Lily's Decision

Written for Lamia of the Dark's Return of the Daily Weird Prompt Thing

Prompt - "You have such boring taste in underwear..."

A month had passed since Severus had accidentally used the "M" word in front of Lily. And no matter how many times he apologized for his unfortunate choice of words, she still wanted nothing to do with him.

He tried showing up one morning at the entrance of the Gryffindor common room, waiting for her with flowers in his hand, hoping that a gift of flowers would be enough to make her forgive him.

The moment she saw him standing there she snatched the bouquet of flowers from his hand, threw them on the ground, and stomped on them.

He then tried sneaking into the school kitchens and swiping a pie, one that he knew was her favorite flavor, and offered it to her with an apology.

Lily smashed the pie in Snape's face, leaving him standing there with coconut cream and chocolate sprinkles covering his face and clinging to his oily hair.

Severus was running out of ideas and he didn't know what to do. If flowers and pie didn't work, then what would?

He caught up with her one afternoon after Charms class, running to catch up with her as she departed the classroom and made her way towards the staircase.

"Lily!" he said, coming to a hault in front of her, his arms held out at his sides, blocking her path up the stairs. "Lily, please, I just want to talk. You have to let me explain."

She rolled her eyes, folding her arms across her chest and frowning in annoyance.

"Lily," he began, slightly out of breath after chasing her down the hall. "I am so sorry, Lily. I didn't mean to call you that. I was so frustrated by Potter and his annoying friends that I lost my head. I wasn't thinking clearly. And you know I would never call you that if I were in my right mind, Lily."

She looked at him, a strange look of confusion on her face. "What are you talking about, Severus?"

Now it was Severus' turn to look confused. "You know what I'm talking about. That morning I accidentally called you a..." He paused, not wanting to repeat the offensive word he'd used that day. "You know...the 'M' word."

Lily's mouth dropped open in shock. "Severus, you think that's what this is about?"

Lily started laughing. She laughed until her sides hurt, leaning against the wall and sliding down it to sit on the floor.

"Oh Severus," she said, wiping tears of mirth from her bright green eyes. "That isn't it at all. I know you didn't mean to call me that."

Severus was baffled by her behavior, and for the life of him he couldn't understand why she had been so cross with him. If she wasn't upset over him calling her a mudblood then what was it?

"What is it then?" he asked. "Why are you so upset with me?"

Lily snorted. "It's not you specifically, Sev," she said, waving a hand at his lower regions. "It's those nasty, faded grey drawers you had on the day James pantsed you. You have such boring taste in underwear. How could I ever be interested in a man with such unappealing underwear?"