Author's Note: This little story has been sitting on my computer for a while.
April 1997
It had been a shock to the core for Great Britain´s magical community.
Minerva McGonagall had visited the family of a Muggle born student who would have attended Hogwarts the coming September when Death Eaters had attacked.
The Scottish witch hat put up formidable resistance, taking out three of the aggressors before succumbing. None of the family survived and Minerva McGonagall died three weeks later.
Hermione Granger couldn´t remember a time when she´d cried more. She´d been at Harry Potter´s side during truly dangerous escapades but somehow the whole enormity of the war going on only now seemed to reach her.
After a few days however she put all her energy into putting together a quartet for singing "Abide with me" at her Head of House´s funeral. Having accidentally met her at a choir concert at St. Martin in the Fields she knew the old hymn hat been a favourite of McGonagall´s.
Luna Lovegood sang soprano, Hermione the alto and Neville Longbottom surprised them with his lovely tenor voice. As they were missing a bass Hermione tried to charm a cello from the Room of Requirement into playing that part. Her success was limited, while the other parts blended into one another beautifully the cello didn´t sound right yet.
Severus Snape kept walking. Maybe if he kept walking and walking and walking it would hurt less. Past experience had taught him this didn´t work but he kept on walking nonetheless.
A very small voice in his head was glad Minerva would be spared the hurt of what he was supposed to be doing a few months hence but still the grief was overwhelming.
A special ward told him that students were in the Room of Requirement, after curfew. Snape let the familiar anger build and prepared to dive down on the unsuspecting miscreants with all his might. He decided on forgoing a big entrance for sneaking in on them.
Overriding the door he took in the sight.
Ah. Some of his favourites for deducting points.
When they started singing however his anger evaporated rather quickly. He knew exactly why they were rehearsing, having heard that hymn often enough together with his dead colleague and friend.
Forcing himself to appear as non-threatening as possible he cleared his throat. Longbottom emitted a squeak, Granger exclaimed "Sir!" while Lovegood smiled serenely at him.
"You´re missing the bass, aren´t you?"
Now Granger smiled as well, rather tearfully at that, and thrust a sheet of music at him.
From then the rehearsal went smoothly, after their tenor had regained his voice.
Miss Granger was the last to leave and he held her back
"I will come glamoured as some distant cousin of Minerva´s."
At a cold but hesitatingly sunny spring afternoon the formidable Scots woman was laid to rest. After a nod from a visibly stricken Dumbledore the three students stepped forward, joined by a sandy haired man around forty, clad in a McGonagall kilt.
The memory of how the bass´ voice very nearly choked during the third stanza when McGonagall´s eldest niece pointed her wand at the shrouded body which immediately was engulfed in flames had stayed with Hermione Granger during the next horrible months, had enabled her to keep her head when everything pointed to Severus Snape being a traitor and murderer, had made her use dittany, antidotes and copious amounts of Blood Replenishing Potion on his still body before joining her friends in the battle and hoping for the best.
And when, fifteen years later, some months after her amiable but still emotionally exhausting divorce, an e-mail popped up in her in tray labelled "Abide with me" she smiled.
The End