Hello Lovlies!

I'm so sorry that I've been gone for so long! If you are still keeping up with this story, thank you times a billion! If you are new around these parts, welcome! And thank you a billion as well! This story has brought me so much joy over the past few years, and I can only hope to share that joy with y'all!

Hope that all is well and that your holidays were/are pleasant! I love all of you dearly, and hope you enjoy this particularly Spirally chapter!

I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters-everything except for this plot and Vesperia and some of the ideas and random things belong to J.K. Rowling! She's the bombdiggity! 3

Much love,

Fearless Stargazer

"Vesperia…" Severus looked up into the Angel's cloudy eyes. "Why are you here with me? Are you dead? Or are you dying as well?"

Vesperia thoughtfully patted Sev's hand.

"Severus…" She trailed off dreamily, turning her face upwards to take in the shimmering rays of sunlight. "I am here because you needed guidance. You called me to this place because you needed someone."

She intertwined her fingers with his own and squeezed gently. "I have long ago lost touch with the world of the living…but sometimes I get to make little excursions like these to the land of the in-between. It's a rare gift to speak to someone who is still alive."

"But I'm d-d-dying, aren't I?" Sev's hand felt comfortable in Vesperia's. His quick pulse began to slow and relax.

"That's it…take in the sun, Severus! Relax! We have time, still!" Vesperia seemed to not have heard his question.

"I'm dying." Severus quietly pulled his hand from Vesperia's grasp, allowing it to comb nervously though his greasy black locks. "Or maybe I'm already dead. You're an Angel of some kind and you're here to calm me down and tell me that I'm dead. I guess at least I didn't end up burning in Hell. I've had enough fire for a lifetime…"

"Severus…Severus Tobias Snape!" Vesperia drew Sev to her in an awkward hug. "You still have time! The choice is yours-you can live, love! You just have to choose life."

"I have a choice?" His voice was muffled in the fabric of Vesperia's gown as she held him.

"Of course! You can choose to fight the poison, love! There are people on your side…" Vesperia sniffled. "There are very, very wonderful people fighting with you at this very moment-and it is up to you to fight alongside them!"

"P-people are fighting with me?" Severus asked, confused. He raised his thick black eyebrows in confusion as Vesperia rubbed her hand comfortingly across his shoulders.

"I believe that you are in a hospital of some kind…you have a great many people by your side to heal you. That's why I'm here…" She sniffled and drew him closer so that her lips were at his ear.

She whispered slowly and clearly into Sev's pale, lanky teenage ear. Her breath tickled his skin and he could barely feel her soft pink lips as they traced across his light flesh.

"Severus, listen to me. You must make a choice. You can choose to fight and live…or you can choose to die and spend all of eternity wondering what it would be like if you had chosen to live."

"O-Okay." He responded softly. He felt that he should be worried about his future and his death and all of the important pressing matters of choices and flame. However, he had something else at the forefront of his brilliant brain-the unwavering attraction that he felt towards this gorgeous blind woman who held him tightly.

Suddenly becoming aware of the awkwardly long hug that she had forced Sev into, Vesperia quickly drew away from the boy. She felt at her wrist for something. Pushing up her sleeve, she revealed a beautiful wristwatch with a thin, golden band.

"Love, would you please read off the time for me?" She nervously traced the edges of the timepiece.

"Y-yeah, sure. It's half past three. Vesperia-you never r-really answered why you are the one providing me with guidance? Why not one of my deceased relatives? Or someone who died of poisoning-did you die of poison as well?"

"Goodness, gracious! Severus-there is no time for such questions! You must make your choice, love!" Her voice was strained and had taken on a higher pitch. "I'm here because you need me! You're soul called out to me-but I was also sent for by someone special. One of your protectors and I used to be very close…and he reaches across worlds for me from time to time when he needs my help…Severus, love, stop crying! You have to decide now!" Vesperia looked down at him sternly. "This is all I can tell you-now please! You must decide whether you are the tinder fueling the fire or the phoenix rising from it! Choose now, Severus!" She was practically yelling now.

Severus recoiled, collecting his thoughts as this insanely attractive woman ordered him to make one of the most important choices of his existence. He took a slow, calming breath before standing.

"Vesperia…You know that I would like to live…but it will be so hard! I can never have Lily now-I can never give her the love that she deserves! The love that has been housed dormant in my heart for years on end, aching to be set free like a dove in a cage! She is absolutely everything to me! She is the brightest star in the sky and the brightest glimmer on the sea's horizon! She is everything. She is my dream." Severus stood, panting. His eyes were filled with a wild, feral sort of energy that is typically solely possessed by rabid dogs.

Vesperia stood as well, and took a step towards him. She came close so that their noses were nearly touching. Her eyebrows were knit together and a scowl mottled her beautiful face.

"Find. A. New. Dream." She whispered, all pretense of niceness gone. "You must live, Severus." She hissed with rage.

"You have so much going for you in your life, do not waste it away! You are important. You are loved and you have allies! Now choose life, Severus! It is the only way."

Sev looked deep into her sightless eyes, gulping back fear and raw emotion. He knew what the correct choice was-what it had always been. Vesperia may have sugarcoated it at first, but now she was no longer beating around the bush. She was flat out telling him what his choice needed to be.

"A-alright…" Severus stuttered out-his mouth felt dry like cotton, his tongue heavy like lead. "I-I would like to live. Tell me what I must do to fight the p-p-poison…" His words sank into the air like a heavy piano in quicksand.

Vesperia's angry face cleared-it was like sunshine breaking through clouds. She smiled softly.

"Yes. We can do this." She whispered through her teeth as she grinned like a jack-o-lantern. "Come, love! There is much to do!"

She pulled him towards the pond, tugging at his large, bat-like sleeves.

"Where are we g-going?" Sev fearfully stumbled forward in her wake, tripping over loose rocks and brambles.

"We must go in the water!" Vesperia helpfully called out behind her.

"In the what-?" Severus stopped speaking as his bear toes touched the cool water at the shoreline.

"Yes." Vesperia nodded, releasing his sleeve as she glided ahead into the pond. "This is how we will save you!" Her French accent became thicker as her voice shook with excitement.

"You're crazy!" Sev spat, forgetting that he was no longer in the physical world.

"I haven't done this in years-decades, even!" Vesperia called out excitedly, ignoring Severus's yelps of protest. She lifted the edges of her long blue skirts before the water could soak and eat away at them, revealing two pale, perfectly shaped feet.

Tentatively, Vesperia pulled her right foot out of the water, bringing the pad of her foot to rest on the bright reflective surface of the water. She shifted all of her weight to her right side, drawing her left foot out of the cool blue to follow its sister.

Severus watched in disbelief as he rested both feet on top of the water…she was walking on the water's surface!"

She closed her eyes and took a few gliding, elegant steps. She held her arms out and twirled-sending ripples springing around the surface of the small pond.

"It's still like walking on a rainstorm, Albus…" She whispered softly, so that Severus could not hear. She twirled back around and held out her hands to the slim, dying boy.

"Take my hands, love. Do not be afraid-we only have a short distance that we must walk." She smiled comfortingly as Sev tentatively placed his hands in hers. "Now place your feet on the tops of the ripples…"

Vesperia instructed him carefully as Severus awkwardly balanced his bare feet on the Spinner Pond's glimmering surface. He looked down at his feet, eyes glowing with amazement as he watched the water support his skinny weight. A giggle of joy rose up in his throat and he had to steal a hand away from Vesperia's in order to squelch the sound. He pressed his palm to his mouth, smiling as he kept his other hand interlocked with Vesperia's.

Once again, all thoughts of death and the current situation faded away. He stared into Vesperia's face, marveling at the way her classic; elegant beauty reminded him of fair Lily Evans. It was as if Severus was a kid again, playing a game of magic with his tiny redheaded companion. They were testing the limits of their powers-who could walk on the water's top the longest!? It was a game, and Lily was showing Sev the ropes.

He could hear her soft laugh in his mind as he slipped his other hand back into Vesperia's. He felt the radiance of Lily's smile as Vesperia guided him to take a step towards the pond's center. He reveled in the beauty of the moment, seeing every freckle and fleck Lily-esque joy clearly in his mind's eye.

"We are hear, love." Vesperia's musical tones were deeper and richer than Lily's delicate voice. The quick words snapped Severus back to the goal at hand-living. HE gazed around him, Vesperia had guided him to the center of the pond. He looked out around him, taking in the flecks of light that danced through the trees as day turned to twilight. Tiny fireflies and mosquitos stretched their wings lazily, spinning in clouds around the ponds' edge. He could see his little house's roof peaking through the treetops to his right. Severus had never felt so at peace with his little world.

"Alright, Severus. This is where we shall part ways…" Vesperia sadly drew him into one last, quick hug before kissing both of his cheeks. Each peck was lightening-fast, but left a lovely warm blush upon each of Sev's cheeks.

"Where are you going!? D-don't leave me!" Severus suddenly felt childlike and alone, but he did not care. "I don't want you to go! Stay-please?"

A few glistening tears fell down Vesperia's face. "This is the part that I hate, love. I adore being a guide and helping people through trials and choices in this place of in-between. But I'm not good at goodbyes…" She wiped the stray tears from her cloudy eyes.

"I know that this will be difficult, Severus…but it is a journey that you must take alone. I believe in you, love. You can do this." She held his chin in the palm of her soft hand for a moment. "I want you to do two things for me, Severus. Please."

Severus stared at Vesperia sadly, his eyes begging her to stay with him forever.

"Love…fight. Fight this poison and this sadness as you've never fought anything or anyone before. Pretend that this poison is your worst enemy in a duel to the death. I want you to believe that this poison is a person-a being. It is evil and vile and it is time for you to sever the poison's connection to your body-force it out like a demon! Exorcise your bloodstream and cleanse your flesh! I know that you can do this…so, for me, please fight." Vesperia's impassioned words hit Severus hard as he watched her cry unabashedly. The smooth ripples of the water lapped at the pads of his feet, and he squeezed Vesperia's hands as a silent promise that, yes, he would fight for her!

"And the second thing…" Vesperia turned her face away from Severus a bit, but clutched his hands a bit tighter. "Send my love to Albus…please." Her thin, quavering smile folded into a frown, and the tears flowed thickly down her cheeks. "Tell him that I believe in him as well-tell him to find the book. Can you do all that, my love?" She turned back to face him, smiling shakily as he took in the gravity of her requests, hearing the longing and heartbreak in her musical voice. "Was that too much at once? We're almost out of time, so the second thing is not as important…"

"No. Of course I'll do that for you. I'll do anything for you." Severus whispered fiercely, looking up into her sightless eyes with devotion and…dare I even write it…love.

Vesperia's face broke out into a full smile. She laughed joyfully, tears still streaming down her perfect porcelain cheeks.

"Thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She jumped up and down on the watertop, squeezing his hands over and over in case her verbal acknowledgments were not expressive enough.

Vesperia stepped back a bit, but did not let go of Severus's hands. She took a few deep, shaking breaths to calm the flow of sobs hidden in the back of her throat.

Raising their joined hands above her head, Vesperia sighed. "Our time is up now, love…But don't fret…we'll see one another again someday. Fight for me."

She smiled, causing Severus to smile along with her as she raised her arms even higher before bringing them quickly down in a single, fluid motion.

As their arms soared towards the ground, Severus felt the film of water supporting his body weight disappear from beneath him. His stomach dropped as he plunged into the deep, watery depths of the pond-his eyes fluttering through the darkness. His robes became soaked and weighed him down even more. He groped through the falling and the darkness and the crushing cold for Vesperia's hands-but his fingertips could feel nothing but gallons upon gallons of water.

That's it for this chapter! Thoughts of any kind? Recommendations? Weird things that you don't understand/think could be improved?

Please comment, I love feedback!

Enjoy your night/day and go on magical adventures! Let your love spiral! :)