Harry bent over him, and Severus seized the front of his robes and pulled him close. A terrible rasping, gurgling noise issued from his throat. "Take . . . it. . . . Take . . . it. . . ." Something more than blood was leaking from Severus. Silvery blue, neither gas nor liquid, it gushed from his mouth and his ears and his eyes, and Harry knew what it was, but did not know what to do. A flask, conjured from thin air, was thrust into Harry's shaking hand by Hermione.

Harry lifted the silvery substance into it with his wand. When the flask was full to the brim, and Snape looked as though there was no blood left in him, his grip on Harry's robes slackened. "Look . . . at . . . me. . . ." he whispered.
The green eyes found the black, but after a second, something in the depths of the dark pair seemed to vanish, leaving them blank, and empty. The hand holding Harry thudded to the floor, and Snape moved no more.

Severus Snape awoke to the feeling that something was wrong. He was dead wasn't he? So how was it possible that he was waking up?

"Sev?" asked a voice that was so familiar to him that he very nearly cried. He would always know that voice.

"Lily," he whispered in disbelief, as though his voice would blow her away if he were too loud. He stood and looked into that familiar face seeing the green eyes that he had looked into as he died. Was this Heaven? It had to be if Lily was here.

"Hello Sni-," another voice said. The figure of James Potter appeared beside his love and Severus was confused. If James was here he was in Hell but his sweet Lily would never be in Hell.

"Shut up James!" roared Lily as she cuffed her idiot husband about the head as though he were a child.

"Ow," said the man theatrically before turning his attention back to Snape. "Hello Severus," the man said.

"James." Snape stated coldly not wanting to spend a moment of the afterlife with his childhood bully.

James smiled ruefully as the response that he had gotten. "I know that you hate me but I am sorry. I was a prat back in school and I know that isn't a good reason but I hope you'll forgive me someday."

Snape didn't want an apology. It changed nothing.

Ignoring the other man he asked, "Where am I?"

Sighing Lily spoke. "You're at a crossroads Sev. You can choose to stay here and pass on or you can have a chance to set things right."

"What?"

"The War was won Sev. But there were so many lives lost to bring about such an outcome. So many lives Sev. So many families torn apart."

"What can I do Lily?" Severus asked immediately hating to see the woman that he had loved for so long brought to tears.

"You can go back Sev and change things."

"Back when?" he asked hoping against hope.

"To 1991 Sev. The year Harry started Hogwarts. A time when there was calm before the storm that was to come. I know it's a lot to ask Sev I really do. But I'm asking you to do this please. I need you to care for my son and to save the innocent ones that should never have died."

What was the point of going back if he could not save the woman that he loved? The boy was fine he would live and have kids.

As thought reading his thought's James spoke again. "He will never forget what the cost of the War was. Sometimes he will be able to not think of the losses he and others have suffered but he will never forget. Reminders of what happened will always be there. I know you hate me for what I represent to you but my son is not me. He is nothing like I was at that age. Don't you know that? Can't you see that? Harry is nothing but a boy. He is an innocent Severus, a victim of circumstance. He is himself though, no matter what he looks like on the outside."

Severus glared at James. He didn't want to think about the fact that the boy had suffered. It made the boy far too human in his eyes. It was so much easier to detest him for his father and keep him alive because of his mother. If he was honest, though, he had known that the boy was different from his father after the failed attempts to teach the boy to shield his mind. He had seen the dark memories. But that wasn't all that he had caught glimpses of. There were other things that he had seen without the boy knowing about it. But by then there was nothing to be done for the path that lay before him was far too well defined and there was nothing that he could do about it. 'But you can now,' said an inner voice.

Severus sighed he hadn't really had a choice. Even if he had not grown to somewhat respect the boy he could never deny Lily in life or in death.

"I'll try," he whispered making eye contact with Lily. Then he said something that he knew that he might not have the chance to say ever again. "I love you Lily. I'll try because of that and not for any other reason."

Lily didn't say anything but she did hug him. All too soon she was being pulled away by James.

Severus looked at the other man expecting to find fury but instead saw a calmness in the other man. James gave him a brief nod and then stepped closer. "You have to go now." He said. Then he stepped closer and whispered, "I might wince but I will not turn in my grave when it happens," and with that cryptic remark the man placed his hand in the center of Severus's chest and pushed him over an edge that he had not even been aware of.

A/n I swore to myself that I wouldn't do another Harry Potter story so here this is. I know that this has been done before by other authors but I want to write Severus again because he is too much fun to mess with. So should I get this ball rolling or leave it alone to finish/create other fanfic. Oh and the top portion is not mine. It was taken from DH and altered only a little bit to make it more from Severus's POV.