The Dark Lord suffered a humiliating defeat in front of everyone. In front of his followers, in front of his enemies, and in front of the one destined to destroy him, Harriet Potter.
After all of the battles she had fought, the girl-who-lived would never have believed it was finally finished if she hadn't watched Voldemort die for the last time before her very eyes.
Harriet stood there on the battleground, breathing hard, covered in dirt and smears of blood, and glanced around once her nemesis had permanently faded from the world.
Voldemort's Death Eaters were forlorn. For a moment after their Dark Lord's demise, Harriet feared they may resume their attack and try to take revenge for their fallen master, but many of them were lying around the mutilated castle lifeless. The defeat of their leader apparently inspired them to abandon his cause.
Cheers from Harriet's allies erupted behind her and broke the eerie, unsettling silence, but Harriet barely heard them.
Her ears rang and her vision blurred as the shock of all that had happened really began to take hold.
Harriet confidently turned her back on the crowd of Death Eaters in front of her. She was confident that she had nothing else to fear from them, and she staggered through the throngs of her supporters, intent on visiting the Great Hall that housed the battle's injured and dead.
Hogwarts lay in ruins but that didn't decrease the grandeur of the castle's foyer, not even with the piles of rock and rubble that were littered across the stone floor.
On the steps, Harriet saw her best mates, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, clutching each other with their eyes still wide. In front of them stood Neville Longbottom, another of Harriet's friends. Harriet noticed that Voldemort's serpentine servant was lying cut in two at Neville's feet while he held Godric Gryffindor's sword firmly in his hand.
Neville looked over and nodded at Harriet.
Silently, Harriet nodded back before she continued on her way.
The doors to the Great Hall were wide open and Harriet entered them alongside the multitude of healers and visitors that bustled in and out.
Harriet frowned as she looked over the dead and listened to the injured's suffering.
It was nauseating to behold.
The cries, the wails, the bloodied bandages that were frantically changed and tied, not to mention the sheer despair that was expressed over lost loved ones.
Harriet saw Fred Weasley lying dreadfully still on a gurney and her heart sank.
Harriet saw Remus Lupin and his wife, his mate, Nymphadore Tonks, lying dead, side by side, and her heart sank even lower.
Harriet grieved for the couple especially, wondering about what would become of their young son.
Harriet looked down at the deceased couple and marveled at the love they had shared, the love she had seen between them.
Alpha and omega.
Perhaps it was the stress of the war, but Harriet had no idea yet which she would end up being.
Would she ever find a love like her former Professor?
Harriet sniffed and reeled in her thoughts, lowering her green eyes to the floor out of respect for her fallen friends as she staggered through the Great Hall.
There was someone Harriet was looking for that she didn't see and after the events of the last twenty-four hours, that bothered her profoundly.
Harriet turned and left the Great Hall. She moved as quickly as possible and she wasted no time in journeying to the edge of Hogwarts property.
Stepping over the broken line of protection that had been drawn around the school, Harriet was finally free to apparate and with a flick of the abused wand in her hand, she did so immediately.
With a loud pop, Harriet Potter appeared seconds later outside of the dilapidated, foreboding Shrieking Shack.
Hastily, she walked towards the door.
Harriet knew she was Professor Snape's least favorite student and after witnessing his memories the previous night, she understood why.
Regardless, she had watched him fight for her, she had watched him die for her, and she had become aware that he had risked his own life to protect her for the past seven years. It didn't matter that he had done it all ultimately out of his affection for her mother, he had done it.
Harriet thought that although his tongue had always been sharp, his heart had been true, and for that, Severus Snape at least deserved a proper burial.
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The door to the Shrieking Shack creaked open as Harriet cautiously stepped inside. She wasn't terribly worried about running into anymore of her enemies, what business would they have there?
It was over.
It was finished.
However, the Shrieking Shack was so rickety and creaky, Harriet didn't entirely trust the floorboards not to give way underneath her.
She stepped swiftly in the darkened room towards the narrow, wooden staircase. One squeaky board at a time, she ascended the stairs towards the room where it had happened, where Hogwarts' most recent headmaster collapsed after he was slain.
That was one of Harriet's regrets after the battle, that she hadn't been able to stay with Severus Snape while he breathed his last, that there hadn't been time for her to stop him from being condemned to spend his last seconds on earth alone.
When Harriet walked into the room upstairs, she braced herself to be confronted with the smell and sight of death once more.
Her gaze immediately landed on a man, covered in black robes, lying in a pool of blood, with his dark hair tousled over his face.
Harriet frowned in sympathy as she approached.
At least she had remembered him.
At least she had found him.
She would take his body back to Hogwarts and have him cleaned and readied.
He would be given a funeral with dignity.
No matter how few were in attendance, Harriet would be there.
Harriet approached her fallen headmaster with a frown of sympathy.
The choking gurgle that issued from his throat nearly made her jump through the roof out of shock.
"H-Headmaster!" Harriet gasped as she instantly rushed forward.
Severus Snape had lost too much blood for long replies. His skin was starting to change into a mottled color as Nagini's poison crept through his veins, but he managed to crack his eyes open as Harriet knelt down and gently took him into her arms.
Severus blinked blearily as Harriet's face came in and out of focus while she called to him with determination, "Headmaster........Headmaster Snape!.........Hold on!"
Severus sighed, wheezing in the air through his badly gashed throat as he closed his eyes again and prepared for death.
How he had managed to hang on so long, he didn't know.
He had been awaiting his time to pass since Harriet had left him hours ago, since he had shared his memories with her in the form of his tears.
He had thought that the poison would have taken effect by then.
He had thought that he would have bled out by then also, but he had been wrong.
Harriet had been wrong.
Severus Snape had made his peace with his death, but as he closed his eyes, a part of him was even more content. The last thing he saw before his vision went black was green eyes, Harriet Potter's eyes truthfully, but that was alright, they were of such a similar color and shape that Severus could pretend they were Lily Evans' eyes instead.
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To his great dismay, Severus Snape did not die.
After he lost consciousness, Harriet apparated them both to St. Mungo's, since she didn't have the strength or the time to carry him back to Hogwarts.
Not to mention that the Great Hall was overflowing with the wounded.
The emergency department of the wizarding hospital was plunged into chaos as Harriet appeared in the middle of the room, clutching Severus and shouting for help.
The nurses and healers responded quickly. Harriet looked on while a team of healthcare practitioners lunged at Severus, placed him on a gurney, and whisked him away.
Numbly, with her body feeling heavy as lead, Harriet raced alongside them. She had no obligation to stay, but she couldn't bear to leave her injured headmaster alone again, this time in a strange place surrounded by strange people.
The medical team pushed Harriet aside as they stitched Severus's wounds with healing spells and called in a specialist to quickly administer a combination of various antidotes designed to stop and reverse the poison's effects.
There was little time for analgesics. Although Severus no longer had the voice or the ability to protest, he writhed on the bed in discomfort as the treatment necessary to preserve his life was given.
Through the crowd of white robes and white, pressed dresses, when Harriet noticed Severus squirming in pain, she reached past the doctors and nurses and clutched his hand.
It surprised her that Severus clutched back and squeezed hard.
Even in Severus's debilitated state, Harriet had expected him to stubbornly push her away.
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Harriet didn't leave Severus's side.
When it was all over and Severus's wounds had been sutured, his medications had been given, and he had been cleaned, he slept in his hospital bed with a tense frown on his face.
Next to him, Harriet respectfully sat and silently watched.
Severus slept for the majority of the day, but Harriet only moved from her chair to visit the women's lavatory every once in a while.
That evening, a nurse entered the room with a chart in her hands and Severus's black eyes finally opened.
"Severus Snape," The nurse announced, reading over his chart, "Looks like you're doing quite well, considering things."
Severus very, very gently nodded and Harriet realized that with the tight bandages on his throat and his healing wound, he probably hadn't recovered enough to speak.
"Give me a moment and we'll have your discharge paperwork ready." The nurse said with a tense smile.
"Discharge paperwork?" Harriet asked with a scowl before she could stop herself.
Surprise came over Severus's face as his gaze flickered over to Harriet.
She was looking at the nurse and she didn't see it, but a softness graced the stern features of Severus's face as he realized that Harriet was sitting at his bedside.
"Yes, Miss Potter." The nurse blinked at Harriet, "I'm sorry, but we're already overcrowded. We've received loads of injured patients today that desperately need care. There's not enough beds as it is, and currently, there's nothing else we can do for Mr. Snape, he just has to rest and recover at this point. That could take months.....Sorry, but he's got to go. We need the room."
"But how's he supposed to take care of himself right now?!" Harriet protested, "He can't even speak, he probably shouldn't move at all, really!"
The nurse shrugged, "You're right. He'll need some help for a while. Does he have any family we can contact? I'll arrange for them to come and collect him."
Severus felt his heart clench in his chest.
No, he had no family, and now, he had no friends.
"No need." Harriet replied confidently, "I'll........I'll look after him."
Severus's black eyes almost bulged out of his head at that statement.
"Oh? Are you related to him?" The nurse asked as she scribbled a note down in Severus's chart.
Harriet silently wondered how the nurse didn't know who she was but she didn't take the time to explain or press the issue.
"No." Harriet said firmly, "But I'm the only one he's got."
The nurse nodded, noted that down, and left the room.
Harriet looked over at Severus and Severus gazed back at her with sad, narrowed eyes.
The air was thick with nervous tension as the two of them looked at each other and thought.
It would be a difficult summer for Harriet, taking care of her prickly Headmaster.
Her prickly, alpha Headmaster.
Just because Harriet hadn't presented as an alpha or an omega yet didn't mean that she couldn't sense one.
Severus didn't know what to feel, but he knew that for Harriet Potter to come back for him, take him to get help, and volunteer to care for him, she must have already viewed the memories he had shared with her.
Harriet Potter was expressing her gratitude to Severus Snape through her actions and he understood that.
The abrasive alpha wanted to clench his jaw but the injury to his throat prevented him.
No one had ever said "thank you" to Severus Snape before.