Author Notes: It's been a long time since this story was updated (I actually have another completed chapter, and most of a second as well). So maybe I'll pick it up again over the summer. Maybe.

Harry didn't go directly back to sleep. Instead, he went to the kitchen for buttered toast, then he settled into the study, hoping to review the last big match between England and Wales that he'd been unable to attend in person. He found himself transfixed instead with the old photo album they'd found in the house as he and Ginny'd been remodeling.

It had belonged to his mother, that much had been clear as soon as they'd opened it. Pictures of a young girl and boy – Lily and Snape – stared up from the page in simple muggle photographs. Harry hadn't taken much time to go over the album back then – there'd been too much on his mind, and he hadn't wanted to reawaken the grief he'd felt that Snape had died in vain. Now, looking at the pictures, he could see that the Snape from the photographs looked like the Snape in his dream, right down to the same oddly over-sized coat.

"What am I supposed to do with you?" Harry mused aloud, running a finger over the photograph.

In his dream, Remus had said that Snape needed to make a decision. A decision about what? Was Snape allowed to make the same choice Harry had made, twenty years ago in what had appeared to be King's Cross Station, even though his body had been buried nearly two decades?

Recalling the desperation with which Snape's ten-year-old self had clung to Harry, begging him not to leave, he couldn't help but want to help his mother's childhood friend. But how, and with what?

It made his head hurt, and so Harry went to the bathroom for a restorative to help soothe the pain. He then decided to try napping in the master bedroom. Laying in bed, he turned on the muggle television to a football match, and let his eyes drift closed.

"Hold still!" Sirius was shouting as Harry opened his eyes.

Once again, he was in the park, and the rain was coming down in a torrent. In the grass nearby, Harry saw Snape, face-first on the ground, Sirius astride his back as the smaller boy attempted to get away.

"Get off!"

"Sirius, you're scaring him!" Remus yelled, trying to pull the black-haired boy off Snape.

"Not scared!" Snape huffed. "Get off me, you oaf!"

"Stop it!" Harry ordered, running towards them.

Sirius looked up from his seat on Snape's back with a surprised smile before standing up. Harry knelt beside the smaller boy, and helped Snape to his feet. His clothes were caked with mud, and his face was streaked with it. As soon as Snape was on his feet, the boy lunged towards Sirius, only to be caught back as Harry wound a firm arm about his waist.

"Let me go!" Snape growled, twisting viciously in Harry's hold. Harry winced as ragged nails dug into the skin of his arm, but didn't let go.

"What, you think you're going to hit me, short-stuff?" Sirius goaded with a smirk.

"You're not helping, Padfoot!" Remus scolded.

"It's not my fault he wasn't listening -"

Snape let out a frustrated growl, trying now to stomp on Harry's feet, and kick at his shins.

"Ouch!" the older wizard shouted in pain. "Calm down, Severus! Sirius, behave yourself!"

He hauled Snape towards the merry-go-round, and deposited the squirming ten-year-old on the floor of it. Snape's clothes made a sloshing sound, and the boy had to blink rapidly to keep the rain from stinging his eyes.

"Severus, listen to me." Harry grasped Snape by the shoulders, and stared into dark eyes that were glaring angrily at him. "You can't stay here. This storm is getting worse."

"I don't care!" came the petulant reply. "You said that they wouldn't hurt me, and that lug threw me in the mud! You're a liar, Harry!"

"Hey! Listen, listen to me!" Snape was refusing to look at him, so Harry grabbed him by the chin, forcing their eyes to meet again. He was somewhat surprised to see a sheen of sadness to the bright black eyes. "You don't have to go back, but you can't stay here."

"I already told you," Snape shouted, "that I get lost when I leave!"

"We'll go with you, Severus." Remus reassured. "You won't get lost. You won't be alone."

"I'd rather be lost than go with the two of you!" Snape growled, then turned his eyes pleadingly toward Harry. "You can't make me go! Not with them! Please!"

Unsure of what to say, Harry leaned forward awkwardly, wrapping his arms around Snape in a manner that he hoped was more comforting than intrusive.

"Can't... can't you take me home?" the boy's voice was little more than a trembling whisper.

"I'll go with you as far as I can." Harry replied. He pulled away, and offered Snape a hand to hold. Snape took it, and slid off the merry-go-round, glaring at Sirius from around Harry's arm.

The four of them walked to the edge of the park, past the bushes that seemed to border it.

"I can't wait to see Prongs again!" Sirius said, excitement evident in his voice as they passed over a river. "Wonder what the ol' boy's been up to all these years."

"I hope Tonks isn't too upset with me." Remus murmured.

The rain was dying down to little more than a sprinkling of water, Harry noted with some relief. Up ahead, he could see light on the edge of the forest. "Have you ever gotten this far before, Severus?"

Snape shook his head, sending droplets of water flying from the tips of his hair. The small hand in his tightened its grip on Harry's. Even Remus and Sirius seemed somewhat nervous, because Sirius was now holding Harry's free hand, and Remus had a tight grip on Sirius' other arm.

"Well." Harry said. "Here goes nothing."

Together, the four of them stepped forward towards the light, which seemed to suddenly surround them…

TBC