Too Late to Apologize – Entry for round four of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.

Word count excluding author note: 1079

One more phone call couldn't hurt. The thought plagued sixteen year old Severus Snape as he went about his daily chores at home. Lily had not spoken to him since the accident. He reasoned that she had every right to hate him. The acceptance of the redhead's, hopefully temporary, hatred failed to diminish his persistence. He planned to gain back her trust and friendship before they were done with school. His heart yearned for the love of the muggle girl.

One falter of words ruined everything. He shuddered as he disposed of the last of Tobias' beer bottles. His parents were out for the day, thankfully, and Severus had the house to himself. Tobias somehow convinced his mother to go on a date with him. The day would be successful if the two returned without arguing or throwing things at each other.

Lily. She came to mind again. The house was empty besides him. There would be no one to tell him off for using the phone and causing the bill, which was almost always overdue, to be a little higher than usual.

Severus shakily approached the phone and raised it to his ear. He dialed Lily's number, the digits ingrained to memory, and waited as the phone rang. The phone rang once before a perky teen answered it.

"Hello?" Severus cringed when he recognized the voice of the person who answered. Just his luck; Petunia was on the other end.

"Hey, Petunia." He released an uneasy breath, "Could I talk to Lily, please?"

"She's not home." The shrill voice of Petunia Evans snapped over the phone. Severus held the receiver away from his ear and grimaced.

"Can you ask her to call me back?"

"No, Severus." She hissed, "Now stop calling. I'm waiting for my boyfriend to call me back. You keep making the line busy. Goodbye."

Severus slammed the phone down with a sigh. He felt as though the phone call had been worth the try. A more desperate measure would have to be taken the next time around. He would wait a week, maybe more if he had enough self-control, before trying to get in contact with her again.

She ignored most of his advances. She always had, but now it hurt the most. Severus was used to being ignored by everyone aside from Lily. She was the only person he was considerably close to at school outside of the group of Slytherins he saw during the school year.

Why had he been so stupid?

Three long weeks of not attempting to call Lily passed by before Severus decided to try apologizing again. Growing bored with being stuck inside his home, he decided to venture from the dwelling and give the Evans family a visit.

He hadn't made it past the front door before coming face to face with Tobias.

"And just where do you think you're going?" The older man stuck his arm in front of the door.

"Bug off, you drunk." Severus muttered and tried to step around him.

"Excuse me?" Tobias' nostrils flared. "Do not talk to me in that tone, boy."

"I'll talk to you how I want." Severus said.

"Not in my house."

"I was just leaving anyway." He pushed Tobias' arm to the side and left the house, swearing under his breath.

"Don't come back." Tobias called after him.

"Gladly." Severus whispered to himself, and then turned around to face his father, "I'm fairly certain my mum would have a problem with that though. Why don't you talk to her?" He dropped the conversation at that and continued down the familiar path to the road the Evans lived on.

His anger disappeared the longer he walked. It was almost relaxing in a way that allowed for his thoughts to calm and refocus. He was going to try to talk to Lily; that fact was certainly true. The longer he put it off the longer he would have until he could maybe mend things.

The yellow house in the center of the street served as Lily's home. Severus paused before it, standing in the middle of the street, and bit into his lip. He needed to summon the nerve to venture closer and eventually wrap his knuckles on the door.

He moved after taking three deep breaths. Keep your footsteps steady. Petunia already thinks you're batty. It would worsen things if he made a fool out of himself before even seeing Lily.

Severus lightly knocked on the door. Here goes nothing, he thought as he stuck his hands into the pockets of his oversized coat, waiting for someone to answer the door. Please be Lily.

His prayer was answered when the door opened to reveal a sour looking redhead.

"Lily." Severus couldn't hold back the grin that danced across his lips.

"What?" She crossed her arms over her chest.

"I—" Severus stammered, "—Lily, I'm sorry."

"No, you aren't." The redhead huffed, "Severus, I don't want to talk to you."

"Look," Snape narrowed his eyes at Lily. She said stated the obvious, yet she hadn't slammed the door in his face. "I didn't mean to– I didn't mean to…"

"Save your breath, Sev." She answered, "You're only sorry because I discovered your secret."

"My secret?" Severus' eyebrows furrowed.

"Yes, your secret." She sighed, "You're changing, Severus. You're turning into the other Slytherins."

"I am not." Severus said although his voice was even. There was no denying the information. After all, he had taken the discussions of his peers into consideration. They were all planning to follow Voldemort once they graduated. He would likely do the same.

The man held an interest in the dark arts and made promises that were more enticing than anything the Ministry had said so far.

"Quit lying, Severus." Lily shook her head, "You wouldn't be apologizing if you hadn't called me that word. You're one of them."

"Lily, please forgive me." He begged. She was the only person to receive his good qualities. Without her he would be lost.

"No. Now go home, Severus. And don't call my house again. It's too late to apologize, the damage is done."

That went well, Severus groaned as he departed from Lily's. He would stop trying, for now, then eventually throw in another apology once school started again. Maybe she'll forget. It would take an awful lot of luck for that to happen, but he wasn't going to stop until they were at least back to being friends.