All the Time in the World | Sirius Black

1. Impulse Decisions

"no one will win this time, I just want you back"

~

Tears streamed down my face at the scene we just witnessed. No matter how evil the man was, I still did not believe he deserved death— especially at the hands of Voldemort. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and I scurried out from behind the wardrobe we were hiding behind. Harry bent over him, and Snape seized the front of his robes and pulled him close.

A terrible rasping, gurgling noise issued from Snape's throat.

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

Something more than blood was leaking from him. Silvery blue, neither gas nor liquid, it gushed from his mouth and his ears and his eyes; I conjured a flask from thin air and handed it to Harry. He lifted the silvery substance into it with his wand.

My brown eyes found his black ones, something in the depths of the dark pair seemed to vanish, leaving them fixed, black, and empty. The hand holding Harry's thudded to the floor, and Severus Snape was no more.

Harry and I remained kneeling at Snape's side, simply staring down at him, until quite suddenly a high, cold voice spoke so close to us that we jumped to our feet, Harry held the flask gripped tightly in his hands, thinking that Voldemort had reentered the room.

Voldemort's voice reverberated from the walls and floor, talking to Hogwarts and to all the surrounding area, that the residents of Hogsmeade and all those still fighting in the castle would hear him as clearly as if he stood beside us, his breath on the back of our necks, a deathblow away.

"You have fought," said the high, cold voice, "valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery.

"Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste.

"Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat immediately.

"You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured.

"I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."

"Don't listen to him," I seethed. "He's lying. There's no way he'd allow that!"

Both Ron and Hermione shook their heads frantically, looking at Harry.

"It'll be all right," said Hermione wildly. "Let's — let's get back to the castle, if he's gone to the forest we'll need to think of a new plan —"

Hermione glanced at his body, then pulled me away, back to the tunnel entrance. Ron followed us, then Harry. Hermione led the way through the tunnel, in silence, the only thing breaking it was my sniffles.

Small bundles seemed to litter the lawn at the front of the castle. It could only be an hour or so from dawn, yet it was pitch-black. The four of us hurried toward the stone steps. A lone clog, the size of a small boat, lay abandoned in front of us. There was no other sign of Grawp or of his attacker.

The castle was unnaturally silent. There were no flashes of light now, no bangs or screams or shouts. The flagstones of the deserted entrance hall were stained with blood. Emeralds were still scattered all over the floor, along with pieces of marble and splintered wood. Part of the bannisters had been blown away.