Mismatched Identitie

Chapter 1 of the Lydia Lye Series

by Lucathia

Part 1/7: Potions Accident

Potions has never been my best subject. Well, I should say, it is one of my worst subjects. I never ever received a better score than an Acceptable and I'm not happy with it at all. Many people think 'hey, that's great,' but I think it's horrible. If you compare that grade with my other grades, it really is horrible. In muggle terms, that'd be like a C! My mother would kill me if she knew my grades.

The thought of my mother sobered me up a bit. She was always cheerful, always there to support me, but I never knew how much I loved her. No, I never truly knew the meaning of her love until it was too late. I'd rather she yell at me for my bad grades than...not having her alive. Why, why out of all the people in the wizardry world, did it have to be her?

I clenched my fists and crumpled my recipe. Why did it have to be her? I absentmindedly added in a lizard's leg into the sensus muto potion I was brewing. Life is horrible. It really is. The only pleasant thought I had was that I could sneak looks at Remus Lupin now and then, but that wasn't enough to make up for my lost. A sudden loud noise broke me out of my thoughts.

Kaboom!

The black cauldron I was working at exploded and sputtered the potion all over my partner and me. I stood there, staring at the frenzy going on around me. I wasn't able to comprehend what happened at all, until a voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Lye, did soap suds blind you or what!? What the heck did you do that for?" Severus Snape clenched his fists at me and continued to mutter a whole bunch of hurtful words. He lowered his voice after awhile, "Now look at all the trouble you got us into!"

The potions teacher immediately came over when he heard the explosion. He's a greasy, unfair person for all I care, but right now any repulsive feelings for him were all covered with fear. What should I do now? I've gotten myself into trouble again...in Potions.

The Potions Master, Professor Katme, was one mean old man. I tried to keep calm as he started to get near me. I sensed Snape tensing up beside me and silently giggled. Oh well, as long as I can get him into trouble, I don't really care how horrible my own trouble is. The Gryffindors are probably proud of me.

"Miss Lye, what is it this time?" Professor Katme's voice drawled on with a snarl. If it wasn't because of his threatening voice, the whole class would have been laughing out loud right now. I was covered from head to toe with a slimy, green substance and by looking at Snape, I knew he was in the same condition. How ironic it is that green just happens to be my favorite color. I still don't like to be covered with slime though.

I gulped and tried to summon all my courage to tell him what had happened, but all I managed to get out of my mouth was a measly whimper.

"I didn't mean to..." I cringed at the sound of my own voice. I sounded pathetic even to myself. What would Remus think of me?

Professor Katme looked at me exasperatingly and turned his attention to Snape. "Well, Mr. Snape?"

Snape answered much smoother than my pathetic whimper. "Professor, she added in the lizard's leg before she added the hen's eye, causing the potion to explode because it wasn't diluted enough." So that was what I did wrong. I didn't even notice since I was thinking about my mother...I noticed that the Gryffindors were shooting Snape mean looks. My heart fluttered as I saw Remus looking at me with sympathetic eyes.

I whispered to Snape as the professor turned his attention away from us. "Why didn't you stop me from adding the lizard's leg then?"

All I got for an answer was a smirk. My translation for that: You deserved it. I sighed.

The professor reached the front of the table and snapped out two pieces of parchment from the drawer. "Come over here, Miss Lye and Mr. Snape."

I gulped and nervously approached the table. What was it now? For once I thought he was going to let me off the hook...I guess not.

"Miss Lye, detention at 9 P.M. today in the old transfiguration classroom with Professor Ursula. Mr. Snape, detention at 5 P.M. today with me. Ten points off Slytherin for not noticing Miss Lye's mistake and twenty points off Ravenclaw for destroying my table and creating a hole in the ground."

Damn. Detention with Professor Ursula, the only teacher worse than Katme on the campus. She has to be the worst person I could get stuck with. Why do I keep losing points in Potions anyway? It's not fair, not fair at all. I was the only Ravenclaw in the class today because I was there to make up a class...I just had to bomb it like that.

"Class dismissed," The professor mumbled without bothering to look up. I stood there with Snape, waiting to get our papers. "Here you go. Take this to Madam Pomfrey and she'll fix you up."

After being dismissed from Potions, I immediately visited Madam Pomfrey not because of my slightly burnt hand, but because I wanted her to clean the slime off of me. Surprisingly, Snape tagged along after me. Or at least, that was what I thought he did.

When I reached Madam Pomfrey's, I knocked abruptly on the door and waited impatiently for her to answer. When she did, she looked at us with some disgust in her eyes, but that was all that was shown to us of her feelings. She ushered us into the room and asked where we were hurting. I showed her my burnt hand and she immediately fixed it up with a drop of healing potion. I was surprised when Snape showed her his charred arm. I had no idea he was hurt so badly! Madam Pomfrey ushered him into a secluded section of the hospital wing and pulled the curtain up, covering my view.

I clenched my fingers as I heard Snape whimper. Even though I really hate him for being such a jerk, it was truly my fault that he got hurt. And I never thought he'd get hurt so much that he would whimper when Madam Pomfrey tried to heal him. It's all my fault...if I could take his place and suffer for him, I would do it.

That was the last thought I had before I blacked out.

I screamed when I woke up. My arm and my whole left side burnt with fiery pain. What's happening to me? I know my eyes are probably white with frantic and I must look so horrible. I raised my right hand to swipe away my hair, but when I did, I screamed again.

I fingered many strands of greasy black hair with my fingers. My hair is NOT like this, not at all. My frantic hands flew to the back of my hair. My hair's not this short either! My dark brown hair flows down past my shoulders and is certainly not this greasy. Did someone pull a prank on me and dyed my hair, cut my hair, and spilled grease over my hair?

Examining my hands, I saw that they were extremely pale and my nails were short and stubby. These aren't my hands either. My hands are a healthy pink and my nails are neatly cut. What happened to me?

Dreading the worst, I pulled open the curtains and...

I screamed again.

Lying in front of me was myself. But that wasn't a mirror or anything...it really was me, Lydia Lye, lying there. What's going on?

Madam Pomfrey bustled in. "Snape, what are you doing standing up? Sit down! Your arm is still injured!"

I sat down numbly. Snape? I'm Snape? My head spinning, I stuck out my arm when Madam Pomfrey wanted to examine it. She muttered a spell and lightly tapped her wand against my arm. Or is it my arm? I lowered my head, looking at my arm...no it's not quite right...this is his arm, not mine...

Suddenly, dizziness enveloped me. I frantically looked up at Madam Pomfrey but I couldn't remember what my name was. I looked around me but I couldn't remember why I was here. When I glanced across the room, I saw a girl with layered dark brown hair lying there. Who was she? She looked familiar, but I don't know her name.

"There, now you can go to your next class. The only thing you've missed is Defense Against Dark Arts so you should go to Transfiguration next." The woman before me took out a notepad and started scribbling on it. I sat there dumbly, not knowing what to do. What are Defense Against Dark Arts and Transfiguration? I have no idea why I'm sitting here at all either!

I got up from the bed and padded towards the door. What am I supposed to do? Swinging the door open, I saw great long walkways filled with humongous paintings...why don't I remember anything? I limped through the hallway, raising my right hand to support myself. I walked blindly towards nowhere. I have no destination.

I saw a girl with red curls and green eyes walk past me. I raised my hand and grasped her robe as she swept by. I opened my mouth, and this was the first time I heard myself talk. "Where is transfiguration?" My voice was deep sounding...a guy's.

Her eyebrows furrowed but she still answered me. "You go straight ahead, turn left, then turn right, then right again, and turn left and you'll be there." She swept my hands off of her shoulders with contempt. As if seeing my confusion, she added in one more line. "That's where I'm going right now, so you may as well follow me."

And follow her I did. I meekly tagged along with her for the rest of the way, even though I didn't speak to her anymore after those three words. When we reached Transfiguration class, I stood in the doorway and looked inside. People wearing black robes and green buttons were sitting on one side and people wearing black robes with red clasps sat on the other side. I stood there, not moving, not knowing which side I was supposed to sit at.

"Yo, Lily, what are you doing standing with that slimy git?" A man with a mocking smile waved at the girl besides me.

"Really, Sirius, what's wrong with standing next to him?" The girl with red curls shot back at the guy.

Not knowing that they were talking about me, I turned my attention to the three other guys next to the person I now know as Sirius. One guy had unruly black hair and glasses. He didn't catch my attention much. The girl known as Lily to me walked up to him and he swung his hands around her.

"Don't let Snape touch you, Lily! You're my girl after all." He grinned while Sirius playfully punched his arms.

"Aw...isn't that sweet? James and Lily sitting in a flower! No, a lilypad!" The guy named James stuck his tongue out at Sirius.

The only person who caught my attention among the five there was a guy with pale skin. He had a dreadful look to his eyes, as if he suffered greatly. My heart soared to him at first sight. I don't know what this feeling is, but I know it isn't pity. It's not pity at all.

"Remus, make Sirius stop all that nonsense!" Lily urged as she blushed and turned away. The pale man, Remus, smiled a heart-endearing smile and managed to get Sirius off the couple. I wanted to stand there and gaze at him forever, but a person behind me knocked me out of my dreams.

"Move out of the way, Severus." A girl with curly hair and black eyes pushed me into the classroom. "Don't be blocking the doorway."

I still stood there, a little bit away from the door, not knowing where I was supposed to go. Looking down at my robe, I saw a greenish clasp so I knew I had to sit on the green side. I saw only one empty desk left and went over to sit down.

Transfiguration passed by quite smoothly, with me remembering bits of information now and then. I remembered charms and other magic as they came to me naturally, but I still didn't remember who I was. People called me Severus Snape and I sat at the Slytherin table, but for some reason I don't feel like I should be Severus Snape...it just seemed wrong. No one seemed to notice my discomfort because I must not have been a talkative person in the first place.

After dinner, I meekly followed the other Slytherins back to the Slytherin common room. When we got in front of the Great Serpent, I just stood there staring at the statue. The guy beside me nudged me. "Say the password Severus. Or have you forgotten it?"

I wracked my brains, searching for the password, but I couldn't remember. I just shook my head. The guy looked at me strangely and said, "Dark arts" and the serpent moved away from the opening. I followed him into the room. Just when I was about to sit down from exhaustion, the guy placed his hands on my shoulders.

"Are you all right, Severus? You seem pretty aloof today."

I thought no one noticed, but I guess they had. I finally found a suitable answer to my problem inside me and I managed to coax the answer out of my body. "I think...there's a memory charm on me."

The guy looked at me strangely. "What?"

"I said, someone cast a memory spell on me."

The guy just continued to look at me strangely. "Why would anyone want to do that?"

I shrugged. If I knew the answer myself, I wouldn't be feeling so weird and out of order right now. "I don't know...but I do know that I don't remember anything...not even my own name."

The guy smirked. "Then what is your name?"

Immediately, the words Lydia Lye started springing out of my mouth but I caught myself just in time. Lydia was a girl's name. I'm not a girl, so why would I say Lydia? Who is Lydia anyway? I managed to remember what other people called me and answered him. "Severus Snape."

"See, you know who you are."

I argued some more. "That's because I've already heard people calling me that!"

The guy placed his hands in the air as if trying to calm me. "Okay, okay, whatever. Even if you don't have any memory charms on you, you seem pretty crazy right now and out of your mind. Why don't you go to Madam Pomfrey and see what's wrong?"

I wasn't a Slytherin or else I would have known how serious the other guy was. No one, I mean no one in their right mind in Slytherin would recommend a fellow Slytherin to visit Madam Pomfrey unless it was a life or death situation. The other guy was just trying to get rid of me!

I headed down the corridor towards the hospital wing. Right before I turned the corner, I heard voices drifting over. I hurriedly hid behind the corner.

I heard Sirius's voice first. "James, I predict that your future wife will be Lily!"

Another voice piped up. "Then who will your future wife be, Mr. Seer?" I think that voice belonged to James.

Sirius laughed. "My future wife is going to be a beautiful woman."

Someone else...Peter I think, started giggling. "Nice answer, Sirius. How about Remus?"

Sirius paused and started thinking. Then he answered with a smirk. "Of course it'd be Lydia Lye! You've seen him staring at her all during Potions!"

My heart started pounding for no reason. I stepped out into the hallway. Remus was the first to spot me and nudge his friends.

"Hi Remus," I said shyly. James drew out a paper bag with his wand and started puking. Sirius looked at me with a disgusting look and Remus just stared at me, eyes wide.

"You sound like a disgusting love bird, Snape." I blushed. What's wrong with me? I lowered my head and walked past them without another word. Suddenly, I heard a scream from the hospital wing. I quickly pushed open the door and an extremely angry girl greeted me at the door.

"Why am I in your freaking body, Lydia Lye!" The girl burst at me.

I wrinkled my eyebrows at her. "Who are you?"

The girl wrinkled her nose and lowered her voice to a menacing snarl. "I'm Severus Snape and you should know that!"

I gaped. Oh my...what on earth is going on?

End part 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and am making no profit from writing this.