Harry wandered amongst the dead bodies in the chamber. He silently took stock of each and every person. Many he knew, if only in passing. Many he did not. He paused at some longer than others -- Colin, Lupin, Fred, Tonks... Snape. McGonagall had been shocked when he had insisted Snape be placed in this section, instead of the in the chambers with the other Death Eaters and Voldemort.

There hadn't really been time to explain; in the end, she had just deferred to his judgment on the matter. He stopped and stared down at Snape. His death had been so pointless. That wasn't a fair statement. He looked around at the rest of the people in the chamber. Was there really a purposeful death among them? Is there really such a thing? But Snape.... He touched the man's arm. Everything in the past few hours, days -- hell, the last year seemed so surreal. So many things left unsaid, unknown even with the Snape’s memories.

"I ask you, Snape, as my mother's best friend, what do I do now?"

There was no response. Had he really expected one?

He looked over at Lupin's still form. "And you, you ended up leaving Teddy in the end. Though it's true it wasn't for the adventure, at least not entirely."

Again, no response came.

He turned back to Snape. It seemed so strange. An entire generation of witches and wizards were now gone. There was no one that really knew his parents left. Hagrid and McGonagall probably had tales, but they were teachers. Other than observances they had made, they surely never really knew them. What a waste. He supposed it didn't do to dwell in the past. But without a past, could he truly have a future?

He sighed. He wasn't sure where he was going now. Ron had Hermione. Harry supposed he had Ginny. The Hero with the Beautiful Maiden. Maybe there was a Crumple-Horned Snorkack he could rescue her from to finish the picture.

He absently moved his hand from Snape's arm to Snape's hand. The same one that killed Dumbledore. The same one that had saved Harry... how many times now?

So many questions.

Touching Snape's skin was different. Harry felt a jolt go through him that he hadn't at touching his robes.

"I wish I knew her, you know? I wish you had told me about her. I wish anyone had."

He felt drained. It was as if he had been running on adrenaline for the past year, and it was just now wearing off. He snorted. Maybe he had been. He reached over and pulled up the sleeve of Snape's robes, revealing the red tattoo, still visible, even with Voldemort gone.

"I know it probably doesn't mean much to you -- I am still James's son -- but I forgive you, as Lily's son, too."

He replaced the sleeve, and accidentally moved the arm in the process. That jolt from the skin-on-skin contact came back. Harry jumped and something nudged at his mind. He rushed over to Lupin's body, and moved his arm, or tried to; Lupin's arm stayed firmly where it had been placed a few hours ago when all of the casualties had been moved here. He went over to Fred and had the same outcome. All of the people he dared touch that had died during the battle were the same, except Snape.

He ran from the chamber, and came back dragging Hermione. "What's wrong with him?" he demanded.

"What are you on about?" She looked around sadly at all of the bodies in the room.

"Snape, what's wrong with him?"

Hermione looked at him as if he had lost his mind. "He's dead, Harry."

"No. Look." He grabbed Snape's hand, lifted it, and dropped it. Hermione still seemed lost. He turned to the next body and attempted to do the same thing.

Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment, then carefully opened Snape's robes. "Of course," she breathed, pulling out a near-empty vial. She sniffed it just to be sure. "He must have taken it.... It really wouldn't have mattered.... We don't have much time." She dug through the rest of his robes and nearly shouted, "Aha!" as she pulled out three more small bottles.

Hermione took one bottle and put a few drops of the potion on Snape's tongue. The second Harry recognized; it was Blood-Replenishing Potion. He watched in fascination as she poured it into Snape's mouth, massaging the wounded throat.

She took her wand out and murmured something, and the wounds on Snape's neck mended. "Really should have done that first," she said under her breath.

She opened Snape's mouth again and peered inside. Seemingly satisfied with what she saw, she poured the third potion in, and closed Snape's mouth.

"What was that all about?"

"He put a stopper in death!"

"Again, what was that all about?"

"Oh, honestly, Harry! He took the Mortis Confuto potion, or a variant of it--it will stop death if you take it close enough to when you die. If you heal the cause of death, and give the antidote, you can bring someone back to life. They used to use it during the various witch-hunts, but the exact formulation hasn't been known for centuries. Snape must have...."

"Five points to Gryffindor, Miss Granger," Snape rasped. To Harry he asked, "You saw?"

Harry nodded, blinking impossibly wet, green eyes at him. "I saw. Thank you. For everything."

Snape nodded once and closed his eyes, falling into a deep sleep.

"He'll be tired for a few hours. I should see if we have more Blood-Replenishing Potion; he did lose quite a bit."

Harry nodded, too stunned to say anything.

Hours later, when Snape woke in the infirmary, Harry was by his side.

"I forgive you, for what it's worth," Harry said quietly.

"I never needed your forgiveness."

"I know. But you've paid your dues. I saw Mum at the end, too. You're forgiven."

Snape sneered.

"And you're not a coward."

"I am aware of that. Neither are you, as much as I hate to admit it. I assume you won."

"I did. Thanks to you. And Dumbledore... and everyone."

"I didn't expect to live."

"Neither did I. Dumbledore gave me the choice."

"Meddling old fool."

"Oi!"

"He was. I loved him, though. He did the best he could. He was only human."

"Yeah."

"Don't you have anywhere better to be?"

"Not really."

"I do." Snape closed his eyes.

"Goodnight, Professor."