One last wish…
by Narcissy

Summary : Severus Snape comes back at Spinner's End and founds a mysterious letter from the same person he murdered the night before, Dumbledore. Inside, Dumbledore's last request.
Contains HBP spoilers !
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Disclaimer : Everything belongs to JK Rowling. Except my imagination.

Only one man was walking at Spinner's End, that night.
Only one man was crying silently, that night.
Only one man had killed Albus Dumbledore, the previous night.

Severus Snape, walked slowly back at his house. He couldn't believe that he made it. He killed Dumbledore. The Dark Lord had been very happy, he had promised him glory and eternal life after Harry Potter's death, but the very last thing that Severus wanted was eternal life. Lord Voldemort had even been satisfied with Draco Malfoy's work. The boy had been able to get almost all of the Death Eaters to Hogwarts castle. Snape had accomplished the Unbreakable Vow; he did what Draco was supposed to do… he killed Albus Dumbledore.
He knew he did the right thing, he knew that there was no going back, he knew that he shouldn't look back and regret.
Today, was Dumbledore's burial. He had never watched anything that sad, except maybe seeing Lily Evans sacrifice her life to save son, all the students and the other teachers were there as well as the whole Ministry. The White Tomb was magnificent… There were flowers all over it…
The Dark Lord hadn't noticed Snape's disappearance. Even though Severus knew quite well that going back at Hogwarts, under the nose of the Ministry and the Order of the Phoenix was risky, he wouldn't have missed that for anything in the world.
He opened slowly the door of his house. On the floor, there was the usual Muggle mail…bills…letters…but one of them caught his eye. It was written in red ink…in red ink that looked oddly like blood…when he took the letter in his hands, he saw that it was definitely blood.
Lightning a candle, he fixed his tired eyes on the letter. The words "Severus Snape" and "Spinner's End" were written in dark red blood, by someone who seemed to be in a hurry, the letters were deformed, and Severus concluded that the author of the letter must have either been in a rush to write the letter or either badly injured.
He opened the letter, letting the envelope to fall on the floor.
Only three words were written. It appeared that the person had wanted to write more but had found out that he had no time left and had put it in the first Muggle mail box he had in sight. There was no doubt that the sender of the letter was a wizard. Snape had never heard of Muggles writing their letters in their blood. Besides, Severus had seen the address of the place where the letter had been sent from … Hogsmeade…
Trying to figure out was the three words were, he lighted another candle.
He brought the candle near the piece of parchment…the three words seemed to glow at first but then they deformed and seemed to move across the parchment. When the letters settled down, the three words could be read very easily …
Severus ,giving himself some courage, read the words aloud.

"Severus, you must"

A scream, that Severus couldn't prevent, tore the silence. He knew who the letter was from. He knew why the letter had been sent from Hogsmeade. He knew why the text had been written in blood. Everything seemed to fit perfectly.
He remembered that Dumbledore was in Hogsmeade, the night before. When Harry had gone to fetch the brooms, Madam Rosmerta, under the Imperiatus Curse, had gone inside, pretending that she wanted to get something to drink when she was contacting the Death Eaters, telling them that Dumbledore was back with the boy, Dumbledore had been alone. It had been probably at that time that he had began writing his letter. His right hand was injured, so he couldn't write very easily. His hand was also, open wounded, and he must have used his own blood to write the letter. He must have seen Rosmerta coming, and put the unfinished letter in the nearest mail box.
Everything fell back at its place. Dumbledore.
A lot of people wouldn't have understood what Albus Dumbledore had wanted Severus Snape to do. A lot of people, but not Severus Snape.
For the first time, of the last two days, he smiled. He had ,just before his eyes, the proof that he had done the right thing, the words seemed to echo in his mind… He knew that now he had to go until the end. He made a promise, now he had to fulfill entirely.
Last year, just after the Ministry went public about Lord Voldemort's come back, Albus Dumbledore, had asked him something, something that he continued to ask him during all the school year. Something that Snape told him ' he took for granted' … but in the end, Severus had no other choice but to admit that Dumbledore was right. And so, that night, at the top of the Astronomy Tower, when he opened the door, and saw Draco Malfoy lowering his wand, and saw the look on the Headmaster's face, he knew he had to do it. And when he seemed to change his mind, the old man reminded him of the promise he had made.
When saying "Severus", he was pleading, not for his life as everybody else thought… no…. he was pleading Snape not to let the Malfoy boy be punished, to save all those who could be saved, to kill him…

Albus Dumbledore had never been afraid of death. He had said once that " he would only leave Hogwarts when nobody is still faithful to him".
Dumbledore had asked Snape to kill him, because he knew that Draco and all the others Malfoys could be saved. He also knew that if Snape killed Dumbledore, he would win Voldemort's trust. By winning Voldemort's trust, he could know all of his secrets like the location of the other Horcruxes, he could also save Harry…
He knew that at one point, Voldemort would see the truth, he knew that Voldemort would kill him. But he didn't fear death. He wasn't a coward.
Now, he knew he had to go until the end. He had Dumbledore's support, and even though now the whole wizard world hated him, he knew he did the right thing, he knew he did what Dumbledore wanted.

"Never leave something unfinished" had once told him James Potter.
For the very first time of his life, Severus decided to follow James Potter's advice.

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I'll review your fic if you review mine !