illicit affairs || lemongrab x small saverus

Chapter Eleven - Waiting Room

Know it's for the better
I never grew up with you
And you're not my waiting room

A/N - To fill in the gaps. The conversation referenced last chapter that drove Saverus to apologise to Lily

Lemongrab had always thought that there was nothing a good, long walk couldn't fix - especially at night. There was something about the peaceful atmosphere, the time to think, the movement, all of it. Oftentimes when he wanted to clear his head, he would go for a stroll along the lake once everybody else had gone to bed. This was one of those nights.

Small Saverus had taken James and Sirius's prank pretty hard yesterday, Lemongrab knew that.

She hadn't been there for it personally, but Lily had spared no detail when discussing it. Lemongrab couldn't believe what he had called her... but Merlin knows they'd be lying if they said they weren't ten times more furious with Sirius. What he and James had done to Sav was horrific. Still, Saverus should apologise to Lily.

Lemongrab heard the leaves behind her rustle, and she turned around.

There she saw Small Saverus, sitting under a tree. The scene felt familiar; like that party James and Sirius threw earlier in the year. Lemongrab had gone to Saverus then to comfort him, and yet they were still completely unaware of why Saverus was upset in the first place. That was one way tonight was different, Lemongrab was almost certain that Sav was here because of yesterday's prank.

"Small Saverus?" Lemongrab spoke softly, careful not to scare him. Despite their efforts, they noticed Saverus flinch slightly at the noise, but his shoulders relaxed when he realised who it was.

"Lemongrab?" His voice was quieter than usual, "What are you doing here? It's late, you should be in your dorm."

"So should you." She replied, walking towards him and sitting down gently beside him. It was surprising to Lemongrab just how natural this felt. Lemongrab wasn't close with Saverus anymore, but the unspoken understanding they had when they were younger had remained.

Small Saverus was Lemongrab's first friend at Hogwarts. Lemongrab wasn't popular as a kid, and people used to find him a bit annoying. Now that they were older, they had learned just how much of themself to present to the world. They knew their worth lay in in shutting up and looking pretty, in appealing to the male gaze, to fix problems and to never mention theirs. They hadn't learned that yet when they first arrived at Hogwarts, he talked about his interests endlessly, he was loud, he didn't try too hard to look a certain way; people generally didn't like that, but Small Saverus had.

They had met at Platform 9 and 3/4. Lemongrab got her bag stuck between the train doors and was panicking trying to tug it free - she wasn't very strong, especially at that age. Small Saverus was walking down the train corridor with Lily Evans and the two had stopped to help Lemongrab free the bag. Just as she was thanking them, she saw a sticker on Small Saverus's bag that read "Royal Shakespeare Company".

"Do you like Shakespeare?" Lemongrab had asked, their voice full of youthful excitement.

"Uh, yes! Yes I do." Small Saverus had replied. Lemongrab remembered how nervous he had sounded, how much he used to stutter.

"Really? I love Shakespeare," Lemongrab continued. "My favourite play of his is Hamlet, I saw it live last year and it was the greatest experience of my life. What's your favourite Shakespeare play?"

Small Saverus seemed just as excited to have the opportunity to talk about Shakespeare.

"My favourite is Macbeth, I love how dark it is. I know that most of Shakespeare's plays are dark, but Macbeth does it so well - unlike Titus Andronicus - and... sorry I'm rambling."