Disclaimer: The only part of this story I own is the plot.

Severus had always known the boy would be trouble. The simple fact that Harry had been conceived sent tremors of rage through his body. Lily Evans had been so much more than his first love- she had been the only ray of sunshine in a dark and unforgiving world. She was the only woman he had trusted since the death of his mother.

And that bastard James. Oh, he could have had any girl he wanted. could have been happy with almost any of them, too. He hadn't been particularly interested in Lily until the first time she defended Severus. James had seen the way the sullen teen's eyes lit up when he looked at her, and then he knew.

The love that eventually blossomed between Lily and James was undeniable, but no one chose to acknowledge that in the beginning she was nothing more to him than a challenge, a new conquest, and one more way to make Severus suffer. Since the day Lily had finally succumbed to James' relentless advances, Snape had stood alone. When his best friend turned her back on him, the way he saw things changed. Affection was a shallow and fleeting thing, a gift bestowed only to be torn away, leaving nothing but misery in its wake.

James loved Lily, yes, but he could never love her the way Severus loved her. James, whose life had always been simple, whose world was joyful and filled with light, would never fully appreciate the tiny constellations of freckles on her sun-kissed lower back. He would never notice how perfectly the hues tumbling through her hair matched the deep red glow of embers in the heart of a raging fire, or the way her knees got just a little weak when she laughed too hard.

More than anything, James would never get lost in those vivid emerald eyes. Severus remembered staring into them on warm summer nights, when they sat in the porch swing together, unable to speak because there were no words for the thoughts they shared. He would go to her broken, inconsolable, but when she looked at him he saw every shade of green imaginable intertwined in tiny tangled wisps, creating a kaleidoscopic and almost surreal depth.

Lily's eyes had comforted Snape with the unspoken promise that every bitter winter would eventually be swallowed by the warmth of spring, that from the darkness of a barren landscape, new life would someday emerge.

Severus had tried to save her. The night of her death it dawned on him that in all the years that had passed since he lost her, the passion he felt for her had never dwindled, never faltered. He had simply managed to bury deep within himself the agonizing need that refused to be extinguished.

He refused to look at Harry as an infant. The pain was too much to bear; the love of his life had died protecting a child who existed as the result of the most painful betrayal he had even experienced.

The decade between the night Voldemort fell and the day Harry was finally old enough to escape to Hogwarts rushed past Professor Snape so quickly he didn't realize that the dreaded time had come until he caught a glimpse of the disheveled black hair pushed down to cover the attention-drawing scar. He froze for a moment, staring in horror and disbelief at the child who looked and even moved exactly like James Potter had at his age.

Nothing could have prepared him for the first time he saw those eyes. The startling green called forth an avalanche of sweet, painful memories. Lily's eyes had been so unusual Professor Snape had never imagined that anyone else could be born with that beauty.

Anger coursed through his veins as he took in the sight, the eyes that had promised him a time when everything would bloom anew set in the face of the man who had casually stolen away his entire world.

This boy was going to be more trouble than he had thought.

A/N: Chapter 2 is already up on the home page listed on my profile- please check it out!

Also, leave a review and I'll love you forever. I'm even open to suggestions for future chapters :)