Goodbye

            ‘The Snake’ took another drag of his cigarette and flicked it to the ground, casually stepping on it.  His target walked out the door and ‘Snake’ couldn’t bring himself to be shocked anymore.  When he’d gotten this job he had been forgotten, left to die.  Sometimes he thought he had died.

            His magic had been sucked out of him but his body was still there, at least what passed for a body.  When his boss had found out that he knew about the wizarding world, and their weaknesses, The Boss had given him the ‘special’ assignments.  Which really meant that if a regular couldn’t get the job done; Snake was called in, usually assuming that the target is a witch or wizard, to dispose of them.

            Snake moved silently in the night, absently wondering if they knew who was killing them.  ‘If they knew would they be scared?  Doubt it.’

            “Are you following me for a reason?”  Snake slipped silently into the shadows as his target turned around.  Snake took in the slightly deformed face, wondering what’d happened, but not caring much.

            “I know you’re there, come on out I don’t have time to deal with this.”

            “You’re right.  Your time is up.”  Snake rasped in his mangled voice.  He didn’t talk much because it hurt, but his voice instilled fear in many people.

            His target just rolled.  “Yeah.  Heard that before; didn’t work last time won’t work this time.”

            Snake silently chuckled.  His target had not changed a bit.  Snake slipped his snake ring on.  This was an invention of Snake’s.  It could be filled with poison deadly enough for a wizard and was delivered through fangs protruding from the ring.  In most cases it was thought that his victims were killed by vampires.

            Slowly gliding out of the shadows, Snake let his victim see his crippled body.  “Harry?”  His victim asked unbelievingly. 

            “Hello lover.”   Snake, ‘Harry’, said tiredly.

            “But…but how?  You were dead!”

            “NO!  I WASN'T!”  Snake winced as the screaming scratched his throat raw.

            This had always been a sore spot for him.  That his ‘family’ had left him to die.  His victim watched Snake try to soothe his throat.

            “Harry, come back with me. Everyone will be so happy to see you.”  Snake didn’t even stop to think; he rammed the snake ring into his victim’s neck, let the poison run in, and then took the ring’s fangs out.  His victim started to fall to the ground but Snake caught him and held his once-time lover close.  “Why?”  His victim gasped out.  Snake thought about it.

            “Because this is who I am now.”

            His victim gasped for breath and his eyes shuddered.  Snake held him as his body shook and died.  Finally his body laid still and his heart stopped.  Snake hugged him and shed a single tear.  Laying a kiss upon his victim’s forehead Snake laid him down on the ground.

            “Goodbye, Severus.”