This was not quite what he expected.

"Wasn't this being done for someone else already?" Severus Snape asked of the expanseless expanse of void.

Ah, yes, you do need punishment... but why are you to be offered The Choice afterward?

"The what?"

Hmm... you can't be put in Hell proper, and you're not ready for The Choice yet... you still need to repent for your actions.

"I already-"

I'm not talking about your feeding the prophecy to Riddle, you repaid that many times before your death. You're being punished for other reasons. I'm still working out the details...

There was a green flash. It took a moment for Severus to realize that he'd been moved to Godric's Hollow, and that he'd just seen Riddle kill James Potter.

...but I think being an observer will be sufficient until all the details are worked out!

"What."

But even if it wasn't already too late to change things, Severus found to his horror that when he moved to stop Riddle from heading up to where Lily was, he was intangible and quite inaudible.

He was being forced to watch it happen. All he could do was stand there and watch as Lily plead with Riddle to spare the boy, to take her instead. It broke him, and it broke him again as Lily fell lifeless to the ground. But even in that he felt a cetain vindictive... satisfaction, he supposed, in knowing that Riddle would fail here due to Lily's sacrifice.

And then it happened. When the boy was struck with the curse, time seemed to slow to a still... and there, between Riddle and the boy, stood Lily and James.

"S-Severus?" Lily asked. "You're dead too?"

"I... I don't understand how I came to be here."

I'll answer that. Lily, James, this is a future Severus. He's being punished for certain decisions that he made after your deaths. He had truly repented of one particular decision that led to this moment, sparing him from Hell Proper, but as he is now he would still find Heaven to be a punishment. This Severus will be following Harry until he grows up.

"Until who grows up, him or Harry?" James asked, half-joking.

That has yet to be determined. Possibly both.

"And what, specifically, am I being punished for here? Why would I find Heaven to be a punishment?" Severus asked.

You were resentful and bitter, more angry at yourself than anything else, but you took it out upon innocent children. This is why you would find Heaven to be Hell – you would be asked to answer for your actions by those whom you harmed in being bitter and resentful across all those years, and you would find yourself unable to. You would wish for Hell, thinking that physical torment would be preferable to such emotional torture, and you would be denied it.

Nobody spoke for a moment. "My punishment, then, is to see things from the boy's point of view?"

My boss is still working out the details, but for now the answer's yes. Lily, James, I'm to bring the two of you to Heaven in a moment for your orientations. Things will be a bit different for you two since you created a True Love's Shield for your son and so will need to stay nearby, but for the most part it'll be normal. If you have any last words for each other, say them now. It will be a long time indeed before you see each other again.

Again, there was a degree of silence. What was there to say? That he was sorry that he told Voldemort about the prophecy? But before Severus could say anything, Lily was hugging him while James stood slightly away awkwardly.

"I wish we could have all been friends together, Sev. But you'd chosen your path and I couldn't follow, not there."

"Lily... I always regretted what I did. I never stopped loving you, and I never stopped hating the fact that I lost you to Potter."

"Oi!" James cried out. "I'm right here!"

Lily smiled ruefully. "If you had the chance to do everything over again, would you choose differently? I might not have chosen James over you if you'd shown me a reason to."

Severus thought about that. "I think I would."

James took Lily's hand. "Would you really have chosen him over me?"

"I might have." She kissed James. "You need to remember that you were an arrogant toerag until you were seventeen and I lost his friendship at fifteen partly because of you."

With that, James and Lily Potter walked into eternity hand in hand.

I understand a little better now why you were to be given The Choice. But that will be for later, once you've shown a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

Something in that phrasing pricked at Severus' ears. But before he could ask, time began to move again. He watched as Riddle's body was disintegrated due to the combined magics of the True Love's Shield, the Avada Kedavra, and the effects of Riddle's Horcruxes. Then things seemed to move almost in ultra speed. He watched as Rubeus Hagrid retrieved the boy from the ruins, as Black attempted to get Harry, then as he gave his illegal motorbike to the half-giant. He flew alongside Hagrid on the way to Surrey, where Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall were awaiting the boy's delivery.

After a few moments of this hyperspeed treatment, Severus spoke up. "I suppose we won't be observing every living moment, then?"

Hmm? Oh, right, you haven't been introduced to the concept of Subjective Time yet. Effectively, what's going to happen is you're going to be observing the important moments. We're drawing on an alternate reality where this is all fiction as a guideline as to what the important moments are.

"I'm glad to know you're taking this seriously." Severus said before he could stop himself. The boy was being chased by a rather large dog and Severus much preferred not to watch.

I really am! Just because I'm new at being a psychopomp doesn't mean I'm a complete idiot.

"...I'm being taken across the River Styx by a novice. What, Charon was unavailable?"

I'm an Apprentice, actually, and if you keep up that attitude I'll make you experience time objectively. Ten years of observing 'the boy' grow up. Do you really want that?

Severus wisely kept his mouth closed, while in the canon Petunia tried to force a horrid orange sweater over the boy's head. Her attempts were futile, as the boy was unconsciously using his magic to shrink the sweater. She eventually gave up.

Charon's reserved for a unique subset of evil people – and no, not even making Horcruxes qualifies for getting him as your psychopomp – so you should be glad you're not getting him. To get him, you would have to have known Absolute Truth while still alive, and then turned completely against it while still alive. Most people don't get Absolute Truth revealed to them until after death as a protective measure. In any case, you'll be switched to Objective Time once we get to the summer of 1991. That's when most of the big stuff starts.

"Joy." Severus sat down, as the two of them saw Harry locked in the cupboard after some minor infraction that was more than likely due to accidental magic. "Isn't that going to get them in trouble with Children's Protection Services?"

Are you concerned?

Severus stood for a moment before he realized he was being asked a question. "It's like my life, but from the outside."

You didn't see this when you were trying to teach him Occlumency?

"Bits and pieces, and I never saw infraction and punishment in a cause-effect context. Occlumency doesn't give unrestricted access to memories; it's heavily influenced by the target's thoughts and emotions at the time, and generally you can only see images. What I did see only convinced me that he was just like his father."

Ah, so it's nothing like our kind of soul-reading. I'm still new at this and you're honestly the first Wizard I've been allowed to work with.

Time started to decompress as they approached the summer of 1991. Severus steeled himself as he felt his perceptions shift.

I think I've got the subjective/objective time thing set properly; you'll skip over the irrelevant things. I'll have to leave you in about an hour; I get to help set up a Sisyphean Damnation later today.

Severus felt a bolt of sheer terror when he heard that. Per the myth, Sisyphus had been condemned to roll a heavy boulder up a uniquely steep hill until he managed to get it to stay perfectly still on the top – as the boulder would always roll back downhill when he got more than halfway up, it was a perfectly futile task. "Do I get to ask who gets that particular damnation?"

It's reserved for those who successfully cheat death. The voice said with disdain. How it works is that they're shifted into alternate timelines, the timelines are tweaked so that they are guaranteed to fail, and this goes on eternally. I think you know who's getting this one.

Severus shuddered, as they saw Harry speak with a python at the zoo. "How long will I be forced to watch the boy?"

I don't yet know. Depending on how things go, you may be offered The Choice sooner than I expect, but if you are then The Choice will also be different than I expect. In either case it's at least going to be until you've matured enough for The Choice to be meaningful. Right now it wouldn't be a choice at all.

"What's this choice you keep speaking of?" They watched as Harry fought with Vernon over his Hogwarts letters.

I can't reveal too much about The Choice, as knowing too much about it will impact your decision later. Just know this for now – should you decide that you can no longer stand by as an idle observer, The Choice will be available to you to make then and there. Man's Agency is honored in the afterlives, but you must be prepared to accept the consequences. The Choice will differ depending on if you invoke it early or not. That is, in perfect honesty, all I am allowed to say.

Time came to almost a crawl as their view shifted to a hut on a rock in the middle of the sea, and Severus realized that he was about to watch the boy on his own.