Harry Potter and all associated characters and situations are the property of J.K. Rowling. I make no claim to ownership.

CHAPTER 32: The Death Eater Snape

That afternoon, Severus Snape returned from lunch to find two students sitting in their usual seats in his classroom. The presence of Harry Potter wasn't surprising. The presence of Neville Longbottom was. In fact, it was oddly discomfiting. "Mr. Potter. Mr. Longbottom. What brings you to my classroom on this fine summer day? Exams are over. You have no business here."

Harry spoke calmly but intently. "On the very first day of class, sir, I noted that there were some things that should be addressed immediately rather than just allowed to ... fester. The issue that Jim raised in the infirmary regarding you is, we believe, one such matter."

Snape scoffed. "You refer to his accusation that I am a former Death Eater? The Headmaster already responded to that. I would advise you to accept his statement on the subject and move on."

Harry pierced him with his gaze, as if daring him to use Legilimency. To his surprise, Snape could feel the beginnings of a basic Occlumency shield. It was nothing he could not penetrate with ease, but it was still impressive that the boy had come so far in seven months. Despite the invitation, Snape did not enter Harry's mind, and finally the boy spoke.

"'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him... born as the seventh month dies...' The Dark Lord likes the sound of his own voice, as you're no doubt aware."

"Ahhh," said Snape. "I see."

Neville said nothing during all this. He simply let Harry do the talking while he regarded the Potions Master impassively.

"The Death Eater who revealed those words to You-Know-Who is partially responsible for ten years of hell for me. He is also partially responsible for the loss of Neville's parents and his delivery into the hands of a greedy bastard who tried repeatedly to murder him. Neville and I are both of the opinion that we are entitled to a clearer picture of how the Dark Lord gained that information."

Snape turned up his nose haughtily. "Entitled, you say?"

"Yes, sir," Neville finally spoke. "Entitled."

A hundred biting, cutting remarks flew through Snape's head. Hateful remarks about dunderheads and arrogant brats who needed to learn their place. About how there was still time in the year to have them scrubbing cauldrons, about how Harry Potter was just as arrogant as his father, as arrogant as any Gryffindor. But he said none of those things ... because just as he was about to open his mouth to unleash his anger on the two boys, he was suddenly transfixed by a pair of green eyes staring intently at him. Green eyes which he hadn't thought of in years but which now were suddenly thrust to the forefront of his memory. Green eyes that contained within their depths a righteous fury only barely contained by a strong moral code and a growing confidence that was finally blossoming after ten years of being trampled upon. But more than that, green eyes that held compassion for Severus Snape and a genuine desire to forgive him of his sins if only the professor would give the boy permission to do so.

In short, Neville Longbottom had his father's eyes.

Then...

"I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!"

Lily blinked.

"Fine," she said coolly. 'I won't bother in future. And I'd wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus."

"Apologise to Evans!" James roared at Snape, his wand pointed threateningly at him.

"I don't want you to make him apologise," Lily shouted, rounding on James. "You're as bad as he is."

"What?" yelped James. "I'd NEVER call you a - you-know-what!"

"Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can - I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK."

She turned on her heel and hurried away.

"Evans!" James shouted after her. "Hey, EVANS!"

But she didn't look back.

"What is it with her?'"said James, trying and failing to look as though this was a throwaway question of no real importance to him.

"Reading between the lines, I'd say she thinks you're a bit conceited, mate," said Sirius.

"Right," said James, who looked furious now, "right –"

There was another flash of light, and Snape was once again hanging upside-down in the air.

"Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?' [1]

"EXPELLIARMUS HORRIBILIS!"

With that, there was a truly blinding flash of light, and all four Marauders were suddenly knocked prone with each of their wands flying away to land at the spellcaster's feet. Snape dropped towards the ground and then stopped a foot above it before gently floating down the rest of the way. After pulling his robes back down, Severus looked towards his new savior. It was a tall, powerfully built Gryffindor with dirty blonde hair, piercing green eyes that were burning in anger, and a pin on his chest that identified him as Head Boy.

"Please stay on the ground, Mr. Snape, and refrain from casting any spells until this is resolved," said Frank Longbottom calmly, but without taking his eyes off the Marauders.

"Longbottom!" yelled Sirius Black. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"The Fifth Year prefect's job, since the one we have obviously isn't up to it." Remus looked shamefaced at that. "Everybody else! The show's over! Clear off back to the dorms!" All of the other students who had been watching the confrontation quickly left rather than risk the Head Boy's wrath.

"Sticking up for the Junior Death Eaters now, Frank?" asked a still-angry James Potter as the four boys rose to their feet.

"When it's four-on-one. Although I do give you some credit. At least you're bullying another Fifth Year. Usually, it's the Second Year Slytherins you like to toy with."

"Fine, whatever. How many points are you taking?" asked Sirius as he rolled his eyes.

Frank snorted. "Now what would be the point of that, Black, now that exams are over and there's less than a week left in school? We're already in last place and over a hundred points away from winning the Cup, and it's mainly because of you worthless little swots. You don't give a damn about house points. You don't even care about detentions. But apparently, you do seem to like the idea of hanging people upside down and debagging them for cheap laughs. Well, you know what? I've finished my NEWTS and I already have a post-graduate job lined up, so I don't really mind pissing off McGonagall at this point. So how about we skip the official punishment system? I'll just leave the four of you hanging upside-down out here in the courtyard with your willies flapping in the breeze like you planned for Snape and see if being a bully as much fun as you guys seem to think!"

He raised his wand, and the four stepped back, raising their hands in fear.

"Frank," said Remus nervously. "There's no need for this. Things got a little out of hand, but it's over now."

Frank sneered at Lupin with contempt. Then, he lowered his wand and fixed his gaze back on James. "You know, Potter. I'm not surprised by Black. I still don't know how he tricked the Hat into Sorting him into Gryffindor, but he's just like every other one of his sick relatives. He'll always be Walburga's boy."

"Why you sonuva– !" Sirius charged Frank, who lazily flicked out his wand in the boy's direction. There was another flash of light, and suddenly, Sirius was flat on his back ten feet away. Frank continued as if he'd barely noticed the interruption.

"But you, James? You're the Potter Heir! Your family has been Gryffindor for at least ten generations. When you were Sorted, I was actually excited to see a Potter at Hogwarts because I expected you to be the perfect symbol of our House. To show everyone else what Gryffindor courage and values are all about." Frank stepped forward and got right into James's face. "And for the past five years, there's hardly been a day you haven't been a complete embarrassment. You absolutely disgust me, James Potter. Now take your worthless self and your gang of bullies and get out of my sight."

With that, Longbottom stepped aside and gestured with his wand. A red-faced James Potter stooped to pick up his own wand and then stormed off, followed by his three friends. As they left, Longbottom called out.

"Oh, and Lupin? I doubt it will do any good, but for what it's worth, I plan to inform Professor McGonagall that I consider you completely unfit to be a prefect and that she should replace you. Preferably with someone who can walk around without his lips affixed to one of Potter's arse cheeks. McClaggan maybe. He's a wanker, but at least he can think for himself. Just thought you ought to know."

Remus's face nearly crumpled at Frank's words, while James and Sirius gave Frank murderous looks. He smirked at them and gestured again with his wand for them to head along. Then, he turned back to Snape. "Are you injured, Mr. Snape? Do you need to go to the infirmary?"

Snape, who had been amazed at both the Head Boy's skill and his willingness to stand up to Potter's gang on his behalf, quickly shook his head. "No, Mr. Longbottom. I ... thank you for your intervention." To his embarrassment, the Slytherin sniffled.

Longbottom studied the young Slytherin for a few seconds. Then, to Snape's surprise, he sat down on the ground next to the other boy. "I'm sorry I didn't get here faster. But ... I did arrive in time to see that business with Evans. That was ... rough."

Severus tried to summon a sneer or an insult but was simply too broken down. Longbottom looked off into the distance silently for a few seconds.

"I interned with the DMLE last summer," he said, changing the subject. "Got to take a class on improving my observational skills and learning to read social cues. It was very interesting. I got an O." He turned back to the confused Snape. "I couldn't help but notice that when you called Evans a Mudblood, you weren't even looking at her. You weren't looking at Potter or his gang, either. You were looking off to the side, over to where Mulciber, Wilkes and Rosier were watching ... approvingly."

Snape remained silent. Frank hesitated for a second and then went on.

"I imagine it's pretty hard for you in Slytherin at times. Just being a Halfblood in Slytherin is hard enough, but to have a Muggleborn as your best friend? And worse, one you obviously have a crush on?" Snape's breath caught in his throat. "And then, in front of everyone, she saves you from Potter's gang in front of all your Slytherin peers. I imagine that would have made things ... intolerable if you'd just let it go."

Severus looked down at the ground, unable to meet Longbottom's eyes. He wanted to bluster and deny but found that he couldn't, not while under the gaze of someone who seemed to understand him without hating him. Unable to speak, he simply nodded at Frank's deductions.

"Do you think she'll forgive you?" he asked softly.

Snape hesitated. "I will go to her this summer and try to explain. That in a single instant, I had to choose between insulting my best friend or confirming to my house mates that I was a blood traitor fit to be hexed on an hourly basis for the next two years... But no, I do not think she will forgive me."

"Is there anything I can do, Severus?"

Snape looked up sharply at Longbottom's presumption of familiarity, but the look in his eyes stopped the Slytherin from saying something offensive. It wasn't the pity he'd been expecting. It was kindness, which was a wholly different thing that Snape had only rarely experienced from others.

He sighed. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd appreciate it if you'd make a big show of docking five points or so for calling Lily a Mudblood. Perhaps mention to one of the Slytherin prefects how disgusted you are with my vile bigotry."

Frank laughed. "Sure thing."

"Thank you ... Frank."

Now...

Snape pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers and then looked up at Neville and Harry. He sighed in resignation and then began to speak.

"The first thing you must understand is that when I was young and foolish ... I was very young and foolish. The second thing you must understand that the early days of the last Wizarding War were a time of great confusion. While it was generally understood that the Dark Lord and his followers were motivated by a hatred of Muggleborns, a sizeable portion of the wizarding populace failed to appreciate just how violent and destructive they were. Likewise, at least in the early days, a great many people, including myself, failed to appreciate that the Dark Lord was genuinely a Dark Lord and not just some jumped up agitator the government wished to discredit. The Wizarding Wireless was still somewhat new and, in any case, owned and controlled by the Ministry, just like the Daily Prophet, our only major newspaper. And during that era, the Ministry strongly supported new rights and protections for Muggleborns and Muggles to a degree that even moderate witches and wizards found troubling. To make a long story short, a great many of my friends and peers from my school days believed that the worst accusations against the Dark Lord and his movement were propaganda meant to discredit him, that the atrocities the Death Eaters supposedly performed were fabrications or, worse, actual atrocities performed by Muggleborns for which Voldemort and his followers were framed. That is not an uncommon tactic during times of civil insurrection. I believe the Muggles refer to it as 'false flag' operations. In fact, even the term 'Death Eaters' was first used in a Daily Prophet editorial as an insult against the organization formally known as 'The Knights of Walpurgis,' an insult the Dark Lord eventually coopted and turned to his own political uses."

"After graduating Hogwarts in 1978, I remained in contact with former Slytherin friends who joined the Dark Lord's inner circle. I returned to England in January of 1980 after obtaining my Potions Mastery in Italy. The skills I had obtained were some that would be extremely useful to the Death Eater movement, and they wished to recruit me. And while I had little use for their larger political agenda, a family matter that arose around that time made their offer attractive. You see, I am a Halfblood." Both Harry and Neville were startled by his blunt admission. "My father was a Muggle, but my mother was a witch from the now extinct Noble House of Prince. She was expelled from the family for marrying my father, a foolish and shortsighted decision by my grandfather as he had no other surviving heirs. Thus, when he died in 1976, the House of Prince was extinguished. However, my friends assured me that if I could prove my worth to the Dark Lord, he would reward me when he took power by legislatively reversing my mother's expulsion, thereby allowing me to claim the Prince seat and assets."

"It was against this backdrop that on a cold, January day in 1980, I found myself in the Hogs Head Inn in Hogsmeade. I had learned that Albus Dumbledore was meeting with an applicant for the recently vacated Divination Instructor's position, and I had hoped to meet with him myself and present my credentials for the position of Potions Instructor, as I had heard rumors that Horace Slughorn was considering retirement. While waiting for Dumbledore to come out of the meeting room, I suddenly heard the woman inside cry out the beginnings of a prophecy, the same prophecy which the Dark Lord related to both of you. The owner of the bar caught me eavesdropping and, assuming I was deliberately spying on the Headmaster, threw me out. Although I knew there was more to the prophecy than what I'd heard, I believed, correctly, that relating what I did know to the Dark Lord would win me a place in his Inner Circle and, eventually I hoped, the Prince inheritance." He hesitated. "It goes without saying that when I met with the Dark Lord, I had no idea that either of your mothers was with child."

"But you did know you were sending You-Know-Who after a child though, right?" asked Neville in a tight voice. "Even if it hadn't been either of us, you were telling You-Know-Who to kill a child."

Severus chuckled bitterly. "As I said Mr. Longbottom, when I was young and foolish, I was very young and very foolish. In all honesty, when I revealed what I knew of the Prophecy to the Dark Lord, I had not considered for one second the possibility that it referred to an infant."

The two looked up at him in surprise. "What?!" asked Harry incredulously.

He shrugged. "I never took Divination, and in my hubris, I applied a layman's analysis to what I'd heard. Consider the words of the prophecy that you already know, Mr. Potter. 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches..." The word 'approaches' in my mind clearly referred to someone who was some distance away but drawing nearer. It is not a word that I would have ever used to describe a child in utero whose birth was still over seven months away.

"Likewise, the second line refers to one 'born to those who have thrice defied him' and 'born as the seventh month dies.' Except, I only heard those words spoken aloud and not written down. True, the world 'born' spelled B-O-R-N would have referred to an infant, but I mistakenly thought Trewlawney meant 'born' spelled B-O-R-N-E, as in 'one who has been transported or carried.' I interpreted the Prophecy to refer to an powerful adult wizard who, at the end of July, would be delivered somehow to individuals who had defied the Dark Lord on three or more occasions, most likely the Headmaster and his Order of the Phoenix. The Dark Lord was known to have spent decades traveling the world in his studies of the Dark Arts. I assumed that in his travels, he had crossed wands with many powerful wizards and witches and made a great many formidable enemies, one of whom was coming to Britain to join the opposition. So no, the possibility of the Prophecy referring to an unborn child simply did not occur to me... until after I was initiated into the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord announced his plans to completely destroy St. Mungos on the morning of August 1st."

Harry's eyes rose. "You were the one who talked him out of it."

Snape nodded. "I along with a few others, some out of ethical opposition and others for more pragmatic reasons. We persuaded the Dark Lord that murdering dozens of children and infants and possibly hundreds of other wizards and witches at the nation's only hospital would turn the opinion of a still-divided wizarding Britain against us. Indeed, without knowing the full prophecy, it was possible that the mysterious 'power to vanquish the Dark Lord' might refer to the symbolic power that the memory of a murdered child might have in shaping public opinion irrevocably against him. It was a highly improbable interpretation, but it was just plausible enough to deter the Dark Lord from attacking St. Mungo's. Shortly thereafter, he focused his attention exclusively on you two and on Jim Potter, as all three of your were to be born at the end of July and, as far as the Dark Lord was concerned, all four of your parents had defied him three times. It was at that point that I contacted Dumbledore, urged him to send the Potters and Longbottoms into hiding, and agreed to spy on the Dark Lord on Dumbledore's behalf."

"Did you know that Barty Crouch Jr. was a Death Eater?" asked Neville. Only a slight tightening of his fingers around the arms of his chair alerted Harry to how nervous Neville was to ask the question.

"Not until his arrest. The Death Eaters worked in cells, wore voice-altering masks while doing the Dark Lord's work, and always used code names. I obtained a position as the Dark Lord's potions expert which meant I never went on raids and rarely interacted with Death Eaters on a personal level outside of those I already knew. Everyone whose identity I uncovered through spying I reported to Dumbledore. There is very little else I can say about that without contravening various secrecy oaths I made both the the Dark Lord and to the Headmaster. And before you ask, Mr. Potter, no, I did not know that Sirius Black was a Death Eater either. In fact, I was quite astonished to learn of it. While I found him to be a despicable man, I had always believed Black to be an implacable foe of the Death Eaters."

"What was your code name?" asked Harry.

Snape suppressed a smirk. Of course, that would be the sort of cloak and dagger silliness that would intrigue the Slytherin Potter. "I was Mr. Aconite," he replied.

Harry nodded with a slight amusement. "Naturally." Then he looked over at Neville.

"That's all I have, sir," Longbottom said. "I appreciate your candor." The boy spoke easily, without either anger or guile. Snape blinked repeatedly.

"That's... all, Mr. Longbottom?" he asked somewhat nonplussed.

Neville nodded. "You made a mistake, but after you realized it, you did what you could to make it better. And you never knew about my Cousin Barty, who was the only one who could have led the other Death Eaters through the Longbottom wards to attack my parents. None of what happened to my parents was your fault beyond the simple fact of Barty and the Lestranges knowing that You-Know-Who was interested in me, and you did what you could to fix that. I don't see any cause to bear ill will against you, sir."

Snape blinked some more before finally composing himself enough to speak. "Mr. Longbottom, you... remind me very much of your father. I believe that is one of the highest compliments I am capable of giving."

"Thank you, sir," the boy replied softly.

"Um, I did have a few more questions," said Harry. "I'm not sure that you can answer them if you're under oaths, but if you don't mind, I'd still like to ask." Snape nodded. "The first one is about last Thursday. Did you or any of the other teachers know what all the traps were or how to disarm them?"

Snape was surprised at the change of topic and somewhat bemused at Harry's transition from wronged child to seasoned investigator. He remembered how the boy had deduced the Dark Lord's involvement with Quirrell from a startlingly small number of clues, and he was once again curious as to the boy's thought processes.

"No. Each of us knew how to disarm only the traps we personally designed. The trapdoor in the room guarded by the Cerberus was actually a magical construct leading to Wizardspace." He noticed the boys' confusion. "Wizardspace is a term of art relevant to spatial expansion and manipulation Charms. You will study it in Seventh Year if you pursue a Charms NEWT. Each professor designed the trap in an individual room of their own choosing which was then shrunk down to the size of a small box. When he was ready to prepare the gauntlet in its entirety, the Headmaster assembled the modular boxes and expanded them back again, which explains how you could have a trap door in the floor of a Third Floor room that does not connect to an opening in the ceiling of the adjacent Second Floor room."

"When were the individual traps completed and turned over to the Headmaster?"

"Most of them over the course of last summer, although the final room was not completed until December due to outside forces beyond our control." Snape noticed that Harry seemed surprised at that. "Why is this relevant, Mr. Potter?"

"I'm... not sure anymore in light of your last answer, but my next question may help explain it. That is, if it's one you're permitted to answer. The plan, according to the Headmaster, was to lead Quirrell through a gauntlet of traps to both confuse him and lull him into a false sense of security, so that when he found the Mirror, You-Know-Who would be drawn into it and destroyed." Harry took a deep breath. "To the best of you knowledge, was that really the actual plan?"

The question clearly confused Snape. "You've lost me, Potter. What other plan do you think there could have been?"

The boy took another even deeper breath before diving in headfirst. "I was thinking of, perhaps, a plan by the Headmaster to engineer a direct confrontation between You-Know-Who and Jim Potter so that the former could be destroyed completely by the latter's mysterious 'vanquishing' power."

Snape stared at the boy for several seconds as he thought through the implications of that statement. "Mr. Potter, I cannot imagine what you are talking about. No one could have anticipated the manner in which the Dark Lord would figure out our objective and Confund your brother and his friends into meeting him in the Mirror Room. Now tell me what it is you are thinking."

Harry stared at Snape as if trying to gauge his trustworthiness. Eventually, he decided that if he couldn't trust Snape at this point, there was literally no one over the age of eleven that he could trust, so he'd might as well go for it.

"Room One: A three-headed dog that falls asleep if you play music around it, a fact made known to Jim Potter by Rubeus Hagrid right around the time Hagrid gave Jim a flute as a Christmas present. Room Two: A Devil's Snare, which Neville identified merely by its scent even before entering the room and which he disabled easily. Room Three: An absurdly overcomplicated aerial trap which could only be overcome by someone with the specific skill set of a talented Quidditch Seeker. Room Four: A giant chessboard which I am told Ron Weasley beat in just twelve moves. Room Five: A troll that Neville and Hermione had already helped incapacitate once before. Room Six: A logic puzzle that Hermione solved in less than a minute and a potion that only allowed one person to proceed to the final room at a time. Frankly, sir, it looks very much like the gauntlet was designed for the particular skills and specialties of Jim Potter and the three Gryffindors most likely to accompany him on his... adventure."

Snape's face turned into an emotionless mask, which strangely reassured Harry more than if he'd registered shock instead. "With whom have you discussed this... theory?"

"Blaise and Theo. We all noticed it while making our own way through the gauntlet. Hermione figured it out the next day once she was no longer under the Confundus and had time to think about things, and she told Neville. None of us have discussed it with Jim, Ron or anyone else."

He did not mention that everyone who knew his theory had made their own independent plans for recovering the information in the event they were Obliviated.

Snape nodded. "Tell no one of this. I will... investigate the matter. When you describe the situation as you have, I admit I find it troubling as well. That said, while the coincidence is startling, I know for a fact that Professor McGonagall submitted her room to the Headmaster weeks before the start of school at a time when no one knew that Weasley was a chess prodigy or even that Weasley and the Other Potter would strike up a friendship. Likewise, I submitted my own room around the same time before I even knew who Miss Granger was. Still, I will definitely look into this matter. Is there anything else?"

Harry grimaced. His last question might, he feared, be a bridge too far. "One final thing, sir. You mentioned earlier that you were very surprised at Sirius Black being a Death Eater. I know you have a history with the man and have as much reason to hate him as you do my father. That said... is there any possibility – no matter how remote you might think it now – that Sirius Black is an innocent man?"

Five seconds later, Harry and Neville were out the door running as fast as they could for fear the irate Snape would hex them into the next century.

The next update will post on July 24, 2015 between noon and 2 pm CST. "The End of the Beginning (Pt. 1)," in which Harry leaves Hogwarts full of confidence and hope for the future, even as enemies old and new plot against him.

AN 1: For those unhappy that the cliffhanger from the last chapter was not resolved in this one, I promise not to leave you hanging. The secret James Potter revealed to Dumbledore will be revealed (at least in part) next Monday in the finale to Year 1.

AN 2: Some thoughts about Severus Snape: I had some concerns about this chapter because my version of Snape is, I think, the most OOC of any major character in the fic (although none of you have seen Lockhart yet.:)). To be perfectly honest, I think canon Snape is kind of an awful excuse for a human being, and if he hadn't been played by an actor as charismatic as Alan Rickman, I don't think anyone would have bought his heel-face turn for a second. In particular, I think it's kind of horrible that he only felt remorse over revealing the Prophecy to Voldemort after he learned that it likely applied to the son of literally the only person in the world he cared about. From what I know of canon-Snape, if Lily hadn't been pregnant, Snape would have happily stayed a Death Eater and never spied for Dumbledore.

Setting all that aside, however, I think the only clear explanation for Snape's actions and character in canon stem from the simple fact that Lily died despite all his efforts to save her. He foolishly drove her away in 1975, foolishly endangered her life in 1980, and failed to save her in 1981. Then, Dumbledore manipulated him into swearing an oath to protect her son - the son who looked exactly like his hated rival James. More importantly, Harry was the son who, arguably, was the real reason she died since Lily would not have been targeted if Harry had been born even a day later. I think that's also the reason why Snape was so hostile to Neville - if Neville had been the Boy-Who-Lived, Lily also might have survived.

In this story, however, Lily lived. More importantly, she lived and continued to hold a grudge against Snape for the next ten years despite his sacrifices on her behalf. And she raised one of her sons to be the same sort of James Potter clone that canon-Snape believed canon-Harry to be. And she sent her other son to be subjected to the same sort of abusive upbringing that ruined Snape's childhood. And yet, despite all that, Harry has somehow grown up to be the Slytherin wunderkind that Snape wishes he'd been. It was a big giveaway that in their very first interaction, Snape (who is notorious for his own greasy hair) basically orders Harry to improve his appearance. In Snape's head, Harry, Hermione and Jim are replaying the old Snape-Lily-James triangle, except this time, mini-Snape is charming, good-looking, popular and able to defend himself against bullies; mini-Lily has an extremely adversarial relationship with mini-James; and mini-James was so obnoxious from the first day of school that even his Head of House won't protect him from the consequences of his actions. If nothing else, it's highly unlikely that Harry is ever going to lose his temper and call Hermione a "mudblood." As for Neville, now that Snape doesn't subconsciously view him as part of why Lily died, he can look at Neville objectively (and even with a tiny degree of fondness due to the interaction with Frank Longbottom that I invented for this chapter).

AN 3: [1] The italicized section is taken from Chapter 28 ("Snape's Worst Memory") of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

AN 4: This chapter was edited on 11/10/2020 to tweak Snape's erroneous reading of the Prophecy.