Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling, I am only borrowing her characters so no profit is gained for this fanfic
Beta: SocksForDobby (my eternal grattitude for that )
Full summary: Severus is a genius physicist and chemist widely known around the Muggle world for his unusual discoveries and publications. But before a terrible accident caused by the Marauders in his third year, he was a normal Hogwarts student like any other. When war rages, he is forced back into the magical world by a Death Eater who has the same green eyes he once loved. .. He discovers that both Dumbledore and, surprisingly, Voldemort are in desperate need of the Muggle science. And since he is the greatest Muggle scientist alive, he finds himself stuck in the middle.
Warnings: AU. SS/HP slash, bad language, violence. Alternate Universe. T for now, subject to change. No prophecy, therefore, no chosen one. Nevertheless, another kind of tragedy befalls upon the Potters. Harry's own story will be revealed a little later.
This chapter contains a brief flashback, in order to clear up a little of Severus' past.
Prologue
The faculty was silent, soft steps where the only noise was absorbed by the white walls delimitating the long corridor. He passed several dull colored doors that separated classrooms and laboratories, paying no attention to anything but the document in his hand.
Near the end of the hall, breaking the architectural rhythm, was a big scarlet door leading to the main chemical laboratory.
His main chemical laboratory.
He stood outside for a moment, gathering his cool. Paper in hand forgotten, he focused on the person who most likely was on the other side of this intimidating doors.
Taking a deep breath, he cautiously opened the door and stepped in as silently as possible, hoping his actions wouldn't disturb the person bending over a distant table, absorbed in his work.
The room was filled with low tables and very expensive technological instruments and computers. Test tubes where lined against countless of special bottles on the shelves.
He closed the door as cautiously as he had opened it, and prayed for the best as he cleared his throat, waiting now to be noticed.
"Is there anything you want to say Mr. Sontag?" The voice was low and grave, and predictably irritated at the intrusion.
Daniel Sontag visibly shuddered at the man's correct assertion in the name of his intruder. It appeared to be physically impossible to take the man by surprise.
"Professor Snape, its half past ten now, you have been working non-stop for thirteen hours. The faculty is deserted, everyone has gone home and the guard wants to close the building. You should go and rest, crouching for so long will do your health no good." He finished almost in a whisper since telling Snape what to do was equal to bloody suicide.
Severus Snape openly sighed and turned to the clock on the wall shaking his head. Analyzed it for a moment and stood up.
"I'll leave as soon as I gather my things, you may go, Sontag. I can turn off the lights when I'm done." He answered with a cold dismissing voice.
Sontag, visibly relieved by his decision, nodded and disappeared in an instant.
Severus turned to his desk while stretching his abused back and arms. He was planning to leave soon anyway; he had a massive headache beating against his temples. But it was amusing to terrorize his assistants.
Today had not been his day. He had spent the whole day reading and analyzing results in circles, getting nowhere.
He gathered his notebooks and scattered papers, placing them in his suitcase. His investigations were going slowly, and the tests he had to do were time consuming.
I need to find a way to solve that, he thought while taking off his white coat and grabbing his black jacket. Classes start in two weeks.
He gave one last check to the centrifuge that would be working overnight and turned off the lights, heading for the exit.
He kept a steady pace while he walked towards the parking lot. The night guard carefully looked at him over his book, as if not wanting to get caught staring at The Severus Snape. When Severus approached a bit to close, the guard felt the absurd need to bid him 'goodnight'.
"Whatever." Was Severus' lone response.
(Chemical Touch)
Snape quickly got in his black vehicle and turned on the gears, exhaling at the sound. It was clearly too much of a car for a simple scientist. But he usually took all the tension out of his system by driving fast to no particular destination. And sometimes, very rarely, when he was in the mood, he agreed to go racing with some race-fanatic engineering students from the University. Very rarely though. And he had had the bloody means to buy it, so why not?
But tonight, he drove in silence.
Looking out of the window, he appeared to others to be examining the countless of light bulbs in the street, but inside, his mind was having yet another debate with himself.
It was at this time of the day that his mind seemed keen to remember his past life. When he was too tired to ponder on his investigations, too stuck in them to be excited by any discovery, and too bored with life, he found himself thinking about what he had lost.
Severus was angry with himself because of this; he was a forty-year-old man who couldn't let go a life he had lost 27 years ago.
But how could he? He had lived a child's fantasy for thirteen years. Only to be shattered by a cruel prank!
A honk took him out of his musings. The light had changed, and the car behind him was getting impatient.
He grumbled and continued driving, not letting his mind go back to impossible times.
Severus arrived at his house in half of the time he usually did. All he wanted to do was take a damned pain killer and sleep like a rock.
He unlocked the door, dropped his stuff and walked straight to the kitchen. His house was neither big nor small, a normal house for a lonely man. The furniture and the decoration were modern but not minimalistic, though every single room at the house was full of shelves and books - even the guest room was a little library. It made it looked older and smaller than it really was.
He fixed himself some cereal and ate it in silence, enjoying how the taste whipped out the lingering dry sensation on his mouth. When he finished and his stomach wasn't as empty, he opened a drawer and took out some aspirins. Muggle medicine was effective, though he missed (quite terribly) brewing potions. They were as quick and even more: usually tasteless.
When he finished he place the dish on the sink and headed to his bedroom.
Crossing the dining room, he couldn't help but to glance at the little shelf where some pictures he guiltily kept were resting. Something seemed odd, so he turned on the fluorescent lamps and stopped in front of them.
They were the only personal things he had kept, aside his countless of book; there was a picture of the old Professor Mott and himself. The man was the closest thing he had had to a father, after he ran away, following the incident at Hogwarts.
He was sitting on the bus station doing absolutely nothing; he had nowhere to go, none one to go to. Nothing. He was dressed in rags and starving.
A group of university students nearby were chatting over a difficult chemistry exam they were due the next day. As soon as the bus arrived, they left.
"Chemistry." he murmured, it was a strange word, and Severus liked the way it rolled over his tongue.
He immediately noticed one had left a book but did nothing to alert the bloke. When the bus was out of sight, he grabbed the book and began to read, and read, and read. He didn't understand some concepts but the book was masterfully written and that helped a lot.
He was so engrossed that he didn't notice the man standing in front of him until he spoke. "Kid, why are you reading that?"
"Just because." Severus answered and turned to him. It was already sunset. He was surprised he had lost the track of time.
"You are something, aren't you? I had been watching for two hours now, and not even once you stopped reading. That kind of concentration is unusual."
Severus just shrugged and looked away. "It's my doom."
The strange man stayed in silence for a minute. When he voiced his next question, it took Severus by surprise. "How do you determine the activation energy for a reaction?" He inquired.
"Through the Arrhenius equation and the Eyring equation" Severus openly frowned at him, a sense of confusion took over at the simple question but he answered quickly and smoothly.
The man smiled, apparently pleased by his answer, and with his mind set on something, he extended his hand to Severus and said. "I'm Professor Mott."
Severus tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "Severus Snape" he answered, taking the hand.
From then, the Professor became his mentor and took Severus under his wing. At first Severus was suspicious of his intentions (he was downright frightened but would never admit it), but later he learned the man was as lonely as a mushroom and needed some kind of human contact. Though that didn't justify why the man thought taking a random kid home was a good idea. Severus had not been very cooperative about the matter, but when the man realized he had nothing and offered new clothes and food, he wasn't as hostile.
And the professor freely exploited Severus memory and dedication, so it wasn't as if he was doing it for free.
The next photographs were from his various prizes, graduations and important events. Not very important, but he still kept them. The last photograph, however, was his most treasured one. It was his old and only childhood friend, and he. He often wondered what had happened to her, his first love, Lily Evans.
Examining the wooden frame, he noticed it was cleaner than the rest. It seemed odd since he never touched them. Only the maid that came every Monday did. It was Sunday, though, so all of them should have been equally dusted. He didn't know what to think of it, the only logical conclusion was that someone had cleaned the picture.
Only this one.
The thought alarmed him since no one usually entered the house but him.
He sighed and continued toward his bedroom, still pondering about the photograph. He went up the stairs and entered the last bedroom in the little hallway.
Severus headed to the bath connected by a door, crossing the room, hoping a hot shower would help him relax.
When he reached it, he noticed the door was open. That was curious because Severus was sure he had closed it this morning. His eyes involuntary drifted from left to right, slowly. Surely he hadn't shut the door, that was it. He was just too tired and paranoia was giving him a hard time.
He walked in and quickly turned on the water. Once warm, he entered the shower.
Severus was still for a moment, letting the water wash away his muscular pain and worries. He had just been imagining things, not to worry. After a moment he began to wash himself.
When he was done, he dried his body, tied the towel around his waist, and looked at the mirror, frowning at it.
He noticed his skin was snow white; probably because he had locked himself in the laboratory for the last month. He had to go out more often, wouldn't want his levels of vitamin D decreasing. He could see ribs poking out a little bit; with all the work he had put himself through he had lost some weight (again). His hair has a bit too long, a little under his shoulder, thankfully though, was healthy and no traces of grease were on it (now that he couldn't spell it clean, he had to take care of it the old way). He needed to get it trimmed.
Severus smirked at the sight of his nose; he had thought he would be forever doomed with the monstrous crooked thing. But when he was sixteen, Mott, as a birthday present, paid for him the most painful thing he had ever gone through: a nose surgery. Muggles were so barbaric! He yelled and snapped at everyone that came close to him for two weeks until the swelling and the pain diminished.
"For the ladies Severus, endure it for them." Mott constantly said, just to calm him down.
He had hated it, but at the end, secretly, was grateful. Now he had a normal nose, perhaps a little big, but not crooked.
Tearing his gaze away from the mirror, he exited the bathroom and was taken aback by the thing he saw. A lone book was out of place; they were all lined on the shelf but one was a sticking out a little.
Now, one thing he was damned sure about was that his books were perfect aligned. Always.
He shook his head, walked to the closet and took out some black cotton trousers and a black long sleeved shirt.
It is your tired mind was playing tricks on you, he thought while putting them on. Nothing more.
As quickly as he could, he undid the bed and walked over the switch to turn off the lights. One thing he didn't take into account, however, was that he had to walk back to bed. It was only a few steps away but he was petrified in the spot. It was dark; he could only see the contour of the things.
Normally that wouldn't bother him, but one black strange shadow was standing near the window.
He went over the things that occupied the room hoping he would remember what the shadow was.
The room was a big rectangle: the bed was right in front of him, passing the bed on the wall across was a big window with dark curtains that only let few rays of light in. Now, theory said that beside the window was a big shelf. Against the other wall was a door connected to the bathroom and a lone desk. The wall on his right was occupied by his closet and a tiny table.
The shadow had a strange outline that fitted none of his furniture.
Now this is ridiculous, Severus thought, scolding himself. Afraid of the dark like an infant. Surely you just have to turn on the lights and discover it is coat or something!
The problem was that he did know there was no coat.
So Severus stood unmoving, closing his eyes. He cursed under his breath and lifted his hand to the switch in order to turn on the lights.
Just when his fingertips were touching the cool surface, a hand enclosed his.
He gasped, but another hand came to his mouth quickly, and stopped the sound before it could leave his lips.
Fuck.
He had not been paranoiac. Another human had indeed been in his house, and he had all but ignored the signs; now surely he was going to pay the price.
His senses immediately evaluated the other person. One hand was naked, and rough against his mouth. The other one had gauntlet on it and was metal cold.
A man, his mind supplied in a second.
Whatever was going on, he wouldn't fall without a fight. Severus began to struggle but the gauntlet covered hand holding his swiftly enclosed his body and pressed it against him.
Yes, definitely a man. He wished he could defend himself (if he could bloody do magic, this wouldn't have been happening in the first place).
Severus continued to struggle against him, but the man only tightened his grasp.
After a few more seconds, he spoke. "Shh, I won't hurt you. I need you to calm down." He whispered in Severus ear.
He shivered at the sensation of a warmth breath against his skin. The man's voice had a silky and young tone. His senses began again their recognition. The man smelled of leather and soil. Severus concluded he had been in close contact with a muddy surface recently.
Severus processed the man's words and rolled his eyes. Calm down! What if he was the one pinning the other, hmmm? Then see how calm the other man would be!
At such a close distance, he noticed the man was just a bit shorter than himself, but definitely stronger and sturdier. Brute force was out of question.
How in earth was he going to get out of this one?
"I will retrieve my hand from your mouth, but you must not yell. I am neither a friend nor foe." he murmured.
Severus stopped struggling and nodded, using whatever he could to gain some distance.
He was released, unexpectedly from both hands, and gave a few steps back until his body touched the door. His breath was short, and his heart was beating miles an hour.
( Why? He complained to fate. What had he done to deserve this? Exist, surely.)
"Who are you? What do you want?" Were the first questions that came out of his mouth. It wasn't a robberym otherwise his house would have been empty when he came home.
"They call me Mars. I am here for you. I need you to come with me."
"Well, you should as hell reconsider your needs! I am not going anywhere with you." Severus barked, sinking further in the wall, disgusted with himself at being unable to do something more.
"I knew you were going to say that, Severus Snape. But against all odds, please cooperate; I don't want to use force." the man, Mars, answered, moving closer.
Severus was nothing but a cornered animal that couldn't run, and couldn't fight back. He hated the intimidating feeling this Mars provoked. Since he could only distinguish a big shadow, he had no way to read the person that was a foot away from him.
Oh, fuck. He really should not have neglected the kung fu classes Mott had arranged for him to take, years ago.
"Why exactly do you want me to go with you?" Severus asked, knowing talking his way out was his only chance.
"I need you to finish a machine." Mars quietly answered, emphasizing the last word as if he wasn't used to it. "Not worry, as soon as you are done, I will bring you back." Quietly, he grabbed Severus' wrist with his metal clawed hand and moved him brusquely aside to open the door.
"You are shamelessly kidnapping me, and you tell me not to worry?" Severus accused while resisting again against the man, futile since Mars was just pulling him effortlessly. And that pissed Severus off; the self-rightness purring was pouring of the man like waves, being so insulting.
In the hallway was light was more abundant. He could see the man more clearly and noticed he was dressed in a military-like form. He wore black army trousers, heavy black boots, a heavy jacket with a green long stripe on the back. He had a gun holster around his hip with various pockets, and a massive pistol.
Mars took out some kind of mask from his jacket, put it on, and turned.
"Look, I know it sounds crazy but you ought to be glad I'm asking your cooperation and not demanding it like I should be."
Severus, instead of coming out with another remark, just gaped at what he was seeing; the obsidian mask which fitted perfectly on Mars' face, only covered half of it, leaving his eyes on view.
And, oh hell, did he see those eyes. They were green, glowing vibrantly like an emerald under the moonlight
That shade of green was the same one she had, or at least as the way he often dreamed them; Severus was haunted by those eyes. And now this Mars was looking at him with such an intense gaze, he thought he would combust spontaneously.
Mars took advantage of his being spaced out and led him down the stairs.
When Severus returned to the present, he got incredibly mad at himself for showing openly weakness.
Once in the little lobby, Mars turned again to Severus and grabbed his shoulders, firmly shoving him against the wall, looking as if he was just concentrating on something too big.
(What? Rape now? He most fervently hopped not.) Sweat, Severus noted at such a close distance, softly misted Mars skin. But after a few seconds Mars dropped his arms.
"So, it's true, Severus Snape. Magic doesn't affect you at all. Plan B, it is."
Severus eyes widened at the declaration and felt the interruption of blood supply to his heart nearing in a myocardial infarction."You are a wizard?"
Mars answered by taking his wand seemingly out of nowhere, in his gauntlet hand. He was tracing a big rectangle on the floor. The rectangle then cracked and a secret door was revealed. Mars opened it and turned to Severus.
Severus then realized he had lost his last chance to escape when Mars turned away from him, and thought that if he came out alive of this one, he would killed himself for his high stupidity in very tense situations.
"I am a wizard." he verbally confirmed "I intended to Apparate with you out of here, but it's impossible. So we execute plan B: underground passage leading far away."
That sure sounds inviting, Severus thought sarcastically.
He grabbed Severus' hand and forced him to follow. "They will be here any minute. We must hurry."
"I am not going, damn it!" With all the strength he didn't know he possessed, he pushed Mars away and ran toward the main door, but before he could reach it, he felt a sting sensation on his neck and fell.
Severus hastily turned around and roared. "What have you injected me with?" His legs failed to respond when Severus tried to move them. He saw Mars approaching with a syringe in hand and panicked.
"A Muggle sedative. It should show its effect in a minute." Disgust clearly on Mars voice as he pronounced the word Muggle.
Severus vision began to blur and his arms became numb. The neck was a very efficient spot to shot someone. This Mars had prepared everything! But, why use the thing now and not back in his bedroom? Why bother to take him downstairs?
"Who are coming?" He felt the need to ask in his catatonic state.
"My enemies," Mars answered and proceeded to pick him up.
When he stretched his arms, Severus caught a glance of a well-known tattoo in the world he had abandoned under his kidnapper's jacket sleeve.
Death Eater.
Yes, Severus thought as he felt himself becoming totally docile, as his mind clouded. As improper as it sounded: he was in deep shit, and he knew it.
Today was definitely not his day indeed.
First fic on the site! Grammar and other mistakes fixed with SocksForDobby's help
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