The Spy's New Life

Chapter I

"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 fixed, blank, and empty. The hand holding Harry thudded to the floor, and Snape moved no more. - J.K. Rowling

And as his eyes opened, Snape found himself there. Years had passed since he and Lily had met in this playground and even more years had passed since they last spent the summer together.

Lily. How long had he been out in the realms of unconsciousness? What had happened to the boy? Standing still, he examined his surroundings keenly. It really seemed to be the same, ordinary park in Cokeworth that had set in motion the rest of his life. But it was clear that he was the sole person here, well as far as he knew. Was this his punishment? To sit and mope about his poor life-choices in this place which reminded him of her? Merlin knew he deserved it but still a tiny part of him had hoped for peace, the still, still peace of the grave, and redemption--a chance to beg Lily to forgive him, to apologise for putting her family in danger.

'She's already forgiven you, Severus,' said a soft voice behind him. And Severus knew, he just knew that the voice could only belong to one person, the one person whom he would honestly rather not see for a while.

He turned around to meet the twinkling gaze of Albus Dumbledore. 'Headmaster,' he managed.

Dumbledore grinned as ridiculously as he had in life. 'I am very proud of you--Headmaster.' As if Severus cared about the old man's pride, even as he fought to quash the happy feeling within him. Dumbledore's grin grew even wider. 'It's alright, Severus.'

Snape rolled his eyes as Dumbledore gazed at him with those damned piercing blue eyes. Here he was, the best Occlumens in Britain, undone by a crazy old headmaster. Except that Dumbledore was not completely a crazy old man, was he? Severus just happened to be one of the very few people who knew of the cold, manipulative and downright cruel man beneath Dumbledore's grandfatherly façade. In fact, he was probably the only one, apart from the Dark Lord. Probably. Snape looked at the man whom, despite it all, he had considered a mentor, even sometimes a friend, the man whom had saved him from Azkaban--not that he had even cared at the time, his mental state being poor, to say the least--for his own self-serving reasons. Oh, Snape had known at the time; he was needed at Hogwarts to protect the boy. And look how that had turned out.

'There are several things I must say to you and not enough time,' began Albus with a cautious expression. But why, thought Severus, was there not enough time? And why was Albus with him here? Was his punishment to be stuck with Albus for all eternity? Why hadn't his soul been sucked by a dementor instead? 'I know,' he said sadly, 'that I am the last person you want to be with. But I owe it to you to let you know that Harry has defeated Tom Riddle. I was just with Harry, you know, except for him it was King's Cross Station...'

'I see.' So this was limbo.

'Yes, you are quite right.' How was Dumbledore doing this? 'I can read you very well without legilimency, Severus. You know that. Now, as I was saying, Harry did as I thought he would. When Tom cast the Killing Curse at him, he killed his final horcrux. As I predicted.' He glanced significantly at Snape who shrugged. He still stood by his claim that Dumbledore had prepared Harry like a pig for slaughter. 'You are right again. I strongly suspected that my plans would prevail but even I cannot be certain of everything,' admitted the old man with a smile. 'Did you know that Tom could not kill the others at Hogwarts because of Harry's sacrifice?'

Lily's son. 'It's the sort of thing he would do.'

'Indeed, Severus. Like mother, like son.'

Snape just glared at Dumbledore now.