Summary: She watched him grow, year after year; a boy into a man. But the only thing they had in common was unrequited love. Woman is unnamed. [Revised/reposted.]

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

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The Woman Who Loved Severus Snape

By: Kikushi

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Snow. It shimmered and twirled down from the sky in a chilling breeze when she first saw him. The school was left almost vacant as students traveled back to their warm homes for Christmas break. Every step she took echoed in the empty halls of the castle. She must have been on the third floor when a movement from outside the window caught her eye. Slowly, she made her way closer to the window, her eyes never leaving the lone figure outside in the snow.

He was practicing magic. She frowned. Had he no friends to be with? She watched for a good ten minutes as he pranced around in the cold, not wearing anything other than his school robes, his wand clutched tightly in his fist. Finally, he gave a last flick of his wand and stowed it in his pockets. After watching the boy head back inside the castle, she left the window and descended downstairs to the second floor without any particular destination in mind. She didn't want to admit it herself, but all of her friends had headed back to their homes, leaving her with their dorm all to herself. Not that she minded, of course. All she had to do now was to find something to preoccupy her thoughts while her friends were absent. First things first, though. She needed some breakfast.

As she neared the Great Hall, two ghosts floated past her in deep discussion.

"Poor kid. He's been out there for quite a few hours now… Woke up at dawn."

"You don't say? I wonder why he didn't go home for the break."

"Ha! That kid is better off here than back home. Haven't you heard? He's the Snapes' son… Severus Snape."

She blinked, staring after the two ghosts. Surely, they were talking about the boy that had been outside. Without another thought, she entered the Great Hall, eyeing the four, long, almost-bare tables. The Ravenclaw table was occupied with only two students, both chatting animatedly over toast and pumpkin juice. Next to it, the Gryffindor table consisted of a few more students, while Hufflepuff lay completely empty. In Slytherin, she noticed the boy that had been practicing magic eating all alone. She eyed her usual spot at the Ravenclaw table and turned her head slowly to the Slytherin table. She frowned in thought.

True, the boy might be exactly like every other Slytherin in the planet. He might even insult her, seeing as she was a half-blood. She turned her head again to the Ravenclaw table. Then again, she wasn't exactly thrilled to be joining the two most arrogant geniuses in Ravenclaw. They were sure to pelt her with unanswerable riddles as soon as she settled herself on the table. Glancing at the teachers' table, she made her way quickly to the lonely boy, rummaging through her pockets for something that she could give as a peace offering. She pulled out a hand full of sugar quills and fizzing whizzbees that she had bought in Honeydukes on her last trip to Hogsmeade. She grimaced. Candy.

The boy looked up from his toast as she neared him. His dark night eyes never left her face as she sat across him and grabbed a piece of buttered toast. They sat across each other, both staring at the other and eating wordlessly. As she picked up a goblet of pumpkin juice, the boy's eyes traveled downward to her other hand, clutching sugar quills and fizzing whizzbees in a fist. She watched as his eyes settled curiously at the candy she was holding.

"…Do you want one?" she asked him softly.

His head snapped up quickly to look at her. For a moment, it looked as if he was deciding whether or not to yell at her to leave or to respond to her question. The latter prevailed.

"What are they?" he asked, naturally curious.

She tilted her head and stared at him intently. When she couldn't detect any hint of a joke, she responded. "Sugar quills and fizzing whizzbees…. You've never had any?"

"No," the boy told her sharply. Then he glared at her, as if daring her to laugh at him.

She smiled at him instead, and it was clearly obvious that it was not what he had been expecting, for his toast slipped an inch from his fingers before he caught it again in his hold.

"That's good then," she said, pushing her sweets towards him. "Then you can have them. Sugar quills are good in class. You can suck on them all you want and all it ever looks is as if you're thinking about what to write next."

She watched and waited as the boy hesitantly lifted a sugar quill to his eye to examine.

"The other one," she continued when he did not say anything, "is quite fun, actually. Fizzing whizzbees makes you levitate for a while. I wouldn't eat those during class if I were you."

It could've very well been her imagination, but she just knew that she saw a shadow of a smile flicker upon his pale, white face. He looked up to meet her eyes and silently asked her with his own dark, gleaming eyes why she was being nice to him. Him- a Slytherin.

She just smiled at him, drained the last of her pumpkin juice, got up, and walked away.

Severus Snape frowned. He wanted answers. And answers he would get.

For a while, she hung out in the library, where she eyed the restricted books with fascination and greed, all the while, unaware of a pair of midnight eyes that watched her from behind the shelves.

When she had finished a very interesting book about Pygmypuffs, she got up to return the book to its proper place. Severus Snape was trapped. He had no way of exiting without being seen. And so he was seen. She blinked up at him with her eyes, wide and curious.

"…Hello," she whispered softly to him. But she did not leave. She stood in front of him, waiting, waiting. He looked down at her, for she was a head shorter than he. He nodded curtly, not wishing to talk.

She looked satisfied. She gave him a sweet smile and left him feeling warm inside. For lunch and for dinner, she ate with him again, giving him an almost-silent but comfortable, company. For the last few days of Christmas break, they ate together and passed very few words occasionally.

And she learned something. She was falling in silent, unspeakable love with the loner.

When her friends finally returned and studies resumed, she noticed that he no longer paid her any mind, for his mind was occupied by one person only. Lily Evans.

He would only acknowledge her presence during the very few days of another year's Christmas break. Every time she would meet him in the halls of the castle, she would give him a sad, weak, smile and he would give her a brief glance and look away. When she was out of his sight, she would shut her eyes to prevent any tears from falling and bite her lower lip in an attempt to swallow down her sobs. Once her eyes were again, opened, she was late for class. Her lower lip, bleeding.

She watched silently, year after year, as the boy grew into a man. Oh, how she hoped that the man would not ache so much for Lily, but for her instead. There came a time when the man's eyes were suddenly filled with sorrow and longing, bitter sadness and frustration. And she understood. Unrequited love.

Then one miraculous day, she was paired up with him in Potions class. She was so happy- but afraid at the same time. Together, they made a very successful and powerful poison at which the boy- no, the man, frowned at.

"What's that matter?" she asked him.

He frowned at the cauldron of hot, bubbling blue poison before turning his head to her. "If this really is a powerful poison…" he mumbled in a low voice, "and if someone were to drink it by accident…"

She smiled at him again. That was the longest sentence that he had ever spoken to her. Bravely, she placed a tender hand on his shoulder and pulled him down so that she could whisper in his ear. His eyes had widened and his eyebrows had shot up, but he did not stop her. He listened intently as the next few words left her mouth in a whisper.

"Just shove a bezoar down their throats."

She let him pull away and look at her questioningly.

"A bezoar," she told him, "cures any poison, though they are hard to get."

Her face glowed with pleasure as she watched him write it down in his potions book. For the remainder of the year, he shifted his attention back to Lily. His heart started to shatter, piece by piece, and as she watched him break, her own heart was choking with pain.

Then Lily Evans broke the friendship with Severus. The man was practically walking dead around the castle. Once, when she met his gaze in the hallways, she broke out into a sob and ran for the nearest bathroom, unable to look at his heartbroken expression. She did not see the startled look that crept momentarily onto his face, for it had disappeared as soon as he spotted Lily with her friends at the other end of the hallway, and it was replaced with undisguised sorrow.

The last year at Hogwarts was torture. Lily Evans and James Potter- together. It had broken the man's heart. And with his heart broken- hers when with it. Night after sleepless night, she would creep out of the common room and wander endlessly around the castle until she would get caught by a Professor and sent back to her dorm. Unwillingly she went, and so did her house points. Once, she thought she saw another student wandering. She didn't have a chance, however, to see who it was, for a Professor had caught her.

The time came when she and her friends finally graduated Hogwarts. They hugged, celebrated, and talked about what they would do with their life. While everyone else was celebrating in the Great Hall, she slipped away and walked around the castle for a while, trying to remember every single detail about it. It had become her home away from her so-called-home. She smiled sadly, her lower, bruised lip, trembling. Her vision became blurred with tears when she finally reached the same window on the third floor where she had first seen him years ago.

Confident that she was alone, she let the tears spill from her lids onto her cheeks. Shakily, she lifted a hand to cover her mouth and muffle her sobs. "I'm finally leaving home," she said out loud, her voice shaking.

But she was not alone. Again, she failed to notice the boy she had watched grow into a man as he watched her. He heard her words and mouthed them, taking them as his own. I'm finally leaving home. As she turned away from the window, wiping her eyes, she caught sight of the man. They looked at each other for a moment and his eyes seemed to be telling her good-bye. With a swish of his cloak, he walked away from her, leaving her with newly found tears streaking down her cheeks. I'm finally leaving home.

And so she left her castle-home, along with the man. They went their own separate ways, thinking about what would happen to them now.

The years passed by slowly for both of them. Then finally, she heard the shocking news from a fellow wizard. She knew in an instant where he would be. So she went there. She saw him. He was crying. Her heart ached for him, but she didn't dare come close. She watched from a distance as the man fell to his knees in front of Lily's grave, his hands covering his face. After a really long while, he lifted a hand and lovingly stroked the tombstone to where Lily's name was carved onto. He started to talk to the grave and she couldn't take it anymore. She disapperated with a very loud crack to who-knows-where and cried and cried and cried, guiltily knowing that she had broken the moment between Severus and Lily's grave. But selfishly, she didn't give a damn.

The second news didn't come as a surprise to her. Severus- her Severus- was teaching at Hogwarts. He had been teaching for a while now, though the late news had only reached her ears presently. She smiled when she had heard. He was back at her castle-home. She would get permission from Dumbledore every week to come and visit, secretly watching Severus teach and laughing every time he would hold a noticeable grudge towards James Potter's son.

She was delighted when Dumbledore had given her his permission to be in the Order, working as an unnamed spy in far away countries. She had been seeking for things to do since her leave in Hogwarts years ago. For a few years, she finally felt content with her life as a spy, unmercifully killing any Death Eaters (which were very few, actually) who came across her path. Her weekly visits to Hogwarts became monthly as He-who-must-not-be-named grew stronger and stronger. She was sent farther and farther away from Hogwarts to the point that she actually forgot about Severus for a while.

Finally, she came back to the castle. She was in the middle of her reports about the strange happenings in Durmstrang to Dumbledore when he burst in the office angrily. She immediately halted her speech and looked at him, lips slightly parted. Her Severus. He looked at her, clearly surprised. She had expected him to back away and apologize to Dumbledore for interrupting, but he kept on staring at her with the most puzzled expression on his face. What is he staring at? She wondered. Could it be that he actually recognized her? Her heart leapt at that thought hopefully. She knew that her hair had grown to an extraordinary length, for she had not the heart recently to get a decent haircut… but could it be that he recognized her? Severus- recognize…her? After all these years?

She beamed at him, blushing shyly and giving him the smile that she reserved just for him. Dumbledore cleared his throat, evidently noticing something.

"Severus, if you'd wait outside for a few more minutes?"

He looked away from her and gave Dumbledore a curt nod. "Certainly."

She finished giving Dumbledore every detail, though, making it extra-long knowing that Severus was dying outside with curiosity for every minute he waited. She opened the door to leave and closed it behind her, catching Severus's eye and grinning playfully. He was standing beside the door.

"After all these years," she told him. He said nothing but watched her. She waited for him to go inside Dumbledore's office, but he made neither move nor motion to go. She blushed harder under his intense stare and looked away. Determined to break the silence, she rummaged through her pockets and pulled something out. His eyes followed her fist as she pulled it out from her robe pocket. She stretched her arm towards him and he took what she just had.

"What's this?" he asked, bringing the object closer to his face.

She laughed good-naturedly. "That's Drooble's Best Blowing Gum," she said at his confused face, "Since you didn't know what sugar quills and fizzing whizzbees were, I figured you never had Drooble's best blowing gum."

Severus Snape blinked, shocked. Not very sure how to respond to this random act of kindness, he whispered, "You remember…?"

For a split second, she felt like she was stabbed, but she quickly recovered, knowing that he didn't mean it in a harsh way. She smiled. "Of course I remember! This kind of gum can fill the room with bubbles that won't pop for days… I thought you could use a little fun for a change."

Severus looked at her, his mouth slightly agape.

"Severus?" Dumbledore called from inside his office.

He didn't move. He felt as if he should say something- a thank you- anything. But nothing would come out from his mouth.

"You better go," she said kindly, walking away. After a few long strides, she stopped and turned around. He was still there, staring after her. She took one last, long look at his face sadly as if it would be the last time she would ever see him. His eyebrows furrowed together and she realized that he must be seeing the sadness and pain etched on her face. He looked like he was trying to read her mind… trying to figure her out… trying to find a reason why she had suddenly reappeared in his life.

She couldn't answer him, and so with a sad, forced smile, she left.

A year later, she heard more news. Albus Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of all time and the only one you-know-who ever feared, was dead. Severus Snape had killed him. A sick feeling formed itself in her stomach. And so she went to Godric's Hollow, hoping to find some answers. He was there again, kneeling in front of her grave, but not crying.

"…forgive me, Lily. It was his intentions."

And she looked down, knowing that she would not find answers- for she was living and of no value whatsoever, and Lily was dead, with the greatest importance of knowing everything that lay within Severus Snape's heart.

Knowing she should not be listening at all, she walked away quietly, respectful enough not to disapperate like last time. For once, she was glad for the night, for no one would be able to see her crying face.

A few weeks since Dumbledore's death, word has gotten out. He-who-must-not-be-named is now back and more powerful than ever. He was also under control of everything- the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts- under Severus's watch, Hogsmeade… Death Eaters walk safely in pure daylight, smirking now that no one was able to touch them. Hearing this simply made her blood boil. She set out for her castle-home, not wanting anymore to be away from it. And so she arrived in Hogsmeade. She lied to some Death Eaters and sneaked her way to the castle, casting her perfect, silvery Patronus to ward off any Dementors that she might come across.

Everything that happened in the next couple of hours was a big blur, as it happened all so fast to her. The next moment that she blinked, everything was chaos. Students not yet of age were being evacuated from the school and the others- teachers, of-age-students, Aurors, people from the Order- they were running all over her castle-home and fighting to the death with you-know-who's followers.

"Severus," she whispered, looking around for him frantically. She refused to believe it. She refused to believe that her Severus would actually submit himself to you-know-who's hands. After all the years she had spent watching him? After spending every Christmas break in Hogwarts with him? She felt that she knew him well enough.

"HAGRID! COME BACK!"

She whirled around in time to see a familiar face. Lily and James's son- Harry Potter. He was dashing madly after a swarm of spiders. She watched as he disappeared into the shadow-filled grounds of the school, a girl and a red-headed boy hot on his trail.

She stood, unsure as to whether she should follow the boy or not. He was Lily's son, after all. Severus, she was sure, would want her to protect his love's son. She took no more than a step when a killing curse was blasted at her, missing her head by a few inches. Turning, she shot her own curse at her attacker and they dueled for a good fifteen minutes before her second Avada Kedavra curse hit. She watched bitterly as her attacker fell to the ground.

Hastily, she ran into the dark grounds of her castle-home, after Lily's son. As she had been expecting, Harry Potter was gone from sight. A sudden pain in her heart caused her to fall down on her knees. She looked around, her wand ready- but no one on the grounds was paying any attention to her. They were all caught up in fighting one another. She frowned, placing a hand over her rapidly beating and aching heart. What happened? She gasped in surprise when she heard you-know-who's voice for the second time that day. This time, he ordered his followers to retreat and demanded to meet Harry Potter in an hour in the forest.

Shakily, she got back on her feet, her heart still bursting from pain. When she turned, she spotted something moving from the distance. It was Harry and his friends, crawling from somewhere out of the Whomping Willow and heading towards the castle. Not wanting to interfere, she cast a disillusionment charm on herself and watched as the trio reached the stone steps and headed inside the castle. Taking one last glance at the Whomping Willow- for she felt something drawing her there- she followed behind Harry.

The castle was quiet as the red-headed boy lead the way to the Great Hall. At once, she watched as the trio's eyes went wide with horror. The red-head and the girl rushed without a word towards a crowd of other red-heads. She stared sympathetically as they mourned and wept over the bodies of lost loved ones. Lily's son simply stood in shock. He turned and ran past her, almost knocking her over had she not been watching him. Stealthily, she ran after him and caught up with him to catch his next word, "Dumbledore!"

As the gargoyle slid aside to let the boy through, she followed him quickly, putting a finger to her lips when the gargoyle spotted her through her disillusionment charm. She watched as Lily's son poured something inside Dumbledore's stone Pensieve. Then she realized- memories. It was someone's memories. She watched as the boy dived into the Pensieve and vanished into the memories. It would take a while before the boy would reappear. She spun on her heels and walked out of the office, closing the door behind her. The hour was still fresh and she had plenty of time before anything else happened.

She stalked outside into the empty grounds, save for a few lifeless bodies that were evidently followers of you-know-who. Hesitatingly, she eyed the tree- the Whomping Willow. There was something about it that made her feel queasy. As a former student of Hogwarts, she had always heard rumors about the Shrieking Shack- only accessible by a passage through the Whomping Willow. She had chosen not to believe it as many other kids had also chosen, but having nothing else to do… When she drew nearer, the branches started swaying at her violently. Picking up a stray branch, she threw it directly at the tree's trunk, at a place near the roots- just like the rumor had indicated- with perfect aim. In an instant, the branches fell limp and she hurriedly looked for some sort of passage way. She successfully found one hidden in the roots of the tree. She crawled into it, her heart pounding heavily as the tunnel sloped upwards. She had a weird feeling- like she should just turn back. But her heart was not into turning back. And so she moved onwards.

The first thing she saw was the dim lighting of the room. She marveled only for a split second, rejoicing in her discoveries when she saw the second thing- she gasped.

"…SEVERUS?!" she yelled, shocked. Without a proper witch's hesitation- whether or not it could've been a trap- she kneeled next to him, placing his head in a more comfortable position on her lap. "Severus?... Severus?... Severus?!"

She said it like a mantra- simply refusing to believe what lay cold on her lap. Her own voice had sounded foreign to her. It was shaky and filled with panic and distraught. "No," she whispered shakily, tightly hugging his dead body close to her. And so she cried on his chest, tenderly wiping away the blood on his neck with her robes. "Why?!" she yelled, the expression on her face heartbreaking with tears. She gave an unholy scream into the night, venting out all of her anger, frustration, sadness, and love. The love she never had a chance to say.

"I love you," she cried, her throat welling up with emotion. She heard her own voice breaking. "I love you."

She finally said it and through her tears, she found the strength to smile. "Severus…" she whispered gently, lovingly, "the only love we'll ever have… is Unrequited."

Then she hugged him tightly, not planning to let him go in her lifetime. She clung to him for dear life and she no longer cared how many hours had passed. She no longer cared who won: you-know-who or the boy. Her stomach and her mouth protested her actions, craving for some food and water- but she ignored both, finding comfort in gently stroking her beloved's hair.

"Severus," she whimpered, trying to warm the cold body to no success. She had no more tears left to cry. She shut her eyes as another surge of pain welled up in her chest. She must have fallen asleep on him, for when she had woken, she was in the ever-so-familiar hospital wing of the school.

"Severus!" she had yelled upon waking. Professor Flitwick was beside her bed and his face showed delight upon her consciousness.

"Are you okay?" he squeaked.

She nodded and sat up, getting out of bet at once. "Severus!" she said again.

Professor Flitwick frowned. "Ah, yes… a terrible, terrible loss. In the end, he had always been faithful to Dumbledore. To think that I was trying to attack him just a day ago!"

She stared at Professor Flitwick, not getting a word he was saying. "Professor, where is he?"

"Don't worry, dear. Harry Potter explained to everyone that he was a good guy after all! Always been a spy for Dumbledore! The boy came back to the Shrieking Shack with his friends to recover his body and found you there!... And there's no need to call me Professor anymore. Why, it's been years since you were placed under my house-"

"But where is his body? Where is Severus?" she kindly cut in, though a little impatient.

He pointed a finger to a bed a few feet away, a few people crowded around it.

"Severus!" she yelled. She paid no mind to the others as she made her way to him. The boy she had watched as he grew into a man. A very, very brave man.

She kneeled beside his bed and buried her face into the mattress right next to Severus's shoulder. She heard whispers behind her- but she no longer cared.

"…Did you love him?"

She looked up, her eyes bloodshot and puffy from crying so much. Lily's son. She looked back to the man-who-was-no-longer-a-boy. And she smiled. "Yes," she whispered, new tears forming in her eyes, "…so very much…"

There was a silence. "Follow me. I have something to show you."

She looked at Harry Potter for a moment and then wordlessly got up. As they moved towards the exit of the hospital wing, the others crowded around her beloved's bed followed. Anger built up inside her as she realized that they were not there for her Severus- but for Lily Potter's son instead. And it became clear that he had beaten you-know-who.

"I don't want anyone else following," he told them. Instantly, they stopped. And so she followed Lily's son to Dumbledore's office and he showed her the Pensieve.

"It's Snape- I mean, Professor Snape's memories," he told her. She looked at him, her eyes shining and her lips slightly parted, unable to say anything.

"The night he died," Harry continued, "I was… watching. But I couldn't do anything." There was a note of guilt in his voice. And so he told her everything that happened in the Shrieking Shack. By the time he finished- when he bustled up to Dumbledore's office and poured Severus's memories into the Pensieve- tears were running down her cheeks.

He let her wipe her tears away before motioning to the Pensieve. "I'll lock the door for you," he said.

"T-thank you… " she said softly. He nodded at her and exited the room, closing the door behind him. And alone, she dived into the Pensieve.

She watched a young Severus hiding behind the bushes, his face eagerly watching two young girls on the swing. She laughed when she recognized one girl as a young Lily. "Even way back then, Severus…?" she said quietly. She smiled sadly as the scene came to an end, leaving a disappointed Severus behind. The next scene was of him and Lily, talking. It was clear that Severus valued this memory as if it were a treasure, for their surroundings were vivid with color and remembrance. Again, the scene ended with another disappointed Severus. She stepped towards him, a comforting hand outstretched. Before she could reach him, the scene changed again. It was a conversation between Lily and her muggle sister. Though she listened to what they were saying, she kept her eyes on Severus. His expression changed into outrage as the muggle called her sister a freak. Then the scene changed.

Again, sad tears fell from her eyes.

She watched, crying, as the scene in the Hogwarts express finished, followed by the sorting. Then next she watched Severus talking with Lily. Apparently, Lily disliked the people he hung around with. The scene after that angered her the most. She watched as James Potter hung up her beloved in the air, helpless. She looked away in a polite manner as his robes came down and shut her eyes, waiting for the next scene.

He was apologizing to Lily- but Lily would not hear of it. When they were done, she lowered her head and looked away from Severus's misery. She had seen him walking around like a dead man the very next day. It was heartbreaking. She watched the other scenes silently- swallowing a sob when she saw his Patronus.

She finally arrived at the scene where he was knelt in someone's old bedroom, things scattered about messily on the floor. He was crying- holding a letter which she read over his shoulder. Her silent tears fell and she watched as it passed right through the parchment. She wanted to hold on to him, tell him comforting words. But as she reached out to him, her hand passed right through his shoulder, and the scene dissolved. She watched the last scene patiently, and when it ended, she was back in Dumbledore's office- looking the same as it ever was in the last scene that was still fresh in her mind.

Wordlessly, she scooped up the flask that had been discarded on the floor and scooped up Severus's memories into it with her wand. She decided to guard it with her life. She left the office and made her way back to the hospital wing, meeting Harry on the way. He eyed the flask that she was holding onto dearly- the same flask that he had been carrying only a day ago. And he understood. He gave her a nod and a small, forced smile.

In the hospital wing, she looked at her Severus. She wiped away her tears and showed him the smile that she had always reserved for him- and only him. With her wand, she cut off a lock of her hair and tucked it inside his robes. She also took a few strands of his hair for her to keep. When she was done, she left the hospital wing and let the Professors of Hogwarts take care of him.

The next day was depressing- it was cloudy and gray, but rain did not spill. Everyone was dressed in black and everyone watched as her Severus- the man who was no longer a boy- was sealed inside a black polished, tomb, right next to the pearly white one of Dumbledore. They were both laid next to their home. Her precious castle-home.

"…he was probably the bravest man I ever knew… The loss of two great headmasters…"

She looked up. Lily's son was speaking, but his words couldn't reach her ears. When the funeral ended, she finally let a tear run down her face and then at the same time, rain pelted down on them with such brutal and sudden force. As the crowd thinned, heading back to the castle, she moved towards the tomb containing her Severus and kissed the smooth, black, stone.

"I'm glad that I fell for you," she whispered softly amongst the noisy rain, "even if that love is… unrequited."

She smiled- a pure genuine smile and closed her eyes, tilting her head to the sky.

"Wait for me, my love… In the mean time- say hello to Lily for me, won't you?"

And so she walked away, ready for life without her beloved, confident that he would be watching her all the while.

...

AN: Well, the mood's rather mellow. Of course, no one really knows whether Severus will be watching her or not from above, but let the woman dream. After all, I like to imagine her loving as faithfully as Severus did for Llily, and dying with the same love, no less.

Read and Review, please! I'd really like some feedback.