I am not J.k Rowling.

I could feel something soft beneath me. I could feel pain still, but I could only see darkness. When you die, didn't the pain stop?

I don't know where I am, what happened to me or whether I am alive or dead.

I know pain. And green eyes. Green eyes, just like Lil-

-Potter. Potter's eyes. Potter was there. In the Shack... I was there, talking to the Dark Lord before he tried to kill me. I think I am still alive. I hope. What is the soft thing beneath me if I am dead?

Light. I could see light, beneath my eyelids. I was in the battle, between the Dark Side and the Light.

...Is the Dark Lord dead? Or am I? I tried to sit up and ask somone but I could only see darkness again.

I don't know how long I have been here. Days. Weeks. Months. But I could see a flicker of light in the corner of my (mostly black) vision. I grasped at the light, tried to see more.

And I could see everything again. I was in the Hospital Wing. I looked around and all the other beds were being used. No-one else seemed to be awake apart from me. There were werewolf bites, mangled flesh, singed skin. I felt a wave of pity for these people, who were far worse off then I.

"Madam Pompfrey, the man with the snake bite's awake!" a female voice called. Well, I was not completely alone then.

"He's got black hair!" she added when Poppy didn't appear. I looked around again. A girl was beside one of the hospital beds, applying some kind of pink ointment to its mangled occupant. I stared at him and felt like I was going to puke but she was somehow calm. Apparently being a Death Eater didn't raise my tolerance for bloody/vomiting/severly injured people. Who would have thought Severus Snape had a light stomach?

Poppy still didn't come. I was slightly surprised, because even though she absolutely hated me , I am her patient. The girl -woman, on closer inspection she seemed around my age- shared my surprise, looking around in confusion. She decided to approach me herself.

I tried to say something, but my mouth didn't seem to work. The woman, noticing my confusion said "Oh I'm sorry, you can't speak at the moment. The bite was quite nasty, caused a lot of internal bleeding and paralysis from the poison. Your beozar helped with that. Lucky you thought to bring one with you." Her voice had a soothing Spanish tone to it, but I couldn't help feeling annoyed. This woman, who I have never met before, was seeing me in a very weak state. I was surprised she wasn't mocking me, the great Severus Snape, the evil Death Eater. Although she wasn't rude it doesn't mean I would trust her to heal me. Poppy, for all her faults, is a qualified Mediwitch, but with this woman I have no idea whether she'd accidentally kill me. Narcissa tried to heal me once but she somehow cracked my all of my ribs.

I had so many questions for her; who won, why would you help a Death Eater (she's clearly not one, we don't have any foreigners), are you a qualified healer, where's Madam Pompfrey and finally, just how did you get such a tan? (I have spent hours in the sun trying to get rid of my 'sallow' skin. At least I'm not like the Dark Lord, we had a Death Eater party on the beach one time and he turned crab coloured within the hour. No-one was brave enough to say anything but he cast Crucio on the lot of us anyway).

I think she's a passable healer, she's much more gentle then Poppy. Poppy doesn't seem to realise that I am a person, and when I am sick I need satisfactory care, not a brutal madwoman. Within half an hour I felt less like an Inferi and more like an actual living being. She told me that my voice would come back in around two days, and I could walk in three. She left me then, blonde hair swishing behind her, and I was alone again.

I am nearly back to full strength. The healer - Isabella Sànchez - did an ... admirable job but I wish that she could have got rid of the scars of my neck. I am not one for vanity, but they are hideous. I am being permitted to leave the hospital wing (for Harry Potter's arrogant victory speech, the Light side thankfully won) but my voice is still very raspy.

I am only going because I have to face people at some point, I have to clear my name. The only person who can clear my name is Potter. Oh Merlin, I will owe my freedom to Potter!

The Great Hall has a massive plaque enscibed with the all names of the fallen between the two wars. Its a staggering, awful number, and that's only the Light side. With a note of (irrational) bitterness I realised that the Dark side deaths do not matter to the Order. Many people like Draco Malfoy only fought so their families would not die, but they apparently do not matter.

... This is awkward, I'm late. Everbody is silently staring at me. Harry Potter is already talking in his horrible James-Potter-like voice.

Should I sit with the teachers for the speech? I am not sure if I belong.

Too late, Minerva saw me (and so has every other bloody person in the hall). I reluctantly walked towards the other teachers.

I will no longer teach! This is the happiest realisation of my life.

"Many people were not at fault, Draco Malfoy, who by joining the Death Eaters saved his mother's life. Narcissa Malfoy, who loved the wrong man but never murdered a thing. She saved my life in the Forbidden Forest."

Narcissa (why was she even here?) fumed at the Lucius insult. Draco Malfoy, sitting beside her looked slightly shocked but otherwise delighted that Potter declared him innocent.

"Severus Snape , who seventeen years became a double agent for the order and everyday risked death and torture."

My face mirrored Draco's shock. Harry Potter just cleared three people who he despised. Across from me, Minerva beamed. Most people looked confused -how could Severus Snape be innocent?!- and some looked outright disbelieving. All things take time though, and we Slytherins are patient.

"Regulus Black..."

"Astoria Greengrass..."

Draco had a lovesick expression on his face. It was disgusting.

"Daphne Greengrass..."

The speech went on but only a few things stuck out to me.

"I was once a small, lonely boy who had no idea about magic and lived in a cupboard and without all of you I wouldn't be here now. We wouldn't be here now !Voldemort would have won and though we have faced severe losses , in time we can move forward and rebuild! Now we have hope, and our future is no longer bleak!"

Potter lived in a cupboard?! That make no sense. Minerva had said they were the worst type of muggles, Dumbledore hated sending him to Privet Drive, Potter stayed at Hogwarts from September round to July, but still... Petunia (when I sadly knew her) had an obsession with being normal. Not freakish and magic. I think locking someone in a cupboard is far from ordinary. Potter was always skinny. But almost all abused children end up in Slytherin, having learnt the art of self-preservation. The only Gryffindor who was abused I heard of was Sirius Black, and I know that because it was in Regulus' diary( he read my 5th year journal, what was I supposed to do?) Abused children weren't arrogant (Black was many things but James Potter was the arrogant one) and Harry Potter was.

Maybe Harry Potter wasn't an arrogant numbskull, and I had been blinded by my hatred of James Potter. Maybe I was wrong all this time, and Harry Potter was just a poor misunderstood boy. Maybe I misjudged him, and I should try to behave more amicably towards him in the future.

Ha. As if.

Curse Albus, he is in my brain.

Potter finally finished his monologue but is now reading all the hundreds of names off the plaque. My throat winced in sympathy.

"Thank you for listening!"

Finally we can leave this hall.

This is my first time in the staffroom this year. Everyone was being remarkably friendly to me. No-one is ever usually kind to me in here except Minerva. Poppy wasn't here. She apparently got injured in the Room of Requirement when she was healing people in the battle.

...

Hooch just smiled at me.

She should never smile again ;her teeth are yellow. Bright yellow. My eyes now hurt. Overgrown dungeon bat I may be, but at least I don't eat too much chocolate.

Every single teacher is now royally pissed. The students would be shocked. What they don't know won't hurt them, I suppose. Hagrid is ... dancing with Trelawney. Ugh. Ughh.

I take my previous statement back, not everyone is drunk. Minerva isn't. I've only ever seen her drunk once, when she kissed Hagrid and blushed like a schoolgirl. Sinistra took a photo of that.

"Severus."

"Minerva."

"I'm sorry for doubting you this year. You should have been a Gryffindor. Spying on the Dark Lord, braver then the lot of us!"

"Plus the robes really suited him!" giggled a tipsy Sprout.

Minerva and I had a deal going for a few years, if Gryffindor won the House Cup I wore Gryffindor robes, if Slytherin won, Minerva wore Slytherin robes. She didn't seem too affected wearing the snake, I was mortified. Sinistra took photos but I never found her camera.

"It is... understandable Minerva. You're forgiven."

I didn't comment on her Gryffindor statement, from her it was a high compliment . Sprout was glared at sinisterly.

And just like that, one of my only friends was back.

This chapter had a lot of randomness in it, I wasn't really sure what to write for it. Hope you enjoyed it!