Main Characters: Severus Snape and Lily Potter
Prompt: "I will fight for you. I will die for you. I will sacrifice everything I have for you. What else can I give but my entire being?"
Setting: Spinner's End, October 1981

"I will fight for you. I will die for you. I will sacrifice everything I have for you. What else can I give but my entire being?"

Lily Potter had agreed to meet Severus Snape in Spinner's End under one condition. And that condition was that he come alone. Unbeknownst to her, Severus had no intentions of bringing any companions with him on this particular visit anyway—this was strictly between him and Lily—and he was curious as to the nature of her request. More importantly, he hoped that this meant she would be alone, not accompanied by that obnoxious lump of a husband.

Severus stood underneath the streetlight, shrouded in mist. He rather resembled a bat as he stood in his black cloak, folding it around him like wings. To anybody else, he would have appeared mysterious and foreboding. But to Lily Potter, who had been his close childhood companion, he appeared welcoming and familiar. He tried to push the feelings away, but his heart involuntarily struck up an irregular rhythm at the sight of her, and he felt like he was walking on air. After all that time, her vivid red hair shone through the darkness, bright as burning fire, and similarly ignited a burning flame of overwhelming desire somewhere deep within him.

Severus gulped. They had slipped apart over their years at Hogwarts, and he had not seen her since her marriage to James Potter—the loathsome thug who had burdened his school life. She was as radiant as ever. He was paralysed with fear when he considered what he was about to propose to her.

"Sev," Lily said fondly, quickening her pace as she got closer to him.

Once under the streetlight, Severus could clearly see the beautiful details etched into her face. The years had been kind to her, and unlike him, Lily had been graced with natural and long-lasting beauty. His breath caught in his throat at the enchanting sight of her.

"Lily," Severus choked out. "I—I'm glad to see you."

Glad to see you without your useless husband, he truly wanted to say, because that had been his biggest fear about their meeting—after the fear that she simply wouldn't show at all.

"Yes, it's been a while," Lily agreed awkwardly.

It was hard to say who was responsible for their separation. Severus knew he was partially to blame. Lily had strongly disapproved in his choice of friends, and he had strongly disapproved in her choice of boyfriend (and now, regretfully, husband). She had cast him out in favour of James Potter, and he had cast her out because of her decision to have Potter involved in her life. On that front, they were both equally to blame, but really it all came down to that swine, didn't it? It was Potter's fault, just as everything in Severus' life had been.

Well, almost.

"So what is this all this about?" Lily asked politely. She tried to look cheerful and casually interested, but Severus could sense the curiosity that was driving her.

"Why did you ask me to come alone?" he asked, avoiding her question. He had tried to mask the hostility in his tone, but Lily regarded him with suspicion and mild offence, and he knew it hadn't worked.

"I had no idea what you wanted to see me about," Lily said icily. "I half thought you might bring one of your friends with you, and if that was the case then I certainly didn't want to be within fifty feet of them."

Her disgust as she acknowledged his fellow Death Eaters was understandable. Lily had always opposed dark magic.

"No," Severus said firmly. "What I have to discuss with you can be heard by no other living being."

Lily raised an eyebrow at his serious, ominous attitude. "Just as well I didn't bring James then," she said bitterly.

Severus had already offended her, and that was bad. Very bad. He needed her to be cheerful and positive for what he was about to ask of her.

"Indeed." He was tight-lipped, which he knew wasn't exactly welcoming, but it was all he could do not to start verbally cursing Potter. And that would have been far worse. "I want you to run away with me, Lily," Severus said in a confident, measured voice. It was better to be openly blunt about his intentions. This was not the time to play games.

Lily was so shocked that her mouth hung open, and she took a step back away from him. He had anticipated her surprise, and the fact that she wasn't laughing or running away was a positive thing. "Sev, what are you talking about?" she asked, her voice unnaturally high.

"There's a war coming, Lily. And there's a plot, too... It's not safe for anybody, and it's certainly not safe for you. If you ran away with me—if we left tonight—I could get you to safety before any of it has properly kicked off. It's the safest option, and nothing is more important to me than your safety. Trust me." Severus had rehearsed his speech so many times before that it came naturally to him, but he couldn't possibly predict her reaction, so all he could do was wait with bated breath.

"There is a war coming," Lily agreed calmly, "and the safest possible option for me is to stay with my husband. And my son."

Severus had forgotten the son and scowled at his own foolish idiocy. Of course, she had a son—that boy was the reason behind the whole plot against the Potters. How could he have been so stupid as to let that important detail slip his mind? He had been blinded with desire for Lily and had overlooked that, of course, she would stay with her son. She would never leave him; Lily wasn't like that.

"Lily—"

"Look, Sev, I know you mean well, and I am flattered that you still care so much about me that you're willing to go to all this trouble just to protect me, but I honestly believe there's no safer place for me than in Godric's Hollow with James and Harry. We'll be just fine by ourselves."

But Lily didn't know of the Dark Lord's ruthless intentions.

"Lily, please, if you stay then you'll be killed; it's as simple as that. I swear, on my own life, that nobody would ever harm you if you came with me tonight."

Lily was stubborn, and Severus noted how she determinedly dug her heels into the ground. This was not going the way he'd hoped. Not at all...

"I believe that James is just as capable of protecting me as you may be, Sev, and I don't mean to be rude, but he has proven to be far more loyal to me over the years."

The words struck him like a Stinging Curse. Severus was angry now. Angry at himself for forgetting the child, angry at Lily for refusing his offer, and mostly angry at James Potter for once again being the demise of all his happiness.

"So, once again, you're choosing him over me?" he spat at her, unable to mask his revolt over the situation.

Lily narrowed her eyes. "He gives me far more stability and loyalty than you have, Severus. He simply has more to offer."

That was enough to send him over the edge. "I will fight for you. I will die for you. I will sacrifice everything I have for you. What else can I give but my entire being?"

Lily just shook her head. "That's quite enough," she said. "But I have made my decision, and nothing you could ever say to me, no matter how honest your intentions, could make me leave my son and my husband."

Forget the husband, Severus thought viciously. Forget the damn son, too! Lily could live without them. He, however, could not live without her. And by choosing to stay with Potter, she was practically securing the knot in her own noose.

And he was letting her...

"Lily, please, I am asking you just once more."

"Don't, Severus, please. I am truly sorry, but nothing you can say will make me change my mind." Lily looked at him with so much genuine sympathy and apology that Severus thought it would be impossible to walk away from her.

As it turned out, it would be unnecessary for him to do so, as she took it upon herself to turn on her heel, clearly headed back to her house, her family, her cosy little life.

"Goodbye, Sev." Lily offered one final, warm smile before she was retreating back into the darkness.

Severus said nothing. There was nothing he could say to her. No farewell, no good luck, no final desperate plea for her to reconsider. Just silence.

That was the last time he saw Lily Evans alive.