Once again I am playing in someone else's universe. This time it is in agneskamilla 's. This is my setting for her drabble "Confessions in a Heart-Shaped Box" . Her drabble is included and I am posting it here with her permission. Those who know me, even a little bit, do not be shocked... this is fairly dark. Those who know me the best will know why I had to write this.

Ree

Confessions in a Heart-Shaped Box

the bookends version

Holding a box of chocolate coated rose petals and strawberries, Severus considered what he could do to make his offerings stand out - make his feelings understood - to the one whom he was planning on giving this too.

Harry always received a multitude of Valentine's gifts and he knew that this year would be no different. The candies went to the House Elves; the flowers decorated the Great Hall for the next week. No one else knew where they came from, but Severus had seen Harry and a few of the elves putting up the vases a few years back. He had tagged a couple of the flowers Harry got that year, and they were all in the Great Hall by dinner time.

Severus did not want his gift to be in the kitchen or the Hall, so he needed something that would make his offering stand out. Setting aside the idea of sweet and sappy, Severus let a smile curl his lips.

Dark and haunting it was to be.

(Agneskamilla's drabble)

My love,

I give you my bleeding heart in a box; will you cherish it? Will you hold it in trembling hands as it weeps its last drops of lifeblood into you palm? Will you know why is it still thumping even if it was torn out of my chest? Will you hear me in the rhythm it beats?

Or will you trample over it as it was nothing but a piece of dead meat?

My feelings are trapped in this heart-shaped box. If you open up you may hear them whisper a name, over and over again.

Yours, Severus.

(Agneskamilla's drabble ends)

(0.0)

Harry glared at the boxes of candies and the bunches of roses that decorated his office. Calling in Pepper he just waved to the morass, silently saying to handle this mess the same way as they had already dealt with the one he had woken up to that morning.

It was only after Pepper had sent the items to their respective locations, did Harry notice the lone box sitting on the tiny table on the far side of the room. As there was a potions vial on top of it, Harry understood why Pepper didn't mess with it. You didn't move potion vials that were unknown by magic.

Crossing over to it, Harry stared at the realistic heart shaped box - it even included blood vessels that looked like they were freshly severed. Shaking his head, he focused on the note that was sitting on the lid held down by the vial.

After reading Severus' note, Harry lifted the vial with a touch of trepidation, the note sticking to its bottom. Setting it carefully on the edge of the table, he used the tip of his finger to cracked open the lid slowly. A fog slipped out of the small space and fell to the ground before expanding to make a fog bank that surrounded him. It was so thick that only the table with the box on it was clear.

Pushing the lid just a bit more open, Harry heard the sound of a heart beat faintly thumping reflected and magnified by the fog.

He pushed it a bit further and he heard something that sounded like a word, but it was so soft he couldn't understand it.

Another nudge. The lid slid open enough that it tipped off the box and landed with one edge balanced on the table with the rest sticking up in the air while it leaned up against the bottom of the box.

Harry.

The word became louder and echoed through the fog, brushing his ears, resounding in his heart with the wistfulness in it.

Eventually he looked into the box, taking in the strawberries set as if they were the four chambers and rose petals creating the four valves and the septum wall.

Quickly closing the box, Harry stared at it, wondering just how he should respond to this Valentine's.

(0.0)

Severus looked at the note in his hand and then back at the door that was closed. He knew that he had been going out on a limb when he had decided on how to present his Valentine's gift to Harry, but he hadn't expected to receive a note that told him to go to a room in a small unused corridor of the dungeons. All the note told him was that his answer was inside.

Opening the door, he did his best to hide his anxiety. Harry might not have appreciated his sense of macabre.

When he stepped through the door it shut behind him, and a light appeared above the sole table in the room. It was illuminating a single note, which had a blood red rose laying on one corner and a white calla lily on the other. As he approached the table, he heard the quiet thumping sound in the back ground. It didn't take him long to identify it as a heart beat.

Curiosity and intrigue filled him as he read the note.

Your Heart is in safekeeping, never to be trampled on again or taken for granted. The precious drops of blood have been collected and stored in a place so safe that my death is the only thing that would cause them to be harm. For your heart, the bloody thumping muscle that holds your very life, resides in my chest- replacing my own.

Here, under this note, is my own heart, torn free to make room for yours. The choice is yours - will you leave it to die, or will you take me to your bosom and cherish me as much as I do you.

Yours ever more, Harry

Moving the letter, Severus spotted a box very similar to his except that the heart beat could be heard with the lid closed. Opening the lid, he found cherries, bright red, filling the spaces that he had used strawberries, and thin strips of licorice where he had used rose petals.

A soft feeling of relief filled him. He lifted the box and placed it next to his chest. "I accept your heart and will cherish more than anything else I ever had."

Harry stepped out of the shadows, holding Severus' gift and smiled softly as he met the dark gaze. "So, where do we go from here?"

Reaching out, Severus brushed a gentle finger over the back of Harry's hand. "Forward."