Ex Intempestivo Pax
Chapter 4
Reunion
I might follow the rules, but I have absolutely no intention of playing fair...
Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.
As Severus sat on a dingy, wooden bench off to the side of the old park, ignoring the chatter of the kids who were using the playground equipment, he pondered how exactly to work Lily over, so to speak, in order to convince her that Potter didn't deserve her; it would be easy enough to simply show him some of his worst memories of the arrogant prat, but Severus felt that being a bit more circumspect would help his cause immensely.
Besides, while ripping Potter right out of Lily's heart was second in his mind only to his desire to be her best friend, and hopefully more, again, it WAS still second to it. Even though he had changed sides, and confessed his feelings to her, that didn't mean that becoming her best friend again would be quite that simple, so it was best to show her that he was doing this not entirely for his own selfish reasons, even if they were the main part of his motivation...
Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice Lily's presence until she had sat down beside him, a little further away than he would have liked, but closer than he had expected. Startled, he had difficulty containing his surprise to a mere shiver, as he turned to look at her, blushing slightly while drinking in her features.
Severus could tell that she wasn't exactly dressed to impress, but then again, this wasn't really a date so that was alright. Lily was dressed in a green t-shirt and jeans, both of which were loose enough to be comfortable, but not enough to hide her figure; she had a slender build, with a rather small chest for her age, although he knew that some women would kill to have a waist like hers.
He was pretty sure that she had been working, considering that it was about the normal time for a lunch-break, and Lily had her hair in a simple ponytail, rather than letting it down. Severus' heart then skipped a beat as he looked at her vibrant face smiling at him, which he had been deprived of seeing for nearly two years now, since they had left Hogwarts, and even then it was aimed elsewhere.
While Severus was checking out his ex-best friend, Lily was doing the same to him; he still wasn't anything to write home about in physical appearence, but apparently leaving Hogwarts had been good for him, as his hair was no longer all that greasy, and he was only somewhat pale and thin now rather than skin-and-bones like he had been then.
Severus was dressed in a fairly nice pair of dark brown pants and a black button-down shirt, as befitting the Muggle playground wherein they had agreed to meet, neither of which did much to either conceal or enhance his build which, like when they were in school, was neither incredibly muscular nor weak, but merely average.
Still, what made people stand up and take notice wasn't his appearence, but rather the aura Severus projected, one of hard-earned brilliance coupled with no small amount of insecurity. Said aura was now enhanced by an almost zealous certainty of purpose, of which that she hadn't seen on him in years, and not just because they hadn't been friends for much of that time; glad to see it again, Lily smiled as he, finished with his own inspection, turned his face toward hers.
Lily then paused, not quite knowing how to start the conversation, when Severus said conversationally, "So...apart from planning to marry Potter," he said the word with the same loathing that he had used it with ever since their second year, then continued in the same calm tone that he had been using beforehand, "...how have you been doing lately? I mean, I haven't seen nor heard much of you in over a year now."
Lily shrugged, saying nonchalantly, even though she couldn't keep from smiling, "I became a Potions Mistress last year, and am currently supplying St. Mungo's with the potions that they use for the Spell Damage ward..." She paused for a moment, enjoying herself as Severus' face, although usually adept at concealing his emotions, smiled slightly as he nodded in approval. Both of them knew that being a potions supplier for St. Mungo's was no mean feat, as they were notoriously strict about the quality of their suppliers.
Lily then said, taking a quick look around after drawing her wand from her jean's pockets and nonverbally casting Severus' own Muffliato, "...Also, like you, I have joined the Order of the Phoenix, although in a different capacity from what Dumbledore says." She gave him a wink and did nothing to disguise the pride in him that was in her voice because of his choice to change sides, as she knew that being a spy was a far more dangerous job than anything that she was likely to do in the process of normal combat.
She then said, putting her hand on his shoulder, "And you? Apart from joining both the good guys and the bad guys in under two years flat, what have you been up to?"
Severus, enjoying the feel of her hand on his shoulder for the first time in years, paused for a moment, before saying with a smirk, gloating slightly "Well, like you, I became a Potions Master, but I did it just over a year ago..."
Severus then basked in the glare he received from Lily because of that statement; the two of them had always been quite competitive in school, mainly because they had always been guarenteed to make the top three of any class they were in on account of their sheer drive and work ethic. In particular, both before and after their friendship had ended, the Potions classroom had been one of their main war-zones, so him getting his Mastery before she did had to be a rather painful blow.
After a few seconds of this, Severus continued, "...Other than that, my father finally kicked the bucket, thanks to his liver" He then said with a swallow, bitterness audible in his voice, "...and I've regretted the end of our friendship at least thirty times a day..."
As Lily looked down, guilt etched on her face as her smile faded, Severus decided to change the subject, as he knew that this was the wrong time to bring it up, and said, forcing calmness, "In any case, did you bring the Pensieve?" As Lily nodded, before showing him the lightweight version, which she had apparently shrunken in order to fit it in her pocket, Severus stood up, saying, "Let's go over to our spot; it would be...foolish if we were to use it here."
As she followed him, Lily thought about what Severus had said, both now and in the letter; she herself had regretted the ending of their friendship in that way many a time. Although she had been considering it prior to the incident by the lake, not wanting to have to watch her friend join the Death Eaters, who even then had had a bit of a dark reputation, Lily had planned to wait until the summer, then give Severus an ultimatum, telling him that it was either her or the Death Eaters.
However, in the wake of the incident, Lily had been hurt badly by what Severus had done and, feeling that he had made his choice by the lake and lashing out in order to hurt him, ended the friendship on the spot. After the anger had gone away, leaving behind only pain, she had regretted the way it had been done, but had been unwilling to go and try to work things out, especially after he had started spending more and more time with his future-Death Eater buddies, seeming to confirm her choice.
Suddenly, Severus said with an air of anticipation, "Now then, how do you want to go about doing this? Our proving each other wrong, that is. If we each try to show everything that makes us like Potter or think he's scum, we could be at this for months, and I doubt that either of us have that much time."
Severus then waited for Lily, who was clearly very thinking very carefully about it, to respond; he, of course, had absolutely no intention of playing fair, as he doubted that anything that she could show of Potter could persuade him that the scumbag was a good person, but it was good to pretend that he was doing this with an open mind.
Besides, he had three objectives in this, although they differed in priority: he wanted to regain their friendship, to win her heart, and to remove Potter as a factor. Although the pensieve would probably be enough for the third objective, he would need to do something else if he wanted to succeed at the first two...
As he mused, Lily had apparently come to a conclusion and said, authoritatively, "I think that we should each limit ourselves to a certain number of memories, and show them some time apart from each other, giving ourselves time to digest the implications, you know? How about five memories each, and we look at two memories each week? We will be having the wedding in about six weeks, so that should be plenty of time."
Thinking quickly, Severus decided that it would be quite agreeable, as it would guarentee him a minimum of ten chances to spend time alone with her, which would be invaluable in giving him opportunites to rebuild their relationship, so he said, "That sounds fine; how about the first two and a half weeks you show your memories, then I show mine over the next two and a half weeks?"
After careful consideration, Lily decided that this would give them both a good shot, even though it wouldn't be quite balanced, as it would be two and a half weeks of good, followed by what would probably be two and a half weeks of the 'James used to be a complete, rotten scumbag!' parade. Then again, in a fair and balanced agreement, Lily doubted that she would ever be able to convince Severus of anything, so she said, holding out her hand for him to shake, "That sounds excellent; mind giving me three days to choose my first memory?"
Severus nodded, then gave her a quick, smooth handshake, which had a weird effect on her, as usual, because, while his hands tended to be cool, they always seemed to make her feel warmer when they touched her. Lily then said, awkwardly, still feeling his touch on her hand, "Well then, I guess I will see you Thursday, right Sev?"
He simply nodded, although she could tell that he was barely holding back some form of emotion, and Lily turned away, preparing to apparate, when Severus said quietly, rather thickly, "I'm glad that I made this choice, Lily; it was worth it..."
Knowing what he meant, obviously referring to the letter he sent, Lily, unwilling to look back at him because of the tears she could feel collecting in her eyes, on account of emotion-filled atmosphere, Lily said, sniffling slightly, "I...I'm glad too, and I hope that you never regret it, Sev."
Unwilling to spend anymore time there, lest the atmosphere get to her again, Lily quickly apparated back to her home, where she saw James relaxing, reading his newspaper on the couch; noticing that he hadn't washed the dishes yet, as he had promised to do when he got home, Lily mumbled under her breath, then cast a quick charm that would take care of them.
Turning around, she was met by James, who gave her a quick peck on the cheek, before whispering into her ear, rather sensually, leaving her weak in the knees, "Sorry about that, I was going to get those done after I finished; work was pretty rough today, so I wanted to give myself some time to relax."
He then kissed her, pulling her close by the waist as he sucked her lower lip into his mouth, causing her to moan, before pulling away, leaving her dazed, and saying with a grin, "So, Lil', how was your little meeting with your friend?"
Shaking herself to get back to some semblance of reality, Lily then said, smiling saucily at him, "Actually, it went pretty well; now, shut up, and let's get back to the other stuff!"
James frequently regretted how Lily had her little 'save it till marriage' policy, but she was certainly passionate at the other stuff, and it was certainly an excellent way to avoid having to argue about how he had, once again, forgotten to do the dishes...
Author's Note: I think that this chapter is fairly self-explanatory, so no explanations here. You'll just have to wait until the next chapter before things really get going=)...
