Today – Tonight

Special thanks to Magistera for betaing this one : - )


~*~*~ Today – Tonight ~*~*~

The moon is just rising, thin and yellow. It appears through the dark green leaves of
the trees, its dark side only implied by its faint light. Above, the stars sparkle; white
and yellow and blue. Dragonflies are capering all around. I can hear a low humming
in the air; maybe it’s voices talking, or maybe it’s just a meaningless tumult.

The world is finally alive again.

The world has a life of its own. No matter what happens, it continues its frantic
revolutions.
No war will stop the sun from burning.
The moon will not stop changing its robes.
No evil will extinguish the stars that look down on us.
Those cheeky stars that witness our horrors, and yet dare to spray their beautiful
shapes across the sky. How dare they?
How dare they soil their beauty with the horror that happens underneath? How dare
they impair our horror with their beauty?

Today was a good day, and a horrible day.

Today Harry defeated Voldemort. Today Ron died, and Lavender, and Neville, and
Professor McGonagall, and hundreds more. Too many deaths, but today we have
made an end.

There will be no more fear, no more terror, no more evil.

I have waited for this day for years. Five whole years, since we were in our fifth year.
Since Sirius died.

Today Harry has gotten his revenge. Does he even know it yet? Did he have a chance
to realize what he did before the red curse beam slapped him down? He fell then, so
still, with his eyes open, unmoving. But he is alive - my dear friend hasn\'t left me
alone here, among the few of us who have survived.

But I am selfish. It is not the victory that pleases me, nor the survival of my loved
ones. All I\'m interested in is my own pleasure: wounded and bleeding hands that
tonight will learn how to love. Wrapped and tattered clothing, which tonight will be
stripped from me by my devoted lover. I have waited for the night when tears will be
warm, where they will bring redemption, finally a blessed salvation. For me, for him,
for all of us.

We found each other in the corridors of Hogwarts. He was a broken man and I – in
those days I was living spring. He refused to touch me then, refused to lay a loving
finger on me. He didn\'t want to soil me – so he said. He said he would never be
worthy enough to touch me until he had redeemed his crimes, until Voldemort had
fallen.

All I want is him. I\'ve suffered enough. We both have - we all have. I had my share of
cold nights of battle. I spent enough time bleeding and exhausted. That awful night.
Wounded, I wandered through the Forbidden Forest, and fell to the rocky ground.
That night was frozen. My hisses of pain froze the moment they left my mouth. A few
more seconds and I would have let it all go, but then he came. That was the
only time he touched me. He was desperate to hold on to me then, he insisted that I
had to stay with him. But I was frozen, There was only the ice, and then his whisper,
steaming in the cold. He made his vow,. His strong hands petted my bushy, soggy,
soaked hair and I came back to life, if only for the hope of that future moment.

The future moment that will happen tonight, at last.

He has lived, has survived for me, so I\'ve survived for him.

So much time has passed. Months, and years. He has risked his life many times over.
He has paid for his crimes. I saw it, over and over. He has never stopped seeing
himself painted all in black. He probably never will.

In my eyes he is clean. Like a soft snow that covers the world, whitening everything.
After the snow you can no longer see the black cobblestone of the street, and if I have
my way, no one will ever see Severus’ black marks again. That snow will never melt.

Today he will fulfill his vow. Tonight he will make me his wife.

Someone is knocking on my door.

I take one last look at the living beauty outside, and realize that the thin, yellow moon
is setting.

The night has finally come.

~*~ FIN~*~

A/N: I couldn\'t upload the picture, you could find it here:

http://grm.m.walla.co.il/community/2005/2/10/9868610/aurora_venhaus_big.jpg