A/N : Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favourited or ar following this. To the guest who requested a Ron/Hermione story, I'll do it soon, I promise.

Meanwhile, enjoy this! You'll review, won't you? Pretty please?

Title: Alone

Pairing: Severus and Lily (one-sided)

Alone

Severus Snape sat in the library, staring at his Potions book without taking in a line of it. His black eyes simply stayed focused at one fixed point near the margin, unmoving, vacant. Somehow, despite Potions being his favourite subject, he found himself having no interest whatsoever in the recipe for brewing Felix Felicis, not today. Normally, he would be in the company of Avery and Mulciber now, but the two of them and their little gang had gone 'Mudblood hunting' again. Severus just wasn't feeling up to tormenting muggleborns, whose only crime was being born to non-magical parents, and so he had given them an excuse about finishing his Potions homework (they hadn't got any that week, in fact, but his 'friends' found academics too trivial a matter to keep track of, so he had got off with that).

He sat all alone at a table near the corner, feeling terribly lonely. Solitude did not usually bother him; he was used to it, in fact, but today, he couldn't help long for someone to sit beside and talk to him, smile at him, laugh with him. Particularly, a red-haired, green-eyed, Gryffindor someone. It had been over a year since Lily stopped talking to him. He had tried several times to make things up to her, but in vain. The best response his efforts had elicited was a sad smile and 'I am sorry, Severus, but you have chosen your path, and I have chosen mine'. The other occasions had been much, much worse.

He saw her every day, and how could he not, when she stood out so much among everything? He had tried to use any opportunity he got to talk to her, but there weren't too many of those. For one thing, she had taken to avoiding him, and rarely acknowledged him when they crossed paths. He had hoped potions classes to be one of those opportunities, but it wasn't quite as easy. Slughorn seemed to take immense pleasure in pitting his two favourite students against each other to pick out the best, and so kept them separated most of the time; and on those rare times when they did get paired, she said little more than 'Pass the knife, please,' or 'could I have the boomslang skin?' in a tone that people used on strangers.

Severus really, really missed his friend. After spending much of his childhood alone, he hadn't thought he would feel that lonely, but there was no denying that he did.

And there was another thing. Now that Lily no longer talked to him, he realised how much he had liked her. In fact, he found that he liked her much more than as just a friend. Severus Snape had never really known love, and he wasn't sure what was happening to him, but he sure began to crave Lily's company more than ever. Was this love? He did not know, and he was afraid.

There was a movement behind the shelf which he was facing. Severus looked up. His body stiffened with anticipation. It was none other than Lily Evans.

She carried a stack of books in her arms (always the bookworm, he thought fondly), and seemed to be in the process of selecting more. Even as he watched her critically scan through the rows and rows of books before her, evidently trying to decide which one she ought to pick, she seemed to sense his gaze and looked up. Their eyes met. Severus tensed. And then she did something completely unexpected. She smiled.

Severus felt his breath catch in his throat. He could not believe this. Lily... Lily was really smiling at him! He realised, after seemingly ages of gobsmacked staring, that the least he could do was return the favour, and his lips twitched up in a real smile. He hadn't smiled like that in months, and the upward curve of his lips felt strange, almost alien to him.

Her smile widened, and her eyes sparkled. Coming in a sec, she mouthed. Severus nodded eagerly; he could wait weeks if she promised to return. He hadn't felt this happy for so long!

She took a little more time, picking two books out of the shelf, and then walked towards him, the smile on her face lingering all the time. He quickly shifted his books to a pile on the side, so that she could keep hers next to them.

He could hear her coming, so close now, almost there, he could smell the soft perfume of vanilla of her shampooed hair...

She walked up to him, and passed right by him.

For a moment, Severus sat frozen, his eyes still trained on the books, held in place with shock. Then he looked up. She wasn't there. She was gone.

As his senses returned, he hurriedly turned in his seat. Lily was sitting down next to James Potter. As he watched, Potter reached forward and held her hand, and Lily blushed, and smiled all the time.

He could feel his eyes stinging. Blood rushed to his head as anger, grief, regret and jealousy swamped his mind. Lily hadn't smiled at him. She had smiled at Potter. She hadn't even noticed him, not once, all this while. He clenched his fists till his knuckles turned white. Why did it have to be Potter? Of all the people, why did it have to be him?

As the two began talking, a picture of friendship, perhaps even love, Severus collected his books and rushed out of the library.

He was alone. Forever alone.