Snape stood in his office, his back against a shelf of jars; he'd apparated there. His heart beat erratically as his thoughts pivoted around recollections of a time long past. He tilted his gaze down ever so slightly, until the object he held in his viselike grip shifted into his line of vision. After all these years, to have in his possession something that had once belonged to her -
He wanted her back so badly.
Snape placed his right hand over the purse and ran it over the fabric, appreciating the unfamiliar warmth that brew up in him as his finger tips caressed the patchy material - Or was the material caressing him? He thought idly - and he basked for a moment in the comfort it brought. It didn't matter that the fabric had frayed, he never thought that those hands of his - hands that had been forced to deliver countless nauseating death sentences - hands that he'd grown to despise, could bring him such a feeling of comfort again. Comfort, comfort - comfort. That was the singular word he could think of, and comfort was comforting, and the numbness the feeling brought with it was good.
He wiped the moisture that had gathered out of his eyes and shut them tight, appreciating the instant darkness that befell him. He stood that way for a while, resting his aching self against the shelf of jars behind him. "Lily Evans," He murmured. Funny though, it seemed as soon as he spoke her name, she had appeared in front of him…
They were standing in the middle of one of the corridors of Hogwarts. The corridor that overlooked the green patch of field they had so often hung out in, just chatting.
Where they going to venture out into it again, in this dream of his?
They were students again, and he was waiting for her to pick something up from the floor. Why he wasn't helping her with it, he didn't know. Lilywas hunched over, with her back to him. Snape considered tapping her shoulder, but something told him not to interfere. He'd wait for her to turn around. An agonizing forty seconds passed. Snape drummed his fingers against his pant legs, and stole a glance at whatever she was so busy with. An innocent, enchanted blossom lay on the ground. The petals flapped frightfully, frantically up and down, while Lily tried to scoop it up into her palms. The blossom passed through her hands like they were a ghost's. An odd iciness filled Snape's chest.
Something was wrong.
It was like she was a hologram that couldn't touch.
It was like she didn't actually exist as a physical being.
"Lily?" Snape said.
Lily spun around to face him. Her eyes were red from crying, and her hands shook. "Why can't I pick it up? Why can't I touch anything?" she blurted, eyes darting about, confusion plastered on her face now, and Snape thought his heart broke a little as he realized he couldn't do anything. He fought for words to say, reassuring, caring words. Hundreds came to mind, none sounding sincere enough.
"I'm so sorry!" he cried in desperation.
"But it's too late," she whispered, her breath light against his face. "No-no, no - it isn't -" Snape said, frantic, as he reached out to pull her to him.
Lily screamed in agony at his touch, causing him to withdraw his arm in shock. Suddenly, her face was wiped clean of expression. "You shouldn't have done that -" Lily said. Snape's eyes darted wildly about her face, as he tried to make sense of her words. "Why -" She said, voice icy, eliciting a flustered "What?" from the broken man in front of her. But all too soon, her face was disappearing, and the rest of her soon after that.
A flash of light in his eyes that made him cry out - and he was awake, and alone again.
Hermione let out a cry as she tripped over her cat, Crookshanks, and fell face first into her four-poster bed, eliciting a snarl of outrage from the cat. She gingerly patted it in apology. "Sorry, Crookshanks, just a little flustered right now… I guess," She stretched her arm over the edge of the bed and unclenched her fist, letting the stolen gillyweed tumble onto the carpet. The slimy mass landed on the soft surface with a gentle plop, wetting the fabric a little.
Hermione sucked on the tip of her index finger, the way she would a quill, and watched as the dark patch spread steadily on the carpet. "Wet," She muttered to herself, or to Crookshanks, perhaps. She really didn't know.
The scuffling of feet woke her from her slight daze.
"Ron, Harry!" She said, not all too surprised. The two had recently made a habit of sneaking into the Gryffindor girl's dormitory after hours; that being the one of the few times the trio could converse in secret. Furthermore, tonight's meeting had been scheduled. There were things in need of discussing.
Harry pulled his invisibility cloak off of Ron and himself, revealing them both to Hermione, not that she had been in need of confirmation as to who the two intruders were. "Hermione," Ron and Harry greeted in unison, both half-occupied with the task of untangling themselves from the fabric. They succeeded and Harry nimbly folded the cloak and stuffed it into his back pocket; his front occupied by his wand. As Mad-Eye always said, "Constant vigilance", and never ever to leave one's wand in one's back pocket. Harry had taken his advice rather seriously, having been through enough to understand its importance, and so had Ron and Hermione. Naturally, it soon became a force of habit.
"So, Hermione, the gillyweed? And the time turner?" Harry said; certain that their plan had came through. Ron and Harry looked expectantly at Hermione.
Hermione sat at the edge of the four-poster and shuffled her feet around. "Well, you see… it wasn't so simple –"
"You didn't get the stuff?" Harry interjected, in what seemed very much like a forced non-accusatory tone. Ron shot him a look.
"I did, but – Snape! He was patrolling the corridors." Hermione answered. "He stopped me and the time turner's gone now – well – but he didn't take the gillyweed, it's here!" she stopped and reached for the slimy mass that she'd tossed onto the carpet earlier on, raising her hand to show it to Ron and Harry. "But… he took the purse... and… and the time turner. Oh, I'm sorry!"
"It's alright," Harry, said, with a nod of approval from Ron. "We just have to try again, Hermione, and we'll do it together. And, we will include Snape in our calculations next time round."
"Blimey, Harry, I can'. He's always out to catch us. It's like… he's following us! To be honest… I reckon he is." Ron said.
"Yeah… It does seem like he is." Harry murmured.