At the end of the war, Severus was saved by a Phoenix. Everyone recognized the aged Phoenix—it was Dumbledore's Fawkes.
She had saved the double agent Severus Snape, who had already been confirmed dead.
When dawn broke, Harry Potter had intended to collect Snape's remains, only to find that he was breathing again. Traces of Phoenix tears still lingered on him, and a Phoenix feather rested in the palm of the brave man's hand.
"…Potter?"
He moved his lips with difficulty, a single word rasping from his throat.
Crying, Harry lunged forward and threw his arms around Snape, weeping bitterly. But what followed was entirely unexpected, like a vicious slap across everyone's face.
...
"Severus Snape, high-ranking Death Eater, confidant of the Dark Lord, murderer of dozens of wizards—I sentence him to life imprisonment in Azkaban!"
"He's a spy—!!"
"Mr. Potter, you were simply under the influence of the Imperius Curse—"
"No! No, I'm not! I saw it with my own eyes!"
"He requires a psychological evaluation..."
The-Boy-Who-Lived's hysterical roar changed nothing. The hero was fitted with manacles, about to be hauled off to Azkaban.
His wand had been snapped; Harry Potter couldn't even save that much.
Severus felt cold all over. He hadn't had a drop of water or a crumb of food in two days.
Black spots danced before his eyes in waves, making it impossible to tell whether he was heading forward or plunging toward hell.
Suddenly, a person who had no business being there stood before him.
An achingly familiar whisper seemed to echo in his ear.
"Severus—what if I told you I never intended to kill Lily Evans?"
"She walked right into the Killing Curse herself—"
Severus's pupils contracted. In a daze, he jerked his head up, desperate to see the person before him clearly, but he was far too weak—far too weak.
Lord... Voldemort wasn't dead yet.
Lily's child was still in danger...!
"Voldemort is dead!..."
Before the new Minister of Magic could finish speaking, a rolling wave of magical pressure descended like an overwhelming tide. A familiar, unbelievable green light blasted open the doors of the rebuilt building.
Harry Potter was pinned down, frozen in place.
Rolling clouds of dust were trampled beneath the feet of a raven-haired man with blood-red eyes. His thin attire did little to diminish his radiance.
"…Tch."
"The main soul truly is useless."
The nonchalant aristocratic cadence was elegant and effortless, imbued with a contempt carved into his very bones—contempt for everything in this world.
In his hand was not the nightmarish, pale yew wand, yet it flashed with that all-too-familiar green light.
The haughty, arrogant Dark Lord strode across the ruins as though entering a lavish throne room.
"He-He-He... He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!!!"
"Mm~?" Lord Voldemort cast a cold glance at the scum, shifted his gaze to The-Boy-Who-Lived, and let out a disdainful chuckle.
"Harry Potter, it seems that once Dumbledore took the main soul with him in a one-for-one trade, you became utterly useless."
"Expelliarmus."
Spoken with an elegant aristocratic drawl, the disarming charm easily knocked Harry Potter's wand away. Lord Voldemort spared a glance at these cowardly wretches, flicking his sleeve as though his eyes had been offended, and turned to leave.
He had to go find his double agent—
Lord Voldemort found his traitor among the convoy transporting the Death Eaters. With a wave of his wand, every single Death Eater was instantly liberated.
The Dark Lord stepped down through the empty air, looking as though he had returned from another lifetime.
A Death Eater, trembling all over, tried to lunge forward and drop to his knees to kiss the hem of his robe, only to be blocked by a bone-chilling wave of magical pressure.
"…Tch."
Lord Voldemort cast a look of utter disgust over the disheveled Death Eaters. "When did the nobility become reduced to this state?"
"Get back to your manors, clean yourselves up, and then seek me out at Voldemort Manor."
"Lord..."
"Damn main soul, leaving me such a colossal mess."
Lord Voldemort was driven half-mad with rage. Right now, all he wanted to do was snatch the person he wanted to take, and blow up the stupid Ministry of Magic along the way!
Severus's clouded gaze stared at him. The Death Eaters had all scattered, leaving him all alone.
They seemed to have figured out that their master needed to punish this damned spy in private!
Voldy looked down at Severus, his lips parting slightly: "..."
Severus collapsed unconscious right before his eyes. Furious, Voldy grabbed him by his tattered collar and Apparitioned back to Voldemort Manor.
"Master."
Three house-elves Apparitioned in—this was his manor, a place even the main soul knew nothing about.
"Clean him up."
"At once, Master!"
Voldy returned to the drawing room, waiting for the house-elves to bring back the scrubbed-clean double agent.
Half an hour later, Voldy looked at a freshly washed, pale-faced Severus.
Severus knelt silently before Voldy, bowing low.
"Come here."
Voldy was confident that a wandless Severus couldn't kill him with a nonverbal, wandless Avada Kedavra.
Severus crawled forward in silence. The next second, a sharp pain shot through his shoulder as Voldy stepped on it.
Except... the sensation pressing against his shoulder felt very wrong.
"Lift your head." Voldy's emotionless voice reached his ears. Severus, with the mindset of someone who had nothing left to lose, raised his head—only for his gaze to land first on that bare lower half—
Severus: Occlumency not responding.exe
Having remained at Voldemort Manor all this time as a Horcrux—never resurrected, and with his connection to the main soul completely severed—Voldy had actually gone barefoot to rescue all the Death Eaters and... his Severus.
Blood trickled from the wound on the Dark Lord's sole, staining the tattered black robes over Severus's shoulder. Voldy looked down, genuinely failing to understand why he had...
betrayed him.
"Lord..."
Severus's lips twitched and moved feebly, uttering a raspy word. Voldy looked surprised, as if amused. "My dear Severus..."
"Wasn't your master Dumbledore?"
A tremendous force slammed into his shoulder, sending Severus flying with a violent kick. Voldy stood up, turned, and walked away. "Lock him in the dungeon."
"Yes, Master."
The house-elves carried Severus away. Voldy sat alone in the bedroom's rattan chair, lost in thought.
"Master, the array has been set up." Suddenly, a house-elf Apparitioned in. Perched on its shoulder was a gorgeous, magnificent Phoenix.
"Ha, who would have thought? The great Dumbledore's Phoenix actually wants to be reborn."
Voldy sneered, mocking the magnificent creature. She merely stood there quietly, though her talons quietly tightened their grip on the pillowcase resting on the house-elf's shoulder.
"Fine, I know what you want to do. I'll take you with me, and I'll kill him too."
The Phoenix nodded once, then dissolved into a flash of fire and vanished.