Round II
2:00 am this time and I've just worked out the unruly kinks that have urged my displeasure.
In other words, I bring thee the second ficlet/drawing combo that I suddenly felt like doing for these past two weeks!
I. The Ficlet:
"The Betrayal"
Sev,
I’ve heard that you’re back for good. Is that true? It has been too long. You have no idea how much I’ve been worried about you. I always worry about you.
I must meet with you. Our old place? It would be so good to finally see you again. And also, there is something I’ve been meaning to tell you for the longest time. I don’t think I can let it wait much longer.
Please do come, Sev. I’ve missed you.
Lily
The sun was almost setting, a glow casting over the trees that were their usual orange as in every autumn. An afternoon breeze whipped the sides of the carefully unfolded parchment Severus Snape held in his thin hands as he read the letter written there yet again. His hair was blown away from his face that was gaunter and more strained now. There was silence, save for the whisper of the wind, the rustling of the leaves, and the violent beating of his heart.
She was right; it has been too long. Too long ago it was when he last saw her, that night in December when he had begged her to meet with him before he left. Too long ago it was when he had stayed outside her home until she came out and faced him, if not forgave him. Too long ago it was when he last set his eyes on her person, for what he had feared then would be the last time he would be able to do so:
“Albania?” she asked incredulously. It had been the most that he could tell her, the most that she could know, about where he was off to. The winter cold seeped through his skin, making him clutch his mere clothing closer. He had been outside her house for hours, unrelenting. She refused to face him, as always was the case, until he told her of his departure. “Why?”
“I’m doing this-“ for you! his heart screamed - “on Dumbledore’s orders.”
“I’m on your side, Lily,” he added in a whisper when she didn’t respond for a long while.
The cold was bitter and cruel that night. They sat by the fence in Lily’s front yard, like they used to when they were younger. He knew she was looking at him but the darkness hid her face. One word from her was all it would take for him to change his mind, to stay for her…
“Will you owl me, then?” came her voice that cracked a little.
She had allowed him to embrace her. Although it lasted only a moment, in several ways, it was enough for him.
The days turned into weeks, the weeks into months, until finally it became a full year that he was away. The circles around his eyes deepened, his skin grew paler, and his body became weaker. Many times he wanted to escape, but the desire to keep Lily safe kept him alive and functioning. He wrote to her everyday until the owls became difficult to send, until his journeys became much too perilous, until he decided to break off from her completely out of fear of endangering her. Even so, he did not stop writing her letters. They remained unsent until he lost them one way or another through the course of his search of the relic in the godforsaken woods of Albania. But her letters to him he kept as best he could so that they seemed just as new as they had been when they first came to him. He knew all of them by heart, feeling her close, imagining her face as she pressed quill on parchment.
Five years passed:
Her letters now sat in his jacket pocket, just above his heart. He refolded her most recent one and slipped it back in with the others. He had been surprised one morning to find that note sitting at the foot of his bed. It was a wonder how she found him, after all these years. Then again, she always found him.
She had always been his home. No one else made him feel welcome and accepted like she did. With her, he always belonged somewhere. In her eyes, he felt he was always worth something.
He knew that exposing himself like this in order to fulfill Lily’s wish to see him that day meant putting himself in a precarious situation. He didn’t care. He was no longer afraid of the consequences. He’d hide forever if he had to, if he could just have this one afternoon with her, to hear what she’s wanted to tell him all this time…
His heart stopped beating when he heard a small pop a short distance away from where he was standing. It was a though time stood still. She was coming up their hill, even more beautiful than he remembered. She was smiling, forever smiling, and her eyes, those magnificent piercing eyes that he had sorely missed, were glowing with unmistakable delight. She was like a dream, perfection in every sense of the word, and nothing else mattered.
She was coming toward him now. He stood, frozen. She was calling his name but he could not hear. No, there was no sound from the outside, only the intense thumping of his pulse.
And then, quite suddenly, his bliss left him, draining him, filling his mouth with an awful taste that stung his eyes. A sharp pain rose in his chest and he found that he could not breathe. The world was spinning, fading fast…
For in her arms he saw what he realized was her reason for wanting to meet him, and visions of promise vanished in its wake. Somehow, he knew before she even opened her mouth the words that she had been waiting to say.
“Sev, this is Harry.”
II. The Picture:
The smaller version does the big one no justice. Do click the full view if you're interested. :)
First post can be found here .
I encourage you to read the ficlet first before looking at the picture. :)