DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter. Characters and ideas belong to J.K. Rowling.

1.

Harry wandered down a deserted corridor, dodging the rubble and debris. He was feeling quite elated having just destroyed the man who'd brought such devastation to the wizarding world. Yet he had a difficult time believing it was over, letting the fact that Voldemort was dead for good sink in. Mixed with those emotions was another: grief. So many had died overnight and throughout the years. Fred, Tonks, Lupin were gone now. How would it feel to go on without them in his life? Also, how was it going to feel knowing Voldemort was no longer a threat?

Harry shook his head. It was wearying to feel all those emotions at the same time. He stopped where he was and looked around, just realizing where he'd ended up. He was in front of the headmaster's office. The spiraling stone staircase was no longer hidden from view, for the stone gargoyle that had protected it had been blown to smithereens judging by the pile of rubble surrounding it.

Harry ascended the staircase. He felt he'd like to take a last look at the office before they all left the castle. He wouldn't be long. Fred's funeral had to be arranged and Harry planned to go back to the Burrow with the rest of the Weasley family.

Upon entering the room he immediately recognized the fact that Dumbledore hadn't occupied the place for well over a year. Gone were many of tinkling, whirring gadgets and trinkets. In their place sat what was obviously more sinister objects; skulls, daggers, etc. Harry wondered fleetingly if they were for show on Snape's part to make him seem all the more evil. Or was Snape simply a man who enjoyed freakishly scary things?

No matter. Harry knew the real Severus Snape now. At least, that he'd loved Harry's mother enough to protect the son of a man he'd despised. And Snape had had every right to despise James Potter, Harry thought grudgingly. It made it quite clear that Snape was not truly evil. For in Harry's opinion, truly evil people were incapable of loving anyone, didn't have the capacity to love at all. People like Voldemort.

He made his way over to a cabinet filled with small vials which contained whispy, silvery substances; memories. On the vials in tiny, intricate writing were names and dates, references to what the memory contained. Curious, Harry picked through the many containers recognizing a few names here and there, until he'd collected three with Snape's name written on them. After glancing over his shoulder to verify that the penseive indeed lay where he'd left it only hours ago, he took the vials to the desk at the center of the room and placed them beside the ancient basin. He then arranged them by year.

Some may consider him nosy, but Harry wanted to delve deeper into the mind of the man who'd loved his mother so much he'd remained loyal, even after her death. Each vial, along with the date, had the name "Lily" inscribed onto it. There had been other vials of Snape's, but Harry had chosen the current three because of the reference to his mother.

He chose the earliest date and poured the substance, neither liquid nor gas, iinto the pensieve. It swirled elegantly within. Harry bent low over the basin touching his nose to the cool contents. His feet instantly left the office floor and he was falling. Within moments his feet found solid ground again and Harry opened his eyes to find himself at Hogwarts in an empty classroom. He glanced out the classroom's open door, recognizing the entrance hall and the open doorway into the great hall beyond. It was full of bustling students, happily stuffing their faces. Judging from the floating jack-o-lanterns it was Halloween night. He could barely see the bewitched ceiling above the students, which flashed with great bolts of lightening and boomed with thunder.

Harry turned his attention back to the first floor classroom. Realizing it was the same room he'd had divination with Firenze the centaur, he spun in a slow circle to take in the differences between now (1970's) and when he'd occupied it in his fifth year. He stopped abruptly however, when he saw that the classroom wasn't empty at all. Lily, his mother, was standing at one of the windows watching the raging storm quietly. And there was Snape, a few steps behind her. They looked about sixteen or seventeen. Harry tiptoed closer, though he knew neither could hear or see him approach.

"I don't see what you find so appealing about him," said young Snape with a jealous sneer. "He is an arrogant fool and a bully."

Lily turned to face him and sighed. "He was," she said. "But he must have finally realized arrogance doesn't win my heart. He's changed, Sev. He isn't the same person he once was."

"He has your heart?" Snape said, a tentative look on his pale face.

Lily smiled softly, rolling her eyes. "Not yet. We've only been seeing one another for a month. I guess you could say we're feeling each other out."

"Lily," said Snape as he took her hand and looked into her eyes. "Please…"

She frowned. "Please what, Sev?" She was apparently confused. Snape swallowed with some difficulty, seeming to try and buck up the nerve to… What?

Harry watched with mixed emotions as Snape mustered enough courage to press his lips gently to Lily's. Her eyes widened with surprise but eventually she relaxed and allowed him to kiss her. She even kissed back. Harry wasn't sure how he felt about seeing Snape kiss his mother. He was decidedly uncomfortable watching the man handle Lily with uncharacteristic gentleness, obviously showing her with his mouth and body the total reverence and respect he felt for her.

They pulled away from each other after a rather long moment in Harry's opinion. Snape's eyes remained closed for a beat, as if he were savoring Lily's closeness while Lily's own eyes roved over his face in awe.

"Lily," said Snape, finally opening his eyes to stare into hers. "You mean so much to me."

"Do I?" she asked in a whisper, tears suddenly making her eyes glisten in the candlelight. "Even though you think I'm a filthy mudblood?"

Snape winced as if she'd slapped him across the face. He took her hand again. "You know I didn't mean that, Lily. I was just sore about James and Sirius having bullied me. I lashed out at you and I shouldn't have," he said. "Lily, I love you. I always have." Tears now threatened to escape from his eyes.

One tear had escaped from Lily's eyes, and it trailed down her face as she gripped his right arm and pulled the sleeve up to reveal a fresh tattoo still read and sore at the edges. The dark mark, Harry realized in alarm. Lily never took her eyes from Snape's. "Enough," she said bracingly. "To forget this mess you've gotten into?"

Snape took his arm back & covered the mark quickly. "I've told you. They… He understands me."

"Who?"

"Never mind," he mumbled, no longer meeting her eyes.

"Sev, whoever your dealing with, those people… It cannot come to any good!"

Snape shook his head and glanced sideways at her, annoyed. It looked as if he were already growing tired of the new subject of conversation, as if they'd discussed it over and over again. "You don't understand," he said.

Lily grabbed his chin and forced him to meet her gaze again. "I understand that you love me," she said bluntly. "Or so you say. I had no idea you felt this way. And I must be honest; I can't deny that I have feeling for you too." Snape's eyes widened, hopeful. "I would be very willing to give you a chance. It's like I said, James and I aren't really that close yet. I doubt he'd be crushed. But if - and only if - you give up your new friends. They're no good, Severus and I won't have anything to do with them."

The sudden light that had glowed in Snape's eyes when Lily had said she'd give him a chance died as quickly as it had come. "It's not some academic club, something I can just give up on a whim," he said, annoyed. "I'm in too deep to quit now."

"It's me or them, Severus," Lily said, an ultimatum.

He stared into her eyes, obviously torn. Clearly he was fighting a battle within his heart. When he didn't answer, Lily's face turned stony. "Wrong answer," she said.

Without a second glance she brushed past Snape, walked unknowingly through her son and out into the entrance hall toward the great hall. Harry watched her sit next to his father. James seemed to notice her state of upset and touched her cheek, concerned. The doors to the great hall swung shut then, blocking them from view. Harry glanced back at Snape who'd sat himself at a desk, his face in his hands.

"Lily," he said through tears. "If only I could get away…"

Snape gasped suddenly and clutched his right forearm. Harry could see after Snape had pulled his sleeve back that the dark mark was glowing, burning Snape's skin. Snaped threw the sleeve back over his arm, wiped his eyes furiously and mumbled something that sounded like "- should've never joined…" and stood to walk out. He bypassed the great hall and made his way toward the dungeons where Harry knew the Syltherin common room was.

Suddenly, Harry's vision grew blurry and his feet left the stone floor again. Within seconds he found himself back in the headmaster's office, the pensieve resting innocently on the desk.