DISCLAIMER:

This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books,

Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

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The blond boy had entered the infirmary shortly after the clock chimed one in the morning. He was loud and clumsy enough to waken the black adder on the radiator from his nocturnal torpor and observe the erratic course he made across the moonlit room.

There was something about the young man that smelt wrong, Snape flickered his tongue. He did not smell warm or comforting like the older people, he smelt of tree sap and tar.

The snake watched the boy make his way across the infirmary, his white hair a beacon for the silver strands of moonlight. He observed him pause by Lavender's pen and mutter disparaging comments about pigs and Gryffindors before tiptoeing over to Hermione's tank.

If this was as good a sneak as human could do, Snape thought. He was glad he was no longer one of them. Silently he uncoiled his length and edged along the workbench, moving into the shadows like a strip of night.

Draco rubbed his backside and hissed. The boy was in pain. Snape paused lifted his diamond shaped head and tasted the air. The human smelt of venom… wasp venom. He had been stung and in a most inconvenient place too. A small part of Snape smiled at this, how very… very… What was the word?

Snape crept closer watching as the young man put his wand between his teeth. He needed his hands to shift the lid, which he did with much compliant. "Bloody father." He grumbled under his breath, "Bloody 'do the right thing Draco', 'Play nicely'…" The lid grated aside and thumped down on the tabletop, both human and snake froze.

Everything sounded louder in the dark, but the scent of antiseptic and lemon drops was suddenly pervasive.

Draco reached inside the tank and none too gently whipped out its resident snake. Hermione flopped in his hand as if she were a green slinky only the tip of her tail weakly swirling about in a lazy sleepy circle giving any indication she was alive. Upon seeing this brutality Snape reared up and glared at the wicked individual who was molesting his mate. Incensed he watched as the human extracted his wand from his teeth and flicked it over Hermione's head in what looked like a very threatening manner.

She's asleep you bipedal fungus! Snape hissed and sped forward. If any male was going to poke her in the middle of the night it should be me!

Draco swept his wand one last time over Hermione's limp form and muttered the last of the spell. The counter curse wove out and over the small green snake in electric blue fizzing and cracking, a moment later a loud pop and dazzle exploded in the air followed by a girly scream.

"Lumos!"

The infirmary's lights flicked on to reveal Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Poppy Pomfrey, Harry, Ron and Sam standing by the door. The screaming continued as the group raced forward to the huddled form on the floor. Hermione Granger, the Head Girl of Hogwarts sat up and rubbed her bushy brown haired head in a very perplexed fashion.

"Would you stop screaming Draco?" She clamped her hands over her ears.

"Arrrrrrggghhh!" The high-pitched wail pierced the night. Draco's face was a mask of horror, "There's something on my backside!"

"You are correct Mr Malfoy." Poppy Pomfrey tried to suppress the smirk. "It's Professor Snape."

"Merlin's balls! He'd be poisonous on principle! Get him off! Get him off!"

"Stand still Mr Malfoy, you're making him bite harder."

"Oh dear, Mr Malfoy's bounciness has not diminished in the slightest." The Head Master said trailing after the blond boy with his hands upheld in an attempt to relieve him of his snake.

"Yeah, he's still a ferret with a bad hair day." Harry muttered and Sam snorted a laugh in agreement as the trio swept past them again.

"Stand still Mr Malfoy! Blow on him Albus."

"Blow? Madam Pomfrey in all my years no one has asked me to blow on their snake."

"Don't blow on my snake!"

While Pomfrey tried to calm Draco down. Hermione looked up at the worried faces of her friends and then at Sam.  "Do I know you?"

"No," Sam shook his dark head with a sad smile. "Not yet."

"But you know who am I, don't you Mione?" Ron eagerly butted in.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "How can I forget you Ron?"

Ron's face split into a grin. "It's good to have you back Mione."

Hermione touched her forehead and frowned. "Where did I go? Harry? What's been going on? Why do I want to eat rat?"

Harry reached down and helped Hermione to her feet. "You were transformed Hermione."

"Into a cat?" She asked excitedly, "Like Crookshanks? For how long?" She began to ramble on and Ron looked at Sam apologetically, "Transformations are permanent you know unlike transfigurations which have a limited time span. There was one case in the nineteen hundreds…"

"Sorry about that." Ron quipped, giving Sam's shoulder a friendly slap. "Should have warned you about Mione, she's a bit of a know it all."

"Just like Ursula…" Sam murmured in awe. "My sister." He answered Ron's questioning look.

"No, not a cat." Harry managed to explain to Hermione. "It's a long story…" He hedged her questions and the felt uncomfortable when she put her hands on her hips. "How about we get Dobby to make us some tea?"

Meanwhile Pomfrey had managed to divest Draco of his snake and was ticking both Slytherins off with a wagging finger. "Naughty! Naughty boys!"

Dumbledore smiled in relief and turned about just in time to see the young people about to leave the infirmary, he cried out, "One moment please, no dawdling off! Harry, Sam, I believe your presence is required!"

Harry and the taller boy stopped, looked at one another and cautiously returned to the Head Master.

"Very good," Albus smiled. "Mr Filch, I believe you have something to say to your father."

"I what?" Sam's eyes bugged and his face darkened. "I certainly do not!"

"Father?" Draco grimaced and looked at Potter as if Sam were mad. "Do you know this character?"

Harry shook his head. "Snape's your Dad?" He frowned a bite of anger in his voice. "We were right all along? Why did you say it was Sirius?"

"Because that flea-bitten mongrel would be a better father than – that – thing!" Sam flung a hand at the black snake draped over Pomfrey's arm.

"Snape's your father?" Draco laughed, a short, sharp chuckle that rang in the air. "Bloody hell!"

"Mr Malfoy, please go and transform Miss Brown back into her human form." Dumbledore instructed all the time keeping his benign blue eyes fixed on Sam.

The blond boy shrugged and tentatively touched his backside. Pomfrey had just zapped it with an analgesia charm. "She suits pink better as a pig." He extracted his wand and walked off toward the pigpen.

With Draco out of earshot Sam crossed his arms indignantly and fumed, "How dare you!"

"Are you saying Snape is not your father?"

Sam looked away and chewed his lip, "no." He replied in a small voice. "He's my father."

"If he told you Severus was really Elvis you'd believe that too?" Pomfrey sceptically whispered.

"I hardly think so! Elvis has better timing." Dumbledore countered, coming up to the boy, he touched his shoulder gently, "The price you paid in the future was too high Sam. Let me make amends. Do this one thing for me, talk to Severus. Tell him to come back to us, for you, for me, for all of Hogwarts and the magical world."

Sam looked at the black adder a myriad of emotions crossing his face, he glanced at the infirmary door where his mother had been minutes before and he thought of her future, his future, his family's future.

Dumbledore watched the boy closely and when he saw some resolution he whispered to Harry. "This is where you come in. Translate the words for them and mind you don't miss a one."

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tbc