Failure:
Sat, May 2, 1998, The Battle of Hogwarts the 2nd. (Or is it the 1st?) (Gotta love time travel conundrums.)
"Harry!"
Hermione Granger, the smartest witch of her generation, came to a dead stop and experienced the now familiar wave of helplessness as she watched her best friend fall to his knees. Merlin, not again. Poor Harry. The young and overburdened wizard pressed a trembling hand to his scarred forehead, grimacing in pain. His other hand turned nearly white as it clutched his wand in a convulsive grip.
The eighteen plus year old girl, covered in scorched and much abused muggle clothes of jeans and a form fitting, hooded, pastel striped jumper, put a comforting hand on Harry Potter's shoulder as he shuddered through the latest vision.
Ronald Weasley, her other best friend (and maybe boyfriend if that life-affirming and very unplanned kiss in the Chamber of Secrets was anything to go by), screeched to a halt at her cry and ran back to them. The red headed boy hovered over the black haired one, waiting anxiously for Harry to get back up so they could continue on with their mission to find and kill the last horcrux; one massive snake known as Nagini.
While Hermione gave her silent support to the Wizarding world's only hope of freedom and peace, she looked around Ron, ahead to the landing of the stairs that led down to the Entrance Hall of the castle. Through the opening of the hallway, she saw chaos. People darted and dived as the light of curses and hexes flew through the air. The castle rumbled around her in protest as stone walls shattered and floors heaved. There were screams and shouts as Lord Voldemort's Death Eaters and other vile allies sought to murder all who would oppose their Lord.
The sheer amount of magic being used was enough to make her hair stand on end. That is, it would have if it hadn't already been drenched by the slimy water of the underground chamber that housed the dead basilisk. And then scorched into a near ball of flame on her head by the heat of the fiendfyre in the Room of Hidden Things that the Room of Requirement had opened up for Harry. Her hair had then been drenched again after Ron had noticed her curly mane sparking. He'd done a wide eyed double take and promptly soaked her in an aguamenti spell, leaving her sputtering and glaring. (To which he'd given her his signature sideways 'oops?' smile.)
Ron was ever so helpful.
Not.
I love him anyway. But I'm still not a hundred percent convinced yet that I'm IN love with him. Or just trying to tell myself that I should be.
Putting that conundrum away for a time when they weren't fighting for their lives and countless others besides, she ran a frustrated hand through her hair. Her fingers immediately became stuck in the tangles. Wincing, she worked through the knot while waiting for Harry's vision to end. Hermione did NOT want to see what her nearly impossible to contain hair was going to look like when it dried again, but at least with it damp, it was staying out of her face for once without the benefit of an industrial strength hair tie.
With a grunt, Harry surged back up onto his feet suddenly, displacing Hermione's hand.
"You all right there, mate?" Ron asked, putting out a hand to steady a swaying Harry, but dropping it quickly when said Harry glared at it.
"I'm fine," Harry growled, in a bit of a temper.
Hermione honestly couldn't blame him for it. The younger boy had so much pressure on his shoulders, it wasn't even remotely funny. Everyone was counting on him to defeat the most powerful Dark Wizard to ever live in some miraculous feat. What very few knew was that Harry would have to die to do it because Harry was a horcrux too. The only plausible way that Hermione had come up with for Harry to accomplish this was for he and Voldemort to kill each other at the same time.
It was very depressing.
She really didn't want to lose her best friend. And neither did Ron. Maybe that's why we're clinging to each other now.
Harry spun and headed back down the corridor, saying, "I know where He is. He just summoned someone to him. He's in Hagrid's hut."
Hermione and Ron glanced at each other and shrugged, then ran after their friend who was quickly regaining his strength and balance.
"What about the snake?" Ron asked as he caught up.
"And what about Hagrid?" she added.
Harry dashed into a side corridor that lead to the side of the castle and the stairs that went down the hill to Hagrid's hut. "It's with Him. I saw through its eyes again. And Hagrid wasn't there." Harry paused at the side door, his usually bright green eyes dark in the dim hallway and filled with resolution. "You two will have to deal with the snake while I distract Him, okay?"
"Sure, Harry."
"Of course, Harry," Hermione said at the same time.
He gave them a flicker of his old smile and then they were out in the dark grey of very early morning, running nearly flat out down the precarious stone steps imbedded in the grassy hill. Hermione prayed that none of them stumbled and broke an ankle on the way down.
It worked. Because they made it.
Despite the adrenaline and the exercise, Hermione felt a shiver travel down her spine from the frigid spring air of nighttime Scotland and her damp hair and clothes. Resigned to the inevitable bush that would become her head, she pointed her wand at herself and muttered, "Aguamenti Expelliamo." She grimaced as her insane curls immediately started floating with static electricity.
Running as quietly across the grass as they could, keeping low to hopefully avoid being spotted out a window, the three heroes found their way to just underneath the window beside Hagrid's front door.
Voices wafted out into the grey dawn.
What they heard kept the teenagers in their place, frozen in shock.
Severus Snape, Potions Master, reluctant Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and even more reluctant double agent for both sides of the war, was stalking that bloody, child hunting werewolf, Fenrir Greyback, through the halls of his school. He'd wanted to put the perverted man down for years after having to endure watching him indulge in his unsavoury appetites with the Dark Lord's blessing, and now he finally had the chance without any repercussions.
In a battle such as this, with hundreds of people fighting at once, who's to say who actually killed who?
The one advantage to being Headmaster of the school was the innate knowledge that the sentient castle gave to him of the location of every single person that stepped foot in it. It was generally a headache worthy annoyance to know so much at once, but right now, Severus was glad for it. It was also something he hadn't known would happen when he was sworn in as Headmaster and still, months later, inspired irritated grumbles at the deceased Dumbledore for not warning him.
The old bastard had known exactly where every single out-of-bed-after-curfew student had been at all times and had still assigned people to stalk the halls and catch mischief making children or snogging teenagers. Severus being one of them, of course. As if he'd had time in his ridiculously overextended schedule for aimless hallway stalking.
Suffice it to say, there had been no late night snogging on Severus' watch.
"Sodding hell," the tall, dark, underweight, and incredibly stressed man cursed lightly as his left forearm suddenly burned viciously.
With no available time delaying excuse about not being able to apparate because of the castle wards that he'd taken down to let the Death Eaters in, he pushed up his sleeve the bare minimum to expose the bottom edge of the writhing Dark Mark on his wrist and touched his wand to it.
The automatic Apparition sent him straight to his Master's presence, which just happened to be inside the school Gamekeeper's hut. I do hope Hagrid is all right. All I know for sure is that he's not in the castle and not dead on the floor in here.
Throwing up his Occlumency shield and taking off his silver Death Eater mask, Severus immediately knelt down to one knee in front of the half reptilian man dressed in an austere black robe that did nothing to disguise the power radiating from him. "My Lord," Severus said in his most humble tone.
A second later, another form Apparated in, landing beside Severus in a less graceful stumble. A rather crispy looking Draco Malfoy also knelt in front of their Master and mumbled out an appropriate, "You summoned, My Lord?" What in the hell has Draco gotten himself into this time?
Probably better for my peace of mind If I don't know, he thought even while knowing he'd ask Draco for the story later. Assuming we both survive, that is.
"Severus, Draco, thank you for your timely arrivals." Severus kept his face passive and downturned at the Dark Lord's sarcastic and disapproving tone, letting his long, unstyled hair shadow his features for added protection. Merlin's balls, I couldn't have arrived faster if I'd tried. And Draco was only a second behind me. His unforgiving mood is NOT a good sign.
Severus' godson was also silent, if very tense, having learned long ago to speak the bare minimum to the Dark Lord or even within earshot of him, his snake, or any of the more vile Death Eaters.
In front of Severus, the cursed snake slithered around her Master's equally scaly feet lovingly, her slitted eyes never leaving Severus' suspicious gaze as she moved. Somehow he suppressed the shudder that travelled down his spine at the sense of doom that unexpectedly hit him.
"Rise," Voldemort snarled.
They did.
Voldemort moved to pace in front of them, ruby red snake eyes narrowed with the vertical pupils trained on them, his steps gliding in a way that most humans could never pull off. But the Dark Lord wasn't precisely human anymore, was he? With a flick of Dumbledore's wand, the angry wizard pushed the centrally located table and chairs out of his way, sending them slamming against the hearth. The snake stayed in front of Severus and Draco, rising up on her thick body to waist height.
"Tell me, Severus, how come I haven't seen you on the battlefield in the last quarter hour?"
"I pursued the enemy into the depths of the castle, My Lord," Severus said truthfully. "I have been in there ever since, tracking down and disposing of more."
Voldemort slithered to a sudden stop in front of Severus and pinned him in his hypnotic gaze. Without use of wand or spoken word, the powerful wizard dove into Severus' mind, uncaring as to finesse and privacy.
Occluding like his life depended on it (because it did), Severus pushed forward the images that his master wanted to see. He presented images of himself running though the hallways of Hogwarts in pursuit of students, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. He grimaced in pain as the wizard tried to dig past the false memory. Severus gave him a lightning fast stream of images of his time as Headmaster; paperwork, disciplining students with demeaning tasks such as scrubbing the floors on their hands and knees, more paperwork, and terrifying the children as he walked down the gaps between tables as the cowed young people ate their meager dinners in stilted silence.
This wasn't how Severus would have actually run the school if he didn't have Death Eaters-turned-incompetent-teachers spying on him and reporting to Voldemort. In truth, Severus hated the extreme discipline the children had had to live under for the better part of the school year, as it reminded him too much of his abusive homelife as a child. He'd had more nightmares in the last half year than in the previous ten years combined.
Sleeping was no longer welcome. And the bland food now served at Hogwarts had never been more unappealing.
Voldemort turned his gaze away, withdrawing from Severus' mind. He smirked, nodding once, finding the presented images acceptable. Thank Circe. Severus breathed somewhat easier as his head pounded like a hammer on an anvil had taken up residence within from the stress and forced legilimency of his master.
The reptilian man turned his gaze to Draco and stopped in front of him, towering over the shorter, platinum blond haired teenager. Draco flinched, but stood his ground bravely. Easy, Draco. Remain calm. Remember your training. Keep your shields up. "You failed your task, Malfoy," Voldemort hissed.
Draco visibly gulped. "My Lord, I…"
"Silence!"
Draco's mouth closed with a snap of teeth at the power in the command.
"I know you failed because I felt it when two more horcruxes were destroyed. Your only job in this confrontation was to stop Potter and his little friends from doing this and YOU FAILED!"
Oh, shit.
"I'm sor…"
"Crucio!"
Draco seized and dropped to the ground, writhing in silent screams as the power of the curse poured from the wand in Voldemort's scaled and taloned hand.
Unable to help, Severus was forced to watch his godson be tortured for endless minutes with an inscrutable expression, for if he were to show sympathy for the boy, he would be in the same position in moments and that would not help the Order defeat this madman and his followers at all.
Eventually, the Dark Lord relented and left the boy panting and groaning on the dusty wooden floor. And then, with a flick of his fingers, he pointed at Draco and said, "Strike."
Nagini lunged forward eagerly and sank her fangs into Draco's thigh, causing the boy to scream in a fashion even worse than the Cruciatus Curse ever had (which he was unfortunately used to now) as the deadly venom shot through his system.
Severus maintained his mask of indifference out of sheer habit, but on the inside he was panicking. Draco was his to protect and he'd all but failed. His only hope was to get the anti-venom into him before it was too late to reverse the paralytic damage. In an unthinking action, Severus touched a magically expanded, soundproofed, and undetectable inner pocket of his robes that contained the numerous potions that he kept on him at all times for just such an occurrence.
"That's what I thought."
Severus' eyes shot to Voldemort's and saw the nasty smile that indicated he'd noticed the motion.
Fuck, Severus thought as his master raised his stolen wand again and said, "Accio anti-venom."
Two vials forced their way out of Severus' black robes and flew into Voldemort's waiting hand. He sneered as he glanced at the opaque liquid. "So predictable, Severus. You should take better care."
I usually do. I've been taking 'better care' for two decades or more. I can't believe I fucked up this time.
Voldemort dropped one vial and crushed it under his bare foot, oblivious to the shards of glass that must have imbedded into his bare sole. That took days to brew, you bastard.
Then the Dark Lord flicked his fingers at Severus and said, "Kill, Nagini."
I should have seen that coming.
Severus didn't even have time to take more than a step back as the green and grey snake lunged up at him, piercing his neck with deadly intent. The weight of her body bore him to the floor, and the vein burning venom that flooded his system kept him there.
It was all Severus could do to not scream as the snake left him to bleed out on the floor, returning to her Master's side with a satisfied swish of her tail.
Severus raised a shaking hand to push against the gaping wounds on his neck, caused by the snake's overly large fangs.
Voldemort laughed.
The mocking sound made Severus shiver in revulsion on top of the fire eating him from the inside out.
"Now, Severus, my most Loyal Subject," the Dark Lord said snidely. "You have a choice. Who gets the last vial of anti-venom?"
Draco, of course.
As much as Severus wanted to live, his life was not worth anywhere near as much as Draco's. The boy had so much potential and life yet to live. Unable to speak through his clamped together teeth that were holding in the screams, he flicked his eyes at the young man gasping for air beside him.
"Excellent choice, my friend," Voldemort mocked, tossing the vial lightly on Draco's chest. Severus was happy to see his godson fumble at it until he managed to uncork it and swallow the potent liquid. He could see the instant relief it brought the teenager and would have twitched his lips up in an approximation of a smile if he could have; but they were pulled back in a near permanent grimace of pain that he could do nothing about.
Severus returned his gaze to his Lord and Master and managed to groan out the word, "Why?" because he needed to know more than he needed to grit his teeth together.
"Why?" Voldemort repeated. "Because I have no use for you anymore, you traitorous whelp." He laughed viciously at Severus' shocked look. "You think I didn't know? You think I didn't know that your loyalty was to Dumbledore and not myself? Of course I knew. I set it up that way from the very beginning, you fool. The day you told me about the prophesy and then begged me to spare Lily Potter's life, I knew I had you. I knew you would turn to Dumbledore when I killed your precious Lily White Mudblood. You have been a perfect informant for me and I thank you for it, but I don't need you anymore."
"What. About. Potions?" Severus had been providing the Dark Lord and his underlings with all the potions they could want and had done so since he was seventeen. It was ridiculously expensive and mostly came out of Severus' pocket, of course. (With a little help from the Hogwarts store of ingredients.)
Voldemort sneered. "I can brew my own potions. And if my subjects want their daily fixes of hallucinogens, erection amplifiers, age reversers, and beauty enhancers, they can bloody well buy them on their own galleon."
Why couldn't he have said all that twenty years ago? I'd be bloody well rich right now. Not that it would help my current situation. Nor would I be a Potions Master, considering I got my degree on his knut. No. That's not true. I would still be a Potions Master. It just would have taken me longer to pay for my schooling and I would have had to find my own Master to Apprentice under. And I would brew privately instead of teaching dunderheads.
Severus' random, last minute wishful thinking thoughts came to a halt when his lungs started to seize, causing agonizing coughs to rip through his torn throat, and his body to curl into a protective ball.
Voldemort laughed once again. "So pathetic. Love is the biggest weakness of all, Severus Snape, and you fell for it. I'd never have been able to manipulate you if you hadn't. You're brilliant, Severus, but you'll never be as intelligent as I am." Voldemort smirked. "Especially not now." He kicked his dying servant in the kidney as he walked past, towards the door, calling over his shoulder, "Get your pathetic arse up, Draco, and return to the battle before your godfather's fate also befalls your worthless cunt of a mother. Perhaps you can redeem yourself by catching Potter and his friends for me. If not..." The threat hung on the air, unspoken. But it didn't need to be. Severus already knew the entire Malfoy family's days were numbered. If Voldemort had been playing Severus from the start, there was no way he didn't know that the Malfoys were also not exactly on his side.
Nagini slithered after her master, right over Severus' body in the most taunting fashion imaginable.
Draco forced himself to his knees, staring at his godfather in remorse, the hint of moisture in his eyes making them look like liquid silver. "I'm sorry," he mouthed. Severus forced a severely shaking arm up enough to touch Draco's jaw once in a last display of affection. When did he become a man? Surely it wasn't that long ago that I was changing his nappies? And then Draco pushed up to his feet, his right trouser leg plastered to it with trickling blood, and limped after the Master he had never had a choice but to follow.
Severus was sorry too, because he'd failed. He'd failed Draco. He'd failed his students. He'd failed Dumbledore. He'd failed his graveside vow to Lily to protect her son.
Father always did say I would be a worthless failure. So much for proving him wrong.
While the heroic trio of teenagers were occupied with eavesdropping, a menacing figure snuck up to them from around the other side of the hut, pouncing with a gleeful snarl.
A/N: Aguamenti Expelliamo: I made this up because I couldn't find a listed canon drying spell. If anyone knows of one and doesn't like mine, I'm happy to change it.
You'll also notice that I have Hermione saying 'god'. I know this isn't a wizardy term, but I figure growing up in a muggle house until she was 11 would have instilled in her some muggle sayings that would come out in times of stress. This exclamation is not meant to offend anyone. Severus also grew up as a part muggle, but I'm sure he would have abolished as much of that culture as he could from himself.
Also, I couldn't find anywhere in the wiki that it actually says Draco is Severus' godson, but I keep reading it in the fanfictions and I like the idea, so I'm going with it. And I honestly can't remember if it says something to the effect in the books or the movies, and don't feel like scouring either for proof. :P