When Enough Is Not The Same It Was Before
Severus Snape, as far as his second life was concerned, never expected to be sorted into Hufflepuff. By Merlin, he was a bitter 38-year-old professor in a 11-year-old body, filled to the brim with hatred, regret and cynicism.
Also, he was dead. Maybe not physically, but his soul certainly was. For he knew this timeline, he knew the future of this past, and he was sick and tired of all the shit and hatred it would harbour. He wanted out already.
Truthfully, the only thing that had kept him from drowning himself in the shallow Cokeworth river in his day of awakening had been the passing thought that maybe, just maybe he could see Lily again. Just once, just briefly, so he could tell himself that all that suffering had not been for nothing.
But the thing was, that once turned into twice, then trice, then quadruple. Eventually he thought that maybe he could stay for a while, for the first year or Hogwarts so, so he could relive his happiest memories with Lily before going in to the great beyond. It could soothe his soul, if not anything else.
But now he was in Hufflepuff, surrounded by people who wanted to constantly cuddle him and brush his hair and knit him new mittens, and there were even people who wanted to do the unthinkable: be his friends.
And so, even though he promised himself, even though he swore to not get his hopes up ever again, he couldn’t help but feel a certain pull to the badgers. How could he not, when he was not made of stone? When they were everything he longed for in his past life – friendly, brilliant, protective? The thought of joining them was tempting – more so than anything he had ever experienced – but he had to pull away, for he didn't deserve happiness. Never had.
In a chaotic spiral of cuddles, friendships, too many woolen knitting projects and trauma, Severus slowly discovers that the definition of enough, as long as happiness was concerned, was not the same it had once been.
Or:
A suicidal time traveller Snape decides to see a certain redhead for one last time before killing himself.
His plan fails.