A/N- As needed for this challenge, this will be done by June 1st
Disclaimer: Once again, it isn't mine… sigh
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Chapter 2
All he needed to do was open the box, though he could not bring himself to do it just yet. It seemed to him… wrong somehow. For nearly an hour he sat, staring at it, this last thing of his wife's. During this time thoughts tumbled through his head, leading this way and that way, until finally settling on one in particularly disturbing feeling. She knew…
He was not able to dwell long upon this thought though. For soon his chamber doors opened to reveal the official that had announced her death. Severus did not turn his gaze from the box when he spoke. "May I help you?"
"We need you to come and… identify the body. I am sorry for any inconvenience to you, sir."
"Inconvenience?" His voice was so low it was hardly even audible. Then he turned to face the official, who immediately shrunk away from him the moment Severus reached full height. "If you would call all of… this, an inconvenience to me, I would believe you are highly understating it."
"I apologize, but please…"
Severus pinched the bridge of his nose, just then noticing he had not let go of the box. He sighed, and then waved his hand in an offhand manner. "I will go."
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He had followed in a haze. He felt numb, as if something vital had been ripped from his very being. He tried to focus on the things Albus was saying, who had tagged along for some reason that he had not fully comprehended, but they would not penetrate his mind. He couldn't even think any longer, it seemed. Not that I even wish that…
Suddenly he found himself walking down the hallway of the ministry, and then into a room. It held a large canopy bed in the center, and within it lay an angel… It looks as if she is sleeping, so peaceful… He did not fully comprehend what he was doing, but suddenly she was in his arms, and he hugged her to him as if his very life depended upon it. "Hermione…" He buried his head into her hair. "Wake up… Don't leave me… Don't leave me… Hermione please…"
His body began to shake as he held her. So cold… She is so cold…He continued to hold her, momentarily noticing that Albus had everyone leave the room. He pressed his lips to hers, and felt himself choke at the unmoving coldness of them. It was so unfair… He had lost a whole year with her because of his pride, and now he had lost her forever. It simply wasn't fair. What had she ever done to the gods to deserve this fate? Oh sure, he would deserve it, many times over he deserved it, yet death always seemed to dance right over him as if it were as repulsed by him as most his students.
Carefully he laid her back onto the bed, caressing her cheek absently. Then his thoughts returned. She was sick… I never knew… "How long… How long did you know Hermione?" Anger suddenly boiled up within him and he grabbed a candlestick on the side-table and threw it across the room. "How long did you deceive me? How dare you… How dare you leave me… as if it were nothing?"
He continued his ranting, until finally his anger started to seethe away into the numbness he had felt before, and he sat, staring at her. She is far too still…
"Yes, Severus she is." The headmaster's voice seemed far off, and he patted Severus on the shoulder. "It seems that she left instructions to have a burning."
"I see."
"It shall be in the morning." He turned to leave, but paused when he heard Severus speak.
"Headmaster…" He still did not shift his gaze from the body of his wife.
"Yes?"
"Thank you…" He left the list unspoken. For being there, for letting me have these last moments with my wife before… He couldn't bring himself to finish the thought. He took his box, and stalked out of the room, his robes flowing behind him.
What he did not hear was when Albus whispered after him, "I still worry for you…"
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Severus wasn't able to sleep; he simply stared at the bed all night- their bed. How could he sleep there again? Now that she no longer be sharing it with him? The answer was simple to him at the time- he wouldn't sleep. So now, as he sat in front of the large tower of wood where at the top his Hermione lay, he not only felt numb, but dizzy from tiredness as well. He was still holding the unopened box. It was during this time that the infamous duo came- Ron Weasley and Harry bloody Potter.
Harry stopped briefly in front of him, his face contorted in anger. "I'm sure I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that you had something to do with this." At the unexpected words, Severus looked up, and narrowed his eyes at the boy.
"And I am sure that you knew that this was going to happen." His words were quiet and cutting. He kept his eyes narrowed until Ron pushed him away.
"Harry! Not now… Not here."
The ceremony continued, the elaborate goodbyes, the reflections. He himself did not stand when it came time for either of these. He couldn't even bring himself to move, it was hard enough for him to manage breathing as it was. Besides, there was nothing that he could really add… Everyone had already known, she was wonderful, brilliant, wonderful sense of humor, and… She was everything to him. And he never really told her enough; he had only admitted it once to her, that night three months ago when he proposed to her… And now…
He stared at the mass of wood in front of him, refusing to focus on any more of the words spoken of her. All too soon her father went up and lit the fires, starting the most brilliant, and horrible, bonfire he had ever seen. There was an urn at the bottom of the stack that was magically charmed to catch only her ashes, so that is where he watched.
Even after the fires had stopped, he watched, unmoving from his spot. The turmoil inside his heart consumed him, making him ache dully from the inside out. She's gone…
Ron watched him, silently through the service. He had never approved of Hermione's marriage to Snape, as his hatred for the man in school carried on into adulthood. Though, even he could see the softness in his eyes when he looked to Hermione on their wedding day. He wasn't so disapproving that he would not be there for his best friend on her wedding day. Only it was now that he could see how much the man cared for her, he had never seen him look so lost before…
"I bet it was his fault, I wouldn't even put it past him if he poisoned her. I knew she should never have married him, Ron. I knew it would end out in disaster." Ron glared at Harry.
"Get off it, will you Harry? The man just lost his wife. Even I can sympathize with that, not to mention we are at her funeral! I highly doubt she would appreciate you speaking badly of the man she fell in love with." With that Ron left his friend standing there, looking after him dumfounded.
"I didn't realize… I didn't mean…" Harry fell back into his chair, burying his face within his hands as Ron came to stand behind Snape. Noticing just then that the man was holding onto a box so tightly; a small trickle of blood fell down his hands.
A hand upon his shoulder startled Severus from his silent reverie. He felt his muscles tighten, and then relax again as the grip became tighter. At the time he wasn't sure of who was there, but he did not care, really. There was someone there, odd as it was, showing that they cared about him, even in the slightest way, and it comforted him some. A moment went by in silence, and then the owner of the hand sat next to him. Without looking up, he whispered to his visitor, "She never told me she was sick…" He trailed off, and felt the hand give his shoulder a little squeeze.
"I don't believe any of us really knew, Professor." He was startled by the voice to look up. Ronald Weasley, of all the people there, had come to him, of all the people there.
"Weasley." He looked away from the boy again when he seen him give his trademark lopsided grin of his, and then the boy spoke softly to him.
"When she told us about… you, we argued with her. Harry never has understood, but I love her enough to accept her decision. I love her, but she never could return it for me. I know that she loved you, Professor. More than I could ever really love her, and I knew… I knew that you must have loved her very much, just by the way her face lit up when she spoke of you. Ever since you first hooked up three years ago. I…" His voice faltered briefly here, "I wanted to thank you for making her so happy."
Just as Ron finished his speech, Hermione's urn was taken inside. If it had been that, the revelation about how happy he had actually made Hermione during the end of her life, or simply the fact that all of his pent up emotions finally just came tumbling down on him all at once that caused his shield to fall, he was not sure. But suddenly his body started to shake, the inevitable silent sobs took over his body, and he hunched over burying his head within his arms as he released his misery as Ron watched helplessly.
From behind them, Harry watched in horrid realization on how much the man had cared for his best friend. He had just watched the man, of whom he thought was the most callous, uncaring person in the world, break down into tears in front of his very eyes.
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It had been nearly a week, and he still was not able to open the box. What is wrong with me? She wanted me to open it…
Though to spite the fact that he had attempted it many times after her funeral, he just couldn't bring himself to finish the task. It had been just the day before that he went back to teaching classes, and he sat at his desk, correcting papers. But the box kept distracting his attention. It taunted him, drawing his interest in it. He started to glare at it. "Stop staring at me." That is it, I have lost my mind…
He took a deep breath, pushed aside the papers on his desk, and moved the box in front of him. He moved his fingers towards the front latch on the box, trying to keep them steady enough to open the thing. Come on Severus, you big idiot, it is merely a box, you are acting like a bloody first year dunderhead who thinks that cauldron's bite you…
With a quick lick of his lips, he unlatched the box, and shoved it open in one quick motion. There, now it is open. Now all he had to do was open his eyes. He gave a half wince as he did, wondering what sort of thing she felt important enough to leave for him. When he saw what lay inside he half laughed.
A key- a bloody key. He looked at the small tag attached to it.
Severus, look inside the desk in the study. Lift the wood underneath, and you will find what I have left for you.
He raised a brow at this, and did as she said. Sure enough, the desk drawer she spoke of was locked. He had never realized this before, how long had it been locked? He shook his head of this thought and unlocked the drawer. He emptied it, and sighed before lifting up the bottom of the drawer. He had come to far to quit now…
He lifted it up, and outright laughed at what he found underneath. There was hardly any space underneath the piece of wood, just enough room for what she left. He smirked, even in her death she was up to her old tricks. His throat clenched momentarily at the inadvertent thought, and he cleared his mind again. Now he was determined. Whatever it was she wanted to tell him, he was going to find out what it was, and he would die trying. He picked up the small key inside and headed towards Diagon Alley.
Towards Gringott's vault 493.
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A/N- Please review! I am a horrible review junkie, lol. And trust me, I read them all, no matter what they really say.