Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. The book and all its characters belong to J.K. Rowling
Author's Note: This is my first Harry Potter fic so be gentle. Constructive criticism is always appreciated, though. The summary said there were Spoilers from the 7th book and most of them are in the chapter The Prince's Tale .There are also a few spoilers from the chapter titled "King's Cross". There will be some references to things in the book that will have happened prior to the events I describe in a new chapter and I will most likely give you a brief summary of those events before the chapter so you dont have to flip frantically through your book trying to find what the hell I'm talking about. So in conclusion don't review and tell me how upset you are that I spoiled something for you when this note and the summary clearly said "spoilers" and if you're going to flame me, do it because you think my writing sucks, not just because of the pairing. Anyway, I've talked for long enough so here's the fic!
What you need to know:
Snape has been killed by Voldemort and Harry has too, sort of. Harry just left the world of the dead, or what he told Dumbledore was King's Cross. In Snape's memories he just made the tree branch fall on Petunia, and Lily was angry with him for doing that.
Severus Snape had joined Dumbledore after Harry's departure at what Harry had christened "King's Cross".
"I do hope he will be successful in the living world, don't you Severus?" Dumbledore said to the man on his right. Severus looked slightly younger and his hair was no longer greasy.
"I do hope he vanquishes the Dark Lord, if that is what you mean." Snape sighed.
"Something wrong, Severus?" Dumbledore asked kindly knowing full well what was bothering the man who had killed him.
"Even in death I am still not completely happy." Severus said bitterly as he looked over at James and Lily who were conversing with Lupin and Tonks.
"Ah, but you could be." Dumbledore said reaching into his pocket.
"Albus, there is no way I could be. You know exactly what it would take to make me happy."
"There is, Severus." Dumbledore pulled a vial with a silvery liquid out of his pocket. "You could do it all over with this."
"D-Do it all over you said?"
"Yes. This potion will allow you to do things over again and possibly improve them in the future. There will be some events that you will be powerless to change and will have to watch helplessly as they happen again, but overall you can change a lot." Snape took the vial from Dumbledore and looked at it in disbelief.
"But if I change things, then won't I choose to no longer be dead? What if I change everything for the worst and change the fate of the living?" Severus asked.
"Oh I assure you that won't be able to happen." Dumbledore said calmly.
"Why haven't you used it?" Snape asked staring at the old man in curiosity. There had to be some flaw or catch with this potion that made Dumbledore not want to use it.
"Me? I had nothing I wanted to change. I made my fair share of mistakes in life, but in the end everything worked out alright for me. It appears for you, things did not."
"Well I'm already dead, so I suppose I couldn't make things any worse." Snape said opening the vial.
"Quite right, Severus." Dumbledore said as he watched Snape drink the liquid and pass out.
Lily Evans and Severus Snape sat together in the park for a third time. Their first two encounters had not gone so well, considering Snape had made a tree branch fall on Petunia. Both of them were ten years old, almost eleven.
"Lily, I am sorry about your sister. I-I didn't mean to make the tree branch fall on her, it just happened." Severus apologized. He was having sort of an out of body experience, except he was in his own body. He had no control over the words coming out of his mouth, and he could hear the thoughts of his ten year old body and feel its emotions, but those thoughts and emotions also mixed with those of his older self. How very strange. (A/N: There won't be much input from older Snape for quite some time for now.) Lily sighed.
"It's alright, Severus, we've been over this." The two of them sat there in silence for a moment, Severus was blushing slightly. "So when I go to Hogwarts, I'll be living there until the summer, with no contact to the muggle world? Lily asked nervously. She was of course excited about Hogwarts, but being away from everything that was familiar to her for such a long time made her apprehensive.
"Well, not exactly. You'll get to come home for the holidays if you choose and you can write to your parents by owl."
"Owl!? We don't have an owl..." Lily looked down in disappointment. She wouldn't be able to contact her parents.
"Oh don't worry! The school has owls you can use! And I would let you use mine, I don't have reason to write home anyway." Snape added bitterly. He looked at Lily and tried to give her a reassuring smile.
"Thanks." Lily said smiling at him. He blushed at her smile.
"Lily! Mom says you have to be home now!" Petunia called. She noticed Snape and frowned at him. "Now!" Petunia added firmly noticing Lily's reluctance to leave. Lily got up.
"By Severus!" She said with a small wave. Snape smiled sadly and watched her greedily as she walked away. He turned and walked back to his home. When he opened the door he could hear his parents arguing. He winced. Their fights were never cheerful, but this one was particularly unpleasant. He went up to his room without a word to either of them and began to read one of his mother's old potion books. He had already decided that this was going to be his favorite subject. He of course had never practiced making a potion, but the sheer idea of it fascinated him, and some of the ingredients were particularly interesting. He had already learned some common ingredients and their properties. After he had memorized another potion from the book he felt tired and drifted off to sleep with thoughts of Lily Evans and Hogwarts, barely noticing his parents angry shouts.
