CHAPTER SEVEN: THE SECOND AFTERMATH We were afraid to emerge from our hiding places. We could hear children, meaning that the battle was over, but we could hear no marching. Men always marched home from battle┘unless they were defeated. Judging by the laughter, there was success, or else the children▓s keepers were killed in an attack.
I was the first to emerge. Towers along the main fortress were damaged and the sand from an outer beach had blown onto the streets. The place looked deserted except for the several children that roamed about and the few women who had emerged from hiding. Nothing felt the same, and the air seemed eerie, like something was about to happen.
The first sign was the absence of God▓s presence. I had felt it the entire time I was in Heaven, and sometimes even in the depths of Hell, but now that presence was gone, and everyone realized it. The second sign was that the sky was cloudy. The clouds were larger than any I had witnessed before, and a storm appeared to be on the horizon, but no one noticed that. They noticed the lose animals, meaning that the battle had gone towards the distant pastures, sending the spirits of farm animals and others into the streets of God, where the gold was now cloudy from sand and the clouds. Everyone felt vulnerable, and we had every right to be. For all we knew, the current ruler of Hell had defeated our Father and Creator and we were now alone in a place built by Him.
Around midday, the women had mixed up a feast from the food hall, and we all sat in tight circles to consume it. This was when a shepherd approached the area, and he greeted us with a mere nod, and then he began reading from an official scroll.
⌠Dear my followers; I have left Heaven for a safer land, one where Voldemort cannot find me, but you can. Follow the direction of this shepherd and bring whatever you like. It is a new home for us, a new beginning, but there is a catch. If you wish to wait for the warriors, you will be facing a long wait and another shepherd will return in approximately one year to retrieve you and whoever else returned. If you stay, know that there will be no protection because my guidance is gone from Heaven, Hell, and many of your home planets. I apologize for my cowardice, but you must understand that I have never faced such a challenge on my home front, and I have never seen such loyalty as I have in you and my many other followers. I thank thee for your graciousness and I ask that you make this decision quickly fore time is not forever and we must relocate to avoid any further attack. Sincerely, your loving god.■ When the shepherd was finished reading, many women stood and began following him through the streets, but I remained. After another hour had passed, very few remained, but most were waiting on their loves, except for one. On the outskirts of town in one of the guard towers sat Lily, who was reading a journal and twirling a rose between her fingers. She was watching the fires that burned off in the distance where the battle most likely was being fought. As soon as I approached, she began to speak.
⌠I never knew that he loved me after we went to school. I never gave him the chance really, but seeing him now┘he deserved better than what any of us gave him. He was genuine, more than any of us could say, and to think that he bargained for our lives. He tried to save us; I really believe he did, but to think that he is so angry┘. James always feared him once we learned he was with the Dark Lord. We wondered why, truly, since he had such potential, and when he became a teacher, we lost faith in Dumbledore, but┘Severus was the best double agent of our time, and he was our lost friend, our dark angel. You saw that before any of us, and the fact that you could see right through us proves how shallow we are. I▓m staying, and when they get back, we▓re going to apologize to Severus,■ she said, looking into the distant sky.
⌠What if you▓ve already missed your chance? You forget that he risked his life again, if not for you then for the rest of us,■ I whispered sternly. ⌠I▓m glad you finally see what you should have seen years ago, but I will never forgive you the way he did. You▓re right, he has been through more than any of you put together, but it was your fault. If you would have stayed by his side and if they would have left him be, he never would have went with the dark people he did. The night before the battle broke out, he gave me a detailed journal. Inside, he told me what he liked about you, and then he set out to destroy every one of those qualities, but not because he saw something in himself, but because he saw something in you, something evil, something that I wish could have been placed there long ago because he suffered, Lily. That is why he became a double agent, to take his mind off of you and the rest of those shallow punks, because without using his skills, his mind would wander. On the last page, he wrote an ode to the moon. It was the moon that held him together, he wrote, the moon that told him that he was not alone in the shadows of the past day, and it was the moon that held him in a world that he could not survive in. The moon is his friend and his enemy, just as you are and just as you were. You killed him, Lily, and now he▓s showing his true strides by fighting a war that he knows nothing about, because he betrayed the Dark Lord because of you.■ ⌠Not because of me,■ she whispered.
⌠Then because of who?■ I countered. ⌠You and your friends beat him down to nothing and then expected him to survive! You and your friends told him that the only thing he could be was evil, alone, and ugly! You and your friends taught him that death was not just hereditary, but something that he could look forward to, and now that he is dead, your husband is still at his old ways. Lily, I don▓t think you understand what I do. I understand that you pushed him away because of your new friends, and now that you see the effects, you want to take it back. Well, guess what, Lily? You can▓t take it back! He is the way he is because of the way you treated him, end of story, and enjoy watching the remnants of that battle because I guarantee you that the man who just helped me face Judgment is dead because he would rather, again, fight demons of the world than fight the demons inside himself. Congratulations, Lily, you▓ve killed him again!■ I spat, walking away.
⌠Patience?■ Lily called. ⌠Listen, I never meant to hurt him! He hurt me to, you know! He insulted my heritage, told me that I didn▓t belong in his world!■ she called to me. I stopped on the stairs to listen. ⌠He made me feel inferior, so I countered the only way I knew, and James was there and eager to do that for me. I used him as a medium to cause pain to someone that cared about me for no apparent reason,■ she sighed. ⌠I never thought I was physically hurting him until I watched Voldemort kill him because Severus was so powerful. We turned him powerful by calling him dumb and starting a small-scale war with magic. If it weren▓t for us, he never would have turned to the Death Eaters for support, and he would have been happier,■ she whispered. ⌠See, you took everything from him, and now that I have him, you▓re taking him from me too. I spent hundreds of years in Hell, Lily. I understand few things, but I understand pain when I see it because that is my way of life, being in pain. I had the nerve to curse God▓s son because of my own selfish beliefs, and I spent probably a thousand years paying for it, but I would still be there if it weren▓t for Severus. He wanted to run, to get away from Voldemort to avoid catastrophe, but that didn▓t happen, and now he▓s fighting a war that God won▓t even stay here for. He helped me realize that fears are nothing, though. I always followed the rules once I died because I knew that it was the way to redemption, but following the path that is the most traveled is not the way to go, and you should believe that more than anyone. Because of our quest for simplicity, you hurt someone and I suffered for many years. If we want to fix anything, we▓d have to change things, but we can▓t. He▓s over it now, so stop apologizing. Thank him for the lesson and move on with your atrocious husband who thinks that he▓s too good for the mother of his only child. He did have that affair. I could tell by the look on his face,■ I said sternly. I completed my walk down the stairs to see another messenger.
⌠Sorry to disturb you, but┘the war is over. Voldemort is dead,■ he whispered. I thanked him and ran into the main square. The movement towards God▓s new home had ended and groups of ten or more were running into the wilderness to find wounded souls. Everyone was helping with something, so I joined them to help find the dead and wounded, and hopefully Severus.

After twelve hours of intense labor, the entire battlefield had been combed for the dead or wounded, and the totals were massive. Over three thousand Hellians perished, and the numbers for Heaven could not be calculated. The worst part was that no one had seen Severus, even Heaven▓s survivors, but a miraculous story was floating among the camps. Severus apparently was the one to kill Voldemort, and everyone was called him ⌠The Heavenly Hellian.■ I knew this all along, but his story of sacrifice had finally circulated enough for him to receive recognition, and possibly a spot in Heaven for eternity┘if he survived.
By the next morning, seven more Hellians and three more from Heaven had passed from their wounds, and God was being contacted with the news. No word from the streets surrounding His kingdom had come through either, so the survivors sat around in large circles exchanging stories from their planets. It was the first time that many of the people had gathered together and even confirmed Hellians were involved in the circles for their roles in bringing down the Dark Lord.
By twilight, a messenger from God had returned, but the news was not pleasing. God could not move at the moment because He was dealing with other manners, so we would have to migrate with the messenger to find Him or face an unprotected Heaven, which is what we had been facing for many days now. The group agreed that until every wounded man was stable, we would stay where we were. During this time, I vowed to find Severus, or at least his body, but Lily found me for another mission. She had remained inside the tower for the first few days, but now she was on a rampage to find me.
⌠Patience! There is a great fire building past the mountains. It looks like a battle! Where is James?■ she begged, exasperated from running around the large camp to find me. Truly, no one had seen any wizard since the beginning of the battle, but most were confirmed citizens of Heaven and had no need to associate with wizards, but after making the trek with Lily to see the fire for myself, I too was a believer that another battle was taking place in the large valley. Several brave men joined us, and the lot of us walked there, weapons in hand. When we got the valley, two days had passed and the battle was over, but the remains were too shocking for Lily or me to handle. Every wizard had been hung and a large ▒v▓ was cut onto both of their cheeks. A giant shadow lay on the floor of the valley, and after Lily grew calm enough to explain its significance, we learned that Voldemort was still very much alive, along with Severus Snape.
⌠That is his sign!■ Lily sobbed. James was among his victims again, and she was devastated. Alongside him hung his other friends. Of the arrogant circle, only she remained. The men that traveled with us grew worried, and the fastest volunteered to run the distance between the camps to gather another army and tell the rest the news. According to the evidence, everyone was in danger, including Severus.

I climbed a tree to look for the messenger in the rising light, but I could see only a dark figure in the very distance. The figure was not the size of our messenger. He was the size of Severus, and I called to the male leader of our group.
⌠Look, it is Severus. I must go to him,■ I called sternly.
⌠It will take you two days and by then he will have lured Voldemort to the camp to kill you all. What we have seen is enough evidence to tell us that he never left Voldemort▓s side after all these years. He is an enemy, not a friend, and I would trust any regular Hellian before him any day,■ the leader spat. The other men agreed and I jumped from the tree.
⌠It is people like you who caused him to turn evil to begin with. How would you feel if an entire civilization hated you because of who you were? You▓d eventually want to pay them back, and now I▓m doing just that. He deserves peace, and just because he sinned makes him no different from you,■ I hissed. The leader looked away quietly. He was one of the ones who resided on my level of Hell in the beginning, and now he was free, to ruin the lives of others apparently. ⌠I▓m going with or without you, but when the Dark Lord returns here to see his victims one last time before he kills the rest of Heaven, you▓ll wish you would have listened to the girl who would rather see the person than his bad deeds. If you show so much judgment, why are you not being throned then?■ I asked coldly, walking away. Lily quietly followed. I gave her a look of question.
⌠I▓m going along because I have nothing else to do with myself,■ she whispered.
⌠Who knew, Lily?■ I sighed. ⌠It▓s just like you to only turn to him when you have no one else to turn to. If that is the case now, I want you to leave. I will not stand beside you and watch you hurt him again. I love him, Lily, more than you ever will.■ I walked ahead of her in stride for a few minutes, then she rejoined me, but only to question my methods.
⌠Why? There is no way that you love him,■ she said sternly.
⌠I love him more than you ever did, and you know it. I showed him trust, he accepted, and now I▓m returning his acceptance. I trust him to follow the way of the Lord now, and I am willing to wait forever if it means keeping him with me for eternity. I do love him, Lily, and not because he▓s the first Hellian I▓ve seen who could pull off a religious life, because he is not the first. He is just the first to realize that Hell only changes one▓s entire makeup. I was a hag before I came here because I decided to curse God▓s son. I paid my price and now I▓m here, because Severus relied on me for help. Now that I have helped him, I feel that he is the one I should thank. He made me realize that I am cut for Heaven, and I plan to fight for this place even if it means losing my soul in battle. I believe in God, but I also believe in Severus. Now, you should get back to the next judgmental posse. You need more like your old clan or you cannot survive, if my observations are correct,■ I said coldly.
⌠You judge people too,■ she whispered.
⌠Of course, but with you┘you deserve to feel pain for once. Many have suffered because of you. If it were not for your choices, your son would not have suffered at school.■ ⌠That▓s not true!■ she exclaimed.
⌠If it▓s not, then why did he have to deal with so much crap? Because of your death, and that of his father, Harry grew up famous, therefore having to deal with more than you ever thought possible. He lived with horrible people and he stayed with horrible people once Hogwarts became his home. At Hogwarts, Severus and many others treated him terribly because he was famous or because someone from their passed ruined their chances of ever showing courtesy again. You, my friend, ruined your son▓s life and you will ruin his chance at a good afterlife unless you decide to step away from judgment. Either you change your ways of hurting everyone you see, or you will lose your son,■ I said sternly. ⌠Now, let me go to Severus at my own pace.■ I walked away from her, but she remained in that spot for some time thinking over my words. She then walked slowly back to the group, who had waited for her, but not for me. They walked directly behind me into the other direction, and I lost sight of them after an hour of walking. I soon began to run because I had lost sight of Severus. After ten minutes, I felt almost too weak to move on, but I caught sight of something else. From a third direction, the direction where Severus came from, walked a group of four, but there was a fifth person on a throne being carried across terrain that was covered with roots. They were making terrible time, but they gave me the boost I needed to join Severus▓s side at the edge of the city. There, everyone saw us and heeded our warning: Voldemort was coming, and this time the battle would be more even because he only had seven men and we had over fifty people, women, men and children; who were willing to fight off the one force that pushed God away, the one force that could bring Satan down.