Snape's Folly

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that is canon. I am not J. K. Rowling, and therefore I am not paid for writing this story.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to my beta Jordan for going through this fiction

Warnings: Abuse, suicide, mild violence and character deaths.

Summary: Post-HBP one-shot. Only two days after Dumbledore's murder, Severus Snape is sitting in Number Thirteen, Spinner's End. He is thinking about what he has done, and what rewards he has got. Little does Snape know about the vicious trap he has walked into, and the price he has to pay in return …

It was a dark summer night in a town situated along a polluted river. There was a rather small house at the lonely corner of a street called Spinner's End. This was Severus Snape's home.

The lamps were dimly lit in the tiny hall full of bookshelves that concealed a few doors. A greasy-haired, pale-skinned, troubled man looked around his house in which he had grown up. He looked at the bookshelves, feeling a strange emptiness within him. For the moment, a young man named Draco Malfoy was also staying in the house, as well as a man called Wormtail. They were asleep in their rooms (or so Snape thought).

To be more precise, they were hiding in this particular lone wizard dwelling from Ministry of Magic officials amid many Muggle houses.

Peter Pettigrew was thought to be dead by most wizards, with the exception of the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix. Naturally, Pettigrew did not dare to venture out in public. The Dark Lord had appointed him to "assist" Snape (or rather, to be Snape's servant, for the Dark Lord had no better use for him after his return).

Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape, on the other hand, were on the run for murdering Albus Dumbledore. The moment this thought coursed through Severus Snape's mind, he leaned back in his rickety armchair and gave a small, sad sigh.

Snape was not mourning for Dumbledore – how could he, being the man's murderer? And yet, he was still unsure whether Dumbledore had known about the Unbreakable Vow between himself and Narcissa Malfoy. Was Dumbledore actually asking Severus to kill him on top of the Astronomy Tower? It hardly mattered now, for Severus did what the circumstances had forced him to do.

Well, Snape thought, I think I know now where my loyalties lie.

But what had he got in return? Nothing at all, save a few words of praise from the Dark Lord. Snape was back into his old ways of murder - but then he was reminded of someone who actually cared for him. Not Albus Dumbledore, but Eileen Prince, his mother. Snape was suddenly reminded that she would not have approved of Dark Magic; for even though she was a Slytherin and a pure-blood; she did not care for the Dark Arts. She had told Severus - in his early childhood - that her entire family did not like the Dark Arts, even though they were shrewd and cunning. For this reason, she had stopped talking to him a long time ago, and went to live in Romania at a friend's place.

Severus remembered a very bad quarrel between his father and mother when he was six years old. His father, Tobias Snape; a hideous middle-aged man with a prominent hooked nose like Severus's; despised magic secretly, more than likely because he was a Muggle. He did not like it when Eileen used magic in front of him sometimes - and that led to the flare-up between him and Eileen. Tobias shouted at her and kicked her as she was cowering, and Severus was crying, unable to bear the pain his mother was suffering. After that incident, Tobias was forced to leave the house as Eileen threatened him, finally losing control. He was murdered by a Muggle five years later, but Severus didn't care about the identity of the murderer or much about his violent father.

As Snape recalled his disturbing childhood memories, there were two harsh knocks on the door.

He whipped his wand out, heart beating fast. How could someone find this place? He himself had made it unplottable only two days ago! He moved closer to the door, pointed his wand at it and thought, 'Revelius.'

For a moment, a small glow appeared in the plain wooden door. Severus was stunned. His mother, of all people, was standing outside the door! But was it really Eileen Prince?

He tapped his wand at a large lock on the inside and slid back the latch to open the door slowly.

Eileen Prince stepped into the house and closed the door. She turned at once to look at Severus. He looked into her glittering eyes and knew at once that this was indeed his mother. He used Legilimency to confirm her identity.

"Hello, mother," Snape said quietly. "It's a long time since you've been here."

Eileen Prince stepped into the hall. Her lank hair and long robes seemed to blow about her, and it was obvious Eileen was very angry. The lines of Eileen's pale forehead were clearly visible, and her eyebrows were almost forming a straight line. She was looking more sullen than ever, glaring at her son.

"You've gone too far, Severus!" she hissed. "Getting interested in the Dark Arts first, joining He Who Must Not Be Named next, and now - on the run! I never brought you up to be like this!"

"Mother," implored Snape. "Please, keep your voice down - I don't want anyone else –"

"I don't care what happens to me!" she said loudly. "It's your life I'm concerned about! Why do you want to kill people who actually trust you, eh? You good for nothing coward!"

"I am not a coward!" hissed Severus. His mother had touched a nerve. He almost hated her for calling him names that only his enemies would dare to throw at him. Before he could stop himself, he added, "I suppose you want me to follow your cowardly advice, and surrender –"

In mid-sentence, his mother had slapped him.

"Don't you act as though you're concerned about your own mother, Severus! If anything happens to me, you're the one who's going to suffer the most!" And before Severus could stop her, she opened the door, slammed it behind her and Disapparated.

Severus breathed harshly for a few moments. He went and sat back on the sofa after locking the door. Soon, worry had overcome his anger. What if Draco or Wormtail had heard? Instinctively, he pointed his wand at a door, which concealed the staircase leading to Wormtail's bedroom. At the very same moment, someone opened another hidden door. At once, Severus lowered his wand and turned to look at the new arrival. He was a pale, blond young man who had clearly just got out of bed. His hair was distinctly dishevelled and his grey eyes had sand in them.

"Did someone come to call, Professor?" said Draco Malfoy.

"Never you mind," snapped Snape, trying to look at the young man in the eye, to discern whether he had overheard the conversation.

Perhaps Malfoy noticed a brief, irritable expression on Severus's face, or he sensed that Severus was trying to use Legilimency on him. Draco turned, and went back to his room, closing the door behind him. However, Severus did not know that Wormtail was hiding as a rat behind the door he had wanted to hex a minute ago.

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On a similar night, three days after Eileen Prince had come to the lone wizarding house on Spinner's End, an odd, chilly mist lingered in the air.

Dementors are breeding like hell again, thought Severus idly, glancing at a small opening in the curtained window. He was reading a book called Magical Venoms for no particular reason, holding a glass of blood-red wine in hand, sitting on the sofa. Snape was reading instructions on preparing the Venom of Fast and Discreet Action, when there were five popping sounds and a soft knock on the door.

Severus laid the glass of wine carefully on the table, and moved towards the door, wand in hand. He performed the Revelius spell as before. But this time, it was five Death Eaters standing outside the door – Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange, Augustus Rookwood, Amycus and Alecto Carrow.

Severus opened the door, and the Death Eaters entered.

"You're a traitor, Snape," said Amycus quietly. "You see, we know exactly who called on you three days ago."

"What do you mean?" asked Severus, coldly.

"I was right about you, Snape," said Bella, even more icily. "There is no other explanation. You have plotted with your dear mother against the Dark Lord and his true followers."

"You mean to say, that my loyalty to the Dark Lord is questionable?" demanded Snape, though he was not on any particular side. "Do you not think that I have weakened the Order almost completely by finishing Dumbledore off?"

"Really," scoffed Bellatrix. "You got the chance only because Draco could not do it. But we have a different business, and you're to come with us for your entertainment. These are the Dark Lord's orders," she added, as Severus was now hell-bent on stopping these people if they were going to harm his mother.

"You don't need to be persuaded, do you?" asked Rookwood, a pockmarked wizard, with a menacing growl in his voice. Bellatrix grasped Snape's arm, and all of them Disapparated.

A second later, Severus looked around. They were in a dark street, which had a single lamppost on the other end of the street. Severus's wand was suddenly seized from him.

"You're to co-operate with us," said Rookwood. Severus did not need to use Legilimency to confirm his fears; it was obvious. He had come here once before. It was where his mother was staying in Romania. The six of them looked at the house in front of them; it was quite small and situated a little apart from the other houses. Bellatrix opened the gate and walked into the bare front yard. The others followed her. She went to the door, on which the number thirteen was inscribed. She banged on the front door.

It opened a few seconds later. Eileen Prince was standing in the doorway, her wand out. She looked towards Snape.

"Bad company, Severus," she said quietly. Bellatrix disarmed her, and whispered, "Crucio!"

Eileen Prince screamed, jerking and twitching in pain. Without thinking, Severus almost knocked Bellatrix to the ground, but he was restrained by Amycus, Alecto and Rookwood. Bellatrix looked at Eileen, who was on the ground, helpless. She spat, "This is what you get for interfering in the Dark Lord's plans!"

Then she pointed her wand at Eileen's heart and gasped, "Avada Kedavra!"

The jet of green light hit her squarely in the chest. Severus was extremely angry. He snatched his wand from Rookwood and, before anyone could stop him, yelled "AVADA KEDAVRA!" and pointed his wand at Bellatrix; who fell to the ground a second later; dead and lifeless. Severus stupefied Bellatrix's husband soon after killing Bellatrix. He looked around only to see the other three people Disapparating after one of them cast the dreaded Dark Mark into the air. Now he moved towards his mother's body, and knelt by her side, looking at her pale, long face and into her blank, lifeless eyes. But the squeak of a rat brought him back to his senses. He moved inside the house, anger flooding every muscle of his body.

He had suddenly realised who was responsible for all this. Sure enough, he saw a rat with a shiny, silvery front paw running around the fireplace in this room with threadbare, gaudy curtains and carpets and rickety, worn-out furniture. When the rat saw him, it tried to flee, but Severus pointed his wand at it and sent a jet of blue light at it. A second later, a short, balding and very frightened looking man had appeared in its place; wand in hand, pointed at Severus. Severus disarmed him at once.

"S - Snape," stuttered Wormtail, "I – I was forced –"

"Don't be idiotic, Wormtail," said Severus, in his silkiest voice. "You should not have told the Dark Lord about my mother visiting me –"

"I had no choice!" squeaked Wormtail. "You know very well he forces information out of people –"

"Avada Kedavra!" said Severus. A jet of green light hit Wormtail in the chest, and he fell to the ground, his eyes wide. Without taking another look at him, Severus turned, moved out of the house and Disapparated.

When the pressure had disappeared, Snape was back in front of his house. He entered the house, and picked up the book called Magical Venoms. Snape locked the door and went to his bedroom through a hidden staircase.

He stepped into his small room. A bed and a small table, on which a few scrolls of parchment and old books were present, were crammed into a corner. In front of the wardrobes whose doors were slightly worn out, there stood a medium-sized cauldron.

He was preparing the Venom of Fast and Discreet Action only for one reason. He knew only too well that his actions had landed him in a situation out of which there was only one way out – suicide. But before he began to prepare the potion, he went to his table and wrote the following letter:

Dear Draco,

I know I will be dead before you read this, but I want you to stay loyal to whichever side you choose. You are not a killer, and therefore are in a better position than me. Prove your allegiance to one side and stay there! Do NOT defect under any circumstances, Draco, otherwise sooner or later you will find yourself in the same position that I am now.

I also wish to confess that I killed your aunt Bellatrix, and Wormtail. Wormtail told the Dark Lord about my mother (she had come to visit me a few nights ago) who tried to persuade me to surrender to the Ministry of Magic. Upon the Dark Lord's orders, I was forced to watch my mother being murdered right in front of my own eyes. Bellatrix did it. So, I killed her. I found Wormtail and I realised what he had done. Therefore, I killed him as well.

Lastly, I want you to know that I am neither on the Light Side, nor on the Dark Side. I am stuck in between, and I can surrender to neither. Therefore, I am taking the only way out.

Yours sincerely,

Severus Tobias Snape

Then Severus went to the cauldron and opened one of the cupboards to search for the ingredients. He finally got down to prepare the Venom of Fast and Discreet Action, which would complete its action in two minutes flat, without leaving any external signs of poisoning.

An hour later, the potion had been finally prepared. Severus looked at the wall clock. It was five minutes past two. He raised his wand, and conjured a plain, unadorned goblet out of thin air. He then lowered the goblet into the dark-green potion, and filled it to the brim. Before draining the goblet, he took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, mother," he whispered.

As Severus Snape swallowed the chill potion and felt his body go numb, he sat down in a chair, and closed his eyes. His last thoughts went to the only person who had truly cared about him.

Not Albus Dumbledore – but Eileen Prince.

THE END

Beta comments:

Very nice! Your story was entertaining and kept me on the edge of my seat. The only thing you have to work on a bit is word order, but after writing for a while, that will come naturally to you. Keep up the good work, and feel free to ignore any changes or comments I have made. They are merely my opinions of how I think the story sounds best.