Snap

Prelude

I am Severus Snape.

The thing about wars in history is that there's usually one visible starting point. Franz Ferdinand in World War One. Aloysius Drake in 1938. The Johnsons in 1978. But this time...this time there was no one event. No one spurring factor which caused the cataclysmic event which ended with this.

My name is Severus Snape. And this is my story.

---

Snap

"Ah, Potter," Severus Snape said as Harry hurried breathlessly into the Potions classroom, shutting the door behind him. "So good of you to join us at last. Five points from Gryffindor, one for each minute, and you will stay behind afterwards to clean up the slivered lava-frog with which Longbottom--" he made Neville's name sound like a curse, "--felt it necessary to decorate my floor."

Harry sighed and slipped into his seat next to Hermione, who gave his hand an encouraging squeeze. He pulled the parchment and quill out of his bag and, looking over at Hermione's book, turned to page 503 of Moste Potente Potions, The Seconde Tome.

"As I was saying before Potter made his red carpet entrance, any Draught of Deception must be carefully mixed. The--"

The door opened again.

"Hurry up, Malfoy," Snape snapped annoyedly, turning back to the board, noting the blond Slytherin's slightly flushed appearance. "The ingredients must be divided precisely as instructed by your texts. Failure to do so," he hissed sibilantly in Neville's direction for all to hear, "will have very. Dire. Consequences."

So, Severus thought. Vectra was right. They are fucking. Trust the astronomer to know...

The seventh-year class became a hubbub of activity as Snape swept up onto the platform. The light on that cold November evening was fading fast, no longer casting shadows through the high windows. The Potions Master wrapped his cloak around his torso as his spine shook with a sudden chill. And it's not even cold, he thought, looking at the cauldron fires. No...that was a different sort of chill. Like someone's walking over your--

[snap]

--"Grave, Severus?" Black sneered from James' left.
"If you must know, Black, yes. I have just returned from a visit to my parents' tomb on the anniversary of my mother's death. If you'll excuse me," and he walked straight through the center of their little gang, the Evans girl moving aside for him with a sympathetic look.

If only she knew, the younger Severus mused inwardly. To tell her would be satisfying..."By the way, Evans, I fucked your boyfriend for five hours last night. Isn't that little scar on his inner thigh attractive?"

But it wasn't the right--

[snap]

--"Time." A pause. "Ssssnape?"
"Yes, my Lord?" The flickering silver fire in the hearth of the long castle hall did nothing to heat the room.
"I ssssaid, it is time."
"Yes, my Lord." The Snape with the Mark on his arm walked forwards. "Has Avery preheated the--"

[snap]

--"CAULDRON!" Snape snapped his head around to see Weasley roughly shoving Granger into Potter, who fell over in a tangle of arms and legs. Weasley, bare-handed, picked up Longbottom's cauldron and, with a nearly-inhuman shriek of pain, (Severus inwardly shook his head at Weasley for using his hands and not his wand) flung the cauldron to his right, where it exploded against the wall with a noise like Hogwarts itself was collapsing.

Weasley and several of the Gryffindor girls screamed in pain as the boiling droplets of the ruined Draught of Deception splashed onto their bare skin. Professor Snape whipped out his wand (hawthorn, fourteen inches, very thin and whippy) and with a loud swish-flick brought Madam Pomfrey in through the fire, her sewing still in hand.

"Professor Snape! What is the mea--" Pomfrey began, indignantly, and then stopped at the loud moans from the Gryffindor benches.

"Pomfrey, those students are in--"

[snap]

"...pain." Severus the lover lay on top of James, spent but not yet withdrawn. "So much pain inside..."
James turned his head and gently kissed Snape's ear. "Sev...you need to talk to someone. Talk to Addis..."

Ah, yes, Snape recalled. Obsidio Addis, head of Slytherin House, and all-around bastard.

Severus drew closer in behind James, his body starting to shake with wracking, silent sobs. James turned and Severus knew he could see the pain on his face. The pain felt like nothing he had ever experienced before...except for the year before, in the grounds, beneath the--

[snap]

"...tree. Ssssnape, you will follow me from behind it. I shall reward your loyalty by allowing you to be the one to deliver the Killing Curssse to Potter." Snape's Lord stroked the head of his current favorite Death Eater, who was kneeling before him. Lucius Malfoy looked extremely put out.
"Pettigrew!" Voldemort hissed to the man kneeling next to Snape. "As the Keeper, you have the--"

[snap]

"...secret," Snape the head of Slytherin heard Malfoy whisper as the young blond man emerged from the passage next to Gregory the Smarmy. "You mustn't fucking tell anyone, Harry, understand?"
Still in the shadows, Snape folded his arms and fixed his face in his most piercing stare. He stepped sideways into the corridor in front of Malfoy.
"Good evening, gentlemen," Snape said, flicking his eyes from Malfoy to Potter. Malfoy was first to react, spinning and sprinting down the corridor until Snape stopped him before his third step with a Leglocker Curse. Potter just stood there, dumbly. Just like his father... "You will both come with me. And, Malfoy, there is no need to run. I shall not be divulging secrets this evening." Snape removed the curse from Malfoy's legs and the Slytherin prefect returned to stand just behind his lover. Just like--

[snap]

"Me. I wanted to talk about me," Severus said to James, holding the Gryffindor's strong hands in his own. They stood underneath the Slytherin Quidditch stands that wet, windy afternoon.
"What is it?" James asked, sitting down on the cross-bracing of the stands beside Severus.
"I'm feeling..." Severus started.
"Withdrawn? Cold? Distant? You're not feeling, Severus, you're unfeeling," James blurted out in an uncharacteristic outburst.
"Yes. I am, and I have been."
"Why? For God's sake, Sev, why? Is it something I said? Did"
"No," Severus said sadly, "it's nothing to do with you."
"Then what?"
"James..." Severus paused, a single tear escaping. "I've been raped."
James' eyes widened, narrowed, and then softened. "Oh...God...Severus..."
Snape the victim closed his eyes, willing the pain and the tears back.
"Are you...who..."
"It was--"

[snap]

"...MALFOY! I'm a fucking MALFOY!" Lucius Malfoy's maniacally distorted face screamed at him as the Dark Mark floated above Godric's Hollow. "But that wasn't fucking good enough for you, was it, Snape? You went and fucked a Gryffindor! I took you, Snape, you worthless cock. I made you. And you stabbed me in the back."
Snape stared unemotionally at Malfoy, the mental shock of the evening taking effect. "That, Lucius, is because I was the one with the knife."
"The knife? The Dark Lord's ceremonial knife? Is that how you betrayed him, Snape? How you betrayed ME?"
Snape the traitor regarded Lucius Malfoy dispassionately. "If you have to ask the question, Lucius, you wouldn't understand the--"

[snap]

"...answer?" Snape gazed down at the two seventh-years. "You thought that fucking each other was the answer? It isn't. Trust me, Potter, Malfoy. It doesn't solve--"

[snap]

"...anything, Lucius, I'll do anything!" Severus the new Hogwarts graduate looked up from beneath the older man.
"Good. There are some people you might be interested in--"

[snap]

"...meeting," Dumbledore said, his arm around Snape the survivor. "From there, the path of events was fixed. You could not save James, Severus. You could not."
"Damn it, Albus..."
"You saved the boy," Dumbledore said, stroking his beard. "And for that, Severus, James and Lily will be eternally--"

[snap]

"...grateful, Professor," Potter said, standing next to Malfoy. "I didn't think you'd--"

[snap]

"...understand?" Severus' head dropped onto James' shoulder.
"Oh, Sev..." James buried his fingers in Severus' hair. "I can't imagine what you must be--"

[snap]

"...feeling. Lack of emotions is not unexpected," the mediwizard said to the Snape in shock, who absently scratched the fading Dark Mark on his arm. It had been a week now..."You should expect the shock to wear off after a week or so if it's--"

[snap]

"...temporary? I doubt it, Potter. Orientation is fixed around puberty. Certainly, you might fly for both teams..." Like your father, whom you so resemble... "but straight? I should be very--"

[snap]

"...surprised," Lily said, putting her hand on Severus' arm. "I've known that I can't provide all James needs for a long time, Severus. I've come to terms with that. Frankly, the only surprise is that it wasn't--"

[snap]

"...Sirius? Sirius Black?" Snape the acquitted Death Eater recoiled from Dumbledore. "He wasn't involved...I know he wasn't involved!"
"Yes, Severus, as do I," Dumbledore said, shifting his weight on the chair. "In life, as in so many other things, there are debts to be paid."
"But...Azkaban?" It wasn't like the thought was alien to a Death Eater, particularly one so recently acquitted.
"It may help to think of it as pre-payment of a debt which Sirius will claim later."
"I don't--"

[snap]

"--understand, Professor?" Sibyll Trelawney simpered in her smoke-darkened tower that evening. Potter and Malfoy had left his office hours before, uncertain but no longer afraid.
"Hardly surprising. The Inner Eye cannot see much when buried below ground in a dungeon. Allow me to explain. There is a link from the past in your aura, of one not yet completely gone. A link of great importance for your future--"

[snap]

"...life."
"That's a heavy price to pay, James," said Severus heavily.
"Our son's price will be heavier, Sev. No parents..."
"Of all people, I know that price."
"No love..."
"As I said..."
"No--"

[snap]

"...family? You're leaving him with Muggles? Dumbledore..."
"Severus, your concern is touching..."
"Muggles? How can Harry ever hope to know who he is if he doesn't know what he is?
"He will know." The reply came as immovable as rock.
Snape the protector closed his eyes. "The price."
"Price?"
"James said there would be a price. And now James is--"

[snap]

"...dead?" James said in his dream. "No, Sev, I'm here. Lily too. You're in Otherworld, the land of waking dreams. I -- we -- always have been. You've just been unable to see us."
"It's been twenty years," Snape the Potions Master said haltingly to the person -- people -- sitting on the end of his bed.
"Eighteen," Lily said. "We've been waiting for you to open your inner self enough for us. All of you."
Snape turned to his left. A second Severus, younger, the age he had been when...and a third, between himself and the other in age, yet looking emotionally older than time itself.
"We've been waiting for all of you to notice we are here and will be here," James said. "We need you to help Harry realise too."
"It would destroy him," the third Snape said, rubbing at his sunken eyes as if waking from a sleep.
"No, it will not," the second, younger Severus argued. "He is stronger than you realise."
Snape got up from his desk in the dream. "Why. Why? Why does Harry need to know that you still exist in this, this--"

[snap]

"Otherworld," Dumbledore said, arching his fingers over his nose. "I suspected that was where they were..."
"Dumbledore -- Headmaster -- Albus. You are not being entirely frank with me," Snape said, folding his arms and stiffening his back in the chair opposite Dumbledore's desk.
"Severus, you are correct, but that is not of my own volition," the older man said resignedly. "There are laws, rules, understandings that must be taken into effect. We battle a great evil, you and I -- as does Harry Potter. He is, frankly, our last, best hope for victory -- even survival. But he does not -- must not -- know this. Even now, it would be too much for him, not to comprehend, but to comprehend, process and then take action. In that time, that evil would be upon us, and over us."
Snape frowned. "You are speaking in metaphors and allusions. I know the evil of which you speak, perhaps better than any man alive." He held up his arm and let the sleeve slide down to expose the faint skull and serpent there.
"I have not forgotten," Dumbledore said. "That knowledge will, I have no doubt, save us all. But so many things must fall into place, Severus. Ensuring that they do is my task as a Merlin -- one of the last of the old Order -- and to do so, I cannot share all the information I have with the people who must cause those things to fall into place."
"You cannot go to Otherworld." It was not a question.
"No. I cannot. I must remain here at Hogwarts to lend assistance to those who need it. No, Severus, it is your journey, and Harry's, which must pass through Otherworld. I would send others with you...but you and I must make that decision later, before you go to--"

[snap]

"...Otherworld?" Hermione Granger frowned. "All I've read is that it's dangerous, Professor. Really advanced teleportation-travelling-type magic. All the books are in the restricted section, and..."
"Miss Granger. I did not ask you here for a discussion of the layout of the library. You and I both know that you have a closer relationship with the Restricted Section than you do with Charles Weasley." Snape leaned back in his chair, running his hands through his hair.
Granger blushed. "What do you need me for? Why not go to Madam Pince?"
"Because you, Hermione, have something that Irma Pince cannot give me," Severus said, leaning forwards.
"You used my first name..."
"Yes. Because it is Hermione and not Miss Granger who is going to convince Harry Potter to come to Otherworld."
"I...see," Hermione said.
"There is something else you should know."
Hermione nodded.
"Mr Potter is...involved with Draco Malfoy." Snape leaned backwards as she frowned and thought about that for a moment.
"Of course...I can't believe I didn't put two and two together..."
"You suspected?" Snape asked, curious.
"I suspected Harry was gay, yes," she said. "But...I didn't suspect that he was sleeping with Malfoy, of all people."
"Surprised?" Snape said. "The strongest love often comes of the strongest hate." As you well know, his inner self reminded him.
"Romeo and Julian," Hermione said softly.
"Indeed. Hopefully, without the mutual death part," Snape said with a slight flicker of his eyebrow. "But we digress. I said that you must convince Harry to join us in Otherworld. There is, of course, a complication, but one which I am sure you will overcome. You must convince Harry without telling him that his parents are waiting for him in--"

[snap]

"...Other-what?"
"Otherworld," Hermione repeated, pushing an old blue leather book into Harry's arms. "Read this. I need to go talk to your boyfriend."
Harry did a double-take. "My what?"
"Is 'what' the word of the day? Funny, I thought it was 'callipygous' today."
"Did you just say 'I need to go talk to your boyfriend'?"
"Oh, yes. Professor Snape told me all about it," Hermione said.
"He did what?" Harry's knees buckled and he fell backwards into the chair in the Gryffindor Common Room, still holding the book. "Bastard!"
"Oh, honestly, Harry! Neither Snape nor I are going to go shouting around the school that you have been fucking Draco Malfoy," Hermione said matter-of-factly with a slight frown, as if she were not entirely happy with the idea. "And I really need to talk to him. Malfoy, I mean. So read the book, and then go to the library and get me all the books on this list."
Harry took the piece of parchment from her. "Hermione, I, I--"

[snap]

"...don't know what to say," Draco said to Hermione.
"He needs you, Malfoy." Hermione's arms were folded and she was regarding the blond Slytherin with suspicion, as always.
"But..."
"But if you fucking hurt him, I will hunt you down and gouge out your testicles with my fingernails. Hope that's--"

[snap]

"...clear? As mud, Professor," Potter was saying to Snape as a confident Granger and a worried Malfoy knocked and entered Snape's office. Snape looked up as Malfoy slid into the chair next to Potter and Granger, rolling her eyes, sat on Malfoy's other side.
"Hermione," Snape said, using her first name a little uncomfortably, "could you please enlighten Pot--Harry as to what Otherworld is?"
Granger -- Hermione -- frowned. "Nobody's quite sure. Most of the literature says that it's a kind of waking dream. Or dreaming world."
"And my parents are supposed to be...in it? How is that possible?" Potter asked, sounding as confused and bewildered as he looked.

Snape took a long, deep breath in the moment of silence which ensued. "Potter -- Harry -- about eighteen years ago, your father spoke to me about a--"

[snap]

"...price, Sirius," Dumbledore said, leaning forward and picking up a Cockroach Cluster from the bowl in front of him. He tossed one to the large black dog beside him, which caught the chocolate in its mouth and snapped into human form, slouching into a chair next to Snape and grinning wolfishly at Dumbledore.
"Didn't anyone ever tell you, Albus, that you shouldn't feed chocolate to dogs?"
Snape snorted quietly. "Well, Black, it's fortunate that you're more of a--"

[snap]

"...bitch!" Harry cursed under his breath to Draco outside the library. "For fuck's sake, Dumbledore gave us the note..."
"You know what Madam Pince is like, Harry," Hermione said patronisingly.
Draco winced. "Perhaps it was a bad idea to move beyond snogging in the Restricted Section..."
"Fuck off,--"

[snap]

"...Malfoy. Yes, Black, Malfoy. In the dungeon, with the potion. Or, more correctly, the Potter."
Black had the grace to look ashamed of his recent outburst, Snape noticed.
"Well," Dumbledore said brightly, "now we have that out of the way, I think the question of whether or not it's possible for you two to work together has been answered. Severus will go with Harry, Hermione and Draco alone."
"What? Dumbledore, you can't be--"

[snap]

"...Sirius? Not coming," Harry said as Ron handed over the books and the Invisibility Cloak in the History of Magic classroom.
"What d'you mean, 'not coming'?" Ron asked. "Snape's got it in for you, Harry...I don't trust him..."
"Ron, grow up," Hermione said annoyedly. "Honestly, are you ever going to stop being--"

[snap]

"...fifteen. I can't promise more than that...maybe only ten minutes if you're unlucky, Severus," McGonagall said to Snape. "Of course...time might not run in the same way in Otherworld."
"I'll take that risk."
"Will they?" McGonagall asked. "Severus, I have to ask. Two of the children you are taking with you are Gryffindors, and I am responsible..."
"Minerva. They are eighteen. They're not children."
McGonagall pursed her lips. "Hmm," she said. "I wish there were more time to prepare yourself...and them."
"Minerva, Vectra is quite right to point out that the gravitational influences of the current planetary alignment create the ideal state for travel to Otherworld. The centaurs agree."
McGonagall sighed. "As much as I hate to say it, Severus, you're correct."
"Shall we head up to the hospital wing, then?" Snape asked, pulling out his wand and swishing it experimentally.
"Why--"

[snap]

"...not? Why not? Because it's insane, Herm!" Ron threw up his hands in frustration at her.
"What's insane, Ron?" Hermione asked calmly.
"Everything!" Ron burst out. "This Otherworld thingie, and Snape, and Harry and--Malfoy--doing--bah!"
"It's called 'fucking', Weasley," Malfoy put in, and Ron screwed up his face in distaste.
"Weasley, as much as it amuses me when your ears turn red..." Malfoy began.
"Fuck off, Malfoy," Hermione and Ron snapped and then glowered at each other.
"...we have to go," Malfoy finished.
Giving Malfoy the evil eye, Hermione made a grabbing motion with her fingertips and he winced to her satisfaction.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Ron, we have to leave. Hermione, Draco, shall we get--"

[snap]

"...moving?" Snape held the crystal goblet which contained a powerful sleeping draught -- and a second ingredient. Once asleep on the rickety hospital wing beds, the potion would whisk them straight to Otherworld.
"Severus, I will be remaining here with Minerva and Sirius," Dumbledore said kindly. "I do rather think that the three of us will be able to ensure that the four of you do not go sleepwalking."
"Not that watching you walk off a tower wouldn't have its own attractions," Black put in.
"Having delusions of adequacy brought on by your thrilling role of watching sleeping people, Black?" Snape asked.
Black scowled, but his reply was cut off by the opening door. Potter, Malfoy and Granger walked in. Malfoy, Snape thought, looked particularly smug. Ah, yes, Granger was carrying several books which looked like they came from the Restricted Section. And since Malfoy and Potter were banned from the Library for two weeks for 'Conduct Not In Keeping With Library Rules'...yes. Snape inclined his head to Malfoy in a show of respect. Malfoy's eyes flicked downwards embarrassedly and Snape smiled. They're that new at this game...
"Right, then," said Dumbledore, smiling, "is everybody--"

[snapsnapSNAP]

"...hear? Of course I can hear you, Granger, you're shouting right into my ear," Snape said as his eyes flicked open in the grey, misty Hospital Wing of Otherworld.
"Oh, thank Merlin, Professor, you're awake," Granger's voice said. Snape sat up.
"Correct, Granger. You'll forgive me if I don't award five points to Gryffindor," Snape said, pushing back the covers and sliding out.
Malfoy, who was standing very close to Potter, coughed. "Er, Professor..." He pointed at Snape's legs, which were bare and really quite hairy. Snape whipped back the covers, unsuccessfully controlling the flush of embarrassment which colored his cheeks.
"Would you be so kind as to pass me the robes from the back of that chair, Potter?" Snape asked. The boy disentangled his hand from Malfoy's and walked over and picked them up, a faint smile lingering on his lips.
Gods, the libido of eighteen-year-olds, Snape said, shaking his head. Talk about Welsh railways...
"Here you go,--"

[snap]

"...Professor?"
"I don't know, Granger," Snape said as they walked down the corridor away from the Hospital Wing. The omnipresent grey mist swirled around Snape's feet. "Min--Professor McGonagall thought that we could expect fifteen to twenty minutes of time in Otherworld, yet if you are correct in that you were attempting to wake me for half an hour she must, by necessity, be incorrect."
"Where are we going?" Malfoy asked curiously as they turned left and climbed a spiral staircase.
"Where else? The Astronomy Tower," Snape said, confidently. He wasn't exactly sure how he knew this -- but he just knew that was where James and Lily would be waiting for him...them.
The eighteen-year-old Severus was waiting for them on the next landing.
"Took you long enough," his younger self said, eyes flicking over the four of them and lingering briefly on Potter.
Don't you even think about that, Snape hurled mentally at his eighteen-year-old self.
Granger was double-taking, her eyes snapping from Severus to Snape. "You -- him -- at the same time? Goes against all laws...," she was muttering mostly to herself.
"Granger, this is Otherworld," the younger Severus reminded her. "Time doesn't work here like it would in the real world. Hell, not much works the same way here, except for spells. For instance, I know exactly what you're thinking."
Granger blushed furiously.
"See?" Severus said to Snape. "And so do--"

[snap]

"...you."
"About me?" Harry frowned at Snape. "Why me?"
Snape sighed. If I had a Knut for every time I've been asked that question...
"I still want to know why we're headed to the Astronomy Tower," Malfoy said.
"It's certainly not so you and Potter can release your testosterone overloads," Severus said, curling his lip on the other side of Malfoy.
"Actually, that's not so far off the mark," Snape said to Severus, feeling it very odd to be talking to himself, albeit a younger version of himself. "You of all people should know," he added as an afterthought to his eighteen-year-old self.
"Well, lay on, MacSnape," Severus said.
"If only you were a dagger of the mind," Snape murmured as Potter and Malfoy fell into step next to him. "And I think it would be best, Potter, Granger, Malfoy, if you referred to me as Professor Snape and to him as Severus. To avoid confusion."
His younger self fell back to walk with Granger.
"I thought you'd have this all figured out," Severus said to Granger as they climbed the next set of stairs.
"Sorry to disappoint you," Hermione said sarcastically. "Between multiple Snapes and discovering my best friend shagging our worst enemy, today has been a little overwhelming."
"I understand," Severus said sympathetically. "Don't worry, though," he added brightly. "It will get even more bizarre by the time the day is out. Oh, and by the way, in answer to your question? Nine inches."
"Fucking Merlin," Hermione swore violently. "Too much bloody--"

[snap]

"...information? Well, there's not much I can give you on Otherworld," Snape said to the two boys walking next to him. "Frankly, Granger is more knowledgeable than I about it. Although I do believe that we will be meeting some people who have more knowledge than all of Hogwarts' library."
"Who?" Potter asked.
"Your--"

[snap]

"...parents, Harry?" Hermione looked concerned.
"Ready to meet them, yes. Worried, scared, happy, can't wait...also --."

[snap]

"...yes, Potter," Snape said, pushing the door open.

Snape, Severus, Potter, Malfoy and Granger emerged through the small wooden doorway onto the stone balcony which encircled the spire of the Astronomy Tower. The mist of Otherworld swirled around their feet as they walked, completely obscuring any view. Unlike the mists which regularly descended on the Vale of Hogsmeade, though, this was not chilly and damp -- it had a warmer, sandy feel. Hermione felt that it was like the mistral she remembered from France that summer a long time ago.

"Well, they don't appear to be here," the third Severus said as he walked along the balcony towards the other two.

"Another one?" Malfoy asked incredulously.
Snape and Severus looked at the newcomer. "This is going to get very--"

[snap]

"...confusing." Potter frowned. "Professor--Severus--whoever the hell you are."
"I am Severus Snape. Hell does not have much to do with it."
"Well, considering that he is Severus, and he is Snape, how do you suggest we refer to you?"
"Sev?" the pale man suggested.
"Sev." Potter nodded. "Where did you come from?"
Sev frowned. "I...I'm not certain. I cannot explain why I am existing separately from him," he pointed at Severus, "and him." He pointed at Snape.
Severus nodded. "We share each other's thoughts and memories," he said. "For instance, I remember things that could not possibly have happened by this stage in my life." He indicated his body.

"They are aspects of the same person," another voice said. The three Snapes turned to see a second, older Harry Potter walking towards them. As one, the Snapes' eyes narrowed. How much he looks like James...and yet not.
"Aspects?" the younger Harry asked quietly, staring at his older self.
"Aspects," the elder Potter confirmed. He looked about twenty or twenty-five, with hair cut short and brushed up from his head. "As night is an aspect of day. As all gods are aspects of the same divine power. Aspect."
"I...I know," Harry said, his eyes flicking open wide. "I know...so much...so difficult..." He turned to Malfoy with a pained expression. "Don't do it, Dray...don't do it!"
"Don't do what?" Malfoy asked confusedly.
"You cannot tell him," Potter said to Harry, walking over and putting an arm around his shoulder. "You cannot affect his decisions, his path. It must remain his way alone. You know that is true."
Harry's eighteen-year-old eyes began to water. "But...so much pain...so much suffering...to avoid it..."

"To avoid it would bring destruction," a third Harry Potter said, walking along the balcony from the other direction. "Destruction, and failure." This Harry's hair was greying prematurely -- he looked in his thirties, yet his eyes showed the history of a thousand years.
"Failure of what? What do I have to do?" Young Harry asked despairingly, but he knew before the words came from his mouth. "I don't...I can't..."

---

Interlude

In love is war, and in war is love. I have no idea which fool wrote those words. He obviously never fought in a war. War is not about love. It's about loss. About pain. About death. Not love.

I know. I have lost a lover to war.

---

"You can, Harry," James Potter said. He had appeared in front of them moments before, looking much as Harry remembered from the picture in the album Hagrid had given him. Snape drew in a breath as the memories came flooding back.
"We know you can," another voice said gently. Lily Potter appeared behind and to the right of her husband. "Because you always have."

"What do you mean? Harry asked.

Lily reached out to push Harry's hair back behind an ear. "Think of life as a road going in a circle. While you're walking along the road, you're concentrating on looking ahead and behind you. You're not looking to the sides. When you come off the road of life, you have a much greater opportunity to take in what is happening at other points in the road."

"It is not linear," James said with a nod.

---

Interlude

And now, I have to persuade a new generation of lovers to do much the same. To sacrifice themselves for the sake of the greater good, to leave their friends, their families, their homes. Forever.

But not entirely.

---

Harry cocked his head to one side. "So...you can see me at various points doing this...whatever it is...and I always do it?"

"Yes," Lily said simply. "You're not always called 'Harry', of course. You have many other names in many other times and places. But you always make the right choice. Because if you didn't, the circle would be broken. That would end the universe."

"No pressure then," Draco said from behind Harry.

"None at all," an older Draco with close-cropped hair said from the other side of Lily and James. "You know that you'll do it. You always do."

"Nothing like a little bit of preordination to brighten up your morning, eh?" Severus asked brightly. "Wouldn't you say, James? Although...you never really were a morning person, were you?"

"Severus..." James warned.

"I know," Lily said quietly to her husband.

"You do?" James' eyes flicked from his wife to his lover.

"Exactly what do you know, Mum?" Harry asked.

Lily exchanged a glance with James and Severus and then turned to Harry.

"No, wait, let me guess. You..." Harry pointed to James. "And him." Harry pointed to Severus. "And her?" Harry pointed to his mother.
"Harry, your father...plays more than one Quidditch position," Lily said delicately.
"But...him?" Potter thrust a finger at Severus. "He's not even attractive! And...yeugh."
"Shut up, boy, you're the one fucking a Malfoy," Severus shot back.

---

Interlude

War. It sounds so final. I've always found it curious that we have such a blunt word to use for it. War. Such a simple word for a simple concept. People killing people. Of course, we have other words for it. Conflict. Terrorism. Genocide. But the basic concept of people killing people can be reduced to that three-letter word.

---

Harry, Draco, Hermione and Snape blinked as they found themselves alone at the top of the Astronomy Tower. The mist had cleared slightly, although no more light penetrated into the tower. An archway about Hagrid's height was standing halfway into the room, the area between the arches grey and opaque.

"Tune in next week to hear the exciting conclusion," Draco drawled.
Harry turned to Snape. "Did you really...?"
Snape nodded. "I did. And so do you."
Harry considered that for a moment. "I suppose I do, don't I?"
"Yes," Draco said, "you most certainly do."

Harry took a deep breath and set his face determinedly. "What do we have to do, Professor?"
"I'm afraid that I don't have the answer to that. What I do know, though, is that it will take an enormous amount of courage on your part. Don't be afraid to depend on your friends for help. That's what they're there for. And through it all, remember that if you make decisions with your best judgment, holding yourself to what you think is right, you won't go wrong. Inside, Harry, you know who you are and what you have to do. You just need to figure it out for yourself."

Snape sighed. "I know. I had to help your father go through the very same thing." He pointed at the arch. "Literally. Once you step through the arch, your journey begins."

Harry stopped and looked at Hermione and then Draco, exchanging volumes in one look. "You talked of a price, Professor," he said finally, turning back to Snape.

"Yes. The price, Harry, is that once your task is completed, you and Mr Malfoy will remain in Otherworld forever."
"Forever?"
"Forever."

Harry looked at Hermione and Draco again. Volumes seemed to pass between them. They nodded seriously back to him.
"Where do we begin?" Harry asked, stepping towards the arch.

It flared into white light.

[snapsnapSNAP]

---

Interlude

I am Sev. I am Severus. I am Snape.

It's been five years since they went through the arch into Otherworld. I returned to this world, to Hogwarts, to my Potions classroom, to peace. I don't know what they did, but it worked. Granger refuses to tell anybody what happened. She says that she promised Potter and Malfoy that she wouldn't.

This wizarding world found itself missing several key members when Granger returned, all former Slytherins with ties to Voldemort. Dumbledore assumes that they were removed as a price. Oh, that price. I can hear James now, telling me of the price. But I cannot help thinking that I, too, have a price to pay, a burden to bear.

---

Granger -- now Professor Granger -- sat in my classroom, alone with me and a cauldron of Vindictus vaccine as I stirred in some bladderwort stamens. "I've worked it out, Severus" she said as she chopped the kudzu vines on the workbench.
"Worked what out?"
"The role that you and I played in the war. We are the ones left behind."

Snap.