Author's Note: This is the last chapter. As I promised, it will end cannon with "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (probably too cannon for a fic – sorry, J.K.! I swear I'm not making a profit out of this!) I do hope you like how it all turned out and I apologize for the run-on sentences. Thanks to all of those to have read it from start to finish, and to those who have – or, in the future, will have – reviewed. Now, on with the story. Enjoy!

His beady, black eyes looked from Dumbledore to Malfoy, and the four Death Eaters in between. He clutched his wand tightly in his hand, panting slightly from running up the spiral staircase and bursting the door to the ramparts open. One of them, probably Amycus, was saying something, but he paid no attention: Dumbledore had just said his name, quite softly.

"Severus…"

Snape knew he didn't need to speak for the Headmaster to hear him. He gazed at him steadily as he passed his thoughts to the old man, who was slumped against the wall.

"I never imagined you'd be that bad at Memory Charms. But I helped you there, didn't I? It's been three years now and she's never had anything like that in her mind again... It's a miracle she kept her mouth shut before that, though. How long did you expect to keep it secret? A lifetime, perhaps?"

He walked forward, pushing Malfoy roughly out of the way, and the others fell back without a word.

"I've never – It was never me! You've come to the wrong conclusion! I was trying to help her!" – Dumbledore thought back urgently.

"Exactly what everyone else in your position tends to say…" – Snape replied mentally, gazing at him with revulsion and hatred clearly printed on his face.

"Severus…please…"

Dumbledore's pleading voice couldn't – and wouldn't – stop him. The exchange had happened in seconds, but it seemed like hours to both of them, and Snape had had enough.

"Don't worry. You said yourself that there are things worse than death because, to the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure…Well, it won't be too long now before you follow that flighty temptress, will it? Good-bye, Albus. I'm afraid I don't want to detain you any longer…"

With that, the Potions Master raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore, before it issued a jet of green light…

Miles away, another wizard smiled.

"Funny thing, torture." – He mused. – "Who would have known that mindtraps worked so nicely? What a pity, though, that such a misunderstanding has cost Dumbledore's life…"

He had lifted it the second he felt Snape intruding. He didn't hope for much, and certainly, he didn't expect it to turn out this well. Three years had passed, uneventful, and he had resigned himself to other things for pleasure: killings, Crucios, getting his body back, creating general havoc… But tonight, everything had changed. He had been proven right, after so long. His patience had rendered effective: Snape had proved himself his most loyal servant by murder, and now only one person stood in his way.

"Harry, Harry, Harry… You're not long for this world, if you ask me." – He said, his voice as high and cold as ever.

He let his mind wonder. Maybe another mindtrap – this one on his former associate Ginny Weasley, of course – would work on Potter, too. Snape and Malfoy had both said on previous meetings that they were close, and maybe he wouldn't have to wait as long. After all, no one should ever underestimate the power of obsessive love…

And so, miles away, Voldemort's lopsided grin grew to a full blown chuckle…