Some Say

Disclaimer: I do not own the series; I only do this for the severe love of Severus.

Author's Note: Only using the last or full names of characters here, with only two exceptions. The sense of nostalgia and tragedy in the beginning seems to dissolve slowly into something almost humorous by the end...

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The figure stands at the edge of the lake, facing away from the water, towards the blue mountain range that rises like fog in the distance. He faces away from Hogwarts, the castle mounted tenuously at the flat crown of a steep, rocky plateau that arcs upwards in the direction of a footpath on his left. He cannot be seen from the Quidditch pitch, nestled in the grassy basin that lies just beyond the castle, blocked from view by its sheer, austere fortifications. On his immediate right, the footpath winds neglectedly around the perimeter of the lake, skirting the opposite edge of the lake before the Forbidden Forest that lies behind him, across the tarn's waters. The Whomping Willow lies at a distance just beyond his right shoulder, and it is easy to think that a simple turn of his head would let him see it, but he has pulled the edge of his cloak up on this side with his right hand, as if to deliberately hide it. And he stares fixedly in the direction of the mountain range, never giving the slightest indication of magical movement.

Some said he should not be placed this way. Some said he should have been placed just within the gate of the castle, or inside it, near the entrance to the Slytherin dungeons. It was fitting, some said—some who still did not trust him, even after the sacrifice. Some, who had known him better, perhaps, said he should have been placed at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Those were the ones who had known his reputation with the students, the ones who thought, even now, that his presence might keep curious first-years away from the trees. That was Remus Lupin.

And of course, there were those—many of them—who said he should not have been created in the first place. Those were the ones who read Rita Skeeter, who could not separate the figure of the dark-cloaked man from the flash of green light, and the white tomb before which he now stands.

He stands before Dumbledore's grave.

There are those who are still disgusted—even repulsed at the thought. Despite all of the evidence, despite even the careful but melancholy logic of Hermione Granger, the vague but subtle explications of Luna Lovegood, and the grudgingly submissive admissions of Ronald Weasley, there are those who are angry at the placement of the killer before the victim. Even the Boy Who Lived, and lived Twice, who testified almost tonelessly of what he had seen Snape do during the final battle, had refused to give comment when asked what he thought of the placement of the monument. Some said that he resented it, and did not trust himself to speak of it in public. That was Rita's quill.

Then there are those who think it fitting, in a mystical sort of way. That is Minerva McGonagall, but she will not admit to it, and prefers to think of it as 'metaphorical.'

So he stands before Dumbledore's grave, like a dark shadow in black stone, too solid for what he was: invisible.

He does not really stand. That is merely an expression, describing the physical placement of a granite block into the earth. The statue atop it is crouching, its right knee barely missing the ground, shoulders tense and hunched, its left hand clutching a wand close to its chest, its right hand flung outwards, lifting its heavy stone cloak. There is no trace of nobility about it, but it seems too alert for mere stone, too tense, almost cognizant. Beneath him, engraved in the granite and gilded with copper (the only part of the statue that has weathered, and is slowly turning Slytherin green), are the words, in capitals,

SEVERUS SNAPE

9 JAN 1960 – 12 JUNE 1997

PROFESSOR, HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT & WIZARDRY, 1981-1996

MEMBER of the SECOND ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

ORDER of MERLIN, FIRST CLASS

DUMBLEDORE'S MAN

Oddly enough, it was Harry Potter himself who insisted that that last bit be included. He said Snape would undoubtedly call it sentimental, but he also knew that he would feel proud of it. When asked why, Harry did not respond.

Some say he should not face the blue mountains. Some say he should face north, towards Hogwarts, with the sun rising on his left side in the morning, and setting on his flaring cape at night. Those are the ones who prefer literal interpretations. The cynics say he should face west, to see the sun die, that he has no right to look over Dumbledore's grave. But he faces east, watching the sun and the twilight rise equally over the blue mountains and fall over the tomb before him, and McGonagall, at least, thinks that, too, is fitting.

Some say he squints when the sun rises.

Actually, he does not look directly at the mountains. His neck, protected as always by a high collar of onyx, is tilted slightly downward and to the right, as if preparing to face an unseen foe, but his eyes look to the left, down at Dumbledore's tomb, and in this way, he pays homage to Dumbledore.

It is why he cannot stand, this homage to Dumbledore. In this way he is not Dumbledore's conqueror, standing over him boldly in death, but a kind of suppliant himself, respectful, even as he crouches poised to strike, in defense of the castle that looms on his left. In a way, he is a more perfect guardian than he was in life, for his black onyx eyes do not blink. The same could not be said of the real Severus Snape, contrary to highly popularized rumor.

From across the lake, he looks like a great hawk, or, more often, a bat, the flaps of his cloak flaring out on either side like wings. The Muggleborn first-years, who have never heard of Severus Snape, often gasp at the sight of him when they make their journey across the lake their first time to Hogwarts. Some say that a soon-to-be Hufflepuff fainted once upon seeing it. He was spontaneously called 'Neville' for the rest of his years there, and never could figure out why.

The strongest hexes and jinxes have no effect on the statue. They bounce right off of it. Not even normal ink and Muggle white-out or spray paint will stick to it. Some say that the Weasley twins were paid a hefty sum of gold to place their strongest Shield Charms on the statue, reportedly against their will. Others say that the Weasley twins themselves couldn't deface the statue. For seven years, three boys from Gryffindor tried to turn the cloak pink, but after each attempt, they always became mysteriously ill. After that, people mostly stopped trying.

Colin Creevey once tried to take a picture of his brother beside the statue. That was the last time he used that camera. The last picture he took on that roll was of the Whomping Willow, and unfortunately he was standing a bit too close. His arm they saved, but the camera was smashed to bits.

Pure coincidence, some say, except for Sybil Trelawney and Lavender Brown….But no one has tried to take a picture of that statue again.

The monument is a popular meeting place for the Slytherins during the daylight hours. It is even more popular at night. Some say that if you look directly across the lake from the base of the statue, you will see the very tree beneath which Snape was so callously lifted up by his ankles during his fifth year, courtesy of James Potter. That rumor is not courtesy of his son.

(Most people don't know it was actually Mundungus Fletcher who started it, after happening upon an old letter found at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Mundungus Fletcher, of course, had exaggerated the whole thing, so that the popular theory was that not only had Snape gotten his pants taken off, but he'd also been tied up by them in that tree for three days. Curiously, if you mention the word "pants," around the statue, absolutely nothing happens. It was an overambitious prankster who Vanished all of his roommates' pants who actually started this myth.)

There are those who swear that the statue moves. A second-year Ravenclaw once, quite innocently, reported looking out her window and seeing a dark, cloaked figure bending over Dumbledore's grave at the lake; the next morning, oddly deep footprints were found around the stones. After that, every student you ask will tell you they've seen him at least once—walking the corridors of the castle, watching a Quidditch match (he only comes to the Slytherin ones, and every time he comes, they win), patrolling the Forbidden Forest. Some say he's still looking for Harry Potter's secret entrance into Hogsmeade, still kicking himself for forgetting to check on that discrepancy the night he was briefly possessed of the Marauder's Map. It was Ronald Weasley who started this rumor.

Some say that students who roam the halls are still likely to get caught by Severus Snape. Some say that he can walk through walls, like the portraits. Two fourth-years who went into the Forbidden Forest on a dare insist that they were saved from its dark creatures not by centaurs, but by a sinister figure with nothing warm or soft about him. The description was so appropriate that although no one saw the statue off its base that night, the feat was applied to the sculpture anyway.

No one but the Slytherins dare to go near the statue at night. A group of mischievous Gryffindors who approached it one night in midwinter with a Santa's hat and a round of butterbeer inexplicably found themselves strung together by their scarves with their butterbeers upended over their earmuffs, and when they got up in the morning, after retreating to their common room and untangling themselves, they found fifty points mysteriously removed from the bottom of the Gryffindor glass. Some insist it would've been more, but after all he had been dead for quite some time….

As a result, most people avoid the statue during the day, too.

Then there is the story of the sixth-year Hufflepuff who dropped his Potions essay off at the statue, complete with eagle-feather quill, two days before it was due, and found it there the next morning with the comment "Merlin, this makes me glad I'm dead" scrawled on it. There is the tale of the Slytherin boy who, after loudly complaining about being teased by a few of his Gryffindor classmates near the statue, found A Complete List of Highly Satisfying Curses and Jinxes in the bottom of his trunk the next day. And of course, everyone remembers the account of Veronica Simmons—if not the most thrilling narrative, certainly one of the most telling.

She was a first-year Muggleborn who had the misfortune of being skipped over in the telling of the tale of Severus Snape (still a git, they said—once a git, always a git—but luckily no longer greasy). This unfortunate mishap left her completely unaware of the many rumors associated with the sculpture, and found her sitting beside the lake shore alone one day in the fall, practicing Wingardium Leviosa, with a red-and-gold Gryffindor blanket spread beneath her. It was an unusually warm day and she had thought that the shadow cast by the statue's black robes might keep her cool, so she set a good-sized feather, shed from Hagrid's hippogriff Witherwings, against the base of the statue and began to practice.

She was at it for almost fifteen minutes before she heard a bored, waspish voice complain, "You're forgetting the flick, idiot."

She looked up instantly, only to find the statue as solid as ever. This so frightened her that she spontaneously ran for her life, leaving her blanket behind completely, and returned to the castle, where she was hailed as the first student to prove, beyond a doubt, that Severus Snape did indeed, and does continue to have, eyes in the back of his head….

He's a vampire, you know. He's an Animagus. The statue—he can still transform into a bat. A spider. A raven. Did you know that if you wish him happy returns on his birthday, he'll sneer at you? The sculptor was going to make him sneering, because he taught her, y'know, but she got so frightened she had to change it to that cunning look he has. He can still use that wand; it's actually his real wand; they set it into the stone, it's ebony and dragon heartstring, no, it's spider silk. If you get too close to him he'll read your mind. Don't go near him on his death day; he'll hex you and you'll turn up locked in the Potions cabinet; it happened once. Did you know he's got his own cauldron in the heart of the Forbidden Forest? He's still at it, brewing up his own potions. What for? For turning stone to flesh, of course…for finally stopping up life.(1) He'll do it eventually, you know. It was his plan all along.

At least, that's what they say……………

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Afterchapter: Please review! Praise, comment, acknowledge, flame, whatever you wish. Give me an O.W.L. grade of O (Outstanding), E (Exceeds Expectations), A (Acceptable), P (Poor), D (Dreadful) or, Merlin forbid, T. (We all know what that means.) I'll love you for it.

Minor notes: This will probably be AU after Book 7, for one reason or another. Yes, it is based on a very sad premise, but I hope I treated it fully; if there's any way you think I could expand on it, let me know! I hope I kept it canon (well, as much as I could.)

The rulers were not working, so instead, I added the "section" symbol--I've always thought of it as Severus Snape's monogram. See how it makes the "SS?"

(1) Finally: It has come to my attention that many people seem to misinterpret a quote from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (or Philosopher's Stone)—both the book and the movie. In the book the quote reads as "…I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even stopper death…" and in the movie it goes "…I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death," but these are essentially the same. Many people seem to think that this means that Snape could teach the students how to stop death, presumably by creating a potion that will promote life, when in fact the "stopper" in the line is not a verb but a noun, referring to a plug or cork, etc—or, in the book version, a verb meaning "to stop up" with a plug, cork, etc. What Snape means is that he can teach the students how to create death—a poison—and simply seal it in a bottle. He doesn't mean he can create a life potion, but rather a poison, meant for death. In the last paragraphs of my story, I reversed that, so Snape is actually rumored to be creating a 'life' potion—"stopping up life."

Again, thanks for reading! Please review!