Disclaimer: It's JKR's world not mine, otherwise I'd be much more wealthy and quite possibly more insane.
A/N: Snape lovers might not enjoy this one all that much, this is my take on who he truly was as a man in canon via an internal monologue in his office over his year as headmaster of Hogwarts.
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It was all so meaningless now, following a dead man's last wishes as if they were actually his own personal beliefs and values. He had respected Albus Dumbledore, enough to take that cursed unbreakable vow to do everything the man had ordered him to do even beyond his death. Unbreakable vows were tricky things that way, even if the other person died your own magic forced you to comply or die in defiance.
Severus Snape was many things including but not limited to, nasty, bitter, murderous, petty, vindictive, spiteful, and maybe even somewhat lecherous. But one thing he was certain no one could ever really label him as was, defiant. Dumbledore had ordered him to become a servant of the dark lord, and the unbreakable vow had forced him into his service, and then he was stuck between two powerful men with opposing views, but similar modes of operation.
The world had continued to turn after the dark lord had been temporarily vanquished, he watched in amusement as Lucius Malfoy, a man he knew to have raped more women than probably any other man in history, slide into a position of respectability as an advisor to the Minister of Magiic.
Albus Dumbledore condemned a child to years of abuse, and an eventual death all in the pursuit of the man's personal views of the greater good of the wizarding world.
Lily, the one woman he could have ever seen himself loving, his promised prize from the dark lord was dead, foolishly having thrown her life away for his worthless spawn.
That left him, still tied to a meddling powerful wizard, his dark mark having never disappeared, meaning his reprieve was temporary at best. The years passed and soon enough he had to watch as the incarnate of James Potter once again roamed the halls of Hogwarts, but now he was compelled to protect the boy even at risk to his own life.
The few joys he was able to take from the following years were his hand in keeping Black on the run, even though he was well aware of Pettigrew's actual role in Godric's Hollow and the other confrontation, and then eventually his hand in delaying the warning that Potter gave him during the brat's fifth year. That delay had led to Black's death even if Dumbledore and Potter never truly were aware of it.
Then, when his life had a rare ray of sunshine he was forced once again to take an unbreakable vow, this one signed his untimely demise, now it was only a question of when, not one of how.
How he wished that so many of his decision of his youth had been made with the hindsight he now had at his hand in abundance. He had lived a life full of regrets, evil deeds, and he had acted in his own personal interests every single moment he wasn't under explicit orders from one of his two masters.
He closed his eyes as he could feel the wards of the school protest at the Carrows using the cruciatus curse on students again. If he cared more, if he was a better man he might think of a way to limit the despicable siblings and their behaviors, but he felt stretched thin so often at this point he figured one more damnable act wouldn't matter too much in the end.
The months continued to pass, and he was beginning to feel the impending dirge of his final act on the orders of Dumbledore. Every time he snuck out of the castle to leave bread crumbs for Potter were like grinding glass shards into his eyes, and yet the vow spurred him along. The little solace that he had survived longer than James Potter and Sirius Black was wearing thinner each day. Maybe Dumbledore was right, and death was merely the beginning, but he had no illusions that any peace awaited him beyond his inevitable demise. The dark lord was growing more suspicious by the day, and his latest quest for power was highlighting just how insane the dark lord had become in the past few years.
He had taken Potter's little Weasley aside and had some fun with her during a detention, a simple obliviate spell later and no one would be the wiser. Even now he questioned the point of his spite and bitterness, what did he gain by spoiling a young woman, for the acts of Potter's own damnable father and godfather? Sometimes even he hated himself and understood just how damned he was, hoping against hope his final act would serve as some measure of redemption.
As he felt the last of his life seep out onto the ground, he tried his final piece of penance, giving Potter his memories of Lily, the one thing that he still held of any value. Even then he could see Potter's hatred, followed by a glimmer of understanding, and finally…pity. He never wanted pity, but somehow being pitied by a Potter as he died was the final affront in a life filled with hatred and bile.
Dumbledore had been right, there was something beyond life, although he never would grant it the joy of some last great adventure. Perhaps it was fitting, he sat here in purgatory with Albus Dumbledore, and he burned for a life ill spent. Potter had survived and Snape lost any hope that the boy would be embittered by his life. Unlike Severus Snape, the boy had indeed learned, that it was much easier to let go of hatred and live despite that bitter emotion. As he sat in the pits of fire and burned, he had to admit that the last bit burned even more than the eternal flame, Potter had indeed been the better man, and all of it, had been for naught.
Potter has been the better man.
A/N: I finished this one up after seeing how close I was to the end. I like to think this characterization of Snape was supremely fair to the character from canon, and allowing for extrapolation beyond the romantic musings of Rowling.