Shadows || A Severus Snape Fanfiction

Chapter 41 - Holiday Hangovers Pt 2

A/N: ^^ i fuckin spat out my coffee 💀💀

*

Asha's heart seemed to judder to a stop.

This was a piece of Severus. A piece of him she'd never come even remotely close to. She'd already labelled him as someone with uncommon depth and substance, yet she was suddenly realising she'd barely scratched the surface. How much else was there to this man?

There wasn't time. He was leaving.

"Severus, wait," she lunged forward and grabbed his arm, unknowingly pressing her palm into his Dark Mark. He pulled away but she caught his hand. "I'm..." sorry. She couldn't say it. "Don't go," she said instead. Her tone made it unclear whether this was meant as a grim plea or an outright demand.

Severus surprised himself by stopping. At first, it was her voice that held him to the spot. The force of it. Then he registered the warmth of her hand on his and something hard and brittle in his stomach seemed to melt away.

Despite his overwhelming desire to storm back to his chambers and never speak to her again, his gaze ran from the hand that grasped his, up her arm and finally landed on her eyes. They were swirling and fierce and strangely pleading. He let out a slow, silent breath.

Asha watched the fire in Severus' eyes cloud over until only a smoulder was visible. She released his hand.

"I won't ask questions," she promised, her voice sounded strange in her ears. "We don't have to talk. You don't even have to look at me. Just... stay."

For many tense seconds, they were both still as stone, hardly daring to breathe. Then, with the slow, forceful movement Asha had come to always expect from him, Severus straightened his cuff and walked to the balcony railing. He stood there stiffly, hands clasped behind his back, his gaze burning into the horizon, but Asha could tell he wasn't seeing any mountains. He was elsewhere, buried in his past - whatever that was - and it was she who had dragged him there.

Asha leaned her head back against a cold stone column and gave a silent, pained exhale. The past few minutes had opened up a black, bottomless wormhole inside of her.

She and Severus stood, separated and silent for a long while, trying to tolerate the intolerable. But that's exactly what it was: intolerable. Asha's mind clawed desperately for a way out. An escape.

She cleared her throat. Severus graced her with a grim sideways glance. Asha had never seen his expression so dark. It was enough to convince her that Severus was dealing with a black, bottomless wormhole of his own right now.

"Drink?" was all she said. Her tone was leaden.

They watched each other for a moment.

"It's three o'clock in the afternoon," said Severus. It wasn't really an objection, more of a statement.

Asha's expression didn't waver. Severus returned his gaze to the horizon and shot an icy stare at the sun, which was still obnoxiously high in the sky. Without turning back, he gave a curt nod, swept his cloak aside and made for the door.

Asha took that as a 'yes'.

*

The castle was empty to the extent that Asha and Severus didn't pass a single soul on the way down to the dungeons. The journey to Severus' office was very familiar to Asha now, but when she made to enter through the dark, carved door, Severus made a dismissive noise and continued to walk down the passageway. Asha followed.

Soon after, they came to a stop in front of a blank section of wall. Asha immediately spotted a tiny snake engraved on one of the bricks, presumably marking some kind of secret entrance.