illicit affairs || lemongrab x small saverus

Chapter Seven - Day After Tomorrow

It's so hard and it's cold here
And I'm tired of taking orders

Saverus had found himself in a difficult situation.

He had known, that was the ridiculous part. When every idiot in Slytherin had gushed about how wonderful this new political group was, Saverus had kept his mouth shut and laughed in his head. He had known they were dangerous, he had known not to get involved... but everybody kept making excuses, and when you're surrounded by one single opinion for so long it starts to infiltrate your mind, alter your way of thinking.

Saverus had known it was a bad idea to join, but he figured a bit of harmless desk work couldn't hurt. It was a good opportunity, and he clearly wasn't going to succeed in society without some connection to them. He thought he could just befriend the members to get a leg up and then quit, he had been wrong.

Things had escalated quite a bit over the Summer Holidays. The beginning had been wonderful, Potter's party seemed like the perfect start to a perfect holiday.
When he got back to work he found things had escalated a bit, and he was quite trapped in this job. He had so much work to do and each paper he signed, each meeting he went to, all got him deeper and deeper until he got to the point where he realised it would be stupid to quit because they had so much dirt on him. He had become close with a fair few of the group's loyal followers (Lucius Malfoy in particular)... and now he had to meet with the boss.

All the interns had been whispering about it, how a lucky few got selected to meet the boss and that meant that they had been promoted from intern to member.
Saverus couldn't bear the thought, he'd seen what happened to members of this organisation and he didn't want to suffer the same fate. Despite this, he had no choice. He was due to apparate from Hogsmede on the second week back at school.

***

"Lily!" Saverus called after her at the platform.

Lily turned around, her gorgeous red hair falling down her shoulders.

"Keep up Sav! We're going to be late."

They traveled to the train station together every year - because they lived so close together - and were usually quite punctual, but Saverus's mind had been so occupied with politics that he'd had to rush and pack at the last minute. The train left in 1 minute and they'd only just made it through the brick wall to Platform 9 3/4.

Lily jammed herself through one of the doors and Small Saverus did the same. The train had just begun to whistle and chug off when they made it into the carriage. Lily leaned against the wall and sighed with relief.

"Thank god, we made it. I was beginning to worry we'd miss the start of Seventh Year!"

Saverus laughed, quietly. Lily was so bubbly and fun, even in a crisis. She was his best friend... he'd thought she was more than that but now he wasn't so sure. Sav used to believe that him and Lily were destined to be, but now that he had zoomed out of Lily to focus on... other people, their friendship seemed more significant to him. He was starting to view Lily more for her friendship and personality rather than just his crush, and he thought that was good for them. Lemongrab really brought out the best in him.

"Anyway," Lily continued "I have to get to the Prefects' carriage! Perks of being Head Girl." She giggled when she said this last part, bragging slightly. As if she hadn't been talking about it all Summer.

"Actually before you go, I was wondering if I could talk to you about-" Saverus was interrupted by none other than James Fleamont Potter strutting into the hallway, calling out "Evans!" at the top of his lungs.

"We have to head into the Prefects' carriage, Head Boy and Girl!" Potter winked. Saverus scowled.

Lily looked back at Sav, looking for confirmation that it was okay to leave. Small Saverus just nodded and walked away to look for his Slytherin friends.

***

The first week of Seventh Year came and went, and Saverus barely saw Lily or Lemongrab. His teachers were already piling on homework to prepare them for NEWTs, and his Slytherin friends were expecting so much of him in the lead-up to what they were now calling his "initiation". On top of this, his new timetable included barely any classes with the Gryffindors. A year ago he would have been grateful for this, but recent events had swayed his judgment. He just wanted time to sit down and talk to Lily - and despite the fact that he was still trying to convince himself otherwise, he wanted to see Earl of Lemongrab.

Finally, after potions on Wednesday afternoon - three days before his meeting - he managed to talk to Lily. They walked down to dinner together, talking about how much homework there was and how their first weeks had been. They were almost outside the Great Hall when Sav decided to bite the bullet.

"Lily, I want to talk to you about something." He declared, trying to keep his voice sounding strong. Despite his efforts, he looked down and let his sleek, long, black hair fall infront of his face to hide it. Lily took a step towards him.

"Of course." She replied, kind as ever.

"You have to promise you won't get mad... it's kind of a lot. I don't know if you'll want to be my friend anymore after this." Saverus sulked. He pouted his lower lip and moved his hair out of his face, placing it behind his ears. Lily frowned, clearly preparing herself for whatever she was about to hear.

Saverus told her everything. How he had joined this new political party and how he thought they were dangerous but he agreed with what they stood for. How he had only really done it to get a leg up on his resume but it had spiraled in a way he couldn't comprehend and now he was meeting the boss. He confessed to her how scared he was, and how he couldn't bear the thought of becoming one of them but knew he had no choice. Lily listened patiently, but Saverus could see her expression falter every time he brought up the political party's blood purity beliefs.

"Well," Lily started, choosing her words carefully. "It sounds like you've got some thinking to do."

Saverus frowned, this kind of blunt response wasn't typical for Lily. Lily Evans was the kind of girl who you talked to about your problems and she listened compassionately and fixed them for you. Lily Evans was a fix it girl. Lily Evans was not a "you've got some thinking to do" girl.

"That's it?" Saverus responded.

"Look, Sav I don't know what you want me to say. You've just confessed to joining a group that is not only dangerous to our society but also fundamentally disagrees with my existence. You're complaining to me about how hard it is for you but your ignorance to your privilege in this situation astounds me. Saverus if any one of those people managed to get me in their headquarters I would be dead or worse. They're asking you to be one of them, it's not my fault you're not brave enough to stand up to them."

Saverus paused, taken aback. "Lily, you don't understa-"

"No I don't think you understand, Sav. This isn't some game, this isn't debate club or some trivial political party you can 'join for your resume'. This is building up to something big, and if there's a battle I'm going to be on the right side of it... I thought you had the sense to do the same."

Without another word, Lily turned around and walked into the Great Hall.

Sav stood there in shock for a good 10 seconds before he remembered how to move again. What had Lily meant by "a battle"? And all the stuff she was inferring as if Saverus was the bad guy! There was one thing she had been right about though, Saverus did have a lot of thinking to do.