"I have a problem Severus." said Voldemort softly.
"My Lord?" said Snape.
Voldemort raised the Elder Wand, holding it as delicately and precisely as a conductor's baton.
"Why doesn't it work for me Severus?"
Fear crawled up Severus back.
"My - my Lord?" said Snape blankly. "I do not understand. You - you have performed extraordinary magic with that wand."
"No," said Voldemort. "I have performed my usual magic. I am extraordinary, but this wand... no. It has not revealed the wonders it has promised. I feel no difference between this wand and the one I procured from Ollivander all those years ago."
Voldemort's tone was musing, calm, but Severus could sense his fury building up.
"No difference. " said Voldemort again.
Snape did not speak. He knew this time would come at some point, yet that didn't mean it left him unperturbed. Voldemort started to move around the room.
"I have thought long and hard, Severus... do you know why I have called you back from the battle?"
Snape's eyes then fixed upon the coiling snake in its enchanted cage.
"No, my lord, but I beg you will let me return. Let me find Potter."
"You sound like Lucius. Neither of you understands Potter as I do. He does not need finding. Potter will come to me. I know his weakness, you see, his one great flaw. He will hate watching the others struck down around him, knowing that it is for him that it happens. He will want to stop it at any cost. He will come."
"But my Lord, he might get killed accidentally by one other than yourself -"
"My instructions to my Death Eaters have been perfectly clear. Capture Potter. Kill his friends - the more, the better - but do not kill him." Voldemort paused, "But it is of you that I wished to speak, Severus, not Harry Potter. You have been very valuable to me. Very valuable."
"My Lord knows I seek only to serve him. But - let me go and find the boy, my Lord. Let me bring him to you. I know I can -"
"I have told you, no!" said Voldemort, and Severus could feel the impatience waving off of him. "My concern at the moment, Severus, is what will happen when I finally meet the boy!"
"My Lord, there can be no question, surely -"
"- but there is a question, Severus. There is."
Voldemort halted. He slid the Elder Wand through his white fingers, staring at Snape. He knew he needed to get away somehow. He needed to give Harry his memories.
" Why did both the wands I have used fail when directed at Harry Potter?"
" I - I cannot answer that, my Lord."
"Can't you?"
Snape's face paled. Did he know? No, he couldn't have.
"My wand of yew did everything of which I asked it, Severus, except to kill Harry Potter. Twice it failed. Ollivander told me under torture of the twin cores, told me to take another's wand. I did so, but Lucius' wand shattered upon meeting Potter's."
"I - I have no explanation, my Lord."
Snape was not looking at Voldemort now. His dark eyes were still fixed upon the coiling serpent in its protective sphere.
"I sought a third wand, Severus, The Elder Wand, the Wand of Destiny, the Deathstick. I took it from its previous master. I took it from the grave of Albus Dumbledore."
And now Snape looked at Voldemort, and Snape's face was like a death mask. It was marble white and so still that when he spoke it was a shock to see that anyone lived behind the blank eyes.
"My Lord - let me go to the boy - "
The rest of his violent death played out in front of him, leaving him writhing on the cold ground of the Shrieking Shack.
Severus awoke, hyperventilating. His heart was racing, so fast that he could hear his blood pumping all around him. His neck felt as if it was on fire. It was only a memory.
"On...ly... a...mem...ory." he panted, reminding himself, but his mind would not cooperate and the phantom pains would not disappear.
He sat up dizzily, trying to concentrate on reality. Suddenly, he felt a life enter his wards, before frantic knocks were heard. The Potions Master dragged his aching self from the bed. It's the middle of the night, he thought glancing out at the darkened hills. It must be Albus, he concluded and pulled his door open. To his surprise, skinny arms wrapped around him and the impact of the body against his made him stagger back. It took a moment for him to note who the hysterical girl in his arms was.
"Y-you died... I had t-to make sure... So much b-blood and pain... t-the snake and the noseless m-man..." Candice sobbed into his nightshirt, leaving his mouth agape.
Had she seen what he saw? No, she couldn't have. Severus not knowing how to respond placed his heavy arms around her little frame. This was his student, he tried to alert himself, but his liking to her embrace overpowered any negative thoughts.
"Shh it's okay. I'm okay." he said, having a feeling that it's the right thing to say.
Even if she did see his memory, her reaction seemed over the top. Of course, watching anyone die leaves a traumatic mental scar (unless they take joy in the loss of life - hopefully all the names he could name were already dead or locked away). Yet still, the girl was here now, in pieces, almost as if she actually cared for him.
"You d-didn't hear me. B-but I told you, I t-told you the truth."
The professor glanced at the calming girl puzzled. What was she on about?
"Pardon?" he asked hesitantly, afraid to scare her away.
"I shouted at y-you. I screamed. B-but you didn't even look m-my way. Even when I told y-you I -" Candice snapped her mouth, and bit her lip.
"What did you tell me?"
All the pain had subsided, as Severus' focus was no longer on the memory; instead the Slytherin had his full attention. For a brief moment, he weighed the pros and cons on what would happen if she reciprocated his feelings that he felt towards her.
"I told you t-that I cared for you. D-deeply. And that I think I m-might be falling for you." Black stated and look up straight into his obsidian eyes to show she only spoke the truth.
Hardly leaving a second for consideration towards the consequences of his actions, Severus Snape leaned down for their lips to meet. Her inexperience was clear, however she allowed him to guide her as their mouths moulded into each other. The only word that crossed his mind in that intense moment was: perfection.