Lately I've been wishing I had one desire,
Something that would make me never want another,
Something that would make it so that nothing matters,
All would be clearer then.

A Perfect Sonnet, by Bright Eyes.

:::::

Severus sat in a threadbare armchair in Spinner's End, tapping his fingers against his knee and staring out the window at rain that pounded the windows. There was a bad leak in the ceiling in the kitchen, and he could hear the water pinging into the pot he had magicked to never fill.

He could have stopped up the leak, he supposed, but the noise was somehow as comforting as it was irritating.

And Severus Snape was so desperate for comfort that he was seeking it in the stupidest of places.

He just wanted to settle. To feel settled. Living in this home was bad enough, but in addition, his friends were few and far between. In fact, last count, his friend set was comprised entirely of Professor McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey, who he had grown grudgingly close to during the two years he had spent at the Hogwarts infirmary. They told him he hadn't been sent to St Mungos because it was dreadfully overcrowded, but he sensed something else beneath the surface. He probably would have frightened everyone in that damned hospital.

And he really didn't mind being alone, most of the time. It would just be nice to have someone else around a little… someone that knew when to be silent, and when to chatter, and when to wrap her arms around him…

He shook his head abruptly, standing up. He definitely did not just think that.