Letters From The Prince - 1

Collecting things is a natural occurrence for humans. Some collect knick-knacks from their travels, others collect things that remind them of loved ones. Severus Snape was no different in wanting to build his collection. What made him different was what he chose to collect.  Severus collected thoughts and memories, but not his own. He had worked hard in honing a skill that would allow him to collect thoughts and memories from others, such as those of the students that happened to lose their focus in his classroom.  They weren't the only ones he harvested from, far from it, but they were the most abundant source of thoughts and it wasn't difficult to extract them either.

Severus glided into his office at the end of a long, difficult day and secured the door behind him against any and all intruders.  He went over to his cabinet and pulled out his worn pensive and set it on his desk to extract the memories he collected that day.  After depositing them all, he prodded the silvery substance until the memory he was looking for came up.  It showed a young Katie Bell when she was no more than 10 years old it seemed.  He watched as she sat on her bed snuggling with a stuffed animal.  He sighed, wondering what it would have been like if his life had taken a different turn.  If he wouldn't have said those hurtful words all those years ago.  Could he have been a father to a young girl like her?

He sighed as he reached for a roll of parchment, his quill and a jar of ink.  After pausing a moment to collect his thoughts, he began his letter.

I have been thinking about you more and more lately.  I miss you terribly, not a day goes by without something making me think of you.  If things would have been different, could we have been happy together?

He paused a moment and prodded the pensive again, this time revealing a different memory from another student.  It showed Harry Potter, receiving a firebolt from his godfather.  Severus sighed, he noticed that Potter's thoughts turned more and more to Sirius Black lately which troubled him.  He remembered that Potter received that broom after his Nimbus had been destroyed during a dementor attack.  

I worry about the boy, you know which one I mean, I write about him often enough.  He has been thinking too much of his Godfather which I'm sure you know by now is no longer among the living.  I can't say that I'm saddened by the news of his death, but I know that his passing hurts the boy.  I too know the pain of losing someone so close to you, but it is too hard to get close to him, I'm sure you understand why.

A sudden movement caused Severus to look up before he realized that it was only his pet cat Aconite.  He mindlessly scratched him on his head before the cat jumped back down to the floor to find a warm spot to snuggle into.  Feeling a bit dejected, he returned to the memories in the Pensive that he had collected that day.  Another prod of his wand and a jittery girl stood above the surface.  This one was a surprising memory for Severus to view, the girl was normally so sure of herself.  The thought of Granger being a frightened little girl at one time made him think.

He surrounds himself with friends who are as complex as he himself has become.  He's not as two dimensional as his father was, which only serves to confuse me more at times.  He holds his father's hate though, you would recognize that if you were to set eyes upon him.  I shall end this letter here, the hour is late.  I know you will not respond to me and that is partially my fault I know, but I must live with the choices I had made in the past.  Until we next meet, I remain yours.

He signed his name in a flourish as a tear fell from his eye.  He gazed upon himself in the mirror and was shocked to see his eyes swollen with tears.  He pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at his eyes before pouring a bit of melted wax onto the parchment and affixing his seal.

He got up with a sigh and made his way to his bedchamber, knowing that the small scroll of parchment will have vanished by the next morning.