A scream...

In the back of his mind, Severus wondered whether she also had screamed when faced with her final moments in life. But this was not a scream of fear. No. Fear had long been abandoned by the man who had naught but a memory to live for.

It was pain. Searing pain as fangs pierced his neck, followed instantly by the burning sensation of the venom as it began coursing through his veins. His body's functions started to fail, and he collapsed to the ground just as quickly as the cage that had been forced upon him to prevent his escape.

A gruesome end, to be sure. But no matter how deeply the pain began to stab into his body...he couldn't shake the feeling that this was exactly what he deserved.

"I regret it." came the insincere voice of Lord Voldemort as he turned away from who he believed to be his most trusted servant.

"I don't…" Severus thought wistfully as the seconds felt like minutes. He didn't deserve a clean, painless death like the one she had been dealt..far from it. This was the ending that was due for a life that had long since ended, a man whose hopes and dreams had been killed nearly 17 years ago.

The fallen Slytherin's eyes hazily followed the Dark Lord as he exited the claustrophobic interior of the Shrieking Shack. A place where, in what seemed like another life, Snape had faced death as it wore a different mask. Large...imposing...canine...with a demonic howl that sent fear through his spine. He vaguely remembered how, in that moment, as a teenager, he had begged to whatever gods he believed in that he would not die that day, and his prayers had been answered.

Here in the present, looking back...Severus almost wished that they hadn't been.

It was an empty gesture as the dying man pressed his hand on the wound to try to stop the bleeding. Even if he succeeded, the venom was killing him from the inside. He knew he would fail in his struggle, but there was a nagging voice in the back of his mind. The voice of a man Severus hadn't seen since the day he was murdered by his own hand, a voice that for almost two decades had also been his conscience.

He could hear the old wizard, Dumbledore, urging him to try to survive, for the sake of the mission. For the sake of the countless lives in the wizarding world, a legion of nameless faces that didn't know him, or if they did, they despised him.

Was it elation...or terror that flooded through Severus' face when the one that despised him most of all suddenly appeared before him?

Perhaps it was both. Relief at being able to appease that cursed Spymaster, which was followed shortly by dread when he remembered that success in the mission also meant failure in his life's purpose. The salvation of the wizarding world would result in the final betrayal by Severus Snape to Lily Evans Potter.

"Take...it...Take...it…" he choked amidst the blood.

As the memories began to pour out of him, so too did the pain as everything began to feel numb. His hearing was dulled by his own shivering. His sense of touch was driven numb by the poison that was destroying him from within. And amidst the fog that spread across his vision, there was a teasing glint of that brilliant green. It was simultaneously the greatest gift, and the most dreadful curse he could dare ask for in his final moments.

"Look...at...me…" he begged. It was more than he should have asked, but now was not the moment for subtlety. The green met the black upon the dying man's request.

Green…

The color of his Slytherin House.

The eyes of the only one he had ever desired.

The color of the spell that ended her life.

The eyes set within the face that was living proof of his failure to obtain anything worthwhile in his life.

Joy and pain seemed irrevocably intertwined by such a simple thing as a color. But even that faded in time, until all that remained was white.

Did an eternity pass? Or was it a mere moment? Did it even matter if he never moved from his prone position again?

He didn't care. There was nothing waiting for him. Nothing except someone he had no right to see, nor speak to. Besides, where she had gone, he could not follow.

No. Severus greatly preferred resting here. Wherever here was. It was silent. Peaceful. As if he were drifting along in a dreamless sleep, a luxury that had greatly eluded him during this most stressful year at Hogwarts. But here there were no students to verbally reprimand and punish. No Death Eaters to wear a mask around. No brewing potions to be botched by dunderheaded students. Nothing at all to bother him but the growing itch upon his chest. And the comfort of the silence was pierced by two words.

"Potentia Animus."

Snape's eyes snapped open and he let out an audible gasp to see a figure hovering above him. That ever-infuriating smile, that childish twinkle in the eye, deceptive to any who did not know the cunning that rested just beneath the surface. That grandiose, white beard which blended perfectly with the rest of the bright void around them.

There, leaning over Severus was Albus Dumbledore, looking far more vibrant than he had in his final few days. The old wizard was clad in a violet robe that shimmered as the starry sky would during its final hour of twilight.

Dumbledore's grandiose sense of fashion was on full display as usual to clash against the clean white around them. As usual for the very organized and structured Potions Master, he couldn't help but shake his head with a scoff and shut his eyes once more.

While his features remained mostly hidden behind the waves of greasy, raven-colored hair, the thinnest hint of a smirk was visible on Snape's mouth. "...I was having the greatest dream...to finally be rid of you. I should have known it was not to be." he groaned while reaching to touch the wound upon his neck. Where blood was spilling and mixed with traces of Nagini's venom, there was no sign of his mortal wound. A quick glance at the former headmaster's previously-cursed hand revealed a similar freedom from what had sealed his fate.

Dumbledore chuckled lightheartedly. "It's wonderful to see that death has not stripped you of your sarcasm, Severus. One of your finest traits, if I may be so bold."

"I think I preferred us alive. At least then you would sleep from time to time and give me peace. A luxury I wasn't gifted after the little show you forced me to take part in and I had to put up with your portrait. I can think of no greater hell than to listen to your codswallop for the next eternity."

Clearly, Severus' biting remark had no effect on the older Headmaster, as his laughter only intensified. "Truly? You mean that, Severus?"

"No. It would be far worse to be stuck in a room forever with Black and Potter." the younger one quipped back. One of the only blessings of not going wherever Lily ended up.

Dumbledore's jovial expression softened. "That's not what I was asking, Severus. You said you preferred us alive. Do you mean to say that some part of you still clings to the world you left behind?"

Of all of the unflattering words that had been flown towards Dumbledore, THAT had been what he clung to?

"I fail to see the point in asking a dead man if he misses life among the living. Surely if I had, I would have just become another ghost."

"Humor an old man, Severus. I don't expect to have the rest of eternity to enjoy your company." the old wizard persisted.

"And why is that?" the Slytherin raised an eyebrow. Their verbal sparring was just as intriguing, and exhausting, as he remembered.

"Call it intuition. A hunch...but first I need your answer."

"I don't cling to that world, Albus. My job is done. I sent Potter to his grave at your request. Gave him everything he needed. My most private of memories."

Dumbledore's lips curled into a knowing smile. "From an era that you DO cling to. You never stopped. Old grudges...old regrets...and eternal love. It all came from your days as a student…"

Severus said nothing, merely getting to his feet and suddenly feeling a jolt within his chest.

"I shall ask you another personal question, Severus. My final one, I assure you. If you could change things...to create your own world. Knowing what you know now. Would you?"

"Not exactly the question to ask a man with regrets, 'clinging to another time' as you phrased, don't you think? The answer should be obvious." Snape grumbled.

"On the contrary. We all can have regrets. Wishes...my own life was full of them. Particularly in my younger days. But I would not go back to change them in the slightest. The things I regret led me to my joys. Watching and protecting thousands of wonderful young witches and wizards, making so many beloved friends. One of my best friends stands before me here, and I am given the honor of leading him to his next journey."

"And where does that journey lead me?" Severus turned towards the endless white in front of him.

"Ah, but that is your choice, my friend. Will you be going on to the eternity of the afterlife, or would you be so inclined to take a chance on yourself...and go back to that era of regret?"

The Slytherin teacher's head sharply turned back towards Dumbledore's, wide-eyed confusion spread over his face. Go back? To repeat his heartache and misery all over again?

The silver-haired Headmaster began to slowly circle around Severus. "I have not been forthcoming with you, Severus. Because yours is a case that is rarely seen amongst all of wizarding history. After all, how many people die with a love so strong, yet nowhere and nobody to leave it to?

"When that love follows you into death, built up for so long like a fermented potion...if you dare to take the stopper off, I think you'll find a grand miracle waiting for you. Magic stronger than anything you have seen in life. A chance to return...older...wiser...and stronger."

"Will I remember this? The life I have lived up to now?" Severus asked, vulnerable uncertainty etched into his features for the first time in many years. After all, if he couldn't remember his previous mistakes, the things he had been through, what would be the point? He'd just return to being an impetuous teenager and ruin everything for everyone again…

"Everything about you as you are now, Severus. Your memories...your personality...your regrets...and hopefully your best self. I once told you that sometimes we sort too soon, but allow me to leave you with a revised observation. You are the embodiment of Hogwarts itself. Your bravery is tempered by your cleverness and determination. Your natural talent and intellect is bolstered by hard work and undying loyalty. Any one of those four great houses would suit you perfectly, but a Slytherin you shall remain.

Albus set a wrinkled hand atop Snape's shoulder, the younger wizard looking into those twinkling, blue eyes. Severus was completely lost, his usual scoffs at Dumbledore's incessant ramblings had been noticeably absent.

"Severus. Feel. Don't think. Feel a point in your life that you wish you could change."

There was an urgency in Dumbledore's voice which meant that the time for banter or protest was done. And so he remembered that time...pain, humiliation...anger...and sudden loss. Where in his life had things gone horribly wrong?

It was too obvious an answer.

"Let your heart guide you...and I think this time, you will have the opportunity to carve your own way forward. Goodbye, my friend. And good luck." Albus patted him on the shoulder and suddenly, Severus was falling.

Falling…

The soft white of the abyss surrounding him began to shine brighter, blinding...almost as if it were sunlight.

The silent peace was disturbed by the sound of rushing winds, and the annoying sound of children yelling and cheering. There was a sensation of blood rushing to his head, like he was upside-down. Had he been?

"-et him down!" a voice...No...the voice echoed. Severus craned his neck, frantically trying to find its source.

"Certainly." came another familiar voice. One that normally would have given him a fit of anxiety and anger, but his focus was trying to navigate the blinding, sunlit figures to find the only one that truly mattered.

Before Severus had a moment to even look for the source of the voices, that sensation of falling returned. Then came a sickening thud. And what followed was pain…an instant of pain so severe, he thought Nagini had bitten him once again.

Mercifully, it all vanished within a second. This time to black instead of white...