Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, settings, or concepts from the world of Harry Potter

Waking up this time had been decidedly less pleasant than the white purgatory. Even the twitch of his eyes as he stirred awake hurt. Hearing the voices passing by was torture, as was that ringing in his ears. And Merlin help him if he tried to move his head in the slightest.

Severus immediately began to compare the feeling to a spike being rammed through the back of his head.

The whole ordeal, even trying to open his eyes, was more sharp and prolonged than the attack by Nagini. At least THAT had numbed shortly afterward.

Opening his eyes let in that tortuous glare of the sun, and immediately he began to reel, throwing an arm back over his face. If a student had seen him, it would only add to the ridiculous rumors that he was a vampire.

Footsteps began to click on a marble floor, each one blasting through Snape's head like a Reducto to his brain. Louder. LOUDER. LOUDER. This was it. He must have crossed over into hell and begun his eternity of punishment.

"Be careful, Mr. Snape. We don't want to make it worse. Shh...Relax."

The feminine voice sounded familiar, but Severus couldn't place it between the pain and the ringing in his head.

"Turn your head to the side, please." the mysterious woman requested. Not willing to argue, he obeyed, and doing so he noticed a bottle on his bedside. Ringing head or not, Severus immediately recognized it between the teal-colored liquid and the label. A Wide-Eye Potion, designed to prevent sleep, awaken from a drugging, or…

"I'm using some Star Grass Salve to help you with the pain. Sadly, there isn't much more we can do for concussions than a Muggle Doctor."

Immediately, Severus felt pressure on the back of his head, which hurt for a brief instant. Suddenly though, a soothing aroma reached his nostrils and a lightheaded numbness spread throughout his senses. It was just enough for him to focus on the voice and be able to place it with the help of his memories.

"Poppy..?" he asked groggily, though he was startled by the youthful voice he heard.

"Excuse me, Mr. Snape. I'll give you some leeway due to the concussion, but the rest of the teachers may not hesitate to take points from Slytherin for your disrespect. Please mind your manners."

"Manners?" Severus thought to himself. He had been on a first-name basis with everyone on the Hogwarts staff for nearly two decades.

Two decades.

His eyes widened.

"Excuse me...Madam Pomfrey." Severus croaked, perplexed at hearing a teenage voice escape his lips again. Just what point in time had he been flung back to? "...What day is it? How long...have I been asleep?"

"Not long. It's still Thursday. We couldn't let you stay unconscious for fear of complicating the injury." the school Matron answered, having finished applying the salve to his head, turning it back up so that she could face him.

It was one jarring shock after another for Severus; Madam Pomfrey looked far younger than he had seen in years. Her face was almost devoid of wrinkles. The gray hair was still a vibrant blonde. The only thing that he could recognize was her shining, blue eyes.

"It looks like your eyes are responding well to the light now." she gave Severus a warm smile.

"What happened?" the teenage boy asked, still dumbfounded.

There it was. The familiar, frustrated scowl he remembered spread on Madam Pomfrey's face. "What happened was you and Mr. Potter got into another barney down by the lake. He had you hoisted up and dropped you squarely on your head. What in Merlin's name goes through your head when you two do this?! I hope you realize that this is going to cut into your O.W.L.s"

Potter...

Lake…

O.W.L.s…

"Feel a point in your life that you wish you could change." Dumbledore's words echoed again.

That was where he had been thrust. His Worst Memory. The moment right before he said…

"How did I get here?" Severus asked suddenly.

"Well, Mr. Potter brought you in on a conjured gurney. It would have been rather impressive magic if he hadn't been the one to leave you like this. Given that he was followed in by Mr. Lupin and Miss Evans, they probably had something to do with convincing him to do the right thing.

Miss Evans.

Severus immediately felt his stomach lurch at the mention of Lily. The mention of two enemies, Potter and Lupin, didn't seem to matter to him. She was alive. And if nothing else, she still cared enough to help him get treated for a concussion.

His eyes scanned the entirety of the Hospital Wing, looking around desperately. He understood the words that Madam Pomfrey told him, but he didn't dare hope or believe them until he saw her for himself. Despite his search, there was no sign of that fiery mane of red hair, nor those deep, green eyes.

Sensing his urgency, the Matron piped in. "Relax Mr. Snape. They all left before you woke up. Given that it's almost sundown, I imagine that all of them are going to be in the Great Hall soon for supper."

Hope, followed by disappointment. Two emotions that Severus had not experienced in a very long time. He let out an exhausted sigh, and let his head rest back on the pillow in defeat.

"I'm going to be leaving for supper as well. It's probably too soon for you to hold down any food without vomiting." The School Healer pointed towards the bottle at his bedside table. "You may rest your eyes, but sleep is too dangerous tonight. I want you to take one sip of that potion every few hours. I'll be back a little while after curfew to give you another application of the salve to keep you calm and relatively pain-free, but you are not to leave the bed for any reason. Is that understood?"

Severus nodded slightly. Madam Pomfrey had been like the mother that had been absent in his life. He remembered during his teenage years how often he would visit the Hospital Wing due to his fights with James Potter. She always had a stern foundation of morals, giving him advice that his younger mind didn't care to hear.

That was how it had always been. Everyone had an agenda. They all had tried to steer him in a certain direction, yet Severus knew from the start what his ambitions were. Strength. Influence. And above all, acceptance. The only ones he ever listened to were the ones that told him what he wanted to hear. Rather than what he NEEDED to hear. Much like every other impetuous teenager that he had seen come in as wide-eyed first years and leave as fully-grown adult witches and wizards.

He shut his eyes and started to recall the scene that had played in his mind thousands of times. What he would do if he had the power to go back and change that moment. How he would easily disarm Potter and humiliate all four of those wretched Marauders. The popular Quidditch Hero. His sadistic, best friend. Their snivelling tag-along who ratted Lily out to the Dark Lord. And lastly, the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, too concerned with keeping his friends than to adhere to his responsibilities as a Prefect.

Even now, the thought of those four infuriated Severus. He knew, if he had been dropped into that scene a few minutes earlier, how different things would have gone. And he almost felt cheated out of that moment of glory.

Almost.

None of that mattered, as long as he had at least avoided uttering that wretched word. Even if it meant that he fell on his head like the inept Longbottom boy. For all of the humiliation that his pride had suffered that day, he would endure it all ten times over just for the opportunity to change that one thing.

"But now what?" he thought curiously to himself. "...What can I possibly say if I see her again?"

It was a strange predicament, to be sure. For almost two decades of spying on Voldemort and the Death Eaters, Severus had been walking a tightrope where one slip would result in his death. Which is why he was so incredibly skilled at it. Because the consequence meant absolutely nothing to him.

Here, if he truly had returned to his teenage years at Hogwarts, if Lily was in fact alive again...the consequence of falling off that tightrope was so laughably mundane compared to the eternity of death. So why was it so jarring to think about what exactly he should say? Why was it so hard to think at all?

"Severus. Feel. Don't think." the words of Dumbledore returned once again to the forefront.

Dumbledore.

Severus opened his eyes again and stared at the ceiling. If he was young again...that meant that the old Headmaster was also alive. Would he remember Severus if they crossed paths again? Would he be expected to resume his duties as a spy in a world where the threat of Lord Voldemort was just beginning to come to a head?

There were so many lingering questions distracting Severus that he had scarcely noticed that night had already fallen amidst his pondering. And that a visitor had wandered in…

"You're awake…" a soft voice whispered, silencing all of the noise and thoughts flooding through his mind.

His eyes remained glued to the ceiling, almost too petrified to move. That bubbling sensation in his stomach returned tenfold. That voice...it had been so long since he had heard it clearly with his own ears.

It took nearly all of his strength just for the simple motion to tear his gaze away from the white ceiling of the Hospital Wing...down through the air...past the vibrant, copper curls...and into those bright green eyes. There, standing at his bedside, was Lily, her arms folded, with an obviously frustrated expression on her face.

The reborn teenager's breaths instantly became labored when his mind registered her presence. Within a few seconds, he was hyperventilating, but didn't dare take his eyes off of her for fear that she would disappear. That cauldron was bubbling...and within seconds, its contents burst.

He couldn't keep it in any longer, and his lunch...whatever that had been some twenty-two years ago, was retched onto the floor just a few feet from where Lily had been standing.

"Five-hundred points from Slytherin...for vomiting in front of her before so much as a word was said. Brilliant, Snape." he thought to himself in sheer humiliation.

"God, Severus…" The Muggleborn girl shook her head with disgust and pity, reaching into her pocket and pulling out that unmistakable, willow wand. She pointed it at the bile "Scourgify".

Once the incantation was spoken, numerous soapy bubbles began to scrub and clean at the mess that Severus had made, and within moments, it was gone completely.

Wiping away at his mouth, the young man continued to look up at Lily, with a mixture of awe and frustration at his atrocious first impression. "...What are you doing here?"

The question hadn't been meant as an insult, but clearly the words had struck a nerve as Lily's lips pursed. "To be honest, I'm asking myself the same question right now. I THOUGHT I would come and check up on a friend, but maybe I'm in the wrong place. Are we even friends anymore?"

Please. No. Not again. He hadn't even said it this time. "...Wha...why on Earth would you ask me that?

"Why wouldn't I? You haven't spoken to me in over a week, you skived off last night when I invited you to study in the library for the Ancient Runes O.W.L., I tried to help you down by the lake, and THAT is the first thing you say to me?"

Merlin, those eyes were capable of burning away the layers of Occlumency, especially when they flared like a pair of enchanted, green flames. His frustration began to grow, and within moments, he was making the same, impulsive comments he did when he actually had been sixteen.

"You came to help me because of that pretty little badge you wear so proudly on your chest!" Severus snapped, pointing at her crimson and gold Prefect's Badge that was shining in the dimly lit room.

Lily gasped, taken aback by his sharp words. Definitely not the right thing to say.

"No...I came to help you because it was the right thing to do. Because I wanted to try to get your attention one more time! Maybe remind you that I exist? It was more than you deserved, because when I realized you weren't coming to study with me, I passed by the Restricted Section and saw you chatting it up with Avery and Mulciber. What happened? Was the stupid Mudblood not worth your time?"

"DON'T say that word!" Severus winced.

"Why not?! You've said it before, just not to me!" Lily hissed as she stamped her foot on the marble floor

The words continued to pour from the girl, along with the one thing that he absolutely was not prepared for. He noticed tears beginning to fill her eyes.

"Severus, I can NOT keep doing this to myself! I wanted to help you. You were innocent in that whole ordeal until the moment you flung that spell at Potter."

This wasn't how Severus was expecting or hoping this would go. He had remembered all of the good times he had spent with this girl. Memories that he clung to as the best times he had ever experienced. Memories that were strong enough to conjure a Patronus. Good times...that clearly had not been shared by the two for quite some time, even at this point.

The image returned to his mind. A single visual from the countless times he had gone back and viewed that memory from every conceivable angle. One that still hurt him, even now.

"Is that why you smiled?" he asked coldly.

"Yes." she responded without hesitation. "You could have just let me do my job and you wouldn't have gotten hurt. I was trying to help you, but that wasn't enough. You still had to get your licks in at Potter."

"He humiliated me!"

"I KNOW! And I was the ONLY one who came to help you!" Lily roared back, the tears breaking free and beginning to trickle down her cheeks. "Not Rosier! Not Avery! Not Mulciber! ME!"

Severus took a deep breath in, and calmed himself. He had to take back control in this situation before it would serve as a repeat of the way this night had gone in another life...at the Fat Lady's Portrait...the last conversation he ever had with Lily. And there was only one way to do that.

"You're right." he whispered gently. "You are. Nobody else helped me. And whether it was stupid pride, childish ignorance, or worse, just taking you for granted, expecting that you would be around forever, I have never thanked you. Not once. And of all the mistakes I have made, that is one that I regret most of all."

Lily's tear-filled glare softened at Severus' words.

"...I can't go back and change all those times that I was blinded by Slytherin ambition. All I can do is apologize to you here and now. And tell you that I mean it...with all my heart. Your friendship was the greatest gift I could have ever received. And losing it...is one of the worst things that I could ever hope to endure."

The boy's black eyes, so intense and focused during his years as an intimidating teacher, had let up and regarded Lily's green eyes with a gentle sincerity that he didn't care to give anyone else.

The Muggleborn girl remained silent for another minute or so, letting a silence hang following the words that Severus had spoken to her.

Throughout that silence, there were distant rings of the clock tower bell. There were ten in all, signifying that curfew had begun.

Her lips quivered, and she breathed in deeply, wiping away her tears. "Do you know why I hate that word so much..?"

"Aside from it being filthy, rude, and wrong?" he asked with a slight frown, not needing to even ask what word she was referring to..

Lily's lips smiled, ever so briefly, before the pain returned to her face. "...Because it's a statement that people like me don't belong in this world. Think for a moment how that feels...especially when you promised me...before we ever came here. When it was just us, back home in Cokeworth...you promised me that it didn't make a difference if I was born from Wizards or Muggles."

"It doesn't." Severus declared without hesitation. It was a fact he had accepted long ago...but still too late for it to matter the first time around.

"...Then prove it." she whispered, turning around and beginning to walk towards the exit.

Lily had gone halfway to the door before turning her head back towards the Slytherin boy. "Goodnight, Severus."

His eyes had remained locked on Lily, where they never strayed from the moment their conversation had begun. "Goodnight, Lily." he replied, finally daring to call her by name. "...And thank you."

Author's Note: One of the problems I had looking back on my original fanfic, Tempus Vita, was how quickly and easily Severus and Lily had managed to patch things up. The reality of the situation is that it was a relationship that had degenerated for a long time, months, if not at least a year, thanks in part to his pride and unwillingness to listen, as shown in The Prince's Tale. Calling her a Mudblood was certainly the straw that broke the camel's back, but make no mistake, everything that had led up to it played its part as well.

What those things were, we are only left to assume, unless Jo Rowling ever decides to give us the details on Pottermore. Severus clearly had a lot of bad habits as he grew into the typical Slytherin, but Lily was also to blame for her quick temper and inability to know how to articulate her thoughts without riling him up. I tried my best to show it in this chapter. Had Severus not had the maturity and the experience of how badly things had ended the first time, and taken a step back to apologize before he said something he'd regret, it likely would have had the same result, Mudblood slip or not.

There are a lot of hurdles that these two need to jump before their friendship can return to full strength, and they both need to be willing to try to make it work.

As always, please let me know what you thought of the chapter! The more detailed the review, the better, as I'm always looking for advice and ways to improve even more as I go! If you happened to read the corresponding Sev/Lily reunion in Tempus Vita and wish to compare the two, I'll be especially interested! Thanks again, and I'll be back soon with more!