Disclaimer: See chapter 1 for full disclaimer and notes.

WARNING: Angst alert ahead! You have been warned. I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all my wonderful reviewers! You guys have kept this story fun, and made me want to write many more. I am currently concocting a sequel, called "And Everything After", which I will be writing, though it may not be right away. I have a couple of other stories I'm working on too. Anyway, you guys ROCK! You're awesome. Okay, now onto the end.

Epilogue: A Lesson Unlearned

Professor Snape sat in his private study, a bottle of Firewhiskey in his hand.

He had been so close. Black had been locked away, with no help from Potter and his menace friends, who had somehow managed to get right in the middle of things yet again.

Then he was gone.

Black had vanished into thin air - undoubtedly aided by Potter, leaving him looking like a fool.

Snape sighed, settling back in his chair. He was well on his way to being drunk, his mind wandering.

He closed his eyes, seeing long blonde hair and a shy smile behind his lids. It was the same daydream he had been having every day since she left. It didn't feel any easier than it had that first day, and he had been taking it out on his students, being even more demanding than before. Tara wouldn't approve, but, then again, Tara wasn't there. He was entitled to his bitterness at the hand he had been dealt.

He wasn't sure if the old saying was true. Was it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? They were both such painful ways to live.

He was yanked out of his reverie by a knock at the door to his main room. He pulled himself out of the chair, sloshing the Firewhiskey onto the floor and cursing under his breath.

"This better be good," he said in a menacing voice as he opened the door.

He almost dropped his bottle when he saw who was on the other side.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, opening the door wider.

"I can't stay long," Rupert Giles said, entering the room and turning back to the Potions Professor.

"What happened to you?" Snape asked, taking in Giles's bruised and scratched face and slight limp.

"Perhaps you should sit down," replied Giles.

Snape opened his mouth to say something, instead nodding and sitting down on a nearby sofa while the former librarian remained standing.

Giles took a deep breath. "There's been an incident."

Snape nodded, as his stomach clenched and his heart began to race.

"It's-" Giles began, stopping to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"Tara's dead, Severus."

Snape nodded again.

Giles continued to explain what had happened, but he only heard snippets of it over the buzzing in his head.

"Was it Willow?" Snape asked in a voice so low that Giles had to strain to hear it.

"It was a stray bullet from a gun that was fired at Buffy. Tara was in the wrong place. Magic wasn't involved at all." Giles replied, crossing to Snape to take the bottle out of his hand and set it safely on a table.

"She was right," Snape said, staring at the floor. "I underestimated her again."

Giles went on, having no idea what Snape was talking about. "Willow tried to bring her back, but couldn't. She decided to exact justice instead, finally unleashing all of her power. She got very close - too close - to ending the world, but she was saved. She's in bad shape, but I believe she can be helped."

"She's not in the school is she?" Snape asked, whipping his head up a little too fast, grimacing as the room spun around him.

"She's with a coven in England, beginning her recovery."

Snape nodded slowly, willing the spinning to stop.

"How is Dawn?"

Giles smiled briefly. "She's fine. She held her own."

Snape nodded again.

"Another apocalypse diverted, though this one had a higher price than most," Giles said, laughing humorlessly.

He looked at Snape, who had his eyes closed and one hand pressed to his forehead.

"I wanted to tell you in person. She would have wanted you to know the full story."

Snape just stared at the floor.

Giles turned to leave. Just as he stepped through the door, he heard the Professor's voice from behind him.

"Thank you," Snape said softly.

Giles left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Snape immediately reached over and grabbed the bottle of Firewhiskey.

He held it up in the air, toasting the fates who kept changing the rules on him, before downing a quarter of the bottle in one swallow. Setting it down on the floor, he laid back down on the sofa and shut his eyes.

"So this is what the end of the world feels like," he said to no one in particular.

THE END