells burgers and shakes…"