He
adored her eyes.
They were a deep shade of green, one that you
could get lost in for hours. A deep forest hidden beneath them, one
that could tell stories, if someone took the time to watch them.
Not
that she would give him the time to. Anytime she looked in his
direction, he'd quickly turn his head away, even if it meant looking
at the wall. She could never know, no one could.
He could see her
now, sitting over at the Gryffindor table. He shot her a nasty glare
and looked down into his bowl of soup, silently cursing her for being
so... perfect.
Her red hair could be seen almost a mile away, and
on most it looked repulsive and vulgar, as though it could only fit
the heads of the poor. But on her... It shone. Her hair was like his
star, and it guided him through his normally dreary world of
nothingness.
From beneath the curtain of greasy hair, he watched
her laugh brightly at a joke someone had told, then take a sip of
water.
Her eyes...
They danced for him around the room, but
when they landed on him, he looked down and began shoveling hot
spoonfuls of soup into his mouth. He winced and nearly coughed it all
up; it scalded him all the way down. His housemates ignored his
muffled coughs and continued their discussions on anything that
entered their mind. Bellatrix Black, a girl his age, smirked, "Soup
a little hot, Snape?"
He nodded and took a small sip of
water, "A little."
She rolled her eyes and rejoined her
previous conversation, leaving him alone to watch his little
Gryffindor.
Snape
walked down the halls with great, sweeping strides, he always did.
They were not arrogant, like the ones of Lucius Malfoy, a few years
his senior. They got him from point A to point B, which was all that
walking was for him.
He rounded the corner, but collided with
another body, causing both to tumble backwards. He didn't look up, he
never did. He just crawled around the floor, desperately trying to
pick up his books and leave.
"You missed one..."
It
was that Heavenly voice he always focused on in class. He slowly
looked up to her, a small smile on her face as she rose, her hand
extended with his book clutched in it. His lip curled as he snatched
it away, "Watch where you're going next time, Mudblood."
He
held his books close to his chest as he pushed forcefully past her,
then hurried down the dark hallway.
Snape
was hanging by his ankles over the lake, thrashing around to try and
somehow get the spell off him. James and Sirius burst out laughing in
his attempts and made him do a summersault with the mere flick of
their wands.
"You know why
we're out here, doing this to you, Snivilleus?" James asked
lazily, allowing Snape to drop a few metres closer to the water. He
shut his eyes and braced for impact, only to feel the restraints of
the spell keeping him up.
"Because you enjoy this sick sort
of thing?" Snape mused, glaring at them. Sirius looked
dramatically to the sky, a thoughtful expression on his face,
"Besides that."
"Lily came in crying last night,"
James explained, "Not bawling, mind you... But she was upset. Do
you know why?"
Snape gritted his teeth, suddenly
understanding this humiliation, "No..."
"She ran
into you, Snapey," Sirius finished, "And you must have
gotten some of your hair grease on her... I'd say a good dunking
would clean him up... What do you think, James old boy?"
"I
think it would do wonderfully, Padfoot, my friend," James
chuckled, "On three?"
"On three."
Snape
shut his eyes.
"One..."
He held his hands up to cover
his face.
"Two..."
He took a deep breath.
"THREE!"
He
plunged.
It
was finally his day.
Though he would miss the dismal old castle,
Snape was finally free. It had been a humiliating couple of years,
but he was now an adult in the wizarding world, free to practice any
sort of curse he wished upon ANYONE who tormented him.
He would
also finally do it. He would talk to her with a reason, for once. For
once, he would not sound like a blubbering idiot in front of
her.
"Evans?" he called, stopping her. They were on the
train, back to London, and it had taken him almost an hour of waiting
for her to leave her cabin for him to speak to her.
She sighed and
walked down the narrow hallway to him, a slight look of irritation,
"Get in your last Mudblood pun, Severus, since I don't think
we'll be able to do it for a very long time."
"I...
I..." he cursed, remembering he didn't
want to be the stuttering fool again, "I wanted to say
congratulations on getting high honours."
He needed something
to base his speech off of, since blurting out he loved her would be a
little rash.
"Thank you," she replied earnestly, a smile
gracing her lips, "Same to you."
"And... I wanted
to apologize for... a lot of things I've said, and done," he
said softly, "I... I didn't mean to hurt you."
She
touched his hand lightly and a spark of electricity flew through his
body, "I know."
I know? He had been expecting a huge
fight about all the times he had called her names, but nothing else
came. He hadn't prepared for this, and suddenly felt awkward, "I...
uh..."
"James and I are engaged," she blurted,
"I've been keeping it a secret for so long, and I'll just burst
if I don't tell someone! Even if it's someone like you, who doesn't
care!"
His heart may have stopped beating, right then and
there. Her face was glowing with joy, but inside he had just
died.
"Then... Good luck with him," he snarled, turning
on his heel and storming off towards the door to the next
compartment.
"Severus?!" she called. He whipped back, a
scowl on his face, and stared hard into her eyes, one last time. He
kept that one look as a memory, and swore to never look again.
Student
filed into the Great Hall for their Start of Year Feast. The train
had only arrived twenty minutes ago, and Snape already felt impatient
for the little brats to get inside. The sooner they were in, seated,
and the ruddy sorting ceremony was over, Dumbledore would just have
to make his speech and dinner would be served!
He had been so busy
that day, and he had skipped most of his meals, like many of the
teachers, in their last minute scramble to make sure everything was
ready for their upcoming classes.
Harry Potter was supposed to be
starting this year, and he and McGonagall had gotten a lengthy
talking to from Dumbledore about watching out for the boy and making
sure nothing happened to him etc.
Snape had zoned out for most of
the conversation, only listening to the growls of his hungry
stomach.
Quirrel was twittering about some nonsense in his ear,
and Snape gazed out into the sea of students.
Something suddenly
caught his eye.
Those eyes.
They were back...
Green, deep
eyes, though hidden behind a pair of glasses, glowed throughout the
Great Hall. His attention was instantly diverted to the eyes,
following them until they met his. Snape blinked several times and
studied the boy they belonged to.
Messy black hair...
Round
glasses...
A scar...
Harry sodding Potter had Lily's eyes.
His
last good memory of her flashed to his mind. He had seen her a few
more times, usually at Order of Phoenix meetings, but she was with
James and Sirius, so Snape was forced, once again, to be the silent
observer.
Harry glanced around the large hall nervously, his large
eyes catching Snape's attention again. He missed her.
He missed
her gleeful smile, her shining red hair, and her forest eyes. Harry
had them...
They were going to haunt him...
