His long slender fingers danced lightly across the keys. He loved summer, because it meant no students, no classes, no colleagues, more time to research, and he got to play. He was the only teacher who stayed at Hogwarts this summer, and Albus came to visit him often.
Severus Snape had been playing piano since he was five years old. There was nothing more relaxing to him than playing or listening to music. He would play his favorite songs or listen to his favorite singers, and not have a care in the world. No matter what Severus went through, music was always there for him. When his mother died, when his father ignored his very existence, when he had no friends in school, and hounded by the marauders, when he realized what it meant to be a Death Eater, and went to his knees before Albus Dumbledore, begging redemption. Music was always there. It was his life.
It was his very being.
His soul.