For Nanaho-Hime's Bizarre Pairings challenge. FrankLily.

Thanks SoUsay234 for beta-reading it!

"Lily!" Severus waves his hand in front of Lily's eye and calls her name again.

"You're not paying attention, Lily," he states when she finally looks at him.

"Sorry, I was distracted," she replies.

He wants to say he notices how distracted she is every time Frank Longbottom is in the room, but he doesn't.

"It's okay. Here look at it," he says pointing out the Transfiguration textbook. "I don't understand that."

He's happy to see her attention is back to him and listens carefully to something he already understood anyway, but her voice is so beautiful.

It's crazy; but it annoys him whenever someone else takes her attention. Anyone really, even if it's one of the girl's in her dorm, he feels like they are going to try to take her away from him and he doesn't want that. He loves her too much.

He understood that feeling a while ago, back in their third year. The jealousy and animosity he feels for the Marauders, and Potter in particular, had been the first clue.

But now it's getting worse. Sure James Potter enervates him with his star-struck look every time he sees her and his stupid game of asking her out every single weekend. But Lily doesn't play his game and doesn't like him.

That's why it is worst with Frank. Because he's funny and charming and nice and when he talks to her he doesn't look ridiculously star-struck. And Lily actually likes him.

Lily's hand on his arm snaps him from his reverie.

"This time is you who was distracted," she says.

"I wasn't distracted!" he complains. "We should be going, it's almost curfew," he adds. She nods and they leave.

Like every time, he walks her to the crossroads corridor between Slytherin and Gryffindor dorms. She rants about how James has been a pain this week and he agrees with her, Potter is a jerk. But then, she talks about Frank and how charming he is with her and everyone. She rarely confides her love interests with him; she knows it will hurt him. But not this time, this time, she lets her heart speak.

"He's handsome," she says and blushes. Severus can tell that she really is into him. It's hard for him. He wishes she could see him like she sees Frank: handsome and courageous and interesting. He wishes Lily will never be Frank's, but his.

Fate hears him and he smiles at what he sees.

They are almost there when they see Frank and Alice flirting. And Lily's hopes are shattered. Severus sees a sad look crossing Lily's beautiful features and he recognizes it. It's the same look he sees in the mirror every morning, a deception look. Because he knows Lily will never be his, she will never see him like she sees Frank and the other boys. He will always be Severus, her best friend.

Alice laughs at some joke Frank made, Frank looks delighted and happy. And Lily knows that Frank belongs to Alice. And it hurts her.

It hurts Severus too, to see her like that, and he almost wishes that he hadn't wished.