The Loss of Ours: Prologue
By Polexia Aphrodite
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does.
Summary: A history of Severus Snape's youth, survival, and marriage. AU-ish. SS/OC.
Author's Notes: This story was impossible to summarize. Anyway, it's another foray of mine into Severus/OC. Huge thanks should go to the Harry Potter Lexicon, my greatest ally in writing this. Hope you like it! Reviews are appreciated!
"He desired her, that was all," sneered Voldemort, "but when she had gone he agreed that there were other women, and of purer blood, worthier of him-"
-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 36: The Flaw in the Plan
1998:
Except for her wringing hands and the carefully measured rise and fall of her breath, Louisa sat almost perfectly still in the waiting room of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. A door ahead of her opened slowly. Professor McGonagall moved towards her in that delicate, cautious way of moving often adopted in hospitals, libraries, or museums.
"He's not conscious," she whispered, glancing suspiciously at the others waiting in the lobby, "but you can see him."
Louisa nodded and rose, ignoring the older witch's stilted, reluctant tone. She had been so thoroughly dazed by the news of the last few hours that she found herself unable to focus on anything besides entering that room ahead of her. The thought of seeing him again had ripped her out of her despair and now it had become all-consuming.
McGonagall put a hesitating hand on her arm.
"I must warn you," she began, "he doesn't look…well."
Louisa strode ahead. Her hand grabbed the cool doorknob, it turned, opened, she entered. He laid in a standard, small, St. Mungo's bed. The crisp, white sheets pulled taut over his still body. His bare shoulders and head were visible. As she moved closer, feeling more and more lightheaded, she could see the thick, white gauze wrapped around his throat and the spread of black and blue skin that spread down to his collar bone and up to his jawline.
She reached out a hand to touch the lump of blanket that indicated the location of his arm and sighed.
"Oh, Severus"