A/N: A Snape-centric piece including major spoilers for the Deathly Hallows. Basically a retelling of sorts of his last moments, set in his perspective. Since Rowling writes everything in Harry's perspective, I thought this would be a nice way to see what might be going on inside Snape's head. SnapexLily, I suppose. This is my first time writing something for Harry Potter, so I'm not exactly sure if I've gotten Snape right. Please forgive me if I have. Enjoy!

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Cadence Of His Last Breath

By Mystic Dawn

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Seeing Nagini protected in that globe of magic, Severus Snape knew that the time to follow Dumbledore's last wishes had come. He had to find Harry, tell him what he was truly supposed to face, before it was too late, before Voldemort could make his move...

"While you live, Severus, the Elder Wand cannot be truly mine."

At these words, he had known what was coming. He was going to die, die without a chance to even protect himself. But instead of being hit with the familiar green light of the Killing Curse, he saw the snake descend upon him, magical cage and all, and felt its fangs penetrate his flesh. He could feel the warm gush of blood begin to seep from his mortal wound as his knees buckled, and he fell to the floor. He could feel his heart pounding in his head, steadily faltering, his eyes glazing from the pain...

He had failed, failed Harry, failed Dumbledore, failed all of wizardkind...

And he had failed her...

And then he saw him—Harry was stooping over him, his face pale, emotionless—how it was possible for him to be here at this time, Severus could not say.

He weakly raised his hand and grasped Harry's robes, trying to form words, to tell him what he must do, but the only thing that issued from his mouth were gurgling, rasping sounds. Then... there was no other way. He knew what had to be done.

"Take... it... take... it..."

He would have to give Harry his memories. It was the only thing to prepare him for what he had to face, to prepare him for death. It still seemed like a dream to Severus... that all these years, he had been protecting her son only for him to die at the hands of the self-same murderer... but it was the only way it would all end, and for her death to finally be avenged.

Even as his end was approaching, he could not forget her. Now, more than ever, did he wish that things had been different; that he had been sorted in Gryffindor, that he had never heard of Voldemort or Death Eaters or the Dark Arts, that he had never uttered that unforgivable word to her when she had only been trying to help him... and somehow, thinking about all of these things, he knew that they would be included in the memories he was surrendering to Harry. But, strangely, he wanted him to know. He wanted her son to know who the true Severus Snape was.

He wished that he had been brave enough to tell her how he truly felt for her, even if his feelings for her were unrequited. A part of him always wondered whether there could have been a slim, small chance that she did return his feelings, something, however, that he would never know. She could have been his to love, his to cherish, his to protect... then, perhaps, none of this would have ever happened. She would still be alive, with him... and the boy now kneeling beside him might have been his son in another time and place.

"Look... at... me..." he whispered.

All sound ceased, and the cadence of his last breath was the only thing that could be heard in the dark room.

The last thing he saw was the familiar emerald-green hue of her eyes before being consumed by the darkness.

And he knew that he was going to see her again.

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A/N: I had a suspicion that Snape had a crush on Lily from the fifth book, and now it turns out that I was right! God, this was a terrible way for him to die! I think this is Rowling's worst death in the entirety of the series. I couldn't stop crying while I read the next chapter, The Prince's Tale. Is it horrible of me to hardly shed a tear for poor Fred, Dobby, Mad-Eye and cry my eyes out for Snape? Of course, Lupin and Tonks dying was shocking, just shocking, but somehow, I cared more about what happened to Snape. I believed that he was good, even when he had to kill Dumbledore in HBP, even though all my friends kept saying otherwise. Although I thought it was because of the Unbreakable Vow. Ha! Looks like Rowling fooled us again!

I don't know why I'm drawn to Snape more than everybody else, but I am, and I feel like I can understand what he had to go through. It was so touching, the way he was still in love with Lily after all of those years... which was basically what motivated me to write this little piece in his honor, since Rowling was just describing what happened. It's irritating the way we only get to see through Harry's head and not anyone else's. Gosh, her character development is so shallow. You really need to dig to find the real treasure lurking under the surface. It's one of the reasons I never wrote anything for Harry Potter before and I don't know if I'll be writing anything more.

Ah well, that's all I had to say. Reviews are nice. Flames will be accepted with grace if you want to criticize on something constructive. Flaming because of the pairing is just so, so low.