The Final Task

Severus Snape could feel the snake's fangs cut through the skin of his neck, but it was not the worst pain he had ever felt.

He could feel the blood leave his body, the warmth draining from within, yet it was not the most terrible loss he'd had to take.

"I regret it.", a cold voice said, then all he could hear was the wind, rattling at the broken windows. His body reacted in a way that his mind could not anymore- it tried to fight back, but the fight was long lost, there was no way he would survive this.

In a way, it was comforting, knowing that he was about to leave this cruel world, that he had played his part as good as he could until the very end. One thing, however, remained. The boy didn't know, the boy would not be able to perform the one task, the most important one. He had failed.

Shivering, Severus lay on the dusty floor of the Shrieking Shack, sensing that the end was near. No more suffering. Somewhere near him, there were footsteps, but he was too weak to focus on anything.

Although his body was shaking violently, he had the feeling that the worst was over, he almost couldn't feel the pain anymore. All his senses were slowly growing tired.

He felt something brush his cloak, then a shaky pressure on his neck. Then, all of a sudden, he could see who was kneeling next to him.

The sight of Harry Potter, usually a despised one, was the most welcome now. The boy, although obviously exhausted, looked at him with a fierce expression, and with all his remaining power, Severus tried to speak. This was the last chance to tell him.

His body protested, but he ignored the excruciating pain in his throat, and managed to stutter, "Take … it … Take … it …" The boy looked at him curiously, while Severus Snape tried to extract the important memories from his mind, ready to give them to the boy. He needed to know, he needed to understand.

It was not at all difficult, the thoughts came to him easily, green eyes, red hair. "You're a witch". Hanging upside down in mid air. "He fancies you, he fancies you!". Mudblood. Not being able to save her. Dumbledore's last request. The doe. The task that had to be done.

The boy took the thin string of white with his wand, and filled a tiny flask with it. Severus sighed, he had done it, he had done the best he could. Now fate was in the boy's hands... Lily's boy.

The thought shot to his mind, he gripped Harry with the last remaining strength. "Look … at … me …". And this was the last thing Severus Snape saw, the green eyes that were so much like Lily's. He lost himself in them, wished that he could stay like this forever.

After a few seconds that seemed like eternity, he felt himself get pulled away, and everything turned dark.

The silence around him was complete when he regained consciousness.

No howling wind anymore, no footsteps on a dusty floor. It was just him. He opened his eyes slowly, not sure what to expect.

Where was he? Surely, he had died on the floor of the Shrieking Shack?

He was now surrounded by a bright light that was somewhat eery, yet comforting at the same time. Piece by piece, his surrounding changed, he could now make out a small stream close to him. Looking up, he wasn't blinded by the light anymore, he was now lying in the shadow of the birches of a large widow tree.

Severus knew this place, it was the same meadow where he and Lily had first talked about them being wizards. It was also one of the first places where he had felt genuinely safe and happy.

Although there was a voice in the back of his head, telling him that the peace he felt at this place would not last forever, Severus closed his eyes again and tried to clear his head of all thoughts and just enjoy the piece and quiet.

"Severus.", a familiar voice reached his ears from nearby. "Severus. I'm so proud of you."

He didn't react at once, wondering that if he just ignored the voice, it would eventually go away again.

"My dear friend, I'm afraid I don't have too much time right now, but there is something important I need to tell you."

Sighing, Severus opened his eyes and sat up, his onyx eyes meeting Albus Dumbledore's gleaming blue ones.

"What is it, Dumbledore. Can I not even be by myself when I'm a dead man?" It came out harsher than intended, but Dumbledore didn't seem to mind.

"Severus, you have done everything I asked of you without hesitating, I'm so proud of your loyalty..."

His praise was interrupted by a sneering Severus saying, "You know that you were not on top of my list of loyalties. I never did all of this for you."

The old man chuckled, slowly shaking his head. "Oh Severus, of course I know, and this is why I'm only here for a short time, to tell you all you need to know for the next part of the journey."

He had Severus' full attention now, although he didn't seem to pleased with the revelation that there would be yet another part of the journey.

"Don't worry, this time you'll have the chance to change everything. You can undo the mistakes you made, Severus."

Wide-eyed, Severus stared at Dumbledore. "Does that mean...? Do I … can I … see her again?", he stuttered, all color draining from his face.

"Severus, you will not only see her, trust me. This is your second chance, and this time you will know what to do."

The answer came very hesitantly. "But … What about Potter? Won't my decisions … destroy everything I tried to save this time?"

Dumbledore gave him a beaming smile, and said, "Oh don't worry about this, the world you are going to and the one you have just left may seem alike, but that doesn't mean they're interconnected! There is still so much to find out about the afterlife, if this is what you want to call it, but I'm quite certain that this time, you can live. You haven't done that in a while, I'm sure. Of course, I could be wrong, but then again, I usually am not."

Smiling, Dumbledore turned to leave. Shaking, Severus held out a hand to the old man, who looked back at him curiously.

"Albus … Thank you.", was all that needed to be said. Albus Dumbledore nodded, his bright eyes fixed at Severus.

"I am expecting another visitor soon, Severus, so I'm afraid I'll have to leave you now. I wish you the best of luck, but I have to remind you, this is a fresh start. People might not take kindly to you telling them things about your life so far, just let things go their way. You deserve this."

Severus wanted to say something more, but the old man had already disappeared into thin air.

Before Severus Snape had time to think about any of this, he doubled over and winced in pain. It felt as if his whole body was pushed into a small box by force, everything went black.

And then he opened his eyes again, air blissfully returning to his lungs, soft fabric all around his body. Above him was the green and silver top of a canopy bed. He recognized this place at once. It was the Slytherin dormitory.

For those of you who read all of it, thanks for doing that! I know it's a little short, but it's my first fanfiction and I would love to get some feedback before continuing. So if you liked it, go ahead and tell me, if you didn't, feel free to tell me what I could've done better :) I'm trying hard not to make this too clichéd, but if there's a story that is completely the same, please tell me.

Really looking foward to knowing whether this is any good ;)

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own HP. If I did, there would be no need to write this since I'd be having fun hanging around with hot Slytherin guys all the time :P