Greed staggered back a step when he saw Snape's visage with his face painted with shock.
Snape stared at the man in front of him. "You do indeed look identical," he said, his eyes peering at Greed, "I think you two can give those unsufferable Weasley twins a run for their money.... It's good that I can differentiate the two of you because of this yellowish aura around you— I do not like to deceived...."
Greed showed no movement and continued to stare at Snape with a shock on his face. The personification looked as if someone had sucked all the blood out of his body, leaving him pale and ghastly.
Snape took a step forward, and Greed took a step back. He seemed to snap out of his shock as he hastily turned towards Quinn.
"How did you do th—"
His eyes widened as his pupils shrunk. Greed watched as Quinn stood close to him with his hand holding a long golden blade held his both hands firmly. The blade was thrust forward. The soul-blade going through Greed's body made for a sickening scene, even if it lacked the bloody gruesomeness.
Greed turned to completely face Quinn as he staggered back, his eyes going to the tip of the solid golden blood coming out of his body. His face crumpled in concentration— the golden blade broke into soft beads of firefly lights.
Quinn had no intention of letting Greed take his time. He stepped forward with rays of light bending into the shape of a golden knife grasped in his raised hand. His face twisted in aggression as, with a primal grunt, he stabbed Greed in his chest. With a shlick, the knife was pulled out and then sheered again into Greed's body.
Once more, twice, thrice, and then again.... With each brutal knife thrust, Quinn grunted with hate, channeling it into every stab.
Greed somehow managed to raise his leg and kick Quinn back. It was weak, and Quinn only went back a couple steps. Greed jarringly made some distance between them and made a slapdash half-turn towards the other person to guard himself against another backstab. But Snape had no move from his place, watching placidly as the violence unfolded.
Quinn watched Greed. Unlike Envy, who had gone down with one strike, Greed remained standing, albeit shakily. It seems absorbing other Sins had granted Greed increased durability, he thought.
"H-How... ?"
"A mix of using the Killing Curse and Resurrection Stone... it seems that Killing Curse left behind a residue of sorts that the Stone caught that. Though I have no idea why he decided to appear to appear now."
Greed turned his face filled with pain to Snape.
Snape said, "I too don't have the answer to that question."
Quinn approached Greed, who hurriedly waved his hand, sending a projectile to whistle towards Quinn. The projectile was thwarted by Quinn with the barest of efforts.
"You deceived me," said Quinn inching towards Greed, "made me feel like a helpless prisoner with no power in my own soulscape... you chained me down and forced me to the ground... from the very start, it was you who was pulling the strings from the shadows."
The soulscape shook with Quinn's steps as if he was a giant, stomping through the space. Greed looked mortified.
"... Then you screwed with my relationship with Daphne," Quinn fumed. "Out of all the things you guys pulled, I loath this the most, and I hate you the most for it."
Quinn raised his hand, and Greed stumbled to the ground, falling. He looked up at Quinn with fear and unwillingness in his eyes.
"I hate that you caught me in the middle of..." Quinn shortly glanced at Snape, "... all of this— if I wasn't like that, I would've crushed like this before you had the chance to even think about getting out."
Greed's wounds started to glow in a solid yellow. It looked he could feel the changes in his body. He glared at Quinn. "I couldn't give two shits about your situation. I wanted more, and I saw the opportunity to take it for me— what's wrong with that?"
"You wanted to take what belonged to ME! That's what's wrong!"
"I. AM. YOU!"
Quinn and Greed glared at each other. Snape watched them from the side silently.
"Did you already forget Envy's words?" Greed continued with spite. "We were born from your mistake. We didn't ask to be here! But we were. So, what's wrong with turning a subpar situation into a great one while enacting revenge against the one who caused all of it, huh?!"
Quinn's face soured at Greed's jabs.
"I didn't ask to be the manifestation of greed! But unlike Envy, I have no problem embracing who I am," Greed lashed. "You know... I don't hate you" — Quinn furrowed his brows — "you are just someone who was in my way, just like the others were...."
Quinn felt a chill in his heart. There was apathy in Greed's eyes in which he saw himself reflected.
Was something other than greed had been amplified... or was this the reflection of him. Somewhere in the depth of his being was he so cold that he could disregard everything just to achieve his goals. Quinn couldn't help but wonder.
"You will never be free from me," said Greed as if cursing him. "It's too ingrained in you... it will remain with you... raise its head at just the right moment... and for all that's magic, I wish that even with what I did today, you fall for your greed."
Quinn frowned, confused with what Greed meant.
Greed savagely smirked as he raised his hand, and a blinding half-blade twisted over his palm. It rang like a tuning fork as he sent it singing towards Quinn's face.
Quinn stood in the blade's path unflinchingly. The murderous blade turned into sand in the wind from the tip and disappeared as if never existed.
Greed started laughing menacingly. His voice filled the soulscape.
Quinn couldn't tell if he was acting or had the eminent death had turned Greed mad. The knife in Quinn's hand shimmered; it looked as if it was sucking in the light and threw it just brighter. The small blade had turned into a full-length sword.
"Any last words?"
"Giving the villain some last word? I thought you knew better."
"I do know better. You are so pitiful that I don't mind if you try something at the last moment."
Greed threw his head back with angry laughter.
Shing!
Quinn waved his sword, and the laughter came to an abrupt end.
"You wasted your last words," said Quinn, staring at Greed as his eyes went dull and the face twisted in corrupt emotion gradually settled in peace.
The final personification of Sin, the strongest one, turned into yellow orbs of light. From away, the yellow orbs could be mistaken as golden like the untainted Soul in the middle of pristine white soulscape.
His eyes didn't move away from where Greed had sat. Killing Greed, while good for him, had left him with some questions about himself.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
The Sin Curse had been purged from his body.
He opened his eyes and felt the wind on his face and the smell of the forest behind him. The rays of light filtering through the tree's canopy were warm. The feeling of him being in his own skin never felt better.
Quinn braced himself and let out a shout from the bottom of his stomach as his magic sang. The grass grew faster, winds picked up, the rays of light bent, and the place seemed to be filled with something unseen.
He was free.
Quinn reached out into his clothes, snatched the pendant-piece from the chain, and revealed the Resurrection Stone in his palm. The mystical stone glowed in a soft black glow.
He could feel that Resurrection Stone had been fed magic.
'My magic...'
Several conjectures passed through his mind. The one he landed on was accidental magic working to save his— its master's— life once again, just as it had done all those years ago during the Icy Vault.
He glanced up. Snape had appeared in front of him, outside the soulscape— which was a relief— he didn't want anyone or anything in his soulscape, near his Soul, ever again. Snape looked like in the real world with the rays of sun passing through his grey translucent body.
"Thank you," said Quinn. What Snape had done wasn't big, but it had the intended, profound effect of delivering the shock, which made an opening that Quinn could exploit. He knew without it, he wouldn't have been able to injure Greed, and an uninjured Greed was capable enough to fend him off, even if he did try something.
'If I tried something.'
Quinn wasn't sure if he had worked up the intent to try to rise up against Greed. It was the abrupt appearance that had shocked him out of his wallowing misery.
"I killed you," said Quinn, his eyes full of respect for the dead man, "and you still helped me.... If I was on your place, I wouldn't have been able to do it..."
But Snape as Snape. He sneered, "I didn't do it for. If it wasn't that you were of use, I would've fought to the end if someone tried to drag me out here."
The words seemed strange to Quinn, but he moved past them. He smiled wryly. "Professor, I swear I will keep my promise." He rubbed his head. He finally had full access to his mindscape, and Greed's actions lay before him in full view. 'Aaa-urgh, that greedy bastard!' He could even feel the emotions of satisfaction oozing from the memories.
Snape nodded. He turned to the castle, his eyes flickering with emotion.
"Would you like to go visit?" asked Quinn. "The funeral is set for at sunset. You would be able to see—"
"No, it's alright... I don't want to," said Snape. "Even if it is not possible, I fear I will turn into an actual ghost if I go.... I just want you to keep your promise."
"I will."
The dead and the living both watched the magical castle of Hogwarts, which had countless memories tied to her for both of them... for everyone who had ever stepped enjoyed her shelter.
"Mr. West," said Snape, not looking away from the castle.
"Yes, sir?"
"You were the best student I ever had."
Quinn's eyes widened as he turned to Snape, but the man was gone to his surprise. He hurriedly looked down at the Resurrection Stone— it laid dormant in his palm.
He looked up at the castle and at the clouds dotting the sky.
.
- (Scene Break) -
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Lily Potter looked at the dark overcast clouds hiding the red hue cast of the sunset.
All lessons were suspended, all examinations were cancelled. A good handful of students were hurried away from Hogwarts by their parents— the Patil twins were gone before breakfast, and Zacharias Smith was escorted from the castle by his haughty-looking father. Seamus Finnigan, on the other hand, refused point-blank to accompany his mother home; they had a shouting match in the entrance hall that was resolved when Dumbledore had stepped in to have a conversation with the mother.
Lily looked around the subdued Great Hall. Everybody was wearing their dress robes, and despite the teenagers filling it to their full capacity, the hall was quiet. She looked to her side, and beside Dumbledore's throne, a single, simple chair sat empty.
She looked to the Slytherin table. The entire Slytherin house looked less polished to her, lacking the usual pristine sharpness that the student exuded in unity. Crabbe and Goyle were muttering together. Hulking boys though they were, they looked oddly lonely without the tall, pale figure of Draco Malfoy between them, bossing them around. She wondered how the boy was doing right now? Narcissa Malfoy had been delivered to her son as Dumbledore had promised. She heard from her husband that Lucius Malfoy had refused to come along when they gave him a choice.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Dumbledore rose to his feet, and the little hum in the hall died away at once.
"It is nearly time," he said. "Please follow your Heads of Houses out into the grounds."
The students filed out from behind their benches in near silence. She saw Slughorn at the head of the Slytherin column, wearing long, emerald green robes embroidered with silver. She had never seen Sprout, the Herbology Professor, looking so clean; there was not a single patch on her hat, and when they reached the entrance hall, they found Madam Pince standing beside Filch, both dressed for the occasion.
The entourage arrived at the lakeside, to a place where hundreds of chairs had been set out in rows. An aisle ran down the centre of them: There was a marble table standing at the front, all chairs facing it.
Lily roamed her eye over the crowd. There were not many people from outside Hogwarts. The seats were mostly covered by the students. The castle ghosts were there too, barely visible in the bright sunlight, discernible only when they moved, shimmering insubstantially on the gleaming air.
She could see members of the Order of the Phoenix, but they were only a handful, with the majority missing. A delegation of Ministry officials, including the Minister of Magic herself, walked past her towards the front rows. She next recognized Rita Skeeter, who, she was infuriated to see, had a notebook clutched in her red-taloned hand, writing away with her eyes peering at the centaur Firenze, who was standing like a sentinel near the water's edge. Standing at the outsides of the chair arrangement was a guard of Aurors, which included her husband, James Potter.
There was no one present who Severus could call family, she thought.
The staff was seated at last. Lily sat on the left side of the aisle, in the second row behind the Head of Houses and the Minister. Dumbledore's chair was empty.
There was a hushed whisper from the back. When she turned, Lily saw Dumbledore was walking slowly up the aisle between the chairs, and floating beside him, wrapped in emerald velvet spangled with silver serpents, was what Lily knew to be Severus' body. A dull pain rose in her throat at this sight. Dumbledore placed the body carefully upon the table.
Dumbledore then began speaking words, but she couldn't hear them. Her eyes were fixed on the emerald shroud.
Dumbledore finished his speech and took his seat in the front. Lily waited for somebody else to get to their feet; she hoped someone would get to their feet; she expected speeches from the Minister, but nobody moved.
Then she felt something on her face. Lily raised her hand to her cheek, and when she saw her fingers, they were wet. She felt something on her other hand on her lap. The back of her palm was wet. Lily looked up, and the clouds were darker than ever.
It must have not taken more than a few seconds for the cover of clouds to start pouring the heaviest shower of the season. While everyone pulled out their umbrellas or conjured them, Lily's eyes went to the table in the front in frantic worry.
But the headmaster had taken care of it. The rain seemed to bend around Severus' body with not a single drop touching his body. Lily slumped in her chair, the worry draining for her muscles. When she looked around, people had started to get up, probably returning to the castle to take shelter from the rain.
Among the standing people, a figure caught her eyes. Dressed in a suit, covered in black from head to toe. He stood on the right side of the aisle, in the front row reserved for the Prefects.
Lily recognized the Head Boy even with the rain impeding her vision. He had his hand gloved in black raised straight above. Then a bright white light bloomed in his palm. She didn't know why but her eyes moved above to the sky and there she saw it.
A red spot appeared in between the black and grey. The clouds started to move in a spiral, with the red circle growing bigger and bigger with each passing moment. Those who had gotten up to leave stopped and looked up at the swirling clouds.
Umbrellas all over were slowly put down with every pair of eyes present on the lakeside fixed to the sky just like hers.
The red hue of the sunset sky shone above Hogwarts.
The dark clouds were still present on the periphery, but it was as if something was stopping them from entering Hogwarts, protecting it.
Lily looked back down to the front row of the right side. He had resumed his seat and sat patiently with his eyes to the front table.
She gazed at the empty spot in front of the table. The memory of the boy who had called her a witch when they had first met surfaced in her mind.
Lily got up and moved to the front.
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-*-*-*-*-*-
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Severus Snape - Slytherin - The Half-Blood Prince - Potions Master - Master of The Dark Arts - Death Eater - Order of Phoenix - Head of House Slytherin.
Quinn West - MC - I won't name my child Severus.
FictionOnlyReader - Author - Everybody Wants To Rule The World ~ Lorde Version.
