Snape's True Master
Disclaimer: I in no way own Harry Potter, nor am I making any money off this venture. If it looks familiar, it's from the books.
Severus Snape was a careful man. His clothes were identical day to day and pressed to perfection, his lab was always spotless no matter how many explosions happened in a given day, and he left nothing, not even his death, to chance.
"BOY-WHO-LIVED INTRODUCES SECOND CHILD, NAMES AFTER DEAD WAR HEROES," screamed the headlines of the Daily Prophet as the man, clad in his usual billowing black robes strode down Diagon Alley. Scowling, he glanced at the photo accompanying the headline to see the spitting image of his childhood foe holding up a bundle of cloth with a shock unruly black hair. 'Typical Potter', he thought as he arrived at the apparition point, 'Making headlines and strutting through his perfect life by talking about things he knows nothing about.'
Harry Potter, along with the rest of the wizarding world, would be quite surprised to find that Severus Snape was not quite as dead as everyone thought. Indeed, had he not been slowly building up an intolerance to Nagini's venom over the years, Severus likely would have succumb to the wounds he received in the Shrieking Shack on the night of the Final Battle. However, while everyone assumed Nagini had returned to finish off her snack and mourned Snape's death at an empty grave, Severus himself had apparated to the only safe place he could think of: his childhood home on Spinner's End. While filled with bad memories, there was no one alive who knew the secret of its location. There, Severus recouperated and regained his strength until he could finish the task his master had set him on.
That task is what brought him to Diagon Alley today. A quick stop at Gringotts had allowed him to gather the materials needed to perform the ritual. Now, he was headed to Godric's Hollow to complete his mission.
With the telltale crack of apparition, Severus appeared in the graveyard that Potter and Granger had traipsed through so many years earlier. Arriving at the proper grave, he set up muggle repelling charms and other wards designed to keep pests, both animal and human, away.
He unraveled one of the bundles he carried to reveal what appeared to be a baby – a very ugly baby that stared up at Snape with unflinchingly clear blue eyes. "It's almost time, master," he murmured. "Just a few more moments and then we can continue our quest." The baby smiled up at Severus with his gumless teeth, his anxious excitement contagious in the air.
Dropping the baby in the caldron, Severus quickly recited "Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son," as he levitated several bones into the caldron.
Pulling out a well-sharpened knife, he continued the ritual. "Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master." Severus carefully cut off a sliver of skin and added it to the caldron, mentally chuckling at the idiocy of Pettigrew. The rat had chopped off his entire hand when the potion merely called for flesh, not bone or blood.
After healing the cut, Severus took a full vial out of his bag. Dumping it into the feverishly bubbling potion, he intoned, "Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe."
Severus stepped back as the resurrection ritual completed itself. This was the moment he had been waiting for for almost a decade, when Potter had screwed up their plans with his pathological need to save people, starting as early as the tender age of 11. In reality, they all needed to be saved from Potter himself and the ridiculous regime he instated. The Dark Lord may have been crazy, with all the murder and torture, but he had the right ideas when it came to blood purity.
Thankfully, his master had a less…bloodthirsty approach to addressing the issue. No, Severus's master played a careful game of politics and misinformation to keep himself in power and directing the flow of society in the proper direction.
"Robe me," said a gravely voice, breathy with excitement as it broke into Snape's thoughts. Rushing to do as his master commanded, Snape exclaimed, "It is good to see you again, master. It is time for us to return and show the world who truly should be running the Wizarding World."
Now robed and with a twinkle in his eye, Albus Dumbledore walked into the light of the fire. "Severus, my boy," he said. "We did it."
** Author's note: This is my first piece of fan fiction that I've published on this site, though I've read fan fiction for years. I hope you all like it! It was inspired by a conversation a friend and I had while studying for qualifying exams about what would happen if Dumbledore created a horcrux. Please review so I can get better at this!**