A/N I wrote this right after I finished reading The Half Blood Prince. It was sort of an initial reaction to Snape killing Dumbledore. My first reaction being of "Oh God, what an evil bastard!" But after much thought, I'm still not convinced of his betrayal. It was all just a little too easy. But, as I said, this came out of the initial.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me nor am I making money off of it...no matter how much I need the cash.

I sat down at the edge of her bed. She was awake (how could she not be?). I saw her eyes glint in the darkness. I don't know why I didn't just kill her. Maybe murdering her parents just moments ago had drained me, maybe I was getting old, or maybe I consciously knew that this was wrong. Whatever the reason, I waited. It was during this moment of silence that she began to speak.

"You know, I always thought that you professors were trying to kill me with the amount of work you would assign," She gave a small laugh, a feat few could manage in her position. She continued on. "I suppose it's only fitting that you will be the one to kill me."

I shifted, uncomfortable with the situation I now found myself in. I got up off her bed and stood beside it, pulling out my wand as I went. From the dim moonlight, I could see tears welling up in her eyes. I shouldn't have waited. She began to speak again with only a slight quiver in her voice.

"I'm glad that you'll be the one to kill me. I'm sure I never told you, or anyone else for that matter, but you were always my favorite teacher. You taught me about the real world; no one was fair and people were always going to judge you superficially. In that way, you were my best professor."

The tears that I saw coming now bled from her eyes, yet no sobbing or whimpering.

"I guess that's my only regret; to no be able to go out and use the things I've learned. I've really only just begun to learn my magic and I would have liked to have used it without any restrictions," Her tears were flowing quite freely now. "But I suppose that's not how it's going to be. I presume you have already killed my parents?"

It wasn't really a question. I nodded. The calmness of her voice was eerie and it spooked me. She wasn't supposed to accept her death this easily. Why wasn't she begging?

"I'm going to turn away now. I'd like to you to kill me when I'm away from you. I suppose that seems cowardly to you, but I'd rather not see my death coming. I suppose it's a bit naive, but I want to pretend that nothing's wrong, that I'm still going to go out and get a job, and be able to survive one more day. Of course it's not true," She paused. "And I think that's what hurts the most."

She rolled away from me. However, she did not close her eyes. For someone who made herself clear on not wanting to see death come, it was a rather strange choice. A choice I found slightly unnerving later on. My wand was at the ready. I noticed that she gripped her stuffed bear tighter. How strange it was this seventeen year old should act so young.

I whispered the curse and with a flash of green, she was gone. Her vacant dead eyes started at the wall in front of her. Her face betrayed only the sadness that she felt. Only two small tears in the corner of her eyes were all that remained.

I had never been terribly fond of her and I had no qualms about killing her, but the way she accepted it so calmly was disconcerting. She did not beg to stay alive. She only said that she wished she could. I asked him not to send me to any more of my students' homes.