Severus Snape - Time-Travel (Harry Potter)
Severus wondered, as he lay dying, how he could have missed it for all these years.
He was looking at Harry, kneeling next to him, and saw Lily's child for the first time. Harry was looking at him just like his mother had the first time she saw the bruises that Severus' father had left on him. It was compassion and it caused shame to bloom in him. After everything he had done to this child, he still exuded kindness. He wondered if he would still give him it after knowing what Dumbledore knew for years and how Severus had not tried harder to stop such a cruel ending for his best friend's son.
He struggled for a moment to speak as tears mixed with the memories trailing down his cheeks. He must let Harry know that she -
His voice, normally a smooth sounding timber, came out faint and hoarse as he said, "Lily would be proud of you."
His body gave out from the effort; Harry was now just a blur and any response he gave was muffled.
Please, remorse coloring his thoughts as he begged to everything and nothing, let his fate be kinder than his mother's.
A moment later, darkness crept in and he knew nothing more.
It was with much confusion that Severus blinked awake. He had died; he shouldn't be able to blink.
He sat up from where he was and noted he had been laying on a field of grass. He looked to his right and froze. There, stood a large partially hollowed out tree full of knots and twists that he knew by heart. He stumbled to his feet and rushed over to it, his heart hammering. There, just inside the hollow, was his name and Lily's. His tentatively brushed his fingers against the names and was surprised he was able to feel the engravings.
"We used to pretend that this was our home and that we went on the glorious adventures you would tell me about the magical world," came a soft, wistful voice.
Severus whipped around, haven't hearing that voice in decades, and paled. There she stood - her red hair swaying in the small breeze, and her green eyes piercing him to his very soul like they always had.
He took an unsure step forward and whispered in disbelief, "Lily?"
She gave him a sad smile and said, "Hello, Sev. It's been awhile."
He walked hurriedly toward her but abruptly stopped a few feet away. He had no right to touch her, to make sure she was real, or to even embrace her. He had done terrible and cruel things that she would never forgive. His legs gave out underneath him from the shock and he found himself on his knees. He supposed that was a rather fitting position to be in now. He was at Lily's mercy and he knew that mercy did not extend to him - murderer, torturer, bully. He watched her feet approach him and stand in front of him. He couldn't look at her, his shame overriding anything else. But Lily gently took his chin in her hand and lifted his gaze to meet her own.
"Thank you," she said sincerely.
"What?" he asked shakily.
She dropped her hand from his chin and silently sat down next to him. She guided him by the shoulder to sit down as well.
"For doing what you could for my son."
He gave her a perplexed look and fiddled with his hands, not knowing what to say. She gently took one of his hands in her own. Her touch was warm and solid, real. It grounded him, his heart slowing down into a regular rhythm and his thoughts reorganizing themselves into coherent thoughts.
"I was cruel to him," he pointed out.
"Yes, you were," she agreed. "I was furious at you, Sev. Still am a bit but that is not why you are here."
"Please, tell me, then."
She looked at him for a moment, searching his face. Whatever she had found seemed to satisfy her and with a grave tone that he had only heard in the direst times from her, began, "Did you know, that when we died, our wills were never read and sealed away?"
Severus made a strangled noise in the back of his throat, "No."
"It would have changed everything, Sev," she mourned. "Our world would have been rid of both Dark Lords."
That blood running in his veins turned to ice at those last words. He couldn't breathe, his mind full of terror of another Dark Lord. His death, everyone who had died, Harry's death would be for nothing. His hand was being squeezed reassuringly and it brought him back to the moment.
"You are being given a choice, Severus," she said. "You can continue onward to your death and finally rest, or you can return to the living a few days before Harry receives his letter."
"Why then?" he asked.
"The Letter contained Dark magic that bound my son to the other Dark Lord. If you decide to return, you must go to Gringotts and ask for [insert name]."
"What will happen if I continue onward?"