Halloween Prompt - Dementor

School Of Prompt - Word Count 1000

AN - This is somewhat AU, fair warning.

Wordcount Without AN - 1,022

Going Home

Harry walked down the corridor slowly, unsure of his welcome in the hospital room he was aiming for. Severus had been in an awful mood the day before, and though he hoped it would be different, Harry wasn't hopeful of a better reception.

What he wasn't expecting was a nurse turning down a freshly made bed with no signs of an occupant in the room at all.

"Where is Severus Snape?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrow at her. Surely someone would have told him if the man was being released. He'd been a visitor there every day for the last three weeks after all.

"He... I... Um..."

"Where is he?"

"The Auror's picked him up this morning, Mr Potter. I'm sorry."

Anger filling him, Harry's pace was no longer leisurely as he backtracked the way he came, flooing straight from St Mungo's to the Ministry Atrium. Storming his was up the familiar path to the Minister's office, he ignored the surprised shout of the assistant and slammed the door open.

Minister Shacklebolt barely had time to look up from his paperwork when a furious Harry Potter placed his hands firmly on the desk. "Why the hell has Severus Snape just been arrested, Minister, and who do I have to kill to see him released? Immediately!"

Weak as he currently was, Severus had offered no resistance when the Auror's threw him into the tiny cell he now occupied. Not that he would have resisted had he been full strength anyway. Despite what Harry said, Severus knew he deserved to be in Azkaban as much as any other Death Eater. He may have been working for the right side, but he'd committed heinous crimes to stay in the good books of Lord Voldemort, and he deserved punishment for that.

He shivered. He'd hoped that the Dementors would no longer be stationed at the horrendous prison, but that hope had been all for naught. The chill of the sea air became the unnatural Dementor induced cold, and he heard the tell tale rattle as they drew nearer.

Expecting to hear Lily's voice in his head, telling him she didn't want to be his friend, he was surprised but horrified when another filled in the silence, the pictures to go with the voice playing in his mind like a muggle movie.

"I trusted you, and you betrayed me. Are you going to kill me now, Severus? Are you going to add the name of Harry Potter to your repertoire? The Murderer of Albus Dumbledore no longer a good enough title for you?"

Severus knew Harry was goading him, and he could hear the hurt so clearly in the younger man's voice, it wounded Severus. He never wanted to hear that tone of voice from the only person he'd ever truly loved. The only person who'd ever truly loved him.

"He ordered me to do it, Harry. I didn't have a choice."

"There's always a choice."

"Not this time. He was already dying. He didn't want Draco to risk his soul by killing him, so he ordered me to do it instead."

Harry dropped his wand, his body following suit as he sunk to the ground. "And your soul?"

"Already destroyed beyond any penance."

Harry let out a humourless laugh. "I hate you."

The words pierced his heart like a knife, twisting in place when the green eyes he loved so much looked up at him, emotions filling them. "I hate you so much, because I still love you. I watched you murder the Headmaster, and I still fucking love you. What kind of sick kind of person does that make me?"

"Harry, I - "

"You need to go. Ron and Hermione will be looking for me if I don't get back."

The voices echoed in Severus' head, as he tried to force himself to remember that Harry didn't hate him. Harry loved him. He told him every day. But as another memory started, Severus' resolve to believe that Harry did love him got weaker.

"You need to go to Voldemort and allow him to kill you. You're his last horcrux." The words stuck in his throat but he forced them out. "You must allow him to kill you. You must not fight."

"You knew. You knew all along, and you didn't tell me."

It wasn't a question, and Severus almost took Harry in his arms. He almost begged him not to follow instruction. He didn't want Harry to die. He didn't know how he would live in a world that Harry didn't exist in.

"I... Dumbledore told me. After he asked me to kill him."

"You knew what I was carrying around inside my head, and you didn't tell me."

The words, full of accusation, were flat. Dull. Severus watched in horror as the life literally left Harry's eyes in front of him.

"Harry, you... there might... You... I'm sorry."

"Goodbye, Severus."

The memories faded and Severus took a deep breath. The Dementor's had retreated. Severus turned over on the thin scrap of material that posed as a mattress and faced the wall. Harry loved him. Harry loved him. Severus kept the mantra going, even as doubt filled him up. Harry loved him. Harry loved him. Didn't he?

Harry walked down another corridor, flanked by two Aurors. Azkaban was an awful place, and though the Dementors had been ordered away, he could still fell their presence. Prongs walked proudly in front of him, and in his peripheral, Harry could see one of the Aurors looking at him with awe as he kept his patronus strong and steady.

They arrived at the cell to find the man he was looking for lay with his back to the door.

"Severus. Severus?"

The dark eyes, when they turned to look at Harry, were full of tears.

"You came?" The words, croaked out, were more emotional that Harry had assumed Severus was capable of.

"Of course I came, silly idiot. Come on, Sev."

"Where?"

"We're going home."