An Uncomfortable Situation

{one-shot}

There were an innumerable amount of downsides that came with being headmaster. Severus could not count high enough to number them. To start, there was the fact that the entire population of Britain hated him except for the odd few, which wasn't helped by his stunt before in the role. During that dreaded time, he had barely a moment to breathe, worrying over Potter like a mother hen. A child sent to slaughter, a child whose mother he'd loved.

Those that did like him were attached to this idea. Why him being capable of love made any difference in his morality was not up to him. Regardless, the situation stood that the majority did not appreciate his fulfilling Dumbledore's wishes. Would they have rather had him suffer a horrible death? To let the arguably gray old man slowly turn inside out? He'd done what Albus had wanted, let them not forgive him.

Severus wouldn't forgive himself, either, but they never thought of that.

He didn't even want people to like him, sure it might fill in a little of his free time if he had friends, but what would people liking him really afford? Few things popped into his mind, and Severus put himself back on task.

The good things about being Headmaster were few and far between, but the plethora of free time he had meant he'd taken to wandering the Forbidden Forest... in the daytime. The centaurs had fled after the war, claiming the land was filled with bloodshed and no longer habitable. Most of Aragog's kind had also dispersed, on to haunt another realm, and Severus was thankful for that. He might be the once-called dungeon bat, but that didn't mean he had to like spiders, especially not ones of such a large and aggressive variety. So, the most scary thing one might find here would be a vampire or werewolf, but that was where daylight came in.

It was the summer after everyone's first year back at Hogwarts. The air was thick, and Severus was reminded of the advice his mother had given him. They had little ventilation in their home, but even with the windows open, he was still hot. She told him to take his shoes off upon complaint. This meant most summers after he ran around barefoot, the chill of stone or grass in the shade almost akin to jumping into the local pond.

His shoes now were back by the entrance of the forest, along with his socks.

It was mostly moss and dirt on the forest floor, plus the myriad of leaves. It didn't bother him much, especially when he'd spent his time as a child with bare feet on the gravel. With the heat at bay, the sound of fresh leaves in the heavy breeze, and peace, Severus enjoyed his one pleasure of being Headmaster.

As all things went with him, he was interrupted by the sharp pain in his heel. Even the rocks and gravel weren't this sharp. Severus took out his wand and attempted to accio the object, but groaned when it didn't come to him.

If he'd been half-less annoyed than he was, he might not have bent down to investigate what would cause such a pain. It could be a million things, his odds of finding anything interesting were slim, he'd be better off just walking on.

At first it seemed like he had imagined it, but upon a closer inspection, Severus saw the black glint of polished stone and gazed upon a myth for the second time in his life.

The Resurrection Stone had been on Albus' person for years, but he hadn't known until he witnessed the changes Dumbledore had made to his will. Sticking the little stone in the snitch was a fantastic idea. At least the old coot thought so, but Severus had had more than plenty of his foresight at that point.

Standing up with the thing in his palm, shocked it hadn't been trampled into the ground, or just plain old swallowed up by dirt, he brushed it off.

Did he dare turn it three times? No, he argued immediately, knowing the tales of the three brothers. Who would he even summon, or was that not how it worked?