A/N: Hello, it's Al. I realize that this is a one-shot, but it's one that I just had to post on here. While waiting for Ash to get back the next chapter, I decided to indulge my many many plot bunnies and I'm starting to work on just random one-shots and this is one of them. I'd really appreciate some feedback, and of course, thanks again to Megan, who betaed this for me in her free time. Also it's all in Harry's POV.

Title: Love Will Always Last Forever

Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to the HP characters. Doing so would make me rich, and currently I only have 18 bucks to my name. I don't own them, obviously.

Warnings: DEATHFIC! Meant to be depressing. If I accidentally make you cry, I hold no responsibilities for it.


July 15, 2020

I stood at his grave. It had been 2 years since you'd passed on, and I still came to visit you on a regular basis. I would tell you everything that'd been going on, and how even though I was getting sicker by the day, I still lived my life as full as I could, as my body would allow me to do so. 8 years ago, we'd finally gotten ourselves tested for HIV. It was five years after that that it developed into AIDS. The years after that have been the hardest of my life. I sat down at your grave, and read the headstone again.

Severus Snape

1970-2018

Devoted to everyone

He cared for

Never regretting

Any choices he made

We'd been together for years. Over 20 years now, and sometimes things like this don't occur to you until it comes almost too late. The years and days that had passed since then, I could remember everything about those years as if they'd just happened.

June 19, 2012

I heard the doctor's voice calling out, but I already knew the results. I grasped your hand, but didn't look up into your face until long afterward. "I'm afraid that the results are positive." Those few words sealed our fates. We were going to be forced to die young because of a stupid disease. You led me outside, and the bright sunshine did nothing to put the life that had once resided in me, back into me.

You didn't utter a single word to me until we reached the car again. "Harry, I'm so sorry." You turned the key, and the motor started. We'd moved from the wizarding world after I'd defeated the Dark Lord. That'd been years beforehand. You backed the car out, and I still didn't say a word to you.

Finally, as we headed north on the highway, I turned to you and said, "I know you are, Severus. But you have no reason to be. It is as much your fault as it is mine, and I know for a fact that you knew as much as I did about it until today." I was sorrowful. It could be a very short, or very long, depending on how lucky we were, time that we had left together.

You reached over and took my hand lightly. "We don't know how long we'll have to live, but whatever time we have left, let's make the best of it." You turned and smiled at me, and I knew that even if it happened to be days, or weeks, or even months left together, I would take every single amount of time that I could. I would spend every moment in the remainder of your life, and mine, with you.

Our lives progressed slowly then, not wanting to take anything too far, just in case something happened soon. But the terrible fate that awaited you didn't come for years.

2 years after finding out that we were doomed to die slowly, painfully, and terribly young, we took a trip. We went all over Europe and then to the United States. We traveled for what seemed like years, when in reality, it had barely bordered on months. 3 glorious months with someone like you, and no one else was more than I could have ever dreamed of.

I think back to the day constantly when we found out what was going to happen to us, but I suddenly, after all these years, didn't care. 6 months after our trip, you decided to retire. With our combined accounts, we could have bought a mansion with a hundred servants daily, and live that way for at least 10 years. We retired to a little cottage home in the outskirts of London, where our lives continued to press on.

The little 3-room cottage with two bathrooms, kitchen, living room, and dining room was spacious, but quaint enough for our liking. We had a few visits from friends, Draco and Narsissa Malfoy, Hermione and Ron Weasley, and from Remus. Remus was still getting older, and in his older age, was also getting slower and more tired. The wolf inside him drew more energy than Severus or I could comprehend.

The following year, two dreadful things happened to us. Severus' HIV had developed into AIDS, and Remus had passed on. One night when he was transforming, the shock of turning back from his wolf form to his human gave him quite the shock. He died from a heart attack, even though he'd been transforming since the age of 5 years old. He'd managed to get severe memory loss, but he still remembered Severus and me.

We had gone to the ceremony for him, when all of a sudden you had collapsed. You had a fever that rivaled anything I'd ever had when I was still in school, and desperately thinking, apparated you to the closest hospital. I knew you would scold me later for this, considering neither of us had apparated for years. The doctors took you from me, and I waited.

Waiting for news about a loved one was the worst I'd ever experienced. The doctors told me the news, and the estimated time that you'd have left to live was only, at the most, a year and a half. I think it was then that I died on the inside. Even spending time with you wasn't nearly as satisfying as it once was. I felt hollow, and dead. I never thought I'd be happy again, especially when you ended up in the hospital again only 7 months later.

The last 3 were agony. I spent any time I was allowed (which was almost all the time in the world) with you. I held you at night, and you grew weaker and weaker each day. A week before you left me for another world, you grasped my hand and said, "Love is something that will always last forever. I have never stopped loving you since I told you that I loved you, and I never will. You and I will be together forever, and I can't think of anything I would have rather done with my life, rather than spent it with you." Your eyes closed, and then opened to smile at me again. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't give you the happiness that you deserved Harry."

I shook my head and tightened my hold on your hand. "Even if I'd died in the war, I would never regret anything that happened between us. Don't be sorry for something that you needn't be sorry for. You gave me something that I never thought I'd have, the happiness of the love of another. You gave me that, and it was more than I could have ever asked for." Tears welled up in my eyes, but I couldn't let them fall now. I was so close. "Severus, even though we were never allowed to marry, I would have never left your side for another. You made me happier than anyone on this planet. I'll never regret these decisions, and Severus don't you forget." I paused; the tears I didn't want to fall began to flow in waterfalls. "Love is something that always lasts forever." I kissed you gently, and then let go of your hand. I climbed into the bed, and held you in my arms.

The day before you left me was the hardest. "Harry, my love, my light, everything that I've ever dreamed of, I'll always love you. The happiness you gave wasn't deserved, but it was given all the same. I know I probably didn't say the words enough, but you should know by now. I love you. I will always love you. I can make that a promise. Promise me that you'll always love me?" You took my hand, your breathing becoming shallower.

Tears came again, and I cried as I said, "Of course. I promise that I'll love you until your soul is no longer with me. But when I come to you, we'll never be apart, so I can keep the promise. I'll love you forever, and I promise that it will last forever." I tucked you into the bed, and held you in my arms for the last time.

And then, on July 15, 2018 you passed on.

The morning was beautiful. I failed to notice for the fact that you were no longer breathing. The steady, and then erratic, rise and fall of your chest wasn't there anymore. I called for the doctors, and they gave me the conclusion. You'd died. You left me here, but I could still feel you near me. 'I'll always be by your side, and I promise I'll always love you.' It was if the words were whispered in my ears.

Two days later, I had the funeral arranged, and my heart felt heavy. Half of me had died when you had, and the sorrow was the hardest part. Yes, when you were buried, and I had to face up to the fact that you were never waking again, the realization hit me like an arrow, and that arrow broke my hear into two pieces.

"Harry, you're welcome to stay with us, if you need to." Hermione's voice said, and the kind gentle hand rested on my shoulder.

For months after that, I would see you. I talked to you once, possibly twice, but never more than that. The first time was right after the funeral, you were putting a book back on the shelf, and you turned around to greet me. "Hello, and welcome back. Harry." You would talk to me, but I rarely talked back.

The next time, it was after I'd taken all your clothes to the tailor to fit me. "You look better in that than I ever did." You laughed at my shocked expression. "Come on, Harry. Is it really so unusual for me to compliment you?" You vanished after that.

I cried, still remembering everything that'd happened since then. Your 'visits' had become less and less frequent, and I only saw you 3 times this year. I think that they were just memories of mine, that seemed to manifest themselves. You hadn't faded from my mind; you were still there, as always.

Two years since you died, and my HIV was AIDS, and I didn't have long to live at all. 3 months at the most. I carried myself to the hospital, because I was feeling worse than normal.

Two weeks later, and I'm still alive, but just barely. I never thought that being sick would cause so much pain. Hermione and Ron were here everyday, staying as long as they were allowed to. They cried, and cried, and finally I began to fade. On the night that I gained another year, my life fading into the darkness; I was going to see my lover soon.

I remembered your words, "Remember, love lasts forever." I smiled, and knew it would always remain to be true. You were always true to your word.

The white faded into black, and I knew no more.

My love? I'm sure he was waiting for me, at the entrance to the long, long tunnel that filled with light. Wherever he was, it was what I could call home. Yes, he'd kept his word. Our love would always last, at least forever.


A/N: Yes I know. This was horribly depressing. It was just something that I felt I needed to write. It was just a sudden inspiration, and I knew that it would take more than just a page to do it exactly how I wanted. If you'd review, there's a good chance you'll get more one shot fics. Please let me know what you thought.