He lays there, breathing. Just breathing. Calmly breathing. How long has it been since he was calm? How long was it since he was allowed to be calm?

So long ago. Seems like an eternity.

After a long while,or maybe not long at all,he opens his eyes and sees nothing. Just blankness. Just white. He looks to himself and discovers himself to be unclothed.

Deplorable he thinks, concerning his state. Barely had the wish formed in his mind to be clothed did his robes appear close to him. He took them and pulled them on. He then proceeded to examine his surroundings. Only then did he start to notice he was not surrounded by nothing. He was surrounded in white mist, and some of them formed structures he had not interacted with since his youth, since his days as a student at Hogwarts. There were pillars, and train tracks, and a sign, which he reads with a wistful longing he did not know he had.

"Platform 9 3/4..."

"Well, it IS King Cross Station" says a voice behind him.

He stops abruptly. That voice... He hasn't heard this voice in years. Not since he attended Hogwarts as a student. Not since they attended Hogwarts as students. As enemies. He turns around and faces the man who has made his youth unbearable, who had won over Lily, who he had not known he would miss by even a miniscule amount.

In his usual annoyed tone he turns and calls to the man,"Potter."

"Snivellus." he calls back, his playful tone still painfully obvious as it is annoying, even after so many years.

They stand rather far apart, but they walk toward each other, closing the distance rather quickly. He looks so similar to his Hogwarts years. Shame he and Lily did not have the chance to grow old together. As they stand only a few feet apart now, they look at each other and they relive their youth in a flash. The bullying, the fighting, the pining for the only woman that ever mattered, that made them both better than they were before, the one they both wish were still alive and happy.

As James Potter begins to speak, Snape prepares himself for more mockery, yet what he hears instead shakes him to his very core.

As he bows, James says to Snape, with as much tears as there is gratitude in his voice, "Thank You."

Stricken still, Snape uncharacteristically lets out, "What?"

After he lets out a chuckle, James continues, " Thank you! Thank you so much for keeping my boy safe. Our boy. Our Harry"

Still shocked but no longer still, Snape replies "Yes, well Potter, though the thanks are well deserved, we both know I didn't do it for you."

At this, James starts to giggle, which turns into a whole hearted laugh with him holding his stomach and tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "Good thing you haven't changed Snivellus." He smiles, wiping the tears from his eyes " It would have been too much too handle if I had to owe you something."

Snape feels a smirk forming," Well, you do still owe me for all those years you've used to cheat off of me in Potions class."

In response, James Potter lets out a howl, "Well, who knew death would gift you with a sense of humor!" Both he and Snape let themselves fall into a sense of ease with each other, something that sadly could never happen while they lived. When James regained his composure and continued to speak, Snape heard a bit of sadness creep into his voice.

"I am sorry, Snape. For everything. I was young. And immature. And wrong. So wrong about so many things and I am just so thankful. To you! For keeping our son safe. You were a better man than I could have ever thought you could have been. I wish we could have been on better terms. I wish I could have tried. Hell knows you would have been a better Secret Keeper then-" and there he stops, grief still fresh as if it happened yesterday. Snape didn't know what to say, not even sure if he wanted to say anything, but he was not one to be bested by a Potter.

"Yes, well, what Pettigrew did was shameful, but at least the boy survived. And had better friends than you. Than us." He placed his hand on his James's shoulder and when he raised his head, as they looked at each other, after all they had gone through, they looked at each other as friends.

"Thank you, Snape." he said, wiping the rest of his tears from his eyes. "Lily was right about you, you know? All this time."

Saddened, Snape replies,"Yes well, shame I could not have been that man sooner. Otherwise, I would not have lost Lily the way I did."

James replies," Well,I wouldn't say you've lost her just yet." As Snape looks at James, and sees him nod behind him, he turns around and sees her.

There stands Lily Potter, her red hair as brilliant as it was in her youth. In fact, she looked exactly as she did while she attended Hogwarts, down to the Gryffindor robes and kind green eyes.

"Lily..." Snape calls wistfully,and she approaches him. Slowly at first, then as she builds up speed she starts running toward him. Snape, not knowing what to do, inches carefully toward her afraid of seeing just a mirage. But as she closes the space between them and jumps, headbutting Snape and, when he fell to the floor, puts her arm around his neck and begins choking him does he realize this is real. SHE is real, and much more violent than she was before.

"HOW...DARE...YOU..." she pulled on Snape harder, choking him more strongly, "TREAT MY SON THAT WAY. AND THE POOR LONGBOTTOM BOY!" As she continues her chokehold on Severus, he can't help but laugh, as much as he can while being choked.

"YOU...THINK...THAT'S FUNNY?"

"I've...missed...you" he struggles to let out his words with a smile,"too..."

At that she lets Snape go, and he lays there on the floor, coughing much and trying to breath. When he is able to breathe normally again he gets up and turns to Lily, the woman he missed for so long.

"I was wrong" Snape begins, " about everything. You were right. Even when we were younger. I shouldn't have spent time with Avery and Mulciber or any of them, I shouldn't have held my grudges against Potter for so long-"

"Thank you!" James calls from behind.

Rolling his eyes, he stats again, "I shouldn't have ever called you what I did." At this, Lily looks away, obviously still hurt, after all these years, for being called a mudblood. "Potter-Harry...you're son is SO much like you. It wasn't until-" Snape suddenly remembers his death. Nagini, it's bite, his neck. He instinctively reaches for his wound. At his pause, Lily returns to look at him, concern in her eyes, even after all he'd done. After taking a breath, he continues, "It wasn't until I was dying, and you're son came to me and, before I died, I looked into your eyes, his eyes, and I saw the same kindness you always had for me in him, even after all I've done to him. I was wrong about him. He is as much your son as he is Potter's." Lily then looks at him, still with concern, but now with something he hopes for is something close to forgiveness. And he continues, "As for the young Longbottom, I am ashamed of how I treated the boy. It was not his fault that he was not the Chosen One. My only hope is that when we see each other again, and I hope it's not for a long time, that I may ask him for forgiveness myself." As he ends his speech, Snape looks at Lily, looking for a sign. Anything that can let him know what she's thinking. Without much warning, Lily rushes toward Snape. He blocks, thinking she was going to attack him again, but when he looks again he realizes she isn't grappling him. She's hugging him. Snape, after standing still shocked for who knows how long, relaxes and puts his arms around her, hugging her back and before he can stop himself, starts crying. He missed her. He missed Lily so, so much, the girl he loved, the girl who loved him. His family. Separating again, but with their arms still around each other, Lily looks at Snape's still crying face and says the words Snape had tortured himself wishing he could have heard all those years before, "I forgive you Severus." She looks at him just like she used to when they were younger, with so much acceptance and love, "Welcome back"

Though Snape refuses so hard, he lets out a sob and continues crying. Lily lets out a giggle and holds her best friend again. Snape doesn't count how long they stood there, holding each other, he only knows that when he stopped crying and they both pulled away, it was not long enough.

"Are you ready Sev?" Lily asks.

"Ready?"

"To go!" James answers from behind him, and as he does, Snape hears the Hogwarts Express come through on the tracks. Snape stand there and he looks into the windows of train and sees his reflection for the first time since his death, and what he sees surprises him. He is young again, the same age Lily and James are, and in his Hogwarts robes.

"We can wait," says Lily. "However long it takes, we'll wait. Like a family."

"Well..." says James, who's moved to the other side of Lily, who give him a glare that could kill, if they weren't dead already. "Kidding. Kidding!" says James, a smile on his lips. This causes Snape lets out a laugh, which causes Lily to look at Snape with care, worried something is wrong with him. However, there wasn't anything wrong, he was just happy, something he hasn't been for a long time, and soon all three of them are laughing, like friends. Best friends.

"No," answers Snape. "No, it's alright. I'm ready"

"GOOD!" yells a voice inside the Hogwarts Express. Suddenly the window Snape was examining himself in opens, and out pops Sirius." I wouldn't have waited for Snivellus, even if he begged!" However, rather than a cruelly mocking tone he always had when speaking to Snape, it was a playful one. The one he always used with his Marauder friends. Suddenly a hand grabs the end of Sirius's robes and pulls him back. "Sit down!" says Lupin. He then looks at Snape as well and asks, "There's room for you in our compartment Severus. Join us?"

As Snape looks from Lupin over to Sirius, who rather than sitting down remains at the window along with Lupin and is given an inviting smile. Then he looks at James Potter, his tormentor for so long, giving him a small nod, inviting him into his group of friends. Lastly he looks at Lily, his love and best friend, who's giving him that kind smile, full of support and kindness that she always gave him when they were younger, and he returns it.

"Very well." responds Severus Snape with a smile, and he follows as Lily pulls both him and James unto the Hogwarts Express and, as the train leaves the station, Snape settles into their compartment with his greatest love and his new friends.