Severed Ties || Severus Snape

11. What Do You Mean, I Should've Been In Slytherin?

It was four-thirty and Emma's final class of the day was finally over. Her Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher wouldn't let them go until the lecture was done, which took him a whole fifteen minutes over time.

Severus is probably waiting for me, she thought as she rushed through the second-floor hallways. They'd agreed to meet after classes for training, in the unused second-floor classroom where no one ever bothered them. The one that even Lily didn't know about.

With a spring in her step she raced through the corridors. When she finally arrived, he was already there, sitting in the windowsill.

"Hey, Severus!" she said, facing away to close the door. When she turned back, he hadn't moved a muscle.

"Go away."

The words wiped the smile from her face. "What? No... What's wrong?"

All of a sudden, he jumped down from the windowsill, pulled out his wand and screamed, "I said, get out!"

Emma jumped back, sticking her hands up in a reflex. With her eyes wide, she took him in. He'd been crying, was the first thing she noticed. His eyes were red-rimmed and there were wet stains on his sleeves, which she could make out even on his black robes. The wand, still aimed straight at her, trembled in his grip.

"Severus, what happened?"

"I don't want you here!" he roared. "Leave me alone!"

She didn't know what to do. Her feet refused to move. She wanted to obey, but at the same time she knew she couldn't just leave him here. Not like this.

In the end, her feet seemed to make the decision for her. They shuffled forward until his wand could touch her nose. When he still didn't move, she brushed the wand aside and slipped her arms around his back, laying her chin on his shoulder.

He stiffened for a moment, but then his hand lowered and his body went almost limp in her arms. As he buried his face in her shoulder, the tears came and soon enough the sobs racked through him.

"It's okay," she muttered, rubbing her hand over his back, up and down, up and down. "It's alright."

Her heart bled for her best friend as he cried his eyes out. She'd never seen him sob like this before and it terrified her. Up and down her hand went, up and down.

He didn't let go of her when he finally found his voice. "She turned me down, Em. I finally told her how I feel and she turned me down. She doesn't want to be with me."

The blood in her veins ran cold. Oh, no. Up and down. Up and down.

"I thought we were friends," he sobbed. "I thought she liked me. Why doesn't she want to be with me?"

"I don't know, Severus," she answered honestly as the tears filled her eyes. "I don't know."

Up and down. Up and down.

"What am I going to do?"

"It's up to you." Up and down. "Do you want to keep trying and possibly get hurt a lot, or do you want to move on and perhaps find someone else?"

Up –

Her hand froze, along with the air in her lungs. She waited with bated breath as he mulled over her words.

"I love her, Em," he muttered eventually. "I'll always keep trying. Always."

It was a promise. A genuine, heartfelt promise.