~ Storm and Fire ~
When he takes his shirt off, the first thing she notices is the scar on his chest.
"What happened?" she asks.
"When?" he asks, obviously confused as to what she is referring to.
"Here," she says, running a fingertip lightly over the remains of the old wound.
He looks down at the scar in surprise, almost as if he had forgotten it was there. His expression darkens as he considers what to tell her, and what is best left unsaid.
"Curse damage can't always be fully healed," he says.
"And there's a war on, I know," she says.
He should leave it at that, he knows, but for some odd reason he feels compelled to correct her.
"No," he says. "It's older than that."
"From when you were in school?" she guesses. He nods once to confirm, but does not offer further information. "A duel with Snape?"
That assumption draws a reluctant chuckle from him, but he is otherwise silent.
"What, then?" she persists when it seems he is still unwilling to share the scar's secret.
He closes eyes, draws in a deep breath and lets it out in the form of a heavy sigh, before explaining, "You should be glad you've never met my mother... she gave me this after she found out who my friends were."
~4/5~