Harry rested his head in the palm of his hand as he drove his elbow into the desk beneath it. His eyes seemed captivated by one person and one person only. His deep set, dark eyes, his stoic expression and staunch posture. He was perhaps not everyone's idea of attractive, but maybe that is why the man had become so entrancing to him.
It had been years since he had last laid eyes on his old potion's teacher.
Yet here he was. Once more standing before the younger wizard, imparting knowledge that Harry himself had greatly undervalued all those years he had spent at Hogwarts.
Perhaps that is what drove him to attend this lecture.
No.
Perhaps the desire had little to do with gaining new knowledge but more to do with witnessing this man with his own eyes once more.
He could not forget him.
Snape paced before the class, his eyes searching those of his audience. Yet as they did so, they stumbled upon a set he hadn't anticipated.
Severus flinched, yet he did well to disguise it as his eyes locked with Harry Potter.
The Harry Potter. Saviour of the wizarding world. The chosen one. The son of the woman he had loved so deeply.
Harry felt his heart pound in his chest as his breathing began to shallow. It seemed his lips had a mind of their own as they contorted into a smile against his will. Yet a sense of warmth radiated around him, as though he had just been encased within a blanket.
The heat rose to his cheeks, tainting them with a pink glow.
This sense of warmth stayed with the younger wizard for the remainder of the lecture, of which Harry suddenly wished would go on forever.
However, it wouldn't be long before the lesson would draw to a close.
It was over.
Harry watched as all of his fellow witches and wizards filed from the atrium. Yet, he felt compelled to remain in his seat. The pounding in his chest seemed only to intensify as the final witch strolled out the door, until all that remained were Snape and himself.
"Mr Potter." An all too familiar drawl swept into Harry's ears like a soft wind.
Harry glanced up, as though on instinct at the summoning of his name. His eyes instantly locked with a set of deep dark eyes. It's not as though he didn't know who they belonged to before he even looked up.
"Professor." Harry stated, almost out of instinct it seemed.
"I'm hardly a professor any more Mr Potter." A slight smirk enveloped the older wizard's lips, as though he had found something in his own words amusing. Or perhaps it was the flicker of confusion that darted across Harry's eyes that he found entertaining.
Those eyes.
It had been years since he had last witnessed them, yet it seemed as though they had barely changed in all these years.
Yet there was also something different, however slight that he could not ignore.
Was that a lingering sense of…
Snape narrowed his eyes as if doing so would bring him greater clarity.
Was it sadness?
"Is that right?" Harry tilted his head slightly to the side, his eyes pooling with genuine confusion this time.
"Actually, I still occasionally indulge in the prospect of teaching fellow witches and wizards. However, I spend more time running an apothecary in Cokeworth these days." Snape's eyes searched Harry's, as though searching the young man for some ounce of reaction.
Harry narrowed his eyes as though the professor's words were foreign and difficult to understand. Perhaps this was because he had never imagined the man to be anything other than Hogwarts's most intimidating teacher.
Harry opened his mouth to speak, yet words refused to leave his lips as he gazed up at the man.
A silence quickly settled between them.
"Why Cokeworth? Why didn't you open up your shop in Diagon Alley?" Harry finally asked, slicing through the awkward air that had formed around them.
"It is my hometown." Snape sighed as if reluctantly relishing a piece of information that he didn't wish to impart with, not yet no less.
Harry narrowed his eyes, as though surprised by this piece of information. The truth be told, he had never envisaged Snape being anywhere other than Hogwarts.
"Do you miss Hogwarts?" Harry blurted out before having the chance to think about what he actually wanted to say.
Snape remained silent; his lips pursed as he seemed to ponder this question with great consideration.
"I fear my days at Hogwarts were numbered." Snape drawled, his words firm yet barely above a whisper.
Harry opened his mouth to speak, he wanted so much to ask why? What did the professor mean by his somewhat vague words?
Only, he didn't get the chance as a finger came to rest on his lips, prompting him into silence. The moment Snape's flesh pressed against him, a tingle coursed through Harry's body, emanating through his bloodstream before manifesting on his skin.
"I better go." Harry mumbled as he slid his chair back, pushing himself away from the man.
What was wrong with him?
"Where are you going?" Snape's voice remained as calm and cool as Harry had always known it to be.
"Home." The younger wizard stated as the pounding in his heart seemed to be travelling further south.
"How is Ginny?" Snape raised an eyebrow, though his eyes spoke of a deeper truth. He seemed to know more about the nature of their relationship than he was letting on.
"I'm not sure." Harry muttered; his words barely audible as he made for the door.
*~.~*
Harry darted for the front door of his apartment, if he didn't hurry up then he was going to be late. He yanked the door open before stepping outside. A sharp burn greeted his throat as it endured an assault of cold air that forced its way inside his body. He gazed up, his eyes searching the dark autumn sky for any speck of starlight. Yet despite his efforts, his eyes were greeted only by heavy clouds illuminated solely by the persistent light of the moon.
Despite the fact that the war had ended eight years ago, he still didn't feel safe lowering the enchantments around his house.
Harry closed his eyes as he focused his attention on the house of his two best friends. Within a split second he felt an all too familiar tightness consume his body, contorting him, thrusting him through time and space. A moment later he stood before a small house in suburban London.
It was a house he had become all too familiar with as his eyes danced over a wall of lifeless hibernating wisteria and ivy as it appeared to cling desperately to the stone beneath it.
His eyes turned to the warm hue of orange light echoing from the kitchen window as it soon became accompanied by an eruption of muffled laughter. Harry took a deep breath as a strange sensation began to consume him. He could only liken it to a mix of foreboding anxiety and dread.
He stepped toward the front door of the house as the distinguishable voices of Neville and Luna accompanied by the loud shrill of countless children emerged triumphant in his ears. He scrunched his hand into a ball before pressing his knuckle against the hard wooden door. His lungs suddenly gulped for air, as though they would be deprived of all oxygen once he entered the house. His reservations suddenly consumed him as he his eyes darted back to the roadside, as though it represented the only promise of escape.
The choice was suddenly wrenched away from him as the door was abruptly yanked open.
"Harry!" Hermione's excited voice greeted him before he had had the chance to compose himself. Two small children followed after her before stopping at Harry's feet. He needed no introduction. They were the daughter and son of his best friends.
"Hermione!" Harry summoned all the strength he could muster as he forced a smile onto his lips.
"It's so good to see you!" She stated with an amount of enthusiasm that took Harry by surprise.
"I've got some exciting news!" Hermione could barely contain herself as she clutched at his forearms. It seemed as though she would soon burst from excitement. She dragged Harry inside before hastily closing the door behind him.
"Come, everyone will be so excited to see you!" Hermione grinned as she dragged him down the hallway towards the kitchen.
"Ah, Hermione, who else is here?"
"Neville, Luna, Shamus, Dean, Cho, pretty much all of the DA actually, all the Weasley's and Ron of course." She concluded with a warm smile.
"All the Weasley's?" Harry inadvertently gasped, he hadn't meant to say any of that out loud.
Yet here he was.
He felt Hermione suddenly stall before reluctantly turning to face him.
"Yes, Ginny is here." She sighed empathetically, though her eyes seemed hesitant to meet his gaze.
The anxiety Harry felt before was nothing compared to the amount flooding through his system now.
No.
He couldn't see her, not now. Not after the breakup.
"Harry, that was 5 years ago." Hermione had now adopted a stern gaze, one in which she hoped to pass onto him.
"She's moved on."
Her words struck him like an electric jolt to the heart.
Of course she would have moved on.
Why wouldn't she of?
She was popular, desirable, attractive.
However, he doubted the jolt to his heart was for the reason everyone would have expected. It wasn't because he had wasted his chance, it wasn't because he truly missed her. It was because of what this meant to him. It was yet another reminder that everyone around him was getting married or having children or building lives together.
Everyone except him.
Here he was, still single and no closer to forging a relationship or creating a new life.
He was trapped in the never ending, unescapable cycle that was mundane life.