Missyick... thank you... always so kind...
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.
Chapter Fourteen - The Final Hours
He kept telling himself it was the right thing to do; yet he struggled through everyday fighting the pain deep in his heart.
It had been over three weeks since Olivia walked out of Severus' bedroom, and walked out of his life. Although he had originally expected the pain to slowly ease as time went by, Severus soon began to question the reasonableness of his expectation.
This was a quiet evening in May. It should have been a pleasant summer night, but the dementors in the sky had turned the school grounds into a cold and hopeless place. Sitting at his desk, Severus fixed his gaze upon the distant sky outside the window. He felt more alone than ever before.
As he surrendered himself to the silence around him, his mind drifted away to the three long weeks that he somehow managed to live through. He remembered how he tried to convince himself that he should feel relieved that she finally listened to him when he found her resignation letter on his desk. He thought he should be even more relieved when words reached him in the following days, that the lone assassin seemed to have vanished - perhaps he was more convincing than he thought.
Perhaps this time, he thought bitterly, that he had finally succeeded. He had finally persuaded her to stay away from the danger of the war; and had finally pushed away the one last soul that cared for him, and the one last glimpse of hope for another day worth living.
His heart sank in disappointment when he saw the vacant spot on the staff's table in the Great Hall, and ached when he walked by the empty quarters that used to be hers. She left a void in his heart that he couldn't find a way to fill. For a man who was so used to keeping his emotions under complete control, Severus felt as if he was losing this battle. He never imagined it could be so difficult not having her in his life, and not having her in his arms.
"Severus, is it my imagination or has Miss Hamilton not been visiting you in your office lately?"
Severus was startled when he heard a gentle voice coming from the wall in his office. He frowned and looked back at Dumbledore's portrait. Why did the old wizard have to bring her up, as if he had not already been missing her enough.
"You are correct, Dumbledore." Severus' voice was cool and calm, not giving away any emotions, "She left."
"She left?" Dumbledore's portrait sounded nothing but surprise.
"Why do you sound so surprised? This is not her place to stay." Severus' voice was still calm and plain, "This is not her war."
"I thought I made her see reasons!" Dumbledore sighed and shook his head.
"What do you mean?" Severus suddenly became very alarmed. He quickly looked up at Dumbledore's portrait and asked, with an icy edge in his voice. "What did you say to her?"
"I might have explained in a way that she could appreciate," the old wizard stoke his beard slowly and smiled, "that she was the only one who could really help you in this war. That's all."
"It was you! You pushed her to risk her life. Do you know what she was doing? She went out there alone at night dueling the death eaters! She could have been killed!" Severus sent Dumbledore a threatening glare, "How could you? Why did you do that?"
"I was simply stating the truth, Severus." Dumbledore looked at the dark-hair wizard kindly, "You should have let her help you."
"No!" Severus stood up abruptly, with rage rushed through his veins, "I never needed her help! You should have stayed out of this! You have me wrapped around in your fingers doing whatever you please all these years already. Why do you want her too? Olivia doesn't belong to this war. Do not try to manipulate her for your own benefit!"
The old wizard shook his head in his portrait and let out a sigh, "I only wanted to help you Severus. You must know how much I appreciate what you've done all these years."
Severus clenched his teeth as he stared at the old wizard's portrait, feeling anger and fear filling his heart. He couldn't believe the meddling old coot pulled Olivia into the war using him as a bait. What else did Dumbledore say? How did Olivia interpret the old man's words. How far would she go to "help" him?
Before he could speak another word however, the gargoyles guarding his office suddenly announced, "Headmaster, Professor McGonagall is here to see you."
Severus was utterly surprised. For the entire year, McGonagall had been avoiding him like a plague. She rarely set foot in his office, except for the handful of times when he requested her presence for certain official duties for the school. Before he could gather his senses and order the gargoyles to let the witch in, he was further surprised as the head of Gryffindor House marched through the door, completely ignoring the gargoyles' protests.
"Severus Snape!" McGonnagall said sternly, but Severus took note of the absence of the hatred that he had gotten so used to seeing in her eyes. "I demand a complete explanation, right this minute!"
Severus frowned. What was she talking about? "What do you want me to explain, Minerva?" he asked coldly.
"This!" the older witch pointed at the empty spot next to her. Her voice shivered in rage.
Severus looked at the empty spot in the room and raised an eyebrow. The witch surely had snapped. Before he could find the right words to address the old witch's sanity however, he watched in amusement as a young wizard came into view. It was Harry Potter.
"Potter! What are you doing here!" Severus growled. Before the young wizard could answer, Severus waved his wand and cast various charms to secured all the windows and doors in his office.
"That's the question that I asked him!" McGonagall commented as she watched the headmaster critically. "I was hoping you can explain why Mr. Potter would like to come see you!"
"Professor Snape," Harry Potter began, "I need to find something in Hogwarts. Do you know where it may be hidden?"
Severus examined the young wizard intensely, "I sure hope that you are in your right mind and know what you are talking about, because I certainly do not." After a brief pause, Severus frowned and asked the young wizard urgently, "Did anyone see you when you entered the castle? Amycus Carrow was doing the rounds tonight. Don't tell me he saw you!"
"No need to worry about Carrow. Mr. Potter hexed him and had him locked away in the Ravenclaw common room." McGonagall answered instead. "But I don't understand... Mr. Potter said you saved his life?"
Severus glared at the old witch as he considered his answers, "I do not have time to explain. I can only hope Mr. Potter understands the consequences of him returning to Hogwarts. If anyone discovers this, Potter, do you realize the danger you just brought to the entire school!"
"I am sorry sir," the boy answered sincerely as he folded away his invisibility cloak, "but this is the last place I have not looked. This has to be where the last horcrux is hidden. Dumbledore sure had discussed the horcruxes with you?"
The horcruxes... Severus' gaze locked upon the boy as he recalled Olivia telling him about what she heard as she followed the trio in the woods. She had warned him that Dumbledore was hiding some important facts from him. He's using you like a pawn! She had said. Severus had discounted her theory and stubbornly declared his loyalty to the old wizard. After all, the old man had given him a chance to redeem himself from the terrible mistake that he made years ago. Why shouldn't he keep his faith in Dumbledore? Yet as the evening slowly unfolded itself before Severus, he began to question his judgement.
Sending Dumbledore's portrait a cold glance, Severus answered dryly, "No. Dumbledore did not say a word to me about the horcruxes. What makes you think it should be here?"
Just as Harry was about to answer, the charm over the fireplace set off an alarming cry, "incoming floo, Headmaster."
With a wave of his hand Severus summon a room divider and placed it right in front of the witch and the young wizard. Walking towards the fireplace, he greeted an emerging head of a wizard calmly, "Lucius."
"Severus, they spotted Harry Potter in Hogsmeade! The Dark Lord is summoning everyone. He's going to have Hogwarts surrounded! He said he would do everything to find Potter tonight, even if he had to burn down the entire school! But listen Severus, Draco is still inside! I tried to floo him at the Slytherin common room but he wasn't there. Can you find him and warn him, please! He needs to get out of there before all of this begins, soon!"
"Of course Lucius. I will send words." Severus answered coolly, and watched the silver-haired wizard disappeared in the green frames.
"I'm really sorry sir." Harry Potter came out from around the room divider, followed by a very concerned McGonagall. "I really didn't mean to bring them to the school. I thought we could..."
"You thought... Of course..." Severus cut the boy off and grunted.
"I didn't think that..." Harry's face was turning scarlet.
"Obviously you did not think." Severus cut him off again and began pacing in his office.
"What does this mean Severus?" Professor McGonagall decided to break the tension between the two wizards, "What are they going to do with the school?"
"This is going to be challenging Minerva. You must do everything you can to protect Hogwarts. Seal off the grounds. Evacuate the students, all of them. If you hurry you may have enough time." Severus answered calmly, as if he had all of this planned out long ago. "And it's time," he paused for a brief second, "to send words to the Order."
McGonagall looked at the headmaster in disbelief. "You said 'you', not 'we'" she observed, "what about yourself? What are you going to do? And you have been working with the Order? Why didn't you tell me?"
"No I haven't been working with them. But I have no time to address your questions at this moment." Severus didn't need to further explain the situation as he felt a searing pain in his forearm. Instinct reflects made him look down and hold on his arm. When he looked back up, the urgency in his eyes explained everything to Harry and McGonagall.
"The Dark Lord is calling. I must go and learn his plans. McGonagall, this place is yours now. Potter, do whatever you need to do, but do not linger. We don't have much time left." Pointing his wand in the air, a silver doe flew towards the corridor.
"Professor!" Harry exclaimed as he saw Snape's patronus. It was clearly the same silver doe that let him to Gryffindor's sword. Although if he didn't see it with his own eyes, he would have never guessed that the patronus belonged to Snape.
"I did promise to send words to Draco. So there it goes." Severus murmured as he walked towards the window.
"Wait Professor!" Harry ran after the man and took hold of Snape's billowing cloak. "Wait! Where is Olivia? Do you think if she knows where the horcrux is? Can she help me?"
Severus narrowed his eyes upon the boy. He couldn't believe even the Potter boy wanted to pull Olivia into this war. He took a deep breath and growled, "Let go of me, you ignorant boy! Olivia is not your fairy godmother. This is not her war and I sent her away. You are on your own with this one Potter. I don't have any more information to offer."
Roughly Severus pulled his cloak away from Harry, giving the boy an intimidating stern look. But just as he was about to turn to leave, something in the boy seemed to have caught his attention. Frowning deeply, Severus walked back into the room and went around a couple of bookshelves. Quietly he opened a hidden latch and took out a small phial.
Harry could see the content inside the phial and immediately recognized the silvery substance.
Hesitantly Severus handed the phial to Harry. Before the boy's hand could touch the phial however, Severus pulled it back. "You cannot see into the pensive unless I do not return, or do not send words back within two hours. Do you understand?"
Harry nodded and reached for the phial. Surprisingly Severus pulled it away again and said, "I have a spell put on it. You would be cursed to death if you open it too soon. Give me your word Potter, that you will not look into it before the end of the two hours."
"If you have a spell put on it, why do you need me to promise?" Harry asked suspiciously.
"Give me your word Potter! I need your word!" Severus was practically bellowing.
"Alright! Alright! Yes, you have my word! I promise not to look into it unless if I don't hear back from you." Harry grunted as he took the phial from the headmaster's hand. And with a swirl of black smoke, Snape disappeared into the darkening sky.
Severus was sure he would be able to return to the castle within the two hour limit that he had given himself, until Lucius delivered the message to him that he was needed by the Dark Lord in Shrieking Shack.
As he stood before the snake that was surrounded by a transparent globe, Severus realized this was the moment that Dumbledore was referring to. Instantly, he wished the Potter boy would ignore his warning and looked into the pensieve as soon as possible. After all, there really wasn't a spell put on the phial; and the information contained in the phial was far more important than the dignity of Severus Snape.
"You are a smart man, Severus. You should understand..." The Dark Lord walked towards Severus as he began darkly.
Having his mind completely focused on the snake and the message he wanted to send to Harry Potter, Severus did not have the time to react as Voldemort drew his wand in the air and slashed down with a quick stroke.
An invisible knife stuck Severus hard and knocked him down to the floor. He could feel hot liquid running down his neck and gushing down his throat. The sharp pain of the cut was far less terrifying as he realized he was drowning, in his own blood.
"Kill, Nagini." Voldemort said coldly as he left in a swirl of black smoke.
Severus struggled to reach for his wand, but was completely paralyzed by the wound in his neck. A dark shadow quickly emerged upon him. All he could see was the snake's fangs in front of him. Bracing himself he tried to let go of his fear. This is how everything ends. He thought to himself.
Just when he was about to close his eyes and let the poisonous fangs sink into him, he heard a shrill whistle from above. Using his last bit of energy he raised his head and looked up, just in time to see the shadow of a large bird broke through the window, and dashed right onto the giant snake.
"No... Olivia... No." Severus croaked, trying to say the words of warning; but there was nothing more he could do than watching helplessly as the bird took on the snake.
There might have been a bright light, Severus wasn't sure. As he swallowed another gulp of air, he thought he heard a loud thud hitting the floor. Then he heard a soft voice murmuring a charm over him. Opening up his heavy eyelids, he thought he saw those beautiful blue eyes he had been missing for so long. A moment later, he felt he could breath again; but his struggle for air was quickly replaced by a strange kind of pain throughout his body. Was it his imagination that Olivia was healing his wound? Or did the last drop of blood finally left his veins? Feeling himself slowly reaching his end, Severus whispered, "Leave me, Olivia. Go..."
He wasn't sure if it was her voice that he heard as darkness finally overtook him.
An unexpected summer cold has set me back with my progress with the story. My goal is to post the finale of the story before the end of the month. Hopefully that will still happen. I appreciate your feedback. Review please?