The other Severus

His hand with the pergament skin stroked above the slightly yellow page of the old book which was covered in dust. He felt a tear crawling over his cheek and down his long crooked nose. It had been such a long time since he last read this words and it felt as if they were a part of him. He sighed. Of course he wasn't him, but he was a part of him. 'Always.', he whispered, bringing his sad thoughts to an end. He smiled a sad smile, but then a move in the shadows next to his rocking chair made him jump. He looked around confused. He was old by now and his eyes weren't able to look through the dark properly anymore. 'Will you eat them all, Alan?', a voice asked suddenly and he was near to a heart attack. He looked to the empty arm chair on his left, but it wasn't empty anymore. A man was sitting there as if they were sitting together like this all the time. It was a man who looked a little like Alan himself. Like a reflection in a dirty mirror showed a few similarities. Although he never met this man before, he was very familiar.

He had long greasy black hair which fell into his forehead and black cold eyes in his pale skinned face. The man was skinny and wore a long cloak in black. Like the one Alan wore for ten years. 'Who... who are you?', he asked scared even if he knew this man perfectly well. 'As you just said so maudlin in your head... I'm a apart of you.' 'Severus?', Alan questoned with a breaking voice. 'Severus Snape?' Severus nodded. 'So, can I have one of your biscuits?' Alan just stared at him. 'Why... how... What do you do here?! Right now?' 'I've never left. I was with you. Always, if you want me to say that.', Severus answered with a smile. Alan gasped. 'I... I portrayed you for ten years... and you are the original potions master?' Severus nodded again. 'I'm Severus Snape.', he responded. Alan frowned. 'But don't you belong to Joanne? Aren't you... how can I put that?... a product of her fantasy or something?', Alan wanted to know. He still couldn't believe this was happening. 'Yes I am.', Severus admitted. 'But I am also stuck in your head. I'm here because you are the other Severus as I like to call you. You're the face presenting mine and I wanted to meet you all my life.' 'But... you aren't a human being? Are you real?' Alan still tried to explain this whole situation in a logical way, but Severus only rolled his eyes even if he smiled a little. 'You don't get it, do you? By the way, I'm starving. I'll just eat, okay?' He took a cookie and Alan was shocked when he saw Severus actually was able to hold it in his hand, so he wasn't a ghost or an illusion. 'You wanted to meet me?', Alan dared to ask after a moment of silence in which Severus just chewed. 'Oh, not just that. You wanted to meet me, too. We are closer together than you can imagine. I waited for you to be ready for this. So let us say we wanted to meet each other.' Alan was as informed as he had been before Severus' reply. 'Anyway, I thought, a conversation between the man who portrayed Severus and the one who truly is Severus could be interesting. Especially because we have so much in common. Except your friendly open hearted features, may I say.' 'We have much in common?', Alan repeated surprised. 'If you ignore the obvious differencies... yes, we have.' 'May I tell you something then?', Alan questioned. 'Sure you can. But in fact you are me and I am you so probably I'll already know.', Severus answered with a grin. 'I never portrayed you as the bad guy.' Alan smiled, but Severus seemed puzzled. 'What do you mean?', he wanted to know and Alan felt a little better, because right now it was Severus' turn to ask a question. 'I never thought about you as the villain. You are no fluffy friendly person, of course, and a little mean at first sight, but since I read the first book.... I thought of you as loving and also caring. Protective. I never wanted to believe that you protected Harry just because you felt forced to it.' 'I was forced!', Severus interrupted with with anger. 'Potter... he's like... he is...'  '...A part of Lily.', Alan said to end Severus' sentence. 'And I bet in a way you love him even if you'd never admit it.' Severus sighed and leaned back in his arm chair. 'I thought I'd possibly like you.', he said and both men laughed. 'May I tell you something now?', Severus questioned after a while. Alan grinned. 'Maybe I already know.' Severus almost smiled, too. He is friendly in a way, Alan thought. Pleasure, he is to me. 'I'm thankful for how you acted out my character. Sometimes I felt like I was watching myself.' Alan felt another tear. This time because of happiness though. 'I'm with Harry.', he whispered. 'You are one of the bravest men I've ever known. And one of the best.' Severus smiled a bright true smile and the black tunnels his eyes had been, warmed up for the first time. 'So are you.', he muttered back. Severus reached for Alan's hand. 'Let me take you with me now. Talking to you weren't the only reason I came, to be honest.' Severus hand felt warm and he helped Alan to get on his feet. 'Where are we going?', he asked excited. 'To the place where magic never ends, but lasts forever and always.', Severus answered.