Chapter 6: Betrayal's Cruel Blindside

{A/N: Here's Another Update...some of you are not going to like this...and I look forward to the reviews...}

My Thanks To All My Readers and Reviewers...Enjoy S.S.

The Grounds, Hogwarts Castle, Wizarding World...

Blood trickled from the Potions Master's nose and mouth as he scrambled to make his way across the school grounds. His mind had been dazed as he attempted to reach the main part of the castle before he completely lost consciousness. His heart felt as if it had exploded in his chest as he struggled to breathe. The wetness falling from his eyes made it harder to see as he continued to crawl along the grounds. His body temperature had sky rocketed and the overwhelming sensation of nausea filled him. He had done it. He had slain Albus Dumbledore as the old bastard had requested but the end result left him feeling sicker than he had ever anticipated. Bellatrix and the others had already gone ahead with Draco to Malfoy Manor to deliver the good news to the dark lord. After being slightly delayed by the likes of Harry Potter, Snape was ambushed by a very enraged Alistor Mad-eye Moody.

The old buzzard managed to do quite a number on him as he slipped through the barrier of the school and into the forbidden forest where not a one of his pursuers dared follow him. The blood continued to pool about his battered form but for the most part he had been alive. The act of murder had split his soul in ways that neither he nor Dumbledore could have predicted. Once rested enough from avoiding his would be captors, Snape apparated to Malfoy Manor himself.

Narcissa Malfoy had been outside the Manor watching for him and fearing the worst when Bellatrix told her of the opposition in the wake of Snape assassinating Albus Dumbledore, Draco had been silent since his arrival unable to get the old man's death out of his mind not the fact that his godfather had stepped in to do what he could not.

Snape crashed in the front of the house unable to make the landing or get to his feet as a result of his injuries. The dark lord had come out of the shadows of the manor and levitated the ailing younger wizard into the house ever so gently. The other death eaters watched as their master showed the Potions Professor ample kindness in the wake of his successful assignment.

Voldemort smiled as he ordered Narcissa to prepare a bedroom for Snape.

The Malfoy mistress was all too pleased to do so considering all that the man before them was to endure in the wake of everyone in the wizarding world knowing of his dark deed. Once the room was ready, Snape was given time to rest and recover before he had been assigned the position of Headmaster at Hogwarts as a reward for his years of loyal service and the accomplishment of a major feat.

This had been apart of Dumbledore's plan, to ensure Snape's increased standing to enable him to protect the students of Hogwarts. Voldemort also assigned the Carrow twins to assist Snape at Hogwarts and further the dark lord's agenda. Snape of course had been annoyed that these two savages were to accompany him but he would out maneuver them any day.

His goal was to protect the students of Hogwarts and await further news of Harry Potter's journey.

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The Great Hall,Hogwarts Castle, Scotland, Wizarding World...

Coward had never been a word used to describe Severus Snape, at least not unless you were a member of the Order Of Phoenix, Harry Potter himself, or Bellatrix LeStrange, but every time the word was used Snape would undoubtedly rise to the occasion to prove otherwise. He stood steadfast as Albus Dumbledore pleaded for him to end his suffering atop the astronomy tower before Harry Potter's very eyes. He took the hate and ridicule as well as the praise and admiration from the despot Voldemort and held his head high despite his disgust with himself. He rose to the challenge of being the dark lord's most trusted and the world's most hated wizard since the despot himself. The fragile friendships he had managed to forge out of sheer circumstance crumbled in the wake of Dumbledore's death and not a single student could muster respect for the brutal image of a Professor turned Headmaster whom had killed the most loved man in the wizarding world.

Snape walked into the great hall expecting business as usual, despite being among former colleagues that hated him and death eaters that resented him. He would do his best for the children of this school as pro his promise to the former Headmaster. Already having been pushed to his limits without sleep for fear of the one of the children or staff coming to harm at the end of a death eater's wand, Snape wasn't doing so well in his solitude. He spoke at length with Dumbledore and the other Headmaster's portraits but he was effectively alone with the weight of two worlds upon his shoulders.

One miss, one slip, and it could cost countless lives.

Heading into the Great Hall, Snape had only sought breakfast when he found himself attacked by not death eaters for having discovered his dubious lifestyle, but the very people he had come to care for in the wake of his teaching years. He had only a fraction of a second to take in a breath before Minerva McGonagall, the boldest of them all sent him flying into a near by wall.

As he tried to make sense of what was happening he noted many of the students had all been dismissed for their safety and the Carrows were already dead. Minerva continued her assault despite the nervous backing of the other Professors. Pomona Sprout raised her wand effectively cursing Snape was well along with her best friend.

The Potions Master didn't have the heart even then to raise his wand to a Minerva. She being the only mother figure he had ever known since his arrival at Hogwarts. He couldn't fault her, given what she believed he had done to her beloved Albus Dumbledore. He could see the wetness of the tears as they streamed down her pale cheeks.

The pain meant nothing as Snape took the blows delivered via magic. He had worse in the wake of the dark lord's revival. He had not even cried out, of course there was doubt that he could given all he had suffered in his formative years.

The obsidian eyes of the Slytherin Potions Master met those of the enraged green gems that belonged to the feisty Gryffindor, Deputy Headmistress. He drew in a breath as she charmed one of the castle's armored guards to life and the stone warrior attacked the already ailing dark wizard before he could even lift his wand arm. The blow had been quite damaging, causing a river of crimson to flood from the open gash. Snape despite the mortal wound did not go down as easily as everyone believed he would.

Severus Snape, was no coward and that being the case he managed to wand-lessly level the stone guardian without causing harm to any of the staff. He removed the ax from his chest and got to his feet of his own power. No. Severus Sebastian Snape was no coward. As he moved he bared the brunt of attack from Slughorn and Flitwick whom had decided to join the battle in a bid to retake Hogwarts.

Snape weathered the spells from his former teachers sending them back with merely a push of magical energy. He truly had no desire to hurt them and understood their rage towards him but he was all that was keeping the school from falling to the dark lord and if he failed it would mean their end just as much as his own.

Still, they remained relentless.

"All together!" shouted Minerva.

Snape barely stood a chance against their combined might, given all four of them had once taught him to wield magic properly at this very school. It seemed fitting it took the combined houses of Hogwarts to take him out, he smirked wondering if this was how Salazar Slytherin felt when he was ousted from the school.

The Headmaster glared at Minerva as their spell hit him. It flung him back once more into a wall. He could barely make out the tears that ran down her cheeks, possibly a result of her flooding memories of the young brooding child that had walked through the halls of Hogwarts so long ago it was hard to believe they were in fact one in the same.

Harry Potter and his friends had entered the hall. Snape's obsidian eyes falling on them as he looked up from the cold stone floor. Hermione had been standing with her friend as she watched Professor McGonagall become exceptionally brutal in terms of punishing the new Headmaster. Snape's legs were crushed with her sledge hammer spell and the eerie sound of crunching bone sent chills down everyone's spine.

Minerva crushed his arms next hoping to put an end to his spell work once and for all. She set her sights upon the one that contained that blasted dark mark first, obviously conveying her hate. Snape screamed in agony further unnerving those in attendance. Hermione herself would never forget the lonesome howl almost like a wounded animal with hardly a voice to convey it's despair.

The sallow pale face of the Headmaster had been wet with what appeared to be tears but they were black and constant. He took in a pain filled breath as he stared back into the furious green eyes of the Deputy Headmistress.

Minerva in her grief and her rage sent the magical sledge hammer crashing into Snape's ebony clad chest breaking his rips and effectively crushing him indefinitely. Snape's final glance had been at the boy who lived. The boy he had spent his entire life fighting to protect even from the shadows, never knowing peace or happiness of his own, never having a child or a wife. Even Lupin, that bloody werewolf managed to find someone given the kind of life he led.

As Snape lost consciousness one of his own phrases rang out in his pain flooded mind.

"Life isn't fair."

The Golden trio had never seen Professor McGonagall so vicious in nature before and yet they understood what Snape's crimes had pushed her to do. Hermione couldn't seem to make any sense of it. Snape had been a spy for the Order of Phoenix and a reasonably sound minded person, he had saved them on numerous occasions, his slaying of Dumbledore didn't seem to make any sense nor had this brutal assault at the hands of Professor McGonagall. If anything Snape should have been given to the Ministry of Magic and awaited trial.

Minerva was going to let Snape have another round of the magical sledge hammer but Horace caught her wrist and shook his head. The somber faces that filled the near empty Great Hall were all fixed on the downed Headmaster. While Harry had been the only one to see Snape kill Dumbledore it was never spoke of wither or not the old man was tortured or if it had been a painless death. Harry only ever spoke of Snape looking Dumbledore in the eye and betraying him outright. A bias account if ever there was one but it was none the less what they had to go by. Flitwick had grown fond of the young Potions Professor over the years and never once could have imagined him doing such a thing.

Horace Slughorn had been his former head of house and Potions Professor, he always saw a good deal of promise in Severus Snape as a student and of course he was proven right.

Ron Weasley had been at a loss for words, while Dumbledore's death had been a crushing thing to go through, he recalled the greasy git getting mixed up with a werewolf in a bid to keep him and his friends safe.

Harry's furious expression had softened upon hearing Snape's bones crushed and seeing the agony etched across his sallow pale face. He imagined Snape dying a horrible slow and painful death for years now and to see him half way there it wasn't quite as satisfying as he assumed it would be.

Minerva had agreed with her colleague that enough had been enough when it came to crushing Snape to death, she felt no one deserved to have to see that given all he's done. With a wave of her hand, Snape went flying out the window and into the angry sea that awaited. As his body broke through the glass Minerva uttered the word that had haunted him, his entire life.

"Coward."

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The Open Sea...

The rain had been harsh and the winds harsher as the broken and battered body of Severus S. Snape washed upon the forgotten shore of some unknown beach. There was no warm sand nor tropical fruit drinks upon his arrival. It had merely been an undiscovered location and uninhabited. The salt water from the angry sea had taken care of his wounds stopping the blood loss and salting the open gashes that riddled his body. The trademark ebony attire Snape often wore in tatters in the wake of his due with Minerva and the other Professors of Hogwarts.

The smug expression on the face of Harry Potter as the sledge hammer crushed his right leg had been burned into his mind. A rage began to build in the bruised chest of the ailing Potions Master. He had been ousted from Hogwarts and called a coward after all he had done to keep those ungrateful people safe. The rage continued to build to frightening levels as Snape ignored the throbbing pain and the blistering cold from his surroundings.

He lied on his back as the images replayed over and over in his already fractured mind.

His sallow pale cheeks blackened by the strange tears that continued to stream in the wake of all that has happened.

Of the many faces at Hogwarts that seemed pleased to have him suffer in the most brutal of fashions, Hermione Granger had looked more confused and upset than she had been when Dumbledore's death was announced. He had spent a little time with the annoying little chit, she had not been as bad as he made out on occasion and had done more for him than anyone else in his entire life. Sadly, she was the best friend of Potter and her place was always to be in his shadow as they battled the dark lord without him.

A part of him hoped she had the stones to survive what the war would do to her and that part was slowly being snuffed out by something dark and unyielding. It seemed to over every part of him and seeped into his very being. Whatever it was, it felt like a warm blanket covering him in the wake of the storm that surrounded him. A storm that he could feel inside as well as out. Soon everything faded to black and that had been all there was. Deep darkness and utter silence.