Title: Crush
House: Hufflepuff
Position: Player (First Year)
Category: Pre-Round Challenge
Prompt: Trish – (Era) – Any. (Golden Trio Era)
Word Count: 524
Beta: Aya
Warnings: None
Crush
"Out of bounds after curfew again, Potter?" Severus Snape smirked as he glowered down at the teenager in question. "You have no regard for your own safety and you walk around this place like you own it. Your arrogance rivals even that of your father!"
Severus waited for him to retort in his usual manner, but the boy remained oddly calm. Instead, the sixth year Gryffindor collected himself. This strange behaviour further baffled the Potions Master as he could swear the teenager was thinking before speaking.
What the professor didn't know was Harry Potter knew things. The images he had seen in the Potion Master's pensieve showed the poor treatment the man had suffered at the hands of James Potter. He was also unaware that the boy had learned some of his other secrets, courtesy of Mad-Eye Moody. He had discovered that, not only was the man a former Death Eater, but he was also the one that had delivered the prophecy to the Dark Lord.
Looking the sallow man straight in the eye, Harry almost whispered the words.
"He was a right bully. But you know what? He grew up and turned into a good man, a man that loved my mother. A good man that died protecting her. He didn't get her killed. You did!"
Severus reared back. He wanted to retort but couldn't deny the truth of the boys words. A moment of silence passed between them before the professor turned away.
"Return to Gryffindor Tower. Ten points from Gryffindor."
Severus didn't look back to see if his command had been followed, but instead walked aimlessly without paying any attention to his surroundings. As he walked along the corridors of the ancient castle, he felt like he couldn't breath. The crushing guilt he had carried with him for sixteen years was starting to escape the confines where he had tried to bury it.
The walls seemed to blur past him as Severus found himself running. As the entrance to his quarters opened before him, he didn't even register himself entering the room before he collapsed to his knees. His breathing was harsh and ragged, but not from exertion. He stared ahead with unseeing eyes. His mind raced at the boys words.
'He didn't get her killed. You did!'
"I killed her... its my fault she's dead..."
Something inside him snapped. A wave of grief welled up in chest. Suffocating anger at himself clawed at his throat. His magic responded to the anger and grief violently. It burst from him in a spectacular explosion as everything around him was obliterated in a moment. Nothing was spared from his wrath as debris littered the floor and glass smashed to pieces around him.
It stung his face as it rained down, but Severus agreed that this was the pain he would rather face on a daily basis. The potions professor slumped forward on the floor as the sudden exhaustion hit him hard. He felt the cuts deepen and his blood trickling down his face and hands. He conjured an image of her in his mind and gasped before he surrendered to unconsciousness.
"Forgive me... "