A/N: This was written for the Houses Competition for Slytherin House, round 1. Enjoy!
Summary: Severus screws up his friendship with Lily - possibly forever.
Category: Drabble
Prompt: "I didn't mean that!"
Word count (not including A/N): 839
Now I Know
It started out as a pretty normal day on Severus' part. Not to say that the day was a good day, only a normal, every-day day.
Severus' normal day started with navigating his way through the Slytherin house's thinly-veiled, polite-sounding conversation about the goings-on in the tightly-knit, wealthy, pureblooded society, mostly about whose children had recently joined a group of pureblood-supremacists called Death Eaters led by a man who called himself Voldemort. Severus was mildly interested, but seeing as he didn't get along with most of the Slytherins, it was best for him not to get caught up in their conversation. The next part of his normal day included eating breakfast and getting to classes, which he trudged through until potions, the one class he allows himself to excel in, seeing as it was the only thing that brought him joy in his lonely life.
The only true friend Severus had was a Gryffindor muggleborn named Lily. He had harbored a crush on her ever since third year, but it never seemed to be returned. Severus' crush was also one of the reasons he viciously hated James Potter, a member of a group of Gryffindor bullies called the Marauders, because he also had recognized Lily for the amazing person she was, but was much more vocal about it.
But recently Severus had found himself more and more alone and spending less time with Lily than he would have liked. He would have hung around his fellow Slytherins and been more enthusiastic about joining Voldemort if it wasn't for Lily's blood status. Being a pureblood-supremacist group, they were highly against (and probably willing to kill) any person not of wizard descent. Most of the Slytherins were of pure blood (Severus was a half blood), and took to calling people of muggle descent "mudblood", an extremely offensive derogatory term for someone who was muggleborn. Severus was all too aware of this.
While reading an advanced potions book outside against a tree, Severus heard a loud crowd of giggling girls coming towards him, covered in red, the Gryffindor color. Lily might be there. He scanned the group for her red hair and sure enough, he saw her in the center, laughing and chatting without a care in the world.
"Lily!" he called. She turned at his voice and gave him a small smile. Her friends gave him disapproving glares (typical house rivalry) that he ignored.
"Hi Sev!" Lily said as she came over to him. "What are you reading?"
"Moste Potente Potions," he replied. Lily frowned.
"Isn't that from the restricted section?" She asked. Severus looked down, abashed. Lily was about to start reprimanding him when a blonde, red-clad girl, one of her Gryffindor friends, strutted over to her side.
"Lily, why're you even talking to this slimy Slytherin?" She acted as if Severus wasn't even there.
Lily sighed. "I've told you Marlene, he's not like that. Right Sev?" She turned to look Severus in the eye and his stomach fluttered.
"No, I'm not like that at all. And you know," he continued cautiously. "I'm not the only one. Not all of us think like that."
Marlene snorted. "As if. You're just saying that to save your own skin, so that Lily will be friends with you." Severus ground his jaw and tried to cut in, but she barreled on. "Anyway, she sees the people you hang around. Mulciber, Avery, Nott, Rosier, I could go on. We all know that they're just begging to be let into Voldemort's group as soon as they get out of Hogwarts, and you're most likely following in their footsteps." She finished smugly.
Severus stood up. "Well, you know Sev, she does have a point." Lily cut in. Severus whirled to face her. "The Slytherins are really shady, and they do seem the type." she said tentatively.
For some reason, this made Severus really angry. "You don't know what you're talking about, you Mudblood." He regretted it as soon as the word left his lips.
The reaction was immediate. Lily's mouth was slightly parted, unable to believe what she had just heard, the hurt fresh and vivid in her bright green eyes. Her friends, who had come to her side during the argument, were now shouting obscenities at him, and a few had their wands out and were firing stinging hexes at him.
Severus deftly cast a shield around himself and cried, "Lily, I didn't mean that! Lily, wait, come back, I can explain!"
"You don't have to," she growled, deathly quiet, her hurt now replaced by a cold fury that was clearly visible. The crowd around them became still. "It was clear enough what you think of people like me." Lily used the stillness of the crowd to run away then, her face already in her hands.
Severus made a lunge to go after her, but was pinned to the tree he had been reading against by James Potter. How did he get here? Severus thought as he muttered a quick levicorpus and began to run.
