Disclaimer: In this oneshot, only Snape's thoughts and the beginning sequence is mine. Once he gets to the Shrieking Shack, I credit all the dialogue, starting with "my Lord, their resistance is crumbling-" to JKR, Deathly Hallows, pages 652-658, from the chapter "The Elder Wand".

Wow, that was a mouthful of a disclaimer compared to normal! Here's the story.

I'm concealed behind a tapestry on the fourth floor trying to Stun Fenir Grayback as he fights Lavander Brown and the Patil twins when Lucius strides into the corridor. With a flick of his wand, he sends the four flying down the hallway, out of sight.

"Hiding, Severus?" He asks to the hallway in general. "The Dark Lord does not approve of cowardice."

That's when I step into view. "Pity for you then." Odds are either I'll die tonight, or he'll be disgraced when Voldemort falls. Either way, finally getting back at a man I despise won't hurt.

Lucius raises his eyebrows at me. "He asks for you. He sent his most faithful servant to bring you to him."

Still with an unconcerned tone, I reply, "Really? Then where is he?"

Other then the quick tensing of his fingers on his wand, Lucius ignores me. "The Dark Lord is waiting in the Shrieking Shack."

"I wouldn't want to keep him waiting then, now would I?" Cloak billowing around me, I spin on my heel and stride away.

I know what this is about. The Elder Wand. As far as Voldemort knows, I killed Dumbledore, so I am its true master.

So I must die.

For a man walking to my death, I'm awfully calm. I chuckle grimly. There's nothing left here for me now. Lily- long gone, off this earth for sixteen years, and dead to me for so much longer. Dumbledore- gone, and with him the only person left who believed in my innocence, the only person who didn't consider me the worst traitor of them all. Or, depending on which side you look at it from, the biggest hero. Soon, my last tie to Lily, the Potter boy, will be dead too, whether the war be won or lost.

Everyone I care for is waiting for me. I won't be long, Lily. And I have an eternity to make you love me again.

I'm at the Whomping Willow now. "Wingardium Leviosa." A stick immobilizes the tree, and I slide beneath its outstretched branches, into the tunnel. As I crawl through it, memories of my first time here, back in third year, flood my mind, but I push them away-this isn't the time.

Vodemort senses me before I enter the Shack.

"Severus."

"My lord." I don't bow, incline my head, or make any deferring gesture the way I normally do. Instead, I stand tall and unafraid.

"How is the battle?"

"Everything is going according to plan. Many are dead, more wounded."

"And what have you done?"

"Helped my side win."

"Mm." Voldemort sounds skeptical, and, out of habit, I try to reassure him.

"As we speak, my Lord, their resistance is crumbling-"

"And is doing so without your help." He sounds more sure of himself now. "Skilled wizard though you are, Severus, I do not think you will make much difference now. We are almost there… almost."

It won't be long now, Lily. I'm coming back to you. All I have to do is get Voldemort to kill the boy, like Dumbledore said. Then I'll be with you.

"Let me find the boy. Let me bring you Potter. I know I can find him, my Lord. Please."

I pace around the small room, waiting for Voldemort to do something.

"I have a problem, Severus," he finally says.

Ah. Here it is. The matter of the wands. "My Lord?"

He raises the wand, holding it gingerly, as if somehow fearing it. "Why doesn't it work for me, Severus?" He sighs and sinks slowly into the chair, waiting for my answer.

"My-my Lord? I do not understand. You-you have performed extraordinary magic with that wand."

"No," he replies. "I have performed my usual magic. I am extraordinary, but this wand… no. It has not revealed the wonders it has promised. I feel no difference between this wand and the one I procured from Ollivander all those years ago. No difference."

I can sense the anger building inside him. I'll only need to keep up this mask for a couple minutes. Are you watching, Dumbledore? I'm doing it. Everything you asked for.

"I have thought long and hard, Severus… do you know why I have called you back from the battle?"

My eyes flicker to Nagini in her sphere; I watch her tongue slide in and out of her mouth. "No, my Lord," I answer. "But I beg you to let my return. Let me find Potter."

"You sound like Lucius," Voldemort laughs scornfully. "Neither of you understands Potter as I do. He does not need finding. Potter will come to me. I know his weakness, you see, his one great flaw." His voice is as cold as ice as he continues. "He will hate watching the others struck down around him, knowing that it is for him that it happens. He will want to stop it at any cost. He will come."

"But my Lord, he might be killed accidently by one other then yourself-" I can't let that happen, must make sure he'll be safe until Voldemort comes.

"My instructions to my Death Eaters have been perfectly clear." He stands and begins circling the room. "Capture Potter. Kill his friends- the more the better- but do not kill him." Voldemort's tone lightens as he continues. "But it is of you I wished to speak, Severus, not Harry Potter. You have been very valuable to me. Very valuable."

Finally he gets to it. "My Lord knows I seek only to serve him. But- let me go and find the boy, my Lord. Let me bring him to you. I know I can-" There, Dumbledore. I've had a last stab at making sure it's him who kills the boy. It's out of my hands now.

"I have told you, no!" He breathes in and out deeply for a couple seconds before continuing. "My concern at the moment, Severus, is what will happen when I finally meet the boy."

Now I can see his pent up anger, can see it in the steely glint of his eyes, the swishing of his cloak. He's about at breaking point.

"My Lord, there can be no question, surely-?"

"But there is a question, Severus. There is." He stops pacing and looks straight at me. "Why did both the wands I used fail when directed at Harry Potter?"

The moment of truth. Or lies. I don't want to die a double agent, known for pretending to be pretending to be a Death Eater secretly working for the Order. But I'm not important anymore. I need to, as Dumbledore told me once, look at the greater good. I need to die a traitor. "I-I cannot answer that, my Lord."

"Can't you?" His tone is nonchalant, but his eyes flash from black to red, and stay red. "My wand of yew did everything of which I asked it, Severus, except to kill Harry Potter. Twice it failed. Ollivander told me under torture of the twin cores, told me to take another's wand. I did so, but Lucius's wand shattered upon meeting Potter's."

I'm only half listening to Voldemort now; Nagini is twisting in her sphere, and, like someone hypnotized, I am fascinated by her and unable to draw my gaze away. "I-I have no explanation, my Lord."

"I sought a third wand, Severus. The Elder Wand, the Wand of Destiny, the Deathstick. I took it from it's previous master, I took it from the grave of Albus Dumbledore." Voldemort says the last sentence proudly, condoning himself for his theft.

How. Dare. You. You stole from his tomb? Albus Dumbledore was a thousand times the wizard you ever were. Then another thought strikes me. The Dark Lord has just grown far more powerful. Harry should be warned.

"My Lord- let me go to the boy-"

He ignores me. Hold on, Harry. I'll think of something. For Lily.

"All this long night, when I am on the brink of victory, I have sat here wondering, wondering why the Elder Wand refuses to be what it ought to be, refuses to perform as legend says it must perform for it's rightful owner… and I think I have the answer. Perhaps you already know it? You are a clever man, after all, Severus. You have been a good and faithful servant, and I regret what must happen."

No. Not yet. I must warn him. "My Lord-"

"The Elder Wand cannot serve me properly, Severus, because I am not its true master. The Elder Wand belongs to the wizard who killed its last owner. You killed Albus Dumbledore. While you live, Severus, the Elder Wand cannot be truly mine."

It's over. Dumbledore, I hoped, deep down, that I could save the boy from his destiny. I was wrong. I should have trusted you. And Lily-I'm so sorry. For everything. Can't you see that, and love me again, the way you used to?

"My Lord!" I protest, halfheartedly raising my wand to meet his. I am not its master. My death helps nothing.

"It cannot be any other way. I must master the wand, Severus. Master the wand, and master Potter at last."

Voldemort swipes his wand through the air. For a moment nothing happens. Then, from the corner of my eye, I see Nagini's ball flying through the air towards me. Inadvertedly, I yell, long and loud.

Voldemort hisses something to the snake, and she slithers towards me. I scream as she rears back her head, keep screaming as strikes, as I feel blood spurting from my neck.

Make it stop, please, why does this hurt so much, I always heard it would be painless, why does it feel like this, oh Lily, just make everything go away.

Seconds later, I hear the Dark Lord sweep out. Footsteps approach; someone kneels beside me. I force my eyes open, struggle to make them focus. The boy. He's here. How'd he know?

I can give him my memories.

I retreat inside myself, trying to sort through the clutter of my mind, but I'm too far gone; I have no control. The only thing I can do is concentrate just hard enough to break the barrier that keeps my thoughts inside my head. Memories come spilling out. I pray they're the right ones.

Harry doesn't see them, why won't he pick them up? Mustering up a last bit of strength, I grab the front of his robes, pulling him where he can hear me. "Take…it…Take…it…"

Someone off to the side hands him a flask. He fills it with the silvery fluid around me representing my memories.

There's only one more thing I need from him. "Look…at…me…" I force out. Lily's green eyes meet mine.

Here I am. I've done all I can in this world. Now I'm coming home to yours.