A/N- I spotted this challenge, so I am attempting it. This is a response to Droxy's Final Goodbye short story challenge(posted on lord and lady snape). I hope you read this, and enjoy.
And just in case you don't know about this challenge, then I shall warn you now it is going to be angsty, and it involves death. Just so you know.
Disclaimer: As always, these characters, and this world do not belong to me, no matter how badly I wish them to be. They belong to J.K. Rowling. In fact, the basics of the story really don't belong to me either; they belong to Droxy, who is the creator of this challenge.
Anyways, enough of my rambling and on to the story…
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Sudden Sorrows- Chapter 1She coughed as she made her way down the hall, stumbling as she fought to keep control of her legs. As a sudden new wave of nausea passed her she fell to her knees, fighting to stay awake. No… Not now… So close…
She pursed her lips as she forced herself to her feet and inched closer to her designation. She fought to control the unbearable coughs when she finally arrived in front of the painting. She held her wand tightly in her hand as she found breath in between her coughs enough to harshly whisper out, "Alohamora." The painting swung open and she took out the box inside with shaking hands, falling to her knees the moment that she had the precious object in her hands.
Just then a very painful cough reverberated painfully through her body, and she noticed the deep red that now was staining her hands. A numbing dizziness fell her senses, and she barely even noticed when she hit the floor. Her breath became labored as she looked at where the box had fallen. As well as the bottle of ink she needed to complete her task. Panic quickly fled through her body at this discovery. No! I must…He needs to…
With a last burst of energy she stretched her hand towards the ink, only to have it land on the box, but noticed that the blood she had coughed up had rubbed on the wood. Even now, her mind raced and a thought emerged from its depths. It could work…In a hoarse whisper came, "Severus gravis scribere." And as her vision began to blur, she saw the glow of the words as they took shape upon the box. A small smile formed upon the corner of her lips, and then she succumbed to the urge to close her eyes.
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Sudden Sorrows- Chapter one
Severus Snape, feared potion's master of Hogwarts, and currently the most annoyed person within the entire school, stood in front of his current first year class. It was only the third week into the school year, and already they were trying his patience with pranks, and botched potions. Not that he wasn't expecting it, but this was by far too soon. Besides, he had other things on his mind at the moment; like how to tell his new wife, of just a mere two months, that he had just arranged for their residence to be moved to his estate in Romania, near the new research facility she had been so eager to work in. He pinched the bridge of his nose, and then scolded one of the students, who had obviously thought that etching designs into the desk in front of him was by far more interesting than the class assignment.
Just as he was about to deduct points from the aforementioned Gryffindor, the door to his classroom creaked opened. His eyes wandered to the offender; ready to reprimand whomever it was that had just interrupted his class. But instead of a student, it was one Albus Dumbledore standing there inside the doorway; looking perhaps the most solemn he had ever seen before. That could not be good. He straightened his back, and tilted his head in question. "Yes…?" Severus watched the slight twitching of the old man's facial muscles, as the Headmaster thought of what to say. The slight frown that briefly formed there and the light twitch of the man's eyebrows always seemed to go with bad news for him. Like when he had been told that his father had died, or when that indeed no, he did not expel the marauders for nearly killing him.
"I need to speak with you, it is of the… utmost importance, my boy. Alone." His voice was softer than he had ever heard before, and there was a deep sadness in the tone that made Severus involuntarily shudder. This definitely could not be good. Not good at all. A sudden panic filled his heart and he felt his lungs tighten. He moved his head ever so slightly to the students to hiss out "Class dismissed." He did not let his gaze leave the man before him as the class fled the room.
Albus shut the door as the last student left. He took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and then motioned towards the nearest chair. "Please, Severus… You may wish to sit for this…"
Severus slowly sunk into the chair. "Albus… What is all this about?" He tried to hide the fact that his hands were shaking just slightly by holding onto the arms. What could it be? What could be so horrible that he would have me dismiss my class?
The headmaster, too, sunk into the chair across from him. "Severus… I… There is really no easy way to tell you…"
"Tell me what? I haven't been… released, have I?" He attempted to work out the worst in his mind, when a thought came to him. A horrid thought. No, that simply cannot be… can it? He quickly shook his head to remove the atrocious thought from his mind.
"No, unfortunately it is not something so light as that." No… "A man from the ministry came to me just a few moments ago, and he… He told me…" Albus paused to take a deep breath himself, he too, saddened from the coming news. No…
"Albus…" His voice came out scratchier than he intended it to be, hoping beyond hope that somehow that his intuition was for once wrong. That just once his conscious mind had deceived him.
"You have become like a son to me, Severus, and you know that I will always be there for you. You will always have people who love you, and care for you, even if you don't see it yourself." No…
The man was avoiding the subject. "Albus…" By now his nails were starting to wear through the fabric as he attempted to hide his windmill of emotions from the elder man.
"Severus… It seems that your wife has had some sort of… disease, for quite some time now, and…"
Severus felt his stomach plummet to the floor, and twist in agony. It can't be… "She has been in perfect health, Albus, you have seen her."
"Severus, I… I did, and no one else knew, either. From time to time these things happ-" He was not able to finish his sentence.
"Not to her! She is in perfect health, and furthermore-" This time it was Severus who was cut off.
"Severus, they found her body in the hallway of her old apartment this morning. I'm sorry, so sorry…"
Severus sat eerily still, his hands turning white as they gripped at the arms of the chair. Suddenly he slowly started to shake his head.
"You're lying. I was with her just last night, and she seemed, she was… She was smiling, and laughing, and…" He trailed off, his throat starting to close on him. He felt a hand on his shoulder then, and noticed that at some point Albus had stood and come over to comfort him. His muscles tensed. "Leave me be."
The elder man nodded and placed something on the desk beside him. "This was found next to her, I believe this is meant for you…" With that the headmaster quietly left the room, leaving Severus alone. He grabbed the wrapped object Albus had left him with and walked numbly to his quarters. She couldn't be dead… It must have been some sort of sick prank. Whoever's idea this was, was going to pay. He shut the door behind him, and looked around, half expecting his wife to be sitting at the table as she usually did at this time of day. She wasn't. He fell into the chair at that table and looked at the package in his hands, and then placed it upon the table.
"Hermione…" He didn't even fully realize he had spoken her name aloud.
Gingerly, with shaking hands, he opened it. The small threads fell to the table as a rush of nausea passed through his body. It was a box. And written neatly on it was –SEVERUSIMPORTANT-
But that is not what sent reality crashing down on him in sick waves.
It was the fact that the inscription on the box, was written in blood.