Love is Chaos Part 2 of A Light in the Dark (Severus Snape x OC)

Chapter 18: Summertime Sadness

It's been a while since I've updated. Life's been crazy but I hope to get the next few chapters out much faster. Enjoy. :) 

Severus sat quietly by the window in the Minister of Magic's office with Voldemort, watching as rain pattered gently against the glass.

Summer was normally a time of fun, of warmth, of play, of relaxation.

But not for Severus. He had always hated summer. It was too warm. The sun was too bright. He much preferred the cool breeze of autumn and the way the leaves fell, making walkways of red and gold, as if they were leading him to somewhere beautiful, an escape from reality.

But they never did.

Well, they did. But only once.

Severus thought back to the year before. Autumn was in full force, the trees shifting from seas of green to rivers of red, gold, and orange, creating a beautiful contrast to the bright blue sky littered with soft, wispy clouds.

"Where are you?" Severus called out, his boots making crunching sounds on the leaves as he walked into the forest. "Laura?"

"There you are!" Laura said, her smile contagious as she looked up at Severus.

Severus found himself smiling, feeling the joy Laura carried within herself. "You told me to meet you out here," he said softly. "Why did you want to meet here?"

"I thought an afternoon in the forest, away from prying eyes, was just what you needed," Laura told him, taking his hand. She led him to a small clearing, where a blanket and picnic basket lay waiting.

Severus and Laura spent the afternoon eating, laughing, and talking, ignoring the world around them.

They laid down after a while, watching the clouds pass by overhead.

Severus turned his head towards Laura, watching her eyes scan the sky, finding the shapes hiding in the clouds that floated along.

Laura sensed his eyes on her and she looked at him, that beautiful, bright smile on her face.

Seeing that smile—it was as close to heaven as Severus thought he would ever get.

"Severus," Voldemort said, snapping Severus from his thoughts. "Pay attention."

"Apologies, my lord," Severus murmured, turning his gaze towards the new minister, who was going over the new curriculum for Hogwarts.

It was a curriculum filled with blood purity, of bias, of cruelty. And to add fuel to the fire, Voldemort and the minister were placing death eaters in the school as teachers. Hogwarts was quickly becoming a prison for many, with Severus in charge.

Severus tried to focus on the conversation, but his mind was miles away, thinking of the damage Voldemort would be doing to the school.

Severus sat quietly throughout the meeting, barely uttering a word, knowing he had to pretend to be onboard with it.

No matter how much he hated it.

He stared off into space, his mind adrift as Voldemort's voice began to muffle and distort in his mind.

An overwhelming feeling began overtaking his body, leaving a pit in Severus's stomach.

A feeling of doubt, of agony, of fear.

A feeling of whether he was good enough.

Whether he was just... good.

It felt as if those feelings were amplifying rapidly...