Poison In The Chamber

*A miserable day...* Severus Snape thought.

He sat in his office clutching a bottle of Flaming Throat. He chuckled to himself, Severus Snape, drowning his sorrows in alcohol.

His greasy hair was disheveled and his black robes wrinkled and dirty.

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon and he had spent all day in his office, getting drunk.

"Lily, Lily, Lily...you taunt me even in death," he muttered, pouring himself another glass. The drink was strong and wasn't called Flaming Throat for nothing. A timid knock on the door shook Snape out of his daydream.

"Enter..." he croaked.

Virginia Weasley entered his office and gasped slightly upon seeing him so vulnerable.

*Ah, Weasley. *

"Sir? Are you al-alright?" she squeaked, nervously wringing her hands and looking at the cold stone floor. Her flaming red hair was tied into a braid and her robes had a bit of dust on them.

"My health is none of you business Weasley, not that you really care anyway." He managed to keep his intimidating mask up.

Ginny looked up and was startled to see flashes of pain and sadness in his eyes. He saw her looking at him and glared, regaining his mask of composure.

She blushed and continued. "I've come to find what I have to do for detention..."

He set the bottle down and stood up.

Virginia trembled and wrung her hands more frantically.

He leaned down so his face was mere inches from hers.

"Are you frightened of me Miss Weasley?"

She recoiled slightly and whispered "yes..."

He withdrew and muttered ,"you needn't be. I find you quite interesting."

Her eyes flashed with confusion and she asked again what she had to do for detention.

*She looks so much like Lily, all but the eyes, Lily's were pools of green. *

"You'll serve it now I suppose. The classroom floor could do with some cleaning. I will join you in a minute to keep an eye on you."

She left and he sat back down, thinking of the incident on Friday.

Flashback

Harry Potter had brought his photo album of his Mum and Dad to Potions class to show what Sirius used to look like to Ron.

"Mr. Potter, will you kindly bring whatever is distracting you up here."

Harry trudged up to the front of the room, where Snape took the album from him. Later that day he opened it and found Lily and James faces staring up at him. James scowled and Lily looked shocked, then tried to hide behind James. Severus sneered and snapped it shut, seeing Harry Potter all week was already a bad enough reminder of how he had lost Lily to James Potter.

Severus still had the album with him; he took it out and brought it with him out to his classroom where Virginia was busy scrubbing the floor.

He flipper through it a bit and found a picture of their wedding. In the corner he saw himself peeking out. The younger Severus was handsome and though many people SAID he had always had greasy hair, it wasn't true, before he lost Lily it was always clean and neat.

Virginia glanced at him when he wasn't looking.

**Why does everyone say he's ugly, he seems quite handsome to me. ** She furrowed her brow in thought. He had seemed so sad to her; she wondered what was the matter.

Snape glanced at her and barked "Did I tell you to stop Weasley?"

She continued to scrub and he took out his journal.

Saturday, January 27,

Today is much worse than the others, I can't take it! Lily's spirit is everywhere! In Virginia, in Harry, in the book I confiscated. Everywhere! I don't think I can do this anymore...I have to get out! No one will miss me, I doubt anyone would notice if I left...I'm a coward, I want to die, but I'm too afraid. The fastest way out I know of is Basilisk blood, but where am I going to get that? Unless...the Basilisk's body is still down in the chamber? I'll need a Parselmouth though...

He looked over at Ginny to make sure she was working and a thought occurred to him.

I know how Harry became a Parselmouth, when he 'defeated' Voldemort when he was a baby, a bit of Voldemort's power went into him, maybe it was the same case with Virginia?

Snape's mind raced, it would be so easy!

"Miss Weasley, I'm going to ask you to do something, you mustn't tell ANYONE, understand?"

She nodded and he headed for the classroom door, beckoning for her to follow. He made his way to the first floor bathroom with Ginny close behind him.

Ginny leaned in close and inhaled, savoring his cinnamon smell, not even realizing where they were headed, he opened the door and stepped in, she followed and finally took in her surroundings.

"Oh..." she stifled a scream and whimpered. "Professor..."

"I need Basilisk blood," he stated, "you can open the chamber for me."

"I-I-I can't sir! I don't want to go down there!"

He placed and hand on her shoulder and smiled a bit, "don't worry Miss Weasley, I'll protect you if anything happens."

"O-O-Okay, are you sure it's dead?"

"Absolutely, now," he searched and spotted the snake on the faucet, "concentrate on the snake and say 'open'"

She gazed heavily at it.

"Open..."

"Come now Weasley, that was English, concentrate harder!" he urged.

She tried again, "Hiss..."

The faucet started shifting, revealing a large pipe.

"I'll go down first, promise me you'll go down right after me."

"Alright Professor..."

He slid down and heard Virginia slid down after him.

They reached the end and he took his wand out.

"Lumos..."

A small dome of light surrounded them.

Ginny did the same and the dome grew bigger.

Severus cautiously moved forward.

Virginia began to whimper and made a grab for his hand.

He allowed her to do so and shuddered at her warmth.

She gasped slightly on how cold his hand was.

She stopped whimpering and looked around nervously.

They passed the snakeskin and the crumbling rock wall and stopped at a large door. Ginny hissed and it opened, revealing the Chamber of Secrets.

Severus entered first and spotted the Basilisk, it was large and intimidating, causing him to such in his breath.

"Virginia, I'm about to make sure it's dead, close your eyes and cover your ears.

She did so and he yelled "Avada Kedavra!" A flash of green light shot out of his wand and hit the beast. It remained motionless.

He touched her shoulder, indicating she could open her eyes and ears.

He went up to it and took out a knife and a vile.

Severus cut a small hole into the monster and held out the vile, capturing the drops of blood.

He went to the foot of a column and beckoned her forward.

"Virginia, I never meant for me to come out of here."

"What!?!?" she looked confused.

"Basilisk blood is a poison, I meant to take it down here and you would leave on this broom I always keep in my pocket.

He took a miniature Cleansweep Seven out of his pocket and muttered an enlarging spell.

"Take it and get out of here."

"But Professor-"

"Leave!" he screamed, he drank the liquid before she could stop him and automatically slumped backward.

"Professor!" she cried over him as he lay there dying.

"Why?" she whispered

"Lily..." he gasped.

She touched her lips to his and tried to such the poison out of him, but it was to late, he'd already swallowed it.

"I didn't hate you Professor," she whispered.

"You're a fool then." Severus muttered.

She looked at the few drops of blood left in the vile.

"I'll take the rest of it if you die!" she screamed.

"Don't Weasley..." his voice was raspy and fading.

Virginia drank the rest of the poison and slumped backward as well, it worked faster on her small, fragile body. She leaned forward and kissed her teacher, sweetly and tenderly, the snuggled into his arm.

They died in the Chamber.

~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~

"Hey, have you guys seen Gin?" Ron asked Harry and Hermione.

"She had detention with Snape," Hermione answered.

Meanwhile, in Dumbledore's office, a letter came for him.

We regret to inform you of more of them dead, enclosed is another list.

-Cornelius Fudge

Henry Davidson

Lisa Grondler

Margaret Jamison

Sean O'Connor

Severus Snape

Frances Vencenta

Virginia Weasley

Dumbledore looked at the list again, realizing Professor Snape and Virginia Weasley were on the dead list.

He called for McGonagall and told her to fetch Ron and to owl the Weasley family.

He magnified his voice to reach all the corners of Hogwarts.

"Students and teachers, I regret to inform you, two people have died today. Miss Virginia Weasley and Professor Severus Snape."

Ron was in the common room and McGonagall hadn't reached him yet. He passed out right in the middle of the common room. Hermione began sobbing loudly and Harry sat in stunned silence.

All anyone thought of was Ginny Weasley, they didn't remember their Potions Master. Severus was right, they didn't notice he was gone.

Love is Pain,

And Pain is Bitter,

Love is never worth the Pain,

And Pain is never worth the Bitterness.

This was true in Severus Snape's situation. He loved Lily, and was pained by her. That's how he became bitter. If he had never loved, he would never have felt that pain, and wouldn't have been so bitter.