Though Severus was not prone to showing emotion he breathed a gigantic sigh of relief when he saw Lily approaching.
"Lily… you're here!" Severus observed when she was within ear shot, with what he hoped looked like a friendly grin affixed upon his face. Severus was not normally one to state the obvious, but he needed to voice the fact aloud so that he could affirm it in his head. He did not even bother to keep the excited tone out of voice, since the fact that he had instigated the meeting already served to show that he had missed her, and instead allowed for his voice to display the emotion he felt.
Severus waited to sit down until after Lily did so, and then followed her lead hastily, because he felt the need to be polite.
Sev listened as Lily told him that she had been unsure over whether or not she should meet him for lunch.
When she told Severus that she had ultimately decided not to hurt him, wordlessly alluding to how he had hurt her fifth year, he was instantly appreciative of how kind a soul Lily Evans was. She never ceased to amaze the snarky Slytherin with her morality, integrity, and goodness. In some ways she was Severus' complete opposite, but that only served to make her all the more fascinating. For one, she did not care for retribution, at least not for her own sake. Do not get me wrong though, Lily made a point of staunchly defending her friends.
"Thank you for coming," he responded quietly, his words conveying a sort of humble gratefulness. As he spoke, Severus looked at Lily with a gaze that was probably hard to decipher, but could only be properly described as one of sheer adoration. It was as if all the coldness his ebony stare typically held had simply melted away and been replaced with a tender warmth.
Severus frowned when Lily apologized for being late, since he did not want her feeling any sort of negative emotion on his behalf. Lily had nothing to feel guilty for; at least not in Sev's point of view.
"It's okay; I was not waiting for very long," he lied for her benefit. In fact, since Severus had chosen to arrive early, the exact opposite of this statement was true. Still Severus knew that it was best if Lily did not know how acutely aware he had been of each minute that had ticked by; he was much too guarded to allow himself to risk sounding pathetic.
Severus paused for a moment before making one more comment on the remark, this one truer than the other, "What matters is that you are here now."
Lily stated that she was not sure what else to say and Severus nodded, understanding the sentiment entirely.
"I'm not sure where to begin either; so much has changed since we last spent time together," Severus acknowledged.
Of course Severus had replayed the incident that transpired in his fifth year at Hogwarts over and over in his mind, thinking of other, better ways the situation could and should have played out. However, even throughout all of his many apology attempts he had not allowed himself to expect a second chance. He was far too practical to allow himself to fully hope for something if he felt that his hopes would only inevitably be crushed. He hadn't given himself the liberty of considering what he would say to Lily if she did; in fact, give him a second chance. He had always believed that the scenario was so unlikely that it was not even worth dedicating brain space to the situation.
When Lily did actually agree to meet Severus by the great lake he had spent his time planning everything but what would be said. Looking back, he supposed that he had assumed that conversation would flow naturally. In the face of such an awkward reunion, such a supposition now seemed quite foolish.
"We could eat first and then talk, if you want, so that the food doesn't get cold," he suggested, trying to buy some time so that they could gather their thoughts.
Eventually, after dining in one another's company, the duo got over their nervousness and was able to have a simple conversation.
Their starter topic was about O.W.L. scores.
"I received 'Outstanding' marks in all of my subjects, with the exception of Care of Magical Creatures. I got an 'Exceeds Expectations' in that class," Severus explained. He had never been great with animals, but had managed to get an 'Exceeds Expectations' on that particular o.w.l after much hard work and studying.
Lily had always been brainy, and had even been picked as one of Slughorn's favored few. "I received very high marks in all of my classes as well, especially in potions and charms since they are my two best subjects," Lily contributed to the conversation, by way of response.
"How did the career counseling meeting with your head of house go?" Lily inquired politely, referring to an event that would have taken place in their fifth year at Hogwarts, but after their massive falling out.
"It went well. I established that I either want to open my own potions shop or work in the Department of Mysteries, for the Ministry. Most likely, I'll have to work in the Department of Mysteries first, so I can build up the funds to open my own shop." Severus responded. He was nothing if not shrewd, and had begun to consider the matter well before the mandatory meeting.
"How did your meeting go?" he queried in return.
"It went nicely. I decided that I want to be an Auror for the Ministry, so that I can protect and help others as best as I can. The job will certainly keep me on my toes," Lily responded with a bright smile, her green eyes alight with excitment.
Severus nodded, though his complexion became even paler than usual. He did not like the thought of Lily throwing herself in harm's way even one tiny bit.
"Isn't that dangerous?" he reasoned logically.
"Isn't everything?" Lily retorted, shrugging off his concern in her typical care free manner.
"How have you spent the last two years, Severus?" Lily asked, changing the subject.
"Things have remained pretty much the same, boring even," he responded, neglecting to tell her just how lonely he had felt without her in his life.
"I've been brewing lots of potions and doing quite a bit of reading," he mentioned instead.
"Would you like to have your potions partner and study buddy back?" she questioned with a small smile, as she tucked a strand of her coppery red hair neatly behind her ear.
She had now decided she was open to spending time around Severus in the future, based on the relatively smooth manner in which their current interaction was going. Plus, she had missed him as well, and a great deal more than her stubborn nature would allow for her to admit.
"Of course, I'd like that very much," he answered, glad that Lily was willing to reintegrate herself into his life.
He then turned Lily's question back on her and asked her how she had spent the previous two years.
Lily responded by telling him about the adventures and she had engaged in with Mary McDonald and the other girls in Gryffindor house.
Such stories were met with worried expressions from her more cautious Slytherin friend.
"Aside from socializing, I've been doing a lot of reading as well, and studying, of course," she added.
Truthfully, unlike Severus, she had not brewed many potions outside of class. Severus and Lily had always made a perfect pair when it came to concocting potions together. Severus had always been the one who took the innovative approach to potion brewing. While Lily was willing to let to him experiment because his gambles usually turned out alright, since he knew his way around the subject, she was more of a rule follower when it came to attempting recipes on her own. She had found that without Sev around the potion brewing process was mundane. She had grown to miss the bubble of chatter, playful banter, and laughter that usually surrounded any cauldron they stood over together.
Lily and Severus made small talk like this for a while, getting reacquainted with one another but being careful not to talk about anything too serious. Their friendship was just in the beginning stages of renewal. This was quite a precarious place for any relationship to dwell, and so they were both careful not to talk about anything that may get too heated and be inadvertently offensive. They spent the rest of the lazy afternoon leisurely relaxing out in the sunlight, and catching up with one another.
((AN: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I tried to incorporate lots of dialogue into it, per the suggestion of JupiterJack567. I highly treasure all of the reviews this fan fic has garnered so far, and I want to let everyone know that I plan on trying to do more with the plot than make it simply fluff. The next chapter is going to focus mainly on Lily and another character-feel free to guess who you think it will be- and will cause some minor drama that will feed into a few of the chapters that follow.))