Snape hits the afterworld! Yes, Yes, he has arrived. What is Lily to do? Deathly Hallows Spoilers.

Disclaimer: all HP characters belong to JK Rowling.

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James POV.

We were all laughing at a joke Remus told when we saw the latest figure falling from the sky. Sirius, Remus, Lily, Tonks, Fred and I, stood there together looking upward.

The black robes the figure wore were billowing over his head, revealing the familiar grey underwear. That was the first indication that nothing about the man had changed.

'Look James, it's a bat with dirty underwear!' Sirius cried.

I laughed, but Lily didn't, as Snape finally hit the ground and turned to sneer at us. Well almost all of us. When his eyes flickered on my Lily, his eyes grew…tender.

Oh I knew everything by then; I knew he'd been obsessed with my wife his whole life and from the looks of things, death hadn't altered his emotions one bit. Anger flared in my heart at the thought that the sniveling little dog had lusted after my wife – MY WIFE – for his entire life. He looked just the same; like some punk-goth Muggle rock band fan with his greasy hair and hooked nose.

I noticed Lily out of the side of my eye; she was returning his stare with something akin to compassion shining from her eyes. My Lily hadn't changed either; always seeing something good in even the vilest of ingrates.

'Snivellus,' Sirius said, his tone playful, 'welcome to the afterworld.'

Snape glared at my buddy and then turned his eyes back to my wife, his eyes gentle once more.

My anger was increasing. Time is relative here, and we hadn't had to deal with Snape for quite some time and now…here he was.

'Snape,' Fred said curtly in greeting.

But Snape just kept looking at Lily; it was like he was trying to transmit some kind of private message to her.

My anger began boiling.

I heard Tonks murmur something, but what got my head snapping around was Remus. Remus had joined us quite a while ago and I have never seen a bigger change come over a person. He was still his quiet, kind and loving self; but now that his little furry problem was no longer a problem, he'd come out of his shell. I am not talking about the fact that he's young, healthy and quite handsome now, I am talking about his personality which he'd always kept a bit repressed…well no longer!

There was no more of the self-depreciating Remus that we once knew. No, now he'd tell you straight out what was running through that complicated little brain of his without hesitation. The first thing he did was tell Tonks that he'd been in love with Sirius his whole life and that if Sirius would have him, he planned to spend the rest of it locked up in his arms.

Truth told, I knew this already having watched he and Sirius going at it from up here after Sirius got out of prison down there. However, he had loved Tonks and they had had a baby together that they both loved dearly. But upon sighting Sirius, earthly concerns seemed to drop by the wayside. Sure Sirius was also young and handsome now, but that had nothing to do with it, this was heart to heart stuff.

Well anyway, Tonks was a bit broken up; she knew about Sirius – anyone with half a brain down there on earth should have realized it. But she'd come to love Remus dearly and it was quite a devastating moment. Remus after his grand assertion however, had spent the whole day comforting her and consoling her and well…then he went off with Sirius who has the patience of a bull that's been penned up for a week and left Tonks to the rest of us to deal with.

Fred took care of it. In fact, Fred took care of it very well. Next thing you know, a new heavenly couple had formed and Fred and Tonks were all mated up. In hindsight it is obvious that Fred and Tonks were meant to be; their crazy personalities lined up perfectly – and I don't see why they didn't get together down there. Maybe the age difference, but we are all the same age here. It was a match made in heaven – excuse the pun. I think that union is what drove old Mad-eye Moody to leave in disgust; he'd been hanging around with us for a while (I think he had a crush on Tonks – he's younger too now and got his old normal eye back, but…well…Tonks ran like mad from the mere suggestion of anything with the old bugger), Last I heard Mad-Eye was making up to Charity Burbage somewhere.

So after that, the four of them, Tonks and Fred and Sirius and Remus, would all sit together from time to time watching Teddy down there and frankly, you'd think Fred and Sirius had a hand in birthing the lad the way they go on! But since everyone is happy, I'm happy about that.

But I digress. When we were all there staring at Snape, who was staring at MY wife. Remus suddenly spoke up.

'You know Snape, I don't know what you expected to happen when you got here, but Lily loves James. Nothing has changed.'

I remember looking at Lily with an ache in my heart that was bigger than anything I'd felt since watching our son defeat that idiot Voldemort. Thank the gods that Voldemort didn't make it here; we can't kill – we are powerless to do so up here, but I think I would have tried eternally anyway. Ah, but I digress again.

So When Remus made his big statement to Snape, I looked at Lily with pain in my chest, because frankly, the look she was giving Snape got me to thinking that perhaps Remus had it all wrong.

Then that greasy git opened his flapper and gaped at Lily, 'is it true Lils? Have you only carried love in your heart for James all these years?' Snape's tone was a bit raggedy, like everything else about the man.

Lily's eyes grew intense and my heart started pounding. God she looked so much like Harry when she got that look. That brought to mind my grandson Albus-Severus. ALBUS SEVERUS!! What the hell was my son – MY SON – thinking when he made that colossal error? Albus SEVERUS Potter?? He just didn't think it through carefully.

The way I saw it, that wouldn't please Albus, Severus OR the Potter who'd fathered him. Dumbledore when I saw him laughed about it – he was a little amazed, but honored I guess. But since he is all young and such again, he has gone off to find his old buddies and wasn't too concerned with sticking around and listening to me bitch about it all.

Ah but I digress again.

So Lily is staring all intense like at Snape and my heart is crying and I notice that even Sirius has moved to pull Remus into his arms – something he has taken to doing as a form of comfort. Well that scared me even more.

'Lily?' I said as gently as possible under the circumstances.

But she didn't hear me I don't think. She didn't turn around and even glance at me. I watched with my heart dropping to my knees as she started moving toward Snape.

Snape's words started running through my head: is it true Lils? Have you only carried love in your heart for James all these years? is it true Lils? Have you only carried love in your heart for James all these years? Over and over like a damned broken record in my tortured mind.

I heard Tonks whimper and saw Fred clutch her tightly in his arms. I began to feel like I was in the middle of some damned soap opera.

Lily stood before Snape and I saw her lips tremble a little before she spoke (I think that is when the tears started stinging my eyes, but I'd be damned if I'd let even one drop).

'No, Sev. I have not carried only the love of James in my heart for all of these years.' She said.

I physically bent forward; lurched as if I'd been punched. I wanted to cry out her name, run to where she was and hug her to me as I had everyday since we'd arrived so long ago…I wanted to make her tell me she loved me as she had so many times and that she hated that Sniveling Moron. We never spoke about him – EVER – I thought that meant that she didn't care for him any more than I did. But it appeared I was wrong…so damned wrong.

'Lily,' Snape said; lovingly, adoringly, imploringly and his hands reached out…

Lily spoke again and I could barely make out what she said through the roar of pain rushing through my ears. 'I have also carried the love of my son in my heart all of these years, Sev.'

Severus hesitated, his face contorting for a moment with god knows what emotion.

My heart was still racing, I had no idea where Lily was going with all this.

'Have you carried any love for my son in your heart, Sev?' she asked.

Snape dropped his head and was silent so long I thought perhaps he'd died again and gone on to the next after wizard world. No such luck. He looked up a moment later and there was such anguish and torment on his face, he could have been a Shakespearean actor.

'No,' he said simply.

'And yet, your spying did help in Dumbledore's plan to vanquish Voldemort - you did help the cause.'

Snape began to cry. Okay, I am being a bit rude I guess. There were tears pouring down his cheeks, but I suppose he wasn't actually 'crying' in the normal sense of the word. But when has Snape ever done anything Normal?

'Yes,' Snape said, 'I did it all…for you.'

'And I am thankful you sought to honor my sacrifice. I forgive you for telling Voldemort the prophecy,' Lily said.

Snape wiped the tears from his face, 'thank you,' he said and then, 'I don't deserve your forgiveness.'

I swear it was on the tip of my tongue to agree – out loud! He didn't deserve a bit of gratefulness or forgiveness! The way he treated my beloved son all those years! As if Harry hadn't had it hard enough dealing with the Dursleys and Voldemort. And all because Snape couldn't never see my precious boy as an individual. He looked at Harry, saw me, and hated him the whole time! Holding a grudge and acting on it against me is one thing; acting it out against my beautiful boy is another! OUR beautiful boy…

But something stopped me from yelling out any of that…the pain…my Lily, I was losing my Lily. It didn't really matter to me that I was losing her to Snape – it just mattered to me that the eternity I saw for us was dissipating before my eyes. She is the only woman I could ever love…I was going to end up like SNAPE! NO! Yes. Loving a woman forever who loves another…and for me it would be worse, it would be for all eternity.

'Well you don't, but I forgive you anyway,' Lily said. 'Harry forgave you as well, he named his son Albus-Severus.'

Snape looked up quickly, his eyes darkening (if that is possible), 'he did?'

Lily nodded, the smallest of smiles creasing her lips, 'yes, he has a capacity for forgiveness that is very great. He felt you had acted very brave to spy under the circumstances and appreciated that you did that on my behalf in order to attempt to redeem yourself. He understood that you were not capable of doing more than that.'

Snape's body sagged and his face drooped.

I tell you, there is nothing uglier than a sagging and drooping Snape, but I digress.

Snape says, 'I – I couldn't love him; I know you will hate me for that, but I couldn't. I would look at him and I would see…'

The statement went unfinished, but he meant me of course, the bloody berk! I saw Sirius and Remus both step forward as if they might say something, but Lily put a hand up to stop them.

'I understand,' Lily said gently.

SHE UNDERSTOOD? SHE UNDERSTOOD! I was caught up in so much anger and pain in that moment, I nearly fell down. Sirius and Remus came to stand by me, on either side and their arms were all over me, supporting me. I know they did, but I barely felt them…I was an emotional mess.

'You – you don't hate me for that?' Snape asked.

'No. I know that you and…he could never get along, and you were unable to let go of the past,' Lily said softly.

HE?? She called me HE! I shut my eyes. The pain of it all was too great. The vision was killing me. My gentle, loving, Lily. My Lily flower, the woman I loved, who I had hugged so close only last night and whispered my everlasting love into her ear. And she had loved me…she said…

Snape…who I decided in that moment I would call SNAKE from there forward, had the nerve to look at me for a moment. Our eyes met and in that flash of a second he had enough time to send venom my way. It didn't affect me, nothing could. My Lily flower was slipping through my fingers and life – Eternal Life – suddenly had no meaning anymore.

Who would sit with me and watch Harry from time to time; watch our grandchildren; watch our friends? Who would be with ME when Tonks and Fred and Sirius and Remus were off frolicking together – no more couples, no more Lily and James, no more…us…

'I don't feel it excuses the way you treated our son though...he didn't deserve that...he went through so much.'

Snape's face contorted a moment. 'I apologize for that, I was...wrong.'

To say the least! I was angry at the memory of what he'd done to Harry - I am sure if I had been myself I would have pounded him to a pulp and then beat the pulp. However, my personal trauma was overwhelming my senses.

'I accept your apology,' I heard Lily say softly.

Snape nodded slowly and then looked at Lily imploringly, 'Lils, could we try again?' Snake said.

Tears were pouring down my cheeks now. I couldn't stop them. Remus reached up and wiped my cheeks and Sirius gripped my shoulder a little tighter, but it wasn't helping. Nothing could help me now.

'Try what, Sev?' Lily asked, her smile growing slightly.

I turned away then. I couldn't watch this. I didn't want to know, let alone watch them flirt the whole thing out. Sirius caught me in his arms and wouldn't let me go though. I felt my glasses fall away to the ground.

'I still love you,' I heard Snake say.

'Do you?' Lily asked.

'Always,' Snake said, 'is there any chance for us Lils? I would do…anything…'

I remember hugging Sirius then and saying something like 'I can't'. And I remember Remus saying I could; only at that point I was so messed up I wasn't even sure what we were talking about.

I barely heard her response, the drumming in my ears was drowning out the sound of everything else. I was grateful. But it wasn't quite loud enough to block her response.

'No, Severus. There isn't the smallest chance of that ever happening,' She said, 'I always have and always will love only James.'

I don't know what happened after that. I unbecomingly fainted like a woman.

When I woke up everyone was around me and my Lily was looking into my face, love shining from her eyes.

'James,' she said sweetly, 'as if…'

I just remember grabbing her and pulling her body down on top of me and hugging her and kissing her everywhere and in everyway possible.

I haven't spoken to Snape since. He ignores my civil nods completely. Sirius still taunts him and he taunts Sirius back when we all meet. But after what happened to me the day he arrived I am not at all concerned whether or not he ever reconciles himself to reality. And while Lily still greets him cordially, she doesn't converse with him – perhaps for my sake; I don't complain - why would I? Remus, Fred and Tonks never gave much of a damn about Snape, so I really don't know how they deal with the man. I don't care. I am the happiest man in the wizard after world because I have the love of my life, my Lily Flower.

The end. Author's note: for those who wished for James to thank Snape for what he did for Harry - write your own story because I am hard pressed to recall anything Snake ever did for Harry beyond beating him nearly to death in HBP and slamming him to the ground in OOTP (and yes I remember everything in all 7 books). The spying was for Lily - remember? And for god's sakes, unless Snake apologized for helping to kill James - which he wouldn't - and thanked him for saving his miserable life when young (so he could be around to join the Death Eaters, murder him and his wife, and torment his kid while helping the Order, which he declared was not at all in honor of James' sacrifice that he made necessary) - which Snape wouldn't do because he was simply not a "thank you" kinda guy...well then I think all 'thank yous' from James are a little out of place. lol. James I think was the bigger man, so I gave him the cordial nod and I think that is more than sufficient.