Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or anything.

Authors Note: This story is a one-shot, the summer before Snape starts teaching at Hogwarts. I'd say he was probably about twenty-two at the time. This is a one-shot.

Summary: Severus Snape is married, but his marriage has been falling apart for quite sometime. His heart can't decide whether he hates of loves his wife, but perhaps realizes too late that it is better to forgive.

"Forgiving isn't forgetting, it's just letting go of the hurt."

To Fly On Broken Wings

Cassandra Snape stood in the doorway of the bedroom she once shared with her husband and stared for a long time at the bed through her tear-filled, green gaze. She'd shared that bed with him before they even got married. They'd met when they were seventeen, fell head over heals for each other, got engaged when they were eighteen and were married by the time they turned nineteen. She'd loved him through everything, she was there for him even through his Death Eater days and then he joined the order. Their marriage fell apart shortly after.

Cassandra ran a hand through her thick, wavy/curly hair as she leaned against the doorway and stared at the bed. All her things were packed and sitting on the bed, they had been for several days now. Severus now had a tendency to leave home for days at a time and return, never saying even a word to her. All she was waiting for was him to come home, to tell him that she was leaving. She had no intention in staying in the home that was meant for the both of them.

A tear slid down her face as she stared at the bed and thought of the several years that had passed. It was a rotten feeling that he could not get over something from her past and that it was the reason that their marriage had fallen apart, but she'd done nothing wrong. She thought that if he loved her he'd get over it, but that wasn't the case.

At that moment, Cassandra heard the sound of the front door opened and immediately wiped her tears off on the sleeve of her long-sleeved black shirt. Precisely as she stood up straight and turned around, Severus walked past her and into the bedroom. He walked straight to the closet, without saying a word, not even noticing that she'd pack up all her things. "Severus," she called once she was sure that her voice was steady.

"I only came for a change of clothes," he said as he looked through the closet. He suddenly pulled out of the closet with some clothes in his arms and made his way towards the door, but she barged his way and stared up into his black eyes.

"I need to talk to you Severus. It won't take long," Cassandra said as she stared up into his black eyes that were glaring at her with all the hate in the world. It was hard to believe that at one point, those very same black eyes, had once stared at her adoringly and filled with enchantment. But she guessed that the only reason that he fell in love with her because he thought that as a gypsy she was the most beautiful, exotically enchanting thing he'd ever laid eyes on.

"We don't have anything to talk about," he said as he stares down into her eyes.

"I do," she said as she stared up into his eyes. She'd always thought that the fact that he was taller then she was, made him seem like her prince charming, come to save her from the depression of never knowing what a home was. She was a gypsy after all, and growing up she hadn't stayed anywhere very long. He showed her a different life. She had been a bird, wondering the earth without a home, and when she could him, she put away her wings. She didn't need them anymore, but things had changed very quickly.

"And I have no reason to listen to whatever you have to say," he said as he tried to walk past her, but she pushed him in the bedroom and pointed with her thin index finger towards the bed. He grudgingly turned to see what it was that she was pointing out to him and at the sight of the packed things on the bed; he turned his gaze to stare down at her. "What this about?" he asked as he stared at her.

"I… never want to hear you say, that I never loved you or gave you my love without my whole heart and soul. I'd have given my life for you. I've been there fore you, I've never failed you. I wish that you could simply accept, what happened in my past, because that's all it is, my past. We all have a past, and I wished you could have accepted mine, like I accepted yours," she said as she stared up into his eyes and looked down at her feet, the tears were coming up in her eyes.

"What are you getting at, Cassandra?" he asked as he stared down at his lovely wife. He wished that he could get over her past too, because he truly loved her with all his heart, but he simply couldn't. Every time he looked at her, he could see images of her with him.

"This isn't going to be my end, Severus," she said as she looked up at him through a tear filled gaze. "I'm not going to waste away here in this darkness, I need to get out, go back to who I used to be before I met you, a free bird. I let you break my wings, but I want to soar. And I might stumble and crash, but… I want to touch the clouds, see the sun dawn in my life again," she said as tears poured down her face. "Even though I love you I can't stay. I will miss you, but today, I'm not asking for clemency."

"Cassandra," he said as he stared down at her but she raised a hand and wiped the tears from her face.

"You never loved me the way that I am; you've rejected everything about me, so I guess I was never what you really wanted anyway. You changed everything about me, Severus, not just my past," Cassandra said as she stared up at him. "I don't have to explain myself to you. I was fifteen years old, Remus had been a very good friend of mine for a very long time, I thought that I was in love with him and I gave him… the only thing I had," she said as she looked down at herself. "I don't know why you couldn't get over that, if I fell in love with you. When I vowed to you that my heart, body and soul were forevermore yours, and only yours."

"You're leaving me?" he asked as he stared down into her eyes, she looked down at her feet and nodded. She pointed her wand at the things on the bed and waved at them, so that they disappeared.

"Good bye Severus," she said as she handed over a piece of paper and walked out of his life. Severus stared after her, rooted to the spot and unable to say anything. After a long moment, he slowly turned his gaze and looked down to see what it was that she'd handed to him and he could feel his throat tighten when he realized that she'd left him with a photograph, and not just any photograph. It was the picture of their wedding day, with her standing in her beautiful white, wedding dress and he kissing the top of her head. Severus turned over the photo, and his eyes glistened at the sight of her small, cursive writing on the back.

I wore white because I thought our love was pure and had nothing to do with the physical.

THE END

A/N: All right that's it. Just a one-shot, Please leave a review!