Harry Potter Oneshots and Headcanons

Reflection

Severus stared into the striking green eyes before him and returned the warm smile the girl gave. Her translucent skin was lightly freckled and appeared ghostly pale because of the fiery red hair that cascaded around her angular face in soft, shiny waves.

Severus looked upon her with pure adoration. He had a light in his eyes that was rarely seen and a pounding heart, beating out a frantic rhythm in his chest. Dizziness was taking over but he could not find it in himself to care. He was with her; and that's all that mattered right now.

The redhead looked at him through thick dark lashes. She was so close and he could see every imperfection on her face, but hardly noticed. To him they weren't imperfections because, to him, she was perfect.

He raised his arm and then hesitated, recoiling slightly. He wanted to do this properly. To kiss her in a way that would show his love. A kiss that would convey it and speak the words he longed so desperately to say but could not seem to find, even in the deepest parts of himself. His heart hammered harder in his chest as he took a deep breath.

"Severus?" She whispered. When she spoke his name, it was as if a flurry of icy wind swept by and left the words beside his eagerly awaiting ears. His heart skipped as he closed his eyes.

"Lily," he breathed quietly, in return. Gently, he lifted his hand, trying to touch the side of her porcelain face. The beautiful face, that could have been carved from perfect white marble. He reached out again, determined to find the courage, his hand outstretched and trying to cup it in his hands...

It was cold. Ice cold.

... and hard.

Snape felt his heart sink and everything shattered. It was as if a hundred pieces of glass disintegrated into a thousand grains of sand and he was forced to watch as it slipped through his fingers. He hadn't touched the warm skin of the single thing he had ever loved. It was not her soft hair that tangled itself around his fingers as he leant forward to kiss her. It was not her brilliant green eyes that he had felt pierce him.

He had felt glass.

Snape shouted, yelled in anguish as loud as he could when he saw it. Dazed, his mind racing, he searched for her. Lily was gone. But how? She had been right there, right there! Running his hands frantically over the cold glass, he told himself she couldn't have disappea-

Oh.

Suddenly, he came to his senses and saw it staring him in the face. The glass, his hand was pressed against, was the mirror.

The Mirror of Erised.

A strangled sob escaped him and he awoke with a start. The dream plagued his mind as he turned, colouring it black as he realised it was no different from the harsh reality. In The Room of Requirement, he was slumped on the floor, against the glass. Severus turned and pounded his fists against it, rage filling and corrupting his heart.

Why him? ... Why Lily? He thought as he looked into the Mirror. Cold wild eyes glared back at him and sallow skin, haunted with shadows, was reflected. Fury burnt in his chest but then the reflection rippled and changed. Before him, in the frosted glass, he saw her again. The ghostly red headed girl that haunted his dreams but he still couldn't keep away from. Didn't want to keep away from.

He looked at her and the fury and resentment he felt eating him away subsided and was replaced with the pure adoration and a deep cutting sorrow. Just as he had watched her in life, he watched her now that she was dead. Even welcoming the familiar ache in his chest because at least, in a way, she was still there. Still with him and making him feel something. He watched her because he simply could not keep away. He couldn't bare the thought of not seeing her eyes again. He still loved her. Even now, after all this time, just as he had promised. Always.

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