Severus Snape came to consciousness in a colorless room. Everywhere it was blindingly white. He choked on his breath, spitting blood onto the spotless floor before him. Blood dribbled down his chin and he raised a shaking hand to his throat.
There was no wound.

"You're all right," a man's voice said. "Take a breath."
Severus coughed out blood. On the inhale, it was a gasp followed by another panicked breath down like a drowning man.

"There you go, keep breathing." The stranger set a gentle hand down on Severus' shoulder.
"Don't!" Severus croaked as he fell back, scrambling away from whoever it was.
"Whoa, you're all right, Snape," the man's tone was soothing.

Severus looked down at the path of red his hands had left on the floor of wherever the hell he was. And then looked up to see an unfortunately familiar face.

"Potter?" Severus was in shock, he was sure, and trying to curse in surprise just ended up kicking off another coughing fit.

"You're all right, Snape," James Potter held up both of his hands in a placating manner. "Just breathe. We've got all the time in the world."

Severus inhaled to demand answers, demand to know where he was, and what was going on. Instead, he just choked on air and blood.

"I'm dead," Severus felt again for the wound that he expected around his throat.
"Take another breath," James told him, "slowly now," as Severus began to hyperventilate. "Inhale slowly, just take a breath. No, stop that, now."
"I can't-I'm dead. Oh, gods, I can't-" Severus gasped, chest heaving as the realization set in.
"You can," James's tone was soft and low. "Okay. You're doing great. You're okay. You're not dead, you're almost dead.

"Almost dead?!" Severus snapped his head up to where James towered over him. "How is that better!?"
"Keep breathing, Snape," James said, sticking his hands into his pockets. "Just breathe."
"Potter?" Severus managed after a few moments of wheezing breaths. "I'm dead. Merlin's bloody beard."
"Well, actually-"
"Morgana's fucking tits," Severus swore further.
"Hey now," James interjected.
"I'm actually dead. Oh, gods." Severus raised his hands, almost covering his face. He stopped, staring at the blood there. "No. I don't want to be in this hell for eternity. I don't want this. I don't want-"
"Take a breath, Snape," James interrupted Severus's panicked stammering, crouching down in front of Severus. "I'm going to vanish the blood, okay?" James raised his wand and intoned the cleansing spell.

Severus watched the blood vanish from his hands. His former nemesis raised his wand again and the darkening blot that had spread down his chest disappeared. Along the cuffs of his blood-stained shirt, the darkening rust-brown of dried blood disappeared with another wave of Potter's mahogany wand.

"Once more should do it," James raised his wand again.
Severus raised his wand hand reflexively, but his grip was empty.
"If that's all right?" James asked.
Severus' eyes narrowed, but he dipped his head in agreement.
"Scourgify," James said once more. "Now," he stood and backed up a bit, flicking his wand at the blood on the floor. "Keep breathing."
"Where am I?" Severus asked, carefully pulling himself to his feet.

Severus cleared his throat again. He raised a hand to his throat, expecting to feel a wound, as he looked around. It looked like King's Cross Station, but devoid of color and shadows. There were benches every so often and James now sat on one of those, bespectacled face patient and open.
"Between," James and motioned to the area around them. "Between life and death, at the moment.".

"Are you really James Potter?" Severus asked.
"Are you really Severus Snape?" James clasped his hands in front of him, elbows resting on his thighs.
"Why, then?" Severus asked, taking a step back when James bounced to his feet.
"Why? Why...what exactly?" James asked, tilting his head to one side in confusion.
"Why you? And why are you..." Severus wasn't sure how to ask the question with delicacy. "Why are you being kind to me?"

A raven flew between the two men and landed on a bench a few feet away, cawing at them.

"Well," James said, attention focused on the corvid until it cawed at him as if reprimanding him. James turned back towards Severus and smiled. "Well, you're nearly dead and someone has to be. Kind, that is. And it sure as fuck isn't going to be you, Snape. And I have the chance to not be what my wife would call 'an absolute berk', so why not?"
"But, the things I've-I've done so many," Severus stumbled over his words, stopped then took a breath against the rising panic. "I don't understand."

The raven cawed again as if reminding the two men it was there and not to be ignored.

"Just so," James agreed with the bird.
"I don't…I don't speak raven," Severus said, flummoxed.
The bird cawed at him, clacking its beak at him.
"She said that you don't need to understand," James said with a bit of a chuckle.
"Why am I here, Potter?" Severus asked. "And why are you here?"
"You're needed," James said. "Your… unique skills, your past," he paused. "And I volunteered."
"Volunteered?" Severus echoed, tone thick with disbelief.
"I needed to apologize."
"Apologize, Potter?" Severus scowled. "For which particular bout of idiocy are you apologizing?" Snark helped him feel more on the level in the odd situation.
"For most of it," James replied easily, crossing his arms over his chest. "But mostly for nearly getting you mauled by Remus through Sirius' idiocy."
"Why?" Severus wasn't quite sure what he was asking.
"Death gives you a little more perspective."
"Indeed," Severus said, waiting for him to continue.
"It wasn't a harmless prank," James admitted. "You could have been genuinely hurt, or worse, killed."

The raven, a spot of darkness in an otherwise brilliant white room, cawed again.

"Thank you, Potter," Severus said after a heavy beat of silence.
"It's long past due, Snape," James admitted with no small amount of shame. "Even if you were an absolute bully to Harry."
"I kept him safe," Severus shot back. "He didn't need coddling from me."
"We could argue that for hours and not see eye to eye," James said, frowning. "But it doesn't matter."
Two more ravens flew in from nowhere and circled overhead, cawing repeatedly. James and Severus both looked up, watching for a silent moment as they landed on the same bench as the first raven.

"Severus Snape," a woman's voice echoed in the space. "Hear us."

The third raven took wing from the bench and morphed, mid-air, into the form of an older woman. She had blue-black hair reminiscent of a raven's wing streaked with gray hair that looked like starlight in the night sky.

The first and second ravens leaped into the air and circled Severus once in opposite directions. They swooped and each transformed into women, one older still, one younger.

"We have need of you, Severus Snape," the three women chorused together.
"Of me?" Severus arched a brow but said nothing further.
James simply looked amused.
"We wish to right wrongs," the youngest said. She was very fair of skin and blonde with deep, nearly black, brown eyes.
"We wish to make the dead walk again," the middle said. "We wish for those who should not be in our arms to escape a fate they did not have before that meddlesome man." She was the one with hair the color of night and bright blue eyes.
The eldest inclined her head in agreement. "We wish to alter the path set to those by the machinations of one Albus Dumbledore." Her hair was chestnut brown and her eyes were green in a way that made Severus avert his gaze.

"Who are you?" Severus asked the trio.
"We are the Morgana," they said, once more in unison. They moved as one, approaching Severus and circling about him in slow, measured steps.
"I am called Badb," the middle one said as she passed Severus's left shoulder. She walked on.
"I am called Macha," the youngest smiled at Severus and continued walking.
"And I am Nemain," the eldest raised a hand to her chest and stopped in front of Severus. Her sisters flanked her.
"We wish to…" She paused, looked to her sisters. "We wish to fix some things, Severus Snape," Badb said.
"And we wish for your help in doing so," Nemain said.
"I see," Severus said. "You brought me here?"
"We have," they responded.
"And if I should refuse?" he asked.
James frowned and opened his mouth to protest. Nemain held up one hand to forestall his objections.
"You die," Nemain replied without hesitation.
"Truly die," Badb told him.
James stood back, crossing his arms over his chest, and frowned.
"And so do many more before this is done," Macha added.
"And the boy? Potter?" Severus had to ask. "What becomes of him?"
"Death awaits Harry Potter this night," Macha said simply.
Badb nodded. "He dies and is mourned by many."
"So we lose?!" Severus demanded. "The Light loses and Voldemort wins?!" Severus turned away at their silence and paced the white floor. "Fuck. All our work, decades of spying for Albus and others, and the boy dies?! We all lose?!"

The goddesses did not reply to his questions. They watched him pace, listened to his cursing.

"Calm yourself. We seek to strike a deal with you, Severus Snape," Nemain called his attention back to them.
"A deal," Severus echoed, turned back to the ethereal trio. "What kind of deal?"
"Thirteen moons would you have to change the path of Harry Potter. A year and a day," the trio chorused.
"Change the path?"
"Change his path from what was tread," Badb said.
"You know of what we speak," Nemain said. "You saw it in the boy's mind itself."
"Petunia and her husband?" Severus tried to clarify.
"Among other things," Macha agreed with him. "There is more than what you saw that forms the boy you knew."
"What if I refuse?" Severus feared he already knew the answer.
"Should you not take this gift we have offered," Nemain paused, looking at her sisters, who inclined their heads. "You will die and all will remain the same. Harry Potter will walk to the arms of death this night."
"And if I agree?" Severus asked hesitantly.
"You will have the chance to live," they said as one.
"As will Harry Potter," Badb added.
"You will be able to live truly, Severus Snape," Macha told him.
"Heal old wounds, prevent new ones," Nemain said. She paused again, then dipped her head as she came to a decision. "But do not cling to the idea of love already dead."

Severus looked over at James, scowling.
"I will always love Lily," Severus said, firmly.
"I didn't say you didn't," James said.
"Do not mourn the love of a ghost, Severus Snape," Nemain said. "Your friend would not want a life of chasing shadows for you."
"I am a spy, a double agent," Severus protested, throwing both hands in the air, "my whole life is in the shadows." He crossed his arms over his chest in a smooth motion. Before he could inquire further, the youngest of the goddesses put her hands to her hips.
"He will not do it," she said, looking over at Macha and Badb. "His heart is too broken."
"I beg your pardon!" Severus fixed her with a dark scowl that had cowed many a student in his living days. It did not have quite the same effect on the immortal before him.

"Peace, sister," Macha said. "It is his choice."
"What do you decide, Severus Snape?" Badb asked him.
"No pressure or anything," Severus muttered, turning away from the unblinking stares of the goddesses. There was movement at the corner of his eye, to his right, but he did not turn.
"I have questions," Severus said.
"We have answers," Nemain responded. "Ask and we may answer."
"Then again, we may not," Macha said lightly. "Unless you ask the right questions."
"Will I retain memories of what came before?" Severus asked.
They exchanged a glance, speaking to one another without words aloud.
"Some," they answered in unison.
"Hmm," Severus paced back and forth, dark robes swishing through the silence like a raven's wing.
"There are some paths that cannot be altered," Macha said, looking over to James.
"And some that should have died that lived," Badb said.
"Must I see that Black is freed?" Severus asked, turning over possibilities in his mind.
"We...had not considered that," Nemain admitted.
"Nor that you would suggest it," Macha looked to Badb.
"I believe," Badb hesitated, then nodded to herself. "It is in your heart what you do."
"Am I allowed a confidant?" Severus turned, cloak billowing as he turned sharply on his heel.
"You ask the strangest questions," Badb smiled. "If you wish to take a friend into confidence, we shall not stop you."
"Hmm." Severus continued to pace, aware of the eyes on him.

"Will you go back?" Nemain asked him after watching him pace back and forth across the platform four full times.
Severus stopped pacing, looked back at the three goddesses and one childhood nemesis staring at him expectantly.
"What if I fail?" Severus asked.
"Fail?" Macha tilted her head to one side. "How could you fail?"
"What if I fail to make things change the way you want me to?" Severus asked. "What if I die again?"
"Then you die," Badb said, shrugging. "You are still mortal, Severus Snape. We are simply offering you a chance to right wrongs."

"Please, Snape," James cut in, finally breaking his silence. "Help Harry," his hazel eyes held tears as he pleaded.

"If I succeed?" Severus asked, ignoring James for a moment.
"Then you get a chance at a proper life yourself," Macha told him.
"I see," Severus said.

"Please, Snape," James begged again, reaching out to grasp Severus's upper arm.
"Let go, Potter," Severus jerked his arm from James's grip.
"But, Snape, Severus, please. You have to. To help Harry, to save the world!" James all but dropped to his knees to beg.
"I will do it," Severus said, quietly.
"Really?" James smiled at him.
"Potter, I am not half as selfish as you seem to think I am," Severus said.
"He will do it," they chorused, smiling beautifully.
"You better help him be happy, Snape," James cut into the conversation again.
"I beg your pardon?" Severus nearly sputtered in indignation. "I thought I was just to alter his path from being a lamb for slaughter?"
"Snape," James approached Severus, hands pressed together in a pleading fashion. "Please, please help Harry. Help him live better. You have no idea what that family is like."
"The family? You mean Petunia Evans and her ilk?"
"And that Dursley fellow," James said. "They're a terror."
"I have every idea, Potter," Severus snapped. "I grew up with Petunia's particular brand of cruelty."
"Snape," James started to say.
"Potter, I said yes already. I will help him live. I have already agreed to this," Severus said.

"Please, Snape," James steps forward, grabbing Severus' shoulders tightly. "Please," James squeezed, didn't let Severus jerk away. "Severus," James said, begging. "I'm not asking you to love him." James released him, but knelt, heedless of the three goddesses watching them closely. "But for god's sake, for Lily's! Please, you have to help him."
"You are a great idiot, aren't you?" Severus rolled his eyes. "Get up, Potter."
"Will you help him? Teach him to live? Help him be happy?" James slowly got up from his knees,
"You have chosen the wrong person for that," Severus said. "I am not known for my… cuddly nature."
"Please, Severus."
Severus scowled at the repeated use of his first name. "Potter."
"I'm begging you! For Lily's sake!" James insisted.

"All right! Bloody hell," Severus crossed his arms over his chest. "I will do it." Severus turned towards the goddesses, watching patiently. "For Potter, for Harry's," he looked over at James, "sake."
James smiled brilliantly. "Go on, then," he said, looking at someone standing behind Severus.
"I told you he would do it," Lily smiled, holding out both hands for Severus.
"Lily?" Severus's jaw nearly dropped open in shock.
"Hello, Sev," Lily said, voice low and quiet.

Severus rushed forward, embraced her tightly. He spoke into the crook of her neck, tears pouring down his cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Lily. You were my best friend and my idiocy got you murdered. You can't possibly-"
"Bloody hell, Severus, take a breath," Lily pulled away from his embrace. "Severus," Lily cupped his cheek. "My dear friend. I love you. Know that. And I forgive you."
"How?!" Severus demanded. "I got you, both of you," he motioned with one hand towards James, "murdered! The Dark Lord wouldn't have-"
Lily put a hand over his mouth. "Peter betrayed us, not you," she said. She lowered her hand, grasped both of his hands in hers. "And I've had seventeen years to forgive you, Severus. You must learn to forgive yourself as well."
"I'll help Harry, I promise," Severus said, looking from Lily to James and back. "I promise," he repeated.
"Good," Lily nodded with a pleased smile. "And, if you can, find Remus for us, would you?"
"Lupin?" Severus recoiled at the mere mention of the werewolf. "Why in the name of," he cut himself off, looking over at the Morgana. "Why would I do that? The wolf and I have never gotten along."
"Severus." Lily chastised him with a single word and a look.
"Lily," Severus raised her hands to his chest and held them close. "I have no use for your old compatriots."
"Severus," Lily repeated, pulling her hands free from his grasp.
"Lily, honestly," Severus started to argue.
"James!" James cried out his own name, looking mildly amused when all present stared at him in confusion. "What? I wanted to be included."
"Jesting aside," Lily said, looking over at her husband with reproach. "It means much to both of us that you will do this." Lily pulled away, going to stand next to James.
Severus scowled a moment, then crossed his arms over his chest. "When do I leave?" Severus asked, turning his attention back to the Morgana trio.

"You have thirteen moons," Nemain reminded Severus.
"A year and a day, Severus Snape," Badb said.
Macha approached Severus, followed by her sisters. "You will begin again, Severus Snape. Just remember what it is that you are working towards."
"I shall," Severus assured them, turning to look at the Potter pair. "I will do my best."

"Then so shall it be," Nemain, Badb, and Macha said, spreading their arms wide. They spoke the spell in perfect unison, voices echoing in the empty room.

"From present to past, from death to life
Alter the path to love from strife
Let he who has wandered into our embrace
Let beat his heart, let his blood race
To right the wrongs, to turn the war's tide
Let him remember his vow and follow his guide
"Wait, what guide?" Severus cut in. "What guide?!" he demanded.
The goddesses gave a cryptic smile but gave him no answer.

"By Badb's mighty foresight, a blessing to him is given
Let his choices by both his mind and heart be driven.
By the great warrior, Macha let his will be ever-bright
To aid when troubles haunt even in the darkest night
By Nemain's fearful shriek, let him not hear her again
And those that would harm, let them feel her bane.

"To North, we call, for flower and rebirth
We ask for blessings, for he will again tread the earth;
To East, we sing, for air and song;
We ask for blessings as he rights many wrongs.
To South, we sing, for passion and fire;
May those who blight his path feel his ire.
To West, we sing, for blood and bone
For now, we send our son back home."

They lowered their arms and returned to bird form with a swirl of magic.
Once, twice, thrice they circled Severus, cawing as if laughing. They swirled around him, whipping close to his face so that he closed his eyes.