Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve.
Warnings: DH spoilers obviously, language, sexual scenes, violence, character death.
Never Meant To Be
'Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, this life …
By the way he was breathing deep and regularly Charity could tell that Severus, lying next to her, was fast asleep, while she still lay awake. Although she'd originally turned her back to him, unwillingly repulsed by his Dark Mark, Charity shifted back to her previous position finding odd comfort in knowing Severus was still with her.
Brushing a lock of his black hair away from Severus' face, careful not to wake him up, Charity moved to run her hand down his neck, over his shoulders and down his arm, carefully avoiding his mark.
She wished it didn't kept on coming between them like this; she hated that she couldn't just bring herself to wrap her arms around him, as if she was afraid she could immediately be infected by the cruelty that had burned his beautiful, pale skin.
Suddenly Charity sat up in her bed, feeling her indignation about how things were at the moment taking over as she bolted out of bed, quickly wrapping herself in her thin bathrobe before sitting down at her desk, immediately reaching out for a piece of parchment, a quill and she unscrewed the top of an ink bottle.
Almost an hour passed before Charity began to see an ending to the editorial she planned on submitting to the Daily Prophet, defending her class, Muggleborns, Werewolves and anyone else that might be discriminated against or looked down upon in a magical society.
She had just finished her conclusion and signed with her name at the bottom of a piece of parchment, when suddenly a shadow fell over her desk and Charity could feel the warmth of two soft hands, pushing her robe down to reveal her naked shoulders. She leaned her head back to rest on Severus' abdomen.
"I'm sorry that I woke you." Charity whispered with a small smile, she loved being close to Severus like this.
Severus' fingers were lightly tickling her neck and shoulders, occasionally tracing over her collarbone "You did not wake me, but can I ask why you are writing your letters late at night as opposed to in the morning and instead of lying in bed with me?"
Charity's blushed and if it hadn't been for his sly invitation to her joining him back in her bed she would've been annoyed by his almost condescending tone, but instead she handed him all of the pages she had written "It's not a letter Severus, it's an editorial. I'm going to submit it to the Daily Prophet." Charity explained and immediately began missing his fingers quiet dance over her skin as Severus held the pages between his hands and began reading.
Severus' dark eyebrows furrowed as he read her outraged, albeit very well written, editorial that clearly expressed her justified opinions. Never the less Severus was annoyed by this and felt almost tempted to forbid Charity to have it published.
It was exactly actions like this that had made Severus, and Dumbledore when he lived as well, keep from including Charity in the Order of the Phoenix, she was too irrational and easily provoked. She could never do the work that he had done himself without giving her away, so he simply gave her back her parchment and ran his hand through her red hair, enjoying how much she looked like Lily from behind.
"Let's go back to bed." he invited and Charity smiled again; she thought it was simply Severus' distinct … 'Sltyherinness' that kept him from commenting on her editorial and eagerly followed him back to the comfort of her bed, her robe quickly ending forgotten on the floor as their bodies were soon after erotically combined and Severus had to bite his lip from calling out the name of his past love.
0o0
After she waved goodbye to Mr. Raji, the friendly greengrocer near the apartment she lived in when she wasn't at Hogwarts, Charity tightened her grip around the bag of different fruits and vegetables she had bought; Severus had time to visit her early enough for them to have dinner together for once.
Charity had just turned a corner and was walking down a narrow alley leading to her apartment building as the glow from a nonverbal spell lit up the alley and she felt her entire body turn rigid as she fell to the ground and for some reason the last details she imprinted in her mind was the way a head of lettuce and a few tomatoes were rolling down the uneven, brick road before everything turned black.
When Charity felt consciousness return to her body and her eyelids fluttered open one of the first things she saw was a rat like man, balding and with grey hair hanging lifeless down his pasty face and falling into his small, watery eyes.
Even though he seemed tense and uncomfortable with the situation Charity reached into her pocket to pull out her wand, only to find it missing. Fear flooded over her as she looked back at the small man in front of her, and her eyes dropped to his hand that looked oddly like a silver glove, clutching a wand that was pointed towards her.
Charity opened her mouth to speak, but no sounds came out, even if she felt words and screams struggling to be let free. Her hands flew to her throat, as if to feel after the reason for her problem.
"I silenced you." Peter Pettigrew explained as he saw Charity open and close her mouth, fighting to let out her fear. She couldn't help but think he looked as if he expected applause for his talent and Charity had to refuse the urge to roll her eyes, but then Peter stepped closer, a cruel smile twisting his already unfortunate features and she pressed herself further up against the wall behind her as she could smell his foul breath on her face when he whispered "We don't want anyone hearing what's going to happen now, do we?"
Widening her pale, blue eyes in panic Charity craned her neck, turning her face as far away from Peter's as she could, almost in a childish belief that if she couldn't see him, maybe he wouldn't be able to see her. Face turned or not Charity definitely heard as Peter, still whispering, said "Crucio."
Sliding further down the wall and ending up on the dirty, stone floor beneath her Charity writhed in unexplainable, unbearable, excruciating pain, her lips parting in silent screams as tears instinctively sprung to her eyes, descending down her cheeks and Peter looked away, almost disgusted with the sight. She was pleading for her death.
Charity managed to stretch out her arm despite of the blinding hurt, her fingers clasping around the corner of Peter's robes, noiselessly trying to beg of him to stop his torturing. Not until her body was slick with sweat from the physical exhaustion it was being put through and Charity's other hand was tearing at her hair in frustration did Peter stop the curse.
"You're going to regret the day you insulted the Dark Lord." he said, muttering a spell that left Charity's hands bound together by rough rope, digging into her wrists as she gasped for air in the aftermath of the pain still coming over her in smaller and smaller waves.
Her eyes followed Peter's small figure as he left the anonymous, empty room she was being kept in before Charity closed her eyes and gratefully fainted, eagerly welcoming the dark where she was free of awareness.
0o0
Severus despised those Muggle doorphones you had to get through to walk inside the lobby of Charity's building, they always buzzed so damn loud and instead he chose to use magic when he was sure no other Muggles were around.
Still as he stood at Charity's front door he always knocked and waited for her to let him in, and this night was no exception. When he knocked a third time and there was still no answer, Severus began to worry.
He knew how much Charity had looked forward to this evening where he had time for them to eat dinner together; he of course hadn't told her he would have to cut dinner short with a made up emergency that would need his immediate assistance, so he could be in time at the meeting at Malfoy Manor.
Feeling incredibly ridiculous Severus leaned towards the wooden door in front of him and pressed his ear against it, hoping to catch a sound of Charity busying herself in the kitchen or the unmistakable sound of running water if she was still in the shower. But the apartment seemed absolute silent and Severus decided it wasn't uncalled for that he alohomora'ed the lock on Charity's door and stepped inside.
Severus almost called out Charity's name as he walked inside her apartment, but instead he silently drew his wand, readying himself for unexpected visitors as he searched through her small apartment. Everything seemed to be as it always was and Severus reached the conclusion that Charity was simply running late before he sat on the edge of her couch, picking up and old copy of the Daily Prophet lying on her small coffee table, if she would be back soon he could entertain himself with the magical newspaper's lies and misinformed articles for a moment.
Eventually Severus couldn't possibly wait any longer for Charity to return as he would most definitely be a little late for the meeting and it was especially important for him to keep his act together tonight as he would have to hide his reason for being late from the Dark Lord, disagree with Yaxley on information from the Order and concentrate on only letting the Dark Lord into some parts of his mind as He would surely want to know if the information Severus was leaking from the Order were true.
Getting up from the couch Severus made a graceful turn and seemed to vanish out of thin air, appararating as close as possible to the Malfoy Manor. Back in Charity's now empty apartment the wind from Severus' turn made a page in the old copy of the Prophet flip over to reveal Charity's editorial published on the very next page …
0o0
As paranoid as anyone in these days Severus immediately drew his wand as he had sensed someone else in the dark when he'd arrived at The Malfoy Manor. Upon recognizing Yaxley Severus put his wand away and the two men made their way inside, Yaxley filling the silence with mindless chattering.
Before entering the room in which the Dark Lord was waiting Severus hesitated for just a moment to clear his head of thoughts the Dark Lord need not know about.
He didn't notice her immediately when he stepped inside as his eyes took time to adjust to the darkness that filled the room and there was many people seated around the long table. When Severus' eyes fell on the pale, frightened face of Draco Malfoy he noticed the boy was looking up and he followed his gaze.
It was lucky for Severus he was a master and hiding his emotions, because he was certainly shocked to see Charity, seemingly unconscious and revolving as if she was being suspended from the ceiling by invisible robes. His breath caught in his throat when he took the seat the Dark Lord assigned him and he tried to keep his cool through out the meeting.
Not until the Dark Lord himself turned his attention to Charity, and apparently at the same time awakening her from her magical coma, did Severus dare to look at her. His heart was beating faster with the fear that Charity would give him away, reveal their relationship.
"Do you recognize our guest, Severus?" asked Voldemort.
Frightened that Voldemort had already tortured Charity to endangering revelations Severus did not answer until after Charity had begged him to help her. She sounded so scared, like Lily had the day their friendship had come to and end and they'd realized they'd lost each other, so Severus almost gave in, but caught himself in the last moment and simply answered "Ah, yes."
The Dark Lord moved on to question Draco now and Severus tried to ignore the desperate begging in Charity's voice as she'd once again revolved to face him. He was almost relieved when Voldemort silenced her.
He listened carefully as Voldemort informed everyone around the ornate table just why Charity was here and inwardly cursed Charity for ever writing the editorial she had submitted to the Daily Prophet. But at the same time he felt a certain awe that Charity had managed to anger the Dark Lord as much as she had simply by expressing her opinions.
She was crying now, the tears streaming into her beautiful hair and he wondered how he long she would be humiliated like this, displayed upside down in front of people she despised so passionately.
Severus did not have long to ponder because soon after a flash of green lighted up the darkened room and Charity came crashing down on the table. It took all of his willpower not to leap away as many other Death Eaters had done.
Even now in her death, as her body was lying curled up on the table, her face hidden under the fiery red hair that had fanned out Severus could only think of Lily and if she had looked the same after the very man on his right side had taken her life.
The old, burning pain of losing Lily flared up in Severus, consumed his body when he heard Voldemort softly say "Dinner Nagini." and he watched the snake slither from the Dark Lords shoulders an onto the polished table, inching towards Charity with each second.
"No, my lord!" Severus had blurted out before he could stop himself. Not here. Not right in front of his eyes. A silence so heavy you could almost taste it fell over the room and Severus didn't have to worry about his inability to get his voice to it's normal level as he spoke "Nagini shouldn't be fed this tainted blood my lord," Severus was amazed his voice was calm and he could look Voldemort in the eye "she deserves better."
No one else in the room dared to speak as they watched Lord Voldemort stare back at Severus completely silent. But the cackling fire that had been the only source of light in the room was caught in red strands of hair and Voldemort was relieved to find answers to his confusion. He remembered each person that had fallen for his own wand, especially the ones he had been asked to spare.
"You're right, Snape." Lord Voldemort spoke calmly, his red eyes still focused on Severus who might've noticed, if he hadn't been busy collecting Charity's body into his arms, the shadow of a cruel, gruesome smile twisting the Dark Lords features. Oh yes, Snape would pay him back at some point, he would make sure of it.
He would spare Severus for any punishment of his insolence right now, but keep in mind Severus owed him a great sacrifice. When the time is right.
0o0
Severus walked aimlessly into the large garden of the Malfoy Manor, Charity's body still in his arms. Not until he stumbled upon lilies carefully planted did he put Charity down in the soft grass and flick his wand so a grave dug itself before his eyes.
When it was finished Severus carefully placed Charity in the grave, letting her red strands of hair fall through his fingers again and again until finally he plucked one of the lilies and put it on her chest.
His love hadn't died with Lily and it certainly wasn't going to with Charity, but now Severus could bury his feelings and realize they were never meant to be.
A/N: The end. I hope all of my readers liked the ending and are not going to kill me for taking so long to update. Or worse not review! I tried not to take too much from DH at the last scene. Please do feed me reviews, starving is no fun.
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