Author's Note: Well I have never posted a Harry Potter fic before. I have several in the works but this is the first one I feel confident in sharing so far. *humbles* Please enjoy! I know this is just a prologue, but I will have the first chapter up hopefully soon. I just wanted to get some reception on this one, to see if I'm going in a good direction or not.

Stuff before you read: Takes place during book 7, but some things are going to be discarded, changed, and such. I'll try to work in as much cannon as the fic allows, but I'm going to consider it AU for the time being. In advance, this is a Snape/Ginny fic. So, eventually they will be together. Please no flaming reviews because you simply don't agree with the pairing.

Summary: AU A mysterious stranger comes to live with Ginny's family, but he seems familiar even though it seems impossible. Severus Snape is sixteen again, whether he likes it or not. Will Ginny be able to help or do some habits linger through death? Ginny/Snape

Rating: T for now.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters within this piece of fiction. They belong to J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter franchise. The plot for the fic is a product of my twisted mind.


Torn at the Soul

Prologue

They say that murder rips a soul in two.

But it is what is done with that ripped soul that makes the difference.

Most wizards have never heard of a horcrux and probably never will in their entire lifetime. It is a dark brand of magic that few wizards research and fewer still attempt.

Taking a page from his former master's book (not quite literally), Severus Snape created a horcrux for himself.

It began when Albus Dumbledore asked Severus to kill him. To Severus, the task was nothing short of murder. To Dumbledore, it was a means to an end. Even though he said no consequences, Severus had his doubts. Dumbledore had been wrong before, he could very well be wrong again.

His soul was already beginning to fray at the edges while he chewed on the task. He had not believed Draco Malfoy would succeed in killing the old man himself, based on his feeble attempts all throughout his sixth year.

He knew he wasn't ready to die quite yet, despite his depression with the rest of the world that Lily no longer belonged to. He still had things to accomplish, students still needed to learn potions, Slytherin house needed him in charge, and he wanted to try again for the Dark Arts Defense position. It wouldn't do to die in the middle of them would it?

So he found the very same book that Tom Riddle must have used when he was there over fifty years ago and began to study. He would have never admitted it out loud, but he felt like one of his own students, working long into the night hoping to perfect it.

Severus was afraid to say that he might die at any moment. The dark lord could lose favor with him in the blink of an eye and then he would be as dead as that flea-bitten dog Sirius Black. No, he had to keep living somehow, just to spite everyone.

When the moment finally came for Draco to kill Dumbledore, the boy backed out, just as everyone had thought. Draco wasn't a killer; he wasn't even very good at being evil. He must have taken that from his mother's side, Severus mused remembering some of the things Lucius put him and others through during their years together at Hogwarts.

Severus took over instead, trying to remain as chilly as possible, as if killing mattered nothing. It nearly destroyed him, but now he could salvage his soul, as insurance for his part in this war. Just has he had suspected, Albus was wrong.

He was confident in his attempt, sealing himself in his old potions book from his 6th year. It was where he sealed some of his favorite spells, not to mention what had helped make him great and get his comfortable job. However, he had not won Lily's heart with it as he had wished.

He knew Harry had it after the attack on Draco using Occulmency and it wasn't hard to find it once again. No one would ever suspect until it was too late. With Harry on the run, he wouldn't dare break into Hogwarts to find it, should it prove useful.

Severus knew the book had been hidden in the room of requirement too, as that was where Tom Riddle hid the very book he had used. It was where everyone stored their skeletons; in fact, he had found one or two up there. He wondered if they were some sort of joke or something more sinister.

He stored the book in his muggle home at Spinner's End, safe, where no one could use it accidently or damage it. Few people even knew where his home was located, so it would probably never be disturbed.

And just as Severus feared, the Dark Lord finally tried to destroy him, sending Nagini while that Potter boy watched. At least Harry knew the truth now right? Finally he could understand after all those years, the things that he had kept to himself.

It was important that Harry know the truth, just in case Severus was wrong in his spellcasting. Lily would have liked that, his finally sharing his memories with Harry. He was pretty believable as dead, just as he had been while an agent.

Then it was darkness, nothingness. No time, no want, no thoughts, no cares.

X

"Can you believe the Dark Lord destroyed 'is most trusted advisor?" one quiet, Cockney voice whispered to another as they began to search through the bookcases that stretched from floor to ceiling in the cramped dwelling.

"Severus Snape?" the other voice answered back equally quiet as its owner opened and tossed another book to the floor. The former owner's secrets were hard to locate. Most of his books were advanced dark potions and arts, though interestingly enough, some muggle books were tossed in.

"Yeah, but no one said why. That's why we're 'ere cleaning his 'ouse. The Dark Lord wants to be sure he wasn't 'iding anythin' else."

"Wow, I'd hate to get on his bad side then." The Death Eaters continued to sort through the books, hardly looking at the contents as they tumbled to the piles on the floor. They were low ranking, their orders coming down through connections at the top.

"Since 'arry Potter is on the run, I guess 'e can't be too careful," one continued. He reached for another old spell book, his fingers brushing the worn spine. He didn't even have time to shout as an eerie green light gripped the room and he disappeared.

His partner, knocked over by an unseen force, righted himself feeling dazed and began to look around. The pile of books was still there, just as they had been moments before, but his partner was nowhere in sight. There wasn't even a trace of fabric.

Instead, there was a scared looking young man lying across them. Greasy curtains of black hair fell around his thin, sallow face. He was dressed in used Slytherin robes, now covered in dust from the books. Onyx eyes blinked open and began searching.

"Who are you?" he snapped, trying to raise himself from the mess, brushing his robes off. He seemed to be inspecting.

"Who am I? Who are you?" the Death Eater asked. He was so surprised that he didn't immediately try to stun the boy, just to make sure he wasn't Harry Potter in disguise, at least until the proper authorities could verify.

The young man narrowed his black eyes and began checking for his wand, "I am the owner of this house." The Death Eater merely laughed. This boy was amusing, whoever he was. He guessed that the young man had somehow taken a portkey to the residence by accident.

"The owner of this house is dead. He has been for a few weeks. The Dark Lord killed him. Now where did you come from?" He was probably harmless, even if he found his wand, which he didn't. He spotted the other Death Eater's wand that had been abandoned in the flash, and snatched it up.

"I refuse to answer that, but you need to leave." His voice carried no hint of trembling, though the man was hardly surprised. He bravely pointed the borrowed wand at the still seated Death Eater.

"You're going to make me?" The man roared with laughter. The boy wasn't going to have it any longer. He uttered a curse under his breath; the man stopped laughing as long gashes appeared on his face and chest, and then collapsed backward in a heap of dusty black robes and blood.

Severus Snape felt sixteen again, because he was. He was a teenager again and he wasn't quite sure how it happened. He felt sure he had sealed his former self in merely the book, unchanged, but here he was looking like he should have been in his sixth year. He had been lucky though; that the wand had worked for him as it had, given that it wasn't his.

But his body was real, although it wasn't supposed to be. He had hoped to gain power through an author and pen, slowly and sapping. Instead, something must have happened, something he didn't plan for, an error in his spell casting.

Now it was a little too late to be questioning his good fortune. He flexed a hand and felt his robes once more, the material soft and worn beneath his slender fingers. He was alive and breathing, like a second chance. He was going to start over again from sixteen whether he liked it or not.

X

Author's Note: Good start? Please let me know!