Try as she might, Mary could not get her best friend to stop crying.

"Come on, Lils, this really isn't that big of a deal. You need to come out of the dormitory at some point. You can't cry forever."

"Why not?" Lily sobbed. "As far as I'm concerned, this is the worst thing that could have possibly happened. I'm such a horrible person!" she wailed, as a portrait of an old man with a long beard looked at her with concern.

Mary was puzzled. "Lily, I don't quite understand exactly why you're making such a big thing out of this." Lily took out a tissue and blew her nose.

"Did you not see his Patronus?" Lily demanded, her emerald green eyes swimming with tears. "Do you not understand what this means? He loves me, Mary. This is why he always had it in for poor James, and... and..." a fresh wave of tears overcame her as she struggled for words. "You remember when he came up to Gryffindor tower the day he called me a mudblood? He apologised, and I rejected the apology because I couldn't understand what would make me different from the other people he had called that disgusting name. Although I still can't forgive his pureblood supremacy," she continued, "this changes things."

"What are you saying, Lily?" Mary asked tentatively. "Do you love Snape?"

"No," Lily said firmly. "That's why I feel so guilty. Guilty for loving his archrival. Guilty for cutting off all ties with him. Guilty for..."

"Don't be silly," Mary said. "So you chose James. Snape'll get over it. You cut off all ties with him because you finally realised what a nasty piece of work he is. You are not a horrible person, in fact, you're probably the nicest person at Hogwarts."

Lily gave her a watery smile. "You really think so?" she asked.

"Of course," Mary responded, relieved that her friend seemed to be finally cheering up. "Now, do you want to go down to the Great Hall? The feast's probably not over yet and you look as though you could do with some food..."

"You go," Lily said. "There's something I have to do. I'll see you later." With that, Lily jumped to her feet and darted out of the girls' dormitory. By the time Mary had got up herself and descended the spiral staircase to the Gryffindor common room, Lily had already disappeared.

Lily knew exactly where to go. How much time had she and Severus spent lurking down by the boathouse by the lake, feeding fish to the birds? She ran down the seemingly endless stone steps as fast as she could without slipping, which was a tricky feat considering the rain was pouring down them in sheets, like a waterfall. Despite the fact that her wand was lighting her a path, it was so dark that the occasional flashes of lightning illuminating her way were welcome.

Lily fought to keep her balance as she heard the rumble of thunder, closely followed by a spectacular fork of lightning. Her red hair was plastered to her face and her robes were soaked through, as she'd neglected to cast the impervius charm before leaving the castle, but she didn't care. All that was important was that she found Severus.

Just before she reached the boathouse, Lily muttered "nox," and the light on the tip of her wand went out.

Snape had been sitting on his own on the platform in the boathouse since running out of Defence Against the Dark Arts that morning, reliving memories of afternoons spent with Lily. A deluge of rain poured down on the boathouse roof, tiny hammers striking metal, as Snape frowned. Lily had never liked the rain, he thought, closing his eyes. She preferred sunshine, it matched her perpetual mood.

As he opened his eyes, he saw a slim silhouette outlined by the gloom. He rubbed his eyes, certain he'd been imagining it. It's just because you were thinking about her, Snape thought to himself. However, when he opened his eyes again the silhouette was still there, and after a second there was another flash of lightning, and Snape caught sight of a pair of bright green eyes behind a curtain of sopping hair. His eyes widened as he realised he wasn't hallucinating; Lily was really there, and she had come to find him herself after the disastrous lesson earlier. This thought cheered him up. Suddenly, Lily spoke.

"I'm sorry," she said, as she turned around and started walking back up to the castle. Snape panicked. He was so convinced she was here to tell him that she'd left James, that she really loved him, it was something of a shock when it became apparent that she wasn't going to say anything else. Snape decided to call out to her.

"Couldn't you..."

Lily stopped walking, but didn't turn around. "No, Sev, I can't. I love James. I'm sorry," she repeated. As she continued walking up the stairs, Snape knew there was no hope. Lily, HIS Lily, had made up her mind.

"I love you," he said quietly, certain the small figure already on the steps couldn't hear him over the roar of the rumbling thunder.

Author's notes: I would just like to thank everybody for taking the time to read this, and special thanks to those who have reviewed. I would also like to apologise to the Snily shippers who I may have inadvertently lured here, expecting to see the two get together. I'm sorry, but to me James was always the right person for Lily and I wanted to reiterate that she did choose him over Snape. I have indeed always loved the fact that Snape loved Lily (I actually spotted it after reading PoA), but he was a genuinely unpleasant person and I don't think he'd have been good for her. Thanks for listening to my ramblings. :)