I'm Sorry
Title: I'm Sorry
Team Name: Death Eaters
Word Count: 3x100
Challenge: Single Candle
Rating: G?
Characters: Hermione & Severus
There's a single candle that burns in the window of the rundown house at the end of the street. Adults don't stop the children who whisper in fear of the dour man that haunts the place. They remember when the house was filled with light and laughter, then the shouting not heard for decades.
“Snape's gonna get you” becomes the new threat when children misbehave or won't go to bed; those same children take up dares to try to peek through the windows.
The only light is that single beckoning candle that never seemed to go out or melt down.
~*~
Weeks pass, and that candle still burns.
It is a humid summer's night when a neighbor hears a knocking, a tapping, upon that house's door. A woman, short and slightly rounded, beats upon the wood. Her face is hidden by a mass of bushy brown hair, but her fist pounds at the door. She's back.
Snape opens the door, looking more gaunt and haggard than any living person should. She gasps, her hands flying to her mouth at his grim appearance.
He falls to his knees and embraces her, and they hear her sobs in the quiet of the night.
~*~
“Sorry, so sorry-”
“I'll never-”
“Please forgive me-”
“How could I be so blind-”
“I was so stupid-”
Both voices are choked with emotion as the neighborhood listens. The night itself holds its breath, hoping for reconciliation.
“I'm sorry, my love. I shouldn't have chased you away, not over such fears.”
“I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have let you, I do know what you're like.”
Both Severus and Hermione pause, and after a whisper they disappear into the house.
That night, the single candle disappears. But the light returns, as does the laughter.