Dear Mr. Potter,
I know this will come as a shock to you, but by now I imagine you are riddled with doubt as well as rage. Yes, Potter, all that my counterpart has told you is true. You are a Snape. Your real name is Septimus Severus Snape, as it is tradition in our family. I am sure I needn't write all the details in this letter as your father is most likely sitting before you. I wouldn't have written at all, if there hadn't been some things that needed to be cleared: The reason you grew up as a Potter.
Potter, you will discover many differences between your world and mine, just as I had at your age as well. The cause of these differences, are the decisions that each person makes, which is rarely the same in both worlds. One decision can change your whole life, as one had mine. I do not know how Sev has lived his life, but mine took a dark turn as I made the difficult decision of becoming a spy for Dumbledore in 1981, just as you turned three months old. At the time you lived with your mother, or better said, my son's mother for I do not know if your mother is the same person as his is. She was not my wife, but we had a relationship hidden away from Voldemort, you can imagine your fate if he had discovered I had a son.
As it was so inevitable, Voldemort found out about Patricia and yourself. Luckily, you were with the Potters, who were at that time good friends of Patricia's, as the Death Eaters attacked and killed her. James and Lily took you in and, using a special version of the polyjuice potion, disguised you as the twin brother of their son Harry.
You can imagine, then, what happened on that Halloween night. All were killed, except for you. Through this even, all believed you to be Harry, even I believed you were him until you came to school. I denied the possibility that you could be my son. You looked just like James, I saw nothing to indicated your connection to myself. That is why I hated you so much. Why did Harry Potter survive, but not my own son?
It wasn't until our Occlumency lessons last year, that I realized that you were indeed my son. As I looked into your mind, I once caught a glimpse of an encounter with a Dementor and the memory which it triggered. I realized then, that you were not in your mother's arms and I saw something that it seems you have never noticed. In Lily's arms was another baby whose hair was as red as her own. I hadn't known that Harry didn't look likes his father, but that he looked like his mother. That is when I knew who you in truth were, for I had helped brew the potion which would change my son to look like a miniature image of James.
I know I should have said something, Potter, but with the rise of Voldemort and with the fact that you would be returning to your own reality, I kept my peace. Be assured that I will not allow Septimus, when he comes, to remain with the Dursleys.
Severus Snape
Author's note:
For my loyal readers who are re-reading this fic, you may have noticed that I changed Harry's real name from Salazar to Septimus. This is because I discovered that Severus was the middle name of a Roman Emperor and since J. K. Rowling liked to take the names of famous characters in her novels, I thought that Septimus would be a fitting name for a Snape.
Otspock
