AN: Hello, everyone. As promised here is the sequel of my previous work "Finding heaven in hell". I've been writing it in these days, but it's nearly done. In the meantime, I'm going to publish the first chapters as I review the others.
The story isn't going to be very long (4/5 chapters max) but I had to write it, for my peace of mind ;).
Let me know what you think. Hope you enjoy.
Prologue
The Final Battle was over at last: Lord Voldemort had been vanquished by the Boy Who Lived. The cheering, however, didn't last much; everyone soon realized the cost that had been paid. The Great Hall was full of the bodies of the dead, both good and bad, and many others were still missing.
After taking the Dark Lord's body in another room, many of the survivors began the search on the castle's grounds. Hermione stared at Harry, who was looking after the wounded, and nodded to him, pointing outside. The boy understood what his friend was trying to tell him: she was going to recover Snape's body that was still in Shrieking Shack.
As she walked towards the haunted house she thought about her professor's allegiance. She had believed him, and Professor Dumbledore of course, when they said he was spy in the Dark Wizard's ranks in their fifth year. Well, actually, she had suspected it since the Potions Master had shown the Dark Mark to the Minister after the Triwizard Tournament. Of course, the events of last year had confused her, but there was something that she believed was missing, something that would explain why Severus Snape had killed Albus Dumbledore. And now that she knew the truth she couldn't believe that she hadn't seen it before.
"I could have saved him!" she exclaimed as she realized that she was just outside of the Whomping Willow.
As she stopped the tree from hurting her, her thoughts returned to the man who was now lying in a pool of his own blood. He had always been a strict teacher, that was sure, and even cruel at times, but she had admired him from the beginning; since he walked into the classroom, cloak billowing behind him, and stunned them all into silence.
'I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death'.
She could still remember the intensity of his voice as he delivered that speech. Hell, she could remember the passion for his art that was hidden in his every movement. If she was honest with herself, she had always had a kind of crush on the man. Purely intellectual of course. Well, at least at the beginning. There was that time, in her sixth year, when she had run into him. He had been incredibly angry. He had removed twenty points from her house for "not being able to look where you are going, Miss Granger". But as he steadied her she had felt his sinewy chest under her hands. She had thought about that encounter for days.
And what about THAT night? The one when she finally admitted her feelings both to herself and to her professor. She hadn't been able to stop thinking about the way he had kissed her. Never something like that had happened to her. Ron had kissed her when they finally destroyed the Horcrux in the Chamber of Secrets. But there was something missing in that kiss, something that, she was afraid to admit, was purely Severus Snape.
'The man is dead and all you can do is think about kissing him? Really?' she berated herself.
Yeah right, but…
She was thinking about his elegant hands when she stepped through the door.
"No!" she cried, running towards the pool of blood. There was no body in it. Hermione looked around the room hoping that, somehow, he had moved, but there weren't traces of blood around.
Falling to her knees near the place where Severus Snape's body should have been, she cried. She cried because he didn't deserve to die. She cried because he probably had died thinking that the whole world hated him. She cried because he at least deserved a burial. She cried because now his body was probably in the hands of some Death Eaters who wanted revenge. She cried for all the casualties of the war.
That was how, one hour later, Harry found her.