A Cat's Life

Chapter 1: Another Chance

Disclaimer: As much as I would love to say that I own them…I don't. If I did there would be a certain surplus of slash in the books.

XoxoxoxoX

Severus Snape knew one thing for certain at the moment. He was dead. No escaping, no more chances, no reason to look for a way out. Dead. And you know it really wasn't nearly as bad as everyone made it out to be. He wasn't hot or cold. He wasn't hungry or really…anything. He was only half aware of who he was at all.

Severus was currently floating in a white mist. If he summoned all of his wits he was aware of being perfectly naked, though this thought didn't bother him. There was no one here to see him. No one here to taunt or sneer at him being exposed like he was. And to be perfectly honest Severus quite enjoyed this fact.

So he continued to float, enjoying a sense of peace that he had never accomplished in life. Here there was no guilt, no mission, no insufferable droning of other people. There was only peace and contentment. That was when Severus felt some sort of force wrap around his body and begin to drag him off like he was clutched in the hand of some kind of giant.

He tried to fight against it, wanting to return to his serene floating, yet he had little luck. He was zooming through the mist, feeling only a warm breeze, until there was no mist at all. He found himself standing, rather suddenly, in a room that bore a striking resemblance to the Headmaster office in Hogwarts.

This was the first time that Severus fully realized his nudity. He had barely wished for robes before they had appeared on his body. He looked down at himself and noted with approval that they were identical to his robes that he had worn in life. He then glanced around the room, noting that everything was the same except for the portraits that lined the walls in the real office. It left the room looking a bit blank.

"Severus my boy! Good to see that you could join me." A familiar voice from behind him said.

Severus turned quickly to see none other than Albus Dumbledore sitting behind the desk. His eyes were twinkling behind his half-moon spectacles just as they had when he was alive. "You're dead." Severus felt like cursing himself for saying something so obviously stupid.

"Yes, yes. And so are you, my boy." Dumbledore smiled warmly.

"Then why are we in your office?" Severus asked, suspecting the answer but figuring that it was best to know for sure.

"Well you see in the afterlife you are able to create rooms for yourself exactly as you would like them. I find that this room is the one that I find to be most comfortable." the old man smiled.

"And why am I here, headmaster?" Severus felt his upper lip curl in distaste. Honestly, hadn't he had enough of this man while he was living? Did he really have to deal with him through his never ending death too?

"Ah yes, well I've got great news for you Severus. Very good news indeed. I have discussed it with the higher ups and you are being given another chance!" he beamed.

"Another… chance?" Severus repeated, a feeling of dread blooming in his stomach.

"Yes. You see I realize that because of Tom Riddle, and also regrettably because of me, you were unable to live as you should have been able to. You were never able to think about what you wished to do with your life after school. You were never able to meet someone to love. You were completely unable to have an actual life. I have taken the liberty of setting up a way for you to get your life back."

"…and if I were to say that I would much prefer staying dead?" As Severus spoke the question he noticed that the infernal twinkle had doubled in the headmaster's eyes.

"Oh don't be ridiculous Severus." Dumbledore waved the thought away.

"So you're saying that I have no choice in the matter?"

"Consider it my last order to you."

Anger swelled in Severus and he stood angrily. "Your last order to me was for me to kill you! Do you remember that, Headmaster? All I am asking for is peace in death! Surely even I deserve that!" Severus felt the anger burn out as quickly as it had ignited and he sat back down gracefully.

"All I want is for you to find happiness, my boy. That's why I'm doing this." The twinkle in his eyes had faded almost entirely. "And, all in all, I don't think that this will be all that difficult for you."

"What exactly is it that won't be that difficult?" Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Well they've told me that it would be that it would go against their codes to simply put you into a new body until you've…ah…earned it." Albus had the good graces to look slightly sheepish.

Severus leaned back and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Let me get this straight. I'm going to be made to earn back a life that I would be just as happy not getting back at all?"

"Oh goodness Severus! Of course you want your life back. You're just letting death depress you." Albus shook his finger in a slightly scolding way.

"Yes, because in life I was always the very epitome of joy." The potion master sneered.

Albus chose to ignore this statement and continued smiling serenely. "All you are going to have to do is convince a small number of people that you are indeed Severus Snape."

Severus narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the old man. He'd known Albus for years and nothing with him was ever this simple. "And what's the catch?"

"Well…you'll be in the body of a cat." Albus smiled.

"WHAT?"

Albus didn't even flinch at the younger man's outrage. Severus had once again sprung to his feet, snarling at the senile old man. "Calm down Severus."

"Calm down? Calm down? You expect me to convince sane people that the hated potions master Severus Snape had come back to life as a cat? It would be difficult to get some to believe I had come back even if I was human! You want to return me to earth as a bloody cat!" Severus plopped undignified back into his seat.

"Are you finished?" Albus asked politely. This earned him a dark glare from Severus.

"How many people do I have to convince?" Weariness replaced the rage in Severus' voice.

"Just four." Albus answered his eyes back to twinkling merrily.

"Who?" Severus' voice held a thinly veiled threat of more yelling, this time with some accompanying violence.

"Well I chose four people who I thought would be the most likely to recognize you." The older man explained.

"…Who?" Severus glared.

"Yes well, there's Draco Malfoy," Severus nodded in approval. "Hermione Granger," Severus' eyes narrowed once more. "Ron Weasley and Harry Potter." These last names were said quickly, as if hearing them at a higher speed would lessen Severus' rage. It didn't.

"What. Did. You. Say?" Severus stood up a third time. Albus would later swear that, at the time, he could see the flames of fury dancing in Severus' eyes. "Weasley and POTTER? POTTER? You can't simply let me rest in peace? No, of course not! You won't be satisfied until you ruin every aspect of what was shaping up to be a perfectly good after life! Must I really be sent back just to be forced to seek the help of Harry bloody Potter?"

"Oh come now Severus. It surely isn't that bad. All you have to do is convince Harry that you are Severus Snape."

"AS A CAT!"

The older man nodded. "Yes, as a cat. But I thought you would prefer a cat to a toad or an owl."

Severus sat down, still glaring at the man across from him. "And why, might I ask, do I only have those three choices?"

"As you know, all four of the young adults whom you must convince missed their last year at Hogwarts. In order for them to be able to join the working force they must complete their N.E.W.T.S. And so they have returned to Hogwarts for one last year. Since all four of them are conveniently in the same place it would be best to send you as a cat."

"I see." Severus continued to glare at the elderly man.

"Ah, and I think there is just one more thing that you must know before you go. You see the point of this is that you have to be the one to convince them, once one of them knows they can't tell the others. If they were to do so then you would be trapped in the body of a cat for the rest of your life."

"You are forcing me to take back a life that I don't want and if one of the imbecilic children that I have to convince lets it slip that it's me I will be a cat forever." Severus summarized, his glare growing with each word.

"Yes, I think you've got everything." Albus smiled.

Severus' jaw clenched as he held in all the obscenities that he dearly wanted to hurl at the man before him. It wouldn't do him any good and he knew it. His life had never been in his own hands so why in Merlin's name should his afterlife be any different. He let out a silent sigh. "Then, if there is nothing else Headmaster, shall I be going?" He adopted the stressfully polite tone that he had sometimes used in life when the headmaster had given him a mission that was particularly distasteful.

The damned twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes dimmed somewhat as he looked at the younger man in front of him. "I would like very much for you to be happy Severus. Make sure to try and be happy in your new life." Severus saw him give one last small smile before he was sent hurdling away from Dumbledore and his office. Severus was then aware of horrible pain and then darkness.

XoEnd ChapterXo

Author's Note: So, whatdya guys think? This is my first time writing Sev so I'm not sure how I did. I really hope that I kept him in character. Oh, and this is important, this fic is EWE like advertised and other than that it's pretty much cannon…except that some of the people who died in the book are still alive. The only people who I am choosing to return to life are Sirius and Remus. After that all deaths still stand. I am keeping them alive for a reason that will become clear in the future. Also…they'll probably be a couple. If you have a problem with that then I have no idea why you're reading this fic in the first place. Thanks for reading and please send a review! Please no flames because…they're just mean!