Alright, so it turns out that I spend a ridiculous amount of time searching for Potter-related stuff on tumblr. This amount of time is made even more surprising by the fact that I don't have a tumblr. Anyways, I found this a couple days ago and this fic is the result of it. To my knowledge, it's not technically canon, but I guess it could be.

Lily Potter wanted Severus Snape to be Harry's godfather, but James refused. They agreed that Snape would be godfather to their next child. Nobody knew that Lily was pregnant the night she died.

Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and I'm not making any money off this. Everything belongs to whoever owns it.

Severus Snape looked into Potter's eyes. He had given the boy the information that Dumbledore had entrusted to him, whatever happened next was not his problem. Lily Evans's eyes looked out at him from Potter's face. For a second he allowed himself to imagine that she was there with him, then life left him and he knew no more.

When Severus awoke, it was quiet. No sounds of battle, no voices, not even a breath of wind sneaking into the shack through the cracks between the planks of the boarded up windows. If you had asked Severus before, he wouldn't have believed that the shrieking shack could be this silent. He opened his eyes and a strange sight slowly floated into focus.

He was not in the shrieking shack. He seemed to be in a muggle playground. He stood up slowly, his dark robes falling into place around him. As he stood, he noticed that his robes were far cleaner than he remembered. There was not a trace of dust, dirt or blood on them... Blood. Severus's breathing quickened as he thought of the snake's attack. His left hand rose almost unconsciously to his neck, but all he felt was smooth skin. His hand moved up to his face. It felt smoother, younger than what he was accustomed to. He felt younger than he was accustomed to. He let his hand fall and as he did he caught a glimpse of his forearm. He gasped, pulling down his sleeve to get a clearer view. The skin on his arm was unblemished and clean, as though it had never born the dark mark. Severus felt a prickling in the back of his throat and swallowed harshly.

Shaking his sleeve back down over his arm, he allowed his gaze to turn to his surroundings. He turned from the playground and saw a single, huge chimney dominating the distant skyline. Old memories began to trickle down into his thoughts.

...he watched the younger of the two girls swinging higher and higher than her sister. 'Lily, don't do it!' shrieked the elder of the two. But the girl had let go of the swing at the very height of its arc and flown, quite literally flown, launched herself skywards with a great shout of laughter, and instead of crumpling onto the playground asphalt, she soared...

Severus heard the creak of the old swings and turned around, certain, for a moment, that he would see her about to fly. Instead, he saw a teenage girl with dark, wavy hair, sitting in the swing that she had played on so many years ago. The girl smiled at him.

'Hello Severus,' she said kindly. 'Please, sit,' she gestured to the empty swing beside her.

He walked over and sat down, winding one arm around the chain of the swing. They sat in silence for some minutes before he spoke.

'The snake?'

The girl smirked, as though she had been expecting something of the sort. 'Yep.'

He groaned.

'If it makes you feel any better, it's dead. Neville chopped its head off,' she continued.

'Longbottom? Longbottom killed the bloody thing?'

She nodded. 'With the sword of Gryffindor,' she grinned at his stunned expression. Silence fell once again.

'I'm dead, and yet I'm here,' he said. The girl nodded, confirming this. 'Why?' he asked plaintively.

The girl looked at him. 'Because you have a choice, one that no one can make for you. I suppose this place will help you make it.'

'Well, what choice?' he asked impatiently.

'Whether you want to go back, or move on.'

Severus looked away. The choice was difficult. It was tempting to go back, he knew what to expect, how to survive there. Even as a ghost he knew that he would be protected by his stiff and unpleasant demeanour. If he moved on, he wouldn't know what to expect. He never put much stock in theories about the afterlife. He remembered muggle stories about a 'heaven' and a 'hell' – well if he was honest with himself he didn't know where he would end up. He had worked for the greater good, but that did not stop him from committing horrible deeds.

'And if I choose to stay here?' he asked, looking her in the eye.

She returned his gaze. 'Well, that's a choice too,' she said, a sad, sweet expression resting on her features.

He grunted and looked away, and the girl spoke again.

'Your friend Lily wanted you to be her child's godfather.'

'What on Earth...' he responded, unsure of where such a confession had come from. He returned his eyes to her face, but she was looking away, examining the sky as though she had never seen it before.

She continued as if she had not heard him. 'Lily, she wanted you to be his godfather, but James insisted on using Sirius. It was war, and they couldn't afford to take a risk on someone who might not be trustworthy. After talking it over it was decided that Sirius would be Harry's godfather, but if they ever had another baby they would ask you,' she paused and took a breath. 'No one knew that she was pregnant the night that she died-'

'Why are you telling me this?' he demanded, fighting furiously against the lump in his throat. 'Who are you?'

She smiled again, a smile that reminded him of Lily. 'I'm Violet, Severus. Violet Potter.'

Severus felt his eyes prick with tears. The girl, Violet, turned her eyes back to his, and he saw a faint shimmer of tears within them. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could she reached over and grasped his hand. The contact lasted only a moment and yet Severus felt comforted. Nevertheless, he needed to speak, to explain...

'There's no need, we know,' she said tenderly. 'You'll find that not much stays secret around here. Although when Sirius found out about Regulus, I thought he might have a heart attack – even if he was already dead.'

Severus looked at the skyline again, apparently engrossed by the sight. Inside his mind, thoughts were flying so fast that he could hardly make heads or tails of them.

Finally, he turned toward her again. 'Violet,' he said, 'I've decided-' he tried to continue, but found that words failed him. Instead, he grasped her hand, stood up and jerked his head towards the opposite end of the playground.

'You're sure?' she asked, searching his face for a sign of doubt. He nodded, and her face broke into a wide grin. Before he could stop himself, Severus found himself smiling back.

Violet laughed, clear and pure, and the sound rang out through the playground. Severus chuckled along as she began to pull him towards the road. At the curb, Severus found himself turning, hoping for one last glimpse, though of what, he wasn't sure. As his eyes searched the skyline and the now motionless swings he swore he could almost see a young boy watching a little girl soar into the air. He looked round again, only to find Violet watching him closely, as though worried he would turn back. He grasped her hand more firmly and smiled.

'Shall we?' he said, gesturing toward the road.

Violet squeezed his hand again and nodded.

Together they stepped into the road.

I don't normally add a second authors note at the end, but I feel the need to explain some things here, so I apologize, but this is staying put.

Wow, I can't believe I just wrote that. Er, I hope it was alright, but the idea sprung into my head and refused to leave until I gave it proper acknowledgement.

I'm sorry, people who were expecting a Severus/Lily fic, but this is what you got. I know that Violet is an OC, but I this is focused more on Snape and Lily than on Snape and Violet, so I think it is more important to have Lily in the major characters.

I am absolutely fascinated by the afterlife depicted in the Harry Potter series. I like the writing opportunities that it offers, the possibilities for interactions between characters who would never have interacted otherwise. This is one of the ideas I've had floating around, but I haven't felt the need to give the others any real attention.

I'd really like to do more with the character Violet, but I'm not sure if anyone would be interested in hearing it. It would probably end up as some sort of a life story, but it would take place after death. I don't know.

And one last thing, Violet is named Violet because all of the females that we know in the Evans family have flower names. Admittedly, we only know two (Lily and Petunia), but I feel it's a valid point.