Remus is waiting for Lily in the common room. James, Sirius and Peter are in their dormitory, still laughing at Snape and his underwear.
Remus feels sick. His eyes are fixed on the Portrait hole and he stupidly hopes Lily is all right. Of course she's not. He knows how close to Snape she is – or was. Knowing Lily, she probably won't forgive him easily for calling her a Mudblood. James and Sirius don't understand how important Snape is to Lily. Or maybe they do, and Remus is being too lenient with his friends, as he is too often.
"Lily!" Remus suddenly calls, seeing her storming in the common room.
Lily looks quite collected as she sees him, but as he quickly makes his way towards her he sees that her eyes are red and swollen.
"Leave me alone," Lily snarls.
Remus feels sick.
"Please, Lily, can't we talk?"
Lily stops dead in her tracks and as she turns to him he almost takes a step back. She looks positively infuriated. After all, the 'incident' happened only an hour ago.
"Don't you think you should have talked earlier?" Lily almost shouts, making a few heads turn. "Don't you think you should have said something?"
Remus opens his mouth, and closes it. He hates himself. Lily seems to calm down, but it is even worse as she now looks on the verge of tears.
"Never mind," Lily says shortly. "Well have a good night, and I hope your conscience doesn't bother you."
"I'm sorry," Remus says quickly as she is about to leave. "I'm really sorry, Lily, I know I shouldn't have let it happen, but…"
Remus does not finish his sentence. He sincerely doesn't know how to. His apologies sound empty.
Lily blinks and looks away. Remus has never seen such a sad shade of green. Green is supposed to be the colour of hope. For one second, Remus hates his friends.
"He called me a Mudblood," Lily says quietly.
Remus wants to take her in his arms, to make her feel better, to make himself feel better, too. But he knows it isn't the best idea, and before he knows what to do next, Lily is gone.
