Forget about Love

“I’ve made my choice,” he said looking directly into her eyes.

Erica nodded and shut hers waiting for the impact of the dagger into her chest, but it never came. A loud clang shocked Erica into opening her eyes.

Snape was standing there staring at her. He had dropped the dagger. He took a step forward and pulled Erica into a desperate kiss.

His lips were soft on hers. Erica gasped at the sensations that his kiss was sending throughout her body. She had felt it once before, when she was a vampire and they had made love after she told him to kill her.

Snape arms were wrapped around her waist pulling her directly up against his body. He was holding her so tight that he was afraid he was hurting her, but he couldn’t get himself to let up. He was holding her like he was afraid if he let her go she would disappear.

She broke the kiss when the need for air became desperate. Their foreheads rested against each other’s as the tried to breathe normally again.

“Please don’t kill him,” Snape said quietly. Erica could feel the tears welling up in her eyes.

“I’m sorry Severus,” she said. She pushed him away from her, picked up the dagger, and was out of the Great Hall before Snape regained his footing.

Once Snape was back on his feet he took off after Erica. He didn’t know where he was going, but he knew that he had to find her before she found Albus.

He checked the Headmaster’s quarters, Headmaster’s office, and even woke up McGonagall, but was unable to find the whereabouts of Dumbledore.

He was heading back to the infirmary, when he suddenly remembered the slight vision he had while knocked out in the Great Hall.
The astronomy tower…

Snape turned in his direction and rushed to the astronomy tower. He didn’t bother stopping when he caught students out of bed he just kept running.

He reached the astronomy tower in record time. He started the long climb to the top of the tower, keeping his ears open for either Dumbledore’s voice or Erica’s voice.

He was just about to reach the top when he heard their voices. He lifted the trapdoor slightly so he could see them. They were standing side-by-side starring out onto the grounds.

“I understand that this is my duty, but I don’t think that Severus will ever understand why,” Erica said.

“No one would understand this. With Voldemort gone, my life is complete and I can move on,” Dumbledore said. Erica nodded and turned to face Dumbledore.

“I gave Severus a chance to kill me and he didn’t take it. I…” Erica shut her eyes and sighed.

Dumbledore turned to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I am so sorry. It was decided long ago that you would be the one to do this, but we never thought about your feelings on this. Hopefully Severus will understand the reason for my death, and why you had to be the one to do it.”

“I don’t want to hurt him. He has already suffered enough because of me,” Erica said with tears in her eyes. Dumbledore smiled slightly and pulled Erica into a hug.

“All will be well, my child,” Dumbledore said. Erica pulled away from him and pulled out the dagger.

“This is what he was supposed to kill me with,” Erica said looking at the blade. Dumbledore took the dagger from his hand and sliced his hand. Erica took it from him and did the same to her hand.

Dumbledore held out his bloodied hand as Erica did the same, they didn’t touch.

“Power of the ancients, take that of mine and give to one worthy of my power. My granddaughter is now worthy of such a task.”
Snape almost fell off the ladder he was standing on. Granddaughter?

“With my death, may my powers be transferred to her and may she use them for good.”

As Dumbledore finished he placed his cut hand in hers and mixed the blood.

“Our blood mixed once with my daughter’s marriage and your birth, now again they mix, an exchange of powers for one who is worth, my blood, my grandchild.”

A bright light engulfed Dumbledore before moving to Erica and engulfing her in white flames.

Their hands separated, as the white light grew brighter.

Dumbledore took a few steps away from her, as she grew brighter. The cut on her hand closed up and her clothes changed before Snape’s eyes.

As the light diminished, Erica came back into focused. Her hair was normal again. The silver streaks were gone. She was dressed in a white gown with silver snakes and gold lions on it. The cut on her hand was healed.

“Interesting,” Dumbledore said taking a step toward his granddaughter. She looked at him with bright brown eyes.

“What is?”

“The snakes,” Dumbledore said. “It appears that you are more important than even I would have thought. It makes sense now. My daughter made a wise choice even if she didn’t realize it.”

Erica shook her head. “I don’t understand.” Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled slightly as he smiled at her.

“Salazar and Godric must be rolling over in their graves,” Dumbledore said quietly. Snape and Erica narrowed their eyes at the same time. “No wonder it took the sorting hat so long to place you. You could have been in either Slytherin or Gryffindor. You are the first descendent of both houses.”

Erica’s eyes widened as she gasped. Dumbledore smiled. “I am glad that I know now why you were able to be friends with those in both houses without causing a riot. I wish I could stay and see you take my place here.”

Erica nodded and her eyes lowered to the ground, and the dagger in her hand. Dumbledore pulled her into another hug.

“Don’t worry about complications,” he said. “I placed a note in my office explaining why this had to be done.”

Erica nodded. She lifted the dagger and plunged it into Dumbledore’s stomach. Dumbledore whimpered as the pain intensified. He took a step away from Erica and fell over the edge of the tower, just like in the vision. Erica walked up and dropped the dagger over the edge after Dumbledore.

She turned away from the scene and fell to her knees. Her hands went to her face and her shoulders shook as she cried.

Snape watched the whole thing with awe. He saw Dumbledore fall, Erica drop the knife, and then fall to the ground and start to cry.

Snape felt betrayed and confused. He opened the trapdoor and walked into the small area where Erica and Dumbledore were standing before. He walked over to Erica’s crying form and sat next to her.

Snape didn’t know what to say. For the first time in his life, he was speechless. They sat there for a few more minutes before Erica broke the silence.

“Aren’t you going to take me away or yell at me?”

Snape looked up at her again. “Why would I do that?” Erica’s hands dropped to her lap. She didn’t look up at him.

“I killed him even though you asked me not to. I know you well enough to know that you are angry about it.”

Snape wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him. “I’m not angry. I think I understand somewhat.”

Erica shook her head. “No, you don’t understand at all. I will never be human again.”

Snape took her chin in his hand and lifted her face to his. “You look human to me,” he said.

Erica smiled and shook her head before standing again. “We should go down to Dumbledore’s office. I need to tell you all the truth. I will meet you there in an hour, bring Harry and Minerva.”

Snape watched as she moved out of the astronomy tower, leaving him there in the cold.

Snape found Potter and McGonagall and took them to Dumbledore’s office, ignoring their questions on the way.

When they entered the room, they noticed as Falkes was standing on Erica’s shoulder. She was sitting behind Dumbledore’s massive desk.

“What’s going on? Where is the Headmaster?” McGonagall asked stepping into the room in her teaching robes. Harry followed her rubbing his eyes and wearing red pants and a white t-shirt.

“What’s going on?” he asked. Erica waited as Snape shut the door to the office. He turned back to them and nodded. Erica stood, causing Falkes to fly back to his perch.

“Albus Dumbledore was a great man,” Erica said. The “was” wasn’t missed by anyone in the room.

“Was?” McGonagall asked.

“He did several great things for the wizard world during his 135 years of life. It is unfortunate that he is now dead.”

McGonagall and Harry both jumped up at those words shouting out all sorts of questions. Erica raised her hand and asked them to sit down again. Only once they were seated again did she speak.

“I know that he is dead, because I killed him.” Harry’s eyes widened and McGonagall raised her wand at Erica.

“I should kill you where you stand,” she said. Erica nodded. “You should, so why don’t you?”

McGonagall gasped as Erica offered her a free chance to kill her. She lowered her wand and sat back in the chair.

“You can’t because you know that Albus wouldn’t have tolerated it. I recently discovered that Albus Dumbledore was my grandfather…and that I am the descendant of both Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor. I am not human, and haven’t been in a long time. I am a witch of pure magic.”

Harry looked confused, Snape looked slightly surprised, and McGonagall looked like a deer looking into a pair of headlights.

“The pure magic in me means that I cannot die, except when one of my descendants is finally worthy of taking over my power. That is the only one who can kill me. I was such a descendant. My grandfather was waiting for me to come and take over as the newest pure power in the family. When I choose to marry, my husband will be allowed to live at my side until the day I die. Once that day occurs, he too will die.”

Snape couldn’t believe everything that this girl was admitting. Clearly everyone in the room was surprised at learning this bit of information about the dearly departed Headmaster.

“There is a ritual that Dumbledore and I had to participate in on the full moon of the twelfth month of the year of my thirty-eighth year of life. If we had waited any longer, he would have had to wait until another child was born worthy of this burden. It took him 50 years just for me to be born, and then he had to wait another 38 years for me to come of age.”

“I don’t understand. This makes no sense. What does all this have to do with Voldemort?” Harry asked. Erica nodded.

“I suppose that would make it easier to explain. Tom Riddle was born with the knowledge of Dumbledore’s family. My real mother and father both were killed on the day of his graduation from Hogwarts. I was sent to live with another family and lived there for several years. When I turned eleven I was accepted to Hogwarts without any knowledge of who I was. It wasn’t until I was being sorted that it came to my attention.”

“The Sorting Hat?” McGonagall asked. Erica nodded.

“The hat informed me of a prophecy. That I was the one to unite Slytherin and Gryffindor in a bond so strong that not even Voldemort could destroy it.”

“What was the bond? Was it what happened with Dumbledore?”

Erica shook her head. “No, not really. While the prophecy did say that I was meant to take over Dumbledore’s position, this other bond had no ties to Dumbledore, except friendship. Severus Snape was the other bond.”

Everyone turned to look at Snape, who was standing there with wide eyes. It was deadly quiet. Finally Snape spoke up.

“What are you talking about?” Erica smiled and lifted her hand. On it was a faint image of the Dark Mark. Snape looked at his left arm again and saw that it was still gone.

“When I grabbed your arm during the final battle, a bond formed between us. Stronger than anything Tom Riddle could do to us.

The Dark Mark was what was keeping us from being happy, so I burned it out of your existence. It is if you never had it. The memories of what you have done will be the only reminder.”

Snape ran his fingers over the spot where the Dark Mark marred his skin for nearly twenty years.

“The bond between us occurred when Lucius hit me with the killing curse a second time. It should have destroyed my physical body, but the pure magic kept me alive, and you kept me grounded to earth. When the shock hit me, it sent a surge of pure magic through my body and then through yours. You can now do wandless magic, just as my family has been able to do since the beginning of time.”

Snape looked up at Erica who was smiling at him. “You are free Severus,” she said.

Harry and McGonagall asked a few more questions about Dumbledore before leaving. Snape watched them leave before turning back to Erica. She had her back to him and her arms across her chest.

“I am sorry I couldn’t tell you before,” she said. “Grandfather didn’t want to burden you with the knowledge of who I was. He wanted you to have some sort of a life. He cared for you like you were his son.”

“In many ways, he was like my father,” Snape said walking up behind Erica. “So, what happens now?”

Erica shrugged. “I don’t know. I will take over as head of my family; maybe I can get a job teaching like my grandfather, or something. The future is quite unpredictable.”

Snape nodded. “That it is,” he said before turning Erica toward him and kissing her.

Erica was shocked at his boldness, and all the emotions she was feeling. He wasn’t repulsed or frightened of her. He didn’t hate her. He still wanted her.

When the kiss ended Erica looking into his dark eyes. “Why? I thought you didn’t want me anymore,” she said.

Snape shook his head. “I still want you, no matter what you once were or are now. I have loved you for over twenty years, and old habits die hard.”

Erica smiled before taking him in another kiss.

“I love you too, Severus.”

THE END