Snape spent the better part of the night tossing and turning. He couldn't sleep and seeing Mary again made Snape want to bury his head in shame. He could never forgive himself, that was laughable. He would never be able to look her in the eye, he would have to come clean. Snape cared too much about Mary to lie to her. He could do it in theory but he would be miserable with guilt.

Dawn came and although Snape had not slept a wink he was grateful to watch the sun come up. He would go to Mary, tell her the truth, and she would break up with him. Snape knew he deserved it so without putting it off any longer he got up and got dressed.

As he started making his way down to the Great Hall he started to wonder if he was doing this just to get with Lily. He thought about how he would feel after Mary broke up with him. Snape knew he would be broken, he already felt that way, he didn't think he would be in any position to be in a relationship with someone else, especially Lily, not after what happened.

Snape was almost to the Great Hall when he saw Lily walking towards him hurriedly and wordlessly drag him into a nearby empty classroom.

"What's going on?" asked Snape frowning.

"We need to go over our plan," said Lily. "There's more people in the Great Hall than I thought so I wanted to do this away from everyone."

"Plan?" asked Snape incredulously.

"Yes, it's very simple," said Lily talking fast. "Now last night in the library I modified Mary's memory so she wouldn't remember you were supposed to meet her. She might be a little confused this morning. You need to let her know it was probably because she was sick yesterday."

Snape stared at Lily hard.

"Lily….that part is fine but….I'm going to tell Mary. I have to. I won't be able to look at her after yesterday."

"What? You can't!" panicked Lily.

"I have to!" snapped Snape.

Lily looked stricken.

"Lily….I care more about Mary than I can say. I won't pretend that everything is fine."

"You don't understand," Lily choked out. "I can't be your girlfriend, Severus."

Something inside Snape died. He felt as if he was punched and someone had doused ice-cold water on him all at the same time. The gears in his head were turning hard.

"I wasn't going to ask you to be my girlfriend," said Snape coldly.

Lily's face drained of whatever color was left.

"Why would you say that to me?" asked Snape.

Lily looked down at the floor and started wringing her hands.

"Did yesterday even mean anything to you?" asked Snape menacingly. "Or was I just some sort of toy you wanted to play with? A toy that you were embarrassed to be seen with?"

"Of course yesterday meant something!" cried Lily. "But you're a Slytherin, this isn't going to work. You've seen what Mary goes through!"

Snape made a motion as if he was going to shake Lily but he stopped himself.

"You are so narrow-minded, even now," Snape seethed. "I can't believe I let myself be fooled by you, I thought you had changed. Don't come near me after this."

Snape moved toward the door-

"Colloportus!" shouted Lily.

The door locked. Snape looked at Lily in anger, her wand was still out.

"Obliviate!"

Lily left the door of the classroom open when she left, Snape was still inside in a daze. She made sure no one was in the hallway before making her way to the Great Hall. She sat down apprehensively and busied herself with making coffee. That had been close, if anyone had found out what she had done with Snape she would have been labeled a tart, just like Mary.

Snape came out of the classroom confused. How did he get down here? What happened last night? He vaguely remembered Jennifer and breakfast and then talking to Lily….Lily! They had had a conversation, she had apologized, and they were friends again. Snape smiled at the memory but then frowned when he realized he couldn't remember anything past them hugging.

He saw numerous students walk past him and into the Great Hall, he followed them. Snape went to the Gryffindor table and saw Lily, he sat down across from her. Lily smiled weakly at Snape.

"Good morning Severus," said Lily nervously.

"Morning Lily," said Snape evenly. He looked at her uncertainly.

"Do you happen to know where I went after we talked yesterday? I can't seem to remember."

"I think you went back to your common room," said Lily positively beaming at him. "You said you felt sick, you must have just passed out."

Snape frowned at this but as he couldn't remember anything himself he figured he would just have to trust that is what happened.

Snape drank his coffee and talked to Lily about her Potions homework. Breakfast was almost over when Mary showed up looking dazed.

"Morning Mary," murmured Snape. He kissed her gently on her cheek. "Are you alright?"

"Feel a bit odd is all," said Mary slowly as she sat down next to Snape. "I knew I was sick yesterday but I must have gotten worse somehow overnight. I'm feeling a bit better now though."

"Something must be going around," said Snape dismissively. "I got sick too last night, feel better now though."

"That's good," said Mary.

Mary seemed to notice Lily for the first time.

"Hello Lily," said Mary politely. "Are you and Severus talking again?"

"We are," said Lily lightly. "I apologized to him for how I've been acting."

"I accepted her apology," said Snape almost apologetically to Mary. His eyes met Mary's hazel ones and she sensed his trepidation.

"I'm glad," said Mary smiling at Snape. She turned her head to look at Lily. "Just treat him better this time, ok?"

Lily recoiled at the reprimand but she nodded, she forced herself to smile at Mary.

"Of course," said Lily pleasantly. "I'm so glad to have Severus back as my friend."