"Another good idea," Severus said with a nod. "You are simply brimming with those today." Though two knapsacks were probably a better idea, and perhaps a tent, shrunk to fit inside one of them. Or two tents, maybe, considering what she'd said just then about this not being a date. Severus nodded, a bit numbly. Just something to do. That's all he was to her. That was what he got for hoping, he supposed.
Suddenly, he rather felt like he would imagine a disemboweled horned toad would feel, if it were still alive. But then again, he wasn't technically alive, either, was he? Clearly he had overstepped his bounds with that term. He could have taken a small bit of comfort from the fact that she said she wouldn't mind if he called them dates, but if she didn't think of their outings that way, what did it matter? He was simply fooling himself, yet again.