Author's Note:
Round 10: Music Through the Decades
Team: Pride of Portree
Position: Beater 2
Song: Mack the Knife – Bobby Darin
Prompts used:
3. (object) ring
6. (quote) "I am what I am, an' I'm not ashamed. 'Never be ashamed,' my ol' dad used ter say, 'there's some who'll hold it against you, but they're not worth botherin' with." — Hagrid
15. (image) i . ytimg vi / taYqwXhBogU / maxresdefault . jpg
Word Count: _1699_ excluding Author's Note
This is an AU version of events after Dumbeldore's death where Snape's soul does indeed get damaged and he starts to make some different choices. Everything else, including the Horcrux hunt stays true to canon.
The song Mack the Knife was used as inspiration for the lyrics in this story that describe Snape's actions as well as the dark humor with which this story should be taken.
DISCLAIMER: Any moral that might come from this story should be taken with a grain of salt. The author takes no responsibility for what might happen, should you choose to live your life based on what this story suggests.
The Ballad of Snape the Spy
The building at the very far corner of Spinner's End was a disgrace to the word "house." It was probably even a disgrace to the hovels of the world; more like a pile of wood that had been haphazardly carried together in a storm with a halfway decent roof slapped on top in order to hide its lack of construction skills.
Inside that insult to proud builders everywhere, behind the various glamours to make it seem even more pathetic as well as some decorative trash and graffiti and couple dozen protective wards, all to warn away unwelcome visitors, lived one Severus Snape; a man who many people liked to talk about, but preferably not to his face. Few knew the truth, though a great many things were suspected about him. He was the Dark Lord's most trusted servant. He was a vital spy for Albus Dumbledore and his Order. He was a man torn between two worlds and two loyalties.
This is the ballad of what happened when he finally had enough.
Oh the shark has pretty teeth, dear
And it shows them pearly white
Just his wand has old Snape the Spy, babe
And he keeps it out of sight
Snape didn't snap when the Dark Lord was resurrected. He didn't break when he saw the master he hated for the first time after his return. He'd known all along he would have to face the Dark Lord and he had thought he was ready. Snape knew that he would do whatever it took to atone for his past, to make up for the fact that he was responsible for the death of someone he loved.
Then he was tasked with killing his one friend. Albus Dumbledore had been the only one he'd trusted; the old wizard was his rock and kept him sane. Over time, Albus had convinced him that he could do it and walk away with his soul intact. So when the time came atop the Astronomy Tower, he killed the old man and continued on, still believing he could be good, still believing he stood a chance. He tried to justify it to himself by telling himself that he had simply played his role so why would it be harder after adding one more crime to mar his soul?
Ya know when that shark bites with his teeth, dear
Scarlet billows start to spread
Fancy spells, though, knows Snape the Spy, babe
So there's never, never a trace of red.
Peter Pettigrew had been his second kill; after his first, after Albus, it came with ease. One well-aimed curse was all it took and the coward was gone before Snape knew what he'd done. Poor Peter never saw it coming; he merely had the misfortune to be nearby when Snape finally snapped. The coward had sniveled one time too many. Before his eyes Snape saw his Lily die again, her death directly caused by Pettigrew's betrayal and then he saw red and it was done.
After he'd sobered up from his rage, another spell transfigured the body into a stone and he set about cleaning up the remaining gore. There was not a drop of blood to be found when he was done, and no one suspected Snape's involvement. Everyone merely assumed that the coward had run off with his wormy tail between his legs. Not long afterwards, a plan hatched in Snape's mind. The first war had taught him that the light could not win on its own, but what of the grey?
From a small boat by the river
A cement bag's dropping down;
The cement's just for the weight, dear
Which Death Eater's gonna drown?
Dear Bella was too loyal— she'd serve her master without question. Too powerful an ally, Snape could hardly allow the Dark Lord to have her. If he truly meant to help the light win, the woman had to die. He lured her down to the castle, let her into Hogwarts grounds. At first she suspected, but she was ready to cast all doubt aside for her master's gain.
He stunned her and fastened weights to her body with a Permanent Sticking Charm. Then he rowed them both to the center of the Black Lake and pushed her into the deep water. That was how our poor Bella became a snack for little squids. One sharp nudge was all it took, then he rowed the boat back and closed the gates.
Lucius Malfoy has disappeared, dear
After emptying his Gringotts stash;
And Snape the Spy spends like a sailor
Did our boy do something rash?
Lucius had come over for a drink. Snape hadn't intended to do it; the man was hardly vital to the Dark Lord at this point. But then he called Lily a filthy mudblood and what's one more murder during a war? He spiked his friend's glass with a bit of hemlock and watched the poor bastard expire slowly. Then he stole the family signet ring and with a bit of polyjuice used it to draw out all his funds from the bank. The Dark Lord thought the former turncoat had fled abroad to start anew while Snape gave the Malfoy's money to as many Muggle charities as he could find. He spent the rest on girls like Lily and smiled in dark delight. Oh what would poor Lucy think?
Alecto Carrow, she turned up lately
With a knife stuck through her chest
While Snape the Spy, he stalks the castle
Nonchalantly unimpressed
No one could deny that Alecto Carrow was a threat to all the children left at Hogwarts. All that screaming in his castle finally got on Snape's nerves. He invited his deputy head to have some tea up in the Headmaster's office. While the woman chatted away, he grabbed a penknife and stuck it in her chest. A wand the witch might have seen coming, a dull blade, not so much. The arrogance of those believing magic was superior doomed them all, one by one and that just made it even better. Snape began to find that killing really was addictive; once he started, he just couldn't stop.
Fenrir Greyback, Nott Senior,
Thorfinn Rowle and Jugson too
Oh the bodies are piling up, dear
If Snape has had enough of you
One by one, he hunted them down. If he could manage it, Snape always killed them in poetically fitting ways. Fenrir fell victim to a pack of werewolves, who had heard from a "reliable source" that he'd changed sides. Rowle got "ambushed" on a mission. He disappeared somewhere out at sea. That night Snape had snuck away from a meeting, but still no one suspected. How had they not connected the dots? Jugson's story was a short one; he barely even had time to serve the Dark Lord. There was no one who'd mourn the Death Eaters, all the bodies gone with not a trace left behind. In the evenings Snape would look back at his crimes and savour reliving them all one by one.
There are some who are in darkness
And the others are in light
And you see the ones in brightness
Those in darkness drop from sight
It was easy to play the assassin. He hid in shadows out of sight and continued picking off those he called allies one by one to his heart's delight. He killed them all so those in the light would never have to. He killed them all to save himself. That is, until the only one that was left was the Dark Lord himself. And yet somehow, Snape was never suspected, not until that final day. In Diagon Alley, his Lord turned his back and Snape raised his trusted wand. Sectumsempra cut through the so-called immortal man without end, and even Voldemort fell as he was torn to shreds. The wand dropped from his severed hand and Snape smashed it with his boot; the Dark Lord barely had the time to comprehend it.
Now on the sidewalk one sunny morning
Lies a Dark Lord just oozing life
And someone's sneakin' 'round the corner
Could that someone be Snape the Spy?
"Severus, why—" Voldemort spluttered and coughed up blood as new wounds bit into his skin. Snape just stood there silently; his work was done and he meant to enjoy it.
When the Dark Lord's corpse was cold, Snape merely sneered and walked away. Lily's death was finally avenged, his oath fulfilled, and the world set right. Soon the Aurors would find the Dark Lord's body and the world would know that it was free again. Well, that is to say, if that blasted Potter boy had done his job and there were no more filthy fragments of the Dark Lord's soul lying about. Yet that was no longer most important in Snape's mind. For the first time in his life, he felt light and even happy; he truly felt at peace at last. How strange that the blood of others had so oddly cleansed his soul.
"You are what you are, never be ashamed." That is what a wise man once said. "There'll be some who'll hold it against you, but if they do, you can just slay them all."
Alright, so maybe that wasn't exactly how Hagrid's quote had gone, but Snape still really felt he was getting into the spirit of the thing. He knew now that he was a killer, and he felt no guilt or pangs of remorse. No longer would he serve either of his masters. He'd outlived them both and he was free.
Oh the shark has pretty teeth, dear
And it shows them pearly white,
I fear Snape has gone off the deep end
A savior at the cost of a predator's bite.
So that's the story of what happens when a soul gets split in two. To ask a someone to be a murderer might be too much for any man to take. But, as Severus Snape found, to heal you only need to accept just what and who you are. Spill enough blood and maybe that'll be the thing, that'll set you free...eventually.