illicit affairs || lemongrab x small saverus

Chapter Sixteen - Sidelines

And I used to think
You could hear the ocean in a seashell
What a childish thing

Lemongrab wasn't entirely sure how his life had managed to change so much within only two weeks. A month ago he had been miserable, lonely, conflicted; now he was... almost excited.

Since their "meeting" with Small Saverus in the potions cupboard they hadn't made it through a single day without sneaking out of class or meals to go meet Sav in an empty classroom, or a hidden corridor, or a broom cupboard. She was positively giddy with all the sneaking around, walking into dinner and giggling as she caught Sav's eye from across The Great Hall.  

It was a Wednesday afternoon and Lemongrab had just exited potions class, it was the one class he and Small Saverus had together and they had been sneaking glances across the desks the entire time. When they walked out Small Saverus nodded at the right-hand side of the hallway and walked down; Lemongrab followed. 

As soon as they entered the nearby broom cupboard, Lemongrab locked the door and started kissing Small Saverus, but he pulled away gently.

"I want to talk to you about something." Small Saverus said, his voice serious but gentle. 

"Hmm?" Lemongrab hummed, moving back reluctantly. 

"This... thing we're doing. Why are we sneaking around?"

Lemongrab froze, she had been afraid of this. "What do you mean?"

Saverus paused for a moment, it was clear he was a little nervous to ask this. "I was just wondering if..." he took a deep breath, "Maybe we could make things official? On- only if you want to, of course!" He added hastily.

Oh no... They thought. "Sav..." Lemongrab placed her hand on Saverus's cheek and pat him gently with her four fingers. "We've got a good thing going! And you know how people are... how they talk. James and Sirius would have a field day with this..." 

"Then we can deal with them!" Small Saverus insisted. "I can protect you from them."

Lemongrab sighed, not wanting to admit that it wasn't herself she was worried about. "We'll talk about it later." She decided, kissing him on the neck to shut him up. They were so close to graduating, what was the point of all this added drama? They could start dating once they were out of school, once silly bullies didn't matter. They could worry about it then. 

***

It was less than a week before Small Saverus brought up the topic of dating again. Lemongrab had been in the library revising for exams when Small Saverus had walked past her table, subtly dropping a note on her textbook that said "Meet me at our potion cupboard in 15 minutes." Lemongrab smiled - our potion cupboard - and started to pack away their things. 

When they arrived Small Saverus was standing outside, which was unusual. Normally he waited inside so people wouldn't see them together. Lemongrab walked up to him hesitantly, making sure the hallway was empty. 

"Do you want to be with me?" Small Saverus asked plainly.
Lemongrab was taken aback. Not only were they in plain sight, but Lemongrab couldn't recall Sav ever being this straightforward about his emotions.

"Sav, we should talk about this insi-" 

"No. Answer the question."

Lemongrab didn't move.

Small Saverus sighed. "I've thought about it, I have too much going on to worry about this... this-" He was struggling to find the words. "Lemongrab - love - I need to know if you're serious about this, about me." 

Lemongrab had never seen him so earnest, they knew Saverus had a hard time opening up to people and it was clear that he was putting his emotions - his peace - on the line. He was taking a risk; he was taking a risk for Lemongrab.

"Sav, I didn't-"
What he wanted to say was that he didn't know Saverus had cared so much, that he had been scared of getting hurt again. She wanted to say that after what happened with Sirius she wasn't sure she could put herself out there again - but if Saverus was prepared to...

They took a deep breath. "Yes. Yes, I'm serious about this."

Lemongrab saw the corners of Sav's small lined mouth curve upwards slightly. 

"Follow me then." Saverus opened the door to the cupboard. 

Inside was a cacophony of fluttering wings. There were conjured butterflies - pink and red - flying in the shape of a heart on the wall, moving around in circles. It was beautiful magic, romantic magic - the kind of magic you can only conjure with true passion. Lemongrab shut the door and stared at the heart which was now emanating a slight glow. 

"Oh, Sav" was all they could get out. They turned to him and kissed him as hard as they could, pulling away only to say "Yes. We should be together." 

***

Two days later Small Saverus was stuffed into a locker by the marauders. Four days later Lemongrab was hexed by three sixth year Slytherins who had heard Small Saverus was dating a Gryffindor. This was exactly what she had been afraid of. 

They met on the astronomy tower at midnight to talk things over, but Lemongrab still felt uneasy. She and Saverus were very open about how they expected this and things would get better after graduation, but the secret of Saverus's torment still hung in the air. He would always talk about his stress so vaguely, and clearly it wasn't coming from school work. Lemongrab just wished he would talk to them about it...

They kissed goodnight and walked down the steps of the astronomy tower together, only to be confronted by the sight of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Lemongrab noticed the pair quickly unlink their hands and step back slightly in shock; Sirius still managed a glare.

"Having a midnight stargazing date, are we?" Sirius said condescendingly. 

"I could say the same for you." Lemongrab spat back. He saw Sirius's eye twitch slightly at the comment. Saverus seemed oblivious to the implications of the conversation and pushed past them on the stairs, leading Lemongrab by the hand. As she outstretched her arm she caught a glimpse of the words on her wrist - "Look at me".  She couldn't wait for school to be over.

A/N - I know, I know I've gone a year without updating. Apologies to my loyal fans, please forgive me. I swear I haven't abandoned this fic and I never will xx