He could not sleep.
He watched Les Miz on the West End once - Charity Burbage had pestered him into bringing her to a "muggle show". (Of course he had to pick the tragic one - she would have probably preferred Cats). When the dying Valjean sang out "To love another person is to see the face of God!", Charity blubbered - but he wondered if it were true. After all, he is quite certain that he had loved his mother - loved her still, even - but he could not recall any experience of divinity.
Not that he hadn't gone looking for it. But his readings of the bible only served to frustrate and perplex him. Take, for instance, the shortest verse in the King James Version, John 11 verse 35 : "Jesus wept." Why had Jesus felt the need to weep? Lazarus was dead, but being omnipotent, Jesus was more than capable of bringing him back to life. In fact, being omniscient, Jesus knew that Lazarus would be brought back to life. What was there to cry about?
When Severus Snape wept, it was for things that could not be undone.
He wasn't prone to wandering the school halls. He usually paced the Potions classroom instead, checking and rechecking inventory levels. But he had overheard something, a snippet of a conversation between McGonagall and Flitwick about a mythical artifact that he had always been fascinated with.
"Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi."
Not much of a puzzle, he thinks, a little disappointed. Desire? He doesn't have any desires any more. At least, none that warrant the name. Heart? If he ever had one, it has long fallen into disuse, as many, no doubt, would attest to. He imagines it in a chest, growing hairy, like in the children's story. He steps forward and raises the lamp in his hand.
When he looked into the mirror he saw Lily.