It had been twenty minutes since he'd flipped a page in the book he'd previously been devouring. Hazel had noticed about five minutes in, absorbed in her own work, but she hadn't said anything. She still wasn't sure what it was, if it was him zoning out or starting to doze off with his eyes open, but it was starting to worry her. She finally set her own book down, the motion not breaking his intense focus on the page. "Sev?"

"Huh?"

"Are you alright?" She slid across the couch, coming to sit next to him.

He set his book down, Hazel immediately able to read the stress and despair in his eyes, but more than that, she could hear every thought at once. It wasn't just his voice that she heard, though. One of them was James, one was Sirius, back when they were kids. But there was another she could only assume was his father.

They know. They're waiting until you don't suspect it. They'll go after her first. Do you know how lucky you are? You ungrateful brat. Just like your mother you are. Do you think she's actually interested in you, Snivellus? You're saving her Potions grade, that's it. They're right, how could she possibly like me? Wash your hair, Snape. Keep your abnormally large nose out of other people's business. I wish I could tear off this Dark Mark. Why didn't I listen to her? She hates me. She hates me. They all do. I should've left you and your mother when I had the chance. You're the reason I drink, boy, I hope you know that. She's only here out of pity. You would give up everything for her and she's only staying out of pity. You ARE pitiful. Even Lupin, even a werewolf for Merlin's sake, would be better for her than you.

"Sev?" She reached for his hand, Snape suddenly locking eyes with her. "I love you."

"You heard. You saw? How?"

Hazel shook her head. "I wasn't trying to. I read somewhere - Lachlan's Legillimency for the Modern World, I think - that if two people are close enough, that can just sometimes happen. But that doesn't matter right now. Sev, you know I love you." She put a hand to his face, telling him that, "First of all, your father was an ignorant, insecure drunk well before you were born. You had nothing to do with that. James Potter and Sirius Black were idiots too. All the times they teased you about your hair, they never realized that's what standing over cauldrons all day does to people. Maybe if they spent more time paying attention and less time setting off fireworks when Slughorn wasn't looking, they'd have had the same problem." That got him to smile a little. "As for your nose, it's distinct. It's a strong nose. I like it, and I'm glad you decided to keep it." She leaned in to give him a kiss, gently rolling up his left sleeve.

"Hazel -"

"I know you're not proud of this, of what it means. But I think it shows how brave you are to turn away from all of that. You're brave, and you're strong, and I love you. You make me smile more than Remus ever did. He's good people, Sev, but you're a good person, and no matter how awful things get, you're here. I love you." She pulled him into a hug, telling him that, "If you want me to prove it, I've got some memories for you."

He sat back to look at her, still clutching her hand. "Are you sure?"

"Go ahead."

"Legilimens," he mumbled, dropping into her memory of the Hogwarts welcome feast some years before.

Hazel sat next to Flitwick, her Head of House and one of her favorite professors from her time as a student. As Dumbledore welcomed everyone back to what would shape up to be an exciting year, she found herself glancing down the table. The man she was looking at had gotten older, the stress of the First Wizarding War lining his face. But he was still the same Sev she knew from long ago. He stared quietly forward as Dumbledore talked, occasionally leaning over to say a word to McGonagall. But as Dumbledore introduced her, Hazel smiled at the students, feeling his eyes on her. As they settled in to eat, she would glance over every so often, catching him doing the same once or twice. "Good to be back?" Flitwick asked, Hazel nodding enthusiastically.

"The view from here certainly is different, but it's good to be back. It's like coming home after a very long time away."

Flitwick nodded, catching her eye. "Oh, dear me. I almost forgot about you two."

"Sorry?" Hazel passed Sprout a tureen of gravy, wondering what he had been getting at.

"You and Severus," Flitwick smiled enthusiastically. "The tow of you were inseparable back in the day. Pity you went your separate ways, but Dumbledore assures me all will be well." All would be well? What could that have possibly meant?

Snape suddenly found himself in another memory, watching as Hazel was unpacking. All of the Ravenclaws were getting to know the new first-years, everyone welcoming each other back and starting to catch up. The noise from the common room was audible, but Hazel didn't seem to mind. He followed her as she left for breakfast, watching as he - his past self - took a seat at the staff table much closer to her.

Both of them kept exchanging glances at the breakfast table, only broken by the delivery of the morning post. Hazel buried herself in a newspaper, but when breakfast was over and she was headed to her new office, she stopped in the corridor. Students were milling about getting their new schedules and trying to fix any issues they had. As a fifth-year Ravenclaw sought out Professor Flitwick to swap his Charms class - he'd been put in a fourth-year class by mistake - Hazel broke off from him. She stopped, though, turning back to see a figure in dark robes being swarmed by a couple of Slytherins. So she waited. He'd never realized that she'd been watching him the whole time as he went through schedules and directed students to classrooms.

Eventually she got closer, pretending that she'd left something in the Great Hall. "Severus?" Hazel smiled, coming to a stop by his side. He'd never noticed how pink she'd grown as he said good morning to her. For his part, he'd never noticed how he'd grown a couple shades redder as well. "I was going to try to catch you earlier, but Minerva dumped a bunch of procedural rules on me at the last moment, and Filius caught me as soon as I got to breakfast." She paused, trying to find the right words. "It's been a while."

"That it has," he answered, still distracted by his students. "History of Magic is that way, Mr. Wellborn. Take Miss Campbell with you before she gets lost." Turning back to Hazel, he apologized, saying he had to get to the dungeons before any of the first-years started a fir in the Potions classroom. "Perhaps we can catch up later."

"For sure," she nodded. "I've got to be up in my classroom soon too, or the Slytherins will tear the Hufflepuffs apart. No offense, of course," Hazel smiled. "It's good to see you again, Sev. Catch you at lunch."

The rest of that morning, he found his thoughts straying back to her, wondering how her first day of classes was going. He hadn't looked forward to lunch that much in ages.

The image shifted again, Snape finding himself in the cramped Potions storeroom. There was hardly enough space for two people, so he stepped through his past self so he could perch on the ladder and watch as Hazel stepped inside and started talking to him. It was clearly later in the term. They got along much better. Had they been spending time together yet? Hazel reached out to close the door, turning back around to find herself inches from his face. "Sev, I -"

"Wait. Muffliato." He enchanted the door, preventing Umbridge or anyone else from hearing them. "She's taking over the castle. Dumbledore will be out by the end of the month."

"I know. But that's not what I wanted to ask you. Sev, is there something going on?"

"You will need to be more specific."

She took his hand, imploring, "You always know more than you let on. The Ministry is trying to hush things up. The Order is back together. Arthur Weasley's been attacked. Voldemort is back, and they're trying to cover it up in the depths of the Ministry. You've been to see him, haven't you? This is worse than they're letting on." He nodded, telling her that it was only a matter of time before the entire wizarding world knew. She grabbed his hand, stressing, "Be careful, Sev."

He remembered wanting to lean in and kiss her in that moment, but for the first time, he was seeing it through her eyes. And he could tell that she wanted to lean in and kiss him too. "Why -"

"Because I care about you, Sev. What Dumbledore's asked you to do has never been fair. He's always thrown you in harm's way and you've accepted it. Just... be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you." She leaned in and kissed his cheek. Immediately Hazel dropped his hands, turning nearly Gryffindor scarlet. "I... I should go. Be careful, Sev." He tried to stop her, but she was already halfway out the door.

He remembered leaning back and putting a hand to his cheek, staring into the void of the storage room and trying to process what that meant. But he was in her memories now, so he had to follow her down the hall and back up to Ravenclaw Tower. He watched as she locked herself in her room, not bothering to say hello to the few students studying in the common room. She sank to the floor, leaning against the wall. Still incredibly red in the face, she took a deep breath, whispering, "Oh Merlin. What have you done?"

The scene changed again, and Snape now found himself in his own home. The house on Spinner's End was being systematically packed up. Hazel stood in the middle of the living room, sorting out piles of books. She was in Muggle clothes, her wand tucked into her ponytail as she worked. There was music on in the background, but she was hardly paying attention. She paused as she reached a well-worn copy of Advanced Potion Making, one of the ones he had annotated and used in class every year. She leafed through it sadly, adding it to the smaller pile on her left. It was what was behind the book that stopped her.

There, hidden behind a bunch of old Potions texts, was an album full of photos. She took it over to the well-worn sofa and gingerly began to flip through it. There she found all of their school years: the first trip to Hogsmeade they'd gone on together (when Pandora had just gotten her camera), every winter ball, a couple of blurry photos of Sev, Hazel, Pandora, Xeno, Molly, and Arthur out on the lawn. A few of the photos didn't move. They were regular Muggle photos taken on trips to the sea or to the Continent over summers. The photos of their seventh year tapered off until the last one they'd taken together at the winter ball when she discovered he really had committed to becoming a Death Eater.

There were a few drawings in there of her from far away, sketches she could tell were from after they had gone their separate ways. And then the photos came back. The first Halloween party she had been back for, when Dumbledore brandished a camera and made all of the professors take a picture together. Valentine's Day, when Dumbledore had thrown a party for the staff. And then they started appearing in photos together again, just the two of them. One of the balls they had chaperoned. A short vacation they took to the coast, one of the rare photos she'd gotten of him in Muggle clothes. A photo, half obscured by Hagrid's thumb, of the two of them in his garden. Hagrid had been trying to take a photo of his prize pumpkins when they wandered down to his garden to gather potion ingredients.

Hazel sat on the ground, leafing through the album. Snape's stomach dropped as he realized what the last few pages were for. It was going to be a gift when - "Engagement photos here," Hazel mumbled, reading what he had scrawled on the last few pages. She put a hand to her mouth, stifling a sharp inhale. She closed the book, holding it to her chest as she tried to catch her breath. It was something he had never seen. She was absolutely broken. He hadn't realized the full extent of what she'd gone through when he vanished, not until now. Silent tears streamed down her cheeks as she held onto the book, the one last remnant she had of him. "Severus... Where the hell... Come back to me. You can't be... Sev..." She choked on her words, franticly wiping at her cheeks. "Please. I love you."

"That's enough," the real Hazel said, pulling him back out of her memories and into the present moment.

Sev just stared at her. He'd watched snippets of the two of them falling for each other, everything coming together in her mind as it came together in his. He numbly wrapped his arms around her, mumbling an, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It's all okay now. Sev, I love you."

"I love you too," he finally managed. "Thank you."