Disclaimed: I do not own Harry Potter, that is JK Rowling's job.
A/N: This was for Halloween but I never got round to submitting it. Yet another one shot with Snape and Harry. Hope you like!
Title: What Halloween Brings
Author: So Yun
Chapters: 1/1
Rating: K+
Summary: Halloween is a special occasion for more than one person. Old grudges are forgotten for one night of the year. Revised 1st of September 2007.
Harry was staring out his dorm window to the frosted quidditch pitch, a nose print embedded in the mist hovering on the glass.
His glasses were pushed right up to the ridge of his nose leaving a red imprint, if they were hurting Harry didn't realize.
Ron and Hermione had gone off to snog by the fireplace in the common room and Ginny was cuddling up somewhere with Michael Corner in, ironically, a corner.
Harry felt an ebbing loneliness rising from his heart, through his chest and up to form a lump in his throat. Everyone was coupled up with at least someone who loved them and was willing to go to the Halloween dance with them.
Of course many girls wanted to go with Harry, but not anyone he preferred. He was beginning to think he was indebted to loneliness like Sirius had been before his death. He was sick of being the boy-who-lived, the Golden boy, whatever!
He wanted a life; he wanted to have a life the Weasley's, like Hermione's maybe even like Draco's. He wanted a life of his own. He felt his emotions swarm him like a plague and he bit his tongue to bite it back; it didn't work.
He didn't know what had brought this flood gate opening, to release a torrent of strong feelings.
He walked over to his bed and lay down on his stomach at the end going through his trunk. He picked the album out carefully and looked away as Sirius and his parents waved simultaneously.
He felt a tear leaking over his well of green eyes and swiftly wiped it away. This isn't what they were being wasted for, he thought. I'm being childish, they're gone and I couldn't do anything about it.
But then he began crying so hard and as he tried to force the flood gates to slam shut, then Ron and Hermione walked into the room. He heard Hermione gasp and an unidentifiable noise from Ron.
"Harry?" Hermione said softly, attentively standing at the door, her hand grasped in Ron's.
Harry stopped sobbing and wiped away his tears.
"I can't do this anymore." He said quietly and stood up, running out of the Gryffindor rooms, heading straight for the Astronomy tower; he knew he'd find peace and solstice there.
He left his bewildered friends behind and ran down the corridors; he'd had his release, now he needed to contemplate.
His friend's respected his need of peace but still sat worriedly by the fire, waiting for him to come back no matter how late. They would always, always be there for him.
As Harry sat on the ledge of the open tower, his mind was blurred, a flurry of thoughts awash inside his overcome mind. Soon he was so immersed in his thoughts he didn't realize the time was running away from him.
He pushed forcefully against his forehead with the palm of his head, closing his eyes tightly; frustration overwhelming most of his emotions.
He built his mind shields up high and shut the door to his thoughts behind him.
Just as he turned to get up, he noticed a particularly bright star outshining the rest in the open night sky. He looked at it for a moment, just thinking how beautiful this world was.
Harry felt a presence behind him at the tower door and turned around swiftly.
"Snape." He uttered softly, forgetting his anger for the man he had supposedly hated so much for the whole time he had been at Hogwarts. For once Snape nodded in contentment and understanding.
"Mr Potter." He said nearly just as quiet then turned to look at the open night sky too.
"I could get you expelled for breaking curfew, but Mr Potter I have watched you today and I know how you are feeling." He said out of the blue and turned his obsidian eyes to look right into Harry's own emerald ones.
"For years we have harboured this farce hate, but I want to tell you something and maybe we could forget it all. Just for tonight, just for Halloween."
Harry nodded numbly and couldn't bring himself to look away from Snape's gaze.
"I knew your father, godfather and we never got along. But just maybe we also held a false hate and harboured it for no reason. I was always going to be Snivellus to them and Potter was always going to be the arrogant arse to me."
He paused and looked back over the sky, "But you know one Halloween night, not much unlike this one, James and I ran into each other in the corridors. Prowling on Prefect duty, both of us. For a moment we understood each other perfectly and walked down to the kitchens and shared a hot chocolate. That night I'm never going to forget Harry, because for once two known enemies felt human towards each other."
"That's what I want to give to you, it's what Halloween brings."
Then he nodded once again to Harry and swiftly turned back and went out the door, leaving Harry numbed in his shock.
Just for that night, just for that Halloween, Harry felt his feelings continue down the never ending stream and never come back. For once he knew, he knew someone understood him, and it was one of the best feelings in the world.
He smiled, un-bitter and blissful.
The end!
Thanks for reading all! Thanks for the reviews!
Yun