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.

5. The Astronomy Tower

Author's Note: This chapter is the more detailed version of the fifth scenario from chapter one, the death on the Astronomy Tower. Hope you enjoy, and please let me know what you think! This is the second to last chapter in this story.

In one world, a world that might have been, Severus Snape died at the top of the Astronomy Tower at the age of thirty-seven, killed by Harry Potter for his murder of Albus Dumbledore. In this world, Harry Potter recovered faster from his shock at seeing the Headmaster fall, and made his move before the Death Eaters had time to leave the top of the tower. In this world, when Dumbledore died and his spell holding Harry Potter bound broke, the boy immediately cast his own curse towards the fleeing Potions Master. Righteous anger and the hatred he had harbored for the Potions' Master for years were enough in that moment to fuel an Unforgivable Curse, and Harry Potter took what he perceived to be justice into his own hands. Severus Snape's body hit the floor of the tower in a flash of green light even as he tried to shepherd Draco Malfoy towards the safety of the stairs. The other Death Eaters fled, dragging Malfoy along with them, with Harry Potter following behind like an avenging angel. In this world, there were two bodies left behind that night: the Headmaster at the base of the tower and the Potions Master at its pinnacle.

In this world, Severus Snape was not there to beg leniency from the Dark Lord on behalf of Draco Malfoy, to claim that the boy had not failed to kill Albus Dumbledore through any fault of his own, but that Snape's own thirst for revenge had led him to kill the old man first. In this world, Voldemort killed Draco Malfoy, supposedly as punishment for failing in his task, but mostly out of anger at the loss of the Potions Master. In this world, Lord Voldemort did become the master of the Elder Wand, by killing the boy who had disarmed the Headmaster before his death, though he would believe it was because he took the wand from the grave of its previous master. In this world, when the Ministry fell and it came time to appoint a headmaster of Hogwarts loyal to the Dark Lord, Severus Snape was no longer an option, and it was instead a cold and grieving Narcissa Malfoy who was ordered to take that post. Following the death of their son, Voldemort thought it wiser to keep the Malfoy parents apart rather than take any risk that together their loyalties might waver after their loss. Lucius Malfoy remained by the Dark Lord's side, working endlessly (and often futilely) at his attempts to convince his master of his continuing loyalty. The Carrow siblings, Death Eaters both, were sent to Hogwarts along with Narcissa Malfoy, as much to keep an eye on the new Headmistress as to keep control of the students. Under their rule, life at Hogwarts would be much the same as if Severus Snape had sat in the Headmaster's office: not entirely pleasant and full of fear, yet not too physically painful as long as the students kept their heads down.

In this world, Harry Potter still departed on his horcrux hunt with only Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley by his side, unwilling to trust even the remaining members of the Order of the Phoenix with the mission. Much of their quest would remain unchanged, though there would be some crucial differences. In this world, when Ron Weasley abandoned his friends and then attempted to return, it would not be the patronus of Severus Snape that would lead him to reunite with Harry Potter, and there would be no sword of Gryffindor to retrieve from a frozen pond. Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley, and Neville Longbottom would still have tried and failed to steal the sword from the Headmistress's office, not knowing that what they chased was only a replica. But in this world, when the Dark Lord ordered the "sword" placed in the Lestrange vault at Gringotts for safekeeping, Narcissa Malfoy went along with Bellatrix Lestrangeto deposit it there. After Bellatrix Lestrange spoke with pride of the cup that her lord had given her for safekeeping, and showed it to her sister, Narcissa Malfoy stole Hufflepuff's cup and brought it back with her to Hogwarts. She did not know what it truly was when she took it, only that it was something cherished by Voldemort, something that he wanted kept safe, which seemed reason enough to ensure it wasn't. After a number of unsuccessful attempts to damage the cup by ordinary means, the new Headmistress resorted to fiendfyre, destroying the horcrux without ever understanding its true significance.

In this world, when the young horcrux hunters were captured by Snatchers, they had no sword of Gryffindor with them to make Bellatrix Lestrange believe they had entered her vault, so she gave them no hints that she had (or had once had, for it was already gone by then) possession of another horcrux. Slytherin's locket, still undestroyed, went undetected inside Hermione Granger's magically expanded purse, and when the trio got away with help from Dobby, it was still with only the one horcrux that they already had, and no reason to attempt to break into Gringotts Bank. Instead, Harry Potter's thoughts turned to the school. While he and his friends were still at Shell Cottage the Boy Who Lived saw a vision, a view into the mind of Voldemort, that brought them ever closer to the end of the war. The Dark Lord had gone to Hogwarts to claim the Elder Wand from the tomb of Albus Dumbledore, and found treason in the mind of Narcissa Malfoy when the Headmistress came to meet him. Voldemort, and through him Harry Potter, saw past her blank face and occlumency shields to find her memories of stealing and destroying the Hufflepuff's cup horcrux. For the Boy Who Lived, it was a victory, another horcrux that he did not have to find and destroy himself, but a victory that came at the cost of Narcissa Malfoy's life as she became the first victim of the Elder Wand in the hands of the Dark Lord.

As Voldemort set off to check on his other horcruxes and vent his frustration on the few remaining Malfoy and Lestrange family members, leaving the Carrows to take the place of the woman who had so briefly been Headmistress of Hogwarts, Harry Potter began to plan his assault on the castle. It was clear from the flashes of memory gotten from Voldemort that the last horcrux to find was at Hogwarts, as well as the basilisk fangs in the Chamber of Secrets that were the only way he knew to destroy both the locket and the unknown Ravenclaw horcrux. So it was that Harry Potter's arrival at Hogwarts later that same night was quite similar to how it might have been in another world, with one horcrux in hand and another to find. He and his friends entered Hogwarts through the passage between the Hog's Head and the Room of Requirement, found the lost diadem of Ravenclaw, and destroyed both diadem and locket with basilisk fangs retrieved from the Chamber. There was no confrontation with Draco Malfoy in the Room of Requirement, or with Severus Snape in the corridor, for both were already dead. However, there was a fight involving the Carrow siblings and the professors of Hogwarts that ended with both the Death Eaters' deaths, though not before they had a chance to summon the Dark Lord.

The Death Eaters began to gather outside the Hogwarts boundaries as what remained of the Order of the Phoenix joined with Dumbledore's Army inside its walls and prepared to defend the castle. With only one horcrux remaining, as far as they knew, the plans were simple: kill the snake, and then kill Voldemort. But as the battle began, and fighters began to fall on both sides, it became clear that the Dark Lord was keeping himself and his snake out of the fight, seeing no need to intervene personally when his followers were doing so well on their own. It would not be until Voldemort called for a ceasefire that any opportunity to get near him or Nagini would come. In this world, Severus Snape had no chance to pass on his memories to Harry Potter, no chance to tell the Boy Who Lived that he must die in order to defeat his enemy, and there was no one else alive who could pass on that information. But in this world, like in so many others, Harry Potter could not stand to see others die on his behalf, and when Voldemort offered to spare the rest if he turned himself in, the young man did not hesitate for a moment. He planned, or hoped, to kill Nagini before he inevitably fell, leaving the Dark Lord vulnerable to being killed by whoever might be able to take a shot.

And so it happened. Harry Potter walked out to meet his enemy, his nemesis, in the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest as the defenders of Hogwarts gathered their many dead in the Great Hall. He found Voldemort there, surrounded by his remaining Death Eaters and accompanied by his faithful snake. Before any there could recover from their initial shock that he would actually turn himself in, Harry Potter cast a Killing Curse, the second he had ever successfully cast, not at Voldemort, but at Nagini. The Dark Lord could not act fast enough to save his snake, his last horcrux, but reacted quickly enough to cast the same curse back at the Boy Who Lived. Both snake and boy fell to the ground, but those two were not the only Killing Curses to light up that clearing green. While Lord Voldemort was caught off guard, distracted by the loss of Nagini and the apparent death of Harry Potter, Lucius Malfoy made his move. Still grieving the loss of his son, and then suddenly faced not only with his wife's death but with the decision she had made to abandon the master who had destroyed their lives and family, he made his choice. Though his hand was shaking, the curse flew true, hitting Voldemort in the back with a jet of brilliant green, sending him toppling to the ground beside the stirring body of Harry Potter. What followed were a few long minutes of chaos, as curses flew throughout the clearing, Death Eater against Death Eater, and Death Eater against the forces of the Light who had been drawn to the forest by the sounds of fighting. When the sounds of battle ceased and the Hogwarts grounds eventually fell silent, Harry Potter was still alive, and both Voldemort and Lucius Malfoy lay among the many slain at the edge of the forest. The Malfoys would be seen as heroes, martyrs among the many others who had lost their lives in the war, while Severus Snape would be counted among the equally many dead villains. But in this world, where Severus Snape's death was retribution, these were its consequences.