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Chapter 2: A Second Chance.
1.
Snape sat in his office, unshaven and jumping at small noises, as he'd been for three days now. He'd allowed his hair to become greasy again and was still wearing the clothes he'd been wearing on 'that day', although he'd put on his shoes (one was black and the other a dull brown) to avoid stepping in glass after he'd smashed everything he could reach from the centre of his office. He was dimly aware that he hadn't eaten since lunch on 'that day', which he'd thrown up anyway, and didn't care.
He'd barricaded the door when he had gotten sick of constant interruptions fr5om staff-"Are you ok?" ,"How are you?", Can I get you anything?"- and they'd seemed to understand. No, of course they didn't understand. Didn't understand that he wasn't o-fucking-k, his life had just officially ended and he wanted to go up onto the astronomy tower and shout every obscenity he'd ever heard at the bitch who'd caused it. But that wouldn't be enough. Nowhere near enough.
The wall between him and the living world being blown apart interrupted his rambling, confused thoughts.
2.
Harry stood in front of Snape and the question Ron had asked him was answered.
"Why do you wanna help that greasy git? He knows Narcissa. How could he think he would get away with screwing her husband?"
Harry would help him because he pitied Snape and hated Narcissa Malfoy just as much for depriving Draco of his father.
He knew how it felt.
"What do you want, Potter?" He sounded tired and Harry wondered when he'd slept last.
"I want to help you." For a fleeting moment Snape looked hopeful, but then he turned his back again and said, in a tone usually reserved for those on death row, "It's too late." Harry's heart bled at the sound of resignation where there was normally sarcasm and strength that he hated yet admired.
"No it isn't professor. I can bring him back to life."
Snape raised his head.
3.
"It's quite a simple procedure. I found it in a book. It's ancient magic but it still works. Lucius would be slightly different, but he'd be alive. And no one need ever know…" Snape stood and turned abruptly. When he turned Harry saw anger clearly etched in his solemn features.
"He's DEAD! The dead should remain in their graves, and they do! There's no way to bring him back, so GET THE HELL OUT OF MY OFFICE!"
Harry was a little startled by this outburst, and Snape noticed, but now it was his turn to shock Snape. The final act, the end of a magic trick, "Bravo! Encore!"
"Come in!" Snape looked furious at Harry inviting someone into his office but his anger gave way to fear and alarm as Sirius Black walked through the door.
4.
Snape stepped back and his hip jarred painfully against the desk.
"NO! No,no,no,no! You're dead! You've been dead for over a year!" Despite Snapes obvious disgust Harry looked smug.
"See. I told you I could do it. He's a little different, but it's still Sirius."
Sirius was different. In fact Snape thought he was more horror movie extra than human. He could imagine him-him? No, it- climbing out of it's crumbling grave and hobbling along with the other stiffs, arms outstretched and a terrible groaning rising from its dirt-clogged throat.
Nothing could have prepared Snape for the creature that stepped from the shadows into the dim light.
Sirius looked just as dangerous than ever, but in a mindless way rather than the wild way he once was, and his steps were slow, as if they pained him, but you needed to be alive to feel pain surely. His skin looked moth eaten in places, his left cheek being the worst, and his empty red eye sockets, the end of a severed vein hanging grimly from where his eye had once been and brushing one mottled cheek, made his stomach turn.
With a jolt Snape realised that Sirius wasn'6t breathing. He was no more than a walking corpse.
"Harry, you have no idea what you are doing. You're fifteen for Christ's sake, you shouldn't be dabbling in this sort of magic."
Harry remained firm.
"The question's simple. Do you want Lucius back, or not?" With that Harry left Snape to make a decision that would, either way, ruin his life.
5.
Snape couldn't believe that he was actually considering Potters outrageous proposal.
You can't do it, Severus, it's not natural.
Neither was Lucius' death.
The image of Lucius' sprawled body, his shattered skull, floated in front of Severus' face so clearly that for one rationality starved moment he could reach out and squash it and it would be gone, just a bad dream. And the blood! On the stairs, the floor, Narcissa's half crazed face, everywhere- dark, thick, oozing from the crack in Lucius' head.
Stop it! You couldn't help!
But I can help now.
No you can't. It would be the opposite of helping.
If it doesn't work out well I can just kill him again.
Could you? Could you kill Lucius? Even thinking about it hurts. Even if you were emotionally able, he could kill you first.
Lucius would never hurt me!
IT ISN'T LUCIUS! You saw Sirius. Do you want to see Lucius like that?
"GOD DAMMIT I WANT HIM BACK! I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES!"
The rational voice spoke again (You're not stable enough to make a decision like this) but the now controlling voice had cut him off.
6.
Harry heard Snape coming and smiled.
"Hello professor. Thought it over?"
Snape looked like he was thinking, but he was just pushing back the reasons not to bring Lucius back, of which there were many.
"I want him back." And with those four words he condemned himself to death.
Please review I have one more chapter left. Moony please don't hate me. I want some more ice cream!