Disclaimer: I own Harry Potter and everything related to that magical world. Only in an alternate universe where my name is J.K. Rowling.
Please enjoy.
"Name."
The addressed man looked around him. The scenery, or rather, the lack thereof alarmed him. Where did all the colour go? Everything was white, save for the lone black figure standing in front of him.
"What? I did not catch that, speak up! Qué? Quoi? Shen me? Hey you, Russian? Indi…"
"English," as he cut the other man off. "Severus Tobias Snape, that is what my name is."
"Alright there, mate. Step right over there."
Severus walked over with wide strides to where the shapeless man pointed. He looked Severus up and down, pausing for a slight moment at the two holes on his neck.
"Ahem."
The man burrowed his eyebrows. "Age."
"38," came the reply without hesitation.
He looked Severus in the eye, "You sure you don't mean 68?"
Well-known for his icy stares, Severus held eye contact until the man raised his arms up in defeat. "Okay, Okay. Cause of death."
"Who are you?"
"None of your concern. It's not like you'll ever see me again after you answer these questions."
"I cannot be sure," Severus scratched his head. "One second I was standing there perfectly alright, the next second I was on the ground, lying there as the brat saw all my memories." Severus was not familiar with the notion of uncertainty.
"Cardiac arrest? Nervous attack? You got cancer? Lung? Liver? Pros…"
"Murder," Severus fixed him with yet another of his trademark glares.
"Don't give me funny looks, tell me what kind of murder," the man started tapping his feet.
This little action led Severus' eyes downward. "Where in Merlin's name am I?" Nothing made sense to him. The blankness, the man, and the ground, no, thing his feet were supported by, all this sent his mind reeling for answers.
Thirty years since the he last shrugged, Severus hunched one of his shoulders up then relaxed it. "I do not know, I am afraid. Why? Does it matter?"
"Of course, it does." With a heaved sigh, the man gave up, "Alright, alright. Next question. Do you think you're a good guy or a bad guy?"
Severus grimaced as he pondered to construct a response that would serve him justice for the past four decades of his existence.
Another sigh, "Let's start with your job."
"Teacher."
"Hm…sounds legit enough to me. Any illegit part-time jobs? Or some extracurricular activities that you did at some point? Ever raped a student? Hm?"
It did not matter anymore, did it? He was dead, away from the living world. No one in this world would care. In a hushed whisper, "Death Eater."
"Death what? Death shredder? What the heck is that?"
"You are a muggle," it came out as a statement more than a query.
"I've been called many names, but a wobble? Come on, man, I don't have a wobbly belly." The man knocked hard on his own abdomen, "These, here, are abs. I worked out for ages to get this six-pack, for Christ's sake."
Whoosh. A sudden strong gust of wind changed the pure white backdrop into murky brown, the most disgusting colour on a dreary autumn day.
"Ah, my shift is over. Hope the next guy will have more luck fishing out answers from either your tight-sealed lips or super sucky memory."
With a flash of blinding white light, the man was gone, vanished, more like. Just as Severus peeped out from behind his arm to shield his eyes from the intense illumination, another flash of light appeared.
Standing in the man's place, now was a girl. No, woman. No, teenage female? Her flawless tanned skin suggested her to be no older than 17, but her eyes told a different story. The depth and graveness of those emerald orbs were that of a person with decades of sadness, hurt, joy and humour. Then again, her feet were clad in knee-high black leather boots, legs partially covered with black fishnet stockings, waist to mid-thigh wrapped in a black and red checkered miniskirt, chest and abdomen hidden beneath a tang top with shiny words "Slit my wrist", and face layered with inches of white foundation.
"This must be one of those, what do muggles call them? Ah, emo kids," Severus thought.
"You, you look sketchy."
"I'm not the one with 6 facial piercings." Severus retorted.
"Watch your attitude. Anyway, back to business. Killed anyone?"
"Yes."
"Ever been in love?"
"I suppose so."
"Thanks for making my job harder. Why couldn't you just be a cold-blooded bastard who doesn't even know what love is?"
Severus arched an eyebrow.
"You know what," she continued, "I'm just gonna let you go up there. The past hour, I've sent a bunch of people with snake tattoos down below already."
Severus quick glance at his forearm did not go unnoticed.
"You don't have one do you?" She yanked his sleeves up to reveal clean, unmarked skin. She then placed her right hand on Severus' left shoulder, muttered an incoherent phrase, and no more was Severus in sight.
Severus stumbled as his feet landed on something solid. A strong grip supported Severus as he straightened his knew. It was a strong, but familiar grip. The very grip that had pulled him through the past decades. Severus dared not look up at the owner of those long thing fingers attached to a wizened hand.
"I'm fine," Severus let out a grunt.
"Of course, my boy. Of course you are fine." Severus could almost hear the silent chuckle behind it.
"And as are you." Severus kept his eyes glued to the ground.
"Is it not ironic how people always seek immortality? Forever is a long time to live in a very much banal body. Potions, elixirs, stones, fountains…"
Severus could not bear it, the chirpy tone and his talk of immortality as though life and mortality were just as disposable as a Wolfsbane gone wrong.
"Alright, alright, I get it," Severus snapped. "Where in Merlin's name are we?" Severus raised his head so that his eyes were on the same level as the man's long beard.
"Albus! Your beard! It's… orange," gasped Severus.
"Why, yes, yes, it is," Albus chuckled. "It's my natural hair colour, having all those decades taken away from me."
"Yes, indeed. All those years…"
"Look at me," Albus' voice was soft, yet with an edge that left no room for objection.
Slowly, Severus looked up, though still averting Albus' gaze, staring somewhere above the nose and between the eyes.
With a deep sigh, Albus' voice was laced with sincerity as he finally spoke, "I forgive you, it was not your fault at all. I made you do it, in fact, and you know that."
Severus grunted.
"Relax, my boy, we are mortals no longer." Albus reached into his pocket, "Alas, my very last one. Would you care for some sugar?"
Severus looked at the translucent yellow candy in Albus' extended palm. The last time he saw that very hand, it was all gnarled and burnt, far from the healthy pink flesh currently seen.
"Pity. Save it for yourself, the very last one." Severus turned his head around, his eyes darting from the ground to the sky. "Where are we?"
"It depends, the last person who came my way thought it looked like a platform in King's Cross."
"Tsk. What kind of dunderhead would take this as a platform?" Severus waved his hands about, gesturing to the air around him.
Albus chuckled again at the frustrated expression on Severus' dark face. "Our very "spoiled brat", as you often chose to call him."
"He was here?"
"Why yes, he was avada-ed, after all."
"He chose to go back."
"There was a life waiting for him to be lived out."
"Sure, signing autographs for his autobiography: The Boy Who Lived Yet Again."
"It wasn't time for him yet."
"It was for you?"
"It wasn't for you either."
"You think not?" Severus spat. "There is no place for me in that world anymore. Hogwarts, England, Europe, anywhere else! Everywhere I go, I will be looked at with hateful eyes, if not pitiful."
"You are the one who sees yourself that way."
"That is your problem, old man. You think the world we live in is a beautiful place, white clouds against blue skies, scholars delving into ancient magic thinking that they would know better, when something goes wrong, they deserve a second chance. A third, fourth, fifth, tenth, hundredth!" Severus' eyes shone bright with not so much anger, but something else, a subtle emotion that could not be placed.
"Are you not grateful at all?"
"I was." Severus suddenly felt fatigue wash over him. As though he was back in the Room of Requirement, a comfortable leather chaise appeared behind him, beckoning him to have a seat.
"Was?" Albus peered over his half-moon spectacles and scanned Severus' chiseled face.
Severus let out the breath he had unknowingly been holding.
"I agreed to be a spy so that Lily would be safe. I was thankful then, and every moment when she was still living and breathing even though she had married that Potter brat. Not so much anymore after the Dark Lord took her." Severus hung his head, in a barely audible whisper, "Took her away from me."
Just then, a soft whimper reached Severus' ears. "What is that sound?"
"Look over there."
"The black thing on the ground?"
Albus nodded. "What do you think it is?"
"Evil. My mark tingles." Severus pulled up his sleeve, and sure enough the pitiful excuse of a tattoo was darkening second by second, from nothingness to a dull shade of grey, yet never charcoal black as it used to be. The forked tongue of the serpent flickered in and out of its mouth, the steady rhythmic beat was almost sickeningly erotic. Severus' arm trembled. "It has never hurt this bad before." His eyes were glazed over with tears that refused to flow out of his dark orbs.
The cloaked figure on the ground let out a blood curling scream. Severus found himself sliding off the chaise and started writhing on the ground.
"Take it away! Don't leave it near me! Go away you piece of shit that ruined my life!" For once, Severus did not care about his façade in front of others anymore, he sobbed like a little girl watching her parents drive away on the first day of school. His barrier was broken down with vengeance and shame. With that, Severus knew no more, his body calm and unmoving against the cold cement ground.
Albus got up from his kneeling position next to Severus, took one look at the Potions Master and strode away, his multicoloured robe and long auburn hair flowing gracefully behind him. Albus threw a quick glance over his shoulder at the unconscious figure. "There is no place for you in this world either."
A/N: The 2 characters in the beginning just came to my mind, kind of random, I know. Thanks for reading this. A review would really make my day :D