Okay, that was the end of the fluffy break, back to the plot (and some fluff to come)! Enjoy :)
The words fall on my ears, but it's as though Professor Dumbledore is speaking in a different language.
"What?" I ask mutely, knowing what he's saying but not believing it.
"I'm sorry Severus, but your parents are dead."
"What do you mean?" It's not true, I must have misunderstood. Things have been so good, this can't be happening to me right now.
"I'm very sorry for your loss. You will, of course, get whatever time you need off to spend with family and mourn. You will be excused from all school related activities for as long as you wish."
"You're lying." This can't be happening. I can't have seen my broken, loving mother for the last time just three months ago. I can't be free from my father.
"I'm afraid I'm not, Severus." I sit silently for a moment, and it finally hits me. I start crying, because it's all over. In just a second, everything good in my life becomes meaningless, and I feel like I'm breaking. For the first time I feel guilty for hating my father, because even if he never cared, he's always been here until now. And my mother, so destroyed from her marriage, from being abused by her drunk husband. She never had a chance, she died alone and hopeless. And I did nothing.
"How?" I manage to ask through my tears. Dumbledore looks away, troubled
"There was... an attack." That's all he has to say before I know. That it's all my fault. I might as well have the blood of my parents dripping from my hands, because Death Eaters killed them. He doesn't have to say it, because everything falls into place. I should have done something, anything, but I didn't, and now I'm alone. We weren't perfect, but we were a family, and they're gone forever. I run, ignoring Dumbledore's calls for me to return.
I don't know how I end up there, because I was running blindly. The world faded away, replaced by an angry throbbing red screen and hot tears. I don't know how she ended up here either, but somehow Lily's here, and she's by my side in a second.
She holds me until I can speak, and once I can I tell her what happened. I tell her how Death Eaters killed them. I see tears forming in Lily's eyes, but she holds them in, for me.
"Sev... I'm not saying that what happened is your fault. But they're gone, and it's because of the Death Eaters. You owe it to them to stop seeing those people." She never believed me when I said I quit, she just stayed quiet about it. She loves me even though she knows what I am. But more importantly, she's right. I didn't kill them, but I could have. If I don't learn from this, their deaths are in my hands.
"You're right, Lily. For them, I'll quit. I promise."
Dramatic chapter, and more to come! Review? :)