The Year of the Revolution II. The Discovery of Friendship

17. Belonging

When Sev went down to the Common Room the next day, Beamy was already waiting for him like always, but this time he was very excited. "Snape, you were right, it's sunny!"

"Yeah..."

"Did you know how to predict the weather like this before?"

"Yes, but with a few hours notice, and the truth is that by how it was yesterday I wouldn't have been right, I don't know how I did it."

Beamy was smiling mysteriously at him. 'He reminds me of myself.'

"What amuses you?" Sev asked.

"That I do know how you did it."

"Well, tell me."

"Nature's Magic, Snape. The Druids, the ritual you did yesterday."

Sev's mouth dropped open like a fool. 'The magic of the Forest... Wow! How many more things can I do?' Now he too was very excited. 'And maybe I never would have noticed if it wasn't for him.'

"Beamy, I take back that you shouldn't have been a Slytherin, I must admit that you surpass me in sagacity."

The boy smiled satisfied. "I already thought about it when you told me in the Library and when the drawings turned out so well, but I didn't want to tell you anything until I verified it so as not to disappoint you."

"Thank you, Beamy," Sev sat next to him on the couch. "I'm really regretting not having spent more time with you. Forgive me please, I'm quite lonely and asocial."

Beamy looked at him seriously and sympathetically. "Don't worry, I already knew, and it's very normal for you to be like that with everything that happens to you at school."

'Not only is he cunning, intelligent and a good person, but he is also very mature for his age.' Sev looked at him sadly.

"Come on, Snape, don't be sad, today we are going to spend the whole day together."

'I'm about to cry, I need a hug.'

Beamy gave it to him and Sev reciprocated. 'Intuitive and caring, he has read my mind without a wand. Merlin, how I love him, how much I am going to miss him...'

"Come on, let's go, we're late for breakfast," Beamy said.

"Okay..."

They had breakfast, stop by the kitchens for food and went out to the Forest. 'A beautiful day for a walk, not as splendid as the first one because the sun is clouded at times, but it is pleasant. We will visit the places where conifers predominate, as I was only looking for fir trees and cypresses I did not notice the others. And if at the end of the day we haven't found it, I'll take him to the fir tree so he can at least try the ritual, maybe it'll serve for him too since we're in the right days.'

They passed through several remote areas, far beyond the chestnut trees' clearing, but Sev knew the Forest inside out and noticed another new ability. 'I navigate perfectly without hesitation, even in places I have only been through once.'

Beamy was delighted, and now that Sev had finally opened up, he kept asking him questions, he made him tell him almost his entire life. He, of course, avoided telling him about the lurid details, his father's abuse, that Remus almost killed him and that he had come to think of becoming a Death Eater, and he did not tell him that he was still with Lily, but he told him everything else.

This time the boy listened to him without judging him, not embarrassing him. 'I can tell he wants to get to know me well.' Sev barely asked him, neither did he want to put him in the trouble of having to lie to protect his friends or remember his most likely harsh childhood.