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Note: I know some of you are dreading this chapter (hopefully not too many of you!). But give it a chance, and let me know what you think!

Chapter 13 – The Return of Severus Snape

Change, knew Albus Dumbledore, was the only true constant in life. Still, some changes were more welcome than others - and returning Severus Snape to his adult form was definitely in the latter of the two. Over the past two and a half months, Albus had grown to view the child as more than a temporary charge. The boy had become a tiny companion, someone on whom Albus could bestow both his wisdom and affection, without either being misconstrued. It had also been an opportunity for the Headmaster to have the smallest peek into the one great joy he had never been lucky enough to partake – parenthood. But it was all to end now. Severus' elevated heart rate had given them no choice, and no more time to ponder it.

"Headmaster, we really should get on with it," Poppy Pomfrey's gentle, yet insistent voice penetrated his thoughts. "He is getting restless."

Albus nodded and approached the infirmary bed. In the middle sat the dark haired boy, large black robes surrounding him, his small shoulders nearly poking in their entirety through the neck hole. Minerva reached over and adjusted the robes again, as she had been doing for the last five minutes. She sent Albus a telepathic message. "It is time."

The Headmaster rubbed his hands together in an effort to remove the cold feeling from them, the one that seemed to be permeating his entire body right now. Then he reached gently over to the child and placed a few fingers to his forehead. The child didn't so much as flinch. "Somnus," he whispered softly.

The child gave his caretaker an unhappy, quizzical look, as if he wanted to protest that it was not yet nap time. Then his eyes fell shut, and he leaned gently back into the bed, Professor McGonagall guiding his descent.

Albus waved over Hermione Granger and Remus Lupin, who had been politely waiting off to the side. The original spell had been conducted solely by Albus, but he had borrowed the required magical strength from Minerva, Ron, Harry and Ms. Granger. He had been weakened from the battle then, and had now made a full recovery, so it was doubtful that he truly needed the added power of even a single extra magical person. But Albus was taking no chances with this spell. He would use four extra people today, because he had used four people then. It was as simple as that.

The five participants drew their wands and pointed them at the sleeping child. Albus took one last hard look at 'Sebastian', placed a hand on his head, and closed his eyes. He then began the incantation that would return Severus to his adult form.

A moment later he found himself once again in Severus' mind. The long hallway in which he had once stood, reappeared. The light was at one end, just as it had been months ago, with a darkness of immeasurable distance on the other. Just as he was looking around, he felt a small tug on his robe. He looked down, and there was the boy, robes puddled about him on the floor, looking up at him questioningly with dark eyes. Albus wondered if the boy would understand an explanation, or if it would only serve to frighten him.

"Severus, I want to …," his words trailed off. He could never explain this to the child. It would be difficult enough to come up with the proper words any other time, but now he needed to keep up the incantation as well, if only in the back of this thoughts. So he tried a different tactic instead, sending telepathic images to the child of the boy at different ages. He tried to make the image of the young Severus grow into the man, but he could not quite work it out. The child looked even more confused.

Albus gave up. It was not really a choice for the boy anyway. What would come, would come. "Shall we go for a walk?"

The child took the old wizard's hand and as they made their way very slowly, due to both the huge robes and the need to age him carefully, along the corridor.

As they walked, the child grew. It was incredibly magical thought Albus, and he did not mean it as a pun. The way the human body was meant to grow, adapt and change was something he had hardly given much thought to before. To be sure, students came to him as mere children and left as adults, but the change was so slow that the human eye could not perceive it, and so the magic was lost on even those who experienced it. But now Albus could see right before his eyes the magic of the human body - in all its wonder.

While Albus was enjoying this phenomenon, the child was clearly ignoring it. Severus walked straight forward, looking only into the distant darkness, not sparing the slightest glance at Albus. The only sign that the boy was aware that he was not alone was the grip the child held on the Headmaster's hand.

The child, however, was not a child for very long. Soon the small boy grew to a school age lad, then to a youth that Albus remembered so well, next to a gangly teenager, and eventually to a young adult. Before long he had grown head to head with the Headmaster, his features taking on a decidedly mature look. His face filled out as they walked, his jaw elongated and his chest grew to fill the robes completely. The next thing Albus knew, they had come to the darkness that had once been in the distance. At that point Severus abruptly stopped walking, and his hand, which was still firmly attached to the Headmaster's, yanked the older wizard back.

"It seems I cannot go any further, Headmaster," came the once familiar deep drawl of Severus Snape.

****

Severus  sat in Albus' office, on Albus' favorite chair, reading a book that Albus had left there the evening before. It was the fourth book he had looked at since returning to the office, and he still had a stack of books he intended to read, on the table beside him. The Headmaster for his part, sat at his desk working on a formal rebuttal to Fudge's latest proposal, and said nothing. He was trying to watch Severus surreptitiously, to try and garner where his Potions Master's emotional state stood. He seemed to be doing quite well, but Albus would not rest easily until he was certain, and only after a long period of time had past. There was no point in chatting about it with Severus either. Slytherins were notorious in being able to hide their true emotions and often used other people's own words in an effort to confuse the issue. Albus recalled with a chuckle Minerva's one attempt at interrogation that morning:

"How much do you remember, Severus?"

"Everything."

"Everything?"

"Everything."

"How can anyone actually know if they remember everything?"

"How can anyone ask someone 'How much do you remember?' if they can't possibly actually know!?"

At that point Minerva had muttered something about "impossible people" under her breadth and excused herself from the infirmary. A few minutes later Poppy had given Severus a clean bill of health and allowed him to leave. The Headmaster however, following the strict instructions of the Weasleys' mind healer, would not allow Severus to be on his own. He had brought him back up to the Headmaster's rooms, and that had been where they had been since. To be truthful, Severus seemed no worse for wear. Indeed, he seemed quite a bit better than he had on the day of the battle. He appeared relaxed, did not protest when Albus informed him of the necessary restrictions, and had yet to exhibit any accidental magic.

Albus' thoughts were interrupted by the familiar voice of Phineas Nigellus.

"Well, well. The Prodigal Son is back, is he?"

Severus put the book carefully down and approached the portrait. Looking up he smiled, or rather smirked. "Headmaster Nigellus, how nice to see you again. I want to thank you for showing me where Professor Dumbledore kept his rare wizarding coin collection. I am only sorry that I was so childish as to toss most of them into the floo."

At that Phineas took a step back in surprise, then turned red, scowled, and fled the portrait in a huff of embarrassment.

"Bravo Severus. I see you haven't lost your touch. And you'll be pleased to know that Molly flooed the coins back to me. The connection luckily was to the Burrow.

Severus nodded and went to return to his reading when Albus made his way across the office, and placed a hand on his shoulder. It had been an inadvertent action, taken from dealing with Sebastian, but the Potion's Master did not pull away as he would have been wont to do as his original former self.

"Let's go have a walk around the castle, shall we? I want to make sure that your memories are completely reawakened, and we can also check the ward alarms and traps Nymphadora and Kingsley set for our intruder."

At that last part Severus seemed as if he was about to say something. He looked intently at the Headmaster, opened his mouth, and then snapped it firmly shut.

The Headmaster was very suspicious, as well as curious. "Severus, do you by chance recall whom the Death Eater was that you spoke with in your dungeon?"

The Head of Slytherin House shook his head, blinking quickly several times. Albus sighed. The man was lying. Albus previously had had difficulty picking out Severus' lies from his normally recalcitrant behavior, but he had noticed quite clearly that the child blinked rapidly whenever he nodded or shook his head to impart a falsehood. It seemed Albus had a new and very useful insight now into his Potion's Master.

The old wizard decided however, not to call him on it. He still wasn't certain as to Severus' emotional stability, and he had been returned for less than six hours. He would wait until tomorrow before pressing him further.

The two men set out on their walk. They went carefully through the corridors, Albus checking the wards on a few rooms or speaking with some of the portraits that lined the large hallway. When they arrived at the next landing the staircase was connected to the opposite side of the floor, quite a distance from where they stood. Albus was just about to summon it when Severus interrupted.

"Allow me."

The Headmaster had not returned the wizard's wand to him, nor had he asked for it, so the older man was bit wary. Still, it might as well be now, as much as later, he mused. He nodded at the Slytherin.

Severus looked across the vast stairwell and said in an almost inaudible tone, "Accio staircase". A moment later a shot of light came from his eyes and the staircase began to rumble. It did not however, move. And worse, after a few more seconds, the object of Severus' summons crashed in a resounding roar to the ground, sending stones flying in every direction and a plume of dust rising upward.

Albus coughed a bit and then looked over at his companion. The man's hands had habitually flown to cover his eyes, and his mouth was clenched tightly in anger at himself. The Headmaster put a hand on his young friend's shoulder.

"It was actually a fair first attempt. If you are willing, Ms. Granger believes she may have some exercises that can help you learn to control your powers."

Severus dropped his hands to his side and scowled at the Headmaster.

"So, Ms. Granger will be remaining in the castle as my personal tutor, then? Or perhaps her official title will be 'Governess'?"

"She will be teaching first through fourth year potions," answered Albus, ignoring the sarcasm. At Severus' look of horror he continued," Come now, my boy. You never enjoyed teaching the lower forms anyway. The upper forms are of course still yours to teach. And this will free you up to have the time to practice controlling your magic. And perhaps even continue your potions' research, now that Voldemort is gone."

"I am still the Head of Slytherin?" Severus asked warily.

"Oh no, Ms. Granger will be taking that over too." It only took the Potion's Master a moment to realize that the Headmaster was joking with him, and when he had, Albus was rewarded with the first real smile of Severus' return.

By now several other members of the staff, having heard the crash of the staircase, arrived within viewing distance of the destruction. While Minerva and Filius were among them, so were Vector, Sinastra, Sprout and Madam Pince. Albus decided it was time to put on a show for his staff.

"Severus, how about repairing the staircase?"

"Headmaster, the Reparo Spell is not made for….", he trailed off realizing that the old rules might no longer be relevant for him. He sighed, looked intently at the heap of broken stone on the floor level beneath them, and muttered, "Reparo."

Immediately the stones swirled upward, each one inserting itself into its rightful place as it made its magical ascent. The stones had knitted themselves back together as if it was nothing more than a child's puzzle. As a benefit, the staircase had also ended its reconstitution directly at their feet.

"You see Severus, I knew that shape fitter cube was good practice." And with that statement and a smile the Headmaster started down the stairs, Severus trailing after him while several staff members watched, mouths agape.

Over the next six hours they investigated all the warded and trapped areas of the castle. They found several of the wards tripped but not a single ghoul trap was activated. There were the occasional remains of food, but they had been only traces, as if the Death Eater had decided to clean up after himself now that they were aware of his presence.

As they conducted the investigation, Albus noticed that Severus had seemed to have developed a fascination and curiosity with nearly everything he came into contact with. His younger counterpart had also had that same intensity to him, although it had taken him nearly a month before he had felt free enough to touch those things which interested him. Albus was pleased that Severus had maintained that curiosity. He had exhibited some of it as a student – at least academically speaking – but no doubt his early experiences with his father had taught him not to touch without permission. The Headmaster was extremely pleased that Severus had rediscovered that part of himself.

 By the time evening fell, and they had returned to the Headmaster's rooms, both Severus and Albus were clearly exhausted. Both yawned every few minutes, ran weary hands through their hair (and in Albus' case – beard), and often lost their thread of conversation due to a lack of ability to concentrate. But while the Headmaster was more than willing to turn in for the night, his Potions Master was not. The man was absorbed in his curiosity for nearly everything in Albus' office, even those things in which he had shown no interest in before. He had skimmed nearly every book within easy reach on Albus' bookshelves, had opened practically every cupboard and drawer in the office to check the contents, had investigated each artifact that dotted the Headmaster's rooms, and had stared intently at every portrait that graced the walls – disconcerting many of the portraits' residents. It was as though the man was seeing everything differently than he had for the past 18 years. Albus thought that perhaps he was viewing these items through the eyes of his childhood state, but now with the added benefit of his more experienced adult mind.

Unwilling to retire for the night until he was sure Severus was asleep first, Albus decided he could continue on no more. It was two a.m., and Severus could bloody well continue his investigations tomorrow.

"I am growing quite weary, my boy. We really should retire for the night," Albus suggested for the fourth time now.

"Go ahead, Headmaster. Don't let me keep you."

Albus gave Severus a shake of his head. "Just because I am a Gryffindor, doesn't mean I am a fool. I told you before, you are not to be on your own until I am satisfied with the state of your overall well-being."

The Head of Slytherin nodded towards Fawkes, who sat fast asleep on his perch. "He can watch me."

Albus sighed. He knew from experience that Severus was going to try to win by sheer persistence. "Fawkes is sleeping. Like everyone else, I might add."

"Well then, what about Headmaster Nigellus. He's usually quite nocturnal and as…"

"No! I am not going to leave you under the watch of a dead Headmaster who is more than certainly hiding something from me at the moment." Phineas snorted at that comment, but did not say anything in his defense.

"Minerva may still be awake."

"No."

"You could place a charm around me. It would alert you to any disturbance. Poppy uses it on her patients in the infirmary."

The Headmaster sighed. Yes, he was quite familiar with that charm. Unbeknownst to Severus, he had already placed several varieties of it upon the Slytherin. The old wizard tried to make his voice stern, though it was difficult to do when he was so very tired. "You are not winning this argument Severus."

"What would you say to…"

Severus never got the chance to finish. Albus had already made his way across the main office to the chair in which the obstreperous Potion's master sat. Upon reaching the startled man, the exasperated Headmaster reached out his fingers, and touching Severus' forehead, spat out an annoyed "Somnus!"

The Head of Slytherin House had just enough to time to be embarrassed, before falling asleep to a spell that seldom worked on anyone over the age of five.

Authors Note:  I hope all you 'small Severus' fans aren't too disappointed. There are still a few mysteries left to solve and an interesting future for our snarky and often trying Potions Master, so I hope you will all keep reading. Let me know what you think – for better or for worse. I also don't mind hearing suggestions. Thank you for all your feedback – I love hearing from everyone!