Disclaimer – I do not own anything. If I did I'd be rich.
A/N – Severus Snape is amazing, I figured he should have at least one moment of happiness in his life. So here it is. No bashing please, we ALL know what happens you Marauders fans! Reviews are lovely.
The dank air swirled around the dying man, the mist cold and wet where it settled. There was a cloying scent of rotting wood in the area and the cobbled stones that lead to an ancient wooden boathouse were slippery with a generous green coating of moss. The little used structure quivered in the rising wind, its wooden walls less than sturdy and the diamond-leaded window panes greasy and cracked.
Inside, a tall, thin figure paced leisurely, his elegance almost serpentine, his regal stature imposing. Turning suddenly, the black robes whipping around his marble white skin, he spoke a single word that came out as a hiss and a snarl and from nowhere, a snake the thickness of a man's thigh leapt at a second man, smaller than the first and with less of a regal air.
His shoulders were slumped and the black hair stringy around his pallid face as he fell back hard against the cracked panes and the full force of the snake ploughed into his body, the fangs plunging into his neck and splitting the flesh like a ripe fruit. Blood swirled onto the cobblestones as the man fought desperately to save himself but again and again the snake attacked, the muscles of its thick body keeping him powerless until he fell back and accepted his fate.
Tonight he would die.
"I regret it."
The attacker spoke with a soft, cold voice that raised the hairs of those watching – and there were those who watched, not so far away and were shocked and sickened as the serpent like man swept from the room, his long fingernails clutching a wand that he believed would do his bidding now that the blood of its former master had been brought forth to pay for its awesome power.
Severus Snape did not move from where he had fallen against the filth-encrusted window pane. His black eyes glittered strangely in his sallow face and the thin lips, usually twisted in bitterness, self loathing and dislike, were still and slightly parted as though he meant to say something. His breath rattled and curled from his lips in thin twists of vapour and his fate was accepted as he lay there cold and indifferent.
The door opened slowly and Severus's eyes darted over to the spot quickly. The very last person he should want to see in his final moments stood there, an expression of sickened confusion and unwanted pity on his face. The almond shaped green eyes found the black and in that instant, Severus changed his mind. This was the one person he should want at this moment. The one person who should know all that had been planned and all that had been so cruelly lost.
"Take it, take it," rasped the dying man gesturing to the silvery substance leaking from him. The youth took from him the one thing Severus Snape had left to give and when it was taken, he grasped the boy's collar, forcing him inches closer to his own face.
"Look...at...me..."
And then Severus was gone, away from the limp body lying on the moss covered stones, away from the congealing pool of blood, away from the three startled teenagers and towards the moment he had waited for all his life, towards the moment he had longed to relive over and over. The best moment of his life, the singular beautiful moment of peace and love he had experienced in his solitary and rejected existence. It was towards this tiny moment of mercy that his spirit fled back to now and it was there that he stayed in his own private paradise.
The soft slope of grass was bathed in a pinkish glow, the last strands of gold from the sunset falling over the gently rippling lake. What little wind there was breathed softly over the green velvet blades and made it hard to tell where the water began and the grass ended.
A girl and a boy sat alone, side by side but not touching. He was awkward, tense almost and the shoulders rounded and stooped. He twitched nervously, his black shining hair jumping around a pale face and dark expressive eyes. She, in contrast, seemed perfectly at ease. She leaned back on her elbows facing the sky and tipping back her head, she let her red locks spill in a wild tumble down to the grass. Her casual grace held him captive as he watched her, fascinated. The gentle slope of her nose, the slight tipping of her upper lip, the swanlike neck, so fair against the fiery hair that surrounded her face.
He was captivated by her he was her adoring slave if only she knew it. She laughed at some comment she had made and continued her charming chatter, rattling on to the boy who sat silently, his pale cheeks slightly flushed and a small smile daring to appear at the corners of his lips. He looked almost handsome for such a pitiable creature.
Her talk was good natured and melodic, his head nodded closer to hers until they were only a few inches apart though she seemed unperturbed by this. She merely carried on with her talk, raising her slim hand every so often to make a demonstration. There was one time she turned to face the silent boy who sat so enchanted by her and paused in her easy chatter.
The almond shaped green eyes sparkled with life as the laugh of her last witty comment died away and she became serious, the silence grew long but not uneasy as they regarded one another. The connection there was strong but at the same time, so easily threatened. They were beginning to move in different circles this pair, and soon fate would part them forever.
He dared to reach over, his hand clumsy as he brushed a strand of hair from her oval face and tucked it behind her ear. She smiled encouragingly as his hand stayed a little too long and took the liberty of glancing against the white velvet skin of her cheekbone. His heart came up in his throat and felt as though it were being cut from his chest, stolen away forever by the way she looked in that moment and he could barely breathe as she simply allowed him to caress her face.
Neither of them spoke and with the realisation of what it would mean to him, she leaned forward slowly and brushed a soft kiss on his trembling lips. Such a tiny kiss, such a delicate gift that trembled like a butterfly against bare skin and sent his heart soaring. It was over in a few seconds, never daring more than a light pressure against slightly parted lips and neither of them closing their eyes while it happened.
The dark eyes were confused but joyful, the very soul shining out from them. The green were knowing, merciful and kind as they met and melded over meeting mouths. The blush deepened on his cheeks as she pulled away and smiled softly, her hand reaching for her schoolbag and her lips moving again as she turned away towards the castle. He sat stupefied and let her go, knowing he would catch up. Lightly, he fingered his lips where the burn of her kiss remained and would do so all his adult life. Nobody else would ever claim them save for her he vowed. Did he know in his heart that it was an act borne of mercy for a dying childhood friendship? He knew. But that would never stop him hoping as he pulled himself up and bounded clumsily after her like a good natured puppy.
And as the man, now grown, slipped into the waiting arms of death, he smiled faintly as the memory of his first, last and only kiss lifted him away from the cold of that dismal room and bore him aloft again as he had so fleetingly soared on the gift of one butterfly kiss.