Chapter 1: A Life Once Wished For
{A/N: Here's Another Update...This is the result of approaching holiday festivities, gargoyles the t.v series and Nicholas Cage making a holiday movie...I thought the theme would go well with our Potions Professor...}
My Thanks To All My Readers and Reviewers...Enjoy S.S.
Unknown Bedroom, Unknown World...
Feeling the effects of having one too many shots at the bar Severus Snape stretched in bed noting the extra warmth and dismissing it as he had the urge to answer the call of nature. He pulled back the covers and made his way toward the bathroom yawning and stretching his lengthy limbs. Snape had not recalled putting on a muggle t-shirt nor had he recalled wearing muggle pajama bottoms but he ignored it and continued toward the loo. It was strange that the loo had moved from the end of the hall to being in his bedroom but he paid it no mind. A bit of quick maneuvering and his aching bladder was at ease while the river of urine fell into the waiting toilet bowl.
The former potions professor noted the shower had been running and that the bathroom was filled with steam. He vaguely recalled leaving the pub the previous night in the company of a woman and smiled believing she had not gone quite so soon. Feeling a bit amorous, Snape hurried out of his strange muggle clothes feeling the urge to tear them off the muggle way instead of spelling them off with his magic. He approached the shower and climbed inside as the steam made it difficult for him to see and wrapped his arms around the average sized showering woman whom had not been all that surprised to see him.
"Mmmmm." she said feeling his body press against hers. "Good morning."
"Good morning." he replied kissing her neck.
She let out a sigh and turned to face him. Snape had been stunned to see a that the woman from the previous night had changed rather drastically. For one thing she was decidedly younger with a lighter complexion and her appearance quite a good deal younger...not to mention that she had been awfully familiar.
"W-What...?" he began only to find himself cut off as she placed a finger to his lips.
"As much as I'd love to spend some extra time with you I have to get the children off to school." she said as if it were normal for the two of them to shower together.
Snape had been shocked to find the woman before had been his former student Hermione Jean Granger.
"Children?" he asked puzzled as she went back to her shower.
No sooner had he asked this there was pounding on the bathroom door.
"MUMMY!" someone shouted.
"DADDY!" another young voice.
The young woman resembling Hermione sighed.
"There just doesn't seem to be enough time in a day." she said before kissing a still groggy and horrified Snape. "Enjoy your shower love...but do hurry before you are late for work."
She moved as if it had been a carefully maintained routine leaving the Potions Master to panic behind the confines of the shower door as she stepped out getting dried and putting on her robe. Severus Snape had not recalled much from the previous night but he had been sure the woman he bedded didn't have his children and that woman had not been Hermione Granger, resident insufferable know it all of Hogwarts.
Nothing seemed to make any sense as he finished off his shower and shut off the water. He reached for a towel as if he had forgotten his wizarding abilities and attempted to summon it via magic. His hand had been tense and he put in quite a bit of effort only to find that the towel did not budge.
"What in Merlin's name?" he asked aloud.
The steam from the shower made it difficult to see as he attempted to summon the towel quite a few times.
The vague recollection of the bar singer whispering to him came back.
"A life without magic..." she had said.
Snape sighed .
Of all the things to be saddled with in a strange place, not having magic to defend himself should anything occur or at the very least to get back was the worst he could think of at the moment. Resigning himself to his very muggle situation, Snape snatched the towel off the rack and dried himself off manually.
With a sigh he headed over toward the mirror wiping the away the fog and getting a good look at himself. His raven hair had been reduced to medium lengthy and going gray given his age...he had been quite young as far as wizarding standards were concerned and it was much too early for him to start going gray but here in this strange place it was apparently happening.
His face had been shaved he had not recalled seeing his face so smooth since before the war and merely took it in stride. He looked to be as exhausted as he felt on most occasions and felt as old as he appeared. The scars from Nagini were gone from his neck as were the numerous scars that lined his pale flesh from the years of torment during both wizarding wars.
"Sidney, you're going to be late!" shouted the voice of Hermione Granger.
Snape finished up looking over himself in the bathroom mirror and noted the silver wedding band for the first time since he had awoken. He knew for a fact that he had been a bachelor when he went to bed the previous night and now here he was a married man, married to his former student no less and apparently a father.
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Unknown Location, Unknown World...
By the time Severus got out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, Hermione Granger had been fully dressed and smiling at him as she watched him make his way into the bedroom. He had been quite uncomfortable being naked in front of her knowing what he knew but that only seemed to amuse her as she finished touching up the slight use of red lipstick to compliment the gray skirt and blazer she wore.
"Still not dry yet?" she asked walking over toward him.
"Just came for my clothes." he replied rather timidly.
He had not been use to being half naked in anyone's company let alone Hermione Granger's.
"Well, stop fooling around we have to get going." she said before leaving the room much to Snape's relief.
He went rummaging through the drawers and quickly pulled a pair of plain boxer shorts from one of them and put them on. He moved about the room piecing together a suitable set of attire grabbing a white t-shirt and a pair of sweat pants. He pulled on a pair of white wool socks and what looked to be worn trainers. He grabbed a sweatshirt and did his best to cover up as he headed down what appeared to be stairs.
This time he had known for sure that he had not been in his flat given he had no stairs and it was only a one bedroom. The confused wizard found himself passing through a sitting room and moving down a narrow hall before he was headed off at the door by a sweet looking little girl whom could not have been more than seven years of age.
She had the same amber eyes as Hermione Granger and the same raven hair the former Potions Professor had before coming to this strange place.
"Daddy." she said evidently pleased to see him.
Snape had not known what to say to her.
He was quite sure that he had not been her father.
"Daddy, where are you going without breakfast?" she asked confused as to why he had been acting so strangely.
"I...I'm sorry." said Snape meeting her seemingly well adapted gaze. "I guess I forgot."
The girl reached out her hand and lead Snape toward the kitchen.
The further confused wizard found himself coming face to face with two more children.
One boy had hair not so unlike Hermione's with the same pale complexion as the former Potions Professor and looked to be about ten years of age. The other had the same raven hair and eyes of obsidian. The three children had been spared the indignity of having inherited the confused wizard's abnormally large nose and seemed rather happy despite not being gifted with magical abilities.
"Daddy almost forgot breakfast." said the girl with a smile as she looked at him.
The concerned eyes of the young woman whom resembled Hermione Granger looked at him for a few moments.
"Sidney, are you feeling okay?" she asked making her way over toward him.
"I-I'm fine." he replied. "Why are you calling me that?"
She ignored him placing the back of her hand along his forehead.
"I think you're coming down with something." she said as if she had been Madam Pomfrey back at Hogwarts. "And I call you Sidney because last I checked that's your name...are you sure you're well this morning?"
"I said I'm quite alright Miss Granger...Hermione." he said noting for the first time that everyone at the table had been staring at him.
It didn't take him long to realize that calling his apparent wife "Miss Granger" was not a common thing for him.
Feeling that he had once again said the wrong thing, Snape got to his feet and left the kitchen.
"Sidney, where are you going?" asked Hermione concerned.
"I don't know." he replied before walking out the front door.
She didn't understand what was going on with her husband, but she was determined to get to the bottom of it. His forgetting his own name had been clear indication that all was not well and she found the situation quite alarming.
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Unknown Location, Unknown World...
Snape took off down the street unsure where he was going but he felt the need to get as far away from this strange nightmare as he possibly could. Hermione Granger had been his wife and they had three little urchins...he had no intention of staying stuck in this place and playing the family man. His first thought was to make his way back to that pub but it was much more difficult to find given that he was deprived of the ability to apparate.
He had not even gotten halfway down the block before he was met by a very confused Harry James Potter.
"Dad!" he shouted racing after him.
"Bloody hell." muttered Snape unsure how this nightmare could have gotten any worse with the three urchins and now Potter was off his rocker if he believed him to be his father.
The Potions Master didn't care how attached the boy had become to him after receiving his memories he was not going to play father to James Potter's spawn no matter how much the boy begged.
"Dad wait." said Harry catching up to him. "Where are you off to?"
"A pub if you must know." replied Snape rather bitterly.
Harry Potter whom had gotten a good deal older since the last time he saw him was stunned to hear this.
"Dad...you don't drink." he said confused. "Why would you need to go to a pub?"
It was definitely a nightmare if these people believed that he had not indulged in drinking it was the only pass time that made living worthwhile as of late.
"Why else would people need to go to a pub?" asked Snape almost bitterly.
"Dad what's going on?" asked Harry as his emerald green eyes became filled with concern.
"Why do you keep calling me that?" hissed the embittered wizard.
"Because you are my father." replied the green eyed younger man. "Why are you being so hostile...did you and Mione get into a fight?"
"What?" asked Snape caught off guard by the former boy's implication. "No...I've not said much to Miss Granger."
Even Harry Potter seemed stunned by his use of Hermione's proper address.
"I don't understand." he said still evidently confused. "If you two aren't fighting then why are you referring to her by her maiden name?"
"I..." began Snape unsure if he wished for Harry Potter of all people to be someone to confide in. "I awoke to a very confusing situation and I simply do not wish to speak about it."
"Okay." said the green eyed young man. "Listen...it's quite cold out and you aren't the least dressed for the occasion...I take it you aren't going to work today."
"Work?" asked Snape confused.
"Dad, you're the head of the research department at Rightwell College not to mention the top Chemistry Professor." said Harry. "How can you forget that?"
"Look... Boy I am badly in need of a drink and I suggest you either point me into the direction of the nearest pub or get out of my way." said Snape bitterly.
Harry seemed to be stunned by this aggressive approach from his father.
"I know you're hurting because she's gone, but it's not worth drowning your sorrows in a bottle." he said sorrowfully. "I thought with Mione and the kids this would get better for you..."
Snape nearly struck the now fully grown younger man as he backed away from him. He knew full well that he was talking about Lily this time and he was in no mood to indulge the boy's fantasy life for a single moment. He avoided him for the past three years for a reason after all.
"Fuck off boy." he said before continuing to take off rather blindly in the direction toward where he believed the pub to be.
He had not known why Harry Potter of all people had been referring to him as "Dad", but he found it unnerving. Having had his fill of this strange world and being without magic, Snape was determined to find the strange bar singer and get this mess all sorted out.
