A/N: Sorry that this next chapter has taken sooooooo long to get out but real-life just seems to get in the way a bit. The truth is finally revealed at the end of this chapter; this is actually what started me writing this story. I was thinking one day about what would happen if Severus was not quite what he seemed and this came to mind, along with another one but that's a different story. I wonder how many people would have guessed the truth? I hope the wait for the truth has not been too bad. A quick warning: half-way through is a mild torture scene. This chapter is about 4,900 words, so without further delay, please enjoy.

Chapter Eighteen

January had just turned into February, the snow that covered Hogwarts was now beginning to melt, however the days were still cold and dreary. Severus and Remus were still trying to come up with a plausible explanation to Severus' condition; the theories that they came up with were unconvincing, so it was back to the restricted section of the library. Although Snuffles accompanied them on their trips to and from the library, whenever he wasn't spending time with Harry, Severus and Remus decided not to tell him the truth, instead they told him it was a project of Remus'. Severus had explained the project in complicated and confusing lectures that made absolutely no sense at all, even to Severus, but it did its job. Sirius decided not to participate in the pair's research.

Severus was in his bedroom in his black pyjamas reading a book about spells which activated at a set time, Remus had suggested that it may be the case for Severus because time-release spells were concealed upon the person until it was due to be instigated, the glamour remover may have triggered the spell. It was plausible, but Severus knew of no reason that some one would cast such a spell or when they would have the chance. However, time- release spells could endure for a long-time, so theoretically anyone could have cursed him anytime during his life. Not a comforting thought.

There came a knock at his door, "Come in," Severus said. The door opened and Sirius entered, dressed in a traditional white nightgown, in his hands was a plate of cookies and two cups of hot chocolate. "I thought you might like a midnight snack," he said, as he walked in and perched onto the edge of Severus' desk.

"Thank-you," Severus said, "I don't usually eat sweet things before bed, but why not,"

"Good, all my hard work has not been wasted," Sirius said. Severus raised his eyebrow. "Well, opening the packet and heating up the milk takes effort," Sirius added with a smile.

Severus took a cookie and began to eat it, "So was there something specific you came here about or were you just dropping by?" he asked.

"Just dropping by," Sirius replied, "I saw your light on, you know that it's way past everyone's bedtime don't you, and you have classes to teach tomorrow as well,"

"I know," Severus said, "besides I usually only need a few hours sleep,"

"So what are you working on?" Sirius asked peering at the thick book resting open on the desktop.

"Oh, its more research on the project," Severus said whilst helping himself to another cookie.

"God, how do you people do it?" Sirius asked, "I didn't even understand a word of what you said to me before, and it was the cut down version,"

"It is rather a sophisticated and arcane theory that we are researching, even I barely understood it," said Severus.

"You and Remus really have to get yourselves a life, life is too short to be stuck in a dark room with only potion ingredients for friends," Sirius said.

"You are too frivolous," Severus retorted, taking a sip from his hot chocolate.

"What is the point of life if you don't live it to the max?" Sirius questioned.

"Well, I find that for me living life to the 'max', as you say, means fulfilling my potential and mine is in potions and using my brains," Severus said.

"You are too stuffy for a girl your age, you know," Sirius said, "You have, what, a hundred and thirty forty years settle down and get serious,"

"And when do you plan to settle down and get serious?" asked Severus.

Sirius wiped the chocolate from his mouth and said, "Never. If it works for Albus, it'll work for me."

"You would be surprised at how serious Albus can be sometimes," Severus said.

"How would you know, you've only known him a few months," Sirius said, lightly hitting Severus' arm.

"I heard it from the other staff members," Severus said quickly.

"We're not gonna resolve this little debate tonight are we," Sirius said draining the remainder of his cup, "and you need to get some sleep as well,"

"Yes, mother," Severus said and rolled his eyes.

"Don't you take that tone with me young lady," Sirius tutted, "Goodnight, and I'll see you in the morning, 'k"

"Goodnight," Severus replied as Sirius left the room and closed the door.

Severus marked his place in the book, grabbed a cookie and slipped into his bed, with a wave of his hand the lights went out.

***

The final bell of the day had just rang, and the second years in his class were racing for the door, Severus wasn't surprised as it was the end of a two hour long lesson, even he was relieved that it was over. Severus tiredly and stretched out his entire body, before starting to clear up, almost stepping on a dozing Sirius in the process. Severus turned toward the door and saw that Hermione was stepping over the threshold, he smiled and said, "Afternoon, Miss Granger,"

Hermione didn't return the smile; instead she said quietly, "Is there somewhere where we can talk privately?"

"Of course," Severus replied, "my office is this way," indicating to the door that connected the classroom with the office. They entered and Severus closed the door behind them and sat down in his chair, Hermione was already seated in front of his desk looking intently at the ground. After a few moments pause Hermione had yet to speak so Severus prompted her, "Miss Granger?"

"As a extra curricular I have been helping Professor Flitwick analyse the data that his new charm is producing; the charm that detects and recognises people entering and exiting Hogwarts. I have come across a slight.discrepancy with data pertaining to.you," Hermione said, and paused to let what she had said sink in.

Severus looked hard at Hermione; as if he was seeing if she knew or was bluffing, "Go on," he drawled.

"Um.You say that Professor Snape had to go and attend to some personal business and that is why you have substituted his position, however the data shows that Professor Snape's magical imprint is actually still here now, and that there is no record of yours. This has led me to conclude.the only reason would show that.you are both the same person," Hermione said, looking Severus in the eye.

Severus had steepled his fingers and was resting his chin on his middle fingers; his face was an expressionless mask, however his eyes showed that the cogs in his head were turning rapidly. He stood up abruptly; Hermione also stood up and backed away from him. Severus rolled his eyes and said, "I am not going to hurt you. If you would accompany me to the Headmasters office I am sure that a satisfactory answer will await you,"

Severus walked back into the classroom and prodded Sirius gently, "I am going to the Headmasters office with Hermione," he said and walked off. Hermione followed him, Sirius forced himself awake and ran after them.

At the gargoyle Severus asked Sirius to wait for him there and then spoke the password 'wine gums' and entered with Hermione. Albus was feeding Fawkes when the two entered his office, he smiled genially and indicated to the two chairs in front of his desk, "Ah, and what brings you two to my office at this time of day?" he asked when they had sat down.

Severus explained to Albus what Hermione had in his office.

"An unexpected problem, but it should be easy to correct," Albus said, as he sat down behind his desk.

"Do you know how to change the charm?" Severus asked.

"Yes, only Professors Flitwick, McGonagall and know the inner workings of the spell," Albus said, "It will take about half and hour to correct,"

"What about Miss Granger?" asked Severus.

"I think that she can be trusted to be discrete about this, she has proved herself in the past," said Albus.

"That true," Severus agreed.

"Miss Granger, I am confident that you can be trusted with what I am about to tell you, yes?" asked Albus.

"Yes, Professor," Hermione said as she leaned toward Albus.

"You're theory is correct, the two Professor Snapes are indeed the same person, an accident in the lab has unfortunately cause the situation," Albus began, "You already know of Professor Snape's duty as a spy within Voldemort's inner circle, yes? The accident has erased the dark mark from the Professor, therefore to Voldemort he has disappeared, and he was seen whilst in his present form rescuing a person from a group of Deatheaters using some powerful magic. All of these have contributed to Professor Snape being wanted by Voldemort,"

"Is that why Sirius is following Professor Snape around?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Severus replied.

"Does he know that you're.?" Hermione said.

"No, the less people who know the better," Severus said.

"I understand," said Hermione.

***

With a yawn Severus stretched himself on the armchair then looked at his pocket watch and realised that he had been sitting in the same position for over two hours, it was a few minutes past one. Several hours earlier Severus had sent Sirius to bed when he noticed the animagus was snoring loudly on the couch. Stifling another yawn Severus decided it was best that he went to bed as well.

Severus had just set the book down when he heard a frantic knocking at his door; he hurried over and was confronted by a distraught-looking prefect by the name of Sarah Graham. "Some first years are missing, I think they went into the Forbidden Forest," she said quickly.

"What?" Severus said, "How do you know?"

"Their roommates told me about it, I checked all over the Slytherin house and I couldn't find them," Sarah said, "we have to hurry,"

Severus left his quarters and ran with Sarah to the ground floor, at an intersection he told her to alert Albus and gave her the password to the office. Severus turned to leave when Sarah called out to him, "Professor, wait," he turned back to her and after a moments hesitation she said, "please be careful," Severus nodded and left.

Severus ran quickly across the grass and stopped at the edge of the Forest looking for clues as to which direction the first years had gone in. On the partially melted snow there were several footprints that led into the Forest; Severus entered cautiously. The snow on the forest floor had not melted as much as that on the fields so the footprints were easy to follow, Severus pulled out his wand and cast 'lumos' he could see that the footprints led further into the Forest.

After a good five minutes of following the tracks Severus was no nearer the source, he could find no other evidence of the first-years. Stopping abruptly Severus scanned the forest, it was quiet, very quiet, he could not even hear the sound of the Forest creatures. A sickening feeling began forming in his stomach, images began flitting through his mind; small details of the past ten minutes became clearer. Who were the students he was looking for? Why did Sarah seem so hesitant before he left her? And where were the other teachers?

Slowly Severus began to move backward along the track, looking out for disturbances in the foliage. A sharp whistling made Severus spin round to his left, Severus gasped in pain and his hands flew to his throat, they clasped around a dart. Upon pulling the dart out Severus blacked out and fell to the ground.

***

When Severus awoke he realised that he wasn't in the Forbidden Forest anymore, he doubted that he was at Hogwarts either. Severus could feel that he was inside a room, the fireplace was lit and warming his back but there was an awful cold presence in front of him, it was undoubtedly Voldemort. Slowly Severus opened his eyes and saw Voldemort reclining on a throne-like chair, he also discovered that he wasn't bound but then again Voldemort was arrogant enough not to tie-up his prisoners.

"I see that you have awaken, Miss Snape," Voldemort said, "I trust you know who I am,"

"Voldemort," Severus said, with a hint of venom in his voice.

"You speak my name aloud, you must be very brave or very stupid," Voldemort said.

"Shall we get to the point, why did you bring me here?" Severus asked.

"Many reasons, I have heard of your powers from my Deatheaters that you defeated," Voldemort said, "Don't bother trying to use your magic here, the ring around your neck will prevent you from even attempting a simple 'lumos'"

Severus' right hand went to his neck, there was something cold and thick around his neck, and sure enough he couldn't use his magic. A slight inconvenience.

Voldemort continued, "At the same time you also ruined my plan, that will have to be punished. And lastly, concerning Severus' disappearance, you I am sure will know what has happened to him. Has he died or has he found a way to rid himself of the mark?"

Severus stayed silent.

"Answer me, or do I need to persuade you to talk?" asked Voldemort.

"I know nothing," Severus said.

"You lie," Voldemort yelled and stood up with his wand out, "Crucio,"

Severus fell to his side, as every nerve in his body was set alight, he gasped in pain but did not scream. Finally the curse was lifted.

"I see you are very similar to your cousin," Voldemort said, "I will you a choice either join me or die,"

"I would rather suffer the eternal fires of Hades than join you," Severus said through gritted teeth.

"You will be begging to join me before long. Crucio," Voldemort said.

Once again pain coursed through Severus' entire body causing him to jerk and spasm. Severus was trying very hard to breath, to control the nerves and muscles that governed breathing; he could feel that he was starting to hyperventilate. The pain began to lessen and Severus' eyes became less blurred, he could hear Voldemort saying, "Take her to the dungeons and show her some hospitality, but don't spoil her,"

A pair of hands gripped Severus under the armpits and dragged him out backwards; from what he could make out he knew that he was in Voldemort's castle in France. Severus recognised the person dragging him as Jeff Turner, a thickset man with more brawn than brains. Upon inspection Severus could not find the opening for the ring around his neck, so it either shrunk to fit, or it was magically sealed, and without his magic Severus could not try it.

After being almost thrown down a large stone staircase Severus found that he was now in the dungeons. Flickering torches cast daunting shadows around the room, Severus felt his wrists being manacled above him; the chain was long enough to stand in but not enough to sit on the ground or lie down, and after being hit by the Cruciatus curse twice Severus was finding it hard to stand. Severus could see that the walls were full of torture devices, most of them he was familiar with; sometimes the personal touch was more gruesome then using magic.

"Such a shame the master has forbade us to spoil you, I can really make you scream in pain, amputating your arm inch by inch," Jason said, as he walked to the far wall and chose a bullwhip from the collection. Jason cracked the whip a few times to warm up his arm and the whip, "I'll try not to mar that pretty face of yours. Too much at least," he said.

"How reassuring," Severus said, bracing himself for the first hit.

The whip whistled through the air and landed on Severus' left cheek, Severus flinched but was hit on the right by the returning of the whip. This continued for sometime, five maybe ten minutes, before Jason stopped, he stood breathing hard, Severus was kneeling with one knee on the floor and his arms stretched painfully above him, the manacles cutting into his hands.

"Not really a screamer are you?" asked Jason.

Severus looked up at him, his hair fell in front of his face but the defiance in his eyes was apparent.

"Or perhaps you need encouragement from something harder than a whip," Jason said.

Jason sauntered up to Severus and backhanded him across the face before punching him in the stomach. Severus fell to his knees winded, causing the manacles to cut deeper into his wrist and hands, blood began trickling down his arms as Severus tried to catch his breath and stand up. Kneeling Jason placed his left hand under Severus' ribs and his right hand behind Severus' arms, and then licked the trail of blood running down the left arm. "Sweet as nectar," Jason whispered.

Jason grabbed a handful of Severus' hair and pulled him up to a standing position, the hand that was below Severus' ribs was now painfully gripping his right breast, "I will enjoy breaking you. Beg me for mercy," Jason said, as his other hand began travelling down Severus' side. A spark of fear crosses Severus' eyes before he kicked Jason in the groin, as Jason doubled over with pain Severus grabbed the chain with both his hands, jumped in the air and kneed Jason across the head, which caused Jason to fall sideways and hit his head on the stone slabs.

The fall had rendered Jason unconscious or worse, but Severus was far from caring. Severus had won himself a reprieve but it wouldn't be long before Voldemort would send someone to check on things, though knowing Voldemort he was probable watching the whole scene at the moment. Severus tried to yank the chain from the wall but it was stuck fast, there was nothing close enough to him to be used to escape. Just then the door opened and another Deatheater entered, it was Michael Baldwin a new recruit.

Michael freed Severus from the manacles and then dragged him back up the stairs and toward Voldemort. When they arrived in the room that Severus had woken up in, Michael threw Severus down on the floor and backed out of the room. The fall to the floor had sprained Severus right wrist when he tried to cushion his descent. Severus used his left hand to push himself into a sitting position; Voldemort was sitting on his throne, his chin resting on the back of his left hand. "Quite the little killer, even with out your magic and your arms tied you managed to kill one of my men. I really must applaud you," Voldemort said, "So powerful, which is why I must kill you if you do not join me. I give you the choice again join me or die,"

"My answer is the same, no," Severus said.

"Are you sure? You could become even more power than you are now, I can give you vast amounts of knowledge, forbidden knowledge that the idiots at the Ministry fear," Voldemort said, as he stood up and slowly walked over to Severus. Voldemort knelt in front of Severus and held his wand an inch away from Severus' forehead, "Last chance, life or death. Think carefully about this,"

Before Severus could reply sirens rang out, a frantic voice began reeling out a report, "Some people have breached the inner perimeter, and have killed several of our men,"

"Aurors?" asked Voldemort,"

"No I don't recognise them," the voice replied, "Avada." a scream could be heard and then silence.

"Damn it, looks like it is time to go, come on," Voldemort said as he hoisted Severus on to his feet.

The door suddenly burst open as a Deatheater was thrown through it. Three women entered; the first was ethereal looking with silver hair and dark blue eyes, the second also looked ethereal and had pale blue hair and eyes, and the last person was more human looking with black hair and green eyes.

The first one lifted her arms and pointed at Voldemort, he was thrown through the air and smashed through the window behind, the other two rushed over to Severus and supported him between them.

"Who are you" Severus asked.

"This isn't the time for introductions, lets go," the first one said and pulled out a gold watch, "Grab on,"

As soon as Severus grabbed on he could feel the world melt away and a great force pulling at his navel.

The dispersal and re-construction of his molecules during the teleportation process caused Severus to sink to his knees as soon as he reappeared, he could feel people gathering around him and the stern voice of Poppy telling everyone out of the way. When Severus opened his eyes he saw that he was in the infirmary, Poppy was waving a torch in his eyes and asking, "How do you feel? Where does it hurt?" before instructing the two strangers by Severus' side to lift him onto the bed. Severus tried to protest and say that he could walk but Poppy silenced him with a glare.

As soon as Severus was settled Poppy turned toward the crowd and told them to leave the infirmary, the crowd complied. Poppy waved her wand over Severus' head and then moved it over his entire body whilst she said, "Corpus inspectum," small lights began to appear over Severus' body, yellow meant moderate damage, amber for heavy damage and red was critical damage. The lights were above Severus was mostly yellow with patches of amber but there were thin streaks of red that ran around most of his body.

"Cruciatus?" Poppy asked.

"Yes," replied Severus.

"Looks like minor bruising along the appendages and one on the torso, bad lacerations around your wrists and a sprained wrist, but you will live," Poppy said softly.

"Good, I was not planning to die anytime soon," Severus said.

"Let me just go get the potions, are you feeling nauseous at all?" Poppy said.

"A little," Severus replied, "Oh could you ask Remus to go down to my quarters and bring me my Cruciatus reliever, I think it is time to test it in a actual situation,"

Poppy walked over to the doors of the infirmary and stuck her head out, a few moments later she went to the medical cupboard returned to Severus' bed with a tray of bottles. With practiced hands Poppy gently removed Severus' clothes and started to apply the yellow balm of the 'Laceration healer' over his cuts, next a bruise dispersal oil was rubbed into the bruises on Severus' solar plexus, arms and cheek.

When Poppy had finished changing Severus into a hospital gown and tucked him into bed, Remus entered with a brown glass bottle, he smiled at Severus as he gently set the bottle down on the cabinet. "So how much of this do you need?" he asked.

"About half a cup should do," Severus replied.

"How are you feeling?" Remus asked, pouring the potion into a small cup.

"I'll live," Severus said as he downed the potion, "It works quite rapidly, maybe it should be more instantaneous,"

"Always thinking about work," Remus commented.

"Can you ask those three girls in, I would like to thank them," Severus said.

Remus looked up at Poppy and she nodded, "Of course," he replied.

A few minutes later Remus came back with the three strangers in tow and Albus as well. Albus walked over to the bed and tenderly laid a hand on Severus' forehead, "How are you feeling, child?" he asked.

Severus smiled and said, "Good," he then turned his attention to the three at the foot of his bed, "I would like to thank-you for rescuing me," Severus said.

"It was our duty to protect you, Mistress," the silver-haired one replied.

"Who are you and why did you call me mistress?" Severus asked slightly puzzled.

"My name is Rena, this is Saba," she indicated to the blue hair girl, "and this is Ceren," Rena pointed to the dark-haired girl, "and we call you mistress because we are your servants, Mistress," Rena said. The trio bowed their head reverently.

"I do not remember having servants," Severus said, "apart from the house- elves,"

"We were your parents servants before their death and so now we are yours, both Ceren and I have served you as house-elves before," Rena said.

"My parents?" Severus asked, "House-elves?"

"Yes, your parents, Yarna of the Air tribe and Nami from the House of Taru," Rena replied

"I believe you are mistaken, my parents were Cronus and Valere Snape," Severus said, "and I have not heard of an Air tribe or the House of Taru of which you speak of,"

"Perhaps it would be best if I began the tale from the beginning," Rena said, "We are from another world, a different universe that exists next this one, on our planet everybody possesses a degree of magic. Over two hundred years ago a great war began because a band of humans were intolerant of the fey, which they considered to be sub-human and lower than a second-class citizen, so on one side there was the humans and on the other side there was the fey; our side.

"When the war began the Great Oracle Simare prophesised that in the twelfth age a child would be born of air and flesh, and that child would bring about the new era. In the twelfth age our Master Yarna fell in love with the first daughter of the Taru House, Mistress Nami. The House of Taru was a neutral side that had been opposed to the war; they aided the casualties and those that were caught in the middle no matter what the side. Before long they had wed and bought forth a child, a baby girl, you.

"The enemy caught wind of the union and hunted us down, intent on killing the child and the traitors. We hid and ran from them but they always seem to know were we were, so as a last resort the Master and Mistress decided it would be best if they left that world and raised the child until she could defend herself. We arrived at the Temple of the Cosmos and were preparing to depart when the enemy finally caught up with us, the Master and Mistress perished defending the Temple but we managed to escape and arrived on this world.

"Wait," Severus said, "Are you trying to tell me that I am from another world and I am prophesised to reunite the planet?"

"Yes, Mistress," Rena said.

Severus placed the heel of his hand to his temple and said, "If I am who you say I am, then why was I raised a Snape and a male?"

"When we arrived through the portal we were all badly injured and we knew that it would take a time to recover, and therefore leave no time to look after you," Rena said, "We travelled north until we saw a house, we hoped that they would allow us to rest there, however they turned us away.

"With no other house in the vicinity we decided to enter secretly and find an unused room. One of the rooms that we entered was a nursery, there was a small cot in the middle of the room there was something in there but we could not detect any life. On closer inspection we found that baby was in fact dead, that was when we decided to substitute you for him. Using some of his hair we was a powerful spell over you so that you would take on his appearance,"

"What happened to the baby?" Severus asked.

"We discovered that he had been poisoned, so after we buried him Ceren and I decided that we would become servants of the house to protect you," replied Rena.

"Why are you telling me this now, why not ten twenty years ago?" Severus asked.

"Originally we would have told you when you were of age and then taken you back to our world, however the as we passed through the portal there was a giant blast that followed us through and demolished the portal on this side," Rena said, "There was no way back,"

Severus placed his head into his hands and exhaled deeply, "What was.is my name?" he asked quietly.

A pause.

"In our custom a newborn is not named by it's parents until one month after it's birth," Rena said, "However, we arrived here only a few weeks after your birth,"

"Oh," Severus said blankly, and laid back onto the bed and closed his eyes, "I am feeling tired, perhaps we will continue this later,"

"Yes, Severus needs to rest," Poppy said, "You may visit him tomorrow if you must,"

The shuffling of robes as they grew fainter indicated to Severus that they had left, Poppy placed a hand on Severus' forehead and said, "Goodnight, try not to think too much tonight,"

*****