The Burning Pen

TWICE BITTEN
by Ruth Solomon

The story content is adult in nature and can contain graphic sex and violence.  Those under the age of 18 are asked to leave this site immediately.  You are not welcome here.  The author is not responsible for those under-aged who view these works.

CHAPTER 21

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 21 ~ The Death of a Vampire (Short Chapter)

Hermione watched the dying wizard through tear-blurred eyes as he contorted, screaming with pain, hoarse, his deep cries ringing across the desert sands.

Inside Snape, the parasite was losing its hold, beginning to shrivel under the bombardment of ultraviolet rays, dying, the power that ran his body withdrawing.

But a man is more than his mind. He is animal as well, a creature of flesh and it is the flesh that clings to life, it is the flesh that without mind still embodies the will to live. Self-preservation was the whole of its purpose.

In other words, Snape’s body wasn’t ready to die.

As the parasite’s hold weakened, the constricted lungs were released. Suddenly Snape’s entire body curled into a ball, then snapped straight, the diaphragm constricting convulsively, drawing oxygen into his air-starved body through his nose and mouth as he let out a long gasp, Hermione staring at him as he arched upward.

Snape gave another scream as he caught fire again, this time from the life-giving air burning the wizard’s ample nasal passages and coursing through his trachea, ballooning his lungs, flowing through the maze of smaller and smaller tubes until it reached the grape-like alveoli, swelling them.

It was like the advancement of an overwhelming army of six hundred billion tiny soldiers as the tiny air sacs forced oxygen into the dark blood, expelling all that remained of the parasite, driving it before the cascade of bright crimson reclaiming Snape’s veins and pouring into his heart, which convulsed, brightened and constricted, sending the reborn and oxygenated blood through his arteries to every part of his body and organs, which were reawakened to their original purpose, expelling the dark force that restricted them.

The parasite was overwhelmed and defeated as once again Life, true Life prevailed. The battle was won. A flash of brilliant white light burst from all the pores of Snape’s body as the parasite inside him disintegrated and burned away.

Snape had needed the sun to restore him, to burn away the remaining parasite and provide the strength his body needed to reclaim itself. If he had chosen to continue as a vampire, he would have never been restored.

Because of his determination to not accept the unacceptable, Severus Snape had his life back . . .

. . . and Hermione Granger got her miracle.

Snape stopped convulsing continued gasping as the pain slowly receded, Hermione on her knees beside him, still crying, believing the flash of light meant for him what it meant for Vashti. That when it cleared, he’d be gone.

He wasn’t.

The dark wizard lay there in the sand, panting, his chest rising and falling from the force of his restored respiration.

Hermione stared down at him.

”Professor? Professor?” she cried, then leaned down and placed her ear against his chest.

She sobbed as she heard his heart beating clear and strong as well as the sounds of his organs gurgling merrily. She sat up and then leaned over his pale face, her hair falling on it as she stared down at him. His eyes were closed and his nostrils pulsating so fiercely, a sizable ringlet of her hair was sucked into his nose.

Snape sneezed violently and his eyes flew open. He looked up at Hermione and pushed her hair out of his face.

”I would appreciate it if after my ordeal, you wouldn’t continue to attempt to bring about my demise by suffocating me with your hair,” he said to the witch snarkily.

“Oh Professor!” Hermione cried out with joy, flinging her arms around him and kissing him soundly.

The wizard wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back, rolling Hermione over in the sand and resting against her soft, firm body . . . feeling not only her Life thudding against his chest, but his own.

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A/N: Now ya’ll know I wouldn’t kill off Snape. Lolol. The chapter was short, but I hope you all enjoyed it. Thanks for reading.

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