Sorry this took so long I've been sick off and on for about a month. Between that and work it's been hard to write. I also want to apologize for the vaugeness of the last chapter. Some of it will be made clear in later chapters, some was because of the formating.

My Other Life chapter 12

Infinity and Beyond

"You - - do not belong here."

"If not here, then where?" Snape wasn't going to bluntly tell this Dumbledore he was from another reality. Geezer was going to have to work for it.

The headmaster did not pay attention to Severus' question. "What have you don't with the real Severus Snape?" The older wizard rounded on the younger one.

"I haven't done anything. I am the real Severus Snape. Have been all my life."

"But this," Dumbledore figured it out. "Is not your life, is it?" He kept trying to access the man standing before him. "Who ever you are, you certainly the very image of Snape." He was still circling. "Polijuice potion?"

"Nothing that mundane." Snape had a sly grin on his face.

"So, you - - are an extraordinary fake." The famous Dumbledore twinkle was in the old wizard's eyes. "Extraordinary." He was still trying to figure something out. "How did you get here "

"I was hoping you would be able to tell me. You're supposed to be the greatest wizard of all time."

Dumbledore coughed. In this reality he had been far outshined by Snape. "I believe James Potter was working on something to do with the barriers of time and space in the laboratory that blew up yesterday."

"So I've heard." Snape was still playing it coy.

"I have a feeling, it may explain your appearance here." The Headmaster was in a lecturing mood. "That still does not excuse your lies to Lily." He looked at the Severus before him who seemed to not care that he was being duplicitous. "And I thought I was telling 'him' about how unfair he was being to her and the children."This was something that rubbed Sev the wrong way. "Don't talk to me about unfair."

What bothered Dumbledore most was that he couldn't read this Severus at all. Snape was waiting to see if Dumbledore was going to bust him, or if the old man was going to feel it better to play along until things could be put right again. "I can not allow you to deceive Lily any further. You must tell her you are not her real husband."

"We are the SAME person."

"The same, but not."

"I would never do anything to hurt Lily." Severus was trying to sway Albus. "If you tell her, or those boys, you are going to do just that."

"And if I don't tell her - - "

"She'll have had a few days with someone who, from what I saw in your mind, loves her more than your moronic me does."

"So you are resigned to the fact that you can not stay here?"

"I'm sure this world is just as unfair as the one I came from, so, I know I'll have to go back. As much as I'd like nothing more than to replace the man who comes from here."

"You seem to know all the right things to say. How do I know those words are what you truly believe?"

Severus closed his eyes to think. Dumbledore could see the younger man swallowing as if about to refuse to prove himself. Then Snape surprised him. "If I open my mind to you completely, showing I have no ill intent here, will you keep my secret?" Now all Sev could do was hope this Dumbledore was the same sentimentalist as his was.

"If," Dumbledore said putting his finger to his lips in contemplation. "you are really another aspect of Severus Snape, and you mean no harm to the Snape family or anyone else, I will whole heartedly think about letting your charade go on a little while longer."

"Think about it!" Snape fumed. "If you want to go traipsing about my inner being, I need your word, not an I'll think about it."

"Yes, even without Legilimens I can see that you are a much tougher nut to crack than my Severus."

"If - - " Snape mirrored Dumbledore's earlier actions. " - - you do get a chance to see, you will understand why."

Dumbledore was thinking again. If this was someone meaning to do harm by disguising himself as Snape, he was good. No one was that good. He must be for real. Once the old wizard had heard of mind spells being used to entrap others. But why would anyone want to trap him? In this world Dumbledore had no enemies ready to pounce on him. "All right," the Headmaster agreed. "If you are a real aspect of Severus and you mean Lily and the children no harm. I will be silent until, even after, the real Severus returns. But I warn you, do anything out of line, and I'll make you existence miserable."

Severus had to keep himself from laughing. 'Old fool's about to find out my existence up until the day before was miserable.' Still he didn't like to think what Lily or 'their' kids faces would look like if they discovered he was a forgery, or rather a duplicate. Something deep inside of him felt that the old wizard in front of him would see the truth; that he was just another version of the same man he had watched grow up in this reality. Severus let Dumbledore point his wand at him and let down all of his defenses.

The Dumbledore from the second reality looked into the Snape from the first reality's at first he skimmed the surface. He saw how Snape had just been walking in the forbidden forest and walked into some kind of portal that brought him to this world. That still didn't answer the questions Dumbledore had about weather this Snape was going to cause any harm there. The aged wizard looked deeper and saw as Severus had just been thinking, how 'miserable' his existence was. He also saw the reason why it was that unhappy. He saw what happened to the Lily and James of the world this Severus came from. He saw how awful that version of the marauders treated the introverted boy. He wondered if the version of himself in that world knew how bad it was. He went back to see what he knew was Severus' horrible early home life. In the reality this Snape came from, Tobias never sobered up.

What he saw the most was how much, how deeply, if a bit possessively, Severus loved Lily. To the depths of his being he treasured Lily. He would never as much harm an eyelash on her. He could also see that even thought they were not physically his, the Snape children were spiritually his as much as the Severus from that world. This still didn't clear Dumbledore's mind as to if it was ethical to let him fool them all.

Severus sensing that Dumbledore had found what he needed to he prepared for the old man to get out of his mind. That did not happen. The elder wizard had to see if he could find the answer to a deeper question. That was when Snape began to resist. It was of no use at first. Dumbledore's mind reached so deep into Severus' mind he was traveling into places where all things are born. The revered wizard was now riding the threads of time and space. He had almost reached even to the eye of the creator before Snape finally repulsed the intrusion.

Snape panted out, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Odd you should use such a phrase. I was trying to reach quite the opposite place."

Still feeling odd and a bit violated by how much of his being he had exposed to the other wizard, Severus tried to figure out Dumbledore's meaning. "Next time you want to traverse meaning of the universe, do it in your own mind."

"Fair enough," Dumbledore agreed. "Well I guess you were right. You and my Severus are the same being, if not the same person. If you had allowed me to go deeper, I would have seen if that does not extend to every one in existence."

Because of the intrusion into his mind Severus understood how he had already known this unconsciously. These were things that might drive a wizard insane if they weren't careful. Somewhere in time and space there was a place from where all of the Severus Snapes in all the infinite realities emanated from. If Dumbledore had been allowed to reach the eye of the creator, he would have seen that each person, including himself, had such a place that grew from that ultimate being.

"So," Snape asked, "You won't feel guilty about not telling Lily?"

"Until, the Severus who came from here returns." Albus' words garnered a curious look from the younger wizard. "He is working with your Dumbledore to get back here, and send you back."

Part of Snape wanted to rail and ask, 'what if I don't want to go back?' He knew he ultimately had to go back. Maybe because of the, be it short, time that he was getting to spend with Lily, he would have the courage to go back. It was not facing what he knew he would have to back in his own reality that was going to be hard. What was going to be hard was being parted form her again. He also knew that they could never truly be parted. They were a part of each other on a much deeper level than he had ever known.

tbc