Show me love, show me love, show me love, show me love, show me love,
Till it's inside my pores
Show me love, show me love, show me love, show me love, show me love,
Till I'm screaming for more
-Show me love, TATU
It didn't matter that it was summer. It didn't matter that an intolerable heat had settled on the grounds that drove some students half to madness when combined with the tortures of their day to day lives. Despite all this, there was a constant chill that attacked each and every body within the school that was unexplainable for quite some time. The weeks passed slower than before, far slower than expected.
The Astronomy tower acted as a greater source of comfort, Tempest found, than it was supposed to around these times. When she found herself tired enough to ignore the presence of death in that room, she was able to enjoy the soothing coolness of a high lying breeze. It had not been difficult to escape for an evening or two a week to come again to this place and think to herself, contemplating whatever she could.
Ignoring the sickening lump that rose in her throat, Tempest looked over the edge of the Astronomy Tower balcony, looking as the slightest breeze rustled the grass, visible even from this distance. It would be almost impossible for anyone else to believe at that moment in time that a man had fallen from this very spot, to that very patch of grass rustled as if of its own free will.
Would Harry feel the same standing here?
She shook her head. Not everything had to relate to him. It didn't matter what he thought because she didn't care. Not at all. Not one bit.
Dumbledore loved Harry. Loved him like a son. Of course Harry would feel this bad... he'd feel far worse.
But it didn't matter! Why should it matter? He wasn't here, and even if he were she would not ask what it was that disturbed he as he looked on the spot that Dumbledore was found dead. It didn't matter. It didn't matter at all. It didn't matter.
It does.
Biting her lip, Tempest closed her eyes and placed a hand in the deep pockets of one of her more comfortable set of robes. Her wand lay there, unwanted and untouched at that moment apart from the brief brushing of Tempest's fingers. She heard a reassuring rustling of paper, causing Tempest to release her lip with a sigh of relief. It was still there. She did not dare to look at the photograph again, frightened she would drop it over the edge of the rails that stopped her plummeting herself.
And with this in mind, Tempest stepped forward and placed a firm foot on the bottom railing. Pausing only briefly
to catch her breath that was caught quite fiercely in the moment, she pulled herself forward on the upper railing and swung her leg over, straddling the bar and clinging on for dear life.
Despite her situation, the wind did not taunt her and pick up or threaten to push her off the balcony. It stayed calm, refusing to play a bitter role. Smiling nervously to herself, Tempest shifted backwards until her back pressed against the arched wall that stood either side of the railing. Grabbing hold of the wall instead now, she again shifted her weight and finally pulled herself to her feet, her knees trembling as she looked upwards to the sky, refusing to look down.
Don't look down, she thought to herself determinedly. Don't look down, don't you dare look down.
She succeeded quite well in listening to herself, a talent that she had always possessed in the most required times. Though her knees still knocked together with the fear of it all, her feet stayed firm, unmoving. Tempest's confidence grew, though her eagerness to let go of the wall never got the better of her common sense.
And finally, she looked down.
It was strange to see the difference a couple of feet made to the distance between her and the ground. As if, if she were to jump, she would either fly or take far too much longer to fall. Not, of course, that she planned to test this. She simply wanted to... look.
In the blink of an eye, Tempest's foot shot out in front of her and arms wrapped themselves around her waist as she felt herself fall. She had the time only to utter a sharp yelp, a mixture of fear and surprise, before she clung onto the arms that had grabbed hold of her. There was little to no struggling as she felt herself being pulled back onto the floor of the balcony.
"What do you think you were doing?"
Tempest looked up and saw Severus standing in front of her, glaring with a pure disgust that she saw only on the rarest occasions. She swallowed thickly and looked back towards the edge of the balcony, then back again towards Severus. Her initial fear subsided and itself turned into a revulsion that was unfamiliar to her.
"What do you think you were doing? I was perfectly fine till you tried to push me off!"
"Push you off? You think I was pushing you off?"
"You might as well have! I was fine without you, Severus."
"Then perhaps next time I'll just allow you to jump off the roof, shall I?"
"I wasn't gonna jump! Merlin, if I could I would- I'd-"
"You'd what?" Severus sneered, folding his arms. "Hex me, I suppose?"
"Maybe I would."
The two glared each other momentarily, the sentence settling in their mind long after it had been silenced. Narrowing her eyes with the thought in mind, Tempest felt her fingers twitching slightly as she became somewhat more tempted by the idea. Hesitating for only a moment before it became far too much to refuse, she shoved her hand in her pocket and pointed the wand in there towards Severus, her features stern.
"Densaugeo!"
The spell was easily blocked as Severus passed his own wand before him with a silent Shielding Charm. He shook his head almost pityingly.
"Come now, we aren't children here," he drawled, raising his wand. "I think we can do better than that."
With an unfamiliar flash of yellow, a spell shot its way towards Tempest, barely missing her head and instead hitting the wall behind her. She looked backwards to see the paint peeling as it bubbled and heated, running downwards towards the floor. Her head whipped around again and she felt a snarl threatening to be uttered.
"That could have killed me!"
"Be glad I didn't aim at you, then. Next time, try to be sharper with your shields."
Almost immediately the same spell was thrown forwards towards her, dodged narrowly as Tempest dove to her right, ducking her head. She heard herself growl, but did not care as she threw a Body Bind Hex in Severus's direction, as easily blocked as her previous spell. The exchange of spells and curses grew more and more violent, each time Tempest finding herself slower on the uptake than expected. She had not had the practise that her opponent had in the past in duelling and found the inability to defend herself at the same level almost excruciatingly unfair.
"Your mind is growing weaker," Severus said sternly, throwing another spell. "You cannot allow your mind's barrier to break."
"Stop trying to kill me and I might be able to!"
"In battle, you cannot plead for a break. You must learn to multitask, child."
"I'm not a child," Tempest screamed, the control of her emotions dying away as she attempted to regain the control of her thoughts. The small conversation had given her time enough to hold a Shielding Charm and allow her to gain her composure again. With the protection she had set in motion there, the situation that she was in suddenly became clear to Tempest and without truly knowing why, she could not help but smile.
"And what's so funny?"
"I don't even get why we're fighting," she said, laughing as she did so. The same realisation seemed to dawn upon Severus, shown in the way he tried to disguise the smile that threatened him. The humour had struck them both and the fighting could not be taken as seriously as it had only moments ago.
"I think I've got it!" Tempest cried, shielding herself from another curse. She suddenly squealed as her ankle was dragged by an invisible force, holding her in the air for a moment before she dropped again to the floor.
"Never be cocky in a fight," Severus warned, putting away his wand. Tempest was about to retort when she noticed this, somewhat disturbed by the trust he had in her.
"If you say so." Tempest reached for her wand that had landed a few feet away from her before she saw something else that caught her eye. She froze momentarily, but long enough for Severus to note the hesitance and stare downwards as well. Upon seeing the piece of paper, he was quiet, assuring the details to himself.
"What is that?" His tone was far too light and conversational to be true. Even at his most comfortable of times he had never used such a tone.
"It's nothing," she replied, reaching for the photograph that had fallen from her pocket. As her fingertips touched it, though, it shot from the floor into Severus's waiting hand. He studied the image for some time, his face blank.
"Where did you get this?"
"You know where I got it," Tempest whispered reluctantly.
"I know I do. Perhaps I want to hear you admit it? Where did you get this?"
Tempest sat quietly, frozen with a newfound fear. She dared not even move to get her wand, the only protection she could find at that moment in time. The silence had gone on far too long for Severus and he moved forward to grab hold of Tempest's shoulders, pulling her to her feet and shaking her, the fury in his eyes burning her.
"Where did you get this?"
"I-in your room," she stammered, closing her eyes and turning her head sharply away. "I d-don't know why I went in, I just did, okay? I just thought- I just- you have so many, I didn't think you'd miss the one."
Severus rose his hand, as if to strike her, but paused with his hand held in mid air. His other hand still gripped Tempest's shoulder, his fingers digging into her flesh until she wished to whimper with pain. He pushed her away from him, returning his attention to a smiling, unaware Lily who looked up from her photograph. Another thought struck him, but it was too… absurd. It couldn't have any truth behind it, he was sure. And yet…
"Is this why you've…" He pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. "Have you been attempting to… imitate…"
"Why shouldn't I?"
"Are you sick? Playing the image of a dead woman?"
"That dead woman is my mother, Severus," Tempest said, her voice rising and her words steadier. "So what if I want to be a little more like her?"
"You aren't her," Severus muttered, turning away from the girl.
"I'm not saying I am! And I'll never be her, but what if this's the closest I'll ever get?"
"Don't strive for such things!"
"Why shouldn't I?" She scrambled to her feet and reached for her wand, shoving it furiously into her pocket. If only to resist the temptation to send hexes or spells in whatever direction seemed useful at the moments of rage. "Harry gets to be like my dad, doesn't he? You always kept reminding me of it. And you won't tell me anything about him so all I can cling onto is something as stupid as an image, one I can't even get right-"
She didn't expect to be taken by the shoulders again, the force with which she was held almost too much to bear without her wincing in pain. She could not help but look Severus in the eyes now, at which point he could see the tears welling up in hers. Her mouth hung slightly open, her lips trembling, and the fear was all too evident.
"I won't allow you to be anything like your mother," he said bitterly, shaking her slightly. "And Merlin help me for admitting it, but you are not like your father. You are Tempest, and there's no reason for you to attempt otherwise."
Silence fell on the two as they stared at each other for a moment, Tempest allowing the words to echo through her mind. She bit her lip and looked downwards, an action Severus mistook at the time for a form of shame or embarrassment overtaking her. His grip on her shoulders relaxed until finally he let his hands fall away. With the ability to move, Tempest suddenly put her hands forward onto Severus's chest and stood on her toes, looking up.
Her lips brushed his only briefly before she was pushed away again, too fiercely for her to bad able to keep herself on her feet. Once again Tempest found herself on the floor, looking upwards towards an enraged Severus. She wiped her watering eyes quickly, her breathing suddenly more rapid.
"I'm sorry," she gasped, attempting to control her breath. "I just thought- it sounded like you- like you were-"
"Like I was what?" Severus snapped, his features frozen in twisted revulsion. Tempest could not answer and bit down on her lower lip, threatening to draw blood but with a refusal to overstep that boundary. She felt herself losing control, though, as her shoulders started to shake violently and the tears began to spill more violently.
"I'm sorry," she repeated, choking on the words. "I'm sorry, I'm so s-sorry, I'm-"
The rest of the words did not come out and were instead muffled by the sound of Tempest's cries. She was blind now to the world as her vision became blurred, stopping her from seeing the way in which Severus's features softened ever so slightly, inevitable to anyone who could see Tempest now. He stepped forward and hooked an arm under the girl's knees and lifted her from the floor. Tempest was barely aware of the action, but knowing that there was someone to hold onto led her to immediately cling onto the material of Severus's clothing, gripping with whatever strength her weak form would provide.
