Tori sat down and looked at the door. She had been staring at it ever since he had closed it, suppressing the urge to run after him, wrap her arms around his neck and beg him to tell her that everything would be all right. It was over, that much she knew. The constant arguments and snapping had caught up with her; it sucked the life out of her. She couldn’t allow it to destroy her. Her eyes scanned the room. It had become home for her, ever since they had carried him in after the attack. She would miss it as she would miss him, but there was no other way. They demanded too much from each other. She should have realized it from the beginning instead of letting herself fall in love with his glorified image she had of him in her mind. Now it was time to face reality. She stood up and gathered her belongings. As she was on her way out she noticed Crookshanks was looking at her from his favorite spot in front of the fireplace.

“Coming?” she asked, expecting the cat to jump up and follow her. He seemed to narrow his eyes and looked at her as if she had lost her mind to suggest such a ridiculous thing. He let out a soft ‘meow’ to inform her of his disapproval.

“Fine then, stay here if you like, you little traitor.” She took one last look and headed for the solace of her own rooms in the Gryffindor tower.

When she got there, she sank down on her bed. She wanted, no – needed to cry, but for some strange reason her tears seemed to have left her. Sadness overtook her and the weight of it pressed hard on her shoulders. Where would she find the courage to take her through the next days? Facing all those people that only recently found out about them and now she had to admit to them that she had failed. How on earth could she have believed that she would be able to change him? She stretched out on the bed, her eyes staring at the ceiling. She had never lost a battle before. Admitting defeat was worse than having to face a million trolls, especially since she had invested so much of herself in it. For the first time, her heart was in danger and there was nothing her famous brain could do to prevent it from breaking. Finally the tears came running down her cheeks. She would have liked to tell herself he wasn’t worth it…but he was, oh yes, he was worth every drop of salty wetness that came flooding from her eyes. She didn’t make any attempt to wipe them from her face; the stains the tears left on her skin were merely a passing reflection of the everlasting scars on her heart and soul.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She was gone. He instantly knew it from the moment he had opened the door. While she was with him, he had always sensed this warm sensation when he entered the room. Now there was only coldness to greet him.

He felt a chill creeping up his spine and gradually the spark in his eyes died, leaving a black void. All life seemed to have left him as he wandered around the room like a zombie, every now and then touching empty spaces where her things had been. Suddenly he was aware of her cat following him across the room.

“SHOVE OFF!” he hissed, but the cat kept rubbing against his legs. He chose to ignore it and went over to sit in his favorite chair in front of the fireplace. The cat jumped on his lap and curled itself up. He stiffened, but didn’t make any movements to scare it away. As he looked into the dying fire, he thought of how an appropriate metaphor it was for their relationship. He had known all along it wasn’t meant to be, but like some blinded fool he had let himself get carried away and fall in love with her. He knew the girl and her habit of meddling with other people’s affairs. What on earth had made him believe that she wouldn’t try to do the same to him? Because she loved him? That would only prove to be the greater incentive for her to stick her nose in things she had no business in interfering with. Was he that bad a judge of character or did enchantment cloud his reasoning? He would go through fire and water for her, but changing his personality by 180 degrees meant that he would be living a lie and he could not do that. It wouldn’t be fair on him, nor on her.

He stared in front of him for what seemed like an eternity, reliving every moment of their short time together. When he dozed off, one small glittering tear came gliding down his cheek.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tori feared the confrontation with her colleagues and the students. No doubt they were already aware of the fact that she didn’t live in the dungeons anymore. She tried to keep to herself as much as possible, eternally grateful for Flitwick’s return from his shopping expedition. At least she didn’t have to teach today.

Indeed, the news of Tori and Snape’s split had spread like wildfire through the school. In general, Snape was made out to be the big bad wolf. He didn’t seem to care and ignored all the whispers and glances. He carried on as usual, but didn’t feel the usual satisfaction when he took points from Gryffindor. The students knew better than to ask him about ***, so they turned to Tori instead. Shannon Richards was chosen to ask for more information and feeling terrible that her request from the previous day might have something to do with the split made her anxious to talk to Tori. She caught up with her outside the Gryffindor common room.

“Tori, I’m so sorry. I hope it wasn’t because what we said yesterday?” she looked compassionate and Tori didn’t know what she hated the most: Snape’s indifference towards her or the looks of sympathy she got from everyone.

“No Shannon, not entirely, I guess it has been going on for a while. We just argued too much. Let’s keep it at that, I don’t want to get into it any further right now. I’d like everyone to give me a little time to come to terms with it.”

Shannon nodded understanding and gave her a hug. Tori fled to the library, afraid she might burst into tears if she had looked at Shannon’s sorrowful face for one moment longer. The library had always been a safe haven for her and since she had concentrated on potions for the last months, she had become a bit rusty where her charms were concerned and found that she had a lot of catching up to do. Halfway through the afternoon, Minerva McGonagall came along.

“Tori? I heard about what happened. I wanted to let you know that if you need to talk about it, I’m here for you.”

She looked p and smiled gratefully. “Thank you, but it’s something I have to deal with myself.”

McGonagall sighed. “I know, but I also know Severus can be a real pain. If there’s any chance you two might reconsider…”

Tori shook her head and McGonagall, seeing that she was close to tears, left her alone.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When Snape returned to his dungeon that night, he noticed that he had a visitor.

“Hmm, Remus, I wondered how long it would take you to get down here and give me a piece of your mind,” he grumbled. “That is what you’re here for, isn’t it?” he asked when he saw the confused look on Remus’ face.

“Actually, I came to get my potion, since you seem to have forgotten about it, but now that you mention it…”

“Come in, I’ll give it to you.” Snape was startled, he had forgotten about Remus’ potion. Clearly he was more affected by all this than he had made himself to believe. He gave the potion to Remus, who drank it, put the goblet down and pulled him towards a chair.

“Now, let’s have that talk that you thought I came for.”

“Shouldn’t you be heading back?”

“Don’t change the subject. Tell me what happened.”

Snape jerked up. “If I needed a psychiatrist I would go to a professional one, thank you.”

“Oh Severus, your usual sarcasm cannot mask your sadness. I sense it you know.”

Snape let out a deep sigh and started talking. Hesitantly at first, but more and more agitated when he came to last night’s events.

“Yes, I can see you’re finding yourselves in a dilemma here. I fear that if neither of you are willing to make some concessions; this relationship of yours is doomed indeed. Aren’t you going to fight for her?”

Snape looked up. “With what? Court her with flowers? Starting all over, letting our feelings take over again, when I know very well it will lead to the same ending.”

“Yes, but I don’t mean that you have to do this right away, Tori is still very young, with all the glowing ideals that come with youth. Maybe in a while, she might think differently about things.”

“No, she will not.” Merely a whisper, but very determined never the less.

Remus decided that there was nothing further he could do and left the dungeon to go and fight his own demons.

That night, both Tori and Snape were lying in their respective beds, alone, having pretty much the same thoughts. They tried to figure out where it all went wrong. Shouldn’t their love for each other have been strong enough to overcome these differences? Both concluded that sometimes, love just isn’t enough…