Chapter 2: An Unexpected Apology

Lily was quite sure that she was currently having the worst summer of her life. She'd been so eager to get home from Hogwarts, to put the events of the end of the year behind her, but it seemed that home was just as bad. Oh, she certainly felt less humiliated, but no more at ease.

Looking back she supposed those last days at Hogwarts could have been worst. None of her friends had been so tactless as to say "I told you so." or "We always said he wasn't worth your time.", although they had certainly thought it, although she couldn't really blame them for that. She should have known that Severus would turn on her eventually, after all, she was a "Mudblood", but she had kept looking for good in him right till the very end. Maybe she wasn't as good a judge of character as she thought she was.

One person she had been right about though was James Potter, who had turned out to be as much of a pompous prick as she thought he had been. After what happened at the lake she hadn't heard any more protests from Marlene about his good character, even she had limits when it came to her beloved cousin. Thankfully after the incident at the lake he had seemed to go out of his way to avoid her, it seemed his reign of terror which had lasted throughout the year ended on the lakeside. In a way she supposed it was fitting that its final chapter had played out as it had, with all the main character there to take part; herself, Severus, Black, Pettigrew, and Remus, as well as Potter himself of course.

Being home meanwhile meant constant reminders of her shattered friendship. The questions from her parents about why Severus hadn't been around, which were only becoming more insistent as she refused to give them a straight answer. She had caught sight of him a few times since getting home, a few times walking up the street alone, another time in the park where they had spent so much time as children. Thankfully he hadn't noticed her any of those times. She didn't want to here anymore of his apologies.

So, on this July afternoon Lily found herself sitting in front of the TV feeling sorry for herself, not even able to use that as an escape after the BBC had interrupted their programing to announce that the British ambassador to Ireland had been blown to pieces by an IRA bomb (It seemed that these days whether muggle or magical Britons had to deal with terrorists). Deciding she didn't want to here anymore from the grim newsreader she turned the telly off and made to go upstairs to her room when she heard her mother calling for her.

"Lily, there's an owl here for you!"

That certainly made her perk up, although wasn't sure who it was from. She had heard from Marlene the day before, and she hadn't written the other girls recently, to in a funk to find anything pleasant to say. She walked into the kitchen to see a snowy owl sitting on the window frame above the sink. She didn't recognize the owl, but maybe one of the girls had gotten a new one, Alice certainly needed a new one anyway.

She took the letter from the owl and gave it a treat in return, which it happily took before going off on its way.

She turned around to see her mother looking intently at her, "Well, who's it from?"

Lily fought the urge to role her eyes, Rose Evans' was always looking for new information on her daughters. This time though she honestly couldn't give her mother an answer.

"Honestly I don't know, I don't recognize the hand writing." Before giving her mother a chance to ask her to read it in the kitchen she turned and headed for her room.

She wasted no time climbing the stairs and closed her door behind her went she entered her room. Sitting on the edge of her bed she looked at the writing on the envelope again. Only her name was written on it, there was no indication of who the sender was. Now that she was looking at it again though the writing did appear somewhat familiar to her.

She opened the envelope and began reading the letter which was contained within. The further into the letter she got the stronger the look of disbelief on her face became. When she had finished it she read it again, and again, and again, looking for any sign of insincerity in it and finding none. She sat on her bed for quite some time, a million thoughts running through her head, the most prominent of them being that it appeared James Potter was capable of self-reflection.

The fact that James Potter admitted to being jealous of Severus Snape of all people certainly blew her mind, that he had given what appeared to be a sincere apology was close behind when it came to shock factor. They had had countless fights in their time at Hogwarts, he had never apologized for any of them, until now that is. Although she had to admit that most of those arguments hadn't been particularly serious before this past year, in fact before 5th year she wouldn't have even said that she disliked Potter, they just hadn't had a lot to do with each other, other than spitting barbs at one another.

Lily was jolted from her contemplation by a knock on the door.

"Come in." she said.

The door cracked open and her mother stuck her head through the gap. "So what was the letter about?"

Lily really did roll her eyes this time, "It was nothing mom, just a letter from a silly magazine looking for a new subscriber."

Lily saw the look of disappointment on her mothers face, no doubt she had been looking for some juicy gossip, but she wouldn't be getting any from Lily today. "Are you still coming to the shops with me?" she asked. When Lily nodded her head she continued, "Then get ready, we're leaving in a few minutes."

"Alright, I'll be right down."

Rose nodded and left, leaving Lily alone in the room again. Looking at the letter that still lay beside her she decided against throwing it away. She would definitely be reading this again. She put the letter back in its envelope before getting up off the better and placing the letter in her desk drawer. As she left her room her mind was still racing, and nearly all of them centered on how she should respond, if she should respond. As she heard her mother shout for her to hurry up she knew those thoughts would have to wait.