"Light of Mine" (Severus Snape/OC) MA
Liked the Dawn & McG dynamic!
Awww thank you @Naaga!
I wanted to build up their trust in friendship throughout the story. Minerva was the one who requested Dawn to take the DADA position, and they've been trying to find solutions to aid in a struggling House after the War.
Word count: 928
If you are following Light of Mine, you may recall the scene alluded to below, where Severus shows Dawn his Dark Mark. One of my favorite scenes in the story to write, and one of the first scenes to ever be written for this sequel.
The first time you saw his Dark Mark, it felt like your mind had drifted elsewhere and iced over to succumb to the image before you.
It was surreal to see such a distinctive symbol etched into the skin of your friend, forever burned as a reminder of what he fought against. The only other times you had seen it, was on the blazed skin of the Dark Wizards you captured with great pleasure; savage servants of Voldemort, and those who so blindly followed in that path into a false salvation.
But to see it again, faded yet still haunting, was indescribable. Especially worn on a man who had lived those horrors, and was one of them - for a time.
After months of trying to get Severus to open up to you, on one struggled night, he faltered and gave in. At this point, he knew he could trust you because you had not let him down and stayed true to your word that you would always be there for him, despite him not believing it at first. But your kindness was never a ruse, as he had slowly come to learn. Whatever would speak to his soul, stayed only with you – secrets forever kept within your own heart. And he knew those precious secrets were safe.
Otherwise, he never would have revealed that pain to you within the safety net of your company.
In all of his deep agony and suffering, he extended his arm in his defeat and there you saw the faint mark, littered with the thin scarring he had once tried to mask it with and hurting himself because the reminder of it all, was far too much for him. The pain in his eyes told you all the words he could never bear to say, and silent except for the beating of his racing heart – you understood the intent and the reason that drove him to that significant point in his life. The pain that tore his mind and spilled his soul.
You couldn’t help but feel so heartbroken for him. A man who went to such extreme lengths to erase that brand from his life only then lived as an added painful reminder of how much it had ripped him apart.
…How much he had lost.
But the faint scars upon the mark weren’t the only thing that had caught your eye. Oh, his skin was raw. Damaged. Littered with such stories told of the experiences he had no choice but to endure, and yet your eyes wandered over each raised scar and rough pieces of flesh, just to map them within your mind. You wanted to remember them to avoid him the pain of reliving them again.
It wasn’t until much later that your love finally connected you both by a string of life always destined to meet when the time was perfect, did he allow you to see all of him. A heated night drawn out by the visceral desire and passion for that love that had been teasing you both ever since, revealed so much more of his story and what he had survived to be alive in front of you, now.
A rough, jagged scar across the left shoulder indicated a serrated object had been dragged across his skin with such malicious intent. Whose blade did that belong to? You were sickened by the idea of who was responsible, and wondered who also took pleasure in branding his skin.
Cigarette burns marked trails upon the skin. You knew he didn’t smoke, and Severus had always denied it, but your heart fell deeper when you discovered that someone had done this to him. Sickening, and vile. Heartless beasts.
Two oddly shaped puncture wounds resembling fang marks dotted along his thigh, with Severus reminding you of Lucius’ hounds who were given permission to pierce his skin - not once, but twice - on Voldemort’s request.
His back had been marked with the thinnest of neatened scars resembling that of a whip. Some of its raised edges were bigger than others. A punishment for disobedience. How many opportunities did he have to escape with his life? Was the agony of a lie worth the torture?
Rough but lightened scars covered his knees. Despite Severus reiterating that he was clumsy as a child, you didn’t buy that. The way his eyes flickered away as you observed them told you otherwise. You knew of the targeted attacks upon him as a student, and it didn't take a Ravenclaw to figure that one out.
There were other various burn marks across his forearms and even his feet, but the questions about how each came to be made you feel turbulent and unsettled. Your frown deepened the further you went, curious, yet silently enraged.
A man still so young had endured so much torture upon his weakened, thinned frame. You knew the Death Eaters were known to be such disciplinarians upon their own, desperate to drum their medieval ways into their battle-worn souls employing pain and fear.
But Severus…he wore his collection as a testament to his strength. You knew it was something he detested, but you admired his tenacity to fight another day. To survive.
And although those physical scars were not something he could ever heal from, you knew you could at least help him through the pain of his emotional ones.
Because after all - you may have been the only one to bear witness to those scars. All of them.
...And he trusted you with his very heart and soul.
Snape's most vulnerable state, and glad to see Dawn empathise with him.
