He doesn't know what to say or feel. It had been a minute, no maybe minutes more, since he was driven insane by a concise declaration from someone he was starting to consider as a friend.
He was sure he heard something inside her mind. It was a mistake of him to enter it. He it was indeed a grage mistake. It's like he went into a mysterious island and he tried to unravel every last enigma but the question was, was he ready? Was his mind ready to accept and understand the wonders it may possess or offer?
He couldn't sleep or eat that night. After the little talk about the nasty old love thing, Ms. Granger's face was fixed with a dreadful expression. She bade him gooodbye and as the sound of her final footstep was heard, an immaculate truth barged in unwantedly through him. Well, it was indeed his transgression after all. If he didn't crossed the young girl's mind, things would have been much easier.
Almost all his life, he was an inquisitive fool. Trying to find all the answers for every question. Hoping to invent and create the present's view of the future, even pursuing the search for the impossible. But now, for the very first time, he told himself that it was better to be unknowing. Ignorance is bliss.
He whipped his head into the dark nook by his study. A silver basin with spectral, tantalizing features. He looked at it for a moment, asking himself again if he would dare try to review the moments that occured a few minutes ago.
His heart was a bit hesitant, telling him what he vows to see will lead him to a constant danger but his mind itched with curiosity. He had to know. He has every right to know.
Maybe it was only a product of his imagination. A fuzzy moment and he just imagined the words that stumbled out of her mind. Well, if it did stumble. He wasn't sure.
The dust yelled around his sluggish body for his pace was ever so slow compared to a lame ant. He slightly scratched his eye as a brief appearance of blinding light shone before him. The silvery substance latched itself into the pensieve, inviting him to see what he wanted to find.
He dove right into the pensieve and watched as the memories swirled into the background like a movie flashback.
He still felt that odd feeling. He had done this loads of times but the fact that you're seeing yourself doing things, making mistakes, were still a different experience and feeling every time.
The room was partly lit as the 5th year student looked up to him and gave him an apologetic look. She knew she made a mistake, for she tried to include her own opinion and violent reaction when it wasn't necessary in the first place. He watched himself share a staring moment with Miss Granger before she looked down at her feet.
He was sure she was close to tears and he understood why. The girl must be in love but she doesn't have the guts to tell him or whoever that is, that she likes him. Or maybe, she told him how she felt and was hit by rejection.
He himself knew what that felt. The pain was raw that it crawls not just into your flesh but into your very being. He remembered how the pair of green eyes looked at him when he confessed his love for her. Her eyes were compassionate but there was something in them that made his heart crack. It was none other than pity. It wasn't difficult to identify. Perhaps, it was always there whenever she looked at him.
She got suddenly and discreetly wiped the tears of her face like they were nothing. She was trying to control her emotions but she, herself was betraying her.
She gave him one last glance, nodded at his direction and said a few words of goodbye.
And that's when the most awaited moment comes in. He held his every as he watch her feet move away.
Any second now...
One...
Two...
And there it was.
He viciously entered her mind to see what baffled her but he winced with what he heard.
"I can't believe I'm in love with you. Why is it has to be you? I hate you, Snape. Why am I in love with you? This isn't making any sense."
A low sound of door closing and the Professor watching himself grasp at the female's words was the final thing he saw as the whole scene dissolved.
So it wasn't a hallucination after all. It was real. No, no, no! It was surreal. He almost huffed when some powder disturbed his eyes. He felt the sting and watery substance that fell from them.
But his situation was very little. Very little compared to what he had just seen. His apprentice has an odd affection towards him. HIM? How? Why?
He was bombarded by his questions but he checked his own feelings first. He recalled every single memory he had with her but he only saw her as a student. A common person who enters his classroom, pretends to be nice in order to get some good grades.
He was happy and relieved to realize that he did not harbor any feelings for her. Of course, it was still tied to one person. His one and only Lily.
He didn't know how to interact with her after that. He was flabbergasted by the truth that was laid in front of him.
He didn't know that she never left. She was still there by the stiff door, hoping he hasn't figured out what she just revealed from her mind. It was silly of her to think of things like that especially she knows he can catch a liar just by looking into their eyes.
"I have grown to care for every bit of him. But, clearly he hasn't seen me for I know that he only considers me as an impeding wall. I tried my best to be near him but he shuns me with an immense force." She was staring at a distance, casting a Profendo Charm.
She knew once that her professor has the ability to create his own spells. Hoping she could rival or amaze him, she managed to create a spell of her own. She called it Profendo Charm.
She imitated the famous supernatural quality of a muggle superhero, Superman. His ability to see through physical objects at the discretion of the holder of this power was something that interest her the most.
She non verbally cast her spell and watched as everything worked before her eyes.
In front of her, Professor Snape can be seen seated at his study. In his hands, a picture rested lovingly. The magical portrait revealed a woman with a pronounced appearance and a well-toned physique. The woman was smiling widely, her face lit with sunshine. But what destroyed Hermione Granger's heart was that the woman in the picture has perfect pair of emerald eyes.
He was reliving his memories again with her. With that woman.
Her tears begged to finally fall, but she was stubborn enough to blink them back.
"I love you. " She whispered and left the tenebrous hallway to the dungeons in silence. She ran as fast as she could before she dismissed the spell.
A few seconds passed when she left, it was as if, Professor Snape heard her words. He sat up to open the creaky door. He was sure he heard a sniffle. A short little whisper.
As he opened the door, he moved his head to every direction to find the owner of the words he had heard. But he found nothing there.