"I know that Mulciber and the lot of them were pestering you," Severus elucidated smoothly, revealing evidence of his awareness through speech. The pale boy's hue seemed to blanche, heightening the pallor to his skin that was already drained of color. Years of conformity made it difficult to redeem oneself to someone. Severus had watched multiple attacks on muggle-born students, most facilitated by that ghastly group of Slytherins- the Death Eater aspirers who never failed to make his stomach turn with guilt and anger and a homogenous mixture of the two emotions- but never directly participated. No, that was the coward that he had been. Remaining silent while the voiceless were persecuted simply because their blood was considered "less pure" in the eyes of the prejudiced and the discriminatory. Severus never belonged with that group, but there had been a time when he needed an anchor; he needed somewhere to fit in where he was valued, and mistook the dark group's manipulation of him as genuine value of worth. He had been so dreadfully incorrect that even gazing at the bedraggled girl made his stomach flip with consuming guilt. "I was about the hex them when you found me," he told her admittedly, unashamed by the confession of violence. He had no personal priority to alleviate his strained relationship with the girl, which arguably did not exist, but Severus felt the need to redeem himself. His image, as well as to possibly form a new friendship. From what he had heard from Lily, Mary was an astoundingly bright young witch with an aptitude for kindness and intelligence, two qualities that seemed to be in extensive absence since the war seemed to loom closer and closer into their lives. "Mary, I meant to apologize a long time ago..." Severus commenced, but was unsure of how to continue, standing in the empty room, recognizing with his admirable intellect that Mary had not wanted anything specific. "You wanted the thick walls," Severus observed intelligently, gazing around the empty room and then returning his dark eyes to hers. "You wanted the protection of the walls..." The Slytherin's voice trailed off and he could not withhold the sadness in his voice as he spoke. There was not pity, but there was the sadness that Mary could only feel safe when she found herself a place of isolation. Severus closed his eyes and tried to remember a time when he had treated Mary with kindness. He had never been outwardly cruel to her; he had never hurt her physically or taunted her; but Severus knew that she knew about the terrible things that he had done. "I hope that you do not think of me like that," he mentioned, finally finding the courage to look her directly in her panicked eyes. "Lily must have told you.. Oh, Merlin, Mary. I was a foolish little boy with nowhere to turn. But now, as you stand beside me, I must tell you the truth; that I am not malicious or prejudiced or hurtful. I would /never/ hurt you or any other muggle born." He searched her eyes to see if she believed his evident truth. "I must proclaim my apologies profusely. I fear that I cannot purge myself of my mistakes; but I can and I am attempting to fix what I have done. I.. I am so sorry." He finally paused and allowed the conversation to transgress, hoping that she could feel less tense around him; and if she could not, then Severus would know that the bad reputation of his would remain permanent and eternal.
