Four Seasons (Autumn) 1/4 Title: Four Seasons (Autumn) Author: abrae Word Count: 100x2 Rating: PG-13 Warning(s): EWE, 8th Year Summary: An autumn's walk leads to a revelation A/N: I'm still learning the ropes.
He draws to a stop along the path to Hogsmeade and drinks in the late afternoon musk. Finally free, he slowly closes his eyes and exhales a bit of the dread that still wakes him in the cold dark of night. He can breathe now - perhaps for the first time in his life - and, having fully expected to be dead instead, he recognizes the air that fills his lungs for the gift it is. The ghost of a smile flits across his face as he opens eyes that, if not innocent, are yet fresh, and they are drawn to the unexpected autumn ruddiness of an approaching youth. His heart - that rusty organ - catches as he takes in appled cheeks and the dark chocolate sworl of windswept hair, thudding to a halt when the boy fixes him for an eternal moment in his evergreen gaze. A sharp intake of breath - an exquisite pain more terrifying than any he has known in the past twenty years - a sudden, demanding knowledge that cannot be unlearned or forgotten. He looks to the horizon, he wills himself away as the boy silently passes him, and he cannot breathe he cannot breathe he cannot breathe anymore.