Originally posted under the sub-pseudonym of oolsock as an answer to snape100's Dreamscapes in Black and White Challenge (#141).



The outer corridor was to the left of a courtyard where Slytherins snogged between classes, but Severus was more concerned by the archway at its end; if he could breach its threshold, then he would be stepping into a world of his own design.

Nightly, the sun painted the columns, lit them one after another, as if the blasted orb itself were urging him forward. Severus never failed to oblige the light, but his penultimate stride toward desire always returned him to where he had begun—alone and frustrated in the shade, contemplating the sun-warmed pillars, his heart beating back fear.