Don't Be Afraid

This was a hillside that hardly anyone ever visited. It was far from Hogwarts' main castle, and no one could possibly spot the clearing unless they stood at the very top of the tower.

Severus Snape wore a dark scowl, and his gaze seemed capable of boring two holes through the newcomer.

In his hand was a flying broom he hadn't had time to put away in his storage ring.

"Good evening, Severus."

At the sight of the broom handle he was gripping so tightly it was almost cracking, Anna cursed her curiosity for the first time.

Forgive her. When she was in the tower, the light had been so dim that she'd only seen Snape, not the broom in his hand!

"Perhaps you should be in the Slytherin Common Room right now, instead of coming out here to stand in the cold wind, Miss Anna!"

Even though they were more than ten meters apart, she could still hear him grinding his teeth as he spoke.

Daddy! Come save her!

"Ahem, I saw you just now when I went to the Owlery to send a letter.

"Do we have Flying Class tomorrow? I've never tried a flying broom in my life."

Since things had already come to this, Anna steeled herself and walked toward Snape, pretending to be calm.

"Can I borrow it for a try?"

She held out a small, fair hand and pointed at the broom handle in his hand, which was nearly bent out of shape.

"Do as you please."

Snape tossed the broom toward her as though he were getting rid of a hot potato, his expression of disgust concealing a trace of nervousness.

Anna caught the broom and frowned as she looked at how worn it was all over.

When they'd helped Lamb Charles become a Hogwarts School Governor a few years ago, they'd specifically set aside a sum of money to buy a new batch of teaching brooms. How had they become so battered and broken in just two or three years?

Surely the students hadn't been using the flying brooms to sweep the floor!

Anna seriously doubted that was possible, but it wasn't a good time to go and pick out another one.

People usually straddled a flying broom, but Anna thought that was inelegant, so she tried sitting sideways.

The steady magic within her flowed slowly and faintly into the broom in her hand. She lightly pushed off the ground with her feet, and the broom carried her into the air.

Since it was her first attempt, she didn't fly very high, only about two or three meters above the hillside, and slowly circled the clearing.

This doesn't seem very difficult...

Anna looked down and saw that Snape's expression had grown even uglier. She landed at once.

"Severus, I want to go a little higher and have a look."

"Then go by yourself. I'm going back to the dormitory."

"Wait!"

Anna grabbed him as he turned to leave, took a brand-new, unused flying broom from her storage ring, and held it out to him.

It was a birthday present Elisa had given her last year, but her daily schedule had been so full that she hadn't remembered to play with it.

Perhaps a brand-new flying broom like this could do a little to salvage Professor Snape's appalling flying skills.

"Let's go together. We can treat it as practice.

"I remember Harry Potter is a good flyer. I think he's a Seeker, too. I heard he inherited that from his father?

"Should I ask Lily to come practice with us? I think Gryffindor has class with us tomorrow."

Afraid that Snape wouldn't accept her suggestion, Anna deliberately played her two trump cards.

"No!!!"

Snape reached out and took the broom, then sat on it, resisting the urge to snap the handle in two.

Unlike Anna's casual side-saddle position, his posture was perfectly standard.

Fortunately, thanks to the foundation he'd built in his previous life, Snape didn't take a tumble in front of Anna.

The brand-new flying broom carried him unsteadily off the ground, but his flying was so terrible that it looked as though a gust of wind could blow him right off.

"Severus, you're too tense. The magic in the broom will become very unstable because of your emotions.

"Slow down, relax, and regulate your breathing and your magic.

"Don't grip the broom handle so tightly. Imagine you're holding a stirring rod for making potions. Think about how relaxed you feel when you're brewing them.

"Don't be afraid, Severus."

At first, Snape's attention was almost entirely on the broom.

Once he had flown into the sky, the girl's voice kept reaching him from beside him. Just as when she had comforted Eileen back then, her voice was gentle and patient, with a faint, habitual note of enchantment.

How long has it been?

How long has it been since someone told me not to be afraid?

It seemed that, from his previous life to the present, no one had ever said those words to him.

In his previous life, Eileen had ignored his existence. Before their falling-out, Lily had seen him as a reliable friend. Voldemort had valued his talent, while Dumbledore had calculated everything and assigned him tasks that made him walk on a knife's edge. Until his death, he'd been hated and reviled by so many people...

Those people had been close to him, used him, kept their distance, or simply not cared...

Whoever they were, they all thought him strong and indifferent, so no one had ever told him not to be afraid.

He was human, not a machine, and naturally he felt fear.

But that feeling had been buried for so many years that he had never recalled it.

As a result, he'd always believed he didn't feel fear.

Until today...

Seeing his broom wobble, Anna hurriedly flew to his side and reached out to grab its front end.

"I'm right here watching you. Don't be afraid, Severus."

There was a trace of worry on the silver-haired girl's face. The night breeze blew strands of her hair onto his hand, making it tingle and itch slightly.

The broom, which had refused to obey him, instantly became docile in her hand.

Even the tension in his heart had vanished at some point.

The person beside him seemed to possess an innate magic that could calm a person's soul.

It had been that way when he'd first met her, and it was still that way now.

"Are you ready? I'm letting go."

Seeing that the broom had stopped wobbling, Anna slowly released her hand. Miraculously, Snape actually managed to steady himself.

Just as she'd said, if he imagined that the handle in his hand was his usual Potions stirring rod, it wasn't much of a problem.

Without realizing it, the two of them had climbed high enough. Beneath their feet lay the ancient, peaceful castle, and the full moon at the edge of the sky seemed close enough to touch.

"I've never seen the moon this close before. It really is beautiful."

The girl let go of the broom handle with one hand, as though reaching for the full moon, but all she could gather was a handful of moonlight.

A little behind her, Snape saw the warm, gentle smile on her face and her silver hair bathed in light.

It seemed to have gathered all the moonlight, smooth and cool as a clear spring, shining like the bright moon.

"Indeed."

He looked away and answered softly.