Severed Ties || Severus Snape

4. I'm Not Going Anywhere

"Oh," she muttered. "Right."

She stepped back to let him in. Suddenly feeling embarrassed at the non-existent mess, she picked up her hairbrush from her desk and flung it into the wardrobe. Severus let his eyes glide across the room.

"You haven't furnished it yet."

Well aware of how empty and naked the room looked, Emma fiddled with her braid. "I haven't really had a chance. I was with Charity all day yesterday, so..."

"Hm."

A blush crept up her neck as he stared at her. For once, Croak came to her rescue.

"Croooaak!"

Severus' eyes snapped to the corner of the room, where the toad sat comfortably in his cage. "Is that...?"

"Severus, meet Croak." Emma grinned, picking the toad up out of his cage and setting him on the palm of her hand.

"Croak? Toads don't live that long, do they?"

"Oh, no, he's not the same one I had in school," she explained, petting the toad. "This is Croak the Third."

A laugh rumbled in his chest. "You keep calling them Croak?"

"Well, of course! What else am I going to call a toad?"

They chuckled, before another silence thickened between them like smog. Even Croak stayed silent, enjoying the stroke of Emma's finger along his back.

"I missed you, Emma."

Her eyes widened as she looked up at him. He stood tall, hands folded behind his back and his eyes not on her, but on the toad in her hands. She wanted to respond but her throat had closed up. Her heart warmed at his words, but it was the kind of heat that suffocated. The kind that made it impossible to breathe.

I missed you. Three words she'd been longing to hear for so long. Three words she'd been dreaming of, only to wake up into her worst nightmare every single day, because it was never real.

But now, he'd finally said it. And it was too late.

As the silence stretched, Severus pressed his lips into a thin line, until he finally looked up. "I haven't remembered incorrectly have I? We were friends back in school?"

"Of course we were." Her eyebrows knotted, she unconsciously stepped back, to which he took an equal step forward.

"Then why are you acting so cold and distant to me?"

Her breath caught in her throat as he hovered over her, an angry frown on his face. Her mind raced, but her lips refused to form words. What was she supposed to say? The truth was much too embarrassing, but anything else would sound like a poor excuse. There was no right answer, no explanation she could give to make him feel better. To make things right between them.

Something flashed in his eyes before he stepped back. His nostrils flared. "Fine. I understand."

Emma sighed, setting her toad back into his cage. "Severus..."

"No. Save it." He turned to leave, but stopped with the doorknob in his hand. "I don't know why you came back, but you should have stayed away."

"Severus, don't do –"

"Why don't you just disappear again? It's all you seem to be good at."

Her jaw dropped. Tears stung in her eyes as he turned his back to her and marched out of the room. When the door slammed shut behind him, she sunk into a chair and buried her face in her hands. Her heart ached with a cold, throbbing pain.