For those of you living under rocks, this has spoilers for the end of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The world of Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and not myself. Unnamed narrator.
Has Snape ever been loved by anyone?
Yes, he has, which in some ways makes him more culpable even than Voldemort.
The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet interview, 16 July 2005
It was funny how such a small phrase could bring her world crashing down around her.
The Killing Curse. Avada Kedavra.
Mentor, defender, teacher. Two small words, and the Headmaster was gone.
Severus, how could you?
She could still see Harry, angrily damming Severus, letting everyone know that he'd been the one who- The one that- His words had pulled the earth out from under her feet, sent her spinning into a dark place with nothing solid to hold on to. She had trusted him, trusted that Severus's true loyalties rested in the Headmaster and that he could be counted on. Years had passed since she last doubted him, since she started looking for the good man she knew was hidden behind his abrasive personality.
Severus, I loved you.
He'd taken her heart and shattered it beyond repair. The evidence stacked against him – in the shape of a white tomb – ensured that she'd never accept his word unhesitatingly ever again, even if Dumbledore himself rose from his grave and asked her to.
She wanted to fling herself into her mother's arms and cry, wanted to shake Severus until his teeth rattled and demand – Why? Why, Severus?
Severus, run.
If she ever came across him, she'd kill him herself, with as little remorse as he had had for killing Dumbledore.
AN, for the curious: This actually spawned while listening/watching a pair of HP fanvids on YouTube, though the narrator is not meant to be any specific character. The memory of my reaction to Snape's actions blindsided me, and so this was born. An effort, I suppose, to stop being so flippant about what I felt to my favorite character murdering my other favorite character.