This one is 21 chapters, updated every weekend–usually Friday. There's some attempted sexual assault later on in the story.. Warnings will precede that chapter and it won't be very graphic.

The Great Hall was filled with war casualties and heroes. Hermione and Ron sat off to the side, arm in arm, basking in their newfound relationship.

"Ron," Hermione called as she pushed back from him.

"Yeah?" Ron said as he looked at her with affection.

"We need to go get Professor Snape."

"Huh?"

"Professor Snape. He's all alone in the Shrieking Shack."

"Hermione, he's dead."

"I know that! But we just can't let him lie there all by himself."

"Merlin, who cares? Let him rot."

"I can't, Ron. It's important that we get his body and have him with the other dead here in the Hall."

He shrugged. "You can go. I have no desire to see the git again."

"Ron! He's a hero. Without him, we'd all be dead!"

"Sure, sure. I just don't want to have anything to do with him."

Hermione regarded him thoughtfully. She was cross at his attitude, but they'd all been through a lot. She decided to give him some leeway.

"That's fine, Ron. You should be with your family," she offered.

"Yeah, and nobody cares about Snape anyway."

She'd glowered at him before rising, leaving him behind as she hurried out of the Hall. She went outside and headed toward the Whomping Willow. It was immobile after all that had happened in the battle. It looked no worse for wear, so she hoped it was just shock that had rendered it unmovable.

Hermione made her way through the tunnel into the Shrieking Shack. She came into the room and gasped. There was so much blood. Rushing over to Professor Snape, she waved her wand over him just to be sure he was dead. It was obvious that he was. He'd lost so much…

She hesitated.

Waving her wand over him again, she gasped as she realized his heart was beating very faintly.

"Oh no! I should have come back sooner!" she cried. She cast a healing spell over him, but nothing happened. She needed help. Carefully levitating him, she cast a stasis charm on him and turned to take him back to the school.

Guiding him with her wand, she made it back through the tunnel as quickly as possible. She hurried into the school with him and entered the Great Hall calling out to anyone who would listen.

"Somebody help! Professor Snape is still alive!"

Soon Poppy rushed over, her wand extended, casting diagnostic spells as she ran. Several Healers from St. Mungos had come in to help with the wounded. They came over to diagnose Snape too.

They conversed with Madam Pomfrey for a minute. Poppy took a vial of Phoenix tears and poured them on Severus' neck wound. It barely made a difference.

"The wound is too deep and has been open too long. The Phoenix tears aren't healing him."

Poppy and the two Healers made eye contact and each looked resigned.

"There must be something we can do," Poppy said in a hushed tone.

"I don't think there's anything that can save him," Healer Drake said.

Healer Sawyer turned to him suddenly. She opened her mouth, then closed it again.

"What is it, Healer Sawyer? Do you have an idea?"

"I do, but it's insanity!" she cried.

"Nothing is insanity if it will save our patient," Healer Drake advised.

Poppy nodded. "Yes, what is your idea?"

"Well… the poison has run through his body, and he's lost a lot of blood."

They all nodded.

"What if we deaged him to before his attack?"

Poppy ran her wand over him again. "That's a good idea, let's do it."

The three trained their wands on Severus and said multiple spells, each one concentrating on a specific task: Poppy, to heal the snake bite, Drake worked to clear Severus' body of the venom, and Sawyer worked on the de-aging spell. Golden light came from their wands and immersed Severus. The spells ended, but nothing happened. The three frowned as Healer Sawyer did some diagnostics.

She shook her head. "The remnants of his Dark Mark are keeping us from being able to return him to yesterday. The healing spells you two used didn't work either because of that."

"How do we counteract the Dark Mark?" Poppy asked in frustration.

"What if we deage him to a time before he had the Mark?" Drake offered.

"Would it work, or would the Mark keep us from being able to even do that?" Poppy asked.

Healer Sawyer waved her wand in the air, creating some Arithmantic equations and studying them carefully.

"I think it will work. The spell will technically begin before he receives the Mark, so that particular Dark magic won't be able to counteract what we do."

"Let's do it, then, before he succumbs to these injuries. He's close to death," Drake urged.

They all nodded.

"All right," Drake continued as he peered at the other two. "We de-age him to eighteen. That will remove the Dark Mark which will purify his body and help to clear any Dark magic-laced spells from him."

They all raised their wands and began the complicated casting. Once again, Poppy concentrated on healing the snake bite, Drake worked on the venom within his body, and Sawyer started the de-aging process. After a minute, Sawyer stopped.

"We need to all concentrate on the Deaging spell first, then move to the healing spells. I can't do the de-aging alone."

They all nodded and started again. All three cast several spells in a row and Severus began to look younger. After fifteen minutes of intense spell casting, Severus was surrounded by a green light and his de-aging was complete. The three Mediwizards worked on the healing spells then, working to cure anything the de-aging hadn't taken care of. After several more minutes, they ended their spells and lowered their wands.

Instead of a thirty-eight-year-old, there now was an eighteen-year-old lying on the floor. The Healers and Poppy looked down upon him and cast some diagnostic spells.

"No trace of snake venom," Poppy said.

"His neck is completely healed," Drake said.

"Age… Eighteen point five years," Sawyer confirmed.

Severus cracked his eyes open. It was really bright, and he didn't want to open his eyes until they adjusted.

Where was he?

Azkaban, probably. But shouldn't it be dark there?

He cracked his eyes open a little more and saw some fuzzy shapes in the room. Most of it just looked white. His eyes adjusted some more, and he opened them fully. Looking around, he noted that the room looked familiar. He'd been in it before.

He was in the private room of the Hogwarts Infirmary. He'd been hidden away here many times when he'd come back from Death Eater meetings with injuries that needed a hospital stay.

But why was he here? Why wasn't he dead? And if he was alive, why wasn't he locked up in a cell in Azkaban?

Poppy bustled in at that time.

"I set an alarm to tell me when you were awake," she advised as she began waving her wand over him.

He reached up and stilled her movements, noticing his hand and arm looked different than he was used to seeing.

"Poppy, what's going on?"

Poppy smiled at him with understanding and grasped his hand, squeezing it. He was immediately wary.

"Why are you smiling? Why aren't you hexing me and binding me with ropes? Where are the Auror guards?"

She put away her wand quickly, and her free hand came up, and she cradled his hand in both of hers.

"I'm sorry I was so horrid to you this year, Severus. I didn't know. None of us knew. Merlin, why didn't Dumbledore…"

"Potter…"

She nodded. "He told everyone your story."

"Great," he ground out as he closed his eyes.

"He's working to clear your name."

Severus tried to sit up, but Poppy held him down.

"Not so fast, mister. I do need to examine you and make sure you're well enough to get up and out of this bed."

"Fine!" Severus huffed.

His head settled back onto his pillow, and he let Poppy do her diagnostics.

"I thought Potter died."

"Yes, he did. Got the Horcrux right out of him, that did. But he came back to life and defeated You Know Who."

"Horcrux?" Severus asked in confusion.

"Yes, evidently, Harry was made into a Horcrux when Voldemort tried to kill him the first time." With Severus' confused look continuing, she went on to explain how Voldemort had made several Horcruxes.

"Merlin, the man was insane."

Poppy nodded. "Most definitely. Thankfully, Harry came back to life so he could end him."

"The bastard knew all along," Severus murmured. "Why didn't he just tell me?"

"You shouldn't call Harry a bastard."

"I'm not. I'm calling Albus a bastard."

"Oh. Well, carry on then. You'll get no argument from me!" She finished her diagnostics. "You're fully healed."

"How can that be?"

"Well…"

He gave her a caustic look. "Poppy, what did you do to heal me? I was bleeding out on the Shrieking Shack floor the last I remember."

She pulled up a chair and settled in.

"Merlin, it's going to be a long story," he muttered.

She reached over and grasped his hand again. His eyebrows furrowed as he noted once again that his hands looked different. Younger, perhaps?

"There was antivenin in your bloodstream, so you were prepared."

He nodded. "I'd been dosing myself for several months."

"Smart lad. But you couldn't have known that the snake would attack your neck and knick your jugular. You're lucky really. Two millimeters over and you'd have bled out in a matter of minutes."

"I don't feel lucky. Despite dosing myself, I fully intended to die."

"Oh, Severus, why would you want to die?"

"You have to ask?"

She squeezed his hand. "I can't imagine how hard it's been for you this last year. I'm so sorry that I made it more so with how I treated you."

He looked away. "You were all supposed to hate me."

"Bullshite! Albus Dumbledore has a lot to answer for! Dead or not, he treated you horridly. He should have told us. We can keep secrets. He knew that. You know that."

"Poppy… it's all right. I never thought anyone would be able to forgive me. It's nice to hear that you can do so."

"We all can, Severus. We understand now."

He huffed.

She squeezed his hand again.

"Sooo, obviously you were wounded severely. Almost fatally. You're lucky to be alive."

He gave a quick nod.

"Miss Granger went back to collect your body and found your heart barely beating. She rushed you back here. Healers Sawyer and Drake from St. Mungos had come in to help with the wounded, so the three of us discussed what we could do to save your life." Poppy sighed. "Severus… there weren't many options. We really only had one."

He nodded, urging her to go on.

She grimaced. "The only thing that could save you was to…" She paused and grimaced again.

"What did you do, Poppy? What horrid thing did you have to do? Did you wind up attaching my head to a different body? My hands don't look like they normally do."

"No… no of course not."

"Then what?"

"We had to de-age you."

"You what?"

"We deaged you."

"How old am I?"

"You're eighteen."

"Eighteen? Why eighteen? Why couldn't you just de-age me to before the battle, or five years ago or something?"

"We tried to only deage you a day, but your Dark Mark prevented the magic from working. We had to bring you to a time when you hadn't taken the Mark."

"So, I'm eighteen now?"

Poppy nodded. "Of course, you've retained all your memories, but your body is eighteen."

"So, what the fuck do I do now?"

"Language."

He gave her a cross look.

"Good to see some things don't change," Poppy mused. "You've been unconscious for two days. Harry and Hermione are working with the Ministry to clear your name."

"Why in Merlin's name would they do that? And what about the other one? Weasley?"

"I don't know why Mr. Weasley isn't involved. He lost his brother Fred. I would imagine he's mourning with his family."

Severus frowned. "The Weasley twin was a good student. It's a pity he was cut down so young."

Poppy nodded. "One of many, sadly. As for why they'd clear your name, you know Miss Granger has a very advanced idea of right and wrong, and well, Mr. Potter feels bad for misjudging you all these years. He wants what's right as well."

"Fabulous."

At that moment, the Floo activated and those very two people came through.

"Professor Snape, you're awake!" Hermione said.

He glowered at her. She didn't seem to be affected.

"Sir, I want to apologize for everything," Harry said.

Severus closed his eyes and fought the urge to vomit. "Potter, no one was to know what I was doing."

"I thought you were dead, and Voldemort needed to know your true motives. I'm sorry if you didn't want anyone to know. I'm also sorry for how easily I believed you to be evil. We've never gotten along, and I used that to believe everything bad about you. I apologize for that."

"What did you two find out from the Ministry?" Poppy broke in.

Hermione frowned. "It's ridiculous, really!" she said with a frustrated wave of her hands.

Harry frowned. "They want to have Professor Snape appear before the Wizengamot. They say they just can't drop murder charges without a trial. Evidently, it will just be to hear the evidence." He looked over at Severus. "They said you won't be sentenced to any prison time."

"Lucky me," Severus gave a sardonic reply.

"They should just leave you alone," Hermione ground out as she frowned. "You've been through enough!"

"Yes, but that would mean that the Ministry was a logical entity. I wouldn't doubt they'll throw me into Azkaban anyway."

"We should bring in Dumbledore's portrait," Harry mused.

"That's a good idea, Harry."

Severus said nothing. He'd rather not see the old man again, but if it would help his case, then he would deal with it.

"The hearing is set for Friday," Harry told them.

"That will give you time to get used to your new body, Severus," Poppy offered.

"Lovely," was all that Severus could say.

"You look nice, Professor," Hermione offered.