A/N: To those who read the old version of this story (which I'm taking down today), I will make a few changes on the plot after this chapter because, well, time has passed and I don't like some of the decisions I took then… Also I did one big change already on the second chapter. Initially the whole story was meant to be set before Dumbledore made the pact with Severus and here I placed it afterwards, so I need to make things work now.

ENJOY ^_^

BETRAYED

4

Leaving

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by Saeshmea

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As they got to the dungeons and entered into his rooms, Minerva realized that was the very first time in all those years they'd worked together, that she'd been there, in Severus' private rooms.

Hers were in the Griffindor tower, with large windows and plenty of light, every corner filled with books and every surface covered with parchments of essays, exams and letters to the parents. Severus' rooms were dark, there was only two small windows – if you even could call them that -, but they were neat and tidy, kind of how you'd expect a doctor's office to be.

"Have a seat," he offered, gesturing towards one of the armchairs near the fire, and she did so while he walked towards the tall cupboard opposite to her. Some cold air came out of it when he opened the doors, and inside there were dozens of little bottles of different sizes containing liquids of many colours. They didn't have any label on them, neither did they seem to be in any specific order that she could tell, but without moving a single one out of place, Severus took the one he was looking for, closed the door back and turned towards Minerva.

"Here it is," he said. He opened the small phial and smelled it, "it's still good," he assured, "it just need to boil again.

He walked towards the fireplace and used his wand to light one single flame and make the small phial float above it on its own.

"It'll just take a few minutes," he said, "would you like to have some tea?"

"No, thank you," Minerva answered.

"Minerva, I'd like to…"

"Don't misunderstand me, Severus. I need the potion and I have no one else to ask, that's why I'm here."

"You could have asked Madame Pomfrey," he said, "she has access to this kind of potions, I'm sure."

"She would never give such a potion to anyone," she admitted.

"I'm sure that if you told her…"

"No, Poppy believes nobody has the right to decide over anyone's life. Especially not one that it's just starting."

"Not even the Dark Lord's Heir's life?"

"She would say that one's parents are the people who raise you, not the people who give you life," Minerva quoted her friend with a smile.

"Do you think differently?" Severus asked out of curiosity.

"No, but… I can't bring this baby to life, Severus, you know it," she said.

"Why not?" he asked, "you like children, you are great with them, and whenever Flitwick talks about his kids your face lightens up with joy," he pointed out, surprising even himself that he'd noticed those things about her.

"I would be lying if I said I don't want children of my own but, when I think of it it's not like this how I imagine it, Severus, not the result of…"

"Alright, I know this baby is not the result of a magical love-night but, you would love him no matter what, you'd raise him as your own and you'd teach him to be a good person. Minerva…"

"No, stop it. There'll be no baby," she said, "All I want is this to be over, to stop the nightmares and go back to my usual daily normal life so I can pretend that bloody night never happened just like you and Albus had planned it to be."

Not sure of what he should say, Severus chose to stay silent and went to check on the potion. He put the fire off and cooled the phial before taking it on his hands.

"Let it settle for about twenty minutes and take it after having something to eat," he instructed, as she stood up to leave, "since you're longer than three weeks pregnant, I suggest you take a full-day rest afterwards just in case and… you should certainly go see Pomfrey to check on you, or any other doctor if you wish, but do it, alright?"

"Don't worry," she took the phial and began to walk towards the door.

"Minerva," he stopped her, "I've taken very bad decisions and done awful things during my life but, if I could go back and change any of those, it would be what I did that night. At least my death would have been meaningful."

She looked at him. She wanted to tell him not to be silly, that no death is meaningful, that it could have been done differently but he certainly did what he had to do in order to survive. She wanted to say something, but she couldn't, not yet, so she just left.

…

...

A couple days later, after a staff meeting, the Headmaster stopped his Deputy before she left the room so they could have a moment alone.

"Minerva, you can't avoid me forever, we need to communicate in order to run this school," he said, holding her arm so she would run off, "please, talk to me, the sooner we fix…"

"There's nothing to fix, Albus," she said, rudely getting free of his grasp.

"Don't be childish Minerva, let's talk things over."

"No, Albus, I have nothing to say to you.

"Do I need to remind you that you're my Deputy?" he asked.

"Not anymore," she said.

"What?"

"These are my last hours as your Deputy, Albus," she said, "in fact, these are my last hours in this school. When you go back to your office you'll find my resignation letter on your desk together with a list of resumes of possible candidates for my position."

"What?!"

"I'm leaving."

"No, you're not."

"This is not something you get to decide, Albus. The Ministry has already received a copy of that letter. Tomorrow morning I'll be gone, and if you haven't filled my position in two week they will send someone of their choice, so I suggest…"

"Minerva, please," he interrupted her, "I never meant for this to happen when…"

"You never meant what to happen, Albus?" she asked, making a great effort to keep her temper, to be a better person, "Me getting raped, or me leaving you alone to run the school?" she shook her head, "good bye, Albus," and left the room without saying a single word more.

...

A COUPLE WEEKS LATER...

...

"Gone?!" a loud voice asked.

"Yes, My Lord. I'm afraid she ran away after learning about the pregnancy, probably to get an abortion," Severus explained to Lord Voldemort after being summoned by him to check on his unborn child, "I'm sorry, My Lord."

"Sorry you'll be if you don't find her before she gets rid of my heir!" the tall wizard yelled.

"But, My Lord…"

"STOP losing time, Severus. If you appreciate your life, I suggest you begin your search immediately, because if she's already miscarried when you find her, I will feed you to Nagini. Understood?"

"Yes, My Lord, I'll find McGonagall and bring her to you," Snape said with a vow before disapparating. It was just a way of gaining some time, because he knew better than anyone that there was no baby anymore so, even if he could find Minerva and he brought her to the Dark Lord – which he was not going to do -, he'd become food for snakes.

It was fine. He'd done a terrible thing and this was his punishment; but there were things to fix before meeting his fate: they had to find a way to prevent Malfoy from killing Dumbledore now that he wouldn't be there, and he had to make sure that Minerva would stay hidden and safe after his death so that nothing had been in vain.

…

TO BE CONTINUED…