Life can be as perfect as a dream, horrible as a nightmare... Full of hopes, horrors, victories, defeats... An endless maze of paths, each one leading to something different. What if... What could have been... What is, and is to come.

A strange thing for a person to be wondering about over lunch, but it was intriguing. Though not one to put much faith into divination, Severus Snape was, for once, interested by the 'prediction' Trelawney told about him. Not in the divination as much as the thoughts it inspired... And he shoved those to the back of his mind as his first Potions class of the day started.

Countless points from Gryffindor and six hours later, he felt a familiar searing pain on his forearm. He grasped that familiar spot as the pain steadily got worse then he could ever imagine. Taking only enough time to reach for his Death Eater items, he sprinted out of the dungeons and castle, heavily panting as he reached the point that he was to Apparate from.

He scowled behind his mask as he saw Voldemort in front of him, a smirking Lucius Malfoy at his side. And nobody else. Voldemort... Normally didn't 'greet' him like this, and especially didn't curse him afterwards. Voldemort had raised his wand, mumbled an unfamiliar incantation, "Difaetas," and two almost incoherent words entered his mind, just moments before the pain did: He knows.

And when he finally woke up, much longer, he heard a somewhat familiar voice talking to him. "Another one of those strange dreams, hmm?" Severus tried to shoo Lupin -- surely the owner of that voice -- away, but he couldn't think of any reason to.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, odd..."


A/N: This is my first fic. Ever! I'm only 13 for a few hours, so don't hurt me for any misspellings, OOCness, lack of plot, or anything. I have no spellcheckers or any books on hand, so, um, have mercy on me! This chapter is a bit of a prologue, just to see what you like and dislike about it.