Saving a Prince
Disclaimer: I don't own anything
HPDH spoiler warning! After two days of mourning, I've realized that Rowling never gave any info as to what happened to Snape's body, whether there was a funeral, or even if his portrait appeared in the head's office. So…what really happened to our beloved Potions Master?
On to the ramblings of my overactive imagination…
"Look…at…me…" he whispered.
The poison was both numbing and excruciating, but he managed to force those last three words out through sheer will.
Potter turned those bright green, almond-shaped eyes on him; eyes that Snape both adored and detested. For one last moment, he sought to focus on the vivid green and envision the laughing, redheaded woman to whom they belonged. But all too soon, the world blurred and receded from Snape's vision, just as he himself was receding from the world.
Snape came around to find himself standing on a cobblestone path. The path was deserted and the only sound came from the gentle whoosh of the mists swirling around him.
"How utterly fitting that I should leave a life of suffering, only to end up in a world resembling Trelawney's crystal ball," he sneered to no one in particular.
The mists swirled reassuringly around him. A few stray wisps even broke free to nudge him gently down the cobblestone path.
Snape scowled at the offending wisps, but as he could find nothing else to occupy him, he swept briskly down the designated path. The path appeared endless, giving Snape plenty of time to muse on present circumstances. It was somewhat anti-climactic, he decided, to be able to hoodwink the most dangerous dark wizard of all time on the subject of his loyalties, yet fail to recognize the signs of impending danger when he arrived in the Shrieking Shack. Of course, the moment he arrived and caught sight of the snake, he had been too preoccupied with the urgent need to contact Harry Potter. Potter, the bane of his existence, who was also Lily's son…the son who was a constant reminder of the one he had loved and lost…the boy who lived because of Lily's sacrifice. The last years of his life had been spent desperately protecting the troublesome boy, only to be informed that Potter was destined to meet his end in the final confrontation with Voldemort. All these years of hard work, all in preparation for Lily's son to finally face that jet of green light from Voldemort's wand! Snape pulled his billowing cloak more tightly around his neck at the thought.
The mists were gradually becoming thinner now, till every last vestige ebbed away and Snape found himself back in his old Potions classroom. This wasn't the Potions classroom he taught in however; this was Potions as he remembered as a student. There was the charred black table on which James Potter's potion had once exploded. There was the table where he had always worked alone, and right up front, was the table where Slughorn's favorite, Lily…
Snape froze.
"Severus…" said the redhead who was sitting there, eyes glistening.
"Lily?" Snape whispered incredulously.
As he moved closer, he recognized not Lily the woman, but the Lily who looked fifteen or sixteen, who had not yet become James Potter's girlfriend. There was the halo of dark red curls he had always yearned to run his hands through, but never had the courage. Those green eyes…those beautiful, almond-shaped eyes finally looked out at him from the face he loved, not the face of his enemy he had to endure for the past seventeen years.
"Thank you for protecting my son, Severus," Lily whispered.
Snape looked into the gratitude shining out of her eyes and shifted his feet in an uncharacteristic display of discomfort.
"I…it wasn't…I owed it to you," he muttered awkwardly.
"I always knew there was something in you that you hid from the world," said Lily quietly.
"Indeed, I suppose this was your sentiment while you were slamming that portrait in my face," Snape couldn't prevent himself from shooting out.
Lily sighed.
"What else was I supposed to do? I couldn't remain best friends with someone who had just thrown the worst insult into my face."
"I apologized."
"I know, and I know it wasn't easy for you, Severus. But you had made your choice already. You chose your other friends, so I had to choose mine."
Snape struggled with his rising emotions, the need to tell her that no one else had ever taken her place, no one else had ever come close.
"I most certainly did not choose my other 'friends'," snapped Snape. "How could…I cared for you, Lily! You weren't just my best friend. I…I really…cared…"
"Severus, I loved you too! There were even times when I thought that…" Lily's voice wavered and trailed off. Then she continued firmly, "But our relationship couldn't continue when you made choices that went against what I believed in. I couldn't love you for your choices, and your choices are what make you who you are."
Snape now felt thoroughly miserable, as though he had just lost her all over again. She had once loved him, once truly cared for him, but he had thrown all that away for a few rare moments of acceptance in his House.
"But that doesn't mean I don't appreciate all you've done," Lily continued quietly. "There isn't anyone I'd trust more to protect Harry."
"So…" Snape struggled to get the words out. "So you've forgiven me?"
Lily smiled.
"I forgave you a long time ago, Sev," she said, softly, reverting back to her nickname for him.
For one of the few times in his life, Snape felt a warm glow suffusing him from somewhere inside him. Lily, his Lily, had understood, had forgiven him.
As his heart swelled, he caught strains of a lovely melody that filled his chest with further wonder. It appeared to be coming from the path he had just taken, and once more, Snape felt an irresistible tug.
"What - " he began.
"It's time for you to go," said Lily, smiling sadly.
"I've only just arrived!" he protested vehemently, but Lily cut him off.
"No, it's time for you to go back."
"Back?" said Snape, blankly.
He didn't want to leave, not when he had just been reunited with his Lily again. But the Potions classroom was fading, along with the beautiful redhead with the green eyes dancing with tears. The last thing he heard was her voice calling, "…another day, Sev…" before her last words melted away as well.
Now he was transported back along the path so fast that his cloak barely swept the cobblestone ground. The lovely song came stronger and stronger…there was a flash of golden light…an excruciating pain to his chest…and once more, all was dark.
When Snape came around for the second time that day, he found himself back in the Shrieking Shack, lying in his own pool of blood.
"Merlin!" he cursed, pulling his cloak away from the wet stickiness.
Frowning at the vast amount of blood seeping through the wooden floorboards, he reached tentative fingers to the wound on his neck. Except there was no wound. His fingers came away with a pearly liquid. Snape's eyes darted between the sheen of the liquid on his fingers and the pool of blood on the floor, and the memory of the song hit him full in the face.
"Fawkes," he whispered in shock.
From deep within his heart, came an answering quaver, and Snape suddenly realized why he had no need of a Blood-Replenishing Potion.
"I don't understand," he muttered.
Then, as though the words were being spoken directly inside his head, came Harry Potter's voice, "Severus Snape wasn't yours. Snape was Dumbledore's, Dumbledore's from the moment you started hunting down my mother."
"How touching, Potter," Snape sneered, half-heartedly. "I daresay it is my destiny to owe life debts to the Potters."
This last bit was punctuated with an irritated scowl and a last swish of his cloak as Snape swept down the passage leading to the Whomping Willow with one thought on his mind: to reach Lily's son, perhaps protect him one last time. He extricated himself from the tree with some difficulty in time to witness the bright orange of a new day. As he started up the path leading to Hogwarts, echoes of cheers grew stronger and stronger, which could only mean one outcome. He stopped dead; a queer, liberating feeling overtook him.
You've done it, Harry Potter, Snape thought in wonder. Sacrificed yourself for the good of the world. You are truly your mother's son. The admittance came easily, as though unconsciously, he had arrived at the realization a long time ago.
As Severus Snape looked out upon the day of new beginnings, he realized that he was finally free. Free from his servitude to a deranged master, free from his promise to Dumbledore, and finally, free from the guilt caused by his role in Lily's death.
Severus Snape turned away from the cheers. His work here was done. He walked away from Hogwarts castle at last, his home and his prison, unburdened enough to finally venture out and experience all the good the world had to offer him.
A/N: This was sort of written at the spur of the moment, without any prior planning, which explains some of the choppiness in the scene with Lily. However, I think my brave Prince fully deserves his happy ending. Hope you all like it! I might consider writing a sequel…perhaps involving Snape and an unhappily married Hermione winks