DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own anything except a couple of OCs and the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling.
THE PENALTY OF WAR
BY ShiroAshiya
The greasy haired, shallow skinned Potion Master gazed down at the young woman lying at his feet with piercing, black eyes. The woman, probably no more than twenty one years old but wouldn't live to see tomorrow. Shame, she had such potential. Snape vaguely remembered her from her years at Hogwarts, a Ravenclaw if memory served him correctly. She had been a straight O student but unfortunately she was, apparently not smart enough to stop herself from being captured by the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters. Her once silky hair was now a long, matted tangle of brown and her hazel eyes were pained and haunted. The vibrant wound on her left forearm leaked blood and stained the floor and the metal shackles on her wrists. One word, carved into her arm with a silver dagger. It was just one word yet it leaked so much blood. The word Mudblood. Just seeing the word caused Snape's stomach to churn.
Pushing the unwanted thoughts of regret away, the Potion Master raised his wand and snarled the two words that would end the poor woman's life after at least a thousand torture sessions. "AVADA KEDAVRA!" A wave of the wand and a cash of green light illuminated the room. When the green light cleared the woman's body lay there, still and lifeless. Her hazel eyes devoid of any emotion, blank and fixed.
The Dark Lord ordered LeStrange and Malfoy to remove the body from his sight. As the two Death Eaters removed the body from the meeting room, Severus Snape couldn't help but stare at the puddle of blood where the former Ravenclaw had been. The place where she had begged to see her husband once more. To see her child one more time. She would be seeing them both soon enough. In the afterlife. Both had been killed. The father of the child killed by one of the LeStrange twins, Rodolphus, Snape believed. The child had been immediately disposed of.
Severus sighed as The Dark Lord placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered "well done" into his ear. The two words made Snape feel physically sick. Being praised for murder? It was just...wrong!
Severus returned home to his house at Spinners End later that night and cried himself to sleep, grieving over the woman who's name he couldn't even remember.