Written for Professor Flitwick's Prompt of the Day on the Hogwarts Online forum!

Thanks again to Rising From The Flames for a wonderfully beta'd piece!

Stormy Weather:

Bells clanged shrilly throughout the stone corridors of the castle, as the halls filled with chattering students going about their business. The new year had officially begun.

The Headmaster, Severus Snape, stood in the window of his office, staring out at the clouds massing on the horizon. However much he wanted to believe it was an omen, that the Dark Lord would fall, and all anyone had to do was sit and wait, he knew in his heart it wasn't true. He would have to die. Die for Lily's son, not Potter's, die for the people who had hurt and ridiculed him all those years. Die...for what?

Lightning crackled across the sky, and thunder boomed. The black-robed figure made up his mind. He strode swiftly out of the castle at a brisk pace, heading out into the storm.

Severus Snape stood on the lake shore, watching the clouds come ever closer, the sky overhead growing ever darker. Lightning flashed, illuminating everything in harsh black and white. Thunder boomed and rolled, drowning out all sound. He couldn't even hear himself think as the storm moved in. That was the point of him being here. Out in the wild weather, where anything was possible and he didn't have to do anything, no responsibilities, no past, no future, just the present, the rain washing away his pain as it pelted his face.

The world turned dark, a black, howling, flashing swirl of chaos surrounding him, its center, its calm place. Storms were the only place where his chaotic life seemed calm in comparison.

He didn't know how long he stood there, enjoying the peacefulness of chaos. But, although he had frozen, time had not, and his storm moved on. But it took with it his indecision, his fear of the future. What would come to pass, would come to pass, and he just had to go along with it.

As battle raged around him, he thought of those moments in the storm, and realized-nature and man weren't so different after all. Both were perfectly capable of creating powerful storms, and both were completely capable of both peace and chaos. Both had their moments of each. All anyone had to do was hold on tight.

That storm had been an omen, as it came and went, and he was still there. So this storm had been coming, and soon would go, even though he knew he was going to die, somehow, he would still be here. He would leave his mark on the world, leave a legacy for someone else to pick up and carry on.

Knowing this made it easier to go face him. The Dark Lord. Even as Nagini bit him, he still felt the calm chaos of the storm. Even as Potter came and knelt by him.

Oh, Lily, I did my best for him, now his life and others must rest on his shoulders. He must know this already, but...

He gave Potter his memories. Wanting Lily's only son to know what kind of person his mother was, wanting something of Lily to remain and know of her, wanting to make her as immortal as he had made himself.

For although he lay dying, he knew, now that Potter had his memories, that his name would go down in history.

Which was way more than he had ever dared dream of.

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