Chapter Twenty Eight: Reconciliations
Florence sat alone on the grass by the lake. Although OWLs were over, she was looking at an Arithmancy text for fun.
Severus approached her and sat down on the grass, nearby but keeping his distance. He didn't expect his presence to be welcome.
"Anderson?" he said, when he waited for a few moments and she didn't seem to notice he was there.
She looked up, startled, and then her hand went to her wand. It was not an uncommon reaction to being approached by the Slytherin enforcer. He held his hands out, obviously empty, then slowly lowered them to his knees in plain sight.
"What is it?" she asked, and although the words were almost rude in their terseness, her tone was matter-of-fact.
"I owe you an apology," said the Slytherin, face impassive.
"I'm still not going to let you snog me," the girl stated calmly, looking back down at her book.
"I didn't expect you to," he said. "Nevertheless, I insulted you when we broke up and therefore an apology is required."
Florence looked up at him again, her curiosity evident. "Who's making you do this?" she asked.
Severus grimaced, annoyed by the Ravenclaw's guileless candor. "It is a condition of regaining Lily Evans' friendship," he said tensely. "It is also the right thing to do."
"Two good reasons," she noted, and put her book down. "What about Bertha Jorkins?"
Severus scowled at her. "Surely you are aware I have already apologized for that lapse?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he realized that if anyone could have missed a public apology at dinner, it would be a Ravenclaw. Especially one like Florence.
"That's not what I meant. Did you really like hexing her like that?" Florence looked at him as if examining a curious specimen.
Severus was stunned, but kept his face impassive. "I fail to see the relevance to my apology," he finally managed to say.
"There isn't any," agreed Florence. "I just wondered. Especially since you seem to be trying to fix things with Lily."
As usual, he responded to the Ravenclaw's clueless but unaggressive frankness.
"Yes, I did. I have a ... problem ... with that."
"Oh," the girl said. "Well, as long as you understand it is a problem."
Severus fell silent, waiting for her to continue, but after a few moments he realized she wasn't going to say anything else. He got up from the grass. Well, that's done, he thought, time to move on to the next thing.
"Severus?"
He looked down at her and raised an eyebrow.
"I wouldn't mind," she said. "Snogging you, I mean."
He sat back down, close to her this time, a smug look on his face. "Me either," he muttered, reaching for her.
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Remus wasn't angry at Sirius. He was afraid. Dumbledore had driven home that he was as vulnerable as he felt. This time it had been a drunken Sirius and James had saved the day. Who would it be next time? He couldn't face Sirius, because the Gryffindor Black reminded him of what could happen. And he was uncomfortable around James and Peter as well. They weren't likely to give him away in a drunken stupor, but things could happen. People made mistakes. He was torn between his need for his friends, especially now, and his fear of them. Especially now.
Sirius wanted a drink. Very badly. But Remus was already mad at him and he was afraid to. The other boy wouldn't look at him and only spoke to him when absolutely necessary. He didn't notice that the werewolf was acting touchy around James and Peter as well.
Peter saw Remus' unease. The third Marauder had finally realized his condition could be used. Peter filed the fact away for future use.
James saw the Marauders breaking up before his eyes. Remus communicated in monosyllables and Sirius looked like he'd just been sentenced to life in Azkaban. Only Peter seemed unaffected, acting as if everyone were behaving normally.
The four of them were in their dormitory. Instead of laughing over a successful prank, or plotting a new one, everyone was off by himself. Remus was on his bed with the curtains spelled shut, so no one could pull them open, as Sirius had tried before. Sirius was standing at the window, eerily still, staring out at the night sky. Peter was sitting in his bedside chair, reading. And James was sitting crosslegged on his bed, trying to sketch out a trick teacup, but unable to concentrate.
Suddenly Sirius turned from the window, aimed his wand at Remus' bed, and said "Evanesco!" The curtains vanished, revealing Remus in his pyjamas, drawing.
Remus looked up angrily. "Sirius --" he began.
The other boy was distraught. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. What can I say? What can I do? I'll do anything, Remus, just tell me what you want!"
"There's nothing you can do, Sirius," said Remus, sadly. "Nothing anyone can do."
James decided it was time to force the issue. "Remus, are you a Marauder or not?"
"Not," the other boy answered. "I'm a werewolf. It's about time I faced up to what that means."
"Suppose you tell us what that means," James demanded, arms folded, the very image of an aristocratic pureblood used to command.
"It means," said Remus, "that anyone who knows what I am can use me as a weapon. That's what it means!"
Sirius looked shocked. Peter hid his pleased expression -- it looked like there would soon be one less Marauder. But James surprised them all with a wide grin. "Now we're getting somewhere!" he announced.
Sirius immediately lit up. He knew what that look meant. Remus knew, too, and he couldn't hide a grin either. Peter sighed. It looked like James had a plan to keep Remus one of the Marauders, but he found he didn't mind. He was sure James would make it worth it.
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There were only a couple of days left before it would be time to leave Hogwarts for the summer and Severus still hadn't managed to talk to Lily. He sat in the Slytherin common room and looked out the window at the view under the lake. She was never in the library, OWLs being over, and outside she was always with her girlfriends. He had stationed himself by the tree, hoping that after his apology to Florence she would seek him out, but had had no luck there either. It was beginning to look like he wouldn't get a chance to make up with her until next term.
He heard a commotion at the door. A first year was trying to come into the room, but someone was trying to keep him from shutting the door. Gryffindor troublemakers! Who else would be reckless enough to cause trouble at the very door to the Slytherin common room? Seeing Snape head for the door, wand out, the first year slipped into the common room, relieved, and left the door open.
"Expelliarmus!" the enforcer said as soon as he reached the door, catching the wand, and only then registering whose it was.
"Lily! What are you doing here?" he said, unable to hide a grin.
She smiled back at him and then grabbed her wand back. "Let's go somewhere less dangerous."
He followed her out of the dungeons to a seventh floor corridor he didn't recognize. She walked back and forth three times, muttering to herself, and then a door appeared in the wall. "In here," she said, pulling him after her.
To his amazement, they were on a grassy lawn next to a tree which appeared to look out over the lake. "Where are we?" he asked.
"The Room of Requirement. I required a private place to talk to you and this is what it came up with."
Severus nodded, approvingly. "Did you come up with the spell yourself? This is really good."
"No," she answered. "It's part of the castle and it works for anyone, as far as I can tell. Remus told me about it, and a house-elf told him. You walk past the blank wall here three times, concentrating on what you need."
"So, spill it," she said, dumping herself unceremoniously on the ground.
"Spill what?" Severus smirked, gracefully lowering himself to the grass next to her.
"Everything! Florence, Rosier, Avery. And what did you do to the Marauders? I've never seen them so quiet."
He filled her in. On everything.
Posted by Madmaxime at January 2, 2007 06:59 PM