AN: This one went in the opposite direction of what I thought it would, but I ended up really liking it anyway. I hope y'all do too. Also, I wanted to tell everyone that I finally broke down and made an Instagram page for all my writing. It's brand new as of today so there's not much on it yet, but it'll be a place where I can hopefully connect with readers about both fanfiction and the original stories that I'm working on. If anyone wants to check it out, the name for it is 91 :)
Day 5- Apple Orchard
Severus pulled his cloak tightly around himself as he trudged up the hill towards Hogwarts's apple orchard. He could think of a few dozen things he would rather be doing right now than wasting time picking apples for the house-elves. Like studying for his Charm's quiz, or cutting up flobberworms for potions, or helping Hagrid weed his garden. Almost anything would be better than this. Especially since Remus still seemed to be angry at him for the fireworks incident the week before. Not that they talked much at Hogwarts anyway.
"Hey, Sev! I thought you weren't coming?"
Severus turned around to see Lily walking towards him, her friend Marlene by her side. Though she waved goodbye to Lily and hurried off alone, most likely to find Sirius.
"I tried getting out of it," Severus said when she'd caught up to him, "but Professor McGonagall made it pretty clear that it was mandatory."
Lily laughed. "Well, I'm glad that now I have someone to walk with."
Severus smirked as they turned to continue up the hill. "I'm sure you wouldn't have been alone. I saw Potter and his gang a little while ago. He would have been glad to keep you company."
Lily rolled her eyes and scoffed, "I'm sure he would. To bad I'd rather be alone."
"What?" Severus gasped teasingly. "You mean you aren't dying to have him by your side every second of the day?"
"Hardly."
They passed by Filch who handed them each a basket and told them to "Get on with it." When they walked over to the first tree and began to pick the apples, Lily sighed. "I suppose he has gotten a tiny bit less annoying than before."
Severus paused with his hand in midair to look back at her. "Potter? Less annoying?"
Lily gave a small smile and shrugged her shoulders. She bit her lip as she turned away from him so that he wouldn't see the blush creeping up her face. "A bit," she answered quietly.
She looked back at him as she fidgeted with the apple in her hand. "I know that he's an arrogant, self-absorbed, bullying, toerag for the most part. And of course you know how I hate the way he and his friends treat you…" She trailed off.
Severus sighed. "But?" he prompted her to go on.
"But this year he seems to have changed. At least a little. I know we're only a couple months into the year and absolutely nothing excuses his behavior, but maybe, I dunno, maybe he's growing up?"
Severus set his basket down on the ground and leaned his back against the trunk of the tree. "I don't know what you want me to say, Lily."
"I don't need you to say anything."
"Then why tell me all of that?" He opened and closed his mouth several times as he struggled to find the words that would make Lily understand how he felt. Eventually, he said, "I care about you a lot, Lil. You're my best friend and of course I want you to be happy. I just want you to be careful. Forget whatever problems I have with Potter. That's all between him and me and it makes no difference how I feel about him. How do you feel about him?"
Lily looked past Severus to where another group of students were picking apples and roughousing around. Severus followed her gaze and saw that it was indeed James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus.
"Has they gotten any better towards you, Sev?"
Severus dropped his gaze from the other boys to the ground, the fallen autumn leaves crunching under his boots as he considered her question. He thought about Remus and how close they had gotten over the summer since his adoption. Severus made a mental note to apologize again for the fireworks and despite the world of trouble he'd be in, he decided to come clean to their parents about it.
He thought about how badly Remus wanted to tell his friends that they were brothers now and how he was so sure that James and Sirius would leave him alone if only they knew. It wasn't what he wanted though. To have a reprieve from their pranks and bullying just because he was their best friend's brother now.
He couldn't deny though that so far this year, for the most part, they had left him alone. And when they hadn't, he'd gotten them back easily enough. He wondered if that was thanks to Remus or if possibly Lily was right about James having grown up a bit.
Severus sighed and looked back up at her. Her emerald eyes staring intently at him as she waited for his answer. He nodded. "Yeah, Lil, it's been better."