Severus Snape and the secrets of time

Chapter 7: Love and death

He tended the fresh wound that would soon be Harry's signature scar, weaving protections and shields into his very DNA. He then kissed him on the forehead, apologizing for once again failing him.

Next he knelt, took Lily in his arms, and through his tears gave her one final kiss goodbye. As his lips touched hers, he felt the faintest of breath coming from them. He hadn't failed! She was only knocked unconscious. A sudden thought came to him. All he needed to do was wait until she awoke. Maybe she and his younger self could reconcile.

Then Voldimort's final words echoed in his head, "Now I'm sure he will defy me, and I'll be forced to kill him too."

His younger self was neither strong enough, nor skilled enough, not to mention a bit of a prat. They would be killed within days, and Harry would die too this time. He couldn't allow that to happen. He had to save her without altering the timeline. He drew the small bottle of "living death" from his pocket, very carefully measured out the correct dose, and gave it to her. He would return later and wake her, but the timeline would remain intact.

He picked up the now crying baby Harry, gently cradled him in his arms, and using his wand removed Harry's memories of him entering the room, putting them in a small vial. He then confounded him, placing him safely back in his cot, and flew out the hole in the wall. He carefully concealed himself and watched from a safe distance until a sobbing Hagrid, James and Lily's, sweet, loyal, half giant friend arrived.

Shortly thereafter Sirius, once again young, tall, strong, and wild, rode up on a motorcycle, fuming with rage and grief. It felt weird to see Sirius, who had always used his height and strength to torment and intimidate Severus, dwarfed by Hagrid. The terrifying bully reduced to a mere tantruming child in comparison. Severus knew what would soon happen. Sirius would find Peter and more people would die. He wanted so bad to warn him, maybe even prevent it from happening. But with the rage Sirius was in, he would be more likely to make it worse, get more people killed. He once again felt like a helpless observer, powerless to change the event unfolding before his eyes.

Severus contemplated going back to his little hideout in the woods as Hagrid rode off on the motorcycle that Sirius had arrived on, Harry tucked safely in his jacket. There was nothing more Severus could do until morning. Harry was safe for the moment, had he done everything he could to see that Lily was also? Right now he had to make the death eaters believe she was dead or they would never stop hunting her.

Muggles were arriving, gawking at the ruins of the cottage that now sat on what, moments before, they had thought was an empty lot. He watched as police and firefighters arrived, looking for any evidence of who James and Lily had been.

When the coroner pulled up to the crowd, Severus put him under the imperius curse. Now that the coroner was under his imperius, he could leave and protect Lily from a distance, without fear of being seen.

Albus arrived and told the officers that he was family. Severus decided to have the coroner play along, saying the Potter's had left final instructions.

"Albus?" The coroner said, pushing through the crowd to allow Albus through. "I found instructions stating they wanted to be buried quickly. Something about not wanting to be a spectacle."

Albus agreed absently, looking around the house for any clues as to what had happened, how Voldemort had broken the fidelius. "They'll be buried at St. Jerome's. I agree that it should be done quickly and quietly. I will cover the expense."

"They can be buried as soon as tomorrow," the coroner offered, and gave Albus the necessary information, then took down Albus'.

As the two of them went about discussing the bodies and arrangements for them to be buried the next day, Severus hopped from head to head of the first responders, looking desperately for either Lily's or James' wand. Even after searching every mind there, he never found either. Had someone taken them? Was that why neither of them had fought back?