A Promise

Prologue

"Promise me you'll come back."

The words that had seemed stuck in his throat only moments ago had finally clawed their way up and out of his mouth. The words that he had never allowed himself to utter before tonight. The words that spelled disaster in his mind as soon as he said them. Because he could not fear for this man's return. If he showed any such weakness--a fool's weakness, for certain--and all of his fears came true; it would kill him.

///////

Severus had been about to walk out of his chambers, donning a cloak as dark as night and grasping a bone-white mask in his hands. At the soft words spoken to his back, he halted. The young man who had made his life such a joy over the last three years had called him back, like a siren calling to the damned. And wasn't that irony for you? Because Harry was his siren and Severus was damned; had been damned since the day he was born. Been damned the day his father murdered his mother in cold blood. Damned the day he let Tom Riddle scorch his brand into Severus' delicate wrist. And damned all over again when Harry had kissed him.

Ah, that first, most forbidden of pleasures that they had shared. Forbidden because they could not be involved with one another. Harry was the poster child of the resistance, the unofficial leader of the free world; while Severus was a Death Eater, cruel and most reviled amongst the Wizarding World's populace. They were two different people from two different worlds: a Gryffindor and a Slytherin, an Auror and a Death Eater, light and dark, yin and yang. They couldn't be more opposite even if they had tried. And yet...

///////

"Promise me, Severus."

The words were less solid this time. Harry's emotions were all over the place and he felt as though he could fly apart at any moment. Because this couldn't be happening. Not so soon. It hadn't been more than three hours since the last summons from Voldemort. Severus had the slight nerve damage to prove it. What could the monster possibly want now?

It had always been a calculated risk going out day after day, pretending to be Voldemort's good little lap dog. But now, Harry had an increased feeling of anxiety. It could have been the fact that Harry was usually not present when Severus was summoned, but something in his gut told him this was not so.

///////

"I promise."

The words he should not say came unbidden to his lips. The two words that he had told himself years ago never to utter again. Promises could be broken. Promises were for sentimental fools. But wasn't that what he had become? Was he not the very definition of a fool? Severus had changed, and for the better, all thanks to the young man whose eyes were boring into his at the moment. He could not show those changes to the outside world, of course, but when he was alone, he permitted himself the thoughts he would not have had without Harry. Without Harry.

Those words rang like a tolling bell in his head, again and again, over and over. The thought of being without the person who was responsible for the man Severus had become made his throat close up and he gazed at Harry with such intensity that it scared him. Harry, who had become such a permanent fixture in his life. Harry, who made him want to be a better man. Harry, Harry, Harry. His gaze scorched what it touched, and what it was touching was Harry. It had always been Harry.

As if to remind him of his duties, his Mark throbbed heavily for a moment before subsiding into a dull ache once more. It served to give Severus the push out the door he needed, and with a last heavy glance, he was gone.