"The Tale of a Broken Man"
By: PsychoHaired
Disclaimer: Okay… if you haven't figured it out by now, then I might as well just say I'm J.K. Rowling and give you reason to believe it.
A/N- Hey you guys! I'm back with another chapter! But before I start writing this I must first point out how happy I am to have received 2123 hits on this story! It was truly a surprise for me; this story has actually beaten "Animal Magnetism" by a whopping 1200 points! That's a lot of hits people! So I'd like to thank all you readers out there, this really means a lot to me. Also, I'd like to point out that this has been my absolute favourite chapter to write so far (regretfully one of the shortest too). And finally, I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 12:
It was a rainy day in November and Severus was sitting in a corner of the Library playing Gobstones with Regulus Black. The latter was in the middle of a long and winding speech concerning his soon-to-be ex-brother.
"…so then Sirius told me he wasn't going back home for the Holidays" Regulus threw the dice, "Well mum was obviously upset, I mean it wasn't enough for him to be sorted into Gryffindor after a long line of strictly Slytherin family members… but to be hanging around that hot-headed muggle loving Potter and those grubby mudbloods…" Regulus shook his head gravely.
Severus glared at him.
"…Sorry, I mean… he's become a filthy blood traitor… Honestly, I'm surprised mum hasn't disowned him yet"
"Your brother is swine but not because he's a 'filthy blood traitor' as you so poetically put it," he threw the dice and moved his piece "I don't care much about purity of blood"
Regulus opened his mouth to protest but was cut off.
"I mean sure, there's the status of it all but I mean… if wizards hadn't mixed in with muggles we would have died out, you and I would most likely be inbred morons"
"I guess… but muggles… they're so dim-witted" he finished lamely.
"They are filth, but some of them aren't as bad as they seem"
"I think you're hanging out with Evans too much"
"Oh please, you met her and I rather thought you found her fascinating" he rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, well… she's an exception, I hate to say it but I'm rather fond of the little mudblood"
Severus smacked the side of his head.
"Ow! What'd you do THAT for?" he rubbed the side of his head gingerly.
"Don't call her that!" he hissed.
"I'm sorry! It's a habit!"
"You might want to forget that one then" he sneered.
"She's a good-looking bird though isn't she?" Regulus grinned mischievously.
"Uh-what? No! Well, yes she's pretty" he said rapidly "…but I wouldn't really— his face grew hot and let his curtain of hair cover most of it.
"Liar." Regulus stated and threw the dice again "I've seen you looking at her" he grinned mischievously again.
"So what if I look at her?" he said defensively.
"You fancy her, don't you?" Regulus raised his eyebrows.
"Uh-What? No! No that's— Of course I don't! Don't be stupid," he babbled, shifting uncomfortably.
Regulus laughed.
"Shut it, I do not!" he scowled.
"Okay, sure" Regulus shook his hair back chuckling "It's your turn"
Severus threw the dice and grinned smugly.
"What? How! No fair! How'd you win?" Regulus crossed his arms in frustration. "You cheated," he mumbled stubbornly. "Bugger" he scowled.
"Hey there" Lily sat next to Severus. "What are you guys doing?"
"Getting slaughtered in Gobstones by Prince Charming over there" he shot Severus a dirty look.
Lily laughed, "You had no chance, he could be a champion"
"Hey!" Regulus smirked at her "I'm just a naïve little first year" he pouted.
"Aww you're so adorable!" she laughed and hugged him while Regulus winked mischievously at Severus.
"He's just a year younger than us!" Severus rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"Sev you're so sour. Regulus is so cute!"
Severus scoffed. Regulus stuck his tongue out as Lily ruffled his hair fondly.
-o-
Severus sat on a branch of the tree near the lake reading a book. The grass was still wet from the rain earlier that day and the puddles were now sparkling like tiny pools over the afternoon sun.
Severus marked his page and was ready to climb down when he suddenly heard someone approaching; it was Lily. Severus stayed quiet and took out his wand, an idea cropping up in his head. She walked under the tree, Severus grinned and aimed his wand between her shoulder blades 'Levicorpus' he thought. Lily let out a shriek of surprise as she was jerked upwards by the back of her robes right side up, unlike Severus who had been hanging by his ankles a few weeks before. He laughed at her shocked expression and set her down carefully next to him on the thick tree branch.
"Severus what on Earth?" she waved her arms about.
He laughed.
"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" she said frantically.
"Sorry" he laughed again. "I just fancied some company"
"You should have asked like a normal human" she rolled her eyes. "Was that a non-verbal spell by the way? I didn't hear you at all!"
"Yes"
"Wow! I've tried to do those myself but I haven't quite got the hang of it yet. That's sixth year material!" she looked impressed.
He shrugged.
"Makes sense that you don't find them hard though, since you're good at potions and stuff like that"
"Why do you say that?"
"Oh, well you see, I read that wizards who are good at wandless magic; such as potions in your case, tend to be really good at non-verbal spells and other magic that requires great concentration"
"Oh, well then I bet you'll be good at those too"
She laughed and shifted her position to face him. "What are you doing up here anyways?"
"Reading"
"But why up here?" she repeated.
"The grass is wet, I don't know about you, but I don't really fancy walking around the castle with a wet butt" he smirked.
"Oh" she laughed again. "Nice view from here though…" she stared out into the lake for a few minutes. The sun was beginning to set.
Severus contemplated as the radiant orange rays hit her brilliant mane of red hair. It seemed to him that it glowed like fire. His eyes travelled to hers, still focused on the lake scenery, she shifted her head a bit and the rays filtered through her almond eyes, making them sparkle like fine-cut emeralds. Severus felt his heart race.
"Hey Sev?"
He shook out of his reverie with a bit of embarrassment, she didn't seem to notice.
"Yeah?"
"What's your favourite colour?"
He looked at her eyes "Green."
She laughed, "Typical Slytherin."
"What's yours then? Red?" he smirked.
"Blue actually"
"Okay"
Severus stared at the golden leaves above them; one of them fluttered down and tangled itself in Lily's hair.
"Oh um… there's a leaf in your hair" he pointed at his own.
"What, here?" she patted the general location he had pointed out.
"No, higher, to the left… no my left" he laughed "No, here I'll get it"
He leaned towards her, holding himself steady with a thin branch nearby and reached for the little golden leaf. She leaned in closer so he could remove it. Severus picked it out and let it flutter down to the ground.
His eyes fell on her lips, and his cheeks grew hot, he felt his stomach flip. Severus met her gaze and slowly closed his eyes, shifting his weight to his hands, leaning in slowly, heart racing, cheeks burning. The thin branch Severus was holding onto snapped and he plummeted down to the wet ground in a heap.
"Oh my gosh! Severus are you alright?" Lily looked down in alarm. "Are you hurt?"
Severus was sure his face must be redder than the sunset itself, he tried to get up and yelled out in pain, "My arm!"
Lily climbed down fast and tried to help him up.
"Ow! Ow! Don't touch me! I think I broke my arm!" he hissed in pain a few tears (mostly because of the pain, but some because of embarrassment) streaming out of the corners of his tightly shut eyes.
"I'll go get you some help Severus!" she ran towards the castle.
Severus watched her leave "I'm such a berk!" he yelled at himself "What did I just do?" he sat up with great difficulty "What was I thinking? Was I even thinking!" he was breathing hard, "Blithering idiot!" he hung his head, cheeks still burning, eyes stinging with salty tears.
-o-
"There he is" Lily pointed at him, followed by Madame Promfey.
"You again?" she rolled her eyes and jabbed his broken arm with her wand.
"Argh!" his face screwed up in pain. His bones began to re-arrange themselves painfully back into place.
"Come on Mr. Snape, you'll need a Pain-killing potion"
Severus followed the nurse to the Hospital Wing. She was muttering furiously about him being incredibly accident-prone. Lily stayed behind and sat by the tree, Severus looked at her; she avoided his eyes.
"…how you've managed to survive this long in this school is beyond me I'll tell you that much. In my day…" Madame Promfey kept on ranting.
'Effing Idiot!' he thought furiously as he looked down at his shoes.
To be Continued…A/N- First of all… PLEASE DON'T KILL ME for doing that to poor Sev! Also, I hope you guys enjoyed this. And last, but not least… I drew a very special scene for this chapter! Three guesses what it is… go to my bio page and click on the link to check it out! Anyone interested in using it for backgrounds, avatars, etc. can do so as long as I get credit for it. Anyways, this new chapter was up by this weekend (with days to spare) so I think I deserve at least one review from you, eh? Love you guys! Next one MIGHT be up on Monday (free day Woot!) If it's not up then, it'll be up by next weekend instead. Cheers!
