A/N: Hello, I am completely new to the Harry Potter Fanfic world ^.^ but there is always a time for everything. This is my take on the relationship between Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore. I do hope everything is correct. Hope you enjoy! Also, as always I own nothing, and gain nothing from writing except the joy of reviews, and getting thoughts off my head. :)
River of the Night
The first time he laid eyes on Severus Snape he wondered what was wrong with the boy. His eyes were not those of a child, but of an older man. Full of regret and sorrow. In his mind the color of sadness was the gaze of black eyes on a far too thin eleven year old boy. In the second year of Severus being in Hogwarts he realized that the boy would wonder to the lake, late at night, while everyone else slept. He was lonely boy. It often made him want to go to him to tell him that everything got better in time. Now looking back he wondered how differently everything would have been had he not turned his back on the Slytherin. He watched Severus from a far often wondering what would become of this tormented boy. He longed to make the boy understand all the things he needed to know as he watched the unwipped tears in his eyes, a bruised cheek, and an unanswered cry for help.
Severus Snape found himself stuck in the past. Words he had held back ringing in his mind. A thousand apologizes to Lily, words of love to the mother who had so desperately tried to shield him, and words of resentment towards Albus Dumbledore for hating the innocent child he had been. He could remember running to Albus when he got top marks only to be ignored. All he had wanted was acceptance, trust, and above all else love. He wondered what it would take for Albus to understand that all that broken Slytherin had sought in him, still sought, were words of trust and love. He would never know what Albus thought about him. His battered solitary heart had closed itself off the day Albus threatened him with expulsion. Even though Albus knew Hogwarts was his refuge from the abuse and neglect he faced so often. Those blue eyes had looked at him as if everything had been his fault. Sirus Black had tried to kill him! Yet Albus stood by his Gryffindors. That night ha had gone to the lake and wept. He would take the mark the next day. The boy who so often sought Albus disappeared and was replaced by a young man lost, forgotten, going down a dark path.
Albus pretended to not know or rather blocked it from his mind and heart. Severus was now a Death Eater. He could still see black eyes, a now forgotten smile, as the young Slytherin had come to him a perfect score on a Potions Test. Now he wondered when he had turned his back on house Slytherin. When had a child's suffering become so meaningless as to be ignored. He had known of Tobias' abuse of the boy. Seen the bruises, a tolerance for pain when he was attacked by the transformed Lupin. He had seen the shock, hurt, betrayal, and above all else anger that had entered the black eyes. Worst of all the tears that refused to fall. The world went on ignoring the teenager he could have saved. The sound of sadness unheard as Severus continued to collect scars on his broken heart. Albus Dumbledore regretted many things, and his dreams were often haunted. They were haunted by Ariana's laughing face, Aberforth's unforgiving gaze, Gellert's promises, and now more often still a boy who once gazed at him with utmost loyalty and love. Once graduated Albus wondered where the boy would go. He wondered if he would ever get the chance to stand face to face with Severus Snape. It would become a distant thought almost completely forgotten taking a small piece of Albus' heart with it.
His resolve that night never wavered even as he stood in front of the man he had once chased. He had begged for their lives, it was his only wish, yet it went ungranted. Albus did not keep promises to Slytherin's he'd thought weakly. He could remember all the hope he had placed on Albus , but now he had learned the truht. As he stood in front of Albus the words fell freely from his lips. Words of hate. He had insulted Albus at every turn, crying, yet it was not enough. Albus had abandoned him, rejected him, and broken his promise. He'd longed for the end of his life, even begged Albus to end it.
Albus had felt his heart-break for the young man at his feet. He was responsible for the tears, for the scars that not only littered Severus' heart, but now also his body. He had pulled the young Slytherin into his arms, heard the soft gasp, and felt Severus cling to him. Severus Snape was a lonely broken man, but it had never been his fault, at least not entirely. He was born hated and rejected by his father. His mother had tried to protect him, but soon learned to fear him for his love of the Dark Arts. Lily learned to hate him. The Maruader's did not need a reason. Albus had never cared until it was too late. Holding Severus Albus knew, felt, all those thoughts. " I wish I had realized what I saw that day Severus... The bloom of a solitary heart."