Leon Pen smiled nostalgically as he walked through the empty halls of his once home. Memories rolled by one by one. He remembered his first day, his first friend, his first classes, his first fight, his first love, all of it happened at this school. He wasn't Leon Pen when it all happened though. When he attended Hogwarts he was known as the Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived. Remembering that nickname always brought the bad memories that shrouded the good ones, the abuse from his 'relatives', one terrible defense against the dark arts teacher after another, the constant battles with Voldemort, the Triwizard Tournament, Voldemorts resurrection, so many people he loved who died during the final battle, and ultimately he himself 'dying' too. He refused to be 'Harry Potter' ever again, it brought too much pain.
"Welcome Mr. Pen." Minerva greeted the young man as he entered into her office.
The young man, Leon Pen, who was 25 according to his resume, was dressed semi-formal in black slacks and a blood red button down that made his hazel eyes look like they were on fire. He had his long black hair pulled back into a braid. The man was her only applicant to take over the librarian job when Madam Prince had passed away. She was injured in the final battle, just one of the many to be hit with a slow acting curse that slowly shut down your body. It took 8 years for it to finish the job, but it did. Thankfully she worked till her last moments and she died in the hospital wing a month ago.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Headmaster." Leon greeted the elderly women, sitting in the offered seat.
"Please call me Minerva, only the children call me headmaster." The women replied smiling.
"Okay, Minerva. You said in your letter that you wanted to speak to me, does that mean I got the job?" The young man inquired.
"I have a few questions to ask you first, Mr. Pen." Minerva peered at the man over her glasses.
"Of course, Ma'am. Ask away."
The women glanced down at the parchment that she held in her hand, "It says here that you don't have a permanent place of residence, would you mind explaining why?"
"Of course not. I don't usually stay in one place too long. When I was younger I always wanted to explore the world, but I never thought I'd be able to because of, ah, certain extenuating circumstances. But somehow I got the chance and I took it. I've been all around Europe, Asia, and even the states for a bit, of course that life style doesn't leave much need for a permanent home." Leon explained easily.
"When I put the message in the prophet I didn't think that I'd get a response from someone as over qualified as you. We'd be ever grateful if you'd take the position." Minerva spoke relieved, mentally checking one more task off her long list of things to do before the new school year began. The man really was over qualified, during his travels he worked as a scavenger, finding old books and artifacts. He probably knew more about the books in their library than Madam Prince did.
"It'd be my honor to work at this glorious school. When do you want me to arrive for the new school year?" Leon asked smiling gently at the tired old women.
"In a month should work. Two weeks before the terms begins should be enough time for you to get settled in and acquainted with the school-" Minerva was interrupted by a sharp knocking on the doors.
"I'm very sorry" She apologizes to Leon before calling towards the door, "Come in!"
"Minerva, how many times do I have to tell you, the Slytherins and Gryffindors cannot be put in the same class together? I've been telling you since you became headmistress and yet you still ignore me." Severus Snape barged into the room fussing at the headmaster not even noticing the young man.
The headmaster just smiled at the potions master, "I'll give the same reason Albus gave you when he was still headmaster. We have to promote interhouse unity, instead of separating them; they need to learn to get along."
"But they aren't learning to get along the more time they spend together the more they hate each other." Severus argued, not wanting to deal with the bickering and the exploding cauldrons for another year.
"Severus my decision is final." Minerva said unfazed by the man's scowl, ignoring the angry man, she turned to her newest employee, "Mr. Pen, meet-"
"Severus." Leon breathed out.
"Do I know you?" Severus sneered and was surprised at the man's flinch and hurt look.
"I'm sorry Headmaster, I have to go now. I'll see you in a few weeks." Leon got as far as the door before Minerva called to him.
"Mr. Pen, it was pleasure meeting you. I look forward to working with you." Minerva looked a bit bewildered as she turned to the other man. "Severus can you show Mr. Pen the way out."
"No!" Leon shouted startling all of them. "I mean, I think I can figure it out by myself, good bye."
Leon pushed open the door and ran from the room. Lucky for him there was no one else in the halls to see him. He dashed down the halls easily knowing the route that would take him outside of the school.
He was breathing hard as his knees hit the grass. He gripped the grass in his fingers as he tried to calm down. He didn't even notice the tears falling from his eyes.
"Fucking hell." Leon whispers as he punches the ground. He couldn't believe that Severus was still alive. He was positive that Nagini had killed the older man, he held him as he died. He watched as the blood drained from his neck. He wouldn't have left if he had known. He wouldn't have left the love of his life.
Unknown to Leon, Severus was standing in the shadows behind one of the pillars watching the younger man's anguished cries. He felt like he was intruding on a private moment, which he was sure he was. Why was the man crying? Why did he run from the room?
Severus did always have a soft spot for crying, which was something very few people knew. And unfortunately for him the person that knew him best was dead. When he saw someone crying he felt the need to help, a compulsion he learned no doubt from a certain Gryffindor. He slowly walked over to his soon-to-be colleague. He made sure his footsteps were loud so that he wouldn't startle the man.
"What do you want?" Leon tried to look angry at the man but the tears ruined the effect.
"Why are you crying?" Severus inquired sitting on the ground beside the still crying man.
"I don't have to tell you anything." Leon refused to open up. If he didn't tell Severus then he couldn't hate him for leaving him and making everyone think he was dead.
"You're right you don't have to tell me." Severus agreed letting them fall into a surprisingly comfortable silence.
"I made a mistake." Harry whispered some minutes later.
"What was the mistake?", Severus asked gently trying to comfort the man.
"I left and I didn't realize I had left someone behind." Is all Leon says, he's not going to tell Severus everything, it would make working together too hard. But he could give vague answers, where Severus didn't know what he was talking about but he could get this pain off his chest.
"Was the person you left behind important?" Severus asked thinking of his lovely Harry who died and left him all those years ago.
"Yeah he was the love of my life." Harry replied heavy hearted wanting nothing more than to curl into his once lovers arms like he used to for comfort almost a decade ago.
Severus eyed the man, he was curled in on himself and Severus wanted nothing more than to hold him like he used to Harry when he got upset. "I was in love once, still am actually. But he died during the war, I didn't even get to say a proper goodbye. Is your lover still alive?"
"Yeah, he is." Leon choked out, tears starting again, Severus still loved him. Harry hurt him, he made his love live for years thinking that he was dead.
"Well then you can still make things right." Severus said trying to be helpful, the man was obviously feeling very guilty over leaving his lover.
"It's not as simple as that Snape." Leon replied depressed, he didn't want to talk anymore he just wants to go back to his room at the Leaky Cauldron and cry. "I'll be on my way then, professor."
Severus stood up and held out his hand to help Leon, but the man ignored it and pushed off the ground standing on his own. "Please call me Severus."
Leon paused in his walking and turned his head back giving the man a bittersweet smile, "Good bye, Severus."