Chapter 2: My memories to set you Free
Life at Hogwarts had changed in September 1997. Everything looked gloomy. Sometimes, when there was a lesson in Transfiguration, Charms, or Herbology, Luna felt as if nothing had changed. She felt as if she could walk in the corridors and hear gossips, giggles and chattering. She felt as if she could run into Harry, Hermione and Ron in the Grand Staircases. She felt as if, when she was in the Great Hall, she had nothing else to do but raise her eyes to see Dumbledore again.
The real world was a heavy burden when silence, loneliness and Snape were Hogwarts' Masters.
Snape was as secretive as a Thestral. He could barely be seen outside of the Great Hall and spend all his time in Dumbledore's office. Luna had spent a huge period of time spying at him. She was curious. Why would a murderer choose to spend his life in the wake of his victim? How could he stand in a room where his victim's living portrait stood?
"I wonder what you might be doing outside of your Common Room, on a night like that." Snape asked once. He was coming back to his office, and Luna was hidden in front of the Gargoyle, in a not enough dark corner. She had made a step toward him.
"I'm worried, Headmaster."
"If you wonder about the next teacher of this school I'm going to murder, Miss Lovegood, you should go to sleep. I've not made my pick yet."
"I'm not worried about you, but for you." Luna said with honesty.
Snape looked puzzled for a moment. "Thank you, Miss Lovegood. Five points will be taken from Ravenclaw. Now, go to sleep."
When he found her again, a few days later, he invited her for tea. And took another five points. It soon became a habit for the two of them. They could talk without being judged and appreciated each other complexity. They could share tiny secrets.
Sometime, they sat by the fireplace and merely enjoyed each other's presence, reading and talking a bit together. On a good day, he would help her with her homework. Sometime, he would stay at his desk, working on some papers and other things.
One night, he had been called by the Dark Lord. She waited for him several hours. When he had come back, he was wearing his Death-Eater mask and his hands were trembling, his knuckles white around his wand. Luna saw his haunted eyes when she took out the mask.
They also shared bigger secrets.
.oOo.
Luna had spent time working in the Greenhouses. And it was all meant for him.
"Your work is amazing," Professor Sprout said. "I award five points for Ravenclaw." Neville looked pleasantly jealous.
.oOo.
"What is that?" Severus asked when Luna took something out of her pocket and transfigured a sugar into a vase.
"Roses. I have seen roses damasked, red and white…"
"But no such roses see I in her cheeks. Shakespeare." He completed, exasperated.
Chapter word count: 498
"T'is a figure of speech" from The Golden Snitch: To be as secretive as a Thestral.