THIS FANFICTION CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR "HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS". PLEASE PROSSEGUE ONLY IF YOU ALREADY READ IT OR IF YOU DON'T MIND TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS IN THE LAST BOOK!

You've been warned! xD

Title: Erised Stra Ehru Oy (1)

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: characters and places belong to JK Rowling and to Warner Brothers.

Summary: there's a lost mirror at Hogwarts that doesn't show your face, but your heart's desire…

Extra: spoilers from Sorcerer's Stone and especially from Deathly Hallows.

A/N: do you remember that scene from the first movie when Harry finds his parents at the Mirror of Erised and Lily puts her hand on his shoulder and he can only touch the mirror? Well, that's where I found my inspiration for this fic. That scene and a gorgeous fanart by Kyla at dA (ask me if you want to know where you can see it!).

Thank you, Jane Potter Skywalker, for helping me with the translation. English is not our first language, so sorry for any mistakes, no one is perfect. Especially me! xD

September's 1st, 1991

She had come to see him. And she was still as beautiful as in the last time he saw her.

Slightly, he came closer, slow steps in the hard stoned floor. He knew what that object was, Dumbledore had already mentioned it so many times. His eyes ran to the inscription on the top of the magnificent mirror:

Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi

And then, all his attention came back to her. Only her. Their eyes met with each other. He could still feel his knees shaking and that heat inside of him with such a simple gesture. When had they been like that for the last time?

His eyelids closed, he drove away his face from hers. On his mind, he could hear the echo of the last words they had exchanged. They had made their choices, they had followed different paths. He had felt such a strange thing when she turned her back on him. It had been sorrow, it had been pain. He knew that, even being out of that world that he recognized as his, her soul and her spirit will always be part of his existence. She was so much more that just a sweet and tender memoir, making him weaker everyday.

If at least he could change everything that had happened… if at least he could return to that day… if he could have the minimal chance to avoid the tragic ending that fate had reserved to them…

He opened his eyes once again, determined to face the moment as a worrier who leaves with all the courage and bravery to the battle field. He looked up to her. Do you still remember her eyes? But how could he forget them?

Years could go by, memories could vanish like smoke, but if there was something that he would never forget, it would be those eyes. They were too beautiful, too pure, too innocent. When did he start loving those eyes? Maybe right in the moment when he searched for them and found out that there was someone in the world who cared. Someone who enjoyed his company. Who knew that there was still something good inside of him, something that it could be used. If people could only give him a chance…

She was the only one who saw what was invisible to everyone. In the Darkness, she was the only one who saw the Light. She gave him the opportunity he was hoping for – and, lost on his own web, he refused it. Its price was too high: he lost her. He lost the child who didn't run away when he confronted her with a world she didn't even know as real. He lost the girl who had preferred his worst enemy. He lost the only woman he had ever loved.

She faced him and he supported bravely her look. In his dreams and most remote memories, she was nothing more than a ghost, roaming lost between the most intimate corners of his mind. If he stretched his hand to touch her, he would only feel the tact of the nothing. But in there she was more alive than ever. While watching her reflection on that mirror, he could almost believe that she was, in fact, in there with him. She had returned to him. He could almost feel her breathe… he could almost smell her perfume…

Do you know? Do you know all the things I've done for you?

Her lips twisted in a sweet and loving smile. When he realized, her so beautiful eyes were covered by water. She knew. And more than that, she was grateful. The expression on her face made him sure. Pride. She was proud to see the man he had become.

If you could only stay with me… if you could only hear my voice… if you could only answer me… I have so many things to tell you! I wanted so badly to hear your voice just once more!

He stretched his hand to touch her face, but her skin didn't feel the same anymore. Touching her now was caressing a simple glass. He tried to convince himself that it wasn't worth to break the only barrier who kept them apart, she wouldn't be waiting for him in the other side. It would only continue such painful grief! His vision disfigured. He could feel tears overflowing. What could he do just to feel her for the last time?

Can I count on you to help me? Give me the strength to make it possible! I saw him today… he's not like you! He won't see me like you did! He'll be just like him… all things are starting over again… and I need you! I need your strength… I need you, Lil…

His face collided against the mirror. It was driving him crazy, just like Dumbledore had prevented him. He shouldn't be there! He should have fought against temptation, he should have been stronger than just a desire. But if so, she wouldn't come. And just for that, he believed that it was worth the sacrifice.

Severus Snape let his body drag through the mirror until he fall over her feet and cried. He cried for him and the way that power had made him blind, making him waste the only chance he had to be happy. He cried for her and her ending, the ending that such a wonderful woman didn't deserve. And especially, he cried for them and all the things they could have had if they lived in another world, in another story, in another time.

And at the reflection that he couldn't see anymore, Lily squatted next to the best friend she had lost but now gained back and caressed the top of his head. A tender gesture lost in the journey to reality which consoled the broken heart of the cold and absent Hogwarts Potions Master. A consolation that wouldn't be with him forever, but was able to warm him up in that simple night.

It was everything he needed.

Lily Evans had come to see him. And she had become even more beautiful than the last time he saw her.

THE END

1 – for those who don't remember, the inscription on the Mirror of Erised must be read from right to left. For such reason, the title of this fanfiction is: "Your Heart's Desire".