Five People You Meet in Heaven, Severus Snape
By
Snivellus aka Heather Granger
SSS ( break in story)
A/N: Important, I know that HP and religion is a touchy subject so if you are offended by any way about talking about God and Heaven in the realm of HP, please do not read this story, that is unless you want to. But, don't say I didn't warn you.
Also, this is obviously follows along the lines of the story Mitch Alboom's "Five People You Meet in Heaven" I really want to get this one right, so if you have suggestions please make them in the reviews section.
I will give 5 galleons to anyone who can correctly guess all five people that Severus will meet.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Every life has a beginning and an end. For some it is shorter than others, and for others it feels as if goes on forever. Severus Snape was a man who lived and died. This story begins at the end. It may seem as an odd place to begin, but for Severus, his death was just the beginning.
SSS
It was two hours until Severus died. Had he known that he was going to die this day, he most likely would not have gone to work. At the time of his death, Severus was a tall slender man with a scar of where a tattoo had been on his left forearm. His black eyes had not lost any of its original luster, but his once ebony hair now was silver and lay lank in front of his face. His nose pointed and crooked was his trademark. He walked with a limp, which he had received during the second war.
SSS
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, England's premiere school for underage witches and wizards, the grandest castle on the Highlands. Young witches and wizards have been coming to this fine academia for centuries. This is the place where Severus had lived and died.
You see, Severus was a teacher, a job which most regarded as a highly rewarding job, however he did not see it this way. To Severus, it was all he knew, and all he could ever become. His father made sure of that.
Day after day, he would lecture his students, trying to penetrate their thick skulls, wishing that one student may show an interest, that one student would understand the purpose. Most people live their lives hoping that their life means something, that what they did on earth made some sort of a difference, but for Severus it was different.
Severus had spent his life trying to go unnoticed. He never asked for anything, never questioned his elders, and never tried to start a row. But it seems, that trouble always found him. Severus felt that he had lived a nothing life. He was a nobody whom no one cared for. His students feared him, his co-workers disliked him, and even his own father hated him.
SSS
It was an hour until Severus died, and he was doing what he did everyday, walking into his Potions classroom, slamming the door behind him. His cane clinking with each step he took. As he looked around his classroom, he saw all the worktables lined with cauldrons. Students idling around their tables talking about the weekend's Quidditch match.
Severus sneered, how he despised the young. He was young once, but never as carefree as the students he now taught. It had been years since the wars, and yet it plagued him daily. Everyone he once knew, was now gone. Albus had died years ago along with Minerva. Severus cursed himself today was his birthday and he was about to die alone.
SSS
"Longbottom!" Severus cried out.
"Sorry sir, I just, I didn't mean to sir." A young first year girl with black curly hair mumbled.
"So help me, Longbottom, you are as cursed as your father, with a brain like your mother's. However, do you manage? Your potion making skills are abysmal to say the least. Or perhaps it is your sheer clumsiness, I cannot tell the difference." He growled.
"Sir, I can re-make it, please, I can do better." The girl cried.
"Very well, you will stay after and re-make the potion, by yourself!" Severus enunciated.
"Yes sir." She replied as she banished her ruined potion.
Nora Longbottom, daughter of Neville and Hermione Longbottom, one of the few children of those who survived the war. Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Draco Malfoy, all dead because of the Dark Lord, and there was nothing he could have done to change that.
Nora was very bright, but extremely clumsy. She caused disaster wherever she walked. Severus could not help but smirk at the odd combination. He had always imagined Miss Granger marrying someone like Weasley, but he supposed that she had to settle; everyone had to settle who lived.
'Miss Longbottom, I have taken the liberty of sparing myself and my floor of your devastation by providing you the ingredients right in front of you." Severus said as he sat marking essays.
"Yes sir." She said quietly.
"You may begin." Severus stated harshly.
Severus read essay after essay, all saying the same thing, 'I hate potions, why do we have to take this stupid subject' as Severus best summarized. If they gave two sickles about Potions then they would have taken the time and researched the topic. There were at least twenty ways to address how to make a healing salve, but all the student's essays only quoted what was directly in their texts. Oh the insanity of it all.
SSS
It was thirty minutes until Severus died, as he glanced up and Miss Longbottom. She was busy chopping up and preparing her ingredients. Severus's eyes glanced to the magical window. It was a relatively nice day for October. Headmistress Abbott insisted that he move his potions class to a brighter room. Despite all his objections, they compromised on a magic window.
Severus had made many compromises in his life, some, which he agreed with, others he still fully objected. For Severus, life had never been easy, and it all started when he was born.
SSS
It was his birthday.
"A boy, humph, at least you have done something right Emily." A man grunted as he looked down at his newborn son.
"What shall we call him, Dorian?" Emily Snape asked her husband not letting her eyes off her son.
"I shall call him Severus." Dorian said.
"Severus? Don't you think that is a little rough for a child?" She asked innocently.
"Are you questioning me, Emily?" He warned.
"No, of course not, Severus is a fine name, isn't it little one?" Emily cooed.
"I have to go back to work now." He stated and turned from the room.
"It is just us, little one. My Severus. You're all I have. Promise me you'll love me forever and I will love you."
SSS
It was ten minutes until Severus's death, and yet the birds sang a harvesting song outside. The clock kept ticking and people kept on with their own lives.
Severus watched carefully as Nora was putting ingredients in her cauldron, pausing ever now and again to check the directions. Severus placed his quill down and watched her.
He remembered the first time he made a potion. How Severus despised it. His father breathing down his neck cursing him every time he made a wrong motion. He truly hated potions when he was young, but it was all that he could do to please his father, Potion Master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"Miss Longbottom." Severus spoke.
"Yes, sir?"
"What color is your potion now?"
"Um, well I guess it is a sort of bluish color." She spoke fearfully.
"It appears, now you are doing something correct!" He said sarcastically.
"Yes, sir." She shied away.
"Miss. Longbottom, are you afraid of me?" He questioned.
Nora sat thinking how best to respond.
"No sir." She responded.
"Perhaps just a little?" Severus prodded.
"A little sir." She confessed.
"Do you despise me, like the rest of your House?" He asked again.
"Despise you? No, you saved many people from the war. My mum said you were very brave. I do not despise you sir."
"Then I shall think more of you next time." Severus responded, taking up his quill again.
"Thank you sir."
SSS
It was one minute until Severus's death, and looking back it all felt as if it were in slow motion. Severus looked up and saw that Nora had an odd looking ingredient in her hand. One that he knew did not belong in the required potion. He scanned his potion's cabinet and saw that the Sulferdell was not there.
His mind quickly replayed back to the moment when he had retrieved the ingredients for her. He had grabbed the wrong ingredient. It was his fault that she was about to add the highly toxic ingredient into a potion that would cause a horrible explosion.
Severus watched as she dropped the Sulferdell into the cauldron. Acting quickly, he thrust back his chair, and hobbled as quickly as he could towards her. Nora's eyes grew wide, in fear that he was going to attack her. Nora froze in place, while Severus tried to tell her that the potion was going to explode.
Severus's leg gave out and he fell on the worktable, knocking the potion on the ground, he felt her hand as he hit the stone floor, then it went black. Severus felt nothing. He felt in a haze, had he saved the girl? Did she get out? He was not sure.
SSS
Severus felt cold, very cold as if he were swimming in the murky depths of the Hogwart's lake. He felt a shiver down his spine. He had not felt this cold since the day he took the Mark. He felt someone grab his shoulders and pull with a jolt. Was it the girl, did she make it out? Did she get help?
Severus now felt warm, the warmest he had felt since the day he was born. It was Severus's birthday, but it was also the day that he died. For some the end is just the beginning.
SSS
TBC…??