DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER.
Severus Snape found himself in a beautiful cottage room. He was standing right next to a bed. And on the bed, propped up against some pillows, sitting, holding a baby boy was none other than Lily.
Standing on the opposite side of the bed was none other than James Potter. He was looking at Snape with a smile, not a cruel smirk but a friendly smile.
Something very peculiar had happened.
Shortly after the incident where Snape had called Lily a 'Mudblood', Snape had been so desperate to earn Lily's forgiveness.
He had remembered her criticizing him for being with his Death Eater friends and calling people of her origin 'Mudblood'.
In his desire to earn Lily's forgiveness, he had stopped hanging out with Avery and Mulciber and had gone up to Lily swearing never to hang out with them again and follow their ways.
Avery and Mulciber had turned on him, but Lily had defended him and had forgiven him.
Then on the way home, Lily had invited Snape to stay over with her if he wanted to. And for a major part of the summer holidays, he had stayed with her and her parents and sister. Of course, Petunia had been quite rude to him, but the parents had treated him like a son.
Then, on the way back to Hogwarts for their sixth year, Lily had told Snape that he was like a brother to her and that she didn't want to lose him. Snape had been ecstatic upon hearing that. Although he wouldn't be able to marry Lily, he would still be close to her.
And surprisingly, James Potter and Sirius Black, towards the end of the academic year, had come up to him and apologized for their actions. Snape had become friends with them, and with Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew as well, and they had proceeded to give Avery and Mulciber hell for picking on him and calling him a traitor.
After their NEWTs, James, Snape and Sirius had become aurors. James had married Lily and now she had given birth to a baby boy with green eyes.
Snape was feeling incredibly happy, having become an uncle to his best friend's child.
And then, Lily looked at him smilingly and said, "Severus, will you be Harry's godfather?"
Snape woke up in the middle of a field which was filled with short grass with flowers and trees scattered about, and had plenty of open space.
He couldn't believe what he had just dreamt of.
Seriously, James apologizing to him, being his friend and Snape himself being James' child's godfather; no, it wasn't possible!
Why would such an arrogant swine suddenly become a good friend? No, this was just a dream, nothing more.
Thinking so, he got up and began to walk forward.
And then, just at the top of a small hill, he saw a beech tree, looking like one of the beech trees near the lake at Hogwarts.
He realized at that moment that he was at Hogwarts, and he was near the lake.
And then, as he got closer, he saw something he had not expected to see, a very familiar woman, with red hair, Lily.
"Lily," Snape cried out in excitement and began to run towards her, crying her name out aloud as he ran.
He reached the tree and was just in front of her, just a few feet away when he suddenly stopped and looked at her, his smile fading away and his expression becoming one of worry.
Lily was standing there, right in front of him, but was not smiling.
She was glaring at him.
And then she spoke, "How dare you!"
"Lily," Snape spoke, "please."
"How dare you!" Lily shouted this time.
"Lily," Snape spoke desperately, "Please, I never meant to call you a Mudblood, I…"
Lily shouted, "But you were mean to my son! You told him that I died because of him! Why should you treat me any differently?"
"Oh," Snape replied, the shift in his attitude quite clear, "Lily, as much as he is your son, he is also the spawn of that swine James Potter who…"
"HOW DARE YOU, SEVERUS SNAPE!" A male voice yelled.
Snape turned a little to the right, and very close to Lily, just under the tree, stood a livid James Potter, his hands balled into fists.
"YOU GREASY GIT," James roared, "I WOULD HAVE APOLOGIZED TO YOU IF YOU HADN'T JOINED VOLDEMORT! BUT NOW YOU DON'T DESERVE IT!"
Snape replied disdainfully, "As if you ever would have."
Lily yelled, "I would have made him say sorry to you, but you went and joined Voldemort! Being a spy didn't change you!"
Snape spoke, "I swore to protect your son, not coddle him. And your son is just as spoilt and arrogant as…"
Lily yelled, "DIDN'T YOU LISTEN TO ANYTHING AT ALL?! MY BABY WAS NEGLECTED AND ABUSED BY MY OWN SISTER PETUNIA!"
Pointing her finger accusingly into his face, she yelled, "YOU KNEW WHAT PETUNIA WAS LIKE! YOU SAY YOU LOVED ME! YOU COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING ABOUT IT! YOU COULD HAVE TAKEN HIM IN, LOVED HIM AS YOUR OWN SON FOR MY SAKE! BUT YOU DIDN'T! YOU DID NOTHING! AND NOW WHEN HE'S HAPPY WITH AMELIA, YOU WENT AND TOLD HIM THAT I DIED BECAUSE OF HIM AND THAT HE WOULD BE SENT BACK TO THE DURSLEYS! HOW DARE YOU! I WOULD HAVE MADE YOU GODFATHER IF YOU HADN'T JOINED VOLDEMORT, BUT NOW YOU DON'T DESERVE IT!"
Just as she stopped, there was a rumble of thunder and the sky became overcast.
As wind started to blow with an eerie sound, Lily glared at Snape, her eyes blazing with fury like she wanted to kill him and spoke, "Amelia was right. You were my friend, and you betrayed me."
Snape, feeling desperate, spoke pleadingly, "Lily, no please…"
Lily yelled, "YOU ARE UNDESERVING OF MY FORGIVENESS! AMELIA WAS RIGHT! YOU WERE MY FRIEND, AND YOU BETRAYED ME!"
Snape cried out, "Lily, no…"
And then, Snape shot up in his bed and gasped in horror.
"Lily," Snape whispered in horror even as he breathed deeply in and out to get a grip on himself.
After a few minutes, he got up, put on a nightgown and walked out of his quarters.
He walked to the astronomy tower to get a good view of the landscape below.
It was around 6 AM and the sun was rising.
Snape had thought about Lily the previous night before going to bed, and thinking about her had caused that pang of guilt to haunt him before he had gone to sleep.
But now that he had had that nightmare, his feelings of guilt had intensified.
He couldn't deny what Lily had told him.
It was true that he knew what Petunia was like. As a child, he had often seen her calling Lily a freak and insulting her, and he had been the one to comfort Lily.
He had known how jealous Petunia had been back then.
He knew how vile, nasty and vindictive she was.
But now, looking back, he realized that he had allowed his resentment towards James to cloud his mind to the extent that he had forgotten who the real swine was.
And perhaps, James would have apologized to him. Lily had always defended him from James and Sirius until that fateful day on which he had called her a Mudblood.
He couldn't deny that he had not been willing to let go of his Death Eater friends, but they had not stood by him the same way as Lily had, as much as she had, and what had he done in return?
He knew that he should have renounced them earlier. Lily would have forgiven him then, if he had just sworn never to hang around with bad company.
But he had not.
And yes, Lily was right. Snape could have taken Harry in. He could have loved him as his own son, but just avoided talking of James as much as possible. That would have been better.
But now he had lost that opportunity. Amelia had taken it. She, who had not been that close to Lily in Hogwarts, had done what he, who had once been her best friend, should have done.
And to think he had said all those words to him. He felt no better than his abusive Muggle father, who had often beaten him and used cruel words against him.
Out of vindictiveness, he had allowed himself to lose control, and had said that Harry's mother had died because of him.
He was still 24, quite young, but that did not give him any excuse for his words.
But perhaps, it was not too late for an apology.
First though, he had some pictures and memories to go through.