Disclaimer: I don't own HP... if I did, the ending would have been VERY different!

You Must Die To Live Forever

It was over. The Dark Lord had fallen. Voldemort was finally defeated. But at what cost?

I fled the Great Hall because I couldn't stand the presence of all these humans anymore.

Slowly I walked to the Shrieking Shack where I knew he lay.

The moon was hidden, no stars were in sight. But it didn't matter, I did not need any light to see in the darkness.

Now I was standing in front of the wooden shack. I didn't want to go inside… didn't want to face what was inside.

With a heavy sigh, I entered the building. There he was. Lying lifeless on the ground, covered in blood. His blood.

I knelt beside Severus' body and took his hand. It was cold… there was no life left in him.

I could not let the others find him, I had to get him away… there was still a tiny chance…

With great care, I wrapped his body in my black cloak and carried it outside, safe in my arms. Then I took to the air and brought him to my hidden house in the Highlands.

I opened the heavy iron-wrought door that led into the dark cellar and carried my burden down the long stairs.

At the foot of the stairs there was a wide room with two black coffins inside it. I opened one of them and carefully put Severus' body down inside it.

Perhaps there was a chance that he might wake again on the third night… I had drunken his blood on several occasions and I had given him a bit of mine as well, before he went to answer the Dark Lord's call tonight.

Perhaps it would be enough, perhaps he would wake again… I would know in three days.

Three days… such a long time. I had cleaned his body and dressed him in new, unstained robes the first night. There was nothing more I could do, expect wait.

On the third night, he would either wake as a vampire – or not. Nothing I could do now, would influence that. I just had to wait.

These were the longest three days of my life – and unlife as well. And since I'm a three hundred year old vampire that means quite a lot.

Finally, the third night. Anxiously I sat beside his coffin, waiting. Soon it would be midnight… why didn't he wake?

The clock in the house above stroke midnight. Slowly I rested my head in my hands. It was over. He hadn't woken…

"Caitlin?" I heard him whisper.

"Severus?" I sat up abruptly.

His eyes were open and he was trying to get up. Carefully I helped him into a sitting position, supporting him.

"What happened?"

"Voldemort killed you… I brought you here, hoping that you would wake again…"

"Wake again… you mean I'm now a vampire?"

"Yes…" I trailed of. It didn't bother him, did it? I didn't know what I would do if he hated his new unlife.

Severus raised a slightly unsteady hand to my face and caressed it.

"I would never have taken your blood, if it would bother me to live as a vampire."

With a relieved sigh I leaned into his caress.

Everything would be all right.