autumn | severus snape

twenty | legilimency

"Staring is not trying."

"What do I do then?" She threw her arms out in the air.

"You read.. my mind."

"Oh gee, thanks!"

Severus' eye twitched, "try again.. and focus."

Ophelia tried again, and again, and again. Severus shook his head, a flicker of impatience dancing in his dark eyes as card after card was discarded after every failed attempt.

"Concentrate, Miss Delisle," Severus' voice was clipped, his tone demanding. "Legilimency requires discipline and control."

"I'm trying!" She responded, her voice tinged with frustration.

On her seventh try she caught a glance of a red card, it was foggy and distant, but she could see it.

"Four of Hearts!"

Severus nodded, "that was.. adequate."

"Adequate?" She burst out, "it was awesome, I read your freaking mind!"

"You got lucky."

"Oh, come on, now," she tilted her head to the side and smiled, "give me some credit."

Severus tried to suppress a smile, "..yes, nice work."

Ophelia's face lit up, "again?"

Severus nodded and picked another card, she got it wrong this time.

"Fuck! Why is it so difficult?"

"You need to focus."

Ophelia groaned, "if you say focus one more time I swear I'll throw myself off a cliff!"

"Go on, then," Severus smirked.

She glared at him, "you know, it's less fun for me when you play along."

"I know."

Severus regarded her for a moment, his expression unreadable, before reaching out and gently grasping her hand, his touch warm against her skin.

"Legilimency is not simply a matter of skill, Ophelia," Severus' voice was softer now, laced with a hint of vulnerability. "It requires trust... intimacy."

Her breath caught in her throat as she met Severus' gaze, her eyes locked with his in a silent exchange. As they sat there, hand in hand, Ophelia's heart fluttered, a warmth spreading through her chest, a tingling sensation at the tips of her fingers. And in Severus' eyes she saw a reflection of her own emotions, a mix of longing, hesitation, and something deeper, more profound.

But the moment shattered like fragile glass when Severus felt a sudden intrusion in his mind, a gentle probing that sent a shiver down his spine.

"What are you doing?" He demanded, his voice tinged with panic as he tried to shield his thoughts.

But it was too late. In an instant, she saw everything; the memories that haunted him, the love he lost, and the pain that consumed him.

Ophelia heard him call out for her in the green grass.

Lily!

It was all red hair and tenderness. A young woman with the greenest eyes Ophelia had ever seen. Her laughter echoed through the corridors of his mind.

Ophelia saw the bullying, the loneliness, the slipping away. That word from his mouth. The animosity, the heartache, the desperation. Losing Lily forever and pleading for forgiveness.

The weight of Severus' unspoken sorrow crashed down upon her to the point where she couldn't breathe.

"How dare you!" Severus was panting as he secured the walls around his mind.

Ophelia's eyes widened, "I didn't mean-"

But he was already in her head, poking through every memory of the last few months. Dinner with Isaiah Bentley and the Minister of Magic, the parties, the dancing, the boys and...

Draco bloody Malfoy.

The scene changed.

"I was with Snape."

He saw her talking to her father, making him a promise.

"Make friends with him, get him to invite you to his home, and find out what you can about his affairs."

Snape's blood began to boil.

"Do you think me a fool, Miss Delisle?" He asked coldly.

She frowned, shaking her head, "you know I don't."

"I'm sorry that your parents don't love you, and that you believed being involved with an older man would fill the void your father created.. but you and I are nothing," he spat, "and you'd do well to remember that."

Ophelia glared at him, her chin quivering.

"You don't mean that," she said with bitterness in her voice, because she was only human, after all. Perhaps more human with him than she'd ever been with anyone in her entire life.

He turned his back on her, walking away in hatred and rage. Because she had used him, and he was sick of being taken advantage of. She had pushed him in with force, dragged him deeper and deeper, and then left him to drown. She had made him weak for her on purpose.

"No, you don't get to just walk away from me, Snape!"

He stopped in his tracks, shoulders moving up and down as he breathed.

"I didn't mean to go through your mind, at least I didn't do it to be cruel! But you, you came into my mind out of spite," she spat. "I don't know who Lily was, but she must have been something really special if she left you so utterly broken!"

He turned around to face her, hands shaking in fists by his sides.

"How.. dare you speak to me that way."

"No, how dare you! You treat me like a child that needs scolding when you supposedly care for me."

"I don't have to explain myself to you," he sneered.

"Then let me explain; it wasn't about you!" She said desperately.

"I don't believe you."

"Why?" She breathed, "because you've already made up your mind? You're just gonna walk away?"

"Because you are my student and I am your Professor, nothing more."

"Do you treat all your students like this?" She asked quietly, "kiss them, ask for them?"

"I haven't asked for you!" He barked and she winced.

He wanted to tell her that he would, if he was allowed to, but he turned away from her instead, leaving her alone in the forest. 

And Ophelia couldn't help but feel so incompatibly, inappropriately in love with him.