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"It's hard to turn the page when you know someone won't be in the next chapter, but the story must go on" - Unknown
The body did not turn into ash to be carried away in the wind but fell with a dull thud. Voldemort tried time and time again to escape death, but there his body laid.
"Voldemort is no more! The Dark has fallen! Love has won!" Dumbledores raised voice carried across the ravaged remains of Hogwarts grounds, the castle still stood tall, undamaged, and proud. Cries of victory followed the Headmasters proclamation.
Harry turned from the body as the white hot anger slowly drained away leaving not a hint of relief nor happiness but a numbness. Pausing before he passed the Headmaster "Love did not win Albus, grief did" his words barely louder than the wind.
A week later, Harry broke, it was not something big nor dramatic that triggered it, but a picture sitting innocently in its place on the mantel above a cheerily cracking fire.
Harrys eyes couldn't leave the photo, there he was on his husbands lap, head resting on a shoulder and legs hanging on either side of the man, asleep. It wasn't him he was focused on it was Severus, head resting against his, one elegant hand under his top resting on his lower back thumb occasionally sweeping, the other wielding a quill, a softly steaming mug beside him, he remembered how they had come into that position.
Harry woke in a barely lit room, hand moving, searching for the body that should be beside him, sighing he sat up and cast a quick tempus, 1:04AM formed in a smokey script, getting up, he tossed in sweatpants and a t-shirt before leaving the bedroom.
The first things that graced Harrys eyes as he entered the living room was his husband along with the thick stack of parchment, most likely assignments waiting to be marked. Gently shaking his head he briefly entered the kitchen, prepared a tea for the other man and reappeared placing the mug away from the papers.
"Sev'rus, you need sleep" the man shook his head and mumbled something along the lines of almost being done. Harry let out a silent huff before pushing the man back in his chair, thankful that it lacked arms, and crawled into the warm lap and wrapped his arms loosely around the slim waist. An arm came to secure him as a warm low chuckle tickled his ears followed shortly by the weight of a head on his own shoulder. Fully relaxed Harry was lulled back to sleep by the feel of Severus' warm soothing magic covering him like a blanket and the scratching of a quill.
Gringotts had sent a missive requiring immediate attention, Severus' Last Will and Testament was thorough and simple, everything had been left to him. Every hope, dream, and wish for the future was left to him;
Severus Prince's 22 year old widow.
Merlin! 22 years old and a widow
Harry clenched his jaw as he flung the powder into the floo.
The Great Hall was rearranged to accommodate the sudden influx of witches and wizards prepared to celebrate the end of the war. Names of the lost were listed along the one wall, unsurprisingly Severus' name was missing. In all honesty Harry didn't feel like joining in, what did he have to be happy about?
He allowed his vision to drift through the room landing on Draco Malfoy, his wife Anna Malfoy neè Alder and his mother Narcissa Malfoy causing the tension to ease out of his back. Their friendship had started off slowly, they had both agreed after his marriage to Severus to place their petty rivalry aside, he dipped his head in their direction when their eyes met.
Suddenly jerked away by an arm gripping his shoulder to face Ron and Hermione, back tensing and poster straightening a low "Yes" left his mouth.
The couple had easy smiles on their faces "It's finally over" and Harry could only nod in response to Hermione’s statement.
Rons eyes shifted over Harrys shoulder and he nodded in Dracos direction "Who invited the mini Death Eater?" Harry took a breath then another before responding "Draco was never a Death Eater, Ron" said mans face reddened, brows furrowed "He's a Slytherin of course he was a Death Eater!"
Harry stood taller at Rons raised voice "So what, suddenly every Slytherin is a Death Eater? Did you forget I married a Slytherin?" Harrys left hand shot up to display the simple black band that graced his ring finger as a sickly look crossed the redheads face.
"He was a Death Eater! He went to meeting and probably enjoyed it"
Harry heard a gasp somewhere behind him followed by footsteps.
"Are you serious Weasley?" Oh it had been Draco who came up behind him, he threw an arm out to halt the mans approach, the rest of his body shaking.
Harry couldn't believe he once considered this man family, could he not hear the utter bullshit leaving his own mouth? He heard Draco hiss, no doubt ready to scream.
"You've seen him shortly after those meetings, he wouldn't let anyone touch him!" Harrys teeth ground together "He would come home trembling and near tears, utterly conv-," Dumbledores call for him snapped his attention away from Ron.
"Please give a round of applause for the Man-Who-Defeated-Voldemort!, Mr. Potter!"
Harry gave a miniscule shake of his head at Poppy who was clenching her hands behind the Headmaster, no doubt at the incorrect last name. Dumbledore wanted to pretend his marriage didn't exist?
Well it was time to clear up that misconception , wasn't it?
With one last glare at his one time friend, he pushed every negative feeling to the back of his mind, straightened his back and lifted his head high exactly how both Mrs.Malfoy and Severus has taught him, if you can't see a weakness, you can't hit a weakness.
Harry allowed his eyes to roam over the hall, taking in all the bright smiles and colored robes, compared to them his black robes and blank face made it look like he was in mourning, because I am graced his mind.
"I have no doubts in my mind that Headmaster Dumbledore was hoping that I would say a few congratulatory words, but I have none. You had years to deal with Voldemort, but instead you pushed the responsibility onto a child ." His gaze took in some of the affronted looks displayed, and allowed a bitter smile to cross his face.
"You may think that it was love that won this war, but you would be wrong, dead wrong ," Harry smacked a hand onto the podium "It was rage, and anger, and grief . Why you might ask, because I, and my husband, have always been nothing but chess pieces to the Headmaster"
Harry took a few calming breaths and suddenly he needed to let the public know just what kind of man was running this school.
"At 15 years old, Headmaster Dumbledore forced a year-long marriage between myself and Severus Snape. We had one hell of a first year" a depreciating chuckle slipped passed his lips "but we obviously did something right, as we ended up as Bond mates in a Soul Bond for 6 years," gasps flowed through the crowd.
"Mr.Potter, this is something best discussed in private" Albus attempted to negotiate, he was prevented from moving towards the younger man by both Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey, bolstered by their support Harry forced himself to continue ignoring the chill that Headmasters stare sent down his spine.
"Most of the people in this very room failed Severus, but the one who caused the most damage was you Headmaster " he spat the elders title in revulsion "you treated Severus as a thing, not as a person, you saw him as a spy, something to be used."
Nothing Dumbledore said would ever absolve him of what he had put Severus through, he needed the Wizarding World to open its eyes to the kind of man Albus Dumbledore truly was.
"My boy, Severus was an important person to me, I always regretted having to put him in dangerous situations but it was for the greater good," Albus spread his arms, holding himself in a calming manner.
Harry shook his head "You say he mattered to you? Bullshit! Where were you after the Death Eater meetings when he came home barely able to walk?" He brought his clenched hand up to run through his hair, bloodshot eyes pleading, choking over his words "Where the hell were you when he was convinced that I would leave him because he had outlived his usefulness? Because you sure as hell weren't in our room!"
Harry cried out his next words giving in to the tears blurring his vision " If he was so important, why the fuck isn't he listed!" He flung a trembling hand to where every person who was killed was listed.
The crowd began to murmur but that was easily ignored by Harry, who refused to avert his gaze from the elderly wizard.
"Because of your decisions, my husband is….my husband is dead," accepting a handkerchief from Poppy with a grateful nod he wiped his tears "Do you have any idea….any idea at all what you have done to me?"
For once Albus Dumbledore looked down, shoulders sagging, sadness, regret, and pain swirled around in his eyes "No, my boy".
Harry choked back a sob "Of course not, we were just chess pieces to you after all".
The tentative peace that followed the Feast didn't last, it was shattered by a visit to Poppy and the news from a scan.
Leaving England was the best option for him, the one and only way for him to have a slight chance of putting himself back together.