The Door Slightly Ajar
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Severus quietly entered the room and shut the door behind him. Leaning against the door, he took a deep breath, and turned to face the mirror in the room.
He took a hesitant step forward. What would he see?
The last time he had looked in the mirror, when he was fifteen, he saw himself tall, strong, and handsome. Lily had been there by his side, looking at him admirably and lovingly, hanging onto his arm. He was surrounded by mountains of gold. He was the most powerful wizard in the world.
But, in a flash of green light, all that was gone.
Severus closed his eyes before opening them in front of the Mirror of Erised.
He saw himself with Lily standing next to him. Sweet, beautiful Lily, alive only behind the glass. Two small children stood at either side of his legs: a little girl who looked like Lily when he first met her, and a little boy who looked like a miniture version of Severus, but happier than Severus had ever been as a child. They both were looking up at him lovingly. Children he would never have, nor never could have had. All because of his greediness. In his drive for power, he had driven away the one person who ever mattered in his miserable life.
Lily was smiling at him at first, but the smile disappeared when she saw his eyes fill with tears. Her worried eyes gazed at Severus.
Severus reached out to touch Lily's cheek, hoping, wanting, to meet warm flesh. But all his fingers felt was cold glass. A tear rolled down his cheek. The mirror-Lily reached over and put a hand on Severus' cheek where the tear ended… but he felt nothing.
The mirror-children, sensing he was upset, hugged his legs. But he felt nothing.
I have been feeling a lot of nothing for a long time now… Severus thought to himself.
Just then, he heard Filch's voice from outside the door, calling for him. Snape knew he had to go.
"I love you. I always have, and I always will," Severus whispered to Mirror-Lily, who smiled at his words. Severus was about to turn away, but quickly turned back. He wanted one last look…
He looked into Lily's beautiful green eyes, lit up by her sweet smile.
He swallowed. Her eyes gave him a new energy almost for the task Dumbledore had given him ten years prior. He would protect Harry at all costs. It was going to be hard, but he would do it.
Because he loved Lily.
"And I will take care of him," Severus promised. Lily smile grew broader, like she knew exactly what he meant.
Filch was sounding hysteric outside and, in his haste to appease the older man, Severus did not shut the door properly. It was slightly ajar, just wide enough for a skinny eleven year old boy in an invisibility cloak to enter the room without making a sound…
And the rest is history.