Peppermint Imps [ Severus ]

[lily marie evans]

Lily had come to the end of her Hogsmeade trip and had found herself in Honeyduke's.

As she walked in the bell tinkled above her head and she smiled. It was late now and so no one else was in the shop apart from the cashier. Lily preferred it this way. At least this way she wasn't being bumped and jostled about while she tried to fill her basket with her favourite sweets and chocolates. The young girl had had a stock before getting on the train, however boredom and friendship had caused her stock to decrease and so it needed to be replenished.

The heels of her boots clicked across the wooden flooring of the shop as her dark eyes scanned the different shelves. Every so often she would pick up a bar of chocolate or a box of sweets with her petite hands before popping it into the basket.

Lily stopped infront of a shelf at the back of the shop. The jar of peppermint imps was on the top shelf. Taking a step backwards she noticed the cashier had gone and patted herself down. No wand. Tipping the contents out of her basket and onto the flood, she placed it upside down before standing on top of it. Lily was up on tiptoe as she stretched her fingers out just about grazing the jar. Some help would have been good right now...

[severus tobias snape]

Severus had been wandering around Hogsmeade with nothing to do. His trip to Hogsmeade seemed pointless. He didn't need to buy anything for he already had all the supplies he needed. He didn't need any new clothes, he was quite content with his current attire, and he had no drive to go to the Three Broomsticks or the Hog's Head. No, he had no drive to even be here in Hogsmeade, yet here he was, meandering the shops looking for someone to keep his company, or any thing that may draw his attention.

Looking through the window of Honeydukes, he spotted Lily Evans struggling to reach a jar of peppermint imps on the top of one of the back shelves of the store. Severus sighed softly, pondering on if he should help her or not. She probably hated him immensely for calling her a Mudblood the previous year. But she should be blaming Potter for that, not him. At least he had Terenity to be his companion. His thoughts traveled to the Gryffindor girl and he planned on seaking her out later, if she wasn't with that Pureblood twit Regulus Black. What she saw in him, he had no clue.

He slowly walked into the store, the bell chiming as he opened the door. He slowly walked over towards her and then saw one of the large ladders that stretched up to the top of the shelves, you'd often see ladders like these in the Hogwarts library, for students and the librarian to use to get to the higher shelves to retrieve one of the books on the said higher shelves. He pushed the ladder as close to Lily as he could so as to not knock the lass onto the floor, and climbed up it to retrieve a jar of peppermint imps for her.

When the glass container was safely in his pale, fail looking hands, he jumped down from the tenth step of the ladder, almost dropping the glass in the process. "Here," he said, holding out the glass jar to her, hoping she wouldn't turn away from him in scorn and spite, hoping she had finally forgiven him.

[lily marie evans]

Lily was a bit startled when shesaw the ladder come up next to her and soon Sev was pulling down the jar of imps. Lily got off the box as he jumped down and joined her. She took the jar from him quietly. "Thank you Severus. I could have managed." Lily looked at the jar in her hands. Well this was certainly uncomfortable. Slowly looking back up at Sev she asked, "How have you been?"

There was nothing stopping her from being civil with him. Lily tucked hair behind her ear before she unscrewed the lid on the peppermint imps and pulled out a bag. She then screwed it back on and looked at him again with her emerald eyes.

[severus tobias snape]

Severus had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes as Lily said she could've managed without him. He also bit his tounge as the words, "Yes, because you seemed to be doing so well by yourself Lil," bubbled in his throat, beconing to be said. He just bit his tongue, not wanting to upset her more than he already has. A slight smile came to his lips as she asked him how he was.

"I've been quite fine thank you," he said, then glanced out the window just in time to see a black mop of curls walk past the window. He smiled at the sight of Terenity Crimms, then turned his attention back towards Miss Evans. He watched her with studying onyx eyes as she pulled out a bag of peppermint imps, before screwing on the lid. He gently took the jar from her, unscrewing the lid and taking out his own bag to buy. "So," he began to ask, not making eye contact with her as he studied the jar and screwed the lid back on, "How have you been? Things have been quite dull without you around."

[lily marie evans]

"I'm glad." Lily said as she stared at the bag of sweets. It was as if she was hoping to get answers from them. For them to burst out of the bag and save her from this awkwardness. Or maybe she was just building up the courage to do what she had been talking to Alice about. Grow up... Lily looked back up at Sev as he spoke.

"I've been ok..." Lily told him. It was an honest answer. She had not been fantastic. The summer had been the most boring yet. "I've missed you Sev." Lily whispered. "Can we go talk somewhere?" Lily had been hurt by what he said but maybe if she could sit and talk to him it would help her understand why he had said what he had. Her eyes were heavy with hurt and cofusion as they always were when she thought about what happened.

[severus tobias snape]

Severus smiled slightly when she had said she was glad he'd been fine. But him being fine was actually a lie. Yes he had been seemingly fine on the outside, but inside he had been rotting away with guilt and remose from what he had said last year. It's not like he had meant to, he truly hadn't, it was Potter. Potter was to blame for all of their misfortunes and arguements. He was always there to start the fire and pick up the shattered pieces afterwards, seeming to get the upperhand against Severus in winning Lily over. How he dispised that boy, with a deep hatred that would carry over til he's dead, Severus was sure.

In all his ranting and raving mentally, he barely heard Lily say she missed him. Severus's heart skipped a beat. He had missed her as well, more than she could even know. "Can we go talk somewhere?" she has asked. A small smile appeared on Severus's pale lips. "Of course," he said, smiling as he took her arm softly in his hand and before leaving, paid for both her load of sweets and his. "Where do you think we should go? There's probably no one at the Shrieking Shack so we could go there to talk? Or maybe the Three Broomsticks? We could get a secluded room to talk?" he was just rambling off ideas, but, he couldn't help it. He was happy that he'd finally get a chance to talk to Lily, to finally see if he could make things right.

[lily marie evans]

Sev had taken her arms gently. "I'll pay you back for the sweets." Lily told him. She would give him the money when the found somewhere quiet. "I guess anywhere. Actually, come here." Lily began to lead them over to a bench on the pathway back up to the castle. She sat herself down quietly. "I'd rather stay out here than go inside somewhere, if you don't mind."

Lily took a deep breath before she settled her emerald orbs on him. "I just... want to know what was going through you head? We've always been friends and then all of a sudden you became friends with Lucius and his lot and you start calling me names like that. I can't make any sense of it Severus." Lily eyes began to fill with tears as she tried to stay as calm as possible. "I just want you to explain."

[severus tobias snape]

Severus looked at Lily as she explained her confusion, his own tears welling in his eyes. He took a deep breath then took her hand in his, smiling softly. "Lil, I swear to you, I never meant those things I said. When I called you a.." he paused before actually saying the word, "mudblood, I honestly didn't mean it. When people are mad, they say stupid things they don't mean and let their anger get the better of them." he looked at her smiling, slightly, "I really am sorry for it." Severus paused and looked at the lots of people meandering through the streets. He saw Lucius walking through the crowd, head held high with the distinct look of a Pureblood on his face, he saw Regulus walking with Terenity looking like a love struck fool, then he finally turned his attentions towards Lily again.

"Lily," he paused, searching for the right words to day. "I swear to you, I swear on my half-blooded wizarding life that I never meant to hurt you. You're my best friend, and I didn't ever want us to turn out like this. As for me being with Lucius, I guess it's more of a thing of pride, popularity. If you want to go anywhere in life, especially in the Pureblood Wizarding world, you need to have the right connections, and Lucius is as high up in the Pureblood pyramid as you can get. The Malfoy's are like our own wizarding celebrities. I guess I just got caught up in the fame," he sighed before wrapping his arms around her, burying his face in her ginger hair, "I just wish for us to be best chums again, like in the old days. It'd be you, me, Tren, and Regulus I guess." he sighed, not really wanting to make himself believe he liked Regulus around, because he didn't, not at all.