𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒊𝒆 (DISCONTINUED)

Advice

It was reaching the end of October and James still hadn't made a big move on Severus. At this point, the prank was going nowhere, and Sirius was sure to remind him of that.

"All you've gotten him to do is be your friend, barely. You must do something to get closer to him." Sirius hissed at James in Care of Magical Creatures.

"Thanks, Padfoot I haven't noticed." James retorted, aggressively writing notes in his book. It was starting to get colder as Halloween quickly approached. James was wearing a Gryffindor scarf that was Remus', he couldn't find his own.

Something that was also approaching was the Halloween Hogsmeade trip. James was supposed to go with his friends like all the other years, until an idea popped into his head. "I know what to do!" James exclaimed in a whisper.

Sirius looked over at him with a confused expression on his face. "What is it?" Sirius asked. James opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted. "Potter and Black, stop talking, we are in the middle of a lesson!" Professor Kettleburn shouted to them as the class's attention was turned to James and Sirius.

"I'll just tell you later." James murmured under his breath.

At the end of the class James ditched the Marauders to go look for Severus. This was the last class of the day, so it was dinner time. Which meant that Severus most likely was in the library, hiding from everybody else.

James entered the castle and made his way to the third-floor corridor which was where the library is. After ten minutes of walking James finally arrived at the library and walked to the back which is where Severus would usually be sitting at.

But to James' surprise, Severus wasn't there. James checked the other tables in the library but there was no sign of Severus. James wore a confused expression as he reached into his bag for the Marauders Map.

He wasn't sure if he had it or not but continued to search for it. Soon, his fingers grasped a thick paper which was the map and pulled it out of his bag. He quickly unfolded it and searched for Severus' name on the it.

He soon found his name outside, in the Green House. James was even more confused as to why Severus was there, but nonetheless, left the library and made his way back outside.

Perhaps James should've checked the map the moment he left Care of Magical Creature, but of course James wasn't thinking rationally and just assumed Severus would be in the library.

After a few minutes James had reached the Green House and finally found Severus. Severus was carefully clipping off a few petals from a Dittany Bush. "Severus, what are you doing?" James asked firmly as Severus jumped back.

Severus looked up at the figure who had just spoken and noticed it was just James and sighed in relief. "Oh. It's just you." Severus grumbled as he went back to what he was doing.

"Are you going to answer my question?" James said after a few moments of silence. "I need these for a potion." Severus answered, his focus not leaving the bush. "I don't recall getting an assignment in potions to make a Wiggenweld potion." James muttered with his eyebrows furrowed.

Severus' black eyes flickered to James for just a split second before returning to what he was doing. "Well clearly you never read the homework assignment instructions." James thought back to his last potions class, he had left early to check up on Remus after the full moon.

"I don't think Mr. Slughorn wanted you to take the ingredients from here, I think he meant for you to buy them." James shrugged before Severus froze at James' words. Silence took over the conversation for a minute until Severus set down his scissors and placed the bag with the Dittany inside his school bag. "We all have our different ways of doing things, Potter."

Severus turned to James with narrowed eyes. "How'd you know I was here?" Severus questioned. James thought quickly of an excuse, he obviously couldn't tell Severus about the map. "I was going to take a walk by the lake, but I saw you in here." James said lousily.

Severus stayed quiet, not knowing what to respond with. "But I wanted to ask you a question." James told him. "Yes?"

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?" James suggested with his usual charismatic grin. Severus didn't respond, instead staring at James like he was an alien. "You want me to go with you?" James nodded.

Severus had only been to Hogsmeade once and it was the first trip they were allowed to go on. Severus had to beg his mom to sign the form, only to get to Hogsmeade and realize he had to pay for most of the stuff there. Lily had left him to go with her own friends, so Severus pretty much sat on a bench, hidden away from the chaos, with a book in his lap. And so, Severus never returned to Hogsmeade again after that.

But if Severus went with James, would it be like that again? Severus also thought about how whatever they would do probably involved him paying for stuff. But he had no money.

"I- uh, I don't know." Severus hesitantly started. "Please, my treat for anything we do."

Severus thought hard for a few moments before he gave an annoyed sigh, "Fine." James' face turned into a smile. "Brilliant. I promise you won't regret it."

I'm already starting to regret this. Severus thought to himself as James continued to speak.