Love and Death
by cinderalex
Disclaimer: I am not trying to infringe on any copyrights. These characters are not mine.
Musical Inspiration: Sitting, Waiting, Wishing by Jack Johnson
Late one Sunday evening, two heads bent low over a long parchment containing a list of potion ingredients, one covered in thick, red waves, the other in slick, back curtains.
"You're supposed to pour the juice from a cut sopophorous bean into the cauldron, but I just don't think slicing the bean releases enough moisture," the redheaded girl murmured, clearly frustrated.
"I agree. I think we should try crushing the bean instead; we might bring out more juice that way," the other said, pulling out his copy of Advanced Potion Making and jotting down a note into the margin of page ten, the instructions for brewing the Draught of the Living Death.
"Good idea," said the girl, smiling at her partner's brilliance. "Who would want to pretend to be dead anyway?"
"Lots of people, obviously," sneered the boy. "It's probably quite helpful if someone wanted someone else, an enemy perhaps, to think they had died."
"Thanks." She was clearly miffed that the boy had taken her statement so seriously as to merit a lecture, but she did not say so. Instead, she asked, "Are you afraid of dying, Severus?"
"Isn't everyone?" He clearly did not think her question worthy of a thoughtful answer.
"Somethings may be worth dying for, I think." She was looking intently at him, though he avoided her gaze, absorbing himself in his potions textbook instead. A minute passed. Suddenly, he looked up, as if realizing something.
"You didn't sound certain. I thought you were brave, gryffindor," he taunted, now catching her eye, obviously interpreting her hesitance as fear.
"It's hard to make that choice before it's in front of you," she said, honesty sparkling in her green eyes. "But I'm pretty sure somethings would be worth dying for."
"Like what?" his question came out coldly, hiding the desperate curiosity that was evident from his suddenly stiff posture.
"People you love," she answered simply.
He snorted, unconvinced.
"I think you'd die for someone you loved, as well," she retorted at his disapproval.
One thin black eyebrow raised in her direction as if to say, Yeah? Like who?
She paused for a long moment, deep in thought, as if deliberating about something, so long, in fact, that the boy began to return to his work. He stopped, though, when her face broke into a smile as if she had just made up her mind about something important.
"Like me," she said very deliberately, grinning. Both the boy and girl blushed red at her words, though the girl continued to gaze unflinchingly at the boy while he reapplied himself to scribbling in his book. She began to laugh, still pink, but no longer from embarrassment.
"You're a coward, Severus Snape," she said, rising from the table, leaving him alone to ponder death and love.
Author's Note: Please review.