Reflections of a Boggart
The halls were quiet as he patrolled them, his black robes billowing out behind him. He was a tall man with sallow skin and dark hair. His black eyes roamed over the stones and into the shadows, daring students to be out past hours. Severus Snape was a formidable man who struck fear into the hearts of the students at Hogwarts. But he wasn't really all that bad. He walked past a room and got the feeling something or someone was inside that shouldn't be. He pushed the door open, wand raised.
"Lumos," he breathed and the tip of his wand lit up. He inched further into the room and found it to be occupied by a lone trunk and a mirror. Thinking this odd he moved towards the trunk. As he passed the mirror he could swear he saw a flash of green eyes and auburn hair. The flash of those features stopped him dead in his tracks. Had it really been there or was it his mind playing tricks? He back tracked a step or two and faced the mirror head on.
There before him, a figure began to appear beside his own reflection. When she had fully come into view his mouth gaped in shock. She couldn't be there standing beside him. She was dead…ten years come the end of October. She just gazed at him with a serene smile. He looked down to see her take his hand in hers. He cracked a smile. They seemed so content.
"I love you,' he murmured to the still air as he stepped out of view. The image of Lily disappeared instantly.
He turned his attention next to the trunk. He noted it was locked and cast a simple unlocking charm, the padlock unlocking and dropping to the floor. He pushed the top of the trunk open and stumbled backwards as he saw a creature had hoped never to see again. He gazed, transfixed as he witnessed Voldemort take the very thing that meant the world to Snape. He watched, horrified, as the wizard murdered the woman he loved. He tried to force himself to snap out of out, to just cast the spell and send the Boggart back into the trunk but he couldn't. Suddenly the image disappeared and the trunk shut with a 'smack'.
"I wondered if you would find this room, Severus," came the calm voice of Albus Dumbledore.
"Why would you keep a Boggart?" he snapped at the Headmaster, still overwhelmed by his greatest fear come to pass.
"You needed to see it," Albus said.
"And the mirror?" Snape questioned, stepping in front of it again to see Lily by his side.
"It has another purpose," the headmaster murmured.
"What do you see?" he inquired.
"You know what I see," Snape spat.
"It is never good to dwell on the past Severus. You know that," Albus reminded him.
"She should have survived," Severus hissed.
"Perhaps but what's done is done," Albus reminded him. Severus bit the inside of his lip to keep from arguing with the older man. He merely turned his back on the mirror and walked past Dumbledore. He would return to his rounds and try and forget what he had discovered here tonight. He couldn't bear to think of what his own stupidity had cost him. He couldn't bear to witness the greatest loss he'd ever suffered reflected in what could have been his greatest joy.