Hello everyone. x.

I am sorry if people thought that this story is progressing rather slowly but i will fix it in this chapter. x.

Mariko's pov

I was so lost in thought as I walked down the halls that I didnt notice the three young wizards following behind me until I was almost at the Slytherin common room. In retrospect it probably wasn't good for a ninja to be unaware of her surroundings. I decided to leave them to it if only to see what they would do. I walked into professeur Snape's office, watching as the three wizards wearing an invisability cloak slipped in behind me. I sat down at Snapes office and stayed silent until Snape looked up from his marking.

"Hello Mariko."

"Hi Professor."

"How can I be of service this evening?"

"Well... if you're not too busy, Sir, I would love to see some pictures of my mother?" A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he replied.

"Of course, i'm never too busy for you Mari." I smiled at him, still keeping an eye and an ear on the golden trio. I pushed them out of my mind for a moment and looked back at Snape who was looking at me patiently waiting for what I would ask to see.

"I'm not really sure what I would like to see... any idea's professor?" He nodded and smiled while digging through the draw on his desk. Finally he pulled out an enormous pile of photographs.

"Ok, all of these pictures are of me, your mother, and LiIly Evans. Feel free to look through any of them."

"Thank you." I picked up the first one which happened to be a muggle picture of my mum, Snape and Lilly. I smiled. In the picture, mum and lilly were clinging on to Snapes arms and holding him in place for the photograph. He was glaring at the screen while Lilly and mum were grinning. The next one was practically the same but my mum was resting her head on Snapes shoulder while he smiled down at her. Lilly was smiling on knowingly. I raised an eyebrow. Now I really think that they were more than friends.

"Its a shame that poor Harry can't see these. I suppose he has about the same amount of pictures of his parents than I do." I heared Harry shifting uncomfortablely behind me under the invisability cloak. Snape nodded.

"It is but there is really not much I could do... is there? I doubt Potter would come to me like you do."

"I suppose not." I replied sadly.

"Don't be so sad. He has pictures of them, his parents I mean. I gave them to Hagrid and he put them in a scapbook or photo-album or something for his birthday."

"That was sweet of you." I smiled at him while he mock-glared.

"I'm not sweet." He answered as if it was a horrible insult.

"I beg to differ." I answered in an almost sing-song voice. He just sulked at his desk while I continued to look through the pictures. After looking through lots of muggle pictures of the 'friends' I decided to just ask.

"You and my mum were more than just best friends... weren't you?" I looked up just in time to see him gulp. He looked up at me with something a kin to fear in his eyes. I tilted my head to the side in confusion which made him smile slightly. He re-opened the draw and pulled out a few more pictures of the two of them.

The first one was of my mum, she was running down the corridor as fast as her legs could carry her until she ran head-first into one Severus Snape...

Flashback-Snape's pov

How could I have messed things up so badly? Neither Lily nor Ai are sppeaking to me. It is so depressing to know that my best friend who I have fallen madly in love with and my other best friend are not speaking to me.

I was comletely lost in my thoughts as I made my way through Hogwarts. I was making all of the twists and turns town corridoors on autopilot as my thoughts where bombarded with the love of my life, my soul-mate, Ai Akane and my once best friend Lily Evans.

Suddenly I had an armful of Ai and was laying on my back on the cold floor of the Hogwarts corridoors. Everyone had stopped to watch as Ai was laying on top of my with tears in her eyes. Forgetting about our audience I frowned and wiped away the few tears that escaped her eyes.

"What's the matter Ai..?."

"Lily... She hates us both... I tried but I couldn't change her mind, I couldn't get her to forgive you and after a while she just snapped and said that she hated me."

"You were trying to convince Lily to forgive me..?."

"Yes, what did you think I was doing..?."

"I thought that you had left me too." I replied feeling guilty. I was expecting her to be furious with me but she shook her head and replied;

"You Idiot. I would never leave you... I couldn't leave you if I tried because I am so completely in love with you-" She cut herself off with a gasp and I just stared at her before sitting up and crashing our lips together. I could her the forgotten audience around us gasp and I turned to glare at the while breaking away for air. As I turned back to Ai I whispered;

"I love you Ai, so much." I kissed her again softly before pulling her to her feet.

"Be my girlfriend..?." She smiled and nodded and I could of sworn that that was the happyest moment in my life.

End flashback

I finished watching the scene and looked up to see Snape was looking so depressed. I watched as a single tear escaped the corner of his eye but he was quick to wipe it away.

"Professeur Snape... Did you really love my mother..?." He nodded.

"I can't believe that she's dead..." A thought suddenly struck me.

"How long did you date my mother..?." He looked confused at the question but he answered anyway.

"Right up until she went home... I never saw her again... I didn't know how to get into contact with the Hidden villages." My eyes widened... so did his... He looked at me and opened his mouth to speak and I did the same but we were interupted by a two sharp gasps. Both me and Snape spun around to see Harry taking the cloak off of the three of them...

I think I will leave it here for today. x.

What do you think should happen to Harry, Ron and Hermione..?.

What will Mari say to Snape..?.

REVIEW. x.