Chapter Three – Nightmare's End
... or I meet Snape

I definitely didn't expect Snape to come knocking on my relatives' door at eight in the morning a few days later. Is it sad that my first thought was that I was older than him now? Indeed, at that moment in time, I was mentally over forty years old.

We stood staring at each other for a few moments. I was quiet, deciding to let Snape gather his thoughts, as I have seen how his eyes briefly widened before a mask of indifference spread over his face.

It must have been a shock to see Lily's daughter that looked so much like her mother. He was probably expecting me to look like James. This left him in a flummox, it seems. I couldn't see anything that would make me think of Harry's Snape that would always belittle him and sneer at him. All I saw at that moment was a man who came prepared to hate me on principle and was left floundering because I wasn't what he expected.

My allegations to my relatives' dislike of me in the letter I had sent probably also had something to do with it.

"Good morning," I finally said after a few more moments of silence.

"Good morning," he replied with just a barely detected hesitation.

He was definitively not the Snape I expected.

"Do you want to come in? My relatives have just finished with their breakfast," I said with an inviting smile.

A small frown on his face made me realize that I made a blunder already. I was supposed to ask him who he was before inviting him in, seeing as I wasn't supposed to know who he was. That or he read between my words and deduced that I was not included in that breakfast.

He nodded mutely and entered the house. I made my way in front of him to lead him to the living room where I could hear my aunt and uncle talk like they did every morning before Vernon left for work. They usually made up a list of chores I was supposed to do that day. They tried to make it as long as possible every time.

He stopped a few steps into the house though and left me walking alone for a moment before I realized he wasn't following me. I turned around and saw that he was staring at the cupboard under the stairs where I was still sleeping instead of getting Dudley's second room.

I guess they finally checked how my letters were addressed.

He noticed I was watching him and straightened before following me into the living room.

"Ma'am, there's someone here to see you," I said, as demurely as possible. My aunt didn't want me to call her Aunt Petunia or anything that would make people think that we were kin. So we, and by that I mean I, compromised and called her Ma'am to her face. My uncle was called Sir. From the corner of my eye, I could see Snape frowning at my behaviour, before my aunt's shrieking turned my attention back to her.

She had apparently lifted her head from where she was straightening Vernon's tie and saw who entered. She immediately recognized him and knew what time it was. Vernon got purple in the face and was probably about to demand who the stranger was and why I dared to let him inside the house, when Petunia stammered, "Y-you!"

"Yes, me," Snape sneered at her with a barely disguised disgust on his face.

I was happy it wasn't in any way directed at me because I really didn't like that expression on his face.

"Who in the bloody hell are you and what are you doing in my house!" my uncle finally got his bearings back and roared at my future professor.

Snape only raised his eyebrow and looked down at me. Somehow I knew what he was thinking. 'I see you did not tell them you read the letter.' I shook my head in answer and let him, and only him, see my small smirk of amusement. Because let's face it, I was enjoying watching their expressions. They went from anger at being disturbed during their morning rituals, to confusion from Dudley because as usual he had no idea what was going on, to fear from my aunt when she realized who had come to visit, rage on my uncle's face, and finally the expression I was waiting for: realization of why exactly that man, who was obviously a wizard, was here. Then their faces swivelled to me and I could see my uncle's silent promise of making sure I couldn't sleep that night because I was in too much pain.

I could see a flicker of a similar smirk on Snape's face when he realized what I was smirking about, but then it grew into a thunderous expression when he also realized what that look of promise that Vernon was sending me meant.

If possible, he grew even taller and I could feel just how powerful of a wizard he was as he let his power wash over the Muggles. Even being Muggles, they could feel something and grew pale and started trembling in fear.

All this happened in a span of a moment and in complete silence.

Realistically speaking, I was amazed at how in tune I was with Snape. Harry's Snape definitively wasn't like that. I already knew I landed in an alternate universe of Harry Potter, simply by being born a girl. Otherwise, everything went canonically so far, until I decided to play with the devil and managed to sneak the Hogwarts letter without my relatives' notice.

"I have come to collect Miss Potter for the day, but I see it would be better if I took her away for the rest of the summer. You shall see her at the end of the term next year. We will notify you when and where you will pick her up from the train station. You will give her a room to sleep in by that time."

The silent "I will check" went without saying as he glared them into submission. The "and if I hear that she got mistreated when she returns" was also sent, this time directly to my uncle. I could see him gulp and mumble something before I felt Snape's hand on my shoulder as he directed me to the entrance and then out of the house.


Author's Note: I got myself a Beta! So all hail to Child of Music and Dreams for going through this story and correcting it!