Snape-after-Deathly-Hallows prompts
Decided I should tackle some of the unclaimed prompts for the snape_after_dh fest. Not that I'm going to write all of those stories... but SOMEONE should, so I figured I'd throw around some plotbunnies for the prompts that apparently haven't been found inspiring enough.
Today, I'll do the "He's not really dead" prompts.
Severus revives and finds that Lupin is dead: Ooh, this is hard for me; I don't do Snupin. Hmm. Obviously, this needs one of the handwavy "not dead" answers... Snape keeps a bezoar on hand, I think. After all, he knew he needed to explain to Harry about the need to sacrifice, and couldn't count on him showing up at the right moment. As soon as Harry's gone with his pack of memories, Snape takes the bezoar, and in a few hours, he's feeling fine. He leaves to meet up with Lupin, whom he's been secretly shagging for the whole year (hence Lupin's second thoughts about marriage and parenthood), and it doesn't take long to sort out that Lupin is among the stupid Gryffindors heroic dead. Snape slinks off by himself and goes a bit crazy for a while. Possibly several years. At some point, it hits his brain that Teddy is old enough to need a tutor, magical and mundane, and he disguises himself and comes back to offer his services to the family. He develops a deep friendship with the boy. (Author's choice about whether that's a double entendre.)
Harry needs Kreacher's help saving Snape's life: After the grand battle, Harry goes back to the Shack, and finds Snape not-quite-dead, but his breathing's very slow, and he's lost a lot of blood. Needing *immediate* help, he yells for Kreacher, who instantly appears. After explaining that this was Regulus' boyfriend, he has Kreacher's full support. Snape is, of course, just *thrilled* to wake up at 12 Grimmauld Place, being waited on by the only character in the Potterverse with a less sunny disposition than himself, with occasional attention from The Boy Who Lived To Annoy Him. Much throwing of crockery. Harry & Kreacher nurse Snape back to health, more-or-less against his will. Only a truly demented author could turn this into a threesome fic; anyone else will have to settle for classic stuck-at-Grimmauld Snarry.
Rescued by Centaurs: The real reason Firenze agreed to teach Divination: he had the hots for Snape. For years, Snape's been gathering potions ingredients in the forbidden forest, and Firenze has watched him. When he went into the shack, but didn't come out, Firenze goes in to rescue him. Firenze carries him to safety (or at least, the forest), and shags him senseless nurses him back to health.
Rosmerta & Aberforth kept one eye on the Shack: Snape's been secretly meeting with Aberforth all year; they've never exactly said they're on the same side, but between the visits for "physical release, really, no, this doesn't mean anything," Snape drops hints that he supports them, and he arranges for the kids who're in the worst condition to get away from Hogwarts & into their care. They're watching the final battle in as many ways as they can manage; they've got several magic mirrors and scrying devices set up, so they can help in the ways that are available to them. They watch the Elder Wand exchange, the Nagini attack, the memory dump... and as soon as Potter's out of the picture, Aberforth sends his Patronus to keep guard over Snape until he can get there in person to get him. He brings Snape back to Hogsmeade, and he and Rosmerta heal him, and help him get established with a new identity away from his past.
When Neville kills Nagini, the magic power goes out of her venom. And Snape starts to feel better, or at least, not feel worse. While he's lost some blood, without the anticoagulant in the venom, he stops bleeding, and wakes up the next morning, in pain, but definitely alive. He goes through his choices: stick around & wait to be discovered, or get his arse moving and go into hiding. He decides to hide. He leaves the country, and eventually winds up teaching at Beaxbatons, where he subtly pumps Gabrielle for information about the Hogwarts survivors. (Whether he pumps Gabrielle in other ways is up to the author.)
Draught of Living Death: Snape had been planning on taking this *before* the final battle, and arranging to be found in the headmaster's office by the heroes, so he could help them from inside Hogwarts. Voldie messed up his plans, but he does have the potion on him when he's bitten. He takes it after Harry leaves, knowing that his job is done, and it'll probably be far too long before he's discovered. He's stuck there, comatose, for weeks, before being discovered by Hermione. She has to figure out what potion he's taken (which doesn't take long) and come up with the antidote (which is difficult) for it and for the venom still in his veins.
Master of death: Nothin'. I got nothin. Um. Snape has, over the last year at Hogwarts, developed an especially close relationship with Voldemort (get yer mind outta the gutter! Everyone knows Voldie doesn't have those parts anymore! No tacky AU's where Snape/Voldie play out Isis/Osiris and the Golden Strap-On.) and has long talks with him about the nature of immortality and what it's like to be "dead." Noting that his own chances of surviving the great battles are low, Snape makes arrangements--he won't make a Horcrux (he can see how crazy Tom Riddle has become), but he does steal the Veil from the ministry, and works on how to reach across it. With the right potions, he can walk through the veil and spend time with people on the other side. He makes a bargain with some (or maybe just one) of the inhabitants, to push him through if he's dumped there involuntarily.
Portkey in his pocket: Snape was planning on having a Nice Long Talk with Harry, involving much more legilimency than either of them would be comfortable with, and then whisking himself far, far away from the battle site. Instead, he was snakebitten, and the plans needed a bit of adjusting. Fortunately, Snape had thought, if not of this, that his plans might need adjusting... his portkey is a muggle digital watch set to port at the alarm time--or when the right button is clicked. As soon as Harry's gone, Snape ports away... to the playground where he first saw Lily, a place he assumes nobody will think of looking for him. He's found by some Muggle children who drag him to a hospital, treat him as a John Doe, cure the poison, and have him admitted to a mental hospital.
Stoppering death: During the year Albus was wearing the cursed ring, Snape had ample time to study it. He didn't sort out exactly what the stone was, but he did figure out that it had some power over death, and he made a series of potions that involved dipping the stone into them at crucial times. Each of the potions has lingering effects to stave off death, or keep a borderline-dead person alive for a month. Snape has 13 of them.