A/N The world and the characters you recognise belong to JKR; I am merely extrapolating. AU to the max. Beta'd by the fab Feral Pirate. Review please
Awareness of pain and weakness; sounds of footsteps and faint soft light, voices close by, loud and arguing; sensations of something not quite right, that he was suspended in time somehow... he could almost see them through the mist. Six people arguing about him. Voices he knew voices from his past. He could not move although he desperately wanted to talk to them.
"He has failed, again! He never could get anything right. He was and will always be a traitor, he only merits destruction. I vote death." Sirius Black.
"NO! He has been true to everything required of him. I trusted him with my life and my death. He never failed me. He always kept his head under pressure, which is more than I can say for you, Sirius! He has earned peace and he must be there to mentor Harry. I vote life." Albus Dumbledore.
"He left Harry to face Riddle by himself. He was evil from the beginning, I agree with Sirius. Death." James Potter.
"He helped the Order until the end; he never betrayed any of us, he was a hero. Could any of us have suffered the things he did without betraying the Order? Could any of us have endured the punishments Riddle doled out? I know he did things even the Aurors feared to do. He had every opportunity to harm all of us but he didn't. He sent us to the Ministry to help Harry. I vote life." Nymphadora Tonks.
"Could you, Sirius or you, James, have done what he did? Given your entire existence to bringing down Riddle? Could you have followed Albus' orders without fail? Put others' wishes before your own? He did, for the last eighteen years he had resisted only one task. It nearly unhinged him to have to kill Albus. But he did it because he had TAKEN AN OATH to obey without question. Could either of you havedone that? He did what he did for my sake. He does not belong here. I vote life." Lily Evans Potter. He could feel her kneel by his side. Felt her touch his hand. Felt Nymphadora Tonks kneel beside him also. He felt his heart begin to beat very softly.
"He proved a better friend to me than anyone had in years. He made the Wolfsbane potion for me while I was at Hogwarts and ever since. Even after he fled with Draco, he sent owls with the potions. I trusted him as Albus did. I also vote life." Remus Lupin knelt next to Nymphadora and put a hand on Severus's shoulder. Severus felt a flicker of breath return to his lungs.
"He deserves the future, we are of the past. He deserves what he missed because of his dedication to duty, happiness, love, peace, recognition, friendship, a family of his own, and our thanks for being strong enough to stay the course and for his steadfastness of purpose. We were brought here to argue his fate, and vote whether he merits redemption. Four votes for redemption and two for death. He will be sent back." Again Lily Evans Potter and Nymphadora Tonks. He felt a slight warming and could almost move again.
He sensed a door shutting and the voices were moving away now. But they came again to his ears with one last message. "Blessed be, Severus, blessed be. You will not return here for many years. The future awaits you. Live well."
He could feel the pain of his wounds sharply now. He still could just barely move, but suddenly Harry was there. Severus had to concentrate to give him the memories which would give him the last piece of the puzzle.
"Take them." He forced his voice to obey him, as he grabbed the boy's robes.
Once the memories had been collected, he forced himself to speak again. "Look at me!" Then he passed out again, falling back as if truly dead.
The quiet was overwhelming. The boy had gone with the flask of memories. The girl's hand had touched his face before she left and she had whispered, "Blessed be, Professor. Blessed be."
At least someone had cared enough to give him a benediction. He opened his eyes at that thought, he wasn't dead yet. He must move and get to the castle to assist the boy if needed. Then he would be free at long last, or dead, either way lay peace.
He had lost a lot of blood, but not as much as he had feared. The packets of potionblood he had hidden under the collar of his robes had sufficiently fooled them all, and the antidote for the snake's venom he had created, he'd drunk a vial before coming to the Shack with Lucius Malfoy. He had added two drops of Phoenix tears to the potion to keep any wounds he received small.
" I knew that and the Felix Felicis potion would save me, but I need to move now." On that thought he sat up and sealed the wound in his throat.
He struggled to his feet before performing a disillusionment charm on himself, and carefully made his way to the Headmaster's office. Harry was lying on the floor after seeing the memories. The boy looked stunned, but Snape saw realization hit and saw him accept what he had seen. Saw Harry blink and then set his mind to doing this last task that was to be required of him.
Snape waited until the boy left and then reached into the desk for a restorative elixir and the large vial of blood replenishing potion. He collapsed into the chair and waited an hour or two until he felt better. He gathered the items he was going to take with him into a bag, potions, clothes, Muggle money… his journal.
Then suddenly he heard the voice of the Dark Lord, announcing that Harry Potter was dead.
"I do not think so, you stupid, arrogant fool." He thought.
Disillusioning the bag and carrying it with him he made his way to the parapet overlooking the front of the school.
"Ah yes. Act III, Scene I. At last! "He said to himself.
As he looked down at the scene several things happened. The Giants raced around a corner, hundreds of witches and wizards came rushing into the grounds led by Slughorn and Charlie Weasley, the Centaurs galloped out of the forest sending showers of arrows at the Death Eaters. And the body of Harry Potter twitched twice and disappeared. Snape had his wand out at the ready in case he had to intervene.
"Good boy, Harry. Oh good job, Longbottom. Take the snake's head clean off with one stroke. Bravo!"
The scene turned to chaos as the fight moved into the castle. Snape hurried down a back stair to stand in a corner of the Great Hall as the fight moved into the room. He watched as Minerva McGonagall, Horace Slughorn and Kingsley Shacklebolt battled Riddle. He saw Bellatrix Lestrange battling the three young graces, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood.
Molly Weasley dashed into the fray, throwing off her cloak as she ran. She darted in front of the girls and took on Bellatrix single-handedly. Bellatrix screamed at Molly and Molly screamed back. Bellatrix laughed and as she hesitated Molly's curse caught her off guard. Bellatrix died with a very surprised look on her face.
Snape commented, "Good riddance, hag. You deserved that."
Riddle screamed in rage and turned his curses on Molly. But a shield charm erupted out of thin air.
Snape knew it was Harry. Snape commented to himself that Act III Scene II had arrived and he had an orchestra seat. The boy threw off his cloak and began to battle Riddle. The Dark Lord tried taunting Harry to no avail. Harry replied calmly and with great patience explained what was what to the Dark soon-to-be-dead Lord. They traded comments for a while then Snape heard his own name on Harry's lips. Severus Snape heard wonder and reverence in Harry's words.
Harry vindicated Snape and tried to show Riddle the error of his ways. As Snape watched, the curse and the spell collided in mid air. He saw the Elder Wand fly up and be caught by the hand of the boy he had guarded for so many years. Saw Riddle fall dead at last.
"Splendid job, Harry, you have done it. Blessed be!"
As the rest of the people in the Hall mobbed their young saviour, Snape made his way out of the back corner of the room. He walked to the body of Riddle and spat directly in the face of his erstwhile Master. Then he walked out of the school where he had taught for so long. He didn't think anyone would miss him.
He was wrong.
Within hours it was reported that his body had disappeared. The next day Kingsley Shacklebolt announced in the Daily Prophet that Severus Snape had been awarded the Order of Merlin First Class with the Avalon Cluster posthumously for bravery over and above. Within three days he had become a legend. The Daily Prophet began a series on Severus Snape and offered rewards for any information on the missing wizard. Harry, Ron and Hermione agonised over his disappearance. Harry hoped they would find him alive. Ron just wanted to know how someone had taken the body and Hermione cried for the lonely, misunderstood man Snape had been.
He had gone back to Spinner's End to set enchantments on the house and pick up anything else he might need. He had a plan, at least the idea of a plan. He would see what harm had been done to the Muggle world and try to set what he could right again. And he would learn about the world of Muggles. It was going to have to be his world now. The wizarding world thought him dead and he wanted to keep it that way.
Then he walked out of the only world he had ever known.
He made his way by walking and hitching rides. He headed south to Oxford where he happened on a fair. He performed a few spells such as a child could do and produced coins from small children's ears and had a wonderful time, occasionally he would sell potions at fairs or work in a garden. He decided that most Muggles would leave him alone if he left them alone and he learned that Muggle children were very inquisitive.
He sometimes worked at odd jobs and he occasionally used his magic to put right some things the Death Eaters had destroyed, but mostly he watched people, Muggle families, mainly. He built a reputation as a travelling folk healer and when too many people knew of him, he moved on. For over half a year he wandered, finding his place in this new world and learning the Muggle ways he had shunned. He found emptiness in his soul that urged him to keep moving and he found out things about himself that he never knew.
He saw different kinds of people living and working together and not looking down on each other. He learned compassion and empathy. He knew he had to keep looking for the place he would belong, for the future he had been promised.
He sometimes encountered families whose children had been terrified by the violence. He used his skill at Legilimency to lead those children out of the horrors their minds could not deal with. He was always gentle with the children, calming their fears and obliviating the worst of the memories. He had honed his skill at nonverbal spells to a fine degree and found he enjoyed helping those children. He learned to endure and then even enjoy the effusive emotional thanks of the parents and he learned to smile at people.
He was nearly unrecognizable now. He'd cut his hair, grown a very Sir Walter Raleigh type beard and was wearing Muggle clothes. His hair had gone grey at the temples. He was walking through England, trying to figure out what to do with his life now that the war was over and he had survived.