"Evans?"
Lily looked up from the book she had been reading and frowned. Three people stood in front of her, their faces obscured by the sunlight blinding her eyes. "Yes?" She answered warily, tilting her head to the side, trying to get a proper look at who was talking to her. "Can I help you?"
"It's not a Wizarding name, is it?" The tone was slightly amused, mostly disparaging.
Curiosity turned into anger. Of course. Never mind that she had been Head Girl. Never mind that she had received near perfect marks in her NEWTS. Never mind that she had been a beloved member of the Slug Club, president of the Charms Club and had been the first in their year to Apparate successfully.
"No," she snapped, "it's not. It's a common, plain as day, perfectly Muggle name and Irish to boot. I don't mean to be rude, but if you're about to start nattering on about blood purity and how I shouldn't be allowed to set foot in the Alley, I'm not interested." She started gathering her things together. So much for a peaceful day in Diagon Alley.
"I would stay, if I were you. I think you'll find it prudent to listen to what we have to say." This voice was achingly familiar.
She froze, hand hovering over her bag. "Sev?"
One of the dark figures stepped forward, blocking the glare from the sun, his face sliding into view. Beside him Lily recognised Avery and a tall man with pale hair that she knew from the Daily Prophet, suspected of colluded with the Death Eaters, but impossible to pin proof to. He had been a few years ahead of her in Hogwarts, and his name escaped her now. The old crowd then, Lily thought sadly.
"Lily." He inclined his head in a slight nod, expressionless. His eyes, the same eyes that she used to stare into over Potions textbooks, the same eyes that used to meet hers, crinkled with laughter, when Slughorn was being particularly obnoxious, the same dark eyes she had known since she was a little girl, met hers and she saw the warning in them.
"Severus is correct, Lily Evans. It would be very prudent indeed of you to listen." Avery spoke this time. If she had been inclined to look towards him, she would have been unsettled by the way he was eyeing her, but she couldn't take her eyes off Severus. She hadn't seen him since Hogwarts, almost two months ago, hadn't spoken to him for longer, and seeing him again, seeing him unexpectedly and with these people was like a punch to the gut. She had always hoped, deep down, that he would make the right choice in the end.
"All right." She said slowly, though she wasn't sure what they could possibly have to say to her that wasn't slurs against her blood. If they were here to tell her they would try to kill her one day, well she already knew that. She had known that for many years now.
It is because she is staring straight at him that she notices the slight loosening of Severus' shoulders, the faint relief in his eyes. It's infinitesimal, this small release, but she knows him. Knew him.
Now the older man steps forward, hands folded behind his back. He never quite meets her gaze, which has shifted from Severus, and instead chooses to look somewhere slightly above her head. In anyone else she would think it was nerves or shame. She knows better.
"I shall be direct with you, Miss Evans. Your talents have not gone unnoticed. Severus tells us that you are adept with Charms and Potions and we think you could be…useful in our endeavors. The Dark Lord wishes you to join Him and has sent us to extend this offer."
There was a brief silence in which the distant sounds of children laughing could be heard, the hustle and bustle of Diagon Alley drifting through the hot summer's air, and then it was broken by laughter. By loud, unrestrained, disbelieving laughter.
Severus closed his eyes.
Lily continued to laugh, wiping at her eyes when the tears started to fall. "I'm sorry," she spluttered, "I'm so sorry, I don't mean to be rude." The complete absurdity of the situation - she, a Muggle-born, being asked to join the Voldemort by her childhood best friend - was too much. It was either laugh or cry, and Lily found that she didn't much like the idea of crying in front of these monsters. "Did you really think that I would agree? You lot want me dead, or have you forgotten about that? I'm a Mudblood, remember? I'm not even supposed to have a wand, let alone be tainting other Wizards with my very existence."
The man smirked. "Quite right, Miss Evans. However the Dark Lord is willing to overlook the uh…issue…of your blood as a favour for Severus." Lily's eyes darted to Severus, who was watching her intently. "The Dark Lord is gracious, Miss Evans, but He is not patient. You will accept this offer, now, or you will die with the rest of your kind."
Lily felt the hysterical laughter bubbling up inside of her again. It was like something out of a movie, a terrible, cheesy movie from the 1960's. Only, it was a movie turned upside down. Good people died in horrible ways, the bad guys got away with it, there was no young, handsome hero ready to save the day. She couldn't turn this movie off if she didn't like the ending.
"Lily." Severus spoke, his voice low and urgent. "Think carefully about this. You'll only have one chance."
She looked at him, really looked at him, noticing the dark circles under his eyes, the lank hair, the scratches on his hand, the old ink stains on his fingers. She looked at him for the first time in a long time and realised that he was no longer Sev, the little boy that would wait for her at the park and talk to her about Hogwarts and all the amazing things they would do there. He was no longer Sev, her best friend, who would listen to her babble about her new favourite book for hours on end. Somewhere along the line she had lost that little boy, her best mate, her confidant. He had been replaced with the person standing before her.
"What would happen to James?" She asked quietly, and Severus flinched at the name, his lip curling in hatred. "What would happen to my family? To Petty? What about Mary and Greta and Edward? You remember Edward don't you Severus? He's a Muggle-born, like me. We used to tutor him in Potions. What would happen to him? Why should I be spared and no one else? How could I turn my back on them? How could I join you, knowing that one day I would be facing them at the end of my wand, to kill them? How could you ask me to do that?"
"Because you are more important then they are." His eyes bored into hers, begging her to understand. "They are nothing. They are worthless. You are…you are everything, Lily, everything and I would do anything...say anything…anything to keep you with me."
She dropped her gaze. She had come to Diagon Alley by herself, wandering past the shops, pretending that she was going to Hogwarts one last time. It was easy to pretend, for only a moment, that she would soon be on her way back to the school, where she knew she was safe, where the reality of the war hadn't set in yet. At Hogwarts she could still convince herself that everything would be ok, for just a little bit longer. Instead, here she was, Death Eaters in front of her, asking her to join them.
"I'm not better then anyone." She looked straight into Severus' eyes when she said this, resolve hardening. "My life is not worth more then anyone else's. I won't do it Severus."
"You would rather die then?"
"I would rather die fighting to protect what I believe in then live by betraying my friends."
"That reeks of Potter's special brand of noble stupidity." Severus spat, eyes glittering with hatred.
Lily lifted her chin proudly. "Yes, it does."
"There was a time," his voice was uneven, cheeks flushed, "when you would have chosen me over him."
"You made your own choice long ago Sev." Lily replied quietly. "You chose the wrong side and I can't follow you."
"Can't or won't Lily?"
She hesitated only for a moment. "I won't."
His eyes fluttered shut, the colour draining from his face. When he stepped away from her, all emotion had been wiped from his face. And though, only a moment ago, he had been Sev, and she had known him, now a dark haired stranger stared at her.
"That is your answer?" The blonde man demanded, lips curling into a satisfied smile. "Very well. I can't say I'm disappointed."
He began to draw his wand, but before he had the chance Lily whipped out her own wand, never far from her hand nowadays, and shouted a spell.
There was a loud bang and the air was filled with dust and dirt. The men started yelling and coughing and Lily leapt to her feet, sprinting down the Alley before they could clear the debris and follow.
She rounded a corner, ignoring the startled gasp of a woman she barreled into and Apparated home with a faint pop.
When she was nine years old, she made a choice to leave her sister behind and follow the strange dark haired boy back to the park. There they had sat, in the dusty grass, talking in low voices about a magical school filled with ghosts ands beasts and wonder.
When she was eleven, she had chosen to leave her housemates behind and followed her friend, Sev, through the corridors, choosing to sit with him in classes, heads close together as they poured over magical theory. He showed her everything his mother had taught him about Potions, about spell theory. He taught her everything she knew about the magical world and its quirks. They explored Hogwarts together on rainy days, intentionally losing themselves in long, dimly lit corridors, trailing their hands along dusty walls and tapestries.
When she was thirteen, she had chosen to leave her misgivings behind and believed Sev's insistence that he didn't mean to hurt him, he had no idea that the spell would cause so much damage, how could he have? If he had truly known the spells power, would he have used it? She ignored the small voice that whispered yes, ignored the heaviness in her heart that noticed the pleasure in his eyes, the way he caressed the spell books with a twisted love. She ignored because she loved him and that was enough.
When she was fifteen, she had chosen to walk away from him and follow her instincts, all the way back to her bed, where she had cried until her pillow was soaked through and her head ached. She had lost her best friend to the Dark Arts and to power, she wailed to Mary, she hadn't been good enough to keep him safe. She'd failed him. Why didn't he love her the same way she loved him? She was too young to know that he did love her, as much as any fifteen year old boy can love someone, but not as much as he loved being in control. She was too young to know that she didn't love him nearly as intensely as she thought she did, only as much as any fifteen year old girl loves her best friend. She was too young to know that broken hearts don't last forever.
When she was seventeen she had chosen to say yes and follow her heart. She had learnt that sometimes you had to let go, that you couldn't always save everyone. She had learnt, as one of her favourite Muggle bands sang, that you can't always get what you want. Sev wasn't going to come back to her, she couldn't fix it this time. He wouldn't let her anymore. So she had said yes, after two years of saying no. She and James had a lovely time at Hogsmeade. He made her laugh like no one had ever done before, loud belly laughs that brought tears to her eyes and turned her face red. James would always smile when she laughed like this because, to him, it was when she was the most beautiful.
When she was almost eighteen she had chosen to say no and follow her convictions. She saw her oldest friend, once her dearest friend, for the last time and though the words weren't spoken, they both knew it was good bye.
Three years later Lily Potter would choose to lay down her life for her only son.
Three years later Severus Snape would make the right choice too late.
A/N: And then he made all the wrong choices again by deciding to be an unforgiving twat and pick on innocent First Years for no real reason...ahh Severus Snape. You are one of my favourite characters because you're so flipping flawed.
Just another story I've had floating around for a while.