Dark Magic

Damaged

A month had passed since the events that unfolded at The Black Lake on the grounds of Hogwarts, and the year was anew. The halls remained as happy as ever before, but normality was now of a foreign nature to Emerald Potter. 

To Madam Pomfrey and the rest of the school staff's sheer shock and disbelief, she had survived the ordeal. She had survived the countless, sleepless nights in the school hospital. And she was able to recover from her hypothermia; it was not long, however, until the insomnia kicked in.

She had heard the Basilisk as it stalked the halls at night, but no more attacks had taken place. And the Potter girl had refused to return to the Slytherin common room due to it being situated below the depths of the Black Lake. What little relationships she had built with the other students had slowly disappeared to nothing. But her brother and his best friend, who had witnessed the accident, came to visit her everyday-sometimes twice.

The only other person who visited regularly was a Professor Snape. Daily, he would visit the young redhead who once reminded him so much of the only woman he could ever truly love. But the certain glimmer in her eyes she once possessed of her mother's, had disappeared entirely; and she no longer spoke, due to the only reasonable explanation being that of shock.

Snape wanted to try to bring that glimmer back to her eyes. Regardless of her past, she remained, in his eyes, perfect. A perfection he, once again, could only compare to Lily Evans'. She still remained Lily Evans in his thoughts, and she always would. He would not lose her daughter to something so easily avoidable. She had been through tougher experiences that this. She would pull through, he often reminded himself. He had now saved her life twice, after all.

Yes, he had been there that snowy day. He had watched from afar, as the trio played in the snow, finding himself taken back to happier times. His first Christmas at Hogwarts was his favourite, for he had spent the entirety of it with Lily...In the snow. And Emerald Potter could have been Lily's doppelganger.

Severus Snape watched as the ice to the Black Lake cracked and swallowed the young, Potter girl whole. He had been the one to pull the girl from the lake, using the 'accio' spell to summon the necklace he had gifted to her, anonymously, as a birthday present. And he had been the one to expel the water from her lungs, saving her life.

But she passed out, as quickly as she had came to, her brother telling her most of the story through his numerous hospital visits. The Potions Professor had saved her life, as he had on the night she was born. And as he wrapped her in his black cloak and carried her towards the hospital wing, Severus Snape had decided that she would not be put at such risk ever again.

***

I grimaced as my eyes glared out onto the black lake. Ash stood by my feet, ready to pounce at any creature that would dare emit from the dark depths that lied ahead. I had wandered, blacking in and out, from the hospital in my pyjamas and bare feet. The air was cold, but since my accident I found I did not feel the cold much. I was almost numb to it.

I had spent the night awake, as always, my newly diagnosed insomnia getting the better of me once more. But that night on the 1st February as the clock struck midnight, I finally told myself 'enough'. I would talk in the new day and try to resume a new normality, as the rest of the school had so easily managed to do. I would resume my classes as normal with my Professors. And I would no longer fear The Black Lake. 

I took a few steps closer to the water that crept up the pebbly shore, closing my eyes as I allowed the cold water to touch my feet. My teeth ground together, my fists clenched as my entire body seized. Just think of it as a cold bath, I tried to reason with myself. I took another step, allowing the water to reach my ankles. Although I wasn't cold, I started to tremble, hugging myself tightly.

You don't have to do this. 

But I do. I can't be afraid anymore. 

Another step.

Tomorrow.

No, now.

One more step.

It's not too late. You can turn around and go back.

It is too late.

I opened my eyes to the cold, murky water my entire body was now submerged beneath, engulfed in the cold, dark abyss that comprised the Black Lake. I glanced up, watching as my air bubbles floated to the surface.

I stopped shaking, moving my arms to keep myself from floating to the top. It was silent beneath the water, almost peaceful. I found myself unafraid of whatever creatures may lurk further into the lake. I could not see far enough ahead to care.

My surprising peace, however, was shortly outlived as a burst of energy appeared in the water behind me, a pair of arms wrapping around my own as they dragged me back to the surface.

The sound of my body being dragged against the rough, stony shore disrupted my thoughts once more, as the figure dragged me, exasperatedly, as far away as they could from the lake, before allowing me to fall limp on the grass.

I glanced around confusedly, as an angered Professor with long, black hair and eyes the colour of coal grunted angrily, removing their cloak and incanting a spell that dried us both instantaneously.

"What On Earth Do You Think You Are Doing!?" He growled, trying to contain his sheer anger at my actions.

I grew distracted, watching as the sun began to rise over The Black Lake. The fear was still present, there was no doubt about that. But it had become, somewhat, manageable. For in those moments I found myself in its icy depths once more, I was the one in control. 

"Miss Potter!?' I gasped, my eyes meeting Snape' s increasingly infuriated ones, once again. 

"I'm sorry." He had to take a double glance, his shock as evident as my own as his black locks lashed against his cheek in disbelief. "You-...you're what?" 

I sighed, wrapping my arms around him tighter than anyone I had ever embraced in my life. Tears began to spill irrevocable, as I found myself completely overwhelmed with emotions.

"I'm sorry." I sobbed as his body tensed momentarily. But his actions surprised me more than my sudden ability to speak after an entire month, as he relaxed and accepted my embrace, wrapping his arms around my shoulders comfortingly. 

I sighed in his arms, relieved at his acceptance as I began to listen to his heartbeat, calmer and more human than I ever could have expected.

Severus Snape was warm. He was the light that I needed, in that moment, to keep me tethered to the earth. And I found myself almost contemplating what my life would be like without him in it. The only words I could deem fathomable would be empty. Lost. Unbearable.