A Christmas Carol

Severus watched as the figure came closer and closer. His heart sped up and he felt warm as his blood pumped with a vengeance in his body. “Hermione?” He asked. It was her, but it wasn’t her. She was dressed all on black. Elegantly attired in a skin tight black dress and knee high black boots with pointed toes. Her hair was slick and straight, highlighted with streaks of blonde, and hanging free about her shoulders. She had an intense look in her eyes, lined in black, giving a smoky look and was wearing what looked like a gallon of blood red lipstick. She looked sexual, and provocative, and intimidating. Not at all like the Hermione who smiled at him with gentleness, and friendship.



“You are the ghost of Christmas Future?” He asked. She merely nodded.



Lifting her arm a tunnel appeared. The same as the others but this one was far from welcoming. It was a misty grey and there were holes everywhere. He didn’t need to ask what that were because he was intelligent enough to deduct that the future was yet undecided so this tunnel had yet to be set. He followed her as she walked calmly, swaying with that inbred feminine grace that came about when women wore heels, exiting the tunnel into what he knew was Hogwarts.



“Back here again,” he asked, “am I never to put this place behind me?” She looked at him and lifted an eyebrow before resuming her walk. They went to the teachers lounge, where the staff had their parties and relaxed. This time he saw no decorations and he heard no laughter.



He looked around and saw Trelawney and McGonagall in a corner crying as the staff sat around morosely. The sadness was infectious, and Severus looked to Ghost Granger for an answer but she merely stared at him. He walked over to Minerva and Sybil.



“I can’t believe it Sybil. I just can’t believe it.” Minerva whispered.



“He went doing what he loved though. Severus was never one to give a job to someone else when he wanted it. The chance to scale a cliff for rare roots was too tempting and I know he would have gone that way then to simply fall asleep and wake up.” Sybil told her, tears of her own slipping down her face.



Severus looked to Ghost Granger. “I’ve died?” He asked. She gave him a small nod. “This hardly affects me. People die all the time and as Sybil says I’d rather go collecting or hunting then to expire in my sleep. We are all going to die one day, to hope otherwise would be pointless. Why show me this? What have I to learn from it?” She pointed back to Minerva and Sybil.



“I would have liked the chance to say goodbye.” Minerva said through her tears.



“He knew how we felt about him.” Sybil said trying to comfort the older woman.



“Did he?” Minerva asked. “He never let us get too close.” She wiped her eyes. “I can remember the boy who was always top in my classes. He always tried and tried until he perfected something. He was a master at what he did.”



Severus listened as Minerva spoke. He was studious in his youth and it carried over to his adulthood. “When we were in school, Hugh used to tease me and Severus always had a smart remark ready to defend me.” Sybil said. “Hugh used to sit there with a frown on his face wondering what Severus had said.” The two women chuckled, then Sybil let more tears fall. “I shall miss him Minerva.”



“Me too Sybil, me too.” The two women shared a hug in their grief and Severus couldn’t watch anymore. He walked over to Ghost Granger. She lifted an eyebrow at him in question.



“No, I didn’t know they cared that much.” He told her. He took a moment to look at her. “Is it the same as the others? There is a reason for your appearance?”



She nodded and lifted her chin. “No I don’t know what it is. If you don’t speak how will I know?” She gave him a smile and the sound of talking brought his attention to the room.



Flitwick was standing on a stack of books holding his glass in the air. “To a master wizard in everything he chose.” Severus looked away. He admired Flitwick but was never more then cordial to the small wizard.



Madam Pomfrey stood and raised hers. “To a devoted teacher.” Severus still didn’t look up.



Trelawney stood. “To a close, honorable, longtime friend.” This time he did look up. Sybil had been one of his few friends at Hogwarts.



Professor Sprout stood. “To a man with a great ass.” The room chuckled. Severus rolled his eyes. She always loved to tease him about that, telling him he shouldn’t hide under his robes. “And a great character.” He gave her a small smile.



Hagrid stood, raising what looked like a tankard. “To a brilliant man, with a sharp mind.” The room nodded in agreement.



Minerva stood and the room fell silent. The other teachers knew him vaguely or not at all. Minerva was the last one he worked with to speak. “To the closest thing to a son I’ve ever known.” The room and Severus fell silent and he felt his throat tighten up. “To Severus Snape.”



“To Severus Snape.” The room echoed.



Severus looked to Ghost Granger. “Yes, touching indeed.” He said, trying to downplay the emotion. “Take me out of here.”



Ghost Granger opened the door and they walked through it, but instead of the corridor, they emerged into a house. It was silent and almost haunting. Severus looked around and frowned. “This is my parents home.” Ghost Granger nodded.



He saw his mother come down from the stairs with a sad look on her face. She had aged very little but her look made her appear ancient. She sat in a chair and stared out the window as if seeing nothing through the glass.



He felt a hand on his arm and looked at Ghost Granger as she slipped her arm through his. Leading down a hallway she took him into a room he recognized as his when he was young. The bed was still in it, a desk, and a dresser, although nothing much more. He hadn’t been home in years, not even for visits.



He saw his father sitting on his bed, holding a picture. Like his mother his father seemed to have aged but it was the look that did it, not the passing years. His face was long and full of sorrow. Severus eased his arm from Ghost Granger and moved to sit beside his father.



Tobias Snape was looking at a photo of his son. It was his graduation picture and the last time Severus had willingly sat for a portrait. Any other photo of him was candid and those were rare.



“Oh my Severus,” his father said, “how many mistakes have I made?” Severus was silent. His throat hurt and he couldn’t breathe as he heard his father speak. “I wish I knew how to talk to you. I wish I knew how to be a father to you.”



“What is he talking about?” Severus asked Ghost Granger. She didn’t answer, she just stared at him. He looked back to his father to see the man crying openly. Severus had never seen his father display sadness before, and to see him crying was too much. Severus didn’t know what to do.



“I wish I could have said so many things, my son.” His words were halting because of his tears. “I have always been so proud of you Severus, and now I have no way of telling you.” The photo fell to the floor as the older man buried his hands in his face and wept, letting out years of emotions.



Severus stood and walked to Ghost Granger, unsure of what to say or do. He stood silently as his mother came into the room, and sat beside her husband. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, crying along with him. “Our son Eileen, our son.” His father cried.



“I know love, I know.” Together they openly wept for him. It was the first time he had seen them openly display emotions for each other and it was at his death.



Severus turned and walked down the hall to the front, unable to stand it anymore. His father had never been close to him, but it wasn’t because of him. It was because he didn’t know how to talk to him. He didn’t know what to say to his own son. All those years wasted and gone because neither of them knew what to say or do.



Ghost Granger was behind him, and he looked at her closely. She was watching his reaction. “I know what you want. What did I learn from that?” She nodded. “I have learned enough. My youth would have been different if my father had spoken to me and now I know why. He was just as insecure as I was. I can see that, but I don’t want to see anymore.”



She reached out and took his arm. Opening the front door they walked through and once again they entered another home. The Weasleys were scattered around the room, each just as sad and depressed as the other people he had seen tonight.



“What is this?” He asked Ghost Granger. “You can’t mean to tell me that this family is affected by my death?” Ghost Granger shook her head. “Then what is the sadness for?”



“I can’t believe she is gone,” Mrs. Weasley said, “and with no reason. Why would she do it?”



“I guess we will never know.” Mr. Weasly said, squeezing his wife’s hand.



“Who is he talking about?” He asked Ghost Granger. But again she merely looked at him.



“Why would she do it? There were no clues that would suggest it, nothing in her life to suggest she was headed this way.” Ginny asked. The room was filled with mumbles. Nobody knew what to say.



“Such a waste.” Bill said, taking a sip of his drink. Silence filled the room.



“Who are they talking about,” Severus asked Ghost Granger, “and don’t just stare at me. I want to know who they are talking about. It must affect me in some way, or else you wouldn’t have brought me here. So let me see who they were talking about.”



Ghost Granger opened the door and he followed her through it. They didn’t come out to the field before the Weasley home. This time they emerged in a cemetery. Statues and marbles tombs, marked sights. Flowers in various stages of life were on several headstones.



Ghost Granger stopped a short distance from him and he followed her gaze. His heart nearly stopped. Hermione Granger was on her knees in front of a tombstone.



“Granger? What is she doing here?” He looked down at saw his own name on the headstone. He wasn’t shocked. He had an intelligent view of death and it didn’t scare him. What he had seen had told him he was dead. He wasn’t, however, prepared for the sight of Granger crying over his grave.



He looked back to Ghost Granger. “I wanted to see the one the Weasleys were talking about,” he shouted, “are you telling me Granger has died also, when she is right here?” Ghost Granger pointed to the crying girl.



“Severus, why?” She crying not bothering to wipe away the tears that covered her face. “Why did you have to die? I didn’t get a chance to say I love you. Why?” She bawled over his headstone.



Severus looked away unsure of what to do. He looked back at her, as she removed a vial from her robes. It took him only a moment to recognize the potion. He stood and hurried over to Ghost Granger.



“That bottle is endless sleep. It’s lethal. Are you telling me she’s going to commit suicide?” He yelled. She just pointed to the girl. “Quit pointing, damn you and tell me!” She merely pointed again.



He went back to the girl at his gravesite. “Granger, what are you doing?” The girl ignored him, not being able to see him in the first place, and opened the bottle. “Don’t do this, you can’t!”



“Severus, I have loved you for so long, but it hurts too much not to be near you.” She leaned in and kissed the headstone, then swallowed the whole vial down.



“Hermione! NO! Don’t do this, please don’t do this!” Severus was unable to stop the tears that overflowed from his eyes. “Please Hermione, don’t do this! You can’t! You’re too brilliant to end your life, please don’t!” He watched helplessly as she laid down next to his grave, and her breathing slowed before stopping altogether.



“It’s her isn’t it?” He stood crying and walked back to Ghost Hermione. “This image you took? I’m denying her, just like the last one said, only it’s not just me. By not accepting love she suffers too. Because of me, she suffers in her life.” Ghost Hermione looked up at him with sad eyes, and gave him the briefest nod.



He went back to the figure of Hermione, dead at his grave, and couldn’t stop it. He drooped to his knees and wept. When his eyes opened he was in his room again.



He was on the floor, kneeling and his fire had burned out. He looked outside and saw the sun had risen. He moved to the window and pushed it open. The chill in the air entered but he ignored it. His clock chimed the hour as eight in the morning.



“Christmas day.” Severus said grinning widely. They had taken only a night. He turned and ran through his house, a list of things to do forming in his mind.





A/N: To me, Severus is far too intelligent to be sad or fearful of his own death. i felt that someone who just couldnt live without him would have the emotional impact that was needed. Seeing how he was affected by learning how people cared about him, i thought this storyline made more sense when it came to how i portrayed him in this fic.Sorry for the space between posts. normally im all over the posting process, but bare with me this time. i will post again soon.