SEQUEL POSTED NOW

Severus sat down heavily at his desk, burying his face into his hands. It had been a hellish past couple of months.

When the portkey had landed in the Hospital Wing, Poppy had immediately ushered Harry away for treatment. In her absence, Severus had slipped away to his quarters for the first time since he had begun his charade.

With Albus's death, the wards Albus had put up to prevent anyone from entering Severus's quarters had fallen. So, standing in the entryway to his quarters, Severus had spent the next several minutes doing his best to replace the fallen wards with his own. Once he had finished that task, Severus had walked into his quarters properly.

They had been exactly as he'd left them on that last night before he'd assumed the identity of Alfonse "Eli" Hopkirk, sixth-year Gryffindor.

This familiarity– stagnancy, even– had struck Severus heavily.

Severus had changed so much in the short time since he'd last step foot in these quarters, but nothing else had changed. Not his quarters, not his colleagues. Not Harry.

Nothing had changed, except for Severus himself.

AN: the sequel is titled "The Reconciliation & The Journey" and can be found on my profile!