Harry woke up that day with a feeling of sadness hanging over his head like a raincloud. This was it. The last funeral; one last goodbye. And it was His. Snape's: that was. Harry had spoken at all the funerals, giving his personal thanks to all that had died. Colin, Remus, Tonks, Hannah, Parvati and so many more. Sometimes winning the war had hardly seemed worth it. What was the point of victory if no one was there to enjoy it? Harry had managed to clear Snape's name, eventually. It had taken a lot of fast talking but the words of the boy – who – lived carried a lot of weight nowadays. Harry snorted; he hadn't done anything more than the rest. He figured he would never be able to accept his 'fame' but that didn't mean he had to like it. Though, saying that, he hadn't been out much recently. He was helping with the rebuilding of Hogwarts after the Final Battle 3 months ago; he went to the funerals and made an occasional public appearance at the ministry and the like. But that was it, he needed time to grieve. Time to understand that the chapter of his life that had revolved around a prophecy, a saviour and a villain was over.
Harry arrived at the funeral minutes before it started. It was held in Godric's Hollow where Snape was to be buried. Harry had come up with the idea; he figured Snape wouldn't want to be buried at Hogwarts alongside Dumbledore – God knows that man had meddled enough – or Spinners end, to many bad memories. So Spinners end it was. Harry to his seat in the front row; Kingsley, the acting Minister for magic, was sitting next to him and gave him a brief nod. The same man who had spoken at Dumbledore's funeral, Bill and Fleur's wedding and all other funerals since the end of the battle was conducting the ceremony. The man's sing-song voice began to murmur on about great men and wise deeds. Or something like that; Harry found his attention wavering. He looked around, green eyes that had got less bright as he had grown up, McGonagall was there, as was Hagrid, Flitwick and the rest of the Hogwarts staff who had survived. There was a smattering of students – mostly Slytherins – and the DA was noticeable only in its absence. That was understandable, no matter how good a man Snape had been, what they'd endured the past year under his watch was unforgivable. Harry felt a jab in his ribs and looked round. Kingsley gave him a small encouraging smile, gesturing for him to go up to the front.
The walk up to the podium was the longest of all at the funerals Harry had attended so far. The small number of people who were there watched him carefully – waiting for him. Harry took a deep breath, and began to speak. "Severus Snape was a complicated man. He was disliked by many and wanted dead by even more. He was, if I'm honest, to me, a complete and utter bastard! And since the day I met him to the day he died I hated him. He was, in my opinion the scum of the earth. Prejudice, pure-blood, rude, arrogant and downright nasty; everything I believed a Slytherin was. So why did my opinion of him change? How come his body wasn't placed with the many other Death Eaters and incinerated? Because, five minutes after he died, I thought he was tremendously brave; ten minutes after he died, he was the greatest man I ever knew. He was a selfless, loving individual who was willing to sacrifice himself for love. He spent the last seven years doing everything in his power to keep me, and by default, the rest of Hogwarts safe. If you'd have told me, back when I was 11 that he was trying to save the Philosopher's Stone from Voldemort and in my first quidditch match was preforming the counter jinx on my broom I would have laughed in your face. If you'd have told me in fifth year that Snape had alerted the Order to my whereabouts and told Sirius that he should stay in Grimmauld Place I would have choked on my Pumpkin Juice! And if, at any point, you had told me that Snape loved my mother more than anyone else in the world and would until the day he died I probably would've pulled one of my infamous temper tantrums, smashed some stuff and told you to stop defouling my mother's memory." Harry waited for the occasional chuckle to die down. "So what I'm really trying to say is: Snape was an awful person on the outside but everything he did was carefully calculated on his, and Albus's, part. He did it to protect his cover and was the most important man to fight in the war. Without him, we would not be where we are today. Without him, I most likely know that I would already be dead. So even though if Snape where still here he would give me this condescending look and say, 'Potter, stop this babbling abundance of sympathy you are heaping on me, and am not a 'nice guy' as you so carelessly put it and never will be. If I'd have wanted your pity I would've asked but I don't so shut up. 10 points from Gryffindor.' And then he would've given me a detention as well, probably." Harry finished. That had gone well actually, he'd always been good at doing impressions of Snape, he and Ron used to laugh in the common room while he'd done it, normally after some awful detention or the like. "Nine times out of ten I never deserved the detentions he gave me but I suppose in the grand scheme of things it didn't really matter. But I urge you, whenever someone mentions the war, the heroes that saved us all, or maybe just the greatest man, think of Severus Snape. Remember him. For without him Voldemort would've won. And what a terrible thought that is." Harry finished and looked around. Hagrid was crying and Draco, was Draco crying as well? Harry couldn't find it within him to care, that 'smarmy git' as Ron once said wouldn't be coming anywhere near him. He'd saved him from Azkaban and that was that. No love lost there.
He sat back in his seat and gave a small smile to some nameless face behind him. The tiny man conducting the ceremony concluded the funeral and the casket was lifted into the air by his wand. It was a dull black, not reflective and a slightly lighter shade than the Dark Mark had been. The flowers on top were lilies and the plaque read:
Severus Tobias Snape
A brave man
Love will triumph, Always.
No one had known Snape's date of birth and Harry thought it odd to have a date of death when there was no birth date so the unanimous decision had been to leave it. It was simple but no one really knew Snape. Harry hoped he was happy now, wherever he was. The man had lived a hard life and deserved his peace. Harry took a deep breath and stood up to leave the battles casualty's funerals. He would remember Severus Snape.
Always.