Severus lowered the photo and looked around the room.

"Who goes there?' he asked. No one seemed to be at the fireplace, or at the back door.

He stood up as the bodiless voice began to chuckle. He drew out his wand and said:

'Homenum Revelio'

No body appeared, yet the voice kept on chuckling. Severus realized that the voice sounded like that of a younger girl, and was most likely not much of a threat. But he was still a very personal man, and would prefer to have known that a young woman had entered his house.

"They named the boy 'Harry'."

Severus looked to where the voice seemed to be coming from. It seemed like it came from one of the books on the fourth shelf from the top, and second row over from the front door.

" 'Harry - Potter?' " Severus spewed.

He acted as though he did not care: in order for him to find the voice, he needed it to keep talking: but used this as a clever guise to mask his feelings of hurt, and of worthlessness. He was not aware that she had married James: and he was not aware that she was a mother.

Severus always thought that she would make an excellent mother: although, when he first thought this, he was 14, and pictured himself as the father instead of the arrogant James Potter.

" Yes, Harry Potter. Not a very uncommon name, is it? You see, if it were I who named him, I would have gone with something a bit more clever. But this is coming from the girl who wouldn't minding her future sons after her future husband: we'll have Andy Clark Jr, Andy Clark Jr II… well, you get the idea."

The voice had rambled on long enough for Snape to find its source. The voice seemed to be coming from…

A red book, with little notable features. The book didn't even seem to have a title. The cover was blank, along with every page inside the book. Except for page 204.

The sight of a teenage girl's face inside a book that most certainly had been printed before she was even thought of, is truthfully an alarming sight. Any normal man would have jumped at the very idea. However, Severus Snape was not the sort of man who'd cower away from oddities: he was a wizard, and had come to expect the unexpected in the strangest of times.

"Are you the voice who told me about Lily's son?' Severus asked the face in the book. The face smiled broadly and nodded.

"Then what, pray tell, are you doing in my book?' he continued, with the severity and air of a bad-tempered professor. He held the book in both hands, his arms sagging slightly with the weight.

"Well,' spoke the illustration. ' I'm not so sure. I'm not even in a book: I'm sitting at my family's computer."

And, as if she were reading Severus' mind, she finished:

"A computer is like a large photograph that Muggles use for many tasks, like playing games or writing essays."

Her use of the word "Muggle" caught Severus' attention. Only a wizard would know the name for non-magic folk, yet why would this witch be using a Muggle device?

"How- You know the word 'Muggle'?" Severus asked, trying his best to cover his curiosity and intimidation. The girl gave him a dubious look.

"Uh, yeah, I just said it.' The way she ejected her words downsized Severus emotionally. Thankfully, the face did not hold the judgmental expression long: her next phrase consisted of her expressing her knowledge of Severus' love for Lily.

"I know of your love for Lily, Severus." expressed the illustration of the girl. "And I know that you are feeling terrible that she's gotten married, and that she will never love you."

Severus scowled: his thoughts and inner emotions were personal, and this spirit in the book had no right to expose everything vocally.

"Listen, I understand that your thoughts and emotions are personal, but trust me, I'm not about to go and spill everything about you."

Severus could not speak: he simply stood, peering into the face of the girl, his mouth slightly agape. Words would not come to him: no words, except for:

"How did you know that?"

The girl rolled her eyes: Severus clenched his fist to suppress the anger and annoyance that came from the girl's ignorance. Here she was, a girl no more than fourteen, six years younger than he, and she was acting as if she was his superior. This, Severus could not tolerate.

"Because, Snape, I - Well, I can't really explain it, because I doubt you'll believe me, but I'll just say that I know what's going on under your greasy scalp."

Severus stood still, mouth agape once more. Had she just insulted his intelligence and his hygiene? Again, she treated him as if he were an eight year old child, and he did not matter.

Fist still clenched, Severus attempted to test the girl's apparent power.

"Fine,' he said, teeth clenching. 'If you can really read my thoughts and emotions, tell me, girl, what is my greatest w- greatest fear?"

"Your greatest fear is ever having your deepest secrets and thoughts become exposed - you're a very personal person.' The illustration's face was deadpan, and she recited her answer as though she were reading it from a book. Before Severus could respond, she continued:

'And your greatest wish, Severus,' Her voice was still mostly deadpan, though the way she said this was a bit mischievous. Her illustration in the book was sketched in ink, but her eyes began to twinkle in delight. 'Is to return to your fifth year at Hogwarts, so you can return to the moment that you have regretted for five years."

Severus, who now sat in the armchair, his legs too weak with anger and confusion at this strange girl, simply looked at the face on page 204.

He did not say a word in response: how could he? The girl had described his worst fear as well as he ever could.

What's more, she had taken his accidental vocal slip, and provided him the details of his greatest wish.

Severus was suddenly in awe of what she had done, and what she could do, and there was no way he could respond. As he studied her face, he reasoned that her extraordinary power was simply due to her being a strong Legilimens. However, Severus was sure she was a Muggle, as she had mentioned sitting at her family's 'computer': There was no way she could be a squib, as squibs very rarely could perform even the simplest of magic tricks.

"I'm not a squib." she announced after several moments of silence: she sounded rather upset that Severus had ever thought to classify her as such. He jumped in his chair, both at the sound of her voice after the silent pause, and at the realization that he had read her mind.

"Well, what are you, then?" Severus was quickly becoming exasperated with this girl. He wanted nothing more than for her to either leave, or to reveal her secret.

"I told you, you won't understand." she answered in a similar exasperated voice, which was much too similar to his own than he felt comfortable with.

"Now, do you want to fix you greatest regret, or not?"

Her tone was far too conversational, and did not match what she was saying. It was as if she announced in a mournful voice that her Mother had baked her favorite type of cookies and had allowed her to eat as many as she pleased.

Her voice was so calm, in fact, that Severus had to repeat what she said before he noticed what she said.

"I- I'm sorry? Are you suggesting I go back in time?" What an absurd proposition.

Severus had already thought of traveling back in time to re-do the moment, but time travel was highly impossible. Not only was it dangerous, as any change could fracture the Time Space Continuum, and change life in the present day, but it was also very difficult to find an apparatus to use to travel in time. Time Turners, if they did exist, would most likely be heavily guarded by the Ministry of Magic, and all use would be restricted to that of Ministry personnel only.

With all this in mind, Severus spoke again:

"When do we leave?"

A/N: Thanks to those of you who have reviewed and added this story to your alert list. SnapexLily is one of my favorite pairings in the books. I'm presuming that there are several dozen other fanfictions on this website that have Snape wanting to go back in time to reverse his insult. What makes my story different though, is that I will be adding smaller segments here and there that detail the relationship of another couple in the Harry Potter fandom. That's not to say that Snape and Lily will be demoted to extra as the story goes on, though.

Thanks a lot for reading my story. Feel free to add me to your Alert list, or to write a review.