A One Shot for HermioneDancer
The darkness of the night smothered him like oil on the surface of a lake. He stumbled through it, unseeing, almost completely unaware of his true surroundings. An arm shattered, several ribs cracked, the gooey thickness of drying blood coating the back of his neck. There was no thought to how he looked, how he would appear to the other stragglers of the night. All he wanted was her.
It was the thought of her that forced him to continue onwards. The bottomless brown eyes that had seen him where others had not, the untrained lips that had kissed him even when others couldn't understand, the inkstained hands that had steadied him as others turned away. And the tongue that had sharpened itself into a point more ferocious then his own, with a mind that in size rivaled the nose upon his face. Even as he tripped over the blackened debris and trudged precariously through murky pools of water, his only care was about her.
“Halt! Who goes there?”
Two beams of sharpened wand light barred his path. Snarling, he drew his own wand, preparing to disparage them.
“Let me through.”
“Sorry Sir, we're here on orders. No one is to go past this point.”
“Nonsense, I worked here!” he said through grated teeth.
“There is no 'here' anymore, sir. Besides, only those of us with special badges may proceed. I don't see you wearing one.”
Dark eyes under wild, knit-together brows studied the young uniformed wizards with a menacing glare. “I don't give a thestral's ass what kind of decoration you wear. Do you know who I am?”
The two wizards dropped their patronizing looks as each glanced searchingly at the other and then back at their confronter. Though grime and blood coated his features, and his once-magnificent black robes were shredded and discolored, the profile was as distinct as the full moon on a clear night.
“Aye, you're Severus Snape,” one finally said.
“Damn bloody right, I am. Now let me through.”
They didn't argue this time, and instead, stood aside rather hastily. But as Severus Snape passed them and began to ascend the hilly landscape before him, one of the young wizards called out forlornly.
“It's not Hogwarts anymore, Sir. There's nothing you want to see there. It's all gone... bad”
Severus had no ear for their words. He pressed his feet into the hillside, every step filled with agony. But his mind had once again drifted to the one person who made all of this worth it.
If she could ever forgive him.
The inky air gave way to a murky glow as he topped the rise of the hill. Devastation sprawled before him. If Severus Snape could remember how to cry, a rancid tear might have spilled down his cheek. But he did not cry. He only trudged on, ignoring the gaping black hole where a placid lake once resided, ignoring the ashen grounds and trees that still smoked with the memories of a great fire. He ignored the hundreds of bodies strewn haphazardly for miles. She wasn't one of them. He could still feel her heart beating.
And the castle still stood, though it was only a shadow of the great haven it once had been. Towers lay toppled at its base, split from the body of the castle by lightning. It's entirety hung dangerously on the edge of the cliff that had once guided it gently to the edge of the Black Lake. It seemed to be waiting for death. Waiting for that fall that would put it out of its great misery forever. To end the humiliation.
But not yet. Not before he found her.
Inside, the great cavern of debris and fetid air held no resemblance to the majestic school Severus had taught at so many months ago. But his eyes slid over the shredded tapestries and toppled statues, ever searching for that spark of life.
But when he found her, it was not as he imagined “ a poor creature trapped beneath the crumbled stones of a toppled wall, savoring the help of anyone who came to her rescue. When he found her, she stood facing away from him, at the mouth of a gaping hole in the castle wall, where the Gryffindor tower had once. The wind danced around her dangerously, her white robes sent into pirouettes and her masses of locks tangling themselves on the torrents.
But her back was straight, her feet planted firmly on the ragged carpet. There was nothing in her stance that looked defeated; everything about it looked determined. Before her, through the treacherous gap in the castle wall, lay a sky full of stars.
“Why are you here?”
Severus Snape could no easier cringe than cry, but her very tone left chills upon his raw flesh. “You were always so full of those ridiculous questions. It gives me pleasure to know you haven't changed your ways.”
“Don't play me like a harp string, Severus. I am your instrument no longer. Answer me.”
“I came to see--”
“What?” she cut in bitterly. “The full moon blotted out by the ashes of the dead? The bones of a giant squid resting upon the bottom of an empty pit? Does this give you satisfaction, Severus?”
Each of her biting words brought him closer to her. He reached out to her gruffly, only drawing back as his grime covered fingers glazed her wild mane. “I had to leave, Hermione. I had no choice.”
“No choice?” She spun around, her eyes glaring fiercely into his, everything about her on fire. The dismal room faded around them. “Severus you left me here, without a word, or a note... or a bloody charmed singing teapot. And... then the rumors came! They... they said all these terrible things! About you... about all of it. And then this terrible thing happened here... and... oh!”
She broke away from him, her eyes searching not his face, but his ruined body. She tentatively reached out to his shattered arm, cringing slightly as her fingertip encountered blood.
“Forgive me,” he whispered with his remaining strength. It was ebbing faster now. The adrenaline that had driven him to Hermione was now subsiding, and he was finally feeling the pain of his wounds. She guided him to a cot that he had not noticed upon entering, and he collapsed onto it without rebellion. He was with her now, that was all that mattered.
For long minutes, she tended to his wounds, small noises escaping from the corners of her mouth, her wide-set eyes constantly roaming his body. Behind her, the moon emerged from its smoky casket and circled her head with an untainted glow. He could only gaze up at her.
At last her hands stilled, and she watched him for a long moment.
“I do not know of what you did, Severus, to earn yourself these purple gifts--” she motioned to his many bruises and lacerations “--but stay with me now, please. Just stay with me.”
It wasn't forgiveness. Not yet. But he was with her again, and the rest would coagulate with time.
“I'm going nowhere.”