What if? The Purgatory of Lily

Chapter 2

A Wish to Never Be Parted

He may be a geek, but he's MY geek, and he's always been there for me, so GO TO HELL POTTER!

Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.

Lily frowned as she saw the area she had appeared; she was sitting in a simple white, wooden chair in front of what appeared to be a simple full-length, mahogany-backed mirror, with the words Fi-Tahw on the top of it. It emanated a soft glow and appeared to be constructed of a series of question marks aligned just so, keeping it balanced in spite of how it looked like it could fall over any moment.

Annoyed at the fact that she had been forced to come here against her will, Lily jumped up and shouted, "YOU...IDIOTS! Let me out of here before I hex you into tadpoles!"

Her voice seemed to vanish into the darkness, leaving her alone, angry and scared. Lily then marched off in one direction, only to find herself walking to where she had started by the chair and the mirror.

Huffing with annoyance, Lily ran over to the mirror and tried to throw it to the ground, smashing it. Unfortunately, it only reappeared again back where she had taken it in the first place. Lily then, realizing that she was acting a little crazy, forced herself to calm down while thinking to herself, 'OK, I guess that I have no choice but to do this, not really, so let's see what this bloody mirror can do...'

Frowning, she sat down in the chair with a huff and looked around for something she could do to make it work. Finding an engraving on the bottom of the mirror, she read aloud,

"Sit in the chair and press hand to glass to make use of the Mirror; it will show possibilities of time-lines selected at random, that are designed to assist the viewer with their understanding as much as possible. WARNING: it is impossible to leave until one has used it the required number of times."

Sighing, Lily followed the instructions of the mirror and pressed her right hand to the mirror slowly, and shut her eyes tightly as the mirror suddenly flashed brightly; squinting, Lily watched as the light reformed itself to a scene that she remembered well from her childhood. It was one of the last moments she could remember before everything had seemed to slowly, irredeemably, fall into darkness. This moment consisted of her and Severus in the train compartment on the Hogwarts express her first year, with James and Sirius, with the other two boys chatting and Lily crying...


As the original Lily (AN: Henceforth referred to as Lily-prime) watched the two, Severus tried to cheer up the crying girl by saying excitedly, "But we're going! This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!"

Lily nodded, still mopping her tears, and smiled a little although she was still sad, as she remembered how Petunia had been inseperable and was afraid that now she might lose Severus too. Biting her lip, she then said, interrupting Severus before he even got started on his topic,

"You'd better be-"

"Sev, promise me that we will be in the same house, please!" Lily said this desperately, and Severus blinked for a moment, before saying softly,

"I don't think that that is a real option, Lily...I heard that there is this magic hat that chooses for you, and stuff. I mean, what can we do about it?"

Lily-prime frowned, remembering how she had been planning on asking Severus that same question, only to get distracted by his first argument with James and Sirius. She had then forgotten until after the sorting, whereupon Severus had told her that there was nothing that they could do after the sorting had already taken place.

She also remembered how the sorting hat had screamed Slytherin after only a couple seconds of thought when Severus had put it on his head, and wondered how something so simple as her asking Severus could have led to any real changes...

Lily looked at him, shaking slightly with fear, then said in a heated yet scared tone of voice, "Sev! Come on, you have to be able to do something! Pleaase..." She looked into his eyes, her own wide, only to be interrupted by the voice of James Potter, laughing as he said,

"Aw! Is your girlfriend asking you for helpie-welpie 'Sev'!?"

Clearly annoyed and embarrassed at the prat mocking him, Severus turned to the boy and said, red-faced, "Shut it." He then turned back to Lily and muttered in a tone barely audible to her, "I will if I can, Lily. Just don't hope for too much..."

Lily-prime was surprised at this, as Severus had been planning to get into Slytherin practically since the moment he had heard of the four houses, from what he had told her in her original time-line...

Lily, who was still red-faced at James' comment about her being Severus' girlfriend, nonetheless smiled while saying aloud, "Thank you, Sev! That means a lot to me!"

Sirius then said, smirking at Lily as she gave her friend a gigantic hug, "Awwww! How cute! Slime-boy and the girlfriend! Maybe she likes grease or something..."

James then laughed, and Lily's eyes flashed with anger and embarrassment, thinking to herself, 'I've had about enough of these boys...' Lily then grabbed Severus by the arm and said aloud, glaring at the other two boys,

"Come on Severus, let's find another compartment."

James and Sirius then said, high-fiving each other as they did so, "Ooooo..." They then started laughing as Severus and Lily walked out the door...


Lily watched from the Gryffindor table as some other names were called, waiting for Severus' turn with bated breath, not even listening really as the sorting hat called out other names. She looked over at Severus as he seemed to be trying to decide something, although Lily doubted anyone other than her would have noticed it.. 'Please Severus, I don't want to be alone in this new school...'

Severus was struggling internally, as he had wanted to get into Slytherin from the moment that he had heard about Slythein house, as it was the home of the clever and the cunning, like him, and the house of his mother. He knew that, if he got into Slytherin house, it would make her smile, something that she did all too rarely nowadays, especially since Tobias had lost his job a couple of months ago. On the other hand, he knew that it would make Lily very happy if he were to be in Gryffindor, and he didn't want to disappoint her either, as she was his best friend. He glanced over at Lily and saw her looking hopefully over at him.

'I know that its probably not my choice, and what I want won't make much of a difference, but...' Severus groaned to himself quietly, watching as 'Potter, James' was sorted into Gryffindor; he didn't want to disappoint either his mother or Lily, but, if it came down to it, he felt he owed Lily right now as he did feel rather guilty about how he had said that what happened with her sister wasn't important. Although, as far as he was concerned, Petunia didn't deserve Lily's sympathy, if she was calling her own sister a freak, just like Tobias did to him, he knew that Lily did care about her. '...I guess that at least I can make it up to Lily this way. Maybe Lily and I can bring up the reputation of Gryffindor house...unlike that idiot, Potter...'

Lily-prime found listening to Severus' thoughts to be rather interesting; she had had no idea how Severus thought that Petunia was like his father, but it kind of made sense, as, from what she had gleaned in conversations with Severus, his father was likely abusive, and frequently belittled him, just because he happened to have inherited his mother's ability of magic. 'I wonder what till happen now...'

Having decided, Severus walked determinedly up to the Sorting Hat as his name was called, then jammed it onto his head; over the next couple of minutes, Lily watched as the Sorting Hat deliberated, then Severus looked over at her, worried. Trying to encourage him, she smiled, and he smiled a thin smile of his own, before the Sorting Hat finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily beamed at Severus as he walked over to Gryffindor table, moving over just enough to give him room to sit, although the two of them were a bit squashed together. Just audible over the cheering of Gryffindor's table, Lily said to him, "Thank you, Sev, it means a lot to me..."

He looked over at her, then went red for a moment before muttering that it was nothing. Lily then turned to the headmaster's table as he then started a speech, still thinking, 'I'm really glad that we are in the same house, my best friend and I...'

Lily-prime was speechless in surprise, shocked that Severus had actually managed to convince the Sorting Hat to put him in Gryffindor, as, in her time-line, the Sorting Hat had barely even needed to think at all...


Lily-prime, starting to get rather interested, watched as time passed. It was a bit sped up and some things had obviously changed, as Severus showed no real interest in being a part of that group that Mulciber and Avery had been in, probably because they didn't have any major interest in getting the 'enemy' to join them.

In this time-line, Severus had made friends mostly with Lily's girlfriends, Alice Nesbitt and Mary Macdonald, although he and Remus Lupin weren't completely unfriendly. However, he was still generally considered 'a weirdo' by those not in his circle of friends, and the Marauders with the exception of Remus seemed to dislike him just as much as in her time-line. However, there was one huge difference...

'Hmm, I wonder what Mary or Sev will say about this spell...?' Lily read with interest about a spell that would enable one to tell time easily, tempus, as she periodically watched for Severus to come over like they had planned. He had told her that he was going to be outside just as soon as he found his textbook again as his roommates, known as the so-called 'Marauders', had hidden it again.

Frowning, Lily thought to herself furiously, 'Those berks! I hope that, minus Remus, they all take a long walk off of a short pier sometime!'

Lily and the Marauders had more than a little dislike between them, mainly because she was friends with 'Snivellus' and was his 'girlfriend' in their eyes. It was completely false of course, but the title had managed to stick to some extent, in spite of both her and Severus' repeated denials.

Suddenly noticing Severus exiting the Great Hall, Lily was about to wave him over when she suddenly heard a much-disliked voice shouting,"Oi, Slime-girl! Try an Aguamenti!"

Lily-prime was quite surprised that she and James had become seemingly as much of enemies as Severus and him had, and it didn't seem like it was the kind of teasing that boys do with girls they like, but more like planned humiliation...much like how he had treated Severus up until sixth year.

Even though she was moving as quickly as possible, Lily was still too slow to block Potter's spell, and got her front completely soaked for her troubles. Spitting out water while roaring with anger, Lily countered with a quick expelliarmus aimed at his face, but it was blocked by one of Black's. 'Blast it, why won't those jerks leave me alone!? Where is...' "Rictusempra!" '...Nevermind! there he is!'

Lily grinned as Severus' hex hit Potter from the side. While he was doubled up laughing, Lily took advantage of the situation to disarm him with another quick charm, before nodding in thanks over at Severus. Although he was now dueling with Pettigrew, he managed a smirk and a nod of his own in reply...

Soon the two of them managed to force the situation to enough of a draw that the Marauders decided to withdraw before any Prefects or teachers arrived. With one last parting shot of "Take care, Snivellus! Slime-Girl! Don't get grease on our textbooks!", the Marauders ran back into the school, and Lily and Severus collapsed to the ground panting. That little fight had taken quite a bit out of them.

Lily-prime was rather surprised to see that, somehow, James had taken to insulting her about as much as he did Severus, rather than flirting with her. Thinking about it though, she supposed that since they seemed to be fighting with spells rather than words, that probably cooled down his romantic interest a lot...

Lily looked over at Severus, then said gratefully, "T-thanks, Severus, I don't k-know what I would do w-without you."

Looking back at her, Severus went a bit red, before saying, "A-anytime Lily."

Several minutes went by, both of them recovering their strength. After she had pulled herself back together though, Lily then said in a bit of a bossy tone, "OK, Severus! It's time that we get to work on those spells that McGonagall had us memorize! We're supposed to have them learned by this time next week, you know!"

Smirking back at her, Severus said, "And if we know them already, Lily?"

Grinning, Lily then said in the same tone as before, knowing that Severus would probably like to have an excuse to clean the mud off him that he had been covered in because of a stray hex from Black, "Well I guess that we will just have to go swimming instead! Got it, Sev!?"

Severus gave a bit of a mock salute, then cried out, "Yes Ma'am!"

Lily then gave him a bit of a swat on the arm, pretending to be mildly cross but secretly pleased. She then ran into the water, laughing along with her best friend...


As time passed, one thing that certainly didn't surprise Lily-prime was the fact that regardless of what house he was in Severus still seemed to be especially fascinated by the Dark Arts during his fourth year and beyond.

What did surprise her though was how her counterpart reacted to it; where Lily-prime and Severus had gotten into more than a few fights over it with some of them being quite vicious, her counterpart's and Severus' seemed much less heated, until finally...

Lily sighed as she watched Severus curled up in a chair, reading what appeared to be another Dark Arts book. He had probably gotten from the restricted section with his usual excuse of 'It'll help me understand such-and-such more thoroughly', or some varient of that.

Glancing at the title, Magick of Madness: Insanity-Causing Spells for The Slightly-Mad, Lily sighed in exasperation. She walked over to him, tapped him on the head one time, before saying in annoyance, "Sev...You know how I feel about you reading about that stuff... I would be much more comfortable if you were reading up on spells, like the ones from our Standard Book of Spells Grade Four..."

Glancing up at her, less than a foot above his head, Severus felt himself blush as he stared into her green, almond-shaped eyes just mere inches overhead. Lily and him had this argument rather frequently, especially of late, and he was starting to get a little tired of it as she didn't seem to understand why he found it so interesting. Really, that was something which HE didn't understand.

'I mean, I'm reading about a spell that causes passion so great thatthe target makes a complete fool of him or herself, for twenty minutes straight! What could possibly be cooler!? Plus, it would be funny to use that on Potter sometimes...maybe when Black is in the room with him, he-he! Besides, mother is rather proud of me for at least carrying on one of the Slytherin traditions, even if I am not one myself...'

Sighing, Severus looked away, then said while smirking slightly as a thought came to him, "Lily...I'm not changing my mind... Besides, the two of us already read every spell in that book months ago!"

Pouting slightly in annoyance but knowing he was right, Lily paused then decided to try again, willing Severus to understand her concerns, "Come on Sev, it's not healthy, and its the same kind of spells that Death Eaters use... I don't really feel comfortable knowing that you are into that kind of stuff..."

Groaning, Severus said exasperatedly, holding his book in such a way that it reminded Lily of how she held her favorite stuffed-bear as he did so, "Lily...It's like with you and Charms...This stuff just calls to me! Would you agree if I asked you to give up on charms!?"

Lily-prime found it rather interesting that although it was the same argument that she and Severus had had while they were in Hogwarts, almost down to the word in a couple of cases, there seemed to be far less force behind it. Really, it was sort of like how she had been when she had gotten annoyed at how her husband seemed to be obsessed with Quidditch sometimes, when he wasn't busy with work that is. Shrugging, she then continued watching the two argue...

Lily rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips, saying with a very aggravated tone of voice, wanting to give Severus a smack on the head, "You know its not the same thing Sev! I mean, a lot of this stuff could put you in Azkaban if used wrongly!"

Severus shrugged nonchalantly, saying with a small whine, "But its so much fun to read Lily! I mean, this one here..." He flipped back a few pages, then continued brightly, smirking mischievously "...Makes the target obsessed with a topic of your choice. Imagine making Black being obsessed with make-up or something!"

Lily had to fight to hold back a smile, picturing Sirius Black, playboy of Hogwarts, all 'gussied up'. Pausing for a moment, she then said, trying to keep her sternness, "Severus Tobias Snape! Causing insanity in people is considered mad and evil for a reason you know..."

The two of them then heard Potter yelling over to them, "Ooh! How's Snivellus and his girlfriend doing? Making out in the common room? I think I might be sick...!"

Lily-prime was surprised that James had kept up with that particular insult as, by this time in her time-line, Potter had 'started to go green with envy every time Snivellus and Lily were mentioned together in the same sentence'; she wondered what had caused this change...

Both of them blushing, Lily gave Potter a one-finger salute, then shouted in a heated anger, "Drop dead Potter!"

Severus then grinned wickedly, having thought of an idea, thanks to Potter's little remark; making a moment to thank him later, preferably with his levicorpus spell, Severus then waited until after Potter had vanished upstairs to the boys dormitories before he said, "OK, OK. Lily, let's consider, you don't want me reading any Dark Arts books, right?"

Wary and expecting a trick, as this was Severus after all, Lily nodded and said carefully, "Yeah, that sounds about right..."

Severus then said, smiling even more evilly, giving Lily the impression of being a rat in a cat's eyesight, "I might be willing to do so, but consider this... Everyone has their...unsavory habits, right?"

Lily's 'this is a Severus trap' meter just hit code red, but she nodded, waiting for him to pop his trap while trying to be ready for anything. Severus then shrugged, before saying, "Well, my 'unsavory habit' is reading books on Dark Magic in the common room, not necessarily using... Potter on the other hand, prefers to read pornography, and watch the portable pensieve versions... Now, ask yourself, which habit would you prefer me to have? As I could ask him I-"

Lily, redder than a tomato at this point in sheer embarrassment, plus completely squicked by the thought of Potter...making use of those materials then said, "OK, you made your point! Just...ew! Don't talk about Potter and...that in the same sentence. In fact, don't ever mention him again! Because...EW! Keep your cruddy Dark Arts books, just...ARGH! Black obsessed with make-up is gross, but that is just plain wrong!"

Severus, rather red-faced himself, smirked before saying with a hint of satisfaction audible in his voice, "I'm glad to see that we are on the same page Lily..."

He was clearly about to turn back to his book, but Lily then said commandingly, grabbing his arm and pulling him to his feet, "Ah, ah, ah! I may be willing to let you READ those books, but today you are going swimming with me, Mary and Alice, no questions asked! Understood!?"

As she started to drag him out of the common room, Severus considered arguing, but the idea of seeing Lily in a swimsuit was...rather appealing. As such, he only moaned and complained a little as she dragged him out the portrait-hole and down the stairs...

Lily-prime was almost equally red-faced as her other self at the subject that Severus had mentioned, but she had to restrain a fair quantity of giggles at the thought of the Severus she had known joking with her about pornography of all things... He had always been one of the most reserved people she had ever known for a good reason after all...


More time passed, and Lily-prime watched the changes that were made in the time-line with a great deal of interest. Some of them were not too surprising, but others were mind-boggling, such as the time that she saw James unabashedly making out with Alice in the broom-closet in the Gryffindor Common Room.

They went through fifth-year and the O.W.L.s where to Lily-prime's surprise, there was no Shrieking Shack incident, although maybe it wasn't too surprising considering that Remus and Severus were fairly good acquaintances. After all, that would mean that Severus would have no real interest in spying on him. Speaking of which...

'I have to admit that the aftermath of that incident was FAR from one of my better moments, but I was so annoyed at him about those boys that I wasn't in the mood to entertain his theories right then, still though...' The time-line suddenly slowed down however, and Lily-prime focused on that instead...

Lily was getting very annoyed, as Potter and his mates had spread the 'Severus' girlfriend' label throughout pretty much all of Hogwarts. While she couldn't honestly say that she was uninterested in the idea per se, as she frankly found Severus to be quite fascinating. He seemed to have something like twenty or so different layers, and she had only made it to layer ten or so, with her very interested in pushing deeper.

While he wasn't the most open person, Lily could always trust him to have her best interests at heart, and he was always intriguing and thoughtful, which made her enjoy spending time with him a lot. 'In fact, I think that one of the reasons that Jason broke up with me was because 'You spend more time with him in one day than you spent with me all of last month!'. Of course, it probably would have happened in the long run anyway...'

No, the problem wasn't that she wasn't uninterested in the idea of dating Severus; instead, it was that they WEREN'T dating, and she couldn't get a date from anyone else because she was 'dating Severus'. Speaking of whom, when she spotted him sitting outside by one of the trees overlooking the lake, she marched over to him having decided that this had gone on long enough and the rumors would end one way or another.

Severus, seeing an angry Lily approaching him, gulped as he shakily motioned at the spot next to him. However, she elected to stand in front of him instead. Figuring that he was in for it, Severus closed his book after marking the page with one of his favorite color-coded bookmarks. He then waited for her to speak, something that she started doing immediately, very loudly indeed...

Lily-prime's eyebrows rose to the top of her head as her alter-ego started ranting at the top of her lungs about Potter's evil, how she couldn't get anyone to go to Hogsmeade for Valentine's Day, and how she and Severus' being a couple was killing all of her dating prospects. She could remember some of her own rants, and had to give Severus credit that, in this time-line and the past one, he had always listened attentively to them, even if he frequently disagreed with her conclusions, as she could clearly rant for quite a while...

Severus' eyebrows threatened to become one with his hair as Lily came to a close, breathing heavily as she pointed a finger threateningly at him, "...So you have to take responsibility, S-Severus, got it!? I need you to either ask me on a date or 'break up' with me so I can find another one, as I am NOT going to Hogsmeade dateless this Valentine's Day!"

Severus was rather speechless for a moment, as he had been planning out how to ask Lily out since about this time in their fourth-year, but he hadn't ever really found the right moment to do so. Also, there was the fact that since fifth-year she frequently had a boyfriend at the time already. Lily had always been a bit...flighty when it came to romance, getting crushes very, very easily, and Severus' fear of losing her friendship had always put a damper on his plans to win her...

Needless to say though, her REQUIRING him to ask her out was the sort of 'right moment' he had always dreamed of, making him want to thank some divine being for the lucky break he had received. 'Wait a minute, why am I thinking about this to myself? I should be asking her OUT!'

Nearly a minute passed, during which Lily bit her lip, unsure what Severus was going to say. However, he then said in a rather embarrassed tone of voice, blushing as he did so, "Lily Evans, would you do me the honor of being my date to Hogsmeade this Valentine's day?"

Grinning like a loon, Lily nodded while barely stopping herself from squealing in glee. She then hugged him tightly as she said gleefully, "Sev, I'm glad you asked! Now then, mind giving me some room?"

Severus shrugged as he tried to hide his smile, then moved over a few feet, before transfiguring a nearby log into a blanket. This gave them something for for the two of them to sit on. Within about two seconds of it hitting the ground, Lily was sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with him, causing him to hide his smile with his hair which was something which she found rather endearing...


More time passed and not completely to Lily-prime's surprise, her alter-ego and Severus seemed to get closer and closer by the day, although it was rather different from what Lily-prime recalled of her relationship with James. James had always been sweet and romance-novel romantic, two adjectives which would probably apply to Severus about the time that Voldemort decided to take up tap-dancing as a hobby.

However, Severus was, while not the flowers-and-chocolate type by any means, romantic in his own way. He made sure that he was always doing things that interested the both of them, such as their first official date after the Hogsmeade one, where he took her to see a History of Charms Museum. Her alter-ego had clearly enjoyed herself greatly, being just as fascinated as Lily-prime in Charms, before giving him a very nice kiss for his troubles.This caused him to blush, and her counterpart to laugh in amusement at his blushing.

However, Severus certainly enjoyed how she then started kissing him a few more times to see him blush some more, that was her excuse at least. As the time-line slowed down, Lily saw that they had moved in together soon after Hogwarts...

"Lily! Where did my boxes of books go!?" Severus called out, looking desperately for his Dark Arts books, which he had been very careful in packing indeed. He had even gone so far as to go to a Muggle packaging company and pay a fair sum of money to get the proper packaging material for all of them, even though he was only apparating them one time. Frankly, he was utterly terrified that something might have happened to them.

Lily shouted back, looking around quickly, "Ugh...Sev! Did you leave them at the school!? Wait a minute!" She shouted, noticing another few boxes in an area she hadn't looked yet, "Here they are!"

Although not exactly thrilled at her boyfriend's love of the Dark Arts, at least he was using it for a very good cause. 'Besides, I suppose that just LEARNING about them isn't that bad of a 'unsavory habit', in comparison to some others. Heck, it beats a Quidditch obsession... At least he is learning something, even if it is Dark Magic...'

Lily-prime found it to be quite interesting how accepting that her alter-ego had become of Severus' love of the Dark Arts, but she supposed that considering that it was highly unlikely he would join the Death Eaters, it had seemed to be a much less important issue...

At Lily's yell, he had come running at full speed. He panted slightly while looking at them with vast relief, causing Lily to tease him with a squeeze of the ear and a growling voice, "Huh, based on this reaction, I'm starting to think that I have some competition as your girlfriend, Sev..."

Severus flushed, then muttered bashfully, just barely audibly, "Lily, You have no competition..."

Lily grinned, then gave him a quick kiss for his efforts, before saying with a bit more seriousness, "Sev, I have good news and bad news: the good news is that Alice has sent us invitations to her wedding, bad news is that it is to his royal arrogance, Potter..."

Severus sighed, muttering something about Alice clearly having bad taste in men which caused Lily to laugh uproariously, before saying mischieviously, "You know, Sev, you had better make sure that when you propose, you make it better than Alice's proposal; when Potter proposed, he did it on a cruise ship during a storm, and almost lost the ring in the winds..."

Rolling his eyes, Severus said with a touch of dryness, "Lily, It would be hard NOT to be better than that one I suppose. Still though, I will have to at least make a bit of an effort, for appearence's sake..."


Lily-prime continued watching as time sped up again, with her and Severus getting married no more than a few months after moving in together; both of them had elected to fight against Voldemort and his forces, with both joining the Order of the Phoenix and her being an Auror and him an Unspeakable.

Interestingly enough, Severus was very effective at his job, which was devoted to researching new spells for use by the Ministry. Still, Lily-prime couldn't say that she was THAT surprised, considering his invention of Levicorpus and Sectumsempra during his school years. One of his invented spells was extremely effective at dealing with the undead, creating a bubble wherein Inferi would have the Dark Magic used to move their bones ripped from them, making them far less effective once the spell had been learned by enough people.

Still, like the war in the original time-line, it was a very brutal battle to defeat the Dark Lord indeed...

Severus frowned as he continued his research, rubbing his eyes and wondering if he would make it home in time to eat takeout that Lily sometimes brought home or if he would have to cook for himself, then he frowned. Something about his research into the 'Dark Mark' that the Ministry had found on the Death Eaters was bothering him, and he felt that he might be on the edge of a breakthrough, if only he knew what it was... 'It had something to do with...'

"Severus, any luck?" The voice of his coworker, Augustus Rookwood made itself known to him.

Severus sighed, as Rookwood wasn't one of his favorite department members, being a little too...purebloodish for his taste in spite of Rookwood's popularity amongst the staff. Severus suspected that he didn't like the fact that Severus had married a Muggleborn, and the man reminded him far too much of James Potter. Still, he had to say something, "Not really, Augustus. How are things going with you?"

The man smiled slightly, then said proudly, "My cousin, Narcissa Malfoy, just gave birth to her first kid, Draco. He seems to be rather rowdy for his age, but blood will tell I expect, just like with any Malfoy. Maybe he will be like his mom, or at least, I hope he will. I can't say I like his dad too much... Anyway, I heard Draco just got the trace put on him yesterday..."

Severus frowned, then waited as Rookwood left, as he felt that he was missing something...something that he could use with this new information he had received about the 'Dark Mark'... Detachedly, he wondered if he would be expected to give Draco anything, as the trace... Severus' eyes widened, then he shouted aloud, "I'VE GOT IT! I am a GENIUS!"


As Lily watched, Severus' idea came into effect; after a quick test with a prisoner in Azkaban, he found that since the Death Eaters all shared the 'Dark Mark', it was possible to segregate them from the general population magically. His idea was quite simple and ingenious: deactivate the trace on all wizards and witches in England, then reactivate it on only those who bore the Dark Mark.

Lily was surprised that it was that simple, but that simple idea solved a LOT of the Ministry's problems in dealing with Voldemort, as it had always had the NUMBERS to fight his Death Eaters but had needed to spread them out too much. Now however, the Ministry no longer had to worry about warrants, nor where the Death Eaters were hiding. Instead, they could now switch to seek and destroy tactics, causing the tide of the war to quickly turn against the Death Eaters... In the end, in spite of all of the efforts of the Death Eaters, Dumbledore killed Voldemort in the final battle...

Lily grinned sensually at her husband, who was relaxing in the afterglow of a rather good romp in the sack, then whispered to him delightedly while placing her lips to his ear, "You know Sev, I think that we have a few things to take care of now..."

Raising his eyebrows as he opened his eyes, Severus asked groggily, "What things? I think we did just about all the things I can possibly imagine, and I am too tired for the rest..."

Giggling, Lily swatted him, then whispered again in a near-purr, "I have to ask, what do you think of Rose?"

Frowning, Severus said, clearly bewildered, "Um, I don't recall you mentioning a Rose..."

In response, Lily said while pulling his right hand towards her abdomen at the same time, biting her lip slightly as she did so,"I think that you will be meeting her pretty soon, in about seven months or so..."

Severus' eyes widened, and his frown vanished in an instant, before ending in a clearly delighted expression...

The mirror then went dark again and Lily-prime frowned, as, while it was a nice time-line to watch, she had to wonder what it had been chosen for her for. Although she had sometimes considered Severus as romantic material before their split-up in the original time-line, why was it the first type of time-line chosen...? Unsure, she decided to think it over some more...

Side-notes to the story: Severus may seem a bit out of character, as he is far more...geekish than he was in canon, but I believe that this is explained by the fact that he has several REAL friends, and all of them are girls, which would have a certain effect upon his behavior. As for the events in Snape's worst memory, they happened, but when Lily saw them, she wasted no time before letting a barrage of hexes rip, rather than even bothering to persuade the Marauders to quit it.

If you are wondering why James expressed no real interest in Lily, its because, rather than insulting Severus for being a Slytherin, he would always do it by teasing him for being a wuss and such, as he had no guy-friends, which dragged Lily into the battle very much, as he would often insult the both of them together, causing his own feud with Lily to escalate far beyond canon levels. First impressions count for a lot, especially when second impressions do nothing to change them...

Author's Note: Keep in mind when suggesting new ideas that the change must be something that Lily could have done in the original time-line; while I love reading AU a lot, that isn't what this fic is about.

YOU, the readers will get to vote on which differences at key points in the time-line she sees, as well as suggest other changes she could have made. I won't update this fic too often, as I want to give plenty of time for voting and suggestions.

IN ORDER TO VOTE: Select one or more of the possibilities listed, and include them in either a Review, a PM, or an E-mail. You may vote for as many possibilities as you like, but only once for each possibility.

IN ORDER TO POST A NEW SUGGESTION: List the choice that Lily could have made, and your reasoning, and include it in either a Review, a PM, or an E-mail.

ALL SUGGESTED POSSIBILITIES MUST HAVE BEEN ABLE TO OCCUR IN CANON, AND THEY MUST BE DIFFERENCES IN LILY'S CHOICES. For example, having James be just a little too late in rescueing Severus during the Werewolf prank is not an option, as Lily didn't make that choice, but having her decide to kiss him once in fifth year, just to see what it would be like, is.

In spite of the listed pairing, not all of the lives she views will have Severus and Lily paired together in the end, although a majority will.

Here is the current list of ideas, and vote tallys:

Lily decides to kiss Severus once in fifth year, just to see what kissing is like. 2

Outside the portrait hole, when Severus goes up to apologize to Lily, she presses him until he has to answer one way or another, rather than just heading back to her dormitory in disgust. 2

When Severus hints to Lily about Lupin in fourth year, in connection to James' 'heroics', Lily gets curious about the possibility of him being a werewolf rather than dismissing Severus' concerns. 1

When Lily tells Severus off about his friends in fourth year, she attempts to use concrete examples to prove that they are as bad, or worse than, the Marauders. 1

Rather than almost smiling one time during the incident by the lake, Lily doesn't even get amused at all. 1

After Sev tells her she's a witch, instead of running off with Petunia, she should stay and prod him for further proof. 1

What if she and James had kept Sirius as their secret keeper? 1

What if Lily actually hexed James and the other Marauders, instead of just yelling at them all the time? 1

In Seventh-year, Lily had come accross the Marauders as they are bullying Severus, after they had 'changed'. 0

FEEL FREE TO OFFER MORE! ALSO, FEEL FREE TO USE THEM YOURSELF!

Edited 8/09/09