"I know you don't understand. It's alright," Severus told her. He didn't know what he felt when she tried to comfort him. Trapped maybe, but on some level wanted or needing. He just didn't grasp how to accept those emotions, to believe what she said or what those soft touches promised.
He raised his wand to point it toward one of the houses. There were only a handful at the end of that lane, it'd be so long abandoned, ivy creeping through the windows and up the porch, clinging to the walls. He wanted it to burn so badly, to hurt something, destroy something... as if he just screamed at the top of his lungs and brought everything to ruin that his pain would go with it but when he looked down at Alecto, he shook his head and lowered his wand.
Burning the book hadn't changed anything. Why would burning a house?
Running to the Dark Lord hadn't changed anything, either.
"I want to go home," he told Alecto, wrapping his arms around her and resting his cheek against the crown of her head. He knew deep in the pit of his stomach that'd he do something just as wrong, just as irrational, there, but it'd feel better than this.