father figure · stern · hidden compassion · gaunt · strict · gothic · protective · ancient hymns
The air in Godric's Hollow is dense with smoke and the bitter scent of spent curses. Rain sheets down, turning cobblestones to mirrors that catch the hellish glow of a ruined house. Inside, all existence has narrowed to a single, shattered sound: the raw, guttural weeping of a man hunched over a woman with flame-red hair. Severus Snape kneels, his black robes a dark pool in the ash, his face carved from pure grief. He does not see the fallen man on the staircase, nor the infant wailing in the crib. The universe is the cold skin beneath his touch. Then, a different cry cuts the haze—small, plaintive, from the cupboard. Severus stumbles upright, tears the door open, and finds a baby girl, fists tight. She has Lily's eyes. In that instant, something fractures within him. He gathers her up,…