As always seemed the case, life had given Severus a slap in the face.
If he had been asked to compile a list of all the remarkably unfair events that had affected Severus in his lifetime, he would simply remove it from his drawers. On second thoughts, he wouldn't. You see, Severus Snape had a tenuous connection to both the light and the dark side of the wizarding war. This fact, of course, rendered both links meaningless and therefore left Severus hovering somewhere in a metaphorical no-man's-land where, unfortunately for him, both sides where metaphorically shooting at him. For mainly this reason, Severus was a closed person.
Aside from the physical harm that could come to him in the event of opening up, Severus had a second reason to lock away his soul. The same reason would come second-to-none at the top of the list. Potter. Or it should be- Potters. There were many things that Severus disliked, but very few that he actively hated. Every generation that he had met was to become the bane of his existence. It could have been their wealth, it could be their popularity, and it could have been their courage (not that Severus would ever admit it), but it wasn't.
It was their women. Their beautiful, loyal women who could not resist melting into the Potters' arms. Their beautiful redheaded women. As had become clear to anyone who knew him, Severus had a thing for redheads. As had become clear to Severus, so did the Potters, and in the foulest, most twisted way (in Severus' opinion), redheads had developed a major thing for Potters. And even if it had just been the one woman that Severus had seen gravitate towards a Potter, it may have been alright, perhaps even two. But he had seen three generations of redheads fall for Potters in the most sickeningly sweet way, and quite frankly, Severus Snape had had enough.
The first, Dorea Potter was not a romantic desire for Severus, rather an aunt, or even a motherly figure. If you looked back far enough, you would find the shocking revelation that Saint Potter had married a slytherin, and by extension, a Black. Yes, Charlus Potter married Dorea Black. Now, before falling for Potter, Dorea was a rather typical slytherin with slytherin views, a slytherin family and of course, slytherin friends, who she dropped before you could say quaffle when Potter caught her eye. As per usual, this was incredibly unfortunate for Severus because Dorea Black's best friend was Eileen Prince, and the two girls were as close as anything. Severus bet that if they had remained friends, then as soon as he had been born, Eileen would have offloaded the hated Snape baby into her friend's hands, because that's what slytherins do. Dorea, being from such a rich family could have given Severus a wonderful upbringing, and a fighting chance at getting the next Redhead that he had always wanted, none other than Lily Evans.
Lily was the great love of Severus' life. She had outstanding beauty, kindness, intelligence and generosity. She was a million things and they all lit up Severus' life from the first time he saw her. He remembered that day like it was yesterday. She was sitting on a swing in a quiet clearing with her sister, who was pushing her. She wore a pale pink and yellow flowery dress with white lace trim that lined the bottom. Severus had been preparing a prank for the two muggle strangers and he eyed them with disdain from his hiding place under a fallen tree trunk. She reached the peak of the swing and Severus watched, mesmerised as she leapt off the swing. She did not fall, she soared in a graceful arc and landed softly on the ground in a neat plié. Severus could not believe it. He felt like the luckiest boy in the world to witness such a pure display if magic. She was a witch. However, fate soon ruled out Lily from his life. One foolish moment and one hideous word, one last retort and he alienated the most perfect person he had ever met. She ran away into James Potter's arms and was lost forever. Then, of course, she died. And that put a rather blunt end to that.
And now, Severus could feel the cold pull of impending war and knew what he expected. He ran the school but not the students. Ginny Weasley stood in front of him and he didn't even know what the Carrows had referred her to him for now, for one thing, he was glad they didn't punish her themselves. The Carrows were arguably some of the most disgusting people he had ever had the displeasure of meeting. There were two obvious facts in the situation Severus was faced with: 1) Amycus Carrow was a sickening pervert and 2) Ginny Weasley was stunning. Either way, Amycus had already shared some specially designed punishments for Ginny and it had made several teachers empty their bowels. Severus had a feeling that this may be the last time he saw her and it left him with an odd feeling that he had not felt in years. He knew that she had been hanging around the Room of Requirement and it was only a matter of time before Potter returned to scoop her up in his arms and save the day, so like his father and grandfather, Harry Potter had a martyr complex when it suited him. And the last Potter he expected he would ever know had won the last Redhead he knew he would ever care about.
The resemblance, he decided, between all three of the couples, was uncanny. Perhaps it was the natural course of love. Perhaps it was meant to be. Perhaps they were the same souls meeting again. Perhaps that was always what was going to happen, what was happening and what would continue to happen for many years. Perhaps Harry Potter would have a son who would marry a redhead. Perhaps Severus was an anomaly, a spare puzzle piece that was never meant to be there. Perhaps it was a million different things. Either way, one thing was certain.
Severus hated love.