Chapter 725 - Actualities Ⅴ (1/2)
Failing to notice Lily's dazed expression, Severus comes to a stiff halt as Lily blinks out of her stupor as his onyx eyes search her emerald own. Feeling a touch of pain, Severus flashes her a thin smile and quietly asks, ”Lily, how have you been doing?”
”Fine!” Lily blurted out and flushed even more in embarrassment. Why had she blurted that out? What was wrong with her? This was Sev! Ugh, she was supposed to be ready for this! She'd practiced with Willa and Mary all weekend including the prior evening in their dorm room!
”That's good to hear,” Severus bittersweetly answered feeling his heart sink into his c.h.e.s.t. Lily was just fine without him, and he was the idiot still mooning over her. He was so STUPID!
Severus's face goes blank as he struggles to hide his emotions and tries to feign a light-heartedness that he did not feel. ”I was worried there for a bit for you and Lupin, but with the mentoring system in play a some of the load is off of us, Prefect's now.”
”Yeah,” Lily chimed in lamely and cursing herself for her blunder. GAHH! What was wrong with her!
Seeing Lily looking so apprehensive, Severus a little too forcefully says, ”Don't worry, Lily. I'm not going to confess to you again.”
”I wasn't thinking that!” Lily loudly said. ”I mean, I-.”
”It's fine, really, Lily,” Severus bitterly replied. ”There is no reason to become so very fl.u.s.tered.”
”Anyway, I just wanted you to know that you can forget all about it,” Severus quietly declared. ”Pretend it never happened.”
”Wait, that's not what I meant!” Lily piercingly shouted causing Severus to step back in surprise.
Flushing in embarrassment and with a bit of frustration, Lily lets out a loud huff. ”You Slytherins always thinking you are so cunning, but if you would just bother to listen now and again, you'd realize you needn't have to!” She bl.u.s.tered, before sighing out loud with a determined expression on her face.
”Severus, first off, I am sorry,” Lily honestly apologized out loud. ”I was so in shock when you confessed to me, I just panicked and rejected your feelings for me. I didn't really think about your words until I went home and thought about your feelings.”
Lily flushed a bit in embarrassment and guiltily glances up at him. ”I'm sorry, I was such a coward, Sev, and I should have talked to you earlier, but I selfishly wanted everything to back the way it was. And when it didn't, I was forced to look at myself and I am ashamed to say, but I wasn't a very brave Gryffindor. I should have had the courage to make things right and instead, I waited and waited until it was nearly too late.”
Lily's head drops and stares at her shoe that is fidgeting against the stone ground. ”I understand if you don't want to forgive me, Sev, but I really am sorry because I was a bit of a bint.”
Taking another deep breath, Lily raises her red face as her emerald eyes warily gaze up at Severus's onyx own. ”And I, er, I like you,” Lily lamely said as Severus stares at her with wide astonished eyes.
Lily flushes so bright that she is cherry tomato red. ”I know that sounds thoughtless and even a lie after I turned you down,” Lily babbled. ”You probably think that I'm a fickle woman and that I'm toying with your emotions. But I'm not, I truely am not!”