Labyrinth

Chapter 6

The redheaded girl's giggles rang out just as she rounded the corner. Hermione looked up to see Severus staring at the corner she had turned, stunned. Hermione realised she was still pressed against his torso.

Stepping away, she made a show of brushing herself off before looking at him expectantly. "Ready to continue?"

He ignored her at first, his eyes still on the corner.

"Severus?"

With a shake of his head, he finally returned his attention to her.

"Sorry, that was..." He stopped. "I'm not sure."

She had a suspicion of the redheaded girl, but she couldn't tell if Severus remembered her or not.

"Come on, I think we need to follow her." Her back now to him, she followed the corner where the girl had disappeared only to notice he hadn't moved.

"Severus?" It was becoming easier to say his name now.

He didn't speak, so she walked back to him for the second time, reached for his hand and pulled him along.

He didn't fight it, falling in stride with her measured steps.

As they rounded the corner, the small girl peeked out from another turn a few feet ahead. They grew closer, and she ducked from view, a murmur of laughter disappearing with her.

Once they stood where she had disappeared, they saw a small alcove with a white ball of light similar to the first memory. Turning to Severus, her hand still tugging lightly on his, she measured his features.

He was no longer damp from sweat and blood as he was when she first approached him but dried blood still cracked along his neck and robes. She wondered if he even knew he had been hurt. She assumed he hadn't based on the memories he was missing of her. His eyes were transfixed on the ball of light before him, and she couldn't pull a single emotion from the way his dark eyes reflected it.

"Are you ready?" she asked tentatively.

He didn't answer but instead nodded, his right hand still in hers, but his left reached for the light. She mirrored his movement and they were pulled into the memory.

This time, they were outside. The grass was green, and the skies were cloudy, but thankfully there was no rain.

She saw a young Severus, aged a few years since the last memory. He looked around nine or ten. His clothes were too big on him, and his hair was slightly unkempt. He was seated on the bank of a small river under the shade of a tree. They watched him as he reached over to a large limb beneath the tree, snapped a twig off, and began waving it. Hermione found it quite endearing when the boy started muttering spells with his makeshift 'wand'.

"Expelliarmus! Stupefy! Reparo," all uttered with the same boyish glee, but nothing happened in response. He sighed, dropping the twig into his lap and leaned back to face the sky above him.

They watched him like this for a few minutes when steps on leaves crunched from behind them all.

Hermione glanced around and saw the redheaded girl approaching. The young Severus whipped around in caution at the first sign he wasn't alone, but her Severus just stood facing his younger counterpart.

"Lily, I thought—," he began in a soft voice.

The girl crossed her arms, "I'm still cross with you because Tuney is angry with me. But I know you didn't mean it, and you said we couldn't control our magic yet..."

He avidly nodded, "It was an accident, I swear. I can't do magic even when I want to." He held his mock wand as if to support this claim. The girl snickered and seated herself next to him, lying on her back to watch the sky.

After the boy looked at her with such admiration in his eyes, he did the same. "I thought you'd never speak to me again," he admitted.

"I'm not that mean, Severus. But if you ever hurt anyone on purpose, that's different."

The boy scoffed, "I wouldn't ever do that. I'm not like my father."

Lily reached for his hand, "No, you're not."

The two looked on at the children peacefully lying there in the grass before they were swept out of the memory.

They re-entered the maze a moment later, and Severus had slid to the ground, his face in his hands. She wasn't sure if this meant he remembered things or was recalling a particular incident that led up to the memory they had just seen. Either way, she let herself fall against the hedge and pulled in next to him on the ground.

"At the end of this maze, you'll be able to move on, Severus. I don't think it's meant to be easy," she said, unsure if it would help.

He didn't respond, so she offered a hand on his knee in comfort as he hung his head.

She wasn't sure what she could say that would provide him any sort of support because she could only guess what the man was experiencing.

"When I found out about Hogwarts and Professor McGonagall explained how to get to Diagon Alley, I consumed myself with knowledge of the school. My favourite book was, and honestly still is, Hogwarts: A History," she began, pausing for a moment. He didn't respond, so she continued on.

"On the train my first year, I sat in a compartment with a pureblood boy who was very kind to me. He shared about how he didn't think he was magic enough to go to Hogwarts. I confided in him that I felt the same since I came from a muggle home. He reassured me that I already knew more than most... That was what kept me going those first weeks at Hogwarts. But I wasn't lucky like Lily to have someone like you before I entered the doors. I had to help myself."

Finally, he looked at her. "She would have been better off without knowing me."

"Why do you think that, Severus?"

His eyes searched hers, confusion crossing his face. "I fear I may have become someone like my father, despite what she said in the memory. I can't place my finger on why I think this; I can't remember. It just seems correct."

Hermione looked away now. She wanted to reassure him but feared she may give too much away in the process. "You weren't like your father, Severus. I can promise you that. You are a good man."

She briefly felt his fingers brush hers; she assumed it was his way of thanking her.