Severus bit his lip hard, feeling the soft skin split and blood fill his mouth, to try and force himself to stop the flow of tears forming in his eyes. The Marauders had once more humiliated him in front of the entire class before the Professor had shown up. They had taunted him about his mother's illness a little bit, but when that got no rise out of the boy they had turned to his drunken father. Severus still had no idea how they had found out about the man, but by the end of the day the entire school would know that his father was a muggle, and a drunk at that.
Once class was over the Slytherin made his way up to the library. He had been trying for months to work out a way he could get himself out of the life he was currently in. He didn't want to stay here anymore, as much as Hogwarts was his home, he didn't feel safe with the people here or the other Slytherin's.
"Are you okay Severus?" Severus didn't have to look up to know that the person talking to him was Lily Evans. He kept his head down, the scowl on his face not something he wanted his friend to see. "It's nothing Lily. They'll grow sick of it eventually and I'll be left alone."
"So that's why you're looking through a restricted book about potions to make people disappear?" Lily took a seat across from Severus and dragged one of the books towards her. "They certainly look interesting. Do you want to disappear Severus, or do you want Marauders too?" He contemplated lying, saying he was just curious and he didn't actually want to do anything, in the end he decided that was a bad idea. "I want to. I can't stand it here."
Lily gave a sad smile and opened the book to help. They spent the time until dinner reading in silence. Neither of them found anything of use, but they snuck the restricted books out with a couple of clever charms. "Room of Requirement before curfew?" Lily suggested with a small smile. Severus gave a non-verbal agreement and they parted.
Weeks went by with a similar routine, Severus and Lily would spend their time studying up all the books they could find trying to find some way to make him disappear so that he could actually enjoy his life. It was after their third week of searching that Lily finally found something that looked promising.
"Severus, have a look at this." She pushed the book across the table, pointing to the paragraph that she wanted the black haired teen to read. He cast aside his own book for the time and read the passage with interest. "It's designed to make you look older. You can take the potion and then run away. You could start a new life."
"It wouldn't be enough Lily. Someone could work out that it's me and ruin everything." Severus scanned the ingredients on the potion with a small frown. "Although..." He trailed off and began taking notes quickly. "I might be able to change some of the ingredients and change what it does. Instead of making me older, it will force me into the future. I don't know how far, but it could be far enough that no one remembers me."
"Severus that's dangerous. What if you end up in a time that is more dangerous than this?" Lily pointed out with a frown, "You would need some way of knowing about when you will reappear. If you could get it to be a set number of years, then you could find me and I can look after you."
Severus shook his head and looked away from his friend. "It would put you at risk too Lily. I don't want you hurt because someone possibly recognises me and hurts you for it. Plus, I doubt Potter would look after me, he's harassed me for two years now."
Lily sighed and stood up, grabbing her bag to leave. "I worry sometimes. I hope your new life makes you happy. Just remember you're leaving behind friends." She left the library after that with a small wave. Severus glanced back at his notes with a small frown. Perhaps she was right, but he still had time to think about that while he perfected his plan and the potion.
He made his way back to the common room, the book safely tucked into his bag. He knew it was past curfew so he was trying to be as silent as he could so as not to get caught by staff or prefects. He had just turned the corner to the common room entrance when he felt his stomach drop.
"You're out after curfew again Severus." Regulus grabbed Severus' arm and pulled him into the common room. They settled into comfortable chairs in the corner, hidden from the couple of others still lingering. "What has kept you so busy that you are out after curfew most nights?"
Severus really considered lying to Regulus, like he had with Lily. He didn't want to worry him or have the knowledge accidently shared with the wrong person. He sat in silence and stared in thought, wondering what to say. "I'm trying to disappear. I can't continue living like this."
"You can't do that. You know that he will find you, and so will Dumbledore." Regulus pointed out, "You would have to completely change, and the mark can't be removed. You would never truly escape Severus."
"I found a potion that would alter my age. I think I can change some ingredients and instead of it simply changing my age it will force me into the future." Shrugging a little he spread out on the couch carefully. The two sat in silence for some time while Regulus took in what had been said and thought it all through.
"You should try and add a spell to it that will track the magical signature of a friend, someone who knows what you are doing and will be expecting you. That way you know that you will be in safe hands when you appear whenever you do." Regulus added, looking across to the other Slytherin with a slight grin, "You should also try and take me. I don't think I'd handle things around here without you."
Severus chuckled softly and then stood up, "That isn't a bad idea. I could use someone from my own time with me." He stretched a little, "I'm going to head off to bed. I'll see you in the morning Regulus."
Severus spent months in secret perfecting what he was planning to do. Occasionally Regulus or Lily would come down and help him with things, but most of the time he spent alone between classes and after curfew.
He still had a few worries about his plan though, the main one being that people would be looking for him, and probably wouldn't stop until they found him, especially if he took Regulus Black with him. Regulus had come up with the solution to their problem with a book he found in his father's library. They would create dopplegangers of themselves, and leave the dopplegangers in their place. Severus had already planned it with Lily that she would have no connection with her future doppleganger so that they didn't get into any trouble.
Finally, nearing the end of May, Severus had completed everything that he needed. He had the potion ready, and the two spells perfected. Regulus was with him again in the classroom that they had found in the dungeons to work, and the two were waiting for Lily to join them so that they could put the plan into action.
Their dopplegangers stood in the corner of the room; they looked identical to the two teens, except there was a dark look in their eyes and a darker magical signature. No one would look too hard, and if they did it wouldn't be such a surprising thing that the two had gone dark.
When Lily came in she stared at the dopplegangers and shuddered slightly, "They aren't you." She said with a slight frown, "They're so dark. It won't be hard to push them away."
Severus stood up and took her hand, "Thank you Lily. I know you are risking a lot to help us. I love you so much." He said and pulled her into a hug, "I know that you'll look after us in the future." Regulus stood up as well and held his hand out, "Thanks Lily. I know we couldn't have done this without your help." He took the red heads hand and shook it gently.
Severus sent the dopplegangers away with imperious and oblivious curses, and clear instructions that they were not to tell anyone that they were dopplegangers.
Lily shook her head, watching the dopplegangers leave the room before she sighed. "Okay, so I need to add my magic to the tracking spell and then you two take the potion together?"
"That's all you need to do. Next time you see us will be in the future." Severus stepped towards her and took her hand, "Thank you Lily. You have no idea what this means to me, to either of us. You're giving us a second chance at a happy life." He kissed her cheek and stepped back again.
Lily gathered herself and smiled softly, before she cast a simple levitating charm at the potion on the table. The glass vial lifted off the table and floated, while Lily's magic seeped into the potion and the tracking spell. "There, now you'll be brought straight to me."
Severus tipped half the potion into a second vial and handed it over to Regulus, "On three." He said, looking to Regulus and then to Lily who had stepped back and was watching with tears growing in her eyes.
Severus counted down to three and the two teens downed the potion together. They lowered the vial from their lips, and for a second Severus thought they had failed, before he felt a pull in his stomach like that of apparition. He took one last look at Lily before he disappeared.