never until forever [s. black]

four

"katherine. can i talk to you for a second?" severus asks, making katherine look up and nod. she puts her stuff away and stands up, to follow him to a more secluded part of the common rooms.

"what's up?" she asks softly, making him shift nervously as he tries to find the right words to tell her what he needs to say. she can see the nervousness and puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "hey, what's wrong? sev, you can tell me anything you know? remember the promise we made each other?"

"yeah." he breaths out, feeling a little more relaxed at her words. they had become friends in their third year. of course they had known each other, but they didn't really pay attention to each other, until the day she had stood up for him against james and sirius. when they became friends, katherine had made him promise that no matter what, they'd be there for each other. "it's just. this is different. and maybe even worse."

"it's fine. tell me what's wrong." she says, making him take a deep breath.

"the dark lord is rising up and he's formed an army. all of them are slytherins. death eaters." severus says, making katherine's heart drop. she had heard about the death eaters, after all, her family were well known death eaters. especially her father. they opposed against muggle born wizards and witches, such as lily evans. they believed in the supremacy of pure blood families. "i've agreed to become one of them."

"severus. why? you're nothing like them. is this because of your father?" katherine asks softly, making him look down, feeling slightly ashamed. he had opened up to her about his home situation, that being that his muggle father was mentally abusive of his mother and that his parents fought a lot of time. his mother had been disowned by her family when she married the muggle.

"it doesn't matter why. you should join them, katherine. you will have to eventually, with your father. it's better now than later." he says, trying to convince her and she shakes her head in denial. she never agreed with death eaters' views and she strongly disagreed with the dark lord's views.

"you realise you're going against lily? she's a muggle born. i thought she was your friend? don't you like her?" she questions, her eyes wide in shock and severus could see the conflict in her eyes.

"not anymore. no. please, katherine. join us. regulus is joining too." he says and she takes a step back. severus' heart drops, seeing his best friend back away from you.

"you're like a little brother, sev. and i'd do anything for you, but this is the part where i draw the line. i can't. murdering innocent people, because of their blood status? something out of their control? no. no." katherine shakes her head and takes a few more steps back.

"does that mean you hate me?" he asks weakly, and she smiles softly at him. she takes in a deep breath and takes a few steps to him, before pulling him in a hug.

"no. never. but please, don't make me one of them. i'm disappointed that you joined them, but i can't hate you." she admits and he hugs her back, slightly relieved, but also mad at himself for having disappointed her. "i hope you don't do anything you'll regret, sev."