"I am a little harder to kill than Voldemort expected, Mr. Longbottom."
Neville had destroyed one of Voldemort's horcruxes. He was the head of Dumbledore's Army, and was a forerunner in the Order of the Phoenix. People who mocked him, or who educated him in the past now answered to him. He had been responsible for the deaths of Dolohov, Rodolfus, and several other Death Eaters. He had delved into the Department of Mysteries, and survived the Battle of Hogwarts and his time at Hogwarts before it. Yet somehow, inexplicably, the man who stood before him terrified him to no end.
"There we are, I'm all set now," Luna said quietly as she approached Neville. She was now appropriately covert, in a long black cloak. She wore mittens still, but at least they were black, and her hair was tucked under a black, wool knit cap.
Neville merely grunted in response. He had used all of his courage to put forth the question with an obvious answer, and was rendered speechless once more. His gaze was still wide-eyed, and focused solely on the man before him. Same greasy hair, same crooked nose, same black robes, same superior air, and the same everything else. Why was he still so frightened of the man?
"Hello, professor!" Luna spat forth this salutation as though her father had just arrived on the spot. She reached out her right hand, and her old professor shook it firmly. He didn't smile, but the corner of his mouth twitched a little. Luna grinned brightly in response, and then stepped back.
"Luna, he was dead!" Neville had finally found his voice. "And you're greeting him like he was me!"
"Who says he's not still dead?" Luna spoke with an absurd defiance.
"You just shook his hand, didn't you?" Neville would forever be baffled by this girl, he just knew it.
"I suppose so. Either way, there's no reason to be scared. You're not the same Neville, even if he is the same Snape."
"I do hate to interrupt, but might we get back on track? It's been a long six months, and I'd like to be among peers, rather than pupils." Severus was growing rather impatient, having had quite a long and lonely recovery.
"Just a minute," Luna spoke up, raising her voice just a bit, and causing Neville to shush her. "It's great to see you alive, Professor Snape, but you can't think you can just walk into a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix. I mean, you're the enemy."
Professor Snape stood up straighter, seeming to grow several inches, even though it was more like several centimeters. His face tightened, rather in the way McGonagall's did when she grew cross. When he spoke, he seemed to become considerably stronger, and a bit more valiant. "I am not your enemy. I was, and always shall be loyal to the Order and its cause."
"But you were seen," Neville interjected, "seen by Harry. You were talking to him. You were summoned to him!"
"As was Mr. Potter!" Snape practically shouted. He didn't notice Neville's voice crack when Neville spoke Potter's name, nor did Snape see Luna wince when he himself spoke it. "Just because the Dark Lord calls you, doesn't mean you're on his side."
"But professor…" Luna began to interrupt, but Neville halted her by speaking over her.
"We know that you offered to kill Harry yourself. You said you'd do it!" Neville had taken several steps forward, and had jabbed his wand into Snape's sternum.
"Has your foolishness grown, Longbottom? Do you really believe that I could kill Lily Evans' boy? Do you really believe that I will ever stop protecting Potter?" Snape watched as Neville shrunk back, and Neville noticed that Snape pointed, not with a wand, but with his index finger.
Luna, however, spoke next.
"I'm afraid, Professor," her eyes were glistening in the moonlight, what little moonlight there was, "that it's too late to protect Harry."
The strength and energy drained from Severus Snape. The grown man before them seemed to wilt like a neglected flower. He stepped forward, and tried to speak. He opened his mouth, and closed it again. He reached forward, but retracted his hand immediately. When he finally did speak several seconds later, it was with a broken voice.
"Dead?"
"Yes, sir," Neville said with a grim expression. "He didn't survive the battle. He was felled right in front of our eyes."
"Granger?" Snape pleaded, looking at Luna. He turned toward Neville, "and Mr. Weasley?"
"He killed them, too. He killed them, and before we could retaliate, he fled." Neville spoke with a distant look on his face. Physically, he was standing there in the snow with Luna and Snape, but his mind had wandered back to that night. He remembered it all so clearly, and he could still hear their voices. They kept him up at night. His friends would sleep forever.
"We should get moving," Luna said quietly, wrapping her arm around Neville's waist. "Follow us, Professor."
They walked off into the night; bowed, bent and broken.