I don't know how much of an audience there is for Qauntum Leap stories but I had to write this! It's part of a series, with each episode taking Sam into a different fandom. I hope you enjoy it, please rememeber to leave reviews with your thoughts! and If you have ideas for fandoms for Sam to leap into please let me know! each chapter ends with the leap into the next!
I do not own Quantum Leap or Harry potter! enjoy!
As Sam Beckett opened his eyes to take in the newest surroundings, he found his hand hovering a dropper over what looked like a large steaming cauldron. His first instinct was to just squeeze the dropper and as he did so a very tall man yelled out.
"PROTEGO!" pointing a small stick at the cauldron while pushing him to the ground. An explosion followed. Even dampened by the bubble the man formed around it by the man it was still enough to knock everyone back. The man ushered all the people out of the room, including Sam who had ascertained he was a woman this time and judging by the uniform he and the other kids were wearing, he was a student in some sort of school.
Once in the hall the man rounded on him, towering over his small form. "Miss Granger," He hissed, "Please enlighten me as to why you felt the need to add a whole dropper of lobalug venom in your potion even though I expressly stated ONE drop was all that was required?"
"Oh boy." Sam said
"Indeed." The man replied. "Detention, tonight immediately after dinner. You can set my labs right without magic." Just as a boy with dark hair and glasses next to him exhaled and gave him a sympathetic look the man sneered and added. "And 50 points from Gryffindor. Class dismissed."
Sam's mind was racing. Magic? Potions? Everyone around him had accents, he figured he must be in the UK somehow. The Stone walls were lit by torches and it looked as though he was in the middle ages but that couldn't be possible. He could only leap as far back as 1953! where is Al when I need him! He thought to himself.
"Hermione?" He finally noticed the young man calling what he assumed was his name. He had been joined by a lanky redhead and they were both looking at her with great concern. "Are you ok? Maybe you should go see Madam Pompfry."
"He's right Mione." The redhead added. "You've never messed up a potion like that. I saw you're eyes go a little fuzzy just before it happened. It looked like you'd been Confunded."
"Confunded?" Sam asked the two boys exchanged worried looks. Just then the man in black appeared behind them, the hall long deserted by their classmate.
"Is there a reason you three have deemed to hover in my corridor when you should be going up to lunch." he drawled. "Perhaps 50 points wasn't enough?"
"There is something wrong with Hermione." the boy in glasses said quickly. "I think she was confunded."
"That's quite an accusation Potter." The man said raising an eyebrow. "Perhaps this is a half baked scheme to get Granger out of detention."
"Question her." The boy said defiantly "something is wrong." The man's expression seemed to flicker and he rounded on Sam.
"Miss Granger. Where are you?" he said simply. Sam searched wildly around hoping to see Al to at least some kind of context clues to get him out of this mess.
"School?" Sam answered meekly
"The most loquacious person in the entire wizarding world and all you can manage is 'school'?" The man Replied. When Sam didn't respond the man's brow's knit together. "I'm taking Miss Granger to the hospital wing."
There was some protest from the boys but in the end they complied and went on to lunch and Sam followed him up several flights of stairs. When they passed the portraits that moved and talked within their frames Sam realized how out of his depth he was.
Then they arrived at the hospital wing a plump woman bustled out and after talking with the professor she began waving a stick around at Sam. Things thrummed, glowed or pulsed as she did so and it must have meant something to her because she'd stop and confer with the professor every so often. Then she'd stop and ask Sam things before tutting and moving on.
"I've never seen anything like it." she said. "Everything is coming back with normal results but she's not acting like herself at all."
"I hate to even suggest it but perhaps legilimency is our best course of action." The professor suggested.
"I have to agree." the woman said. "I'll leave you to it, I have to administer some potions."
"Miss Granger?" The man in black said. Pointing his stick at a chair, causing it to slide over to him. He sat down directly in front of Sam and looked far kinder than he did in the hall after the explosion. "I'm going to use legilimency on you now. Just relax." the man held his stick up to Sam's head and whispered "legilimens"
In a split second Sam was flashing in and out of his previous leaps. Going from wars to farms to secretary pools so fast he couldn't keep up with who he was at each second. He saw Al, punching his buttons and giving him probabilities, cigar permanently clutched between his teeth as he did so and suddenly he was himself again! But he wasn't, it was only memories shuffling past in rapid succession.
As fast as it started it stopped and the professor pushed away from him and pointed his stick at Sam's throat. Sam Imagined the man probably wouldn't have looked so imposing were he not in the body of a teenage girl. "what just happened?" Sam asked still unsure of what was going on.
"You tell me." The man answered still holding his stick aloft. "Those weren't Hermione Granger's memories, which begs the question who are you, and what have you done with Miss Granger?"
"How?" Sam knew it was going to be best to come clean if these people could look inside his memories, he only wished Al would show up and tell him what he needed to do. "She's fine." He said finally.
"The man flicked his wand "finite incantatem" Nothing happened. "How is it you look exactly like Miss Granger? And who are you?" he said furrowing his brow.
"My Name is Doctor Sam Beckett, I was part of a project that went a little haywire and now I travel through time leaping into people and setting things right. When I leap in, they leap out to a waiting room with my team."
There was silence while what he said was absorbed. "setting things right?" The professor asked after a moment.
"when something goes wrong with the timeline, I set it right."
"so what are you here to set right?" the professor asked finally lowering his stick.
"I really don't know." Sam said. The professor looked a bit taken aback so Sam continued. "Usually Al is here telling me what I'm supposed to do, but I haven't seen him."
"Does he 'leap' too?" He asked.
"No, Al is where Miss Granger is." Sam answered feeling slightly more confident. "a holographic projection of him is tuned to my brainwaves so I can see and hear him."
"I think I know whats going on." Professor Snape said. "Muggle technology, that means non-magical,
Doesn't work within the walls of Hogwarts, where you are now."
"Well that certainly complicates things." Sam said with a sigh. "I can't wrap my head around this. Magic? It's real?"
"Indeed" the man drawled. "I find I'm having a similar time with your muggle science. Wizards can time travel backward with the help of a time turner but that has its limitations. And inhabiting another's body is in appearance only with the help of charms and potions."
"I just need to ask, What year is this. I'm only supposed to leap within my own lifetime and this,"He gestured around at the torches and stone. "Looks like something from King Arthur."
"1998." Snape said. "The Magical world has stagnated since the adoption of the statute of secrecy that hid us from the muggle world."
Sam was shocked. "Boy, when you say stagnated you really mean it. So how do I get in contact with Al if I he can't get through here."
"I would imagine if he's tuned to your brainwaves we just have to get your brainwaves outside of
Hogwarts' walls." The man supplied. "Fortunately its Friday I can take you to London to my home which should give you the time to formulate a plan with Al before classes resume Monday. I do believe a cover story about receiving treatment for a mystery ailment at 's is sufficient."
Sam nodded and soon found himself sitting and waiting for the professor to square everything away. He returned and handed Sam a bag of Miss Granger's belongings gathered up by her dormmates, slinging the bag over his shoulder Sam scurried to keep up with the much taller man's long stride and they made their way out to the front gate.
Once outside Snape turned to Sam. "This part may be slightly uncomfortable. I'm going to apparate you."
"Apparate?" Sam said with worry.
"I'll make us disappear from here and reappear in my garden in London." He replied smoothly. "Just hold tight to my arm, It will be over in seconds."
Suddenly Sam felt like he was being squeezed through a very small tube and just as suddenly as it started it stopped and Sam's senses were assaulted by the smells and sounds of London. The second they landed Sam heaved the contents of Hermione's stomach all over Snape's very shiny shoes.
"Oh boy." Sam said as soon as he was finished. "I'm sorry."
"It happens." Snape said waving his stick and vanishing the mess. "In here." He said pointing towards the door. Sam entered the small run down house and looked around, the sitting room was full of books and threadbare furniture. He was busy examining the packed bookshelves, which seemed to be the only thing that wasn't covered in dust, when a familiar voice rang out.
"SAM!" Al exclaimed, gesturing wildly with his cigar. "I have had a heck of a time trying to reach you!"
"Yeah, Magical Interference. I had to blow my cover a little." Sam shrugged. "Does Ziggy know what I'm doing here?"
"Boy is this one a doozy!" Al said. "You're 18 year old Hermione Granger, absolutely Brilliant, I'm talking a bonafide genius."
"Al?AL!" Sam interrupted as Al continued to talk about how smart the Granger girl was. "You don't seem as surprised as I am about the existence of magic."
"Wha? Oh yeah." Al said waving his hand nonchalantly "My cousin is a wizard, they call us No-Maj, he went to some fancy boarding school called Ilvermorny and he used to get in trouble for using his wand to bring our GI Joes to life at Christmas." Al seemed utterly nonplussed by the whole situation.
"So what am I supposed to be doing here?" Sam said.
"Well, According to Ziggy there is a 99.% chance..."Al trailed off, punching more buttons."This can't be right."
"What Al?" Sam urged, becoming more and more frustrated with how useless he felt.
"Well, According to this you're here to stop her from marrying a man that's going to kill her." Al said quietly.
"She's only 18!" Sam said in shock. "Why would she be getting married in the first place?"
"I think I may have some insight into that." Snape said having been watching Sam from the door. He held up an official looking letter. "Our Ministry is instituting a marriage law, to combat the low birth rates and heavy losses we sustained in the war last year. Miss Granger is eligible to be petitioned for by eligible wizards."
"That's Barbaric!" Sam said.
"Um. Sam? Who's this?" Al said pointing at Snape.
"Oh! I told you I had to blow my cover some." Sam said "This is Professor Snape, a teacher at Miss Granger's school, He's helping us. But back to the problem at hand, what are we supposed to do?"
"According to Ziggy Miss Granger received many petitions, but not one from the one man she hoped would send her one. She ended up with a man who turned out to be a Death eater?" Al wrinkled his nose in confusion.
"Whats a death eater?" Sam asked.
Once again Snape supplied the answer. "Followers of the Dark Lord, they believed in Pureblood supremacy and the subjugation of the muggles. He was hell bent on power. He and his followers fought a war last year over it, which he thankfully lost. Miss Granger is a muggleborn, and she was a key player in the war which puts a target on her. I imagine there are many who would see this as a chance to seek retribution of some sort for their fallen Lord."
"She's just a child!" Sam said angrily. "How is a child a key player in a war? And then forced to marry on top of it?" He was pacing back and forth, Granger's wild hair seemed to crackle with energy. "It's simple then, we find how how to recognize these 'death eaters' and then we just pick someone who isn't one."
Both Severus and Al replied at the same time "I'm afraid its not so simple." It was Severus who continued on. "His followers bear a mark, finding those who have it is easy enough. But some never took the mark, they just believed in his cause...and some bear the mark but never believed."
"Who would take his mark if they didn't believe in it?" Sam asked.
Snape pulled up his sleeve and held out his arm, the faded mark still stood out against his pale skin. "Scared teenage boys desperate for some kind of family." he whispered. "That's who would take his mark." Sam just looked at him with thinly veiled disgust. Severus would never admit it but it killed him to see that look on her face. "I took the mark shortly after I graduated from Hogwarts, during the Dark Lord's first rise. When I learned the information I was passing him would lead to the death of my best and only true friend I tried to stop it, I warned the Light, and I swore my allegiance to them. In the end She died sacrificing herself for her son, Harry Potter."
"The one in the glasses?"
"The very same." He sighed. "I paid for my sins, working as a double agent within the Dark Lord's highest ranks from the time I knew Lily and her son were marked for death. And then I paid in blood during the war." He pulled back his collar to show his scarred neck. "Amusingly enough It was Miss Granger who saved my life. If I can save her in turn my life debt will be paid."
There was silence for a few moments and then Sam turned to Al "Who does she want to petition for her?"
Al poked a few buttons and made a face. "Uhh..."
"Al?" Sam pressed.
"It's him." Al said finally slightly shocked. Sam resisted the urge to react, sensing The Professor wouldn't handle the news too well.
"Well shouldn't that make things easier?" He said.
Snape just watched the one sided conversation, not sure if he wanted to know who Granger wished she could marry. He imagined it was probably Potter or Weasley and the thought made him slightly sick.
"According to Ziggy The professor chooses to accept the pairing the ministry chooses if no one petitions for you. He..." Al sighed "He kills himself after Granger's death." He stuck his cigar back between his teeth and looked at Sam who had sat down, shoulders heavy with the burden of what was hanging on the line.
"So It's two lives on the line." he sighed.
"And you can't exactly use those feminine wiles because he knows its really you knocking around in there and not Granger." Al said gesturing once more with his cigar.
"Oh Boy." Sam sighed.
"I take it this is going to be more complicated than you anticipated?" Severus said.
"You could say that." Sam said standing up and pacing again. "Ok, I need you to walk me through this marriage law and petition thing. Can Hermione Petition for someone?" Sam Caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror over the fireplace and was struck by his reflection.
Hermione was really quite a looker in addition to being a genius. Her hair had a life of its own, riotous curls that seemed to disobey the very laws of gravity. Her rich cinnamon colored eyes were incredibly expressive and her skin was deep caramel with a sprinkling of freckles across her cheeks and nose.
"As a witch she can only receive petitions and her bloodstatus means she may only receive petitions from halfblood or pureblood wizards." Snape replied. "The idea being this will force diversity into wizarding bloodlines."
"Sounds like a recipe for disaster if you ask me." Al Commented. Sam's initial idea of petitioning For Severus since he wouldn't petition for her was a bust. He decided to go a more direct route.
"What's your blood status Professor?" he turned to look at Snape who raised an eyebrow back.
"Not pertinent." He replied.
"He's a half blood." Al supplied receiving information from his device. "father was no-maj, mother was a witch."
"You can petition For Miss Granger." Sam stated matter-a-factly. Snape stilled, his expression unreadable.
"I was under the impression that the goal was not letting her marry a death eater." Snape quipped. "We could be focusing on getting the boy she actually wants to file a petition for her instead of wasting time trying to saddle me with her."
"You can't tell him it's him Sam. He has to do it because he wants to." Al said.
"Why won't you petition for her?" Sam pressed. He couldn't help feeling slightly annoyed with the wizard's unhelpful attitude.
"She's a child," Snape hissed, throwing Sam's own words back at him. "and more than that she deserves better than this." He gestured around the room and himself. "You haven't lived in our world, you haven't a clue what you're asking."
"So fill me in." Sam snapped.
"There are many people on both sides who wouldn't mind seeing me dead or locked up. Many believe I'm nothing more than a murderer who was good enough at lying to stay a free man. I am not foolish enough to think even if I sent a petition that she'd even want to accept a life tied to the most hate man in the wizarding world." Snape growled out. " I am too old, too poor, and too hated to even be considered by her."
"But you want to." Sam said raising an eyebrow.
"Of course not!" Snape snapped "I'm. Too. Old." He hissed once more.
"How old are you?" Sam asked.
"38, If you must know."
"And you think that's old?!" Sam asked incredulously. "I'm in my 40's! What is it really that's keeping you from petitioning? Is she not pretty enough?"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Snape began to get more defensive. He didn't like how he couldn't intimidate this Sam Beckett.
"Well I don't know anything about this girl aside from what you've told me." Sam said in annoyance "Is she so awful you can't bear the thought of possible marrying her?"
"No! She's one of the brightest minds of her generation, probably of all time. She's an extraordinary woman!" The professor snapped letting his frustration with the situation show.
"But you don't want to Petition for her?" Sam said smirking at the man's outburst. Silence followed as Snape glared at Sam for calling him out that way.
"I'll show you to your room." Snape finally said in clipped tones. "you and Al can finish planning on how to get the one she really wants to petition." Sam resisted the urge to roll his eyes and Al made a show of kicking the dower man in the backside, his foot shimmering as it passed through the unaware man.
Once inside the small room alone with Al, Sam flung himself onto the creaky bed in the corner. The room had a small vanity off to one side and a wardrobe but little else aside from dingy green peeling wallpaper.
"How can one person be so stubborn?" Sam finally asked.
"According to Gooshie it's kind of his thing. We don't have much information on the wizarding world but Severus Snape's temper is legendary." Al said. "Also Not to put the pressure on, but we have a week to get his to petition for Hermione before she has to choose one or let the ministry choose for her."
"Great." Sam sat up and started to take of his over robes and sweater that went over the top of the plain school uniform underneath. He'd also removed the red and gold tie and was rolling up the sleeves of the white button up when a angry red scar across her arm caught his attention. Pushing up the sleeve Sam revealed the word "Mudblood" literally carved into the young woman's arm. Upon further inspection of the body he inhabited she had a thin red scar across her throat, as if seconds from having her throat slit. And a large ropey scar that looked several years old crossing her abdomen.
"Whats Mudblood mean Al?" Sam finally asked, feeling sick.
"I don't know Sam. Can't be good whatever it is." Without a word Sam got up and walked back out of the room to find Snape. He found him in the sitting room with his head in his hands.
Snape looked up to see Sam marching toward him with a look of pure determination. A look that was very at home on Granger's face.
"What is mudblood?" Sam asked. Snape reflexively flinched at the word and noted the rolled up sleeve.
"You've found Miss Granger's battle scars then." he sighed. "That word is a slur for muggleborns. It means dirty blood. Shortly before the final battle Granger, Potter and Weasley found themselves captured by Death Eaters and Granger was tortured by one of the Dark Lords most fervent followers, Bellatrix Lestrange. She carved that word in her arm with a cursed knife and was pressing it to her throat when they were rescued."
"It looks fresh." Sam said quietly.
"Miss Granger came to me after the battle to try and heal it, but its dark magic. It will always look like that. She cover's it with a glamour charm. I must have undid it with my finite incantatem."
"And this one?" Sam asked raising the hem of her shirt slightly to expose the larger scar on her stomach.
"Her fifth year, fighting Death Eaters in the department of mysteries." Snape sighed. "She was only fifteen and was nearly killed that night. I did the counter curse myself."
"Fifteen?" Sam shook his head, "Tortured, nearly killed, and now looking at marrying some stranger and possibly killed for good at 18." he couldn't hide how much he was disgusted by this wizarding world. "And I don't know what to do about it." he said angrily as he walked away.
Later that night Al and Sam were going over the petition letters they'd found in her bag, unfortunately Ziggy didn't know the name of the man she ended up marrying. They conferred over the list with Snape who pointed out the names of known pure blood supporters but none were known Death Eaters.
By the next day they'd made zero progress. "Maybe if we can find proof she wants him to send the petition he'll do it." Sam suggested. "He clearly cares about her."
Sam spent hours pouring through her school bag, getting side tracked my her class notes as he did so, he found arithmancy to be fascinating and He wished he had more time to devote to reading about it but he was pressed for time and he'd wasted so much time already. Eventually found a private journal and began to flip through looking for any mention of the Professor.
The first entry he found was pretty early on, It appeared to be written just after their final battle. She wrote after visiting him in StMungo's:
I spent some time reading to him today, although I don't know if he even can hear me. The Mediwizards don't know when he'll even wake up. I Imagine he won't be very happy to learn Harry had to share his memories with the Wizengamut to clear his name, but at least he won't be sent to Azkaban. I hope he returns to teach potions next year, I want to get my newts and I can't imagine learning from anyone else.
Sam continued to skim through and found more and more entries about the Professor. At first they seemed to just written from a place of respect but as time went on they developed a sense of longing. Finally one of the most recent entries was exactly what Sam had been looking for.
I got my petitions today, I shouldn't be disappointed he didn't send one but nevertheless I am. It's ridiculous to think a man like him would ever be interested in a life with me. It's bad enough to be subject to this barbaric law, but knowing the man I love will never love me is just insult to injury. I envy the woman who he asks to be his wife.. To spend a lifetime with quite possibly the most brilliant man in the wizarding world , to revel in his biting wit, to be touched by those hands...I digress. Until the very last moment I will hold out hope that Severus Snape might see me as more than a silly child.
"Pay dirt Al!" Sam yelled out holding the journal aloft. Holding it open for Al to read he waited barely containing his excitement. When he finished reading it Al let out a low whistle.
"Well, He'll have a hard time arguing with that." Al said grinning as he put his cigar back in his mouth.
"I'm counting on it." Sam said. With fierce determination Sam went in search of Snape and thrust the open journal directly in his face. Snape's face was impassive as he started to read, but slowly as the words started to sink in his eyes widened.
"It must be a joke." He said finally, not daring to believe it.
"In her private journal?" Sam asked rolling his eyes. "How much more do you need before you'll petition for her? Are you so determined to believe she doesn't love you you'd let her go off to her death rather than admit you have feelings as well?" Sam ranted, determined to not hold back any longer. "If that's not enough I don't know what else to tell you. I may not be familiar with your world, but this,"He held up the journal. "Isn't a child. This is a young woman who is in love with a man. The ball in in your court now." Sam closed the book and stormed quickly off leaving a stunned and silent Severus Snape in his wake.
Once back in the room Al spoke. "Not going for the soft touch this time eh?" He punched a few buttons and excitedly waved same over "It seems like it worked! According to Ziggy now there is a 99.9% chance he petitions, they marry and have a whole litter of little geniuses!"
"Al that's great! But why haven't I leaped?" Sam said with concern. Al worriedly pushed buttons with a look of intense concentration. "Ziggy said it was 99%"
"Well She's been wrong before." He said running a hand across his neck. Just then there was knock at the door, Severus opened is and took a deep breath before he spoke.
"Sam, I'm sending the petition now." He held up a petition that he tapped with his wand, it vanished with a pop. "Its gone off the the ministry to be filed and sent to Miss Granger. I never wanted to admit it to myself or anyone else, but I imagine since I'll never cross paths with you again I can admit it to you. I have been in love with Hermione Granger since she'd come read to me in St Mungos's after the battle. I could hear her, she'd start with Potion's journals and then she'd always finish with a chapter of 'Pride and Prejudice' and I'd look forward to those visits more than anything."
"Sam! This is it! Ziggy said it's getting Snape to admit his feelings outloud, you'll be leaping soon!"
Sam knew he had to hurry, "Professor, you did it, I'm about to go and Miss Granger will be here in my place and she's going to remember this. And whats more, she's going to get a happy every after and so are you." as he said those words he leaped, not catching the smile that formed on Snape's face as the world around him shifted.
He found himself in a bunker face to face with a man chained into a chair surrounded by all sorts of symbols and gliphs. He almost dropped the strange looking knife he held in his large fist. The man in the chair spoke with a gravelly English accent.
"Something wrong darling? I thought we were having a nice little torture session." the man was wearing a very nice black suit, a stark contrast to the jeans and flannel this body was wearing.
"Torture session?" He said confused?
"Oh Squirrel, don't tease me like that. You know, you hurt me, I tell you what you want to hear, age old love story." the man smirked.
"Oh boy."