#oftriwizards

"Ginny I-" What was he supposed to say to that? He had no idea where any of this was coming from, and the urge to get angry was bubbling under the surface.... but so was the need to apologize. "I'm sorry I- I'm trying, okay?"

She practically inhales the words as he murmurs them into her mouth between kisses against a shelf in the stockroom of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. His fingers are buried so deep in her curls she knows her hairs going to be a lost cause and later she'll be grateful it's the end of the day and they don't have to walk back out to a shop full of patrons. The shelf rattles precariously behind her, bum knocking over a few of the overstock and experimental items.

Harry wouldn't lie- he had been a million miles away, the young wizard wasn't even really sure what exactly he'd been thinking about, but he had been hyper focused on it. It probably was a bad thing- that he wasn't focused on Daphne.

Daphne, who became the center of his attention as he felt something press against his lip, only for him to realize that Daphne had kissed him. Caught off guard he gently reached up and cupped her cheek- leaning into the action for the moment.

The castle felt emptier now.

Even with students bustling between lessons, the echo of laughter in the Great Hall, the rustle of parchment and whispered incantations in the air - it all seemed distant. As if Hogwarts had been hollowed out, its marrow scooped clean by war, leaving only a vast, yawning shell of what had once been.

And there he was, just as hollow - Snape moved through its corridors like a ghost, his robes whispering against stone as he walked. He did not belong here. Not anymore. Perhaps he never had.

His black robes trailed behind him, the movement slower than it once was, heavier, like a man carrying something unseen. His hair, streaked with strands of grey, was mostly gathered at the nape of his neck, though a few stubborn strands had fallen loose. His collar, as always, was high - buttoned up to the throat, shielding the pale, jagged remnants of Nagini's fangs.

He was nearly at the staff wing when he heard it.

Professor Snape!

He closed his eyes for half a second.

Of course.

With a slow exhale through his nose, he turned.

Hermione Granger - Professor Granger, now, fittingly - was striding towards him, books clutched to her chest, her robes slightly askew, as if she'd just left a particularly engaging (or frustrating) lesson. Her hair was still wild, though it had been wrangled into something tamer, and there was a look in her eyes that set his teeth on edge.

She's going to speak to me.

He considered walking away before she could, but she was already too close.

"Professor Granger." he drawled instead, as if her presence were a mild inconvenience rather than an inevitability. Ever adept at keeping everyone at a sensible distance, especially after the events of the war and the painful revelation of his exploits and true nature. He had Potter to thank for that particularly embarrassing detail, and Fate had not seen it fit to grant him the solace of death.

You left these in the staffroom, she said, holding out a stack of parchment.

Ah. His lesson plans. How obliging. Not that he needed them, his mind was still sharp enough to retain information.

"Ever the wise one." Harry said affectionately before the facade drops, and for the first time in a long time his expression just shows how broken he is. How... tired he is. "If this is what it means to be human I don't want to be human anymore. I'm so... I'm so tired."

“I fought in a war.” Harry said bluntly, I died- the words were left unspoken; that wasn’t public knowledge and he hadn’t fought for so long to keep that knowledge a secret. Running his hand through his messy black hair Harry pulled out a seat for her before sitting down, “It’s been too long. I didn’t know you were in Britain.”

Harry rolled his eyes, looking at Ginny. “I don’t give a damn about outshining anyone, I’ve had enough of that for a life time thanks.” But admittedly the youngest Weasley was helping him not worry about the war, about the past.

Not that he was getting any better; or at least it felt like that. “But you’re not bad on a broom. I’m still the youngest seeker in a century though.”

Giving her a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes the young wizard shrugged, wondering if maybe that would be enough to push past the awkwardness of him bristling at her words.

❛  i never realized how much i needed you until you weren't there.  ❜ // @oftriwizards (daphne) to astoria !!