You Left me Standing Here
Title: You Left me Standing Here
Author: kerrymdb
Prompt #: two
Rating: K
Word Count: 620
Summary: Why leave me standing here, Let me know the way
Author’s Notes: Title and summary are from the Beatles song, The Long and Winding Road
You Left me Standing Here
One step, two step, three step, four
Every step Nymphadora Tonks took down this road was a step closer to finding the answer. Today she would speak to Florence Vaisey, who had been a student with him at Hogwarts.
There were days she didn't think that she would ever have her answers. How could she possibly get through everything?
She smiled sadly, already knowing what she had to do. It would simply take patience, a quality she sorely lacked. But for him…
The Final Battle had changed so many lives, especially hers. The man she had planned to marry was killed. And the man that she thought despised her told Tonks that he loved her in his last breath.
Severus Snape's words and the way he looked at her then, like she was an angel, haunted Tonks' dreams. After that, she wanted to learn everything she could about him, so that it might offer some clue to why or how those feelings started. She was convinced it was the only way that he would leave her in peace.
At first she researched. Every free moment after the war was spent in the Ministry library, where she looked through books and newspapers, any periodical that mentioned his name.
And so she learned that he had received eleven O.W.L.s at Hogwarts. He was in the Healer training program at St. Mungo's until he accepted the position of teaching Potions at Hogwarts. And he was the youngest Potions Master in a century.
But those were dry facts. Facts that Tonks didn't care all that much about. What she wanted to know were the small details that truly defined a man. So once she had memorised every fact that she could, Tonks set out to talk to the witches and wizards who actually knew him.
Her weekends were spent going from doorstep to doorstep, speaking to anyone who knew him, anyone who was still willing to talk of him. It wasn't long before she discovered that people - real, live, breathing people - offered more than books ever could.
According to Minerva McGonagall, Severus was an unregistered Animagus, but nevere shared what his animal form was. Ponoma Sprout told her that Severus had a small plot of earth in one of the Greenhouses and would raise vegetables when he had free time. Filius Flitwick shared that they had played bridge once a month along with Poppy Pomfrey and Rolanda Hooch.
Aurora Sinistra - a former lover - was a treasure chest of knowledge. From her, Tonks learned that he would tug softly with his teeth on Sinistra's lower lip when they kissed and that his touch was gentle but demanding all at the same time.
Tonks' own memories of the man were few. She remembered the way he looked at her while she sat in his Potions class. That looked reserved for trouble makers, which she certainly had been then. Tonks remembered how he asked if she wanted to join him for a drink after an Order meeting one night, which she turned down at once, seeing that she was desperate to have Remus notice her at the time. And then one of her last memories of him, the flash of anger on his face when he saw the change in her Patronus.
But there was still so much more to learn.
How did he mange to walk that tightrope for so long? Was he ever scared? Was he ever happy? Did he ever expect anything other than death as thanks for his loyalty?
Someday, Tonks would have her answers. And on that day, when she stopped traveling the dusty roads, she prayed that the ghost of Severus Snape who haunted her dreams would finally have a chance for peace.
Author: kerrymdb
Prompt #: two
Rating: K
Word Count: 620
Summary: Why leave me standing here, Let me know the way
Author’s Notes: Title and summary are from the Beatles song, The Long and Winding Road
You Left me Standing Here
One step, two step, three step, four
Every step Nymphadora Tonks took down this road was a step closer to finding the answer. Today she would speak to Florence Vaisey, who had been a student with him at Hogwarts.
There were days she didn't think that she would ever have her answers. How could she possibly get through everything?
She smiled sadly, already knowing what she had to do. It would simply take patience, a quality she sorely lacked. But for him…
The Final Battle had changed so many lives, especially hers. The man she had planned to marry was killed. And the man that she thought despised her told Tonks that he loved her in his last breath.
Severus Snape's words and the way he looked at her then, like she was an angel, haunted Tonks' dreams. After that, she wanted to learn everything she could about him, so that it might offer some clue to why or how those feelings started. She was convinced it was the only way that he would leave her in peace.
At first she researched. Every free moment after the war was spent in the Ministry library, where she looked through books and newspapers, any periodical that mentioned his name.
And so she learned that he had received eleven O.W.L.s at Hogwarts. He was in the Healer training program at St. Mungo's until he accepted the position of teaching Potions at Hogwarts. And he was the youngest Potions Master in a century.
But those were dry facts. Facts that Tonks didn't care all that much about. What she wanted to know were the small details that truly defined a man. So once she had memorised every fact that she could, Tonks set out to talk to the witches and wizards who actually knew him.
Her weekends were spent going from doorstep to doorstep, speaking to anyone who knew him, anyone who was still willing to talk of him. It wasn't long before she discovered that people - real, live, breathing people - offered more than books ever could.
According to Minerva McGonagall, Severus was an unregistered Animagus, but nevere shared what his animal form was. Ponoma Sprout told her that Severus had a small plot of earth in one of the Greenhouses and would raise vegetables when he had free time. Filius Flitwick shared that they had played bridge once a month along with Poppy Pomfrey and Rolanda Hooch.
Aurora Sinistra - a former lover - was a treasure chest of knowledge. From her, Tonks learned that he would tug softly with his teeth on Sinistra's lower lip when they kissed and that his touch was gentle but demanding all at the same time.
Tonks' own memories of the man were few. She remembered the way he looked at her while she sat in his Potions class. That looked reserved for trouble makers, which she certainly had been then. Tonks remembered how he asked if she wanted to join him for a drink after an Order meeting one night, which she turned down at once, seeing that she was desperate to have Remus notice her at the time. And then one of her last memories of him, the flash of anger on his face when he saw the change in her Patronus.
But there was still so much more to learn.
How did he mange to walk that tightrope for so long? Was he ever scared? Was he ever happy? Did he ever expect anything other than death as thanks for his loyalty?
Someday, Tonks would have her answers. And on that day, when she stopped traveling the dusty roads, she prayed that the ghost of Severus Snape who haunted her dreams would finally have a chance for peace.