Forgiving Rain

Part 1 of the Severus Snape Saga

As you might note in my profile each chapter has it's own listing. That is because this stry was first written as single one-shots that developed into a full on Severitus response. A reviewer suggested they be connected together under one header. Feel free to follow them as one-shots or in this manor where they are all in chapter form together.

A/N: I wrote this piece after my best friend requested a Lily/Snape fiction. At the time I couldn't think of a title for it. I sent it to my beta, Lbandoly, untitled. Here are her notes:

Beta Note :That the title was the first thing that came into my head, you decide if you like the title. Very fitting for my current mood as well, and man it hit home….

A/N 2:My muse is simple girl. All she likes are plot bunnies and reviews. So be kind to Maggie and feed her review cookies please. Big thanks to my beta Lbandoly for her hard work.

No copyright infringement intended. All characters are the property of JKR, Scholastic, and any number of other companies with more money than I've ever dreamed of seeing. I didn't make any money off of this, so please don't sue.

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The rain was coming down by the bucket, so heavy you could barely make out anything two feet in front of your face. Fitting for the evening he had hurt her. The sky could cry for him and for her. Why had he called her that name, that horrible, wretched name?

He didn't much care that he was breaking curfew or that he was too close to the Forbidden Forest. He didn't care that his robes were soaked clean through chilling him to the bone. For once it didn't matter that salty tears were falling from his obsidian eyes; the rain masked them.

No the only thing that mattered was that he, Severus Snape, had hurt her. God what a fool he was to lash out at his only friend simply because she couldn't stop that mongrel Black and that idiot Potter.

He, sitting below his favorite tree's bowing limbs, cried. "Oh Merlin, what have I done to you Lily?" Tears continued to roll down his face getting lost in the rain.

He didn't hear the approaching footfalls on the soggy ground or notice the slight figure of a girl coming towards him. He didn't realize anyone was there at all till she laid her hand of his shoulder. "Severus?"

There, squatted in front of him, was the one person he didn't think he would ever speak to again. Certainly it would have been a fitting punishment for his cruel tongue. Her wet hair clung to her neck and face, water rolling in rivets down her face. "Lily?"

"You're gonna catch your death sitting out here in the rain. Madam Pomfrey is going to have your head if come in sick."

"Lily?"

"Dear me, lost your mind completely I see."

"Why are you here? Don't you hate me?"

"No. I should, but I don't. What the boys did to you was uncalled for. I should have tried harder. I could have stopped them if I had just tried."

"Still, I shouldn't have called you that."

"You're forgiven."

"Why?"

"Because I want to."

"Lily you don't mean that."

"Severus why do you always have to question this? Us? Why can't I just care about you without having some ulterior motive for doing so? Can't I just forgive you because that is what friends do for one another?"

"Because no one does that for me."

"So I'm no one?"

"You know what I mean Lils. Stop twisting what I'm saying."

"Then open up your rain soaked brain and pay attention Severus Snape. I care about you. I like your dark sense of humor. I like your lanky black hair. I love your eyes; it's like looking into eternity when I look into them. I love that you're smart and don't try to shove it down everyone's throat. I giggle because you think wand waving is foolish. So you said one thing to me that you shouldn't have said. It's not like I haven't said things I shouldn't to you before."

She stopped and paused to gather her thoughts. "Five years Severus. Five years we have spent working together in potions. Did you know the day that Professor Slughorn assigned us to sit together I wanted to scream. No Gryffindor wanted to have to sit with a Slytherin. But you know what? After just two weeks I would have put up one hell of a fight had I been told I couldn't sit there anymore. Don't you see? I've been slowly falling in love with you since we were eleven. I refuse to allow one little comment in the middle of a bad situation destroy how I feel about you."

He couldn't believe his ears; there was no way the beautiful Lily Evans had fallen in love with him. "Do you mean that?"

"You know I do. I don't say things I don't mean."

"Very Gryffindor of you."

"Severus," she admonished.

"Lily you know how hard this is for me to believe. I want to though."

"Then do." Lily gathered every spare ounce of Gryffindor courage she could muster and leaned in and kissed him. Her soft lips tasted felt like rose petals after a spring rain. The kiss wasn't long or earth shattering. It was soft and short and perfectly Lily. "We should go in out of the rain."

"May I walk you back?"

She giggled. "I would be honored if you would."

He extended his arm and he wrapped her around it.

"Severus? I think I might love you. Would that be okay with you?"

He smiled a rare smile. "Yes."

He didn't need to offer her the same sentiment. Lily knew him. Showing affection was not an easy task for him. She could accept the look she read in his eyes instead of his words. After all it only matters that she knows that he cared about her, not that she hear it.