A Window to the Past [Harry Potter Fan Fiction]

What if Severus Snape never died?

Prologue.

Harry ran down the corridor as quickly as he could. He had to find Voldemort, because he knew the last horcrux, Nagini, would be with him. He had a vision of Voldemort at the Shrieking Shack...

"Potter!" a familiar voice shouted. "Potter, listen to me!"

Harry raised his wand and turned around. Snape was running towards him, both hands up as if in surrender.

"Back off," Harry warned, wand raised.

"I have not come to hurt you," Snape said. "I have something to give you."

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"Memories," Snape said, pointing to his head. He held out a flask and brought his wand out from his robes. Slowly, he brought the wand to his head and retracted something silver- memories. Harry watched him intently. When finished putting the memories into the flask, he handed it to Harry. "I want to be there with you after you see them."

"Why give them to me? Why not just tell me?" Harry asked, lowering his wand.

"It would just be best," Snape said.

The two ran down the corridor and stopped at the entrance to Dumbledore's office, where Harry shouted "I want to see Dumbledore!" and they were both let in. Harry ran to the pensieve, poured the memories in, and disappeared into the past.

Memories of Snape and Lily... Snape and his allegiance with Dumbledore... deceiving the most evil wizard of all time... Harry being the final horcrux... the one Voldemort never meant to make...

In time, Harry's head shot up and he backed away from the pensieve slowly. His green eyes looked into Snape's.

"Run," Harry said. Snape looked at him questioningly. "Run away, Snape. Live in peace. Raise a family."

"I'm not a coward, I won't run from the battle that will change-"

"Do it for her. For my mom, for Lily... do it for yourself. Don't die here. You need to learn to move on, and I think she'd like that. Live long enough to understand what you have to do. Voldemort won't find you, because I am confident that Ron or Hermione will kill Nagini and Voldemort will be vulnerable, and someone will kill him. He won't have time to go look for you, he'll be worrying about other things." And this last part Snape heard in the softest of voices, in her voice, and he looked into Harry's eyes and found her, "Go."

He obeyed her, and he fled.