Once Broken, Forever in Pieces

The words bubbled out of her mouth in happy streams, telling tales of complicated lessons and her aspirations and the little quirks that made up her day. He was her best friend and somehow, no day felt complete to her until she'd shared every little detail of it with him.

She hated the fact that they were in opposing houses and couldn't converse before the warm fireplace she loved to haunt in her own common room, so she conceded with sitting under the shade of the weeping willows and listening to the wind carry her words into his ears.

Somewhere along the line, though, her words had ceased to hold any meaning for him. His head was stuffed with plans that were deviant on a grandiose scale, and her heart split in two with hurt at his ignorance coupled with worry for his immense loyalty to the dark arts.

The little cracks that had begun to spring between their friendship soon widened into a chasm that neither could bridge. She abandoned her longing for him to listen to her and channelled all her energies into getting him to abandon the dark side, but her attempts were futile.

"Mudblood!"

He hurled the expletive at her in a moment of extreme frustration and watched as her smiling face crumpled with hurt and betrayal. His heart sunk lower as he watched James and his group of friends walk towards Lily, and in that moment he could clearly visualise the death of his six year long friendship with Lily.

But he refused to expose the wounds he'd inflicted upon his own skin, and hers.

She waited in vain for an apology that never came, and he waited in vain for forgiveness he didn't deserve.

When he watched her dance in James' embrace two years later, his eyes burned with the tears his pride didn't allow him to shed. The newly etched mark on his forearm whispered dark promises of glory and fame, and so Severus made a promise to himself then and there – to equal the Dark Lord in power and fame, and forget the radiant girl with sunset hair and emerald eyes who had haunted his waking and dreaming moments for years together.

It was a promise he broke the minute he knew she was destined to die.

A/N: Entered in:

The Twelve Days of Christmas Style Challenge, canon (2)

The 25 Days of Christmas Competition, prompt - fireplace

The Het-Tastic Drabble-Athon Competition, #100 - Destiny

A Jury of Your Peers Competition, canon