A/N: This oneshot includes a chara from my other story, though it has nothing to do with the other plot line. This is more of a response to HBP.
Disclaimer: Not mine...I would actually LOVE Severus if he was mine...
She was there. He knew that she would be. She always was.
After the attack on Hogwarts, he and the others had immediatly apparated to Voldemort's side. The rest of his Death Eaters were there as well. They gave their report. Dumbledore was dead.
She stood by the Dark Lord's side the whole time, one of his pale, skeletal hands running lazily over the curve of her hip. She was dressed in a fine black and silver gown, the bodice exposing a healthy amount of her ample cleavage. She had long since forgone the days when she would appear before the Dark Lord's followers and would blush profusely at the amount of her skin that could be viewed.
Severus' black eyes met her red ones. She knew. She had always known. He had been present when Dumbledore had told her what needed to be done. She had been just as upset as he when the plan was laid out.
Lord Voldemort was ecstatic. Dumbledore...dead! After all these years! He alternated between preaching to his followers and whispering promises of fortune and power into his mistress' ear. She would smile sadistically, baring the sharp points of her bi-cusbids, though the cruelty did not reach her gleaming crimson eyes.
Taking full advantage of the fact that he was now in the Dark Lord's favor, Severus brought forward the fact that Bellatrix had questioned his loyalty many months ago. Having now 'proven himself worthy', he felt it only fair that she be punished. She was. The dark woman had glared at Snape with every ounce of loathing that she had.
"Severus," Voldemort drawled, "You have performed most excellently. You deserve to be rewarded."
"I was merely doing as my master commanded." Severus replied, kissing the hem of the Dark Lord's robes.
"And such loyalty and obedience shall not go unnoticed. Nova?"
Nova stepped forward, red eyes glowing in the darkness. Merlin she was beautiful. She made the likes of Bellatrix look like a plain farm girl.
"Yes my Lord?" she asked smoothly.
"I believe that Severus has earned your company for the night. Make sure that he is well taken care off."
"But of course my Lord."
"The rest of you vermin should follow Snape's example. Loyalty and obedience are rewarded. Failure and deception are punished. Now get out of my sight!"
With that, the Death Eaters began Disapparating. Severus took Nova with him to his home at Spinner's End. Once in his living room, he collapsed. He didn't care what she thought of him and his weakness.
In an instant, she was by his side, kneeling next to him on the carpet as he held himself and sobbed silently. She grabbed him and held him against her, tears flowing down her face as well.
She stood and he only managed to raise himself up to his knees. She transfigured her ornate gown into a simple floor length nighty and once again took him in her arms. His exceptional height and her lack thereof made it so the she could stand, he could kneel, and he could sob into her shoulder.
He clung to her as though she would slip away if he loosened his grip any, taking in fistfuls of her nighty's material. She wrapped one arm aroung his shoulders and the other around his head. Her delicate chin rested atop his head. She could feel the hot moisture of his tears against her skin.
She knew what had happened. She had tried desperately to talk Albus out of it. But her refused. He needed both her and Severus to protect Harry from inside Voldemort's tight circle.
Severus' sobs shook his body and were no longer silent.
"What have I done?" he whispered in a shuddering gasp, his face buried in Nova's chest.
"You have done what was asked of you." she whispered in response, the tears dripping off her face and mingling with his.
"I am a monster...you claim to love a monster..." he whimpered.
He clung to her, desperate that if he should loosen his grip, that she too, like so many others, would leave him. She too would disappear from his life. He would not be able to handle the loss. She was the last thing he had in this world that was sure to be out for his head now that he had commited this horrible deed.
"Shush my love, I am here with you..." she murmered, her voice cracking. His icy exterior and his resolve both cracked and he openly wept into her night gown. The small room echoed with his cries of mourning...