Someone was shaking him by the shoulder as an airy female voice wheedled its way into his consciousness. “It’s time, Professor.”

Severus jerked awake, fighting off the dregs of the light sleeping potion Luna had insisted he take. She’d sent everyone off to bed, promising to awaken them when it was time.

Severus glanced around the room. Draco sat in a chair beside Severus, wearing light grey satin pajamas, rubbing his tired eyes. He’d insisted on staying with Severus, opting to sleep in the single bed that Severus used for therapy earlier that day. Hermione and Ron huddled together over Harry, both of them weeping silently, as they murmured words to their best friend. Hannah stood nearby, wiping her own tears, Ernie McMillan by her side. And, to his surprise, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley stood sentinel by the door. Mr. Weasley looked grim, while Molly was furiously wiping her eyes. And that damned indicator beacon blared red-amber across the room, as if cursing them all to the fates of Hell.

So this was it. Severus supposed he should feel grateful that, of all of Harry’s loved ones gathered here, he was the one that had been chosen to accompany Harry on what, his final journey? As he met the gazes of those around the room, it was not a good-bye he saw there, but ardent hope that somehow Severus would be able to drag Harry back to the land of the living. For just a moment, Severus wondered if this was how Harry had felt most of his life--charged with saving the world from a madman with absolutely no idea how to do so, and no faith that it even could be done, much less by him.

Luna waved her wand and an ungainly long sofa appeared along the wall opposite the bed, easily capable of seating everyone in the room and then some. As if by some unspoken agreement, everyone in the room save Draco and Hannah took seats, all huddled together for comfort. Draco remained beside Severus, while Hannah stood with her wand at the ready, in case she was needed.

Luna stood at the foot of the bed, equidistant between it and the sofa of observers. Then, in a swirl of white light, she cast several spells around the room. Severus didn’t understand most of them but he guessed they were purifying spells or energy-balancing spells. When she had finished, everyone was staring at her agog.

Luna’s straw blond hair was now golden bright and glowing, surrounding her head like a halo of ringed curls. The sky blue sari she wore shimmered and sparkled, like the sun reflecting off ocean waves. And white light rimmed her entire body. Overall, she looked like the Muggle vision of an angel.

Draco’s gasp snapped Severus’s attention to him, where Draco, mouth open but words absent, pointed between Severus and Harry. Severus followed Draco’s direction only to find both himself and Harry glowing with that bright white light as well. He jerked his head to Luna, intent on asking her what was going on. When he met her gaze, she nodded and smiled. Gracefully, she climbed up onto the mattress and seated herself, cross-legged, between Severus and Harry.

Severus was transfixed. When she reached out her right hand to his left, he took it without reservation. A feeling of peace such as he’d never known before washed over him and, in that moment, he knew. Knew that he would follow this otherworldly creature anywhere in the universe. Knew that if this was what Harry felt, maybe, just maybe, he could let Harry go. Maybe he’d ask Luna to let Severus go with Harry. That would be all right.

“Severus.”

His first name, spoken in that ethereal tone. Not aloud, but in his head.

He locked his gaze to hers. “Miss Lovegood?” he called in his mind, as natural as if they’d communicated this way their entire lives.

Her response was not in words but in feelings. He felt her pure light magic spill over him, embrace in warmth and safety and serenity.

Luna reached out with her free hand to join Harry’s left hand to Severus’s right one. Then she took Harry’s right hand in her left, linking the three of them together.

Severus felt the chaotic yet soothing play of their combined magic pulse and settle into a rhythm, chasing itself around the circle of connection.

Luna closed her eyes and, as if she’d willed him to do the same, Severus closed his as well. Without words, she conveyed the direction: follow me. And Severus did.

The strange thing about walking in the in-between, he decided, was the complete lack of sensory input. There was nothing to see or hear, smell or taste. The closest thing to a human sense he supposed was touch, but even that wouldn’t be accurate. Still, he felt as if he could almost touch Luna’s essence in this place of nothingness. Had he been in his right mind, he’d have found this all extremely disconcerting. But with Luna’s presence, everything just felt right.

As if his thoughts on nothingness had spurred some sort of transformation, he watched in awe as shades of grey painted a monochromatic landscape all around him. He wondered idly if it meant something. The plane of perspective seemed to fade to endless darkness on his left while, to his right, it faded to infinite lightness.

Severus glanced around looking for Luna but she wasn’t there, not in corporeal form, anyway. He didn’t seem to have a body, either. The entirety of himself seemed to be a single point of invisible magic, the barest spark of life, and yet he felt no less insubstantial than when he was in his human form.

“Harry Potter.”

Severus spun around, as if such a thing were possible in his present form. But he knew, without knowing how, that Luna was summoning Harry’s essence to this place they stood. It took Severus a moment to realize what she’d actually done.

Just feet in front of him, as if someone from above had dumped a bucket of paint, Harry’s body came into view: first his hair, then his bowed head, slumped shoulders and chest, arms and torso, waist, hips, legs, and finally feet. He was naked and his arms were wrapped tightly around himself as if he were in pain.

Severus glanced down to see that he, too, now had a body, naked and monochromatic as it was. He could feel Luna’s essence nearby but she had not materialized. He sent his thanks to her anyway, knowing that she’d done this for him, so that he could relate to Harry in a form that that he could more easily understand.

“Harry?” Severus called out, taking a tentative step forward.

Harry shuddered but he didn’t otherwise move.

“Harry,” Severus said again, coming to stand before the younger man. “Harry, it’s me. Severus.”

Harry shuddered again. “You’re not real. You’re just a figment of my imagination.” Harry’s chest rose and fell, as if he was taking a deep breath, although, strictly speaking, breathing didn’t seem to be required in this place.

Harry’s next words caught him off guard.

“Severus Snape is dead.”

“I most certainly am not!”

That declaration, delivered in an outraged tone of voice, had Harry’s head snapping up.

“Whyever would you think I am dead? I am just as alive as you are,” Snape said. He felt Luna’s approval in the way her warm magic swirled around him.

“Sev?” Harry asked, the slightest trickle of hope seeping into his voice.

“I’m here, Harry. I promised I wouldn’t leave you again. And I won’t.”

Harry simply stared, as if he couldn’t believe his eyes and ears.

“But you have to promise me something in return,” Severus said.

Harry’s eyes had turned glassy, his unnecessary breathing uneven. Still his arms hugged himself, as if he was unable to believe. To trust. To hope. Harry’s gaze never wavered from Severus’s as tears began to slide down Harry’s cheeks.

Severus reached out and brushed them tenderly away. His voice choked, he said, “You have to promise not to leave me, either.”

As if his touch broke some tenuous restraint, Harry launched himself at Severus, burying his head in Severus’s chest and holding onto him as if his life depended on it. Perhaps it did. Something inside of Severus broke free then and, in addition to his arms, his magic wrapped around Harry too, surrounding them both, tethering them together--to life, to death; it didn’t matter which anymore.

As if they were two insubstantial helium-filled balloons, Severus felt himself and Harry being tugged away, away from the in-between, toward the dark horizon. He could feel Luna’s essence pulling them back to the mortal plane, where strife and struggle awaited, where recovery wouldn’t be easy. But joy was there too, and understanding and acceptance. And most of all, Harry. Harry would be there with him. They’d get through it. They’d get through it together.

~Fin~