He watched her from a distance as she shopped. It had been several months since they had spoken. He assumed someone had grown suspicious of their relationship and she had decided to lay low for a while, but nevertheless he wanted her. He couldn't help himself anymore, no matter what the risk. After several hours of watching her shop, he slipped up behind her whispered in her ear, slipping one arm around her waist.

"Hey baby, let's go sneak off somewhere and I can show you how much I missed you."

He was caught by surprise as he felt his body being turned and smashed against the wall, his arm twisted behind his back and a wandpoint pressed against the back of his neck.

"Don't you dare touch me."

"Lily, it's me."

"Oh, I know who you are Severus Snape. And it's 'Auror Evans' to you."

He was too shocked for words. What had happened in these last few months to change her so much?

"I should arrest you right now, you vile Death Eater."

She released her hold from him and he turned to face her.

"Lily, what's going on with you?" He reached out his hand to caress her cheek, but she caught it and then slapped him in the face.

She spoke in a very serious tone, "Never touch me again. I mean it. I'm with James and you know it."

He took a step back.

"You're what?"

She held out her hand and the sun glinted off the diamond ring.

"I'm married."

He was speechless, heartbroken. She had told him she loved him and then gone and married another man. This explained the cold behavior, her wanting to pretend there had never been anything between them.

xxx

He was sitting in the back of the Leaky Cauldron when she found him. She had been looking for him for months. He was not an easy man to find. He was hooded and so was she. It had been several years since the last time she had seen him. She ordered a drink and slipped into the empty seat at his table. She could not see the look of surprise under the hood.

"Evans," he greeted her coldly, "I thought you made it perfectly clear several years ago that you wanted nothing to do with me."

"Severus," she spoke in a low voice, glancing around to make sure no one could overhear them, "I think someone put a memory charm on me. A dark one. I need your help. I keep having these flashes of…being with you…as if they're memories, as if they really happened, yet I have no memory of them."

He leaned forward.

"You have no memory of us?"

"Until that day when I slapped you, I don't remember seeing you since our graduation from Hogwarts."

"And Potter?"

She looked ashamed.

"Was I cheating on him?"

"No. Of course not. You caught him cheating on you and you broke up with him. We didn't start until after that."

"Who did this to me? Is there a way to undo the memory charm?"

"I will look through my books and contact some people, see if I can find anything that might work. Come to Spinner's End in a week and I'll try to help you."

A week later, she sat on his dusty sofa waiting as he fumbled around in the next room. She was nervous. She was a married woman, a mother, she should not be here with this man. She was an auror, she should really know better than to ask a death eater to tinker with her memories. But still, she had been getting these flashes that she could in no way reconcile with the memories she had. In her memories she had never so much as kissed the man in the next room…then how did she know what he looked like naked? Why did she keep getting these flashes of his touching her skin, of her touching his?

Finally he came into the room and handed her a vial filled with a thick green potion. She looked up at him disapprovingly.

"Yes, it's a dark potion. The memory charm used on you was a dark one so this is the only way to counteract it."

She nodded and gulped down the contents of the vial.

For several moments, nothing happened, then all of a sudden the memories came rushing back to her. She was filled with emotions had been repressed and forgotten but now came rushing to the surface. She cried for hours as he held her in his arms.

"I loved you," she said with a hint of amazement, "that's why Dumbledore stole my memories."

He said nothing, but continued to stroke her hair, trying to calm her down.

"I can't stay with James. I can't stay in a marriage I was tricked into."

"Then Dumbledore will know that you have your memories back. He will never let you out that easily. We know what he is capable of now, that he will stop at nothing."

"I will fake my death. It's the only way out."

So the plan was made. It was a risky one. They would create a false prophecy for him to bring to the Dark Lord, luring the Dark Lord into a trap. When he arrived at the Potter's house, Lily and Severus would be waiting to kill him. Once they did, they would make it appear that Lily and her son had died in the battle but not before killing their enemy. Then they would disappear with Severus, cutting off all contact to the wizarding world.