HE HEARS THE CRY OF THE SEDGE

I WANDER by the edge

Of this desolate lake

Where wind cries in the sedge:

iUntil the axle break

That keeps the stars in their round,

And hands hurl in the deep

The banners of East and West,

And the girdle of light is unbound,

Your breast will not lie by the breast

Of your beloved in sleep.

-William Butler Yeats

Harry Potter did not look like a boy that had seen a girl tortured to death. He did not look like a child destined to save the world as he sat at breakfast and pretended he didn't know what Dumbledore was going to tell the students. And Snape wondered why he was there that morning when he could have stayed away and not have to hear the headmaster tell all the students that Parvati would not be coming back.

Harry patted Hermione's shoulder as she sobbed into his shirt. But his own eyes were dry and empty and Snape could not help but recall in contrast the strange way that Harry had cried last night and not cared.

"Do you believe in God Hermione?"

She sat up and wiped futilely at her eyes. "Y-Yes."

Even from this great distance Snape could see how old Harry had suddenly become. That his mask had slipped.

"Then believe in heaven for me Hermione."

She nodded, thinking he was trying to make her feel better about Parvati but Snape knew it was more. He knew what it felt like to ask someone to save a spot in their souls for you. To believe in something better for you. And he wondered why Harry Potter thought he had to ask for that.

Harry smiled and patted Hermione on the shoulder again. "Come on Hermione. Parvati wouldn't want us to be sitting here moping."

Determination shown in the other girl's eyes. "You're right Harry! She would want us to enjoy Hogwarts! She would want us to enjoy our schooling!"

"Right Hermione." He said indulgently and followed her out of the hall.

"You were at breakfast this morning."

"So were you." Potter pointed out neutrally and Snape didn't tell the boy it was different, that he was a teacher and had to attend. Instead he asked the question he'd wondered all day.

"Why don't you believe in God Potter?"

Those green eyes were subdued and hidden in shadows. "How can I believe in a god that loves and hurts us? That wouldn't let me save her?"

"It wasn't your fault."

And if eyes are the window to the soul what happens when the soul is breaking? Snape felt like he was drowning, like he was dying too inside of those eyes.

"He'll keep going until I stop him."

"You defeated him once Potter. That's more than enough. The world is not your responsibility."

The boy lifted his gaze to the heavens. "The prophesy says it's me. Me or him."

A god that would send a child to defeat a demon… He didn't say anything. He hadn't known about the prophesy. Didn't know it was more than a penchant for trouble that kept putting the boy in the middle of every explosion.

It was barely a sound at all but he whispered "I'm sorry." Sorry that you have to see people die, sorry that you have to care, sorry that you have to kill someone or die.

"Me too."

And this time when Snape went back inside he left Harry out there still staring at the starry sky.

Author's Notes: Well, really the poem at the top belongs with the next chapter but I couldn't use two poems for the next chapter and I've already got one for that chapter so…I'm going to stop babbling. Anyway, review!