Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I make no money from the writing of this.
His vision faded, those beautiful green eyes so similar to the ones he had loved for so long being the last thing he saw. He embraced the darkness willingly, knowing that once he passed he would finally be in the presence of his beloved again.
It was the second time in a year that the Committee of Judgement had convened. Unsurprisingly it contained many of the same witnesses as the first time. Chairperson Arthur regarded those around him impassively. The majority of the dead in this chamber had been enjoying their life in the Elysium Fields; one soul however was not.
Albus Dumbledore was sincerely unhappy with his afterlife. The next great adventure had turned out to be not so great at all. Here he was the greatest wizard since Merlin, defeater of Grindlewald, the only wizard Tom Riddle ever feared and he was a menial servant. Worse he was forbidden from using magic as he under went his unjust to his mind punishment.
James Potter and Sirius Black were seated as far from the disgraced Dumbledore as they could get. Chairperson Arthur swallowed the grin that was attempting to break his impassive façade. Seated with the irrepressible marauders was a new edition to the Elysium Fields; Fred Weasley recent arrival was welcomed as a brother by his two childhood rivals. Arthur considered he should place his wager quickly at the close of the committee. It wouldn't take long for the three pranksters to strike and Chairperson Arthur had a great suspicion as to who would be their initial target.
Seated to one side of James was Lily Potter nee Evans. She had that look on her face. The same one she had a year ago when Albus too many names to remember Dumbledore was brought before the committee. Chairperson Arthur caught the gaze of the impassioned red head and winked.
He knew what was coming. The Chairperson always knew. The committee of Judgement was really misnamed, it wasn't a place for the newly dead to debate their place in the afterlife. It was a place where those who were already dead could clear the air and resolve differences with the newly deceased.
Arthur knew that Severus Snape was not going to enjoy what was coming. Like Albus Dumbledore before him, he had ruined a great many lives. His great reward was really going to be the great punishment, although if he were anything like old Albie he would be beyond shocked at his fate.
Unknown to the mortal world, everything a mortal felt, said, thought, did or did not do was available to the Elysium Fields. As Severus Snape's time drew near, those whose lives he had affected became aware of what he had done in relation to them.
There were a great number of unhappy people who were prepared to make statements on his arrival at Elysium Fields. James and Lily Potter, Charlus and Dorea Potter, Sirius Black, Fred Weasley, Gideon and Fabian Prewitt, Benji Fenwick and Alice and Frank Longbottom. Despite not being officially dead Alice and Frank had appeared in Elysium not long after the Potters. They had no form and seemed to be ghosts, but at least here they could speak and interact in a non-physical way.
The current Chairperson for the Committee of Judgement was called to council. Arthur had been a resident of Elysium for millennia and was half way through his hundred-year term of Chairperson. He wasn't shocked to see the numerous people before him; many of them had been present at Albus' judgement.
Snape's deeds and thoughts had been floating into the minds of the Justly judged over a period of months. It made the residents aware that soon it would be his time to pass. No one really understood how or why this happened. They all considered it a divine form of magic. Any soul that didn't care about what Snape had done or not done ceased to get the knowledge and although welcome to attend; did not have a voice in the committee of Judgement.
As the committee assembled and those who had something to say gathered, the last moments of Severus Snape's life played out on the ceiling of the chamber. Chairperson Arthur grimaced as the final thoughts of Severus Tobias Snape were heard. James and especially Lily Potter were obviously unimpressed.
Severus Snape opened his eyes when he felt the pain of Nagini's bite vanish. He was shocked to find himself standing in a large chamber full of people. Some were unknown to him and those that he did recognise caused him to sneer hatefully.
"Severus Tobias Snape," a regal and commanding voice boomed out. "Prepare to face your judgement." Snape looked in the direction the voice came from and followed its pointed finger to the ceiling. He watched silently as the scene in front of him played out.
Peter Pettigrew, Severus Snape and several other Death Eaters were in conference with The Dark Lord. Pettigrew was gleefully selling out members of the order. Giving The Dark Lord details of where Fenwick and the Prewitt brothers could be found.
The scene moved slightly and Severus saw himself on a raid where he killed Benji Fenwick.
The scene moved again and he watched as the Prewitt brothers were taken down.
Several more scenes and several more deaths played through. All were fighters for the light; all were killed while he was there.
"It is time Severus Tobias Snape," intoned Chairperson Arthur ominously. "You shall heard their words but shall not speak."
"You killed me Snape. It was your curse that ended my life," said Benji. "You had no right."
"You were there," claimed the Prewitt twins. "You didn't stop them."
Another montage of scenes played across the ceiling. Snape at Hogwarts being vindictive and cruel to the Weasley family. Singling out the twins and comparing them with their uncles and debasing them.
"You defiled our memories with your vitriolic hatred."
Hours and hours passed as Severus Snape's life was dissected. His overhearing of the prophecy, his turning to Dumbledore, his request to see only Lily live. The abuse he heaped on Harry and Neville. His deplorable teaching practices. His twisting of facts and events that saved his Slytherin's from being punished. Allowing them to think they were above the rules and that actions have no consequences. His time at Headmaster of Hogwarts; letting rape gangs roam, allowing use of the unforgivables as punishment. The entire incident with Black and Lupin where he insinuated he knew what was going on and followed what Black suggested having no idea he was about to meet a werewolf. Followed by his actions in the shrieking shack attempting to get Black kissed.
Finally the barrage of images and Snape's innermost thoughts faded. "You expected and still expect to be reward for your life," intoned Chairperson Arthur. "It appears Albus isn't the only one with an over inflated sense of entitlement. Listen to those you helped kill, it's the only way to save your soul."
Sirius Black was the first to stand. He looked younger than the age he died, feeling most comfortable at the age he was before Azkaban. Sirius had been through his own judgment, not as grand or revealing as this, but he had several things he needed to say.
"I never liked you Snape, I hate you more now than when I died. But I do owe you an apology. I am sorry I sent you towards the shrieking shack when Mooney was transformed. That was wrong of me, it was something I should have been punished for." The gloating look on Snape's face at Black's confession caused the committee to shake their heads in disappointment.
"However we aren't here to discuss what I did wrong with my life. We're here to discuss yours. You Snape are a murderer. You avoided a trial on the mere say so of Dumbledore. You knew I was no Death Eater, you knew where Wormtail's loyalty lay. You knew he was guilty when he appeared in the shrieking shack alive. You knew… yet you tried to kill me. You lied to the ministry and tried to get an innocent man killed. Your continued mind rape of my godson in those occlumency lessons is a factor in my death. You claimed to be a spy for the light, but you only revealed what would benefit you. You destroyed a generation of Potion makers, instilled a false sense of entitlement into Slytherin house and caused more division within Hogwarts than any other individual in fifty years." Without another word Sirius retook his seat.
"Now, now my boy," came the unwanted voice of Albus Dumbledore. "Everything Severus did was for The Greater Good. I trust Severus with my life."
"Silence!" Roared Chairperson Arthur incensed that Dumbledore had interrupted and ignored the committee rule of rising to speak. "You are not here to give testimony Albus Dumbledore. You are here to witness what your inaction helped wrought." A sly smirk crossed Arthur's lips. "Do you forget that it was Severus you charged with ending your life? That action increased both his and your punishment."
James Potter was the next to stand, both Alice and Frank Longbottom floated over to him. James gestured to the two incorporeals to speak first.
"Severus Snape, you abused my son," stated Alice sadly. "Not only did your actions with Trelawny's bogus prophecy contribute to my baby living a life without parents, it also contributed with condeming my godson to a life of abuse."
"You Severus Snape," intoned Frank forcefully. "Are a coward and a bully. You are everything you claimed the marauders to be. Your arrogance astounds me. You abused and belittled children who had done nothing to you. You placed the sins of the father's onto their sons. You are despicable. You claimed my son to be a squib, an embarrassment and unworthy. You allowed your snakes to belittle him and then to belittle our condition. You encouraged your Snakes to taunt a child whose parent's had been tortured into a vegetative state. We were Ministry acknowledged war heroes and you failed to instil any respect of that in your students. Neville is worth ten of you and a hundred of your toadying little Malfoy. You are a disgrace to teacher's everywhere and couldn't organise a successful piss up in a brewery."
James Potter stifled a laugh at Frank's last comment. Now wasn't the time for pranks. Now was a time of truth.
"You could have been a great man," said James quietly. "You could have lived a life of happiness, if only your pride didn't get in the way," continued James staring directly into Snape's eyes.
"You can't be blamed for everything that went wrong. The attitudes at Hogwarts especially those of Dumbledore and Slughorn made things harder for you. We have seen your life, we know what choices you were given and what decisions you made. The actions of many set you on the path you finally took, but it was you who decided to stay there."
Snape was sneering at his childhood tormentor. It wasn't his fault, they bullied him and made his Hogwarts time difficult, they pushed him towards the darkness.
"I admit Snape that we treated you like trash. We pranked you unmercifully and someone should have taken the time to reign us in. However you chose to side Voldemort. You were joyfully accepted the mark. You were a member of the rape gangs in school. You thought you were superior to anyone muggle or muggleborn. The only exception you made was to Lily. We've all seen your thoughts your deeds; you claim to love my wife, claim you turned spy to save her, claimed you are no longer a death eater. I claim you to be a liar."
Lily stood and joined her husband. She looked at her childhood friend and felt nothing but disgust. She had seen his life, his thoughts, his motivations, his treatment of the child she died to save.
"I know you think you're going to your great reward Severus. You think that I will finally see the man you are and willingly come to you in love." Lily gave an ugly harsh mirthless laugh.
"You Snivellus, are delusional." Snape's eyes widened and his jaw dropped at Lily's tone.
"You claim to love me, yet you treated my child abysmally. What makes you think I would want anything to do with you after the abuse and bullying you put my son through. He may look like James, but he was a part of me.
You blamed my son for my death, when you were responsible for making me a target. You claimed to spy for old Albie Dumbledork, but failed to mention that Pettigrew was a traitor. You deliberately and maliciously tried to get Sirius killed when you knew that if Pettigrew was alive then Sirius was innocent.
You took one look at my Harry and declared him a bully, an attention seeker, arrogant and rule breaking. The truth is Snivellus if you had bothered to look objectively at my son, at his life and seen him for Harry not James; you would equate yourself with Harry and cast that little albino ferret Malfoy as James.
You claim to love me, yet you hate where I come from. You hate muggles and you were a member of the gangs that attacked muggleborns at Hogwarts. How can you love me if you hate so many things about me? The answer to that is you can't.
You were never punished for your role in the war. You got to have a cushy job, while true innocents like Sirius and Harry were locked away. You could have done so much good as the head of Slytherin, taught them the truth about blood supremacy, showed them a better way of living.
No! Instead you bullied the other three houses. Your actions made the snakes reviled throughout the school. Your blatant favouritism to your house, your arrogance has helped bring Britain to its knees.
You gave your snakes a sense of entitlement, that only leads to destruction. Your biased teaching methods have given Britain a generation that loathes potions. Your bias meant there were less qualified graduates to become Aurors, Healers and potion brewers.
You took the hurt and hate you felt in childhood and doled it out as an adult to children in your care a hundred fold.
I could never love a man filled with that much hatred. A man who bullied and abused children. A man who felt joy at the idea of sending my son to his death.
When I died Severus I felt pity for you. When I found out your role in my death I disliked you. I now hate you. You don't have some great reward coming, you won't be considered the great spy for the light. You Snape are here to hear your punishment."
James slipped an arm around his wife and guided her back to her seat. Neither of them saw the look of betrayal and horror that was on Snape's face. Neither of them really cared, they had said their piece, they had no further involvement or interest in the afterlife of Severus Snape.
Chairperson Arthur was feeling quite disturbed. As a member of the Committee of Judgement, he had heard what the newly deceased thought of each person's testimony. No one had made it through his bitterness and arrogance. Severus Tobias Snape could not see where he had made mistakes. That some of his choices had been wrong. There had been a brief moment in Lily Potter's testimony that Arthur thought had cut through his delusions. But in the end, the man could just not see the validity of others opinions.
"Severus Tobias Snape," intoned Chairperson Arthur formally. "For a life lived in bitterness and hatred; for the pain and suffering you inflicted on others; for your failure to do right by hundreds of children; for your actions in the destruction and deaths of hundreds you have been judged."
Chairperson Arthur moved from the Committee seating to the centre of the room. "Severus Tobias Snape, it is the judgement of this committee that you are sentenced to purgatory. There you shall remain, working the tasks that are set for you until you have reached enlightenment. Only when you reach enlightenment shall you come before us again to be judged then for your worthiness to enter the Elysium Fields."
Having done his part Chairperson Arthur clapped his hands together and Severus Tobias Snape was gone. With little fan fair the occupants in the room began to leave, giving no more thought to the soul that had just been judged.
The only soul still concerned with Snape was Albus Dumbledore. As he was led back to purgatory by a committee member, he had no idea his interruption of the Judgement had lengthened his own search for enlightenment.
A/N: I was very disappointed with the last two books. I feel that JKR tainted the character of James and to a lesser extent Sirius in an attempt to redeem Snape. A man I find to be irredeemable and whose actions would have horrified Lily had she seen how he treated her son. He claims to love Lily and had for decades, yet he treated what she loved most (Harry) as dirt. James is vilified by JKR for being against the Dark Arts and yet Snape is forgivable for his few pitiful actions that were far outweighed by his nastier leanings.
Ok, starting to rant, so I'll stop. I started this as I was feeling frustrated trying to finish other things. I now concede defeat in them. However this little snippet has given me ideas for a couple of other people, so there may be more of them.
Thanks for reading.