The Deaths that Might Have Been

by ThetisQuinn

There were many opportunities for Severus Snape to die over the course of his life. How might those other deaths have looked, and what might have been their impact on the greater story around him? A speculative piece on seven ways the life of Severus Snape could have ended. Chapters 2-6 will contain more detailed dives into the seven scenarios presented briefly in chapter 1.

4. The Execution

Author's Note: This chapter is the more detailed version of the fourth scenario from chapter 1, the execution. Hope you enjoy, and please let me know what you think!

In one world, a world that might have been, Severus Snape died in the Little Hangleton graveyard at the age of thirty-four, executed as a traitor by Lord Voldemort. In this world, when Severus Snape did not appear in the graveyard at the Dark Lord's original summons, and instead arrived hours later at the order of Albus Dumbledore, he did not leave that place alive. Voldemort did not believe the Potions' Master's excuses or explanations, his claims of allegiance and loyalty. In this world, even Severus Snape's great skills of Occlumency were unable to fool the greatest Legilimens in the world, and the Dark Lord quickly found evidence of treason in his mind. Such betrayal could have only one punishment, and the torture of the would-be spy was brought to an end with his death before the night was over. Severus Snape's battered body was returned to Hogwarts, left before the great gate to the castle grounds, with the Dark Mark cast into the sky above to ensure the Headmaster's attention. In this world it was not only for the loss of Cedric Diggory that the Great Hall was hung with black draperies, as those present raised a glass for their two losses at the hands of Voldemort: the student who had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the teacher who had gone with full awareness that it would likely lead to his death.

In this world, when the Order of the Phoenix reformed in the weeks after the Dark Lord's return, it was without their spy, without any of the information, acerbic comments, or arguments with Sirius Black that Severus Snape might otherwise have brought to their meetings. Without him, the Order of the Phoenix could not be certain what Lord Voldemort's short term objectives were, and did not immediately know to guard the Department of Mysteries from the start. However, the standard defenses on the Ministry of Magic and the prophecies it contained kept the Dark Lord from getting his hands on the prophecy until the Order caught on to his objective and put their own watchers in place. In this world, as in so many others, Harry Potter began to see flashes of Voldemort's thoughts and emotions soon after the Dark Lord regained his body. In this world, though, there was no Severus Snape to attempt to teach Occlumency to the reluctant Boy Who Lived at the Headmaster's request, and with no other alternatives Albus Dumbledore took on the teaching role himself. Under the expert tutelage (and more compatible teaching style) of the Headmaster, Harry Potter's control of Occlumency grew strong, strong enough that Dumbledore felt safer than he ever had before in sharing secrets with the young man, strong enough to keep out unwanted visions from Voldemort, or to watch those visions without being influenced by them. The Order of the Phoenix lost their spy in the ranks of the Death Eaters in this world, but gained instead a spy into Lord Voldemort's own mind.

In this world, Harry Potter would not be lured to the Department of Mysteries under the believe that a vision of his godfather being tortured was true. Sirius Black would survive to the end of the war, the only Marauder to do so. The Death Eaters sent to intercept the Boy Who Lived at the Ministry that night walked directly into a trap, finding not a group of teenagers with no real hope of defeating them, but instead the full might of the Order of the Phoenix ready and waiting. In this world Voldemort did not make an appearance at the Ministry, but the capture or recapture of many of his Death Eaters there, including such close advisors as Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange, was enough to prove to the Minister of Magic that the Dark Lord had indeed returned. And in this world, as in many others, Voldemort was still unable to get his hands on the prophecy, and was left knowing only the piece of it that Severus Snape had shared years before.

In this world, with Harry Potter's Occlumency lessons proving a success in his fifth year, Albus Dumbledore began to share with him the secrets of the Dark Lord's history and horcruxes sooner than he might have otherwise. With the loss of Severus Snape, Horace Slughorn was brought back to Hogwarts earlier to reclaim the positions of Potions' Master and Head of Slytherin House, and the memory of Tom Riddle's question about horcruxes was retrieved sooner as well. But though the Headmaster began to instruct Harry Potter sooner, he still went alone to find the Gaunt ring horcrux in the summer after Harry Potter's fifth year. With no one to stop him from putting on the ring, and no Severus Snape to call upon to heal him or contain its effects, Albus Dumbledore died alone in his office, succumbing to the ring's curse. In this world not all hope was lost with this sudden death of the Headmaster, for he had already passed on to Harry Potter much of the information he knew about horcruxes and Lord Voldemort's origins, enough that the Boy Who Lived could struggle on with the hunt. He was helped not only by his equally young friends in this world, but by the adults of the Order of the Phoenix as well.

The Death Eaters grew bolder after Dumbledore's sudden death, and the Second Wizarding War drew towards its climax during Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts. With danger growing throughout the wizarding world, and the Order of the Phoenix taking on more important roles in support of Harry Potter and the deceased Headmaster's plans, Hogwarts secretly, and then less secretly, became the new Headquarters for the side of the Light. Classes still took place, students still roamed the halls, but there were other occupants in the castle as well - Order members patrolling the boundaries, or poring over old records to try to trace the locations of horcruxes, muggleborns and their families who had taken up residence in empty classrooms hastily converted into extra dormitories. In this world there was no need for Harry Potter and his friends to go on the run to hunt down horcruxes, for they had other resources to call upon. It was Sirius Black who found and destroyed Slytherin's locket in his family's home, bypassing any need to endure the dangers of the cave by simply sitting Kreacher down one day and asking him for any information he knew about Voldemort. It was Bill Weasley and the Gringotts goblins who determined the location of Hufflepuff's cup to be the Lestrange Vault, and Andromeda Black Tonks who used some slightly sketchy inheritance laws to convince the goblins to let her into the vault of her imprisoned sister to recover it. Harry Potter had not previously seen Ravenclaw's diadem in the Room of Hidden Things, for he had never had a need to hide the potions textbook of the Half-Blood Prince there, but eventually it would still be found there.

In this world there would be only one Battle of Hogwarts, the final battle in the war. With the castle as the undisputed headquarters of the free world and the side of the Light following the fall of the Ministry of Magic, it was simply a matter of time before the forces of Lord Voldemort made their plans to launch a full scale attack on the school. By then the Order of the Phoenix was ready, and so was Harry Potter. For in this world, the Boy Who Lived already knew Albus Dumbledore's theory that he was the secret extra horcrux, already knew that he would have to die, and had come to terms with that, at least as much as a sixteen year old ever could. When the day finally arrived, the inhabitants of Hogwarts had their battle plans ready, had already assigned their fighters to their posts: some to defend the castle itself, others to get the younger students to other safehouses scattered across the country, some to ensure that the snake Nagini was killed, others to keep Harry Potter safe until it was time for him to face the Dark Lord. The battle was a long one, and bloody, though ultimately ending in victory. In this world it was Sirius Black who killed Nagini, narrowly escaping death in Voldemort's retaliatory strike. Remus Lupin, fighting side by side with his old friend, shielding his back as he went after the snake, was not so lucky. Harry Potter, seemingly risen from the dead after Voldemort had killed him, raced towards them, intending to kill the Dark Lord himself, but his godfather had other plans. As Harry Potter cast his curse, so too did Sirius Black, standing over the body of the last of his school friends. Two jets of light, one red and one green, hit Lord Voldemort at the same moment, sending his wand flying from his hand even as his body fell to the ground. The history books would credit the Boy Who Lived with defeating the Dark Lord, though he would always wonder whether that was strictly accurate. Regardless, the outcome was the same. Lord Voldemort was defeated, but the price was high; Remus Lupin was far from the only casualty that day. But in this world, where Severus Snape's death was an execution, these were its consequences.