Chapter 1

Do you know what a nope day is? It's when your brain goes nope.

Are you okay? Nope.

Are you not okay? Nope.

Do you want to do anything? Nope.

Do you need anything? Nope.

Do you feel anything? Nope.

Lately more than usual their days were just nope days leaving them with an annoying empty feeling. It took them a while to fall asleep that night, fiddling with their hematite necklace while laying in bed, the cool feeling of the stone soothing them.

oOoOo

Cold. Wet. Dark. Can't move properly. Can't breathe. She knows fighting it is useless and will make it happen faster. Panic courses through her veins, paralyzing her. It's not her first time but she can't help it, memories of the two other times it happened plaguing her brain as she sunk deeper and deeper.

Something suddenly wrapped around her from the back and dragged her to the surface before lowering her to the ground where she landed ungracefully, coughs shaking her small frame. After her ragged breath calmed down a little, two things registered in her mind : the gigantic squid that just saved her life and voices calling although she couldn't make out what the voices were saying.

"Severus, she needs a calming draught."

A phial was pressed against her shaking lips and she drank it in reflex, her mind still jumbled. As her body relaxed she started feeling the cold and the voices around were now as clear as the people they belonged to.

"Are you okay, miss? Who are you and how did you arrive here?"

She slowly looked at them : an old man with an absurdly long beard in ridiculously colored robes, a dark man clad in black with a stern expression and an old woman with a tight bun.

"C-cold…"

Her voice was hoarse and something told her there was something she should be aware of, but she couldn't figure it out. Exhaustion caught up to her and she blacked out on the spot.

Severus caught her before her head hit the ground, wrapping the girl in his cloak before carrying her as if she weighed nothing.

"Let's take her to the hospital wing, my boy." said the old man, his eyes twinkling as he started to make his way back to the castle.

oOoOo

White. It was the first thing she saw when she came back to herself. She was laying in a soft and warm bed surrounded by white curtains to give a sense of privacy. She moved to a sitting position before the events came back to her mind.

"Gandalf!" She gasped, thinking about the old man she had seen.

A chuckle and the curtains being opened interrupted her thoughts. "While I can see why one would compare us, I'm afraid I am not Gandalf my girl. My name is Albus Dumbledore, what about you?"

Her face and hair turned a bright crimson as she mumbled an apology that Albus waved off with a smile.

"Wait. Are you really Dumbledore? But you can't be! That's a joke right? Next thing you're going to tell me I'm in Hogwarts. Sorry but I won't fall for it and no one would actually, everyone has read Harry Potter and knows it's not real!" she exclaimed, her hair returning to normal as she gave a distrustful glare to Albus.

"I'm afraid Hogwarts and Harry Potter are as real as I am Albus Dumbledore, my girl. You obviously heard of our world but did your parents not tell you more about it?" asked Albus, stroking his beard with one hand.

"I don't have parents." she snarled, nearly spitting the last word. "And for your information you don't even look like the Dumbledore from the movies."

"From the movies?" he raised an eyebrow, visibly confused.

"Well yes the Harry Potter movies! Everyone has read the books or seen the movies. I suppose you'd fit the book descriptions of the Headmaster but the actor they picked for the movies doesn't look like you at all." she answered with a rather curt tone, annoyed that someone would try to play such a bad joke on her.

"Well my girl, I must say I have no idea what the books or movies you are referring to are."

"The Harry Potter series. You know, the story of the boy-who-lived from when he enters Hogwarts up to his last year when he kills Voldemort and saves the world once more. I mean, come on, it's a classic of literature all over the world! I may not like JKR but her story was a good one even if there were way too many plot holes or time related inconsistencies." said the girl, hands on her hips. "But you must know that already, you wouldn't pretend to be Dumbledore if you didn't! Plus everyone knows that magic is not real!"

"From what I understand you wouldn't be here if magic wasn't real, my girl. You said I was a part of those books right? Then tell me something about me that was said in the books but that not many would know of in the story." said the elderly man, eyes twinkling as he was processing the information given by the unknown child.

"Aurelius and Ariana Dumbledore were both Obscurials and their death is linked to Grindelwald, your former lover." replied the girl with an unreadable expression, not impressed by that test.

Dumbledore's eyes stopped twinkling as his face darkened for a moment. "Alas, some of my greatest regrets, my girl-"

"STOP THAT!" she snapped, interrupting him rudely.

"Stop what?"

"Calling me your girl. Only pedos do that. Plus I'm an adult, not a child to be called that." snarled the girl with a disgusted expression.

"Ah, I apologize, I did not know it was such an issue for you. I only called you that way out of habit and because I do not know your name. As for being an adult, I'm afraid you no longer have the body of one." replied Albus, his eyes twinkling again as he extended his hands in a placating gesture.

She looked at him, unreadable, pondering what to tell him. "Eli. You can call me Eli. It's the nickname we use." The second part of his answer registered in her mind and her hair turned a dark green as she took in her current appearance. "Mirror. I need a mirror. Please!" her voice sounded panicked so he wasted no time conjuring one in front of her.

"No. No no no no. I refuse. You did not just summon that mirror and I do not look like a fucking child with green hair!" as she said those words, her hair turned to a more blue-green shade making her pale even more. In the mirror she was seeing a child that couldn't be older than 10 with pale skin, shoulder-length brightly colored hair that changed following her mood, amber eyes and an overall cute face while on the average spectrum.

"I'm really in Harry Potter. And I'm a Metamorphmagus. Oh my god. It means I'm no longer a muggle and that I can go to Hogwarts too!" She turned to the older man "Please, tell me Moldyshort is not back yet. You're alive so he hasn't been killed yet but… no, I know! Better question, what year Harry is in?"

"Mr Potter should start attending Hogwart next year, today is June 21st 1991, Eli. As for you attending Hogwarts… we need to do a little test first to make sure you are the right age." He summoned his phoenix patronus "Tell Severus that he is needed in the hospital wing and to bring an Identity potion."

"Is that one of the tests where I have to put three drops of blood on a parchment imbibed with the potion and it will tell you who I am?" she asked, her hair turning back to green, sole indication of her current emotions.

"The right number is seven, but yes, it is."

She shivered, the thought of having to injure herself making her stomach churn. "I'm not sure it will give you much information, I definitely did not exist in the original story. Oh no. It means I have no home again. How will I…" She paused, seemingly zoning out, her eyes fixing the blanket on her legs without really seeing it, her hair pure white.

"Eli? Are you okay? Poppy!" cried the old wizard, a worried frown on his face.

"What's wrong, Headmaster? Oh my, young miss, can you hear me?" The matron cast a quick diagnostic spell, everything turning back normal. "She's physically fine Albus, she must be dissociating, do you have any idea what could have triggered it? What happened before she went in that state?"

"She mentioned having "no home again".." he replied and at that the Mediwitch nodded.

"An emotional shock would do it yes, we can only wait for her to come back to her senses or if she really is stuck ask Severus to use Legilimency to bring her back."

A few minutes later she started moving again, yawning slightly and blinking confusedly, her eyes darting to all sides in an attempt to take in as much information as possible.

"How are you feeling Eli?" asked Dumbledore, waiting patiently for her to be fully back.

"Okay." was the curt reply she gave him, her voice cold and dry.

"Good good, you worried us for a moment. Does this happen often?"

"Why should I tell you?" she answered drily, her hair back to its original black color, eyeing him warily.

"Here, my girl.." A low growl escaped her throat. "I apologize, I just meant to ask because if you have a condition we need to know so we can best help you once you attend classes. What are we supposed to do if you dissociate during a lesson?"

"Nothing. Because there is nothing to fucking do. Unless wizards are superior to muggles in mind healing and know how to heal a fragmented mind, sir."

"A fragmented mind?" said the dulcet tones of Severus Snape who had just entered the room. "The potion you asked for, Headmaster." He added, handing a phial to the older man.

"Ah thank you Severus! Now you were saying Eli?"

"What is it to you?" she snarled, clearly defensive.

"You will show respect to the Headmaster miss." Severus stepped in with a sneer on his face, making the girl instantly scramble back and round her shoulder, making him narrow his eyes.

"What do you know of DID?" she asked, visibly reluctant.

The three adults looked at each other and shook their heads, not knowing what she was talking about.

"Dissociative Identity Disorder. When a very young child is traumatized so badly that its mind breaks into alters to cope with the trauma. That's what I or rather we have. I suppose it would be the muggle equivalent of Obscurus." Eli elaborated, making a point to not look at any of them. "What you witnessed was a switch, the Eli you talked to is backseating now. The current me reacted to their fear. I'm an alter protector, my job is to protect us literally so I took over. Sometimes it's fast, sometimes it takes longer to switch."

"Miss Eli…"

"No Miss. Just Eli is fine. Sir." She added the last part to avoid being reprimanded again especially after cutting off the stern professor.

"Very well, Eli. Have you been abused?" asked the potion professor bluntly but in a softer tone.

"Abuse takes many forms, Sir. Have we been beaten up? No, not as far as we can remember. Raped? No. Neglected and even starved? Yes. But we won't let it happen again, 18 years we took it without a word but it's no longer the case." Despite her closed off posture she was looking at him straight in the eyes in a silent challenge.

"Of course no one is going to hurt you here, Eli. However, are you not a bit young to have gone through 18 years of neglect?" he asked with his signature raised eyebrow.

"I'm older than I look, this is not my original body. Before arriving here our body was 23. Wait, I just realized that technically we're not even born yet." she made a face at that constatation, wondering if she would even be born in this world too.

"Now, now, Eli. I think it's time to do the test to see exactly who you are, don't you think?" chimed in Albus, his eyes twinkling with curiosity.

She blanched and her hair turned a sea-green shade. "The blood part, can you do it for me? I… we… we can't. Professor Snape, please."

After asking the Headmaster silently, he nodded before taking her hand. Albus summoned a piece of parchment before soaking it with the potion, placing it under the girl's hand. He gave Severus a knife that he used to prick Eli's finger, dropping exactly seven drops on the parchment before magically healing the cut.

"Thank you professor." She muttered before looking at the parchment now covered with ink lines.

Name : Angela Elizabeth Schiffer

Date of birth : Oct 5, 1999 ( former )

Oct 5, 1979

Blood status : Pureblood

Father : Rafael Ange Schiffer ( Deceased )

Mother : Seraphine Rose Schiffer nee Prince ( Deceased )

Family magic :

Metamorphmagus

Aptitude for Occlumency

Aptitude for Legilimency

Aptitude for Potions

"Severus, my boy, could she be related to you?" asked the headmaster after seeing the name of her mother.

"She is a Prince so yes, probably a side branch of the family. We must be cousins or first cousins once removed. I never went to the Prince's ancestral home so I cannot be sure." replied the potion master, looking at the child with a new eye.

"Well that simplifies the home and guardianship issue, my boy, Miss Schiffer."

"Surely you are not thinking…" started Snape.

"Surely yes, Severus my boy. You are her only living relative after all." cut Dumbledore.

"Headmaster, you know that I am not the best equipped to care for a traumatized child."

"The traumatized child is right beside you, can hear, is not a child and can take care of herself just fine!" snapped Angela before her voice softened. "You know what it's like to be like us to some extent, professor." The potion master's eyes narrowed at that but he kept silent. "I trust you not to hurt us, you may be feared by students but you are not a bad person and we know it even if not all of us will be willing to admit it."

"See my boy, all is well, Miss Schiffer will live with you, a quick trip to Gringotts and the Ministry will be enough for you to be her legal guardian." The headmaster clasped his hands with a beaming smile. "Now Eli, there is the issue of your knowledge…"

She held out her hand to stop him and shook her head. "If I were to tell you or anyone about it then I wouldn't have any knowledge anymore, the future I know would not come to be and I'm not naive enough to think I can stop Him from coming back… but at the same time… there are things we are going to change for sure, I can't just stay back and watch people die. We're not fighters but surely there are things we can do…" Angela gnawed on her lower lip before nodding to herself. 'If possible I would like to be able to plan some of the key events with the help of professor Snape. Buuuut what would we say to others? Because I know I'm going to let it slip that there are things I know that I shouldn't… That I'm some kind of seer?"

"And what knowledge would you be talking about, Miss Schiffer?" drawled Severus, an eyebrow raised.

"Ah apologies Severus, see, for Eli here, we are characters in a book she used to read. She somehow ended up in our world and knows part of the past and of the future."

"I see." He concluded, shaking his head slightly.

"You will talk about all this later when it's not so late at night and Miss Schiffer needs her rest!" said the matron, shooing the two men out of the room before making sure the girl actually got to sleep.

oOoOo

The next day Angela had breakfast in the hospital wing before Severus came to pick her up in order to go to Gringotts.

"We will apparate there so we need to go out of the wards first, hurry up." explained the black clad man. Angela just nodded and followed him, half running to keep up with his pace. Noticing his charge's struggle, the potion professor slowed down just enough for her to be walking instead.

When they reached the castle gates, he extended his arm to her causing her to take a shaky breath before steeling herself and putting her hand on it. Apparating was worse than the books described and left her retching, unable to hear, see or even stand on her own.

"B-blood pressure drop." she let out in a raspy voice. After experiencing those often during her life she was able to let him know what was happening to her.

A phial was pressed against her lips and she drank it, followed by a second. When her head cleared up and she regained control of her body she saw his slightly concerned face and her own face turned scarlet as well as her hair when she realized he had held her so that she wouldn't fall to the ground.

"I'm sorry…"

"Does this happen often, Miss Schiffer?" demanded the man, checking if she was alright at the same time.

"Usually when my emotions are too strong or when I push my body too far.. My original body was not exactly… healthy. I'm used to it. And professor, just call me Eli or Angela, Miss Schiffer is just…" she shuddered, making a face as her hair turned a dull brown.

"Then you may call me Severus, I am not your professor yet and we are family." She made another face at that statement, earning her a raised eyebrow.

"Sorry, Sir. I mean Severus… it's just that the word family is not exactly something I'm fond of. At least you're not my father or uncle… Cousin… Yes, cousin should be ok." she nodded to herself, an anxious frown on her face.

"Is the idea of me being one of your parents that detestable?" he asked, prodding slightly.

"It's not so much a you issue, it's a parent issue. We have a very peculiar vision of family : siblings must protect and support each other and we sacrificed a lot for our own siblings… but parents.. Ah, both our parents were a joke of what they should have been. Because of that we don't trust parents at all, we can't." She shook her head. "Enough of that cousin Severus, weren't we supposed to go to Gringotts?" Angela added with a smile, her hair taking a lovely purple shade.

Severus chuckled "Cheeky brat but you are right, let us go."

"Wait! Before we go, could you… holdmyhandplease?" She muttered, incapable of looking at him.

"What?"

"Could you hold my hand please?" Angela repeated more slowly but her voice was still barely audible.

"Do you need me to?" replied the potion master.

"I need a physical touch to stay grounded when there are a lot of people around…else we tend to dissociate…" Slightly ashamed, she was fixing her shoes stubbornly when a warm hand took her smaller one.

"Then I will hold your hand. I do not know much about DID or how to care for a child like you but I am willing to learn shall you be willing to share your knowledge with me. You are going to be my charge, it is the least I can do."

She gave him a small relieved smile. "You know I'm not sure even we know everything there is to know about DID and how to live with it. When you have that kind of disability it's a lot of trial and error making. We'll do our best to make adjusting to live together as easy as possible."

He thanked her before dragging her away from their apparition point, toward the busy alley, wincing internally when her hand tightened around his when they ended up surrounded by people. Unfortunately there wasn't much he could do to help her with their current predicament except make the trip as short as possible.

They arrived in front of the tall white building and she looked at it in absolute awe. "This is even better in reality…" she let out in a quiet whisper.

Severus gently nudged her, before entering the bank, her hand still clasped in his as they made their way to the counter. Angela took in their surroundings, the bank was truly magnificent but the goblins looked way scarier than what the movies depicted and she was starting to see a pattern in that fact. As well made as the movies had been made, they had nothing on the real deal.

"Business?" Asked the goblin in front of them.

"My cousin is here to take her inheritance, both of her parents are deceased and we do not know what they left her with." replied Severus, handing her identity test to the goblin.

"Miss Schiffer, heiress Prince, we had been waiting for you to visit us." declared the creature after eyeing the parchment. "However you will have to take an inheritance test with us, just to make sure you are not trying to claim something that is not yours." With that the goblin gave them a toothy grin and motioned for them to follow him to another room.

After settling on comfy chairs, the goblin sitting on the opposite side of the desk, they proceeded with the test. It was basically the same as the first time but with goblin magic instead of a potion and once more Severus was the one to cut and heal her finger.

"Very well, the identity test was indeed a real one and your parents left you three vaults : the Prince family vault number 421, the Schiffer family vault number 610 and a trust vault number 502. Until you are of age you will only have access to your trust vault without your legal guardian." explained the goblin before handing her three heavy keys. "Those are your keys, do not lose them."

Angela took them before bowing her head slightly. "Thank you mister Goblin, I will be careful."

The goblin grunted before showing them out, Angela handing the keys to Severus. "If you're going to be my guardian you might as well keep those for me at least you will remember where you put them unlike us."

"Do you often forget where you put important things such as these?" he asked as the keys disappeared in his robes.

"Uuugh don't even get me started on that. I remember where I put things and what I do but how could I remember something I haven't done or said for that matter? Each alter has their own memories just like any normal person." she replied with a sigh.

"You are normal too Angela. Maybe a bit different in the way you are functioning but you are as normal as I am." Severus said, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Thank you cousin Severus but you don't have to worry about this. I don't mean anything bad when I say we're not normal. We're disabled and have made peace with it even if it wasn't easy at first." The girl gave him a cheeky smile and added "We are not like everyone and it's fine, normal is boring after all."

"Are you calling me boring?" he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Pfft no, you're not normal, you're someone amazing! I'll let you in on a secret : you were one of our favorite characters in the books if not our favorite. We admire you a lot, you're very strong cousin Severus." the child quickly denied with a fond smile.

"I see." She chuckled when she realized he didn't know how to react to her heartfelt confession. "We are going to get you your wand now, are you ready to go?"

Angela gave his hand a light squeeze and nodded "Let's go."

They slalomed between the wix out shopping in the alley until they arrived in front of the famous Ollivander shop that they entered, Angela sighing in relief to not be in the busy street anymore.

"Ah, Severus Snape, ebony wood and dragon heartstring, 13 inches, I remember the day I sold you that wand. But I suppose you do not visit me for yourself, do you?" greeted Ollivander whom Angela immediately dubbed as creepy.

"Indeed, my cousin here needs her first wand."

"Another Prince? I didn't know there were others still alive, here girl try this one."

She took the wand he handed her and gave it a flick but nothing happened so he snatched it right from her hand. "No, no, no, not this one, try this one instead." He gave her another wand that he took back just as quickly. "Hmm, let me see, here let's try this one."

The sensation of warmth was immediate and silver sparkles flew from the tip of the wand.

"Marvelous! Beech wood and phoenix feather, 12" reasonably flexible, a tricky wand to match. I didn't think I would match it anytime soon and not to such a young witch if I'm being honest. That will be 7 galleons."

Severus handed him the money and bought her a wand holster at the same time while Angela thanked the man and both left the shop after that. The potion master took her to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Alright Angela, we are going to Floo to the Ministry, do you want to Floo with me or would you prefer to try on your own?"

She looked at him for a moment, pondering each option. "With you please."

He nodded, took a handful of Floo powder and threw it in the fire before stepping in with her "Ministry of Magic, Atrium."

Turns out she was as graceful as a newborn fawn and she would have fallen if not for Severus steadying her. They went to the reception desk to give their identity and the reason for their visit before taking the elevator to the level two.

Half an hour later and they were back in Hogwart, having floo'd to the potion master's quarters with the paper declaring Severus as Angela's legal guardian. Thoughts were swirling in her head and she felt rather conflicted : part of her was happy to be in the care of one of her favorite characters but the other part was unhappy to be treated like a child.

"Angela? It is time for lunch, we are going to introduce you to the students as my cousin, are you ready to go to the Great Hall?"

Severus's voice shook her out of her thoughts and she paled slightly, her hair becoming blue-green. "The Great Hall, yes, of course the students, ah ah ah.." she was now chuckling nervously when he put his hand on her shoulder.

"Everything will be okay, you do not have to worry Angela."

At that she just nodded before breathing in, forcing herself to go back to her composed state and to reign in the growing anxiety at the idea of being surrounded by students.

oOoOo

"Allow me to introduce to you Miss Angela Schiffer, Professor Snape's young cousin. She'll join Hogwarts starting next year but I'm counting on you all to be nice to her today."

Hushed whispers traveled through the Great Hall at Albus's world and Angela was desperately trying to disappear in the potion master's robe as the students looked at her, everyone curious about the mysterious relative to the most feared professor. Severus gently nudged her and it's with white hair that she went to sit at the Slytherin table, students welcoming her, mindful of the fact that she was related to their head of house.

The meal was spent mostly in silence for her, only answering questions curtly but they let her eat in peace despite their undeniable curiosity.