Support me on patreon.com/c/Striker2025
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Many Thanks to david morrison and Jibreel Kamal for their patronage ◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The boats glided silently across the black mirror of the lake, each carrying four wide-eyed first-years toward the towering silhouette of Hogwarts Castle. Severus sat rigidly beside Lily, his eyes fixed on the approaching fortress, a maelstrom of emotions churning beneath his carefully composed expression.
Home. Prison. Sanctuary. Battlefield. In his fractured memories, Hogwarts was all of these things and more.
"It's even more beautiful than you described," Lily whispered, her voice hushed with awe. The castle's reflection rippled on the water's surface, windows blazing with golden light that seemed to promise warmth and belonging.
"Yes," Severus agreed, his voice catching slightly. "It is."
Their boat was completed by Elara and a small, mousy-haired boy who had introduced himself as Damian Proudfoot with a nervous stammer. While Lily and Damian exclaimed over the magnificent view, Severus became aware of Elara's steady gaze on his profile.
"Strange," she said softly, for his ears alone, "you look at the castle like you're returning to it, not seeing it for the first time."
Severus turned to meet her eyes, finding them sharp with intelligence and suspicion. "What an odd observation," he replied neutrally.
"I find people's reactions more telling than their words," Elara said with a slight shrug. "Especially when the two don't align."
Before Severus could formulate a response, the boats passed beneath a curtain of ivy into the underground harbor. The moment of transition sent a shiver through him—a physical memory of countless arrivals and departures through this same passage over a lifetime that hadn't happened yet.
[TEMPORAL RECALIBRATION REQUIRED]
[EMOTIONAL RESPONSES COMPROMISING COVER]
The System's warning flashed, and Severus drew a deep breath, forcing himself back into the present moment. He was eleven years old. This was his first time at Hogwarts. He needed to act accordingly.
Hagrid led them up a flight of stone steps to where Professor McGonagall waited, looking much younger than Severus remembered, though her stern expression remained unchanged. As she delivered her welcome speech about houses and the sorting ceremony, Severus found his gaze wandering over the assembled students, cataloging faces.
There—a boy with untidy black hair and glasses, standing with unearned confidence. James Potter. Beside him, lounging with aristocratic grace despite his obvious excitement, Sirius Black. Behind them, a pale, sickly-looking boy who could only be Remus Lupin, and at his elbow, the shorter, nervous figure of Peter Pettigrew.
Hatred and bitterness rose in Severus's throat like bile, but he forced it down. These were not yet the tormentors of his previous life. They were children, just as he appeared to be, untainted by the choices that would shape them into enemies.
[TACTICAL OPPORTUNITY: EARLY INTERVENTION]
[TARGET STATUS: NEUTRALIZABLE]
Severus blinked at the System's assessment, disturbed by its cold calculation even as a part of him acknowledged the logic. How easy it would be to eliminate threats before they materialized, to subtly redirect the flows of rivalry and friendship...
"Sev?" Lily's voice pulled him back. "Are you listening? Professor McGonagall is leading us in."
The Great Hall opened before them, magnificent in its ancient splendor. Enchanted candles floated beneath the night-dark ceiling, stars glittering among wispy clouds. Four long tables stretched the length of the hall, filled with older students watching the newcomers with varying degrees of interest.
At the far end, the High Table held the faculty—many familiar faces, some Severus had forgotten, others he had never known. And at the center, Albus Dumbledore, resplendent in midnight blue robes scattered with silver stars, his beard not yet fully white, his eyes twinkling behind half-moon spectacles.
Severus stumbled slightly at the sight of him. In his jumbled memories, Dumbledore was manipulator, mentor, adversary, and victim—the man who had both saved him and condemned him, trusted him and sacrificed him.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts," Dumbledore announced, his voice carrying easily through the vast space. "Before we begin our excellent feast, we must, of course, sort our new students into their houses."
Professor McGonagall placed the ancient Sorting Hat on its stool, and Severus watched with detached fascination as it burst into its traditional song. Last time, he had been too nervous to properly appreciate the enchantment involved in creating a semi-sentient artifact capable of such complex personality reading.
As the hat finished its song to enthusiastic applause, McGonagall unrolled her parchment list. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she announced. "Abbott, Helena!"
A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails became the first Hufflepuff, followed by "Avery, Cassius!" who went to Slytherin. Severus watched the familiar ritual unfold, his attention sharpening when "Black, Sirius!" was called.
Unlike in his memories, Sirius didn't strut confidently to the stool but walked with the careful dignity of someone fully aware that generations of family expectation rested on his shoulders. The hat took nearly a full minute—longer than Severus remembered—before declaring "GRYFFINDOR!"
A murmur of surprise rippled through the hall, particularly from the Slytherin table, where several older students bearing the distinctive Black family features looked scandalized. Sirius himself appeared momentarily stunned before a wild grin broke across his face as he practically bounded to the Gryffindor table.
[TIMELINE CONSISTENCY: 97%]
[CRITICAL NODE MAINTAINED]
Severus noted the System's assessment with grim satisfaction. Some events, it seemed, were too fundamental to be easily altered. Black's sorting was one such node—a critical divergence point in the timeline that had far-reaching consequences.
The sorting continued. "Clearwater, Miranda" became a Ravenclaw, followed by several more students until finally, "Evans, Lily!"
Severus held his breath as Lily walked forward, her red hair gleaming in the candlelight. She sat on the stool, hands clasped tightly in her lap as McGonagall placed the hat on her head.
One second passed. Two. Three. Severus frowned. In his memories, Lily had been sorted almost instantly into Gryffindor. What was taking so long?
[TIMELINE DIVERGENCE DETECTED]
[CAUSALITY SHIFT: MINOR]
After nearly thirty seconds, the hat finally called out: "GRYFFINDOR!" Lily removed the hat, looking oddly conflicted as she handed it back to McGonagall. As she made her way to the cheering Gryffindor table, her eyes found Severus's, and she mouthed what looked like "Sorry."
Severus felt his chest tighten. Had the hat considered other houses this time? Had Lily argued for Slytherin for his sake? The possibility hadn't occurred to him—in all his calculations and plans, he had assumed Lily's sorting was immutable.
Several more students were sorted before "Lupin, Remus" became a Gryffindor, followed shortly by "Pettigrew, Peter," who joined the same house after an unusually long deliberation. Then came "Potter, James," who, like in Severus's memories, was sorted into Gryffindor almost before the hat touched his untidy hair.
As the alphabetical progression continued, Severus's anxiety mounted. The moment of his own sorting approached—a divergence point where his choices could irreversibly alter the timeline.
"Snape, Severus!"
Walking to the stool felt like moving through water, each step weighted with the knowledge of what was at stake. He sat, back straight, hands flat on his thighs, as McGonagall lowered the hat onto his head.
"Well, well, what have we here?" a small voice spoke in his ear. "Oh my... Oh my indeed. This is unprecedented."
Severus remained perfectly still, mental shields instinctively rising before he remembered this was not Legilimency. The hat didn't invade minds; it read them.
"Quite right, Mr. Snape," the hat agreed, responding to his thoughts. "Or should I say... Professor? Headmaster? The titles blur in your rather fascinating temporal displacement."
Alarm shot through Severus. If the hat could see his memories...
"Fear not," the hat chuckled. "The secrets within your mind remain between us. Such is my enchantment. But my, what secrets they are! Two lifetimes overlapping, a destiny rewritten... I haven't seen anything like this since... but that's neither here nor there."
Get on with it, Severus thought impatiently.
"Impatience—always a flaw of yours, wasn't it? But where to put you? Last time Slytherin shaped you in its image. I see ambition still, cunning certainly, and such determination... But there's something else now, isn't there? A courage that was hard-won through suffering. A loyalty that transcended death itself."
I need to be with Lily, Severus thought fiercely. Put me in Gryffindor.
"Gryffindor?" the hat seemed amused. "Is that truly what you want? The house of those who tormented you? The house that took Lily from you?"
They won't this time, Severus replied silently. I'll make sure of it.
"Such confidence!" the hat remarked. "But I wonder if that's truly the best path. Your talents flourished in Slytherin, after all. Your mind is suited to its subtle challenges."
Severus felt a flicker of doubt. It was true—as much as he had later resented his house placement, Slytherin had honed his intelligence, his resourcefulness, his ability to survive against all odds.
"There's also Ravenclaw to consider," the hat continued thoughtfully. "Your intellect is formidable, your thirst for knowledge undeniable. You might find allies there better suited to your... unique situation. That young Vayne girl, for instance—she sees more than most."
An image of Elara's perceptive blue eyes flashed in Severus's mind. He hesitated, momentarily tempted. Ravenclaw would offer neutrality, a position outside the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry that had defined his previous existence.
"So many possibilities," the hat mused. "The choice is more complex than last time, isn't it? Slytherin for the path you know, Gryffindor for the girl you love, or Ravenclaw for the allies you need."
Severus closed his eyes, torn between competing impulses. The System's text flashed urgently:
[CRITICAL DECISION NODE]
[CHOICE WILL DETERMINE MISSION PARAMETERS]
[GRYFFINDOR: PROXIMITY TO PRIMARY SUBJECT, HIGH SOCIAL RESISTANCE]
[SLYTHERIN: ESTABLISHED COVER, ACCESS TO DARK KNOWLEDGE, SOCIAL ISOLATION]
[RAVENCLAW: NEUTRAL POSITION, INTELLECTUAL RESOURCES, MODERATE ISOLATION]
Severus considered each option carefully. Gryffindor would keep him close to Lily but place him among enemies. Slytherin would grant him access to the dark knowledge he might need to destroy Horcruxes but isolate him from Lily. Ravenclaw offered a middle path—neither fully immersed in the light nor the dark.
But there was something else—something neither the hat nor the System had mentioned. In his first life, his sorting into Slytherin had been the first step on his path to becoming a Death Eater. It had marked him, shaped him, set him at odds with Lily from the very beginning. If he truly wanted to change his destiny...
"Interesting," the hat murmured. "Most interesting indeed. You've made your choice, then?"
Yes, Severus thought with sudden certainty. I have.
"Very well. Better be... RAVENCLAW!"
The last word was shouted to the hall. A smattering of polite applause rose from the Ravenclaw table as Severus removed the hat, his expression carefully neutral despite the thundering of his heart. This was it—the first major divergence from his previous life, a step into wholly uncharted territory.
As he crossed to the Ravenclaw table, he caught Lily's eye. She looked surprised but offered him a bright smile and a thumbs-up. At the Slytherin table, several students who had been watching him expectantly—Avery, Mulciber, Rosier—whispered among themselves, clearly puzzled by his unexpected sorting.
[TIMELINE DIVERGENCE: 24%]
[NEW VARIABLES ACTIVATED]
[RECALCULATING OPTIMAL PATHS]
Elara made room for him on the bench, her expression more intrigued than ever. "Fascinating," she murmured as he sat beside her. "The hat took nearly three minutes with you. A true hatstall."
"It had difficulty deciding," Severus replied carefully.
"Clearly," Elara agreed. "Welcome to Ravenclaw, Severus Snape. I suspect this is going to be a very interesting seven years."
If she only knew, Severus thought grimly.
The sorting concluded with "Vayne, Elara" being quickly confirmed as a Ravenclaw and "Zabini, Alessandra" becoming a Slytherin. Dumbledore rose, arms spread wide in welcome.
"To our newcomers, welcome! To our returning students, welcome back! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words, and here they are: Nimbus! Gobstone! Thestral! Dirigible! Thank you!"
As food appeared on the golden plates, Severus found himself almost smiling at Dumbledore's familiar eccentricity. Whatever else the man might be—whatever complex game he might be playing—his genuine delight in Hogwarts and its traditions had always been real.
"Is he... quite sane?" asked a first-year boy across from Severus, looking uncertainly toward the headmaster.
"Dumbledore? Completely barmy," replied an older student with a prefect badge. "Also happens to be the greatest wizard alive. Eat up—the roast potatoes are excellent."
As the feast progressed, Severus found himself in the novel position of being among those who valued intellect over cunning or bravery. The conversation around him touched on recent advances in transfiguration theory, the applications of moon phases in potion-making, and a spirited debate about whether Ancient Runes or Arithmancy offered more practical magical applications.
It was... not unpleasant. In Slytherin, mealtimes had often been exercises in careful positioning, subtle power plays, and veiled threats wrapped in politeness. Here, students interrupted each other enthusiastically when a new idea struck, scribbled notes on napkins, and gestured with forks to emphasize particularly compelling points.
"What do you think, Snape?" asked a second-year girl with spectacles. "Does intent or precision matter more in spell-casting?"
Severus blinked, startled to be included. "They're not mutually exclusive," he answered carefully. "Precision without intent creates weak magic. Intent without precision creates unpredictable, possibly dangerous results. The most powerful magic harmonizes both."
Several students nodded appreciatively, and the debate spun off in a new direction. Beside him, Elara's eyebrow quirked upward.
"A nuanced answer," she observed quietly. "Most first-years would simply choose one or the other."
Severus shrugged, helping himself to treacle tart as dessert appeared. "Most questions worth asking don't have simple answers."
"Indeed," Elara agreed, studying him with those unsettlingly perceptive eyes. "I'm beginning to think the hat placed you exactly where you belong, Severus Snape."
After the feast, as prefects gathered first-years to lead them to dormitories, Severus caught Lily making her way against the crowd toward him. He met her halfway, aware of curious glances from both Gryffindors and Ravenclaws.
"Ravenclaw!" Lily exclaimed, eyes bright with excitement. "The hat almost put me there too! It said I had 'an inquiring mind,' but that my heart would find its home in Gryffindor."
Relief washed through Severus. So that had been the reason for her delayed sorting—she'd been considered for Ravenclaw, not arguing for Slytherin. "Are you disappointed we're not in the same house?" he asked.
Lily shook her head firmly. "Of course not. Besides, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor have loads of classes together. And you'll be happier there than you would have been in Slytherin—everyone knows Ravenclaws are brilliant."
Her easy acceptance loosened a knot of tension Severus hadn't realized he was carrying. In his first life, their different houses had been the beginning of the wedge between them. This time, perhaps with the less antagonistic Ravenclaw-Gryffindor dynamic, things could be different.
"First-years, this way please!" called the Ravenclaw prefect. "We've got a fair climb to the tower!"
"I'd better go," Lily said, squeezing his hand briefly. "My prefect's calling too. See you at breakfast?"
"I'll save you a seat," Severus promised, though he wasn't entirely sure if sitting at different house tables was permitted. Rules that had seemed so important as a teacher now felt distant and malleable from a student's perspective.
As he followed his new housemates toward Ravenclaw Tower, Severus felt the weight of destiny shifting around him. He had taken his first major step away from the path that had led to tragedy—away from the Death Eaters who would recruit from Slytherin, away from the toxic rivalries that had poisoned his relationship with Lily.
[CRITICAL PATH ALTERATION SUCCESSFUL]
[RECALCULATING PROBABILITY MATRICES]
[WARNING: UNKNOWN VARIABLES MULTIPLYING]
The System's warning gave him pause. Yes, he had changed his course—but the ripples from that change would spread in ways he couldn't predict. New threats, new opportunities, new complications would arise from this seemingly simple choice.
The Ravenclaw group paused before a door with no handle or keyhole, only a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. As Severus watched, the eagle's beak opened, and it spoke in a musical voice:
"I am taken from a mine and shut in a wooden case, from which I am never released. Yet I am used by almost every person. What am I?"
The first-years looked at each other uncertainly, but Severus barely suppressed a snort. After facing the Dark Lord, after surviving as a double agent, after dying and somehow returning—this was child's play.
"Pencil lead," he answered simply. "Or graphite."
The knocker replied, "Well reasoned," and the door swung open.
The Ravenclaw common room opened before them, circular and airy, with graceful arched windows draped in blue and bronze silks. The domed ceiling was painted with stars that subtly shifted to mirror the night sky outside, and the midnight-blue carpet felt soft underfoot. Bookshelves lined the walls, interspersed with comfortable chairs and study nooks.
"Welcome to Ravenclaw Tower," announced the prefect, a tall girl with a melodious voice. "As you've just experienced, entry requires answering a riddle. If you answer incorrectly, you must wait for another student to get it right—which encourages learning and intellectual growth."
As she continued explaining house traditions and dormitory locations, Severus gazed around the space that would be his home for the next seven years. It was beautiful in an understated way, peaceful in a manner the Slytherin dungeons had never been. Perhaps here, surrounded by those who valued knowledge for its own sake rather than as a path to power, he could find a different way forward.
"Boys' dormitories up the left staircase, girls' to the right," the prefect concluded. "You'll find your belongings have already been brought up. First-years are on the first landing. Any questions?"
When there were none, the students began dispersing—some to dormitories, others settling into the common room chairs with books already in hand. Severus had turned toward the left staircase when Elara's voice stopped him.
"Quite the performance tonight, Snape," she said, standing near one of the tall windows, moonlight silvering her pale hair. "First the Jupiter calculation, then the sorting hat deliberation, now the immediate answer to the riddle..."
"Perhaps I simply belong in Ravenclaw," Severus replied, keeping his voice level.
"Perhaps," Elara agreed, though her tone suggested skepticism. "Or perhaps you're the most interesting puzzle I've encountered in quite some time."
Severus met her gaze steadily. "And what will you do if you solve this puzzle, Vayne?"
The question seemed to surprise her. She considered it for a moment, head tilted thoughtfully. "That would depend entirely on what I discover, wouldn't it?" she finally answered. "Some secrets deserve to be protected. Others... don't."
With that cryptic response, she nodded a polite goodnight and ascended the right staircase, leaving Severus to consider this new complication in his already complex mission.
[POTENTIAL THREAT ASSESSMENT: MODERATE]
[RECOMMEND CLOSE MONITORING]
[ALTERNATIVE STRATEGY: RECRUIT AS ALLY]
The System's assessment matched his own. Elara Vayne was too perceptive to be ignored, too intelligent to be easily deceived. She would either become a valuable ally or a dangerous obstacle—and Severus would need to decide which, sooner rather than later.
He climbed the left staircase to the first-years' dormitory, finding a circular room with five four-poster beds hung with blue velvet curtains. His trunk sat at the foot of one, along with a package wrapped in brown paper that hadn't been there before.
Sitting on his bed, Severus carefully unwrapped the package to find his mother's grimoire—the one possession of hers he had truly valued, filled with potion innovations, spell modifications, and family secrets. A note in Eileen's spidery handwriting lay atop it:
For my son, who grows wiser each day. Use it well, and remember—knowledge without purpose is merely trivia. Knowledge applied is power. Be powerful, my Severus.
—Mother
Severus ran his fingers over the worn leather cover, feeling the subtle pulse of magic beneath. In his first life, he hadn't received this until fifth year, after proving himself worthy in Eileen's eyes. That she had entrusted it to him now suggested she had sensed the change in him more profoundly than he had realized.
As his dormmates filed in, introducing themselves with varying degrees of enthusiasm, Severus carefully placed the grimoire in his trunk. Tomorrow would bring new challenges, new opportunities to reshape the timeline. But for tonight, he had accomplished his first major objective: breaking free of the path that had led to darkness.
[PHASE TWO INITIATING]
[NEW OBJECTIVES UNLOCKING]
[PRIMARY MISSION PARAMETERS UNCHANGED: PROTECT LILY EVANS]
[SECONDARY OBJECTIVE ACTIVATED: ACQUIRE KNOWLEDGE OF HORCRUXES]
Severus lay back on his bed, drawing the curtains closed around him. As the excited chatter of his dormmates faded into the background, he stared up at the canopy, mind racing with plans and contingencies.
The board was set, the pieces in motion. The game had begun anew—but this time, Severus Snape intended to win.