Love lost

Love lost

Snape's worst memory

Snape had just finished his Defence against the Dark Arts OWL. It had gone reasonably well and he was exhausted, so he desperately wanted to get back to the Slytherin common room and relax. Before he headed off to the dungeons, however, he decided to go for a walk near the lake.

Stowing his OWL paper into his bag, he set off across the grass, in the direction of the lake. As he walked, his thoughts turned to Lily. They had been together for six months now and where still going steady. He couldn't imagine life without her. He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and James Potter sitting not ten feet away from him.

"All right Snivellus?" said Potter loudly.

Snape froze. His books fell out of his arms, unnoticed. He whipped out his wand and turned to face his worst enemy.

Potter marched up to him until they were almost nose to nose. "I asked you a question!" he said, menacingly.

Snape sneered. "So what?"

Potter shrugged and turned back to his friends. Snape breathed a sigh of relief. He had been expecting an attack. Shoving his wand back into his pocket he went to leave.

There was a flash of light and Snape found himself hanging upside down, revealing his underwear. He groaned inwardly at his foolishness. He screamed curses at Potter but his wand, which had fallen to the ground, barely twitched.

Potter twirled his wand, forcing Snape to spin around in the air to face him. He sniggered and called over to Black. "Come on, Padfoot! Come help me take off Snivelly's pants!"

Black roared with laughter and jogged over. He pointed his wand at Snape and muttered something under his breath. Snape felt himself go rigid.

"Leave him ALONE!"

Potter and Black looked round. Potter's free hand immediately jumped to his hair.

It was as if the world had stopped. Snape was so embarrassed. What should he do? Their relationship was a secret, so he could hardly ask her to help.

"All right, Evans?" said Potter.

"Leave him alone," Lily repeated. She was looking at Potter with every sign of great dislike. This pleased Snape, but he was still very worried. "What's he done to you?"

Potter lifted his shoulders and spread out his hands in front of him. This seemed to make Lily even angrier, as she turned a delicate shade of red. "Let him down, NOW!"

Potter frowned and shook his head. "No, I don't think I will..."

Lily folded her arms across her chest and growled: "Now, Potter!"

He laughed. "I would if..."

She groaned. "If what?"

"I will if you go out with me, Evans," said Potter quickly. Snape glanced up quickly at this, his face whitening. "Go on... go out with me and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again."

Lily, whose furious expression had twitched for an instant as though she was going to smile, said, "Let him down!" Snape was confused. Surely she didn't find this even slightly amusing?!

"Certainly," said Potter and he jerked his wand upwards; Snape found himself falling into a crumpled heap on the ground. Disentangling himself from his robes he got quickly to his feet.

Potter sighed deeply and turned to Snape. 'There you go,' he said, as Snape struggled to his feet. 'You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus -'

"I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!"

Lily blinked. Snape immediately felt terrible. What did he say that?

"Fine," she said coolly. "I won't bother in the future. And I'd wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus." Snape tried to apologise with his eyes, but she wasn't having any of it. He could see he had hurt her but she would forgive him, wouldn't she?

"Apologise to Evans!" Potter roared at Snape, his wand pointed threateningly at him.

"I don't want you to make him apologise," Lily shouted, rounding on Potter. Snape frowned slightly. "You're as bad as he is."

She turned on her heel and hurried away. Snape wanted to call after her, but he knew he couldn't.

She never looked back. This bothered Snape, but he assumed that she would forgive him eventually. He had never meant it after all. Little did Snape know that Lily would never forgive him. He didn't realise, at just sixteen, that this was to be the moment he would live to regret for the rest of his life. That this was the day when he would lose her love for eternity.