No Place For Charity
Chapter 7
No Greater Love
May 1998
The Shrieking Shack
Severus stood impatiently before Voldemort. He sensed that tonight was the night. Hogwarts was under siege. The Dark Lord had placed his damned snake inside a starry sphere of protection. He must talk to the Potter boy tonight or all Albus's plans would fail. He didn't place much faith in the scheme under the best of circumstances but it was the only chance they had. But how do you tell a boy that he has to die? Now Voldemort had summoned him here for a private talk when he had to find the boy. He hoped this wouldn't take too long.
"My Lord—let me got to the boy—"
"All this long night, when I am on the brink of victory, I have sat here." Voldemort said in a raspy whisper, "wondering, wondering, why the Elder Wand refuses to be what it ought to be, refuses to perform as legend says it must perform for its rightful owner . . . and I think I have the answer."
Snape didn't speak as terror rose in his gut. He wasn't afraid of death, he was afraid of failure. He would happily go to Hell as long as he could drag Voldemort's screaming shred of a soul down into the pit with him. But unless he found the boy first he would die in vain.
"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."
"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."
"My Lord!" Even as he raised his wand, Severus recognized the futility of the gesture, there was no possible way he could kill Voldemort.
"It cannot be any other way," Voldemort said. "I must master the wand, Severus. "Master the wand and I master Potter at last."
Voldemort sweeped his wand as Severus braced for whatever spell was coming. For a split second he thought the spell had failed until he saw the sphere with Nagani rolling through the air toward him. He screamed as it engulfed him and the snake bit deeply into his neck. A part of him wanted to laugh. Voldemort still considered him a friend. He never directly killed his friends but let others do his dirty work. How pathetic.
His knees gave way and he collapsed on the floor. Nagani's poison coursed like fire though his veins.
"I regret it." Voldemort said coldly. He turned and left the room with the snake.
Severus grasped his throat trying to stop the flow of blood. He could barely move. He could feel himself dying. A failure.
There was the sound of fluttering cloth and Harry Potter suddenly appeared in front of him. No hate in his eyes, only something akin to pity. There was still a chance. Only . . . seconds . . . left. Harry bent over him and Severus grabbed his robe and pulled him close.
"Take . . . it . . . Take . . . it . . ."
With his last effort Severus forced his memories out. Harry collected them with his wand and placed them into a vial.
His grip was weakening, Severus looked for the last time into his eyes. So green, like Lily's. "Look . . . at . . . me . . ." he whispered. The boy's face faded into black. His last thoughts were of Lily and Charity. The two women he loved. The two women he betrayed.
Snape was lying face down on cracked concrete. There was mist all around him. The first thing he figured out was that he was naked. Maybe he wasn't dead after all. Perhaps Hermione had come up with a anti-venom potion. He doubted Harry ever could in spite of what Slughorn had to say. The odd thing was, he felt no pain. Not just the snake bite but the little things like the slight twinge he always felt in his left knee. The sore feet from running around on them all night. He groped around for his wand but couldn't find it. And why was he naked?
"I need some clothes." He thought and some green robes appeared next to him. "Green? I've never worn green in my life!" The last thing he had seen were Harry's green eyes, so much like Lily's. "Black!" he said out loud. "If I'm to meet my judgement, it will be as I lived!" The robes turned black. Whoever was running this place, at least he's accomodating.
As he put them on he looked around. He was apparently at some old fashioned airport, complete with hangers, control tower, beacon, windsock and a very old propellor driven airliner of some kind. No people or life on any kind. Not even insects. There were no muggle airports anywhere near Hogwarts. Where exactly was he? If this was Heaven then he was less than impressed. If it was Hell then he was still less than impressed.
He held out his hand. "Wand!" No wand appeared. At least it was worth a try. He wandered over to a telephone next to a hanger and picked up the reciever. As he expected, the line was dead.
A small clatter and a flicker of movement from the corner of his eye. He turned his head toward the hanger across the tarmac but saw nothing. Perhaps he wasn't as alone as he thought. He stepped over to a metal toolbox resting on a metal barrel and opened it. A good heavy wrench was soon tightly gripped in his hand. He would much rather have his wand but it'll do in a pinch.
He slid behind a 1930's era fuel truck and peeped around the corner. He saw nothing but he thought he heard footsteps. He decided to go around the back side of the hanger and come up behind whoever was there. When he got behind it he found himself back on the same tarmac just across from where he was earlier. This place was like a moebis strip, travel in a straight line in any direction and you always end up where you began. And this particular universe wasn't all that big.
It was time to start thinking four dimensionaly, if he traveled off the grid at this point he should be able to come up behind the point where the noise came from. He gave a flamboyant flap of his cape as he headed to the point he had calculated.
A few minutes later he loomed over a crouched figure in a grey dress crouched behind some oil barrels. She was clutching a large monkey wrench in a sweaty fist.
"Put it down, Charity, I won't hurt you."
Charity jumped and the monkey wrench clattered on the concrete. "Severus! It's you! I saw you going . . ."
"I meant you to see me and I doubled back. I figured you knew the rules of this place better than I did."
"So you're dead. Was it HIM?"
"Voldemort?" She cringed. "Don't fear his name. He has no power in this place."
"It's all my fault!" Tears were flowing down her face. "I murdered you! I told them you were a spy! I hated you. I wanted them to kill you!"
"You didn't murder me, he didn't believe you and he killed me over something entirely different, you were closer to the truth than you thought. I was a spy working for Dumbledore. You were meant to hate me. Everyone was."
"You don't understand! A part of me wanted it to be true! I hoped it was true! But I couldn't take the torture anymore! It was unrelenting! The constant questions! The Crucio curse! It seemed to go on forever! I would have told them anything to make them stop but they never did! They broke me! I betrayed you! I betrayed everyone! I'm so ashamed!"
Severus sat next to her and put his arms around her pulling her to his shoulder. He felt her body shake against him as she was sobbing. "It's alright, nobody could have held up under that much torture, anyone would have broken."
"You wouldn't have broken."
"No, I wouldn't have."
She started making a grunting noise as her body kept shaking. It took him a moment to realize that she was laughing through her tears. "Oh Severus, you're a total jerk! You know that don't you?"
"I am who I am. I make no appologies."
"No, really, it's alright! Dying doesn't give you a sudden personality transplant. We both still have the same hangups we had in life. I've always fallen for the jerks. It was my curse in life." She looked up at him with her tear streaked face. "I've always known that you weren't a very nice man. But you've always been a very good man, and I betrayed you."
"I watched you die, I didn't lift a finger to help you."
"Under the spreading chestnut tree,
I sold you and you sold me.
There lie they, and here lie we.
Under the spreading chestnut tree."
Snape's brow furrowed. "What was that?"
"A line from a book I read once. We can start over. Voldemort . . ." she said the name with great effort, "ruined our lives. Let's not let him ruin us now. I love you Severus Snape. I want to stay with you if you let me."
He kissed her forehead. "I love you." He realized that this was the first time he had ever said those three words to anybody. "I love you Charity." He leaned back against the oil drums with Charity nestled against his side. "So where the hell are we?"
"I don't know, I think I created this place with my mind."
"This dump? Couldn't you have come up with anything better?"
"I don't think this is either Heaven or Hell, we're between two worlds. A transitional place. Maybe it's Purgertory. I created this from the final scene of a movie called Casablanca. I thought I was supposed to get on the plane but I couldn't. Not with a heart full of hatred. I've been here so long."
"I don't think that plane will take me. I wasn't exactly a saint."
"Yes you can. 'There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.' You've done that. You gave up your life for your friends. Not just your death but your whole life. You gave up everything; happiness, love, friendship, piece of mind, your good name. You allowed yourself to be hated by everybody. You sacrificed your whole life for others. I think you can move on to a better place."
"I think she's right." Snapes head jerked up as Albus Dumbledore walked out of the mist.
Severus and Charity scrambled to their feet. "Professor Dumbledore, I didn't expect to see you here!" Charity sputtered.
"I didn't expect it either." Dumbledore smiled looking around, "So where exactly is here?"
"An airport from the late 1930's."
Dumbledore looked around curiously "Oh really?" He then looked at Snape. "So Severus, I trust your mission was successful?"
Snape nodded. "Harry Potter knows what is expected of him. He will do it. He has his mother's courage."
Dumbledore smiled. "And his fathers." The engines on the aircraft suddenly sputtered to life and began a steady roar. "I see no reason for you to linger, the two of you can move on now."
Snape looked at the aircraft. "To death."
Albus shook his head. "To life! You'll be more alive there than you ever were on earth. The two of you will have a whole new world to explore together."
The three of them approached the plane. Snape looked at it dubiously. "So what is it?"
"A DC3," Charity answered, "It's not the plane from the movie but I happen to like DC3's."
"How does it work?"
Charity ran her hand on the left wingtip. "Because of the way the wing is shaped, air moving across it at high speed creates a low pressure area on the top of the wing. High pressure air on the bottom of the wing pushes it up and makes it fly."
"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of!"
"Trust me, it'll work." She took his hand and led him to the stairway leading up to the open door.
Snape paused and looked back at Dumbledore. "Albus, are you coming with us?"
Albus shook his head. "No, I've got one more task I have to do. I'll be along shortly."
Snape made a short bow. "Then I'll see you on the other side."
Holding Charity's small hand in his, Severus followed her up the stairs. A part of him would always love Lily but if he met her on the other side he would greet her as a friend, not a lover. She was Lilly Potter now and will remain so forever. His heart now belonged to Charity. He also felt a brief wave of pity, not for Lord Voldemort but for Tom Riddle. A young boy who feared death and wanted to live forever. A young man who had never known happiness or love. Without his love for Lily it would have been so easy for Severus to have gone down the same path. Tom really had no clue what eternal life was. Soon his ragged shred of a soul would learn just how long forever was.
Albus watched them enter the aircraft then the door shut and the stairway faded away into mist. He kept watching as the engines roared to life and the DC3 sped down the airstrip and took off into the mist. The airport then faded into mist and he turned. The boy should be here shortly.
The End
