Chapter Text
Sevs Pov
„Look at me.“
Those last words barley left his lips - only a whisper. His voice was allready fading. Every inhale felt like drowning, every exhale a battle.
And then, there was the pain. Sharp, burning, freezing. All consuming.
And then there were those eyes. Beautiful, emerald green eyes. So painfully familiar, but also so different. Once, he called them Lily’s. But now, staring up at the boy – the young man – he saw the truth.
They were Harry’s eyes.
Brighter. Wilder. Brimming with something Lily had never had to learn—defiance, resilience, unshakable hope. But also something darker - pain, exhaustion. They were entirly him.
Within minutes, Harry was gone. Off to what was likely his last fight. Severus didn't want to think about it.
He didn’t want to imagine it.
His vision blurred - not from tears, because he had none left to give. He had shed them long ago. In silence, when no one was looking.
If he'd ever pictured his own death, it certainly hadn’t been like this. Alone, bleeding, spraweld out on the hard floor of the Shrieking Shack, hated by the entire wizarding world. Fate had a cruelly sense of humor in letting him die in the place where he could have died over 20 years ago. Maybe it was always meant to be this way.
His breath hitched. Blood slicked his hands, warm and sticky. His heartbeat loud in his ears. He felt it getting weaker and weaker.
Somewhere, he heard the Dark Lord's muffeld voice.
Orders. Threats. Promises.
Potter should have seen his memories by now.
Some were unforgivable. Some revealed his greatest mistakes, his greatest regrets. But the worst of it all, what he regretted most, was how he had treated Harry. Initially, because of his hatred for his father James. Later, because it was expected of him. As a spy for both sides, he couldn't afford to care. So he continued, with his mask allways in place – cold, hateful, unreachable.
And Harry… he had hated him for it.
Severus still vividly remembered Harry's very first Potions lesson. How openness, wonder, and curiosity were replaced by coldness, reserve, and hatred. And he could only blame himself.
But later it was also, to some extent, for Harry‘s own protection.
His true feelings had long since changed. He saw the strength in Harry, his kindness. His sacrifice for his friends. Calling it “admiration” now felt hollow. There had been more. Much more.
Yes, Severus's feelings had changed.
His thoughts began to scatter, drifting through fragments of his life.
To his mother Eileen, tired and quiet.
To his father Tobias, allways drunk, allways violating.
His unhappy childhood in the dark hellhole of Spinner's End.
His friendship with Lily. His only bright spot.
The hope for a better future at Hogwarts, shattered at the very first day.
The pain as the Dark Lord burned his mark into his skin.
It all turned out to be nothing but smoke and mirrors in the end.
The slow, painful unmaking of every dream he had ever dared to hold.
A single tear slipped from the corner of his eye, trailing across his temple and into his hair.
Severus wished things had been different.
A different life.
A different future.
True friends, a partner, family, love.
With those final thoughts, everything became silent.
No more breath.
No more sound.
And the broken heart beat for the last time and Severus Snape's soul finally slipped free.