Title: Red Rain
Author: Jane Delight
Warnings: Implied slash if you're that way inclined.
Disclaimer: Anything you recognise does not belong to me.
Summary: Currently one-shot. Implied HPSS slash. Harry and Severus stand atop a lone tower on Halloween.
A/N: Inspired by The Fray's "How to Save a Life".
Red Rain
He watched as the dark clouds drew nearer on the horizon. It would rain soon. He didn't have enough energy left to care.
Today had been another one of those days. He had had trouble getting out of bed and in the end he ended up lying in it again after realising he'd never survive breakfast.
Now though, he was sitting on a small tower whose only visitor in recent years seemed to have been him. He enjoyed the solitude.
He often wondered how his life had turned out like this. What had happened to the innocent kid he'd been around ten years ago, when he first set foot into this mighty castle? The war, that's what had happened.
He'd lost the two most important people in his life: Ron and Hermione. There were other loses, naturally, but admittedly, those two were the ones he missed the most. He noticed their absence everyday. Moony, yes, he missed him too, but he hadn't been so close to him, hadn't seen him every day.
He didn't know if he'd ever learn to cope. It certainly didn't seem like it. Especially not today.
At least he had a job, he mused. One he enjoyed, at that. Well, most of the time. After defeating Voldemort – and losing every reason he'd ever had to live – Dumbeldore had kindly offered him a job as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. He'd accepted, not knowing what else to do at the time.
Merlin only knows what he would've done had he'd not received a reason to get up every morning. Not that that reason was enough to actually get up every morning, but it did stop him completely withdrawing into himself.
But not today. Today, he figured, he was allowed to give in to his darker emotions. Today was Halloween. The day everyone who'd ever cared for him had died. Save maybe Dumbeldore. But he didn't count. At least not at the moment.
Vaguely, he wondered if there was life after death. Whether the dead could see him now. Whether they'd want to see him now. Whether he wanted them to be able to see him now.
He shook his head. It didn't matter. There was no point thinking about things he had no control over. He'd learned that after Sirius' death.
The first raindrops hit his head.
One day, he'd find out for himself what the dead got up to. Hopefully – and yes, he did actually hope for this – that day was a long way of.
Suddenly, he felt rather than heard something move behind him. He turned around, curious as to who would decide to interrupt his solitude.
He was mildly surprised, he had to admit. His colleague Professor Snape was standing before him, his black eyes filled with some indefinable emotion.
They acknowledged each other with a nod, as was custom between them. They rarely spoke; it brought up too many unhappy memories. Memories of how they had verbally and physically fought each other before the war, memories of how they had fought with each other during it. Far too many memories. But today was the day to remember, wasn't it?
"May I ask what brings you up here, Professor?"
Snape, who had been standing silently beside him, staring out into the distance, turned to him.
Rain was falling freely now, the sound of it drowning out all other noises, like the shuffling of shoes, or the call of birds. For a brief moment, it was unimaginable that any other sound could or should exist.
But then Snape spoke, and his voice seemed to suit the rain perfectly. Dark, yet soothing, somehow.
"It's Halloween." As though this was an explanation. And for Harry, it was.
They stood there silently for what could've been just short of eternity. He felt his clothes getting soaked thoroughly, but it didn't really bother him. After some time, the rain stopped and the sky cleared. Just in time to see the setting sun disappear on the horizon. The bright orange and red seemed to reflect of every corner, every surface, due to the remains the rain had left there.
Seeing the colours after the long dullness that the clouds had brought, he couldn't help but smile. Surely that's what the dead would've wanted him to do?
He glanced at Snape and witnessed how a remaining raindrop dripped from his hair onto his face, rolled down slightly, into the corner of his eye, causing the older man to blink, which in turn made the raindrop, reflecting the colours of the setting sun, roll over his cheek and disappear into his collar.
It was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.
He stood there for a moment longer, until a minute breeze caused him to shiver. He didn't know how, but Snape somehow noticed this and turned towards him.
"I think it's time to go inside. The feast will be starting soon." He must've made a face at the mention of the feast, for Snape then added "I am not looking forward to it either, but if we don't show our faces Albus will surely drag us there some way or another."
He sighed and commented "I'd rather stay here, Albus be damned."
Snape seemed to smirk, or was it a smile? "Albus made me promise to convince you to attend" he admitted. Harry rolled his eyes - he should've known.
"How about this: we go to the feast, listen to whatever Albus has to say, eat a bit, and then sneak out when he's distracted. You'll have kept your promise as I will have attended. Just maybe not as long as Albus had in mind."
This time, it truly was a smile Snape displayed. "How very Slytherin of you, Potter"
"Call me Harry, Professor"
"If you insist… Harry." Harry smiled. "And I suppose that you should then be permitted to call me Severus." His smile widened.
He reached out to touch the other man's arm.
"I guess we'd better get going."