Title: At What Price Victory?
Author: Tiffany Rating: R Pairing: HP/SS
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or any of the Potterverse, but it's great to borrow! Thanks! )
Feedback: Always appreciated and considered. Honesty is a great help, criticism while hard to take, is very helpful. So if you have positive or constructive criticism to share, e-mail me at Beta: Gin Ironic - thanks so much for the help. Your truthfulness and brutally honest review helped me make this story better!
Archive: Part of the From Dusk till Dawn Severus Snape/Harry Potter Fuh-Q-Fest at http/ Challenge: Snape 'belongs' to Harry.
It was a day of contrasts. The sky was lit by the bright rays of the sun, but the temperature at the gravesite was freezing.
The mourners at the funeral were startled by the grief shown by the man who had once devotedly hated Hogwarts' former Potions master. Most could remember the acrimonious and hate-filled words exchanged by the two, beginning from Snape's taunting him at his first Potions' class until their last exchange before the final battle ended. Never after the battle because Severus Snape had vanished without a word--seemingly voluntarily, until he didn't return to receive the prestigious Order of Merlin, First Class, he'd earned for his part in the Final Battle.
The thought of Snape's disappearance brought fresh mental gossip to the funeral party; about his corpse's reappearance at the gates of Hogwarts, a question which had been in the back of their minds since before the ceremony. Snape was found with his face pressed desperately against the gates, his deformed and mangled right hand pushed through the bars, palm open as if pleading for admittance. But there was to be no welcome found for Hogwarts' bastard son.
The tortured man's body was granted the best funeral services money could buy, but no amount of magic could hide the frail, ravaged frame and defeated, abused face. He looked so unlike the strong, proud man they had all once known, the man who had once been feared by many. No one who had known Snape had ever seen such emotion on his face. Those who previously wished to see something other than anger from him now regretted it. Some prayed to Merlin that he have mercy upon Severus' soul for whoever had tortured him, surely they had none.
Many people came to pay respects to the man renowned for discovering the dark curse responsible for Voldemort's downfall. However, just as many came out of sheer curiosity, and to hear the man, their hero, who ultimately used Snape's discovery to utterly decimate the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters.
Harry Potter stood at the head of the Potions Master's coffin. At his arrival there was silence; not even a small cough was needed to gather the attention of those attending. The Man Who Lived to defeat evil was riveting, his air of justice and leadership catching the attention--as well as the hearts--of almost everyone attending.
"Professor Snape was a great man," he said in a husky tone. "He would have done anything to protect his students."
As he said the words, Harry flashed back to memories of Snape: facing Quirrell in the Dark Corridor and using his enthralling voice to intimidate the nervous man; scowling harshly as he taught Harry lifesaving defense magic; teaching him Occlumency even after his most humiliating memory had been revealed; grudgingly giving approval after his student mastered a particularly difficult lesson; saving Harry from the machinations of his own Slytherin students.
"Severus Snape was a man of convictions. He would not bend."
He vividly recalled the rigidly controlled man when he became Harry's plaything after the War, shaking with wordless terror as the Man Who Lived and Defeated Great Evil brought down the whip time and time again, his desire to wound unending. Only satisfied when a river of blood began to pour down Snape's back and his legs, puddling and eventually soaking into the floor. Remembering the terror when Harry smiled at him tenderly, before breaking his fingers one by one, then violently bending him over an old student desk and raping him. First with the Potion Master's broken wand, and later with his magically enhanced penis.
"Although he spoke countless harsh words in his effort to play his role effectively--protecting his students and our world, rarely having a kind word for anyone--I think all who knew him learned life lessons. It was when he said nothing at all, when he looked at you with his dark, penetrating gaze, stripping you bare, that was when he made you face your own truths." He remembered the way Snape looked at him the last time he'd seen him. Broken, helpless, and surprisingly small. For a moment he was caught up in the memory, feeling a small chill at the remembrance of the icy despair that had nearly penetrated his own darkness. He shook off the feeling and continued.
"And though there are many things I can call Severus Snape--hero, spy, dedicated teacher--no words can describe how deeply his loss will affect everyone who knew him."
Harry glanced meaningful at Albus Dumbledore, trusted and revered, and Arthur Weasley, the Minister of Magic who was renowned for his moral character. He needed to remind them he was now owed a toy--after all, every hero deserved a reward. His broke when Severus used every scrap of wandless magic inside of himself to Apparate from the hell that was the Riddle House to the cold, closed gates of Hogwarts, where he died alone but free at the foot of his former sanctuary.
As Harry stepped down and gazed sadly around the crowd, his gaze hungrily landed on Draco Malfoy-Weasley, who was standing next to his husband, Ron Weasley.
Finally, Albus Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley knew the cost of their victory, as well as the unceasing hunger of its heroic conqueror. They wished they knew what to do with the devil, a devil who would never been satisfied. Their Dark Lord needed a new toy, a new pet—and they were helpless to deny him. They wondered when the cost of victory became too high. Now that the lamb had been sacrificed in the name of victory, they could admit their failure; they had become those whom they defeated--serving the monster they, in their infinite wisdom, had created.
