Note: This one is in response to a lovely follower and reviewer of mine, mandancie, who requested 2 things in relation to the "No Family" drabbles. This is the first request in which they wanted to see what the turning point could have been for Severus and Harry to lead to the eventual mentioned adoption in "No Family". Thank you for the request and enjoy!
Summary: Severus comes across Harry Potter in the Astronomy Tower.
Character(s): Harry Potter, Severus Snape
Relationship(s): Harry & Severus (pre-non-slash adoptive father/son)
Setting: Order of the Phoenix
Warnings/Tags: angst, implied heavy depression, suicidal ideations, hurt/comfort
Will You Help Me?
Request from: mandancie
"Potter!"
Severus frowned at the boy who sat on the edge of the Astronomy Tower's observation platform, legs dangling over the side as though he weren't many hundreds of meters in the air. His frown deepened when, even at his shout, Potter didn't turn his head or even acknowledge his presence. Severus approached the Gryffindor, moving to the side so he could catch a glimpse of the boy's face.
"Potter?" he said again, gentler this time as he noticed the tear tracks on the moonlit face.
"Professor," Potter said in the dullest voice Severus had ever heard. "Have you ever wondered why some people die, but others don't?"
Severus looked at the boy with some alarm and found himself crouching down beside the teenager.
"I should have died," Potter said in a near whisper. "So many times, but instead someone else did."
"Potter?"
The green eyes that looked at him were haunted and did not belong in the face of a fifteen-year-old. Severus was taken aback at this shell of the student he thought he knew.
"Will you help me?"
"With what?" Severus asked.
"Die?"
Severus' heart clenched and he moved to sit beside the boy, letting his own long legs hang over the edge beside Potter's.
"No," he said and he watched Potter's head drop with despair. "But I will help you live."
Fin?