Snape's Story

The knocks echoed across the small house. Yet, in spite of the lateness of the hour and the secretive nature of the hushed voices outside, the inhabitant of the house showed no signs of surprise, and, as if on cue, set down his book and rose steadily to his feet. Pausing only briefly to glance mysteriously at the bookshelf, Severus Snape recalled his earlier conversation with Dumbledore before striding swiftly across the room. Do whatever you must to maintain their trust. Give them no reason to doubt. Snape opened the door to encounter an anxious pair of glistening blue eyes peering expectantly back at him. "Narcissa, what a pleasant surprise!"

* * *

"The Unbreakable Vow, you said?"

" I did not think it would get that far either," Snape remarked softly, his black eyes following the man pacing before him.

"But you consented to it, yes?"

Snape sighed. "Of course, I had no other choice." Dumbledore paused to gaze intently at Fawkes. Seeing no response, Snape continued quietly, "Albus, I am prepared to meet its consequences when the time comes. In the meantime, I will try harder to obtain information--"

"No," Dumbledore interrupted in a low, almost hoarse voice, but it was an unmistakable command.

Snape started. "Sir?"

After appearing to struggle with something, Dumbledore pronounced his next words slowly and deliberately: "No, Severus. You will not need to face the consequences of the Unbreakable Vow because you are to go through with it."

For a moment, Snape could only stare incomprehensibly back at Dumbledore, before--

"No," Snape inhaled. For the first time that night, he was visibly shaken. His eyes glittered as he met Dumbledore's gaze. "Albus, I cannot--"

"Severus," Dumbledore interrupted sharply, "you swore, did you not, to follow any command I gave you?"

* * *

"How is Draco?"

"According to the boy, the same he was the last time I asked," Snape responded sardonically. "I've told you before, Albus, he simply refuses to confide in me."

"But not because he suspects..."

"No, he does not suspect." Snape paused, and his face twitched before he remarked archly, "I have overheard him crying in the boy's bathroom."

Snape thought that he saw Dumbledore's face whiten, but he remained silent. He continued softly, "Albus, I wonder whether you have given any more thought to the possibility of hiding Draco and Narcissa, as I have suggested?"

"Yes."

"And?"

Dumbledore suddenly seemed very old. "The time is not right. Were Draco and Narcissa to disappear, you would immediately come under scrutiny. We would be forced to hide you as well."

"Well, perhaps it is time," Snape remarked silkily, watching Dumbledore's expression closely. "I've already told you that I believe I have obtained as much information as I can without arousing too much suspicion."

"Severus..." Dumbledore began quietly. There was no trace of anger or reproach in his voice. "What you have sacrificed these past sixteen years is beyond anything I could have asked or expected. Yet, everything you have worked for will lie unfulfilled in its potential if you do not go through with the act we discussed."

"Albus, you must understand that this time, you have asked too much of me!" Snape snapped impatiently. "And I still don't see what good can possibly come of your, your..."

"Their trust!" Dumbledore said simply. "Think, Severus! This will be the ultimate proof of your loyalty for the Death Eaters! You told me yourself that Bellatrix continues to suspect you. By following through with the Unbreakable Vow, you will have saved a sixteen year old boy from performing the deed! You will be placed in a key position to help the Order when the time is right. And...you can help Harry..."

And there it was again: Potter. The automatic hero. He who had never known the meaning of true sacrifice--of giving up his own life and happiness for a cause, who believed everything in the world was as simple as good versus evil, and who had been protected and watched over since birth--by a mother who gave her life for him, by friends who never wavered from his side, by the fatherly Dumbledore, by the doting Order of the Phoenix...the boy never realized how fortunate he truly was. Thrust into a destiny of which he was unworthy, saved time and again through sheer luck, the boy was praised for a foolhardiness that passed for bravery, a thickheaded stubbornness that passed for determination, and an impatience that passed for quick-thinking. Potter was the ultimate blundering mistake of a hero. And now, he, Snape, was to place all of his efforts, all of his hopes on the boy. Harry was the hero. As for himself? Was this what his most important role was--to kill Dumbledore? Snape's lips curled back into a menacing sneer.

"Severus?"

Snape could restrain himself no longer. "Albus, are you sure that the boy is...up to this? I daresay I would feel better leaving my fate in the hands of the Granger girl than Potter." He pronounced the last word venomously.

Dumbledore met Snape's gaze evenly. "Severus, this is a matter I have discussed with you many times now. My answer has not changed. I trust Harry Potter completely."

"But perhaps I could...if I were to get close to Voldemort..."

"No, Severus," Dumbledore said quietly. " You know the prophecy."

"Potter lacks the skill and brains to carry out this enormous task," Snape sneered.

"He has proven his courage time and again."

"His rashness got Sirius unnecessarily killed," Snape snapped, and, in spite of himself, he retorted coldly, "forgive my doubts, Albus, but I have absolutely no desire to see my efforts go to waste as well."

"That will be enough, Severus."

* * *

Snape burst through the door to the astronomy tower, where six heads turned towards the doorway. No, seven, he corrected as his cold black eyes surveyed the scene and fell upon the extra broomstick. Potter was here. Snape sized up the situation. There were only four Death Eaters whose guards were down and were unprepared for an attack...but his thoughts were interrupted...

"Severus..." Dumbledore whispered, as if he knew what Snape was thinking. Snape walked forward, pushing Malfoy roughly out of the way, hating himself and reviled by what he was about to do. And yet, despite Dumbledore's weakened state, Snape was surprised to find two powerful eyes boring into his. For all his skills in Legilimency, he didn't need it now to understand Dumbledore: You must do it.

Dumbledore spoke again. "Severus...please..."

Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A jet of green light shot from the end of his wand and hit Dumbledore squarely in the chest. Snape's surge of revulsion at that moment never left the inner recesses of his mind as he employed every Occlumency technique he possessed, a skill he had been perfecting since childhood as if for this very moment. Calm and expressionless, he was forced to watch as Dumbledore was blasted into the air. For a split second, he seemed to hang suspended beneath the shining skull, and then he fell slowly backward, like a rag doll, over the battlements and out of sight.

"Out of here, quickly," Snape snapped, masking his hollowness. But even as he grabbed Malfoy scruffily by the collar and forced him out the door, Snape felt the bottom drop out of his equilibrium. Dumbledore was dead. His days at Hogwarts were over. Snape had never felt more alone.