Hero

-Author's Notes:

Due to overwhelming requests that I save our hero from his fate, I have decided to add an additional chapter to this story. I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the first chapter. What you said meant a lot to me.

Nakhash Makashefah, the Dark sorceress of the east, has Beta'd this chapter for me. It only cost me my first unborn child.


Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and Co. I own nothing.


HERO.


Chapter02. To be or not to be.

Severus felt himself becoming drowsy and heavy-eyed as he sat there on the rock, staring at the eastern night sky. It had been at least thirty minutes since Granger had Apparated away. He didn't worry that she would return to him. The girl didn't know where he was. He didn't even know where in Scotland he sat. Dumbledore or someone else in the Order would be able to trace her Apparition trail back here, but that would take several hours. His fellow Death Eaters, on the other hand, could show up at any second. Severus thought a quick end might be preferable to slowly freezing to death. He might also get the opportunity to kill at least one more of the Dark Lord's servants.

Snape pulled his numb hands inside the thick fur cloak. He shoved them into the pockets in the lining. With his left hand, he could feel a small bag of coins; with his right, he could feel a small glass tube. Snape pulled the glass tube out of the cloak and looked at it. It was a vial with an iridescent blue liquid in it. Severus popped the cork and smelled the liquid. The smell was overpowering. It cleared his sinuses instantly. He recognized what it was immediately. "Dragon's Tears," Snape said to himself. It didn't surprise him that Lucius would have one of the most rare and illegal stimulants in his possession. Dragon's Tears was not tears at all. It was adrenalin take directly from a hatchling dragon's brain - the more aggressive the species, the more powerful the drug. Knowing that Lucius would only want the best, he guessed it was from a Norwegian Ridgeback or a Japanese Rainbow Serpent.

Snape considered what would happen if he drank it. One drop would keep a wizard on edge for days. If he drank the whole vial his heart would explode in minutes. 'Maybe not,' he thought to himself. The potion he had taken would definitely react with it, curbing its effects. It could in theory give him the strength to survive the night. But did he really want to survive. The potion would still render him a Muggle. He couldn't make the simplest potion without magic. He would have to be in a world without magic and with no skill of his own. Even with these handicaps, his Slytherin desire to survive was strong. If he did live survive this night, the Dark Lord would spare nothing to hunt him down and kill him. 'Maybe that's a good thing,' he thought. Severus realized that if Voldemort was spending time and resources hunting him that would only help the Order.

Snape studied the vial in his hand as he considered his options. If he took the potion and survived, he would have to start completely over in an alien world. He would be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life for Dark wizards. But the thought of the Dark Lord knowing finally who had betrayed him and killed nearly half his inner circle warmed his blood a little. Every second he remained alive would be an insult to the Dark Lord. Severus brought the vial to his lips and said, "Anything's better than just sitting here on this damn rock!" He drank the Dragon's Tears down in a single gulp. A tingling sensation filled all of his limbs. His blood began to boil in his veins. Suddenly, the thick fur cloak became too hot to wear. Severus threw it off and jumped to his feet. He was bursting with energy. Severus had the overpowering urge to run, nowhere in particular, just to run. He tried to calm himself. Snape knew his body had lost too much blood and was too damaged for anything stressful.

He realized that he had to leave this place at once. As soon as the Dark Lord realized that he had left his wand behind, he would send all of his remaining servants to retrieve it. Knowing that the warmth in his blood would not last long, he folded the fur cloak over his left arm. He then walked back over to Malfoy's dead body. He wondered how Draco and his mother would take the death of Lucius. Draco would no doubt be devastated and vow revenge for his father. Narcissa probably wouldn't care that much. She would seek out another rich husband while she still had her looks.

Severus knelt down next to Lucius and began to go through the dead man's pockets. Robbing the dead was despicable but necessary under the circumstances. He would need every advantage he could get if he were to survive in the Muggle world. Severus found a money pouch tied to Lucius' belt. It had over a hundred gold Galleons in it. Snape knew Muggles valued gold even more than wizard's did, probably because they couldn't make it on their own and had to dig it out of the earth. He removed all of Lucius' jewelry and the Malfoy family's signet ring from his finger. He also removed a small gold dagger with a ruby encrusted handle. For the first time, Snape felt grateful for Lucius' pompous shallow nature; the man walked around with a small fortune on him. After finishing with Malfoy, Severus moved on to his next victim. He wished that Lucius had had bigger feet; those winter boots of his would have been nice. After finishing with his scavenger hunt, Snape put everything in the pockets of his robes. All of the others combined didn't have as much on them as Lucius, although Peter's silver fingers should sell quite easily. He picked up Malfoy's silver snake-headed walking stick and headed south, off the hill, as snow began to fall. He had no clue where he was going.

Four hour later, near complete exhaustion, Snape knocked loudly on a small Muggle farmhouse door.

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It was almost eight o'clock on Christmas morning. Hermione and twelve members of the Order, including Dumbledore, Harry and Ron, scoured the countryside for any signs of Professor Snape. They had traced her Apparition trail back here to the Scottish coast, probably within a quarter of mile from where she had left. It was dark when she had Apparated away; the only thing she knew for sure was that it was on top of a small hill.

"HERE. I've found something," Remus suddenly called out from her left. Everyone ran toward the small hill he was standing on. "There's been a fire on this hill recently. I also smell blood," he said to Dumbledore just as she reached them. The ground was covered with snow; there was not a trace of a fire. Remus kicked through a couple inches of snow to reveal the burnt spot and ash on the ground.

Dumbledore pulled out his wand and waved it in a circle over his head and said, "Reperi Acutus." All of the snow on the hill disappeared in a cloud of steam. The steam cleared, revealing the brown grass that covered the hill.

"Where are the bodies?" Hermione asked as she searched the hillside with her eyes.

"We were apparently not the first to arrive," Dumbledore sorrowfully answered.

"Maybe this isn't the right hilltop," Hermione suggested.

"There's blood all over this hill, Hermione. This is definitely it," Remus told her.

"What do we have here?" Tonks asked as she leaned down to pick something up. It was Snape's short Japanese sword. There was no doubt about it. This was the place. Tonks brought the sword over and handed it to Dumbledore. The Headmaster took the sword from her with a sad look in his eyes.

"Where is he? What happened?" Hermione anxiously asked.

"The Death Eaters must have come back to claim their dead," Remus told her.

"Maybe Snape ran away before they came back," Harry suggested.

"I don't think he had the strength to go fifty meters," Hermione said as a tear ran down her face. She turned to Dumbledore and asked, "They got him, didn't they?"

"I'm sure that Severus passed on before they arrived, Hermione. Even if Severus were still living, he wouldn't let them take him alive. They only have his body now; they can do him no more harm," Dumbledore said, trying to reassure her. Hermione sank to her knees and began to weep. She cried for a man that had always hated and despised her. Yet he still laid down his life so that she might live. She had never felt anything but contempt for him, until this day. Now she felt as if a member of her own family had been taken from her. Dumbledore leaned down and took her in his embrace. "It will be all right, my dear," he whispered to her. "It will be all right because we will never forget. Severus gave you back to us, and a chance to win this war. We could never ask for more. He died for what we all believe in. His sacrifice will live on past this war. The name Severus Snape will be remembered with respect and love."

Hermione looked up into the old wizard's eyes. This was the first time she had ever seen Dumbledore cry. She realized that she wasn't the only one feeling the loss. "I promise never to forget," she told the old wizard.

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Two weeks later, a tall thin man dressed all in black, with a bandage on the side of his face, entered Willis and Sons Fine Jewelry, in London. "May I speak with the owner?" he asked the pretty young woman at the counter.

"Is he expecting you?" she asked with a suspicious look on her face.

"Yes, tell him Samuel Smith is here," he told her. Moments later, John Willis approached the man with his hand outstretched.

"Mr. Smith, I'm so happy to make your acquaintance. Do you have the ring with you, by chance?" the man asked with a greedy glint in his eye.

"Of course," Smith answered. He then removed a small white cloth from his breast pocket. He unfolded the cloth to reveal a large gold and silver ring with a twenty-karat green emerald, surrounded by six diamonds.

"May I?" Willis asked as he took out his jeweler's loupe.

"Be my guest," Smith said, handing him the ring. Willis studied the ring for a good ten minutes.

"It's brilliant," he said, placing the ring back on the white cloth. "The craftsmanship is the best I've ever seen. Where did it come from?"

"It was made for an old European family named Malfoy. It was the same French wiz... I mean jeweler that made Marie Antoinette's jewels that eventually cost her her head," Smith answered. "I received it from the family patriarch the night he passed away," Smith explained.

"I'm afraid without any real documentation of its true origin or ownership, I can only offer you... Oh, say, thirty five thousand pounds?" Willis said as he rubbed his chin with his hand.

"Seventy five thousand pounds cash, or it will end up on a fat sheik's finger by sundown," Smith bluntly stated.

"Agreed," Willis greedily said as he shook the dark man's hand. "I can have the money here by four P.M."

"Very well, I will leave ring with you for now," Smith said as he put the white cloth back into his pocket.

"I appreciate your trust in this matter," Willis said as he picked the ring up off the counter.

"Trust has nothing to do with it, Mr. Willis. It would be extremely entertaining if you decided to cheat me," Smith said with an evil smirk on his face. Willis shuddered slightly as he looked into the stranger's black eyes. He would make sure that the money was here by no later than three.

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Well what did you think? Should I go on from here?