I know what I’ll do! I’ll invite Lily to go to Hogsmeade with me, he thought.
Now that he had figured out what to do, he felt more confident. Looking up at the clock, he noticed he would be late to Charms class if he didn’t hurry up.
Severus quickly made his way to the classroom, his head bent down, clutching his books to his chest.
“Where you going, Snivellus?” called a taunting voice.
He glanced up to see James and his friends blocking the corridor. “Out of my way, Potter,” he spat. He quickly tried to slip through a gap by the wall.
“No, I don’t think we will,” Sirius replied, side-stepping into the gap.
“I don’t have time for this!” Severus hissed, clenching his teeth. “Levicorpus.”
With a shout of surprise, James flew up by his ankles. Severus quickly made his way through James’s vacated spot. He didn’t bother with letting him down; it’d be more fun to leave him dangling there for all to see.
“What’re you in a hurry for? She doesn’t really like you! She probably gave up your seat, gladly might I add, to someone better looking!” James yelled after him.
“Shut it!” Severus called, annoyance turning to fury. “Liberacorpus.”
He grinned to himself as he heard James’s loud thump as he crashed to the floor, followed by an irritated “Ow!”
Severus jumped out of his seat at the sound of the bell, signally class was over. He’d been thinking about how he should ask out Lily through the whole class period. Upon realizing that he couldn’t recall anything Professor Flitwick had said, the idea came to him. She’s brilliant in Charms, and paid attention every day.
“Lily?” he said, slinging his bag over his shoulder.
“Yes, Sev?” she replied, heading towards the door.
“Well, I’m having a little trouble with today’s lesson.” He looked at her, the greed radiating through his dark eyes. “Would you mind explaining it for me later?”
“Sure, Sev! Is there somewhere you have in mind to work?”
“How about the Hog’s Head, on our Hogsmeade trip tomorrow?”
They continued walking down the hall towards the dungeons; Lily was quiet, contemplating his suggestion.
“But, the Hog’s Head is so… unusual,” she said slowly.
“It’s not that bad. Besides, it’ll be quieter than the Three Broomsticks; we’ll be able to concentrate better,” Severus quickly explained, worried she may decline.
Lily glanced at Severus out of the corner of her eye. “That’s a good point. Okay, I’ll meet you there,” she agreed a little reluctantly.
“Great!”
Severus could never have felt happier. He waltzed to his seat next to Lily and waited for class to begin. Slughorn came and gave the class the name of the potion he wanted them to make and told them the page it was on. Severus was glad that he had already reworked this potion and wrote it down in his book; doing this saves lots of class time.
Every so often, Severus was able to sneak a peek at Lily between adding powdered moonstone to the Draught of Peace and stirring it. She never lost that smile she gets every time she’s brewing a potion. Next to him, she was the best in the class, not to mention she just loved potions in general.
At one point during the class, when he looked up he glanced over her shoulder to see Potter glaring his way. So he’s already heard about Lily and me. Why doesn’t he just get a clue? She will never love him. He thinks he’s all high and mighty, but if he’s so great, why am I the one going to Hogsmeade with Lily? Severus thought, sending a triumphant sneer in the Marauder’s direction.
Before he knew it, Severus was cleaning up his cauldron to the sound of the end of day bell. Tomorrow, he would be free to heat up his and Lily’s relationship, without any interruptions.
Severus managed to find a secluded table for two in the back Hog’s Head. He sat facing the door, watching for the moment when Lily walked through the door. It was now ten past one o’clock and he was getting nervous that she wasn’t going to come. Twiddling his thumbs and biting his lower lip, Severus became more and more sure that Lily had ditched him.
Just as Severus was about to storm out of the Hog’s Head, who should appear but Lily Evans. He smiled and waved to Lily to show her where he was. His arm stopped mid-wave and his smile slid off his face as he saw another person follow her in.
“I’m sorry, Sev,” Lily apologized, pulling a third chair to the table before sitting down. “I was stopped by Professor Slughorn and he just kept talking and dragging me into the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer; he just can’t take no for an answer.”
“What is he doing here?” Severus asked, his voice dripping with distaste.
Remus Lupin stood, smiling awkwardly at Severus.
Lily patted the table, in front of the empty table. “Sit, Remus. You can’t stand all day,” Lily said, ignoring Severus’s irritable tone.
Severus shoved back his chair and stood up. “Lily! I need to talk with you… Alone,” he added, turning away.
He walked out of earshot of Remus and waited, tapping his foot, until Lily joined him.
“Why is he here?” he whispered furiously.
“Well, Remus needed a little assistance with Charms as well so I invited him to work with us. What’s the big deal?”
“You know Lupin is one of Potter’s cronies. He was probably sent here to spy on us,” he suggested.
“Come off it! Remus may be one of James’ friends, but he would never do that,” Lily said.
Severus ran a hand through his hair. “Lily, it was suppose to be just you and me,” he said, his voice a mixture of disappointment and frustration.
“You mean, like a date?” Her eyebrows flew to her hair line when he dismally shook his head ‘yes’. “I’m sorry; I had no idea!”
“Well what did you think? I invited you to a deserted place; just you and me! And after that kiss…” He let his voice trail off as a faint shade of pink rose in his sallow cheeks.
“I thought you really wanted to study,” she replied, looking anywhere but at Severus. “Well, we can’t just bail on Remus. He’s really having trouble on this lesson.”
“You go back and help…that creature. I’m just going to go back to the common room,” he said, sinking back into the aggressive shield he had built.
“Are you sure?”
“Just go!” With that, Severus whipped around and headed out the door. He looked back once and saw Lily, her emerald eyes glistening, mouth the words ‘I’m so sorry’ before turning back to Lupin.
Severus trudged back towards the castle, kicking at pebbles as he went. Just as he got about half-way there, he heard someone behind him call his name. When he looked, he saw Avery and Mulciber running towards him.
“Hello, Severus,” greeted Avery, slinging an arm around Severus’s shoulder. “On a little walk back to the castle? Mind if we join you?”
“Do what you wish,” he muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“Great! You still interested in being a Death Eater?” Avery asked.
“I want to, but Lily absolutely despises them,” Severus sighed.
“Evans? Why, we just saw her in the Hog’s Head with that Lupin kid. Hangin’ all over him she was,” Mulciber informed.
“What?” Severus yelled, spinning to face Mulciber.
“Saw it with our own eyes,” Avery confirmed. The three Slytherins walked in silence for a few minutes as Severus thought about what he should do.
“What kind of things are you doing for Him right now?” Severus asked, giving in to his friends.
“That’s our boy! I knew you’d come around,” Mulciber cheered.
“Well, we do lots of things,” Avery began.
The wind began to pick up, drowning out the boys’ talk of Muggle torture and helping the Dark Lord.