Severus Snape was dying.
Not from a giant snake's bite. No, he had been saved- barely, but still- from that.
Not from a killing curse, or any visible wound.
It had nothing to do with the now-dead Voldemort, the scattered, embittered Death Eaters, or even from an idiot Longbottom finally stumbling onto a fatal potions mixture (as he knew would happen someday).
No, it was because of Harry Potter.
Well, not because of him, but rather for him. Now that everything was finally reaching a close, Severus could keep his Unbreakable Vow- his promise- to Lily, the only woman he'd ever loved.
But in order to fulfill that Vow, he had to break another. Hence, the dying.
"H-Harry…" Snape weakly coughed as Harry frantically tried to figure out what was wrong with Severus, what he could do to help, because dammit Snape wasn't dying now, not after everything. Because it just wasn't fair.
"Mr. Potter!" Severus snapped, finally gaining the attention of Harry. Snape sighed. "Good. Now listen… very carefully… I don't have," a hoarse cough, followed by a trickle of blood, "a lot of time. But you need to know, I promised your mother…" If he didn't have the boy's complete attention before, he did now.
"Do try and repress your damned Gryffindor tendencies, and try not to interrupt, brat." But it lacked its usual venom and spite. Harry nodded, tears forming in his eyes. Snape smirked slightly, almost fondly, taking the sting out of the words, before he continued, taking a deep breath.
"Dumbledore is alive." He raised his hand when Harry opened his mouth to protest. "Listen! He's alive… because he Polyjuiced another wizard and Imperioed him into acting like Dumbledore. And I know that this doesn't make sense, because you've always looked up to him, and why would the kindly old man abandon you when you needed him most?" Harry nodded in agreement to his questions voiced aloud.
Severus coughed again before rasping, "Because he's an evil, manipulative old bastard, almost as bad as Voldemort. The Dark Lord never made a secret as to his ambitions, and was ruthless and cunning and cruel, but almost always honest, because what did he really have to hide? But Dumbledore… he twists your affections and your emotions so that you'll rely on him, fight for him, believe in him. But he never, ever cared for you Harry, I promise." Snape sighed; this was going to be the hardest part.
"Dumbledore knew about your relatives Harry." Severus felt Harry stiffen almost immediately, emerald eyes pained and face tight with repressed emotion. "He sent you to them, knowing what they would do to you, knowing how horribly you would be treated, but planning on the fact that you'd fall into and hero-worship the first pair of arms that rescued you from that hell-hole. Then he sent you back every year to keep you beaten down and subservient to him and him alone. Because, after all, wasn't it always Dumbledore who'd rescue you?" Harry was shaking his head in denial, but he could see in Harry's eyes that he knew the truth.
Harry hoarsely whispered, "I think I knew…" Severus raised an eyebrow in typical Snape-fashion, a look that clearly said 'do tell Mr. Potter', and made Harry smile for a second before continuing. "When… when I got my first Hogwarts acceptance letter… it was addressed to 'Harry Potter, Cupboard Under the Stairs'. I'd never told anyone about that… and a voice in the back of my mind wondered why, if someone knew, I was still forced to stay there. For a while…" Harry swallowed thickly and bowed his head. "I thought that it was my… punishment." Here Snape growled. "For being such a worthless freak, for being the reason that my parents were killed, for being the reason the school was in danger almost yearly. I figured, Dumbledore must think that I deserve it. And, for a while, I did too, especially after Cedric."
Snape grabbed Harry's chin and forced him to look at him. "It's not your fault, it never was, and by thinking that, you're playing right into that old coot's hands." Harry nodded, eyes still shining in tears. His voice broke as he asked, "What about Dumbledore? Now that Voldemort's dead, I'm safe right? There's no more reason for me to be manipulated, right?" And Harry's heart sank as he saw Severus shake his head.
"No Harry. He wants control of your vault, along with all the fame and glory for defeating Voldemort. In order to accomplish this, he's going to…" Severus violently hacked up blood. He began speaking faster. "He's going to try and kill you, then manipulate the fact to make it seem like you killed him, and that he'd arrived in the nick of time to kill the Dark Lord. And it wouldn't take much convincing. Only recently everyone thought that you were insane, and that bastard is beloved by the entire wizarding community. Everyone would believe him."
Harry shook with this new-found knowledge. He grasped as straws, anything that would help him keep his hold on his rapidly crumbling reality. "M-my friends wouldn't believe him. They'd stand by my side, I know it."
Snape's eyes held unimaginable pain for the one in whose arms he was now dying. "I'm sorry Harry… but they're only using you too. Here, take this…" He pressed a vial of swirling gold and silver mists. "These are all the memories you'll need to tell you the truth. You can have my pensieve. This is why I'm dying Harry. I made an Unbreakable Vow to Dumbledore under duress to never betray him, because I needed asylum from Voldemort and, at the time, I believed Dumbledore was my safe harbor. I didn't realize just how far-reaching my Vow would be. But I made an Unbreakable Vow to your mother, Lily, as well. To protect you, to keep you safe from harm. You haven't exactly made it easy…" Here Harry smiled a bit, and Severus smirked back. "But I have tried my best. But now… this is the only way. I'm keeping one Vow by breaking another, but I know I made the right choice, and this is the only way. I'm so very sorry… Harry…" His body convulsed violently, and Harry gripped him tighter, sobbing openly now. When the tremors stopped, Snape regained his breath. "I… loved you like a… son Harry… And I'm so sorry… that I couldn't tell you… or show you. Please… f-forgive me…?"
Harry nodded frantically, crushing Severus to him. "Of course! Of course I forgive you, just please, don't leave me Severus. Please! Who can I trust? What can I do? Please Severus! Please…" Harry's voice trailed off in a heart-broken whimper.
Severus caressed the weeping face above him, every line of his face etched in agony and remorse. "I don't know… I'm so very sorry. All I can offer you is… there's a rumor, about the Potter line… a secret inheritance passed down, that skips every other generation. Your grandfather had it… but he mysteriously disappeared one day. You'll come into it on your… seventeenth birthday." Snape now cried… tears of blood flooding his onyx eyes. "Maybe you can escape… maybe it can help… but you'll have to stay at the Dursley's until then. It's not safe for you… at Hogwarts… But you're still a minor… so you can use that excuse to stay there… until you come of age. You're going to be in so much danger… and I don't know how to help you… and I'm so very, very sorry. The only people… you could've trusted have all died. Sirius Black- hexed into the Veil, not by Bellatrix, but by the… G-Granger girl. Remus Lupin… who survived the final battle… but was slipped silver into his Wolfsbane potion by D-Dumbledore… who had me under the Imperious as I delivered the potion to him. A-and even Peter… I just found out… recently that D-Dumbledore had been the secret keeper, convinced Sirius that… Peter was the keeper… then told Sirius where to find Peter. So Peter did the only thing he could… hide.
"And Sirius believed the… whole thing during his twelve years in Azkaban, and the pieces practically fell into… place themselves after that… and Peter went to Voldemort, the only person who'd… believe him… for protection. But they still haven't caught Pettigrew, although… if they did catch him… it'd be only too easy to… lock him up without a trial or Veritaserum… if Dumbledore was involved. He wanted… control over the 'Savior of the Wizarding World'… and he knew that'd never happen if your parents… were alive. Y-you… can probably trust… Draco. He's… probably the only one… who'd understand. Everyone… betrayed… used… manipulated… but none more than… you Harry. I'm sorry… so so sorry… I… love you…"
Harry's tears fell on Severus' face, mingling with his blood. "I love you too… for the record…" And here Harry gave a watery, weak smile. "You'd have made a wonderful dad."
Severus smiled in happiness and love before his whole body seemed to buckle and collapse in upon itself. There was the agonizing sound of every bone in Severus' body snapping at once, and Snape let out one last, painful shriek before slumping boneless in Harry's arms. Dead.
And Harry threw his head back and screamed an agony-filled, heart-wrenching cry of pain and soul-crushing hopelessness to the empty, cold blackness of Snape's chambers.