Game changer

[danzanelfuoco]

HARRY POTTER

Severus Snape & Harry Potter

Note: I don’t even know

COW-T 12, w3, m4: Unicorns prefer virgins 

1123 wordcount

The first time Snape met her, he was strolling through the Forbidden Forest in search for the  roots of a particular flower that should be collected only during the new moon. 

It was for a potion he was trying to brew, a new concoction that would revolution the whole field, if only he were able to get a decent result, back in the days when he was a simple Potion Professor at Hogwarts, when the war was over and it looked like it would never start again, when Severus could pretend he wouldn’t need to take up the role of spy again. 

He saw the unicorn as he reached the clearing, the white mane shining silvery under the star light. He stared at her for what seemed an eternity, thinking the animal would run. Unicorns preferred women, or at least pure hearted people, and Snape was neither a woman nor pure hearted. 

Untouched, oh, yes, that he was, after all, he was Snivellus, the greasy kid with too large a nose and hand me down robes and when he joined the Death Eaters there weren’t exactly much opportunity for anything even remotely resembling romance or even physical attraction, so yes, he was untouched, not even kissed, and it was just as good for him. After Lily’s death he didn’t think he had a right to that. 

The unicorn huffed and neighed at him and then moved toward him. As Severus wasn’t really sure he knew what he should do, he stood still. The unicorn passed him, nudged his cheek with her nose and then went her way, disappearing in the forest. 

She wasn’t exactly his unicorn, Snape wasn’t so stupid to think someone could own a unicorn. It was just that he ended up on her path more often than not when he strolled the Forbidden Forest looking for potion ingredients. It was that she always looked at him and she wasn’t scared and she always looked for a contact with him before going away.
So Severus began to think of her as a part of himself, something he treasured and never revealed to anyone - not that he had any friend to tell. One day, he actually petted her, caressing the white stripe of fur under her horn right between her eyes. And she didn’t run. 

“I was worried about you,” he said and it was the first time he had actually tried to communicate with her. 

He had heard from Hagrid that the gamekeeper had found unicorn blood in the Forest, and Albus had been worried about the Dark Lord and the Philosopher Stone and Severus had nodded and excused himself and went to check on her, desperately hoping it wasn’t her. 

It wasn’t, he breathed, as he saw her, beautiful and majestic as always, unscathed and alive. 

“I’m glad you’re safe,” he said as he petted her and she tilted her head as if she was listening to him. 

It was the first time he talked to her. It wasn’t the last. 

She was as sentient as a magical beast could be, and yet, Severus found solace in her company. He didn’t go to her often, but when he did he had always a treat for her, and he ended up pouring his heart, even if he had told himself he wouldn’t this time, because it was stupid and she couldn’t understand a word of what he was saying anyway. 

And yet, he talked to her. 

And then, one night, somebody heard him. 

Harry shouldn’t be there. The Forbidden Forrest is forbidden for a reason, but he has been there so many times during the years, that he almost feels like the adjective is just there for show. And beside, he thinks as he feels the potion thrumming through his veins, the Felix Felicis that helped him get Professor Slughorn's memories won't fail him now.  

So he follows his instinct, he tucks the vial in his pocket, knowing it won't break and off again he is, hidden under his Invisibility Cloak, lucky enough to never step on any twig, nor to stumble on any roots, smoothly and silently moving through the trees. 

He doesn't know why he's there, doesn't know what he's looking for, or if he's looking for something at all, he just knows he needs to be here. So he keeps walking, and then the potion tells him to stop. Still maniacally grinning, Harry realizes he doesn't know where he is, he has lost his direction. It doesn't matter, he'll found his way back soon enough, but now what? 

In the silence of the forrest, with no noise but his quiet breathing, Harry hears the voice. 

It's dark and deep, he has already heard it somewhere, and he shouldn't be eavesdropping, but there's so many things Harry shouldn't be doing right now, or shouldn't have done in the whole evening, -  in his whole life, -  that one thing more shouldn't be a problem. So Harry gets closer, taking extra precautions to be silent even if his luck would never betray him. 

And as he gets near the words begin to make sense. 

"He asked me to kill him," the voice says, "he asked me." There's despair, maybe even tears, in that voice, and Harry shudders at that more than at the words. He recognizes that voice, he has been hearing it for six years, but never like that. 

"And I had to say yes, of course, I had to."

The trees opens in a clearing and what Harry sees is - it doesn't make sense. 

There's Snape, of course, he recognized him, but he's sitting on a rock, or maybe a tree stump, but his hand slowly threading through the white mane of a unicorn. Maybe the Felix Felicis was expired, and now Harry's having hallucinations. 

“Why are you even still here?” Snape asks, leaning his head against the neck of the animal, “I’m not pure hearted,” he scoffs, “I’m the least pure hearted person in this whole school, you should avoid me like a plague.” 

In response, the unicorn nudges him with his muzzles. It may look like she’s comforting him, telling him to go on, but her eyes are fixed on a point over his shoulder. The same point where Harry’s staying, completely hidden, but not from her gaze. 

Listen closely, she looks like she’s saying him with her eyes, listen closely because this is gonna change everything.
And oh, of course it is.