Chapter 14 – Heartbreaking Clichés

Author's Note: Muahaha, hope you enjoyed that last chapter. Anyone who thinks that James and Ron's dreams were a little…crass, remember: they're adolescent boys. :) R&R, Enjoy!

A note had been delivered to Lily and James at breakfast that morning that said, in Dumbledore's loopy script, The Timeturner has arrived. You will be sent home tonight. Please tend to any unfinished business before dinner. Lily gulped. It was almost like he knew what she would be doing today.

After breakfast, she returned to her dormitory, where she proceeded to pace and wring her hands. Eventually, she sat down on her bed, conjured a quill, an ink bottle, and two bottles of ink out of midair, and began to write.

Down in the common room, Harry was showing James a ratty-looking piece of parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he intoned, James' grin growing bigger with each word.

"No way!" he exclaimed. "How'd you get your hands on our map?"

"Fred and George gave it to me in the third year," Harry said with a grin. They stared at a blot labeled Lily Evans pacing back and forth in the girls' dormitory. "She looks happy," he muttered. "Mischief managed. Oh hey, come up to the dormitory, I've got something else to show you."

Harry beat James up to the dormitory, and by the time James entered, Harry was nowhere to be seen. "Harry?" James asked. "Where'd you go? Ouch!" This last exclamation was due to the fact that Harry, concealed beneath his Invisibility Cloak, had just poked James in the back of the head. "No way!" James yelled again. "The Cloak, too?"

"Dumbledore gave it to me," Harry said, beaming.

James got an evil glint in his eye. "Get me under that cloak, Remus has a surprise coming to him." They trooped down to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and up to Remus' study. The door was slightly ajar, and they could see Remus facing away from the door at his desk, talking to Dumbledore's head in the fire. "…James and Lily are going home tonight," he said. "If there's anything you want to say, you should probably say it now." A smile played across Dumbledore's face as he saw the door slide wider open and he said "Well, I must be getting back to business."

"Of course, Albus," said Remus. Dumbledore's head disappeared with a pop!, and Remus felt a tug on his hair. "James," he said with a melancholy smile. "I know that's you."

"Moony!" James cried, revealing himself and Harry. "Look what I found in my son's trunk!"

Remus smiled in spite of the fact that Dumbledore's words were starting to weigh him down. James and Lily are going home tonight. This was it. He would never see the two of them again. Last time you thought that, you were proven wrong, he thought, looking at father and son wearing identical grins. But he knew that this time, it was for real. James might be a bit rambunctious, but he and Lily weren't stupid enough to make the same mistake twice. "Listen, James," he said, feeling his chest tighten. Wolves don't cry, he chastised himself, but then thought that James had changed. He wouldn't say that. "I've really loved being your friend." Harry took the start of a goodbye type speech as his cue to leave the room, which he did. "Even when I was pissed at you for getting detention again, or for not taking school seriously, or for dying Snape's robes red and gold or something…I'm so sorry," Remus choked. "I miss you every day. I just…I don't know. I sound like a girl."

Part of James wanted to agree, but then he told himself, be a man, Prongs. Take some of this maturity further than being a dad. "No," he said. "You don't. You sound like someone who's faced a war and a bunch of untimely deaths, and who never got to say what you wanted to say. You're a great friend. Got any messages you want me to take back?"

Remus smiled. "Tell me to stop wearing those stupid orange trainers. They make me look like such a prat."

"Done," James replied, and then the two Marauders were hugging. "You'll see me off, right?"

"Of course," Remus asked. "I'm supposed to be marking papers, but they can wait. Do you want to do something?"

James grinned. "I've got an idea."

While James and Remus were having their sentimental conversation, Lily was preparing for one of her own. Okay, Lily, she assured herself. You can do this. No, you have to do this, whether you can or not. She steeled herself and knocked on the door to Snape's office. "Enter," he said, sounding bored.

Lily stepped inside and closed the door behind her. "Hey, Sev."

"Lily," Snape breathed, standing up to conjure a chair for her. A high-backed black leather chair appeared in the middle of the cramped room, and she sat down stiffly. "How are you?" he asked.

"Um, I'm good," she said tentatively. "Listen, I came here to say something specific." Snape nodded, he'd put down his quill and parchment and was gazing at her. It was a little uncomfortable. Cool it, Lil, she ordered herself. It's Severus, just Sev. "I'm going back to my own time tonight at around six. And I just wanted to say that I love you." Snape's entire face lit up; it was the sort of expression she hadn't seen on his face since they were small kids and he was teaching her about magic. "But…I'm choosing James."

"What?" Snape asked, his face suddenly ashen. "Why? How can you choose him?"

"Sev, you really hurt me when you called me a Mudblood," Lily said, tears welling in her eyes. "I know that James would never hurt me like that."

"That's bullshit!" Snape shouted. Lily flinched, and her tears spilled over. "Potter has hurt you at least a thousand times! He put a picture of you in lingerie on the bulletin boards of every House in the school! And God knows what else! This just…doesn't make any sense!" In his outrage, a glass jar containing something pickled and slimy-looking exploded over his head.

Lily was sobbing now. "Why are you doing this? Why are you making this harder than it has to be? L-look, Sev, I will a-always love you. You know that. You were my f-first f-friend at Hogwarts, and I can't overlook that." She was taking huge gulps of air, trying to calm herself. Snape's eyes were still flashing, but he was trying to calm himself at the sight of how upset she was. "I will love you forever, but only as a friend. I'm so sorry." The thought of staying calm seemed ludicrous now, and she gave herself over to wordless, hysterical sobbing and gasps. "I know what you became. Ginny told me. I can't be with a Death Eater, Sev," she choked between racking sobs.

"I gave that up!" Snape said intensely. "I turned spy for the Order, because the Dark Lord was targeting you! I couldn't just let you die!"

"I know," Lily gasped. "But I shouldn't have been the reason to make you switch. You should have realized from the start that the slaughter of Muggles and the degradation of Muggle-borns is wrong, Severus. And when I get back to my time, I'm going to try my hardest to forgive you, if only to help ease some of your pain. But I can't be with you in that…way. I just don't feel that way towards you." Snape was crying too, now. Words had completely failed him. Lily, still shaking, walked over and hugged him. He hugged back, quavering. "I love you, Sev," Lily whispered, kissing him on the forehead.

"I love you too, Lily," Snape blubbered. "I'm going to miss you." Lily turned and walked out the door, waving and sniffling as she went, heading out of the tunnels and making a beeline for the kitchens. God, I need some chocolate, she thought, wiping her eyes on her robes.