Elixir Of Life // Severus Snape

°•chapter one•°

Divider one

"Now, Severus, you shall try not to get too far ahead of yourself." The old man managed to get out as best as he could without sounding too judgmental, momentarily interfering the serene stillness of his rather ancient study.

The large fire-smitten phoenix bird resting somewhere at the back of the room screeched loudly, followed by the rustling of its feathers.

Annoyance laced through the younger man's words as he, out of frustration, slammed his fisted hands over the fine desk cut out from ebony.

"Whatever that's supposed to mean, Dumbledore?"

Surely, Severus had his fair share of incidents where he had been rather sceptical about Dumbledore's vague ideas and his rather jarring solicitations, however, he had always tried his best to keep his slightly eccentric reservations to himself, considering the old man had indeed, pulled him out of the infernal region he had stumbled down upon, not too long ago.

And not to get the him wrong, he did appreciate all that the old man had done in his favour, however, he wholeheartedly believed that his current request had been far too ludicrous to be agreed on without a single thought or question.

"Severus, surely you wouldn't have forgotten the day you had begged of me to keep," Dumbledore stumbled on his words as he took a short moment to rephrase his thoughts, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Ahem, Lily safe, in this very study, now have you?"

"I don't see how that has any relevance here professor," Severus seethed out through his gritted teeth.

Had the room not already been warmed up by the little fire Dumbledore had going on in the far end, it definitely would've now.

The vein in Severus' forehead popped out as anger blazed through him like electricity bolts as his hands fisted by his sides, neatly cut nails diggings into his rough palms. Though subconsciously, he sinked further back into his mortifyingly exaggerated cape at the mention of his beloved.

Severus stood there pondering over how his early twenties had turned out to be. Sure, he had done many questionable things in his past and sure, over all these years, he hadn't come close to even, as much as, expect anyone to look past them in the slightest, not when his only love had suffered her life at his hands.

However, to say he hadn't tried all in his might to keep her safe? The heinous memory of that fateful night was itched onto his brain like a burned film reel. The devastating moment when he had stumbled past the lifeless body of James, silently wishing to see Lily alive and well. The dark lord had promised to spare her life and, in that moment, he had wished nothing else but that the dark lord had kept his promise.

Oh, how wrong he had been.

Immediately after the dark lord had been defeated, he saw Lily being hailed as the unspoken virago.

His mind flashed through the first few months that the wizarding world had been rid of its greatest threat yet, since Grindelwald and how there were campaigns, rallies and newspaper articles, all glorifying her murder as some sort of a sacrifice for the greater good.

How everyone resorted back to their everyday life joyfully as if his beloved had just been a silly little pawn in their bid of saving the world.

He remembered how pitiful he felt when in about a week or so, everything was back to normal and no one seemed to care enough to not step over those hideous pamphlets littered all over the side walk with her gentle face on it.

He remembered how he had spent most of the nights of that very week, collecting all those flyers and burying them in his back garden as some sort of souvenirs.