Disclaimer: I realized I hadn't put one in the prologue so here it is: I own nothing, except for the invisible plot, happy ?

AN: To my reviewers: thank you thank you thank you thank you ! I'm so happy, I had no idea reviews have such an effect! ;-). As always, if you find mistakes in the text, please, e-mail me (or put it in a review) so I can fix them, (and improve my English ;-) )


What am I ?

Chapter 1

Severus was not a happy man.

Severus was not having a good day.

Indeed, Severus would have loved to have someone's neck to snap, maybe it would have made him feel at least slightly better. The Potter boy would be perfect for this, thought Snape, too bad he's nowhere to be found. It was true. The Order had been looking for him for the last three months and they still had no clue where the brat had run off to. Severus himself had been combing the country, looking for some hints of Potter's whereabouts, obviously without any success. He had even been forced to give up on his potions teacher job, since Dumbledore had wanted him to dedicate himself full time to his spying activities, his work for the Order, and his search of Harry. The mere thought of the joy on the students faces when they had learned he would not teach anymore still made his stomach turn. Whatever one may think about him, Snape had always enjoyed teaching. Well, maybe not teaching, but taking house-points and giving detention had always been a great stress reliever.

But for once, it wasn't Harry potter that Severus was hunting. No, this time, he was only looking for a rare ingredient. And the damn ingredient was being as hard to find as Potter himself. Severus had looked thoroughly into each magic shop he could find and yet, there had been no periphiola powder. This was seriously starting to piss him off. Taking a deep breath, Snape transfigured his clothes into muggle ones and left Diagon Alley, hoping that a walk around muggle London would sooth his nerves. The magical world was being more stressful than ever, and one can only take so much pressure before exploding...

Not really paying attention to where he was going, Snape turned into a thin, shabby-looking street. A group of teens were talking animatedly, and as Severus saw one of them playing with a discreet but not so harmless knife, he was glad to have put a notice-me-not charm on himself. Not that he would have had any difficulty in disposing of them with a few well- placed curses and some memory charms, but he was in no mood to deal with stupid and arrogant muggle teenagers.

He was about to leave the street, when a funny feeling in his stomach made him stop dead in his tracks. Slowly, Severus turned around and took a good look at the kids. There were five of them, and all were quite ordinary, but one of the boy caught his attention. He was rather tall, almost as tall as Severus, had straight black hair that probably reached his shoulders when they were untied, a very pale skin and high cheekbones. Severus was quite certain that he had never seen the boy before, but there was something familiar about his way of moving, his position.

A gush of wind ran into the street, and the stray locks that covered the boy's forehead were blown away to reveal briefly but unmistakably an old bolt-shaped scar. The teen turned his head in Severus' direction when he heard him gasp, and a look of recognition flashed into his green orbs. Just as the boy was preparing himself to flee, Severus gathered his wits and managed to throw a stupefy curse, effectively stopping the boy before he could run away from the street. He swiftly put minor memory charms on the other youths, grabbed the boy's arm and disapparated to Snape manor.

They apparated outside the wards and Snape quickly put a light bonding charm on himself and the boy he assumed was Potter, so as not to let him run away. He more or less dragged the boy inside the house, into one of the living-rooms, and made him sit rather forcefully on one of the sofas.

"Explain." he said. The teen looked at him, anger burning in his eyes, trying nonetheless to look innocent .

"I don't know what you're talking about. I have no idea what just happened but I suggest you let me go right now! What you just did was not legal, I'm pretty sure of that.... Now let me go, you nut-case !"

Severus was not amused by the boy's act, nor was he impressed with being called a nut-case by the boy he had spent the last three months trying to find. At this point, Severus Ardelus Snape was pretty pissed off.

"Don't lie to me!" spat Snape, "I saw your scar and I can feel the magic flowing from you, so there is really no point in pretending to be a Muggle!"

"What the hell are you talking about ?! Magic does not exist, I don't know what a bloody Muggle is and if you're talking about this scar," he said, pointing toward his forehead, "I'll let you know I got it in a fight, four years ago. I don't know what's going on with you, but you're crazy, I'm out of here."

As he was rising from his seat, Severus conjured some ropes, and the boy was forced back in sitting position. The teen was glaring daggers at Severus as he growled in a low and intense voice: "This is not funny anymore. LET-ME-GO."

Severus only sneered, "You've worked on your acting skills, Potter, but the fact that you didn't show any surprise when I conjured those ropes proves that you're familiar with the use of magic."

"I don't have a fucking clue about what you're talking about!" he wasn't even trying to control his rage anymore, "And I prefer not to show surprise in front of an enemy! Beside, I'm too pissed off to care about which color will be the next rabbit you pull out of your hat. I WANT OUT!"

"Listen Potter—"

"AND STOP CALLING ME 'POTTER'!"

Snape looked at the boy calculatingly. The boy really was a good actor. Severus was starting to wonder, despite everything else, if he had not been wrong about his identity. Severus mentally slapped himself. How many magical teens wearing bolt-shaped scar, green eyes and a bad temper could there be in Great Britain ? However, Severus was amazed by his ex-student: he had only one card in hand and was clearly intending to make the most of it.

Switching strategies, Snape said in a sweet voice: "My mistake, I thought you were someone else. But, since it's obvious that you're not that person, who might you be?" Just as he spoke, Snape gently tried to pry into the boy's mind. He met a wall. He could have broken it, but it would have alerted the boy of his actions, so he let go. The boy was clearly protecting himself, and if this was a success to a certain extent, this was also a failure: Severus knew that the boy had something to hide, and this was a confirmation in itself.

"I'm Seb. Sebastian. That's all you need to know since I don't know you."

"Sebastian? No last name ?" Severus sneered, knowing that the boy would have to find one quickly if he wanted to seem at least slightly honest.

"That's none of your business... And it's not 'Potter', should you ask."

This little game was starting to push Snape's last nerve. He unconsciously fingered the small vial of Veritaserum he kept in his pocket as he conjured what little patience he had left in him. He didn't want to use the potion on the boy, in case he really was not Potter (however slim the chance might be).

"Well," Snape finally said, "we're going to see if you're indeed telling the truth –which I strongly doubt. Finite Incantatem ." He waved his hand in front of the boy, but nothing happened. He still looked exactly the same.

Shoving his conscience aside, Severus stood before the teen still secured on the sofa, and put the vial of Veritaserum out of his pocket. The teen's eyes widened, proving that he knew perfectly well what was inside the vial and what it was supposed to do. He struggled to get away from the sofa and Severus' hand, but the fight wasn't even and soon, he had gulped down the whole contents of the vial.

Snape stepped aside as the boy coughed weakly and spat the few drops he had managed to keep in his mouth. He smoothly buried the guilt that was starting to rise, under his quite convenient anger.

"Now, who are you?"

"A boy." answered the teen , easily sidestepping the question.

Severus could have smacked himself for not asking a direct question. He had to admit that the boy was smart, or at least less dumb that Severus had imagined, but no one could avoid answering a question forever when under the influence of Veritaserum.

"What name was given to you at your birth?" "I'm not sure." This truly set Severus off, how could he not be sure? And, more important, why wasn't he sure? Trying not let the boy's cryptic answers get to him, Severus gritted his teeth and reformulated his question.

"What was the name your Hogwarts teachers used when addressing you?" This question had the added bonus of mentioning Hogwarts, this way, Severus would know whether this was Harry Potter, and if he was not, Severus would at least know whether the boy knew about Hogwarts. After all, he had not lied, he could sense the magic flowing from the boy.

The boy was not answering. He was sweating and struggling weakly against his bonds. Severus felt almost sorry for him (almost), given that he had been put numerous times under Veritaserum and knew that it wasn't a pretty feeling. It made your mind divide, one half telling you to answer, the other part resisting. It was rather similar to the Imperius curse, one of the reason he could not understand why this potion was considered as 'light'. What's more, there were some nasty , though harmless, after effects, like nausea and it sometimes made the nose bleed.

The boy's lips were sealed, quivering slightly as the potion was trying to force the words out of his mouth. Finally, his lips cracked open, and a small "Potter" escape.

Deciding that it was better to be safe than sorry, Severus asked "what was the full name associated with this name, Mister Potter?"

The boy was already drained and couldn't fight for long this time.

"Harry James Potter."

Potter glared, knowing he had lost. He was screwed.

AN: That's it ! This chapter is way longer than the prologue so there's probably a lot of mistakes. :-P Did you like it? Did you just hate it? Maybe you could tell me about it in a review? Please?