Ex Intempestivo Pax

Chapter 5

Flowers of Love and Sickness

The first time he gave you a flower, eh?

Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.

"So Sev" Said Lily, while putting the last bit of the memory she was using into the Pensieve, glancing nervously over at Severus at the same time, "Would it be OK if I narrated a little bit during the er...ride?"

Severus, leaning against a nearby tree trunk, arms crossed, would have appeared annoyed or bored to most people, but Lily could tell that he was very nervous, as he was glancing at the Pensieve every couple of seconds. He didn't say anything for a few seconds, but he gave Lily a faint gaze of appraisal before shrugging and saying crisply, although his slightly-shaking hands betrayed him, "It doesn't matter; I will likely be revolted regardless, whether or not you narrate.

Swallowing, Lily, hoping that this memory would get Severus to start changing his mind about James, as, while Sirius could be quite charming, he still wasn't nearly as close to her as he had been to Severus. Needless to say, it certainly would help if her soon to be ex-ex-best friend could get along with her future husband. As such, having a pretty good idea as to the stakes, she then said nervously, twisting some of the hair from her fringe around her finger, "Well then, let's start. On three...one...two...THREE!"

Remembering what Severus had told her, Lily pushed her head into the white-ish composite and...

(AN: Henceforth, all actions taking place by the characters in the memory will be in Italics)

"Miss Evans, stop that infernal whinging at once!" Madam Pomfrey, glaring, said to the fourteen-year old girl lying in the bed beside her. The girl, Lily, was muttering under her breath constantly, and clearly the Medi-witch had had more than enough, as she then continued, "Miss Evans, if you do not stop immediately, I will be forced to use a Dreamless Sleep Potion!"

Lily, viewing all this, Severus sitting beside her in one of the nearby beds, said with a grin, "I forgot how frazzled she was during her first few years, Sev; do you remember the time that-"

Severus shushed her, as a sound could suddenly be heard...

Halting her constant grumbling, although still clearly displeased, Lily was surprised nonetheless as James Potter came rushing into the Hospital Wing, panting; upon catching sight of her though, he quickly walked over as Madam Pomfrey muttered something about having other things to take care of and, shutting the curtain, left them alone.

For a moment, shock covered Lily's face, then she said, suspiciously, "What do you want, Potter?"

Grinning boyishly, he said, chuckling as he sat beside her, right hand behind his back, "Aw, come on, Evans; I just came to wish you well, that's all!"

Giving him a piercing glare for a moment, Lily said slowly, inching away from him, "That's awfully...generous of you, Potter, thank you."

Shuffling a little closer, Potter said with a smirk, putting his hand to her's, "I even brought you flowers, just so that you would feel better; see, here!" And indeed, clutched in his right hand was three pink, equally-sized petunias, which Lily caused to emit a soft gasp at the sight of them...

Lily then reminisced aloud, before saying with a smile, "It was the only time he actually brought me my favorite flower until seventh-year actually, when I told him aloud; until then he would always bring me red roses, save for this time."

Severus only said churlishly "Hmmph! Unlike him, who clearly didn't take the time to get to know you, I made sure to take the time to find out what flower you liked...", causing Lily to roll her eyes at him as the scene continued...

Suddenly, the door opened, although neither of them could see it through the privacy curtain, and, although it wasn't quite audible, Madam Pomfrey could be heard talking to someone, who seemed to be responding with short, adbrupt answers, while James simply sat at Lily's side, telling her about how Sabrina Percival had tried, again, to ask Sirius out on a date, not succeeding unfortunately, causing her to laugh.

Madam Pomfrey then said, just loud enough to hear, "Before you leave, Mr. Snape, Miss-"

As Madam Pomfrey was talking, the fourteen-year old Severus said impatiently, while walking closer"Yes, Ms. Pomfrey, I already KNOW that Lily's here, thank you!" He then said a bit louder, but more kindly, "Hey Lily, are you decent?"

As James made shushing noises, waving his hands to indicate a negative response, Lily glared at him for a moment, then said brightly, "Sure, Sev! Come on in!"

Severus opened the curtains, a worried expression on his face, his eyes widened as he looked straight at the flowers, then he turned his head, apparently noticing James, then said with a snarl, "What the? How dare!? You shouldn't-"

Severus' own eyes widened, then he glared at the Potter in the scene, before muttering something under his breath, causing Lily to glance at him curiously...

James then said calmly, glaring at Severus, "What? I just came here to visit a fellow GRYFFINDOR; what's your problem?" As Severus' mouth then seemed to work for several seconds without saying anything, James said with a smirk, "Some friend you are; you couldn't even take the time to bring her flowers or write her a card, while I did both!" As he spoke, he gave her a single get-well card, clearly store-bought.

Meanwhile, Severus' eyes glittered with malice, then he said angrily, "You piece of-"

Lily, breaking into a sudden fit of coughing, broke up the argument, as Severus, hopped onto the bed on the opposite side of James while putting his hand on her shoulder tenderly. Severus then, eyebrows furrowed worriedly, said softly, "Lily..."

Clearly annoyed, James then said peevishly, glaring at him, "Get off the bloody bed; your clothes are all filthy. You'll probably infect her with something..."

Responding with his own, far more vicious, glare, Severus hopped off of the bed after quickly glancing down at his robes, the lower half of which were covered in dirt and grime. He then started rubbing her shoulder, and looked at her worriedly as her coughing increased, while James bit his lip anxiously, both clearly concerned...

Severus swallowed as they both rose out of the Pensieve, remembering how Lily had gotten so ill that, panicking, he had made enough Pepper-up Potion that week to last Hogwarts for the rest of the year. Both he and Potter had put down their rivalry for that week in order to take care of her, although that was mostly because, while Potter was keeping her company in the Hospital Wing every day, just talking to her, he had been making enough medicinal Potions to handle anything that her fever might throw at her...

Severus then scowled; although Lily had hugged him tightly at the end of the week, thanking him profusely, that had been the start of what would eventually become friendship, and eventually 'love' between her and Potter. He was broken out of his bitter reminiscence when Lily then said quietly, "It really was awfully sweet of him to do that; I mean, until then I had basically treated him like a piece of garbage, even though he really did try to impress me, albeit in awfully poor ways..."

"I'll admit that how he made sure that you had...company during the week was awfully thoughtful" Said Severus grudgingly, "...but you cannot deny that he was quite the slimeball when we came to visit you! I mean, his gift was awfully pathetic..."

Narrowing her eyes, but trying to keep herself calm, Lily then said coolly, "I'll admit that the card WAS quite pathetic, considering that it was basically a Happy Yule card with 'I hope that you get well soon' written down on it, but the flowers were very nice indeed; he must have spent quite a while searching for them, considering how perfectly matched they were. After all, they aren't grown in the Hogwarts greenhouses, remember?"

For a moment, there was silence, as Severus looked at her strangely, then he smirked, before practically purring, leaning against a nearby oak tree, "I have to agree on you about that one; the flowers were awfully nice. In my opinion, they have been better than him and his friends bugging you all week, weren't they?"

Feeling confused and a tad guilty, as it was the man she was marrying that they were talking about, Lily admitted, "OK, you're right; his company during the week did get more than a little annoying at times. Half of the time it was basically the 'James Potter Radio Channel'..."She then smirked at him, before saying with a finger pointing triumphantly at him, "...but you cannot deny that the flowers were a great gift!"

Severus merely shrugged, smirk widening, then he said nonchalantly, "Yes, I will not deny that the flowers were a truly fantastic gift..."

Severus enjoyed how her face practically rippled with the emotions of surprise, confusion and suspicion; she had always had a very expressive face, and he had sometimes amused himself by arguing with her for no other reason than to see her face light up with anger, or give her a small gift just to see her grin widely, looking as if she were on top of the world.

Finally Lily said, unsurely, "Uh, right..."

Severus only chuckled lightly, quite pleased with himself...

Silence then fell for a few minutes, Lily not quite knowing what was up, and Severus enjoying watching her stew, trying to figure out exacly what he was up to...

Finally, Severus, smiling inwardly, said calmly, laying a verbal trap that he intended to make use of in the future, "On a offtopic, I was having a little debate the other day about this one topic with a friend of mine, and I was hoping that, even though it's been a few years, you wouldn't mind giving your own opinion..."

Lily shrugged, feigning nonchalance, but Severus could see the gleam of interest in the corner of her right eye and knew she was faking her disinterest, like had done so often when they were younger. Smirking again, he then nodded and said, "Well, this friend and I were talking about what makes doing something the 'right thing'; is it the motive for doing something or how you go about doing it?"

As Lily looked on in confusion, Severus continued, "For example, if I wanted to get money in order to help my daughter to pay for boarding school, solely because I loved her and wanted what is best from her, would it be alright if I were to steal..." He almost purred out the word, 'steal', "...money from poor, almost-starving family to pay for it?"

Lily thought about it for a few minutes, then said carefully, knowing that Severus had to be on this topic for a reason, "Generally speaking, I would say that, while the motive is rather important, how you go about achieving that goal is the most important thing, as if your method is a dark one, then it sometimes won't matter what your goals were. There are exceptions mind you, but I'd say that the means are most important..."

Severus nodded, then, changing the subject again, said, "Good point, I'll have to admit..." Lily waited for him to respond with bated breath, as she had always enjoyed her debates with him, as it was one of the few times that he would allow himself to get really into something; however, Severus then merely said, "Well, I've got to get going for now, Lily; I'll see you Sunday, right?"

Somewhat disappointed, as she sorely missed their arguments, which had frequently been the height of her day before their friendship had first ended, Lily then said, trying to pretend to be upbeat, "Uh...sure, but it'll have to be rather quick; my sister is celebrating her twenty-first birthday later that same day, and I don't want to miss it."

Severus nodded slowly, thinking carefully, then said as he prepared to depart, "I guess that I'll see you Sunday then..." He then paused for a moment, before saying, pondering aloud, "Sometimes I wonder though, does it matter if I am doing something good for my own personal gain, if it causes an overall benefit to others? Or is it more important to be doing 'something good' for the right reasons?"

Lily seemed to be trying to read his mind through his eyes, even though he could tell that she had never mastered leglimency. Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as the breeze cooled them both down, then, deciding that it was best to leave before she asked him what he meant, Severus said softly "Goodbye, Lily...", before apparating away, already preparing to take advantage of another opportunity which had just unveiled itself...

Smirking, he walked quickly up the street of Privet Drive, smiling slightly, even though he hated places like it, where everyone and everything tried to be exactly the same...

'Hmm...my motives might be a tad selfish, as I am doing this in large part for my own benefit, but my goals and methods will be pure indeed..." He then smirked evily, before saying aloud, "I won't provoke him; I'll just give Potter just enough rope to hang himself..."

Author's Note: The age-old question: does it matter if someone has selfish reasons if they plan on doing the right thing anyway? It is actually quite relevant to this chapter and story, believe it or not...

For totalreader: in Severus' case, he feels that he is doing the right thing, but he isn't one to lie to himself, at least not consciously, although he can be mistaken ('cough' Harry 'cough'). In other words, he knows that a major part of his motives are to benefit himself, although that doesn't mean that he intends to hurt Lily...

As for my writing style, I try, but I still need a lot more practice...