A/N: So Chapter 2 is here, hope you guys enjoy it. Things'll be moving kinda slowly at the start but they'll ramp up once the school year gets started and things start to kick off. Canon will be thrown out the window from Year 1, so expect major divergences in regard to the whole Philosopher's Stone/Quirrell fiasco and the repeated attempts to resurrect Voldy and all that. I've not done a ton of planning on this yet, but what I do know is that I don't want this to be a complete rehash of canon with Severus and Lily along for the ride; things'll be different and some characters will be a bit OOC, be warned. Professor Snape'll be just a little bit softer around the edges, the presence of his past-self and a new Lily'll do that to him. Also, Dumbledore's not gonna be super manipulative in this fic, I'm going for a more grandfatherly approach to kick things off. So Snape and Dumbledore'll certainly be a bit different and softer than they were in canon.
Chapter 2 Out of Time
When they came to, the two children slowly rose to their feet, but to their shock and horror, they found themselves not in the attic—perhaps not even in Spinner's End at all, such was the difference of the room they found themselves in. Instead, they were sat side-by-side next on a couch, and across from them, stood two men who appeared to be in hushed conversation with one another. One was vaguely familiar, and almost seemed to resemble a vampire, or perhaps a bat in appearance; he was imperiously tall, had pale skin, and from the limited angle they could see, his face bore a scowl. What was striking to Severus—and Lily too for that matter, were his dark, sunken eyes that all too similarly resembled the boy's sitting beside from her, as well as his hook-shaped nose that too, resembled Severus'. For all intents and, this dark, tall, scary-looking man looked just like Severus, only aged up a few years to a middle-aged adult. The other man sitting across from them was entirely different. He was an old man, tall, and white haired and bearded. He wore fabulous purple and gold robes, and half-moon spectacles that hid a pair of sparkling blue eyes that peered down at the frightened children curiously. While the man in black looked openly displeased, even hostile; the other was warm and grandfatherly, if his smile and gentle expression was anything to go by.
"Why Severus, I do believe our guests have awoken."
The other man turned around, his scowl lifting slightly as he met two pairs of young eyes. One, identical to his; and the other, the eyes of a woman dead for close to ten years. The eyes of the woman he loved. "So it would seem," the black-clad man spoke softly.
The older man knelt down before the two frightened children, although Severus shifted himself so that he was slightly between Lily and the two men.
"Hello you two," the old man greeted not-unkindly. "I'm Albus Dumbledore—" the shocked gasps from both Lily and Severus were rather telling of the fact that they were both aware of the old man's identity. Dumbledore gave them both a wrinkled smile. "—And it seems you both are aware of who I am," he remarked gently.
"We know who you are…" Severus remarked shakily, "b—but where are we? Who is that man?"
"We will answer your questions in a little while, children," Dumbledore said gently, looking at both of them in turn. "Now can either of you tell me where you are and what today's date is?"
"I don't care that you're Dumbledore, I'm not telling you anything!" Severus said defensively.
"But Sev, he's Dumbledore, of course we can trust him, right?" Lily implored gently.
"I don't know who your friend is sir, but Sev's told me all about you," Lily said calmly, turning her green-eyed gaze upon the headmaster. "This is Sev's home, but it looks different, and today's date is the Fifteenth of July, 1971."
Dumbledore and the other man, the scary-looking one, exchanged a brief glance. The younger man expelled a heavy sigh, one of his hands rose to cradle his forehead almost as if he were suffering from a persistent migraine. Dumbledore too sighed, but far quieter, and his eyes tracked southwards to the oriental carpet beneath their feet.
"A calming draught please, Severus," Dumbledore said quietly.
The boy's eyes bulged. "Me? We don't have potions, mum never made them 'cus—"
"You're not the only person named Severus here," the darkly-dressed man muttered, a scowl etched firmly onto his features.
Severus—the eleven year old one—winced slightly, and seemed to shrink into the pillows.
"Don't talk to my friend like that, he's just trying to help!" Lily retorted, her green eyes narrowed into angry slits that caused the other Severus to wince; but as soon as they'd seen it, his moment of weakness had gone. He quickly steeled himself, and swept from the room in a billowing plume of black cloak. Dumbledore sat down in the chair opposite the two youngsters as the older Severus rummaged about in his upstairs medicinal cabinet for two vials of calming draught.
"Sir, why are you here?" Lily asked curiously. "Sev and I already received our Hogwarts letters from Professor McGonagall, we know what to get when we go to Diagon Alley…so I don't understand why…why you and that man are here. We've already got our shopping lists and everything, so is something the matter?"
"Things are a little bit more complicated than that, Miss Evans, Mister Snape," Dumbledore said ominously. "All shall be explained in due time, after you both drink your calming draughts, of course."
Severus' brows knitted in confusion as he stared at the man across from him, numerous theories over what just happened to him and Lily flittering through his mind as he tried to make sense of all that'd just happened. He didn't have long to think however, since the other Severus soon returned with two pale blue vials clutched in-between his fingers.
"Drink these," he ordered, thrusting both vials into their palms.
They both eyed the vials warily, afraid of whatever liquid it was that called it home. Missus Evans and Snape had told them both to never accept drinks or food from strangers, for fear of them being tampered or spiked with something illicit or dangerous—that rule was thrown out the window here seeing as the dark man staring down at them wasn't giving them much of a choice in the matter, was he? Severus and Lily accepted the vials with trembling fingers and uncapped them. Glancing at each other briefly, they counted down from three and downed the contents of both vials together upon reaching zero. A sense of calm and serenity surged through both of them as the cooling liquid cascaded down their throats. A pleasant, chilling feeling settled in the pits of their bellies, Severus' stomach giving a low growl as the liquid settled. The two children flashed each other a brief look, one of trust and understanding, and interlaced their fingers together—an act of reassurance for them both.
As one, they turned to face the headmaster and the mysterious man next to him, the other Severus—the older doppelgänger.
"Can you tell us what's going on please?"
Dumbledore reached a hand into one of his numerous robe pockets, and fished out a little golden device from within. It was the little pendant-thingy that Lily had been fiddling with just now…just before the room began to spin like a hurricane, and their vision faded to black. "Can either of you tell me what this is?"
They both shook their heads. Upon closer inspection, the device in Dumbledore's palm was damaged, the rings were cracked and scorched, and the hourglass at the heart of the device was leaking sand.
"This, is a time turner," Dumbledore explained, holding the device up in his palm as his blue eyes scrutinized every inch of the damaged device. "And as you both can see, it has been damaged. Badly. In fact…I'm not sure if it can be repaired given the state it is currently in."
"Indeed Headmaster. It seems excessive strain on the core has damaged it beyond repair," the other Severus muttered lowly, his obsidian irises had narrowed as he scrutinized the object held in the aged Headmaster's palm. Both children flashed him a wary look, but quickly looked away when his dark eyes found theirs.
"What are you saying?" Severus blurted out, having just about reached the end of his tether with the round-about way of speaking the Headmaster seemed to love so dearly.
"There is no…gentle way of saying this…or revealing it to you slowly, Miss Evans, Mister Snape," Dumbledore said gravely, his blue eyes narrowed on both of the children sitting before him. Gone was his grandfatherly expression and in its place was a look of utmost seriousness; and his eyes…they'd hardened like jagged sapphires. This was no kind old man, this was the wizard that felled Grindelwald—such was the graveness of his eyes, expression, his entire being, really. "Neither of you, are where you belong. You are quite literally, out of time. The year is in 1991, and you two, just half an hour ago, have travelled twenty years into the future."
The silence that settled upon them was so heavy, it was nearly suffocating. The other Severus stood off to the side observing them through a cold pair of unfeeling black eyes, Dumbledore seemed to have relaxed just a little bit, leaning back in his seat as he observed the pair across from him.
In the end, it was Severus that recovered from his shock first. His eyes were as wide as golfballs, and it seemed his lungs had been sucked dry of air. "What do you mean this is 1991?" He asked quietly, speaking so softly his voice might well have been just a gentle gust of wind in the backyard.
"I meant exactly what I said, Severus," Dumbledore said calmly, his tone growing slightly consoling. "I know this is a lot to take in…and a lot to digest for you, Merlin knows what turmoil you must be feeling now. But…there's no feasible way we could have kept this from you, and Miss Evans any longer. You are both no longer in 1971, and today's date is the Fifteenth of July, 1991. It appears that you both have travelled twenty years into the future."
"Mum," Lily choked out, her voice muffled on a quiet sob as tears sprang to her eyes. "Dad…Petunia!"
"Mister Dumbledore sir, please! Please tell me where they are! Where are my parents? My sister?!" Lily was in hysterics, tears flowing freely from her shimmering eyes as the consequences of her actions struck her in full force. "I…it was me," she said softly. "I was the one who—who turned the thing, the ring on the…the time turner, I'm the—" her voice caught, her words breaking in two on a sob as Severus tightened his hug around her shoulders, his other hand moving to her back and rubbing gently. "I'm the one that g—got us into this mess…it's all my fault!" Lily sobbed, shrinking out of Severus' hug and crying openly into her palms.
Dumbledore pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed quietly, his aged face growing more resigned by the second. "I am sorry to say this, Lily, but your parents have passed on in this world, as have most of your other close relatives. Your sister, Petunia, is still very much alive and living in Surrey with her husband Vernon Dursley."
"Me? What about me? Where is the…the me, of this time," Lily whispered, her voice muffled by her hands.
This time, it was the other Severus that spoke, and despite his earlier tone, his voice was no longer cold—it was almost warm, even. Perhaps it was out of necessity to soften the blow to the head Lily would receive with his words. "There is no other you, in this world. You passed away on the night of Halloween ten years ago," the black-clad man said not unkindly. He almost seemed sympathetic.
Tears sprang to Lily's eyes once more as muffled sobs sounded out into the emptiness of 17 Spinner's End's sitting room. Severus had never been one for physical comfort, whether it be giving or receiving, but he did the best he could and hugged her lightly in a way he recalled his mother doing for him when he was a small boy. Lily's cries seemed to lessen, but her body still shook and trembled in the aftermath of the nightmarish revelations she experienced.
"Can I assume that you are the 'me' of this time, then?" Severus asked quietly, gazing up at the tall, sullen man standing across from him.
"Yes, Severus. Unlike Lily, your counterpart is still very much alive and well in this world," Dumbledore said. "This man is Professor Severus Snape. He is the Potions Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You are both one and the same, just twenty years apart in age," he explained calmly.
Snape nodded curtly, lending his own brand of credence to Dumbledore's words.
"You're a Potions Master?" Severus whispered, not quite able to keep the adoration he felt from his tone.
For a moment, it seemed as if Snape was on the verge of smiling, but just as soon as he saw it, that expression was banished faster than lightning. "Indeed."
"Where are ma and da, then?" Severus asked.
When Snape spoke, his voice was cold and unfeeling. "They're both dead."
Severus felt surprisingly numb in that moment. He'd hated his father, his abusive, neglectful father that denied him food, beat him with the strap, tormented and mocked him emotionally, called him a 'worthless, good for nothin' waste o' space'. There was no love lost when he heard his father was dead, in fact, he quite nearly breathed a heavy sigh of relief upon learning that Tobias Snape, twenty years into the future was no more. His mother on the other hand…she was a harsh, strict, sometimes even brutal as a mother, yet she loved him and she showed that through her own brand of tough love. Severus shed a lone tear for his mother, but the rest refused to fall as he silently bade his farewell to his only parent that loved him, that just half an hour earlier he thought to be at the store buying some groceries. His expression of grief was far more muted than Lily's but it was just as strong all the same.
"So what now?" Lily sniffled, wiping at her nose and eyes with her sleeve.
"There are…a few courses of action Professor Snape and I have been debating the merits of," Dumbledore said thoughtfully. He sat back down on his armchair and fixed both of them with a scrutinizing gaze. "And there are a few things that you must be informed of. Firstly, the time turner you used to travel twenty years forwards…we believe it to be heavily damaged, but I want you both to rest assured that Professor Snape and I shall do our best to help you both return to your time…if that is what you wish, of course."
"B—but you said it was damaged beyond repair!" Lily wailed, tears welling in their ducts.
"That I did," Dumbledore agreed gently. "But creation of a new time-turner, with capabilities similar to the one you used to arrive here, would not be out of the question."
Professor Snape shook his head firmly. For some reason, the dour man did not appear to agree with the Headmaster's words, quite the opposite. "Headmaster, I do believe that isn't an option at present. Right now, the authorities in their time, 1971, Muggle and Magical will have been made aware of their sudden disappearance. For them to suddenly reappear…months, even years later after their disappearance in 1971…that is assuming of course that we can replicate the capabilities of the destroyed Time-turner…it would arouse unwarranted suspicion to say the least. From my perspective, returning to their past would be impossible, how would their several month disappearance without a trace be explained if they were to magically pop into existence several months into the future?"
Dumbledore sighed heavily. "It is an option nonetheless Severus, that must be explored. I am sure Lily and your younger-self would much rather return home to their time rather than be stranded twenty years in the future."
"No," Severus said softly, almost as if he were speaking to himself.
"What do you mean Sev?" Lily asked harshly, her green eyes narrowed.
"I don't want to go back. N—not if it means s—seeing my da again," he whispered. He looked up and met the Headmaster's gaze, tears brimming in his eyes. "Please don't send me back. I love my ma…but I can't live with him…with Tobias again. Please."
Dumbledore smiled faintly at the child's impassioned plea, but soon after shifted his attention to Lily. "There is something else you must know, Lily. As I've informed you, your counterpart in this time has been dead for close to ten years—" Snape winced at that, something Severus saw out of the corner of his eye, "—but before you passed. You married, and had a son. Your child lives on, in this world, and currently lives with your sister Petunia, and her husband Vernon," Dumbledore explained kindly.
"I have a son?" Lily whispered, her eyes wide.
"Indeed you do. I felt it prudent to mention, before you and Severus arrive at any conclusions as to whether to remain or attempt to return to 1971. The choice is yours, but just know that any endeavor to return to your time could result in failure, in which Death would be but a mercy," Dumbledore said gravely.
"Death? What could be worse than death?" Severus asked, his black eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"And endless, looping cycle of time in which you are trapped for all eternity—" Lily and Severus both looked horrified at the prospect. Lily's jaw hung open, and Severus' pupils had widened beyond what seemed humanly possible. "—It is a remote possibility, one resulting from the use of a poorly-built or faulty time-turner, but rest assured if we do manage to rebuild your time-turner, or construct one of similar capabilities, then that possibility is incredibly remote. Almost impossible, really; but it is a possibility nonetheless, and it is important to be aware of the risks," Dumbledore said calmly.
"A fate worse than death…" Lily whispered, her voice trailing off into silence.
"And an outcome that could certainly have transpired, during your reckless trip through time," Snape remarked lowly.
"A—and if we decide to stay, if both of us decide to stay," Severus said, gesturing between himself and Lily, "—where would we stay? Who would we live with?"
At this, Dumbledore seemed to brighten, "That choice remains with you. I am sorry to say that most of your relatives that would have been alive in your time…have passed on in ours. But given the circumstances, I would not be averse to adopting you myself and taking both of you in as my wards."
"You would do that?" Severus asked, the hope palpable in his tone and expression.
"I would. It is hardly an everyday occurrence for two children to accidentally travel forwards through time after all," Dumbledore said amusedly. "That is…if you are both willing, my home will certainly be open to the both of you, unless yourself and Miss Evans wish to make alternate arrangements."
They both exchanged a look, a silent message passing between them. "You already know where I stand on this, Lily. I don't want to go back, even if it means seeing my mum again, not with a risk like that."
"Regardless of what you decide, if you change your mind and decide to return the past, Severus, or if you decide to remain in the present, Lily…the fact remains that even if you both arrive at the conclusion that you wish to return to the past, it will be quite some time before you shall be able to."
Lily and Severus both nodded. "It was a great risk, both of you time-traveling to the 1991," Snape muttered gravely. "And as the Headmaster just said, both of you could have been trapped in am endless loop for all of time if something had gone wrong during your foolish endeavor to travel to the future. While this decision is yours alone to make, I believe it foolish to tempt fate again, especially with a Time-turner hastily constructed from the remnants of a destroyed one."
"So what do you recommend we do?" Past-Severus asked the Potions professor.
Snape hesitated, a moment, seemingly constructing a reply in his head. "As I said. The headmaster and I are in firm agreement that any such a decision regarding your fate in this time…or in 1971, will reside with you. Children you may be, we are not your legal guardians and as such…a decision of such proportions can only be made by yourself, and Miss Evans. If it were my choice, knowing that the world you are returning to may have long-forgotten you, I would stay."
"C—can I at least meet my son, sir?" Lily chimed in, staring at the aged man across from her hopefully. "I want to meet him. From what you said…I died when he was barely born. I want to meet him."
"That can be arranged," Dumbledore agreed, to which Snape sneered. Any mention of the-boy-who-lived, had always soured his mood in years past. "Assuming you decide to remain in this time, you shall both be in the same year as him after all. For he shall be starting Hogwarts this year as well."
Severus hardly had any reaction to the news, but Lily's eyes lit up in surprise. "He will? Oh, then I simply must meet him sir!"
The Headmaster hummed thoughtfully. "Perhaps a visit to Four Privet Drive is in order then. I trust you shall have no trouble looking after these two in the meantime then, Severus?"
Snape heaved a heavy sigh, but nodded his head. "Do what you need to do old man. I suggest we shift the location of their meeting to Hogwarts, however," he muttered; to which, Dumbledore nodded. He reached an aged, wrinkled hand into one of his many robe pockets and withdrew his wand. He twirled his wand, and spun on the spot in unison; and apparated away to Surrey.
Before either child had a chance to speak, Snape had turned away from the spot Dumbledore had just occupied on his carpet and was now facing them. "Have either of you used the floo?"
They both shook their heads.
"I thought not. Follow me." He stood from his chair swiftly and stalked over to the fireplace. Severus and Lily quickly got up from the sofa and followed him over, standing behind him as Professor Snape reached up onto the mantlepiece and grabbed a pinch of some black powder. "This is floo powder," he explained, briefly opening his palm to allow both Lily and 1971-Severus to see the coarse, black powder in his palm. "And it allows for floo-travel to occur. So pay attention and watch precisely what I do next, then repeat the same after I am gone."
Severus and Lily nodded quickly in agreement with his words, not wanting to anger the man and risk invoking his temper. Snape stepped into the hearth with the floo powder in hand, he turned about to face them, then hurled the powder at his feet and shouted; "Headmaster's office, Hogwarts!"
An emerald green flame shot up from the hearth and enveloped the Professor, the light was nearly blinding—such that both Severus and Lily had to bring their arms up to shield their eyes from the glow.
"What on earth was that?" Lily whispered in shock, her eyes as wide as saucers as she stared into the hearth the Professor once occupied.
"That was floo travel," Severus muttered. "Mum's told me about it, but I've never done it myself. But I do remember how to do it though."
"Here," he reached into the bowl of floo powder and atop the mantlepiece and and sprinkled a pinch of the fine, black powder into Lily's palm, he kept the rest for himself. "Step into the hearth, throw it at your foot and yell out the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts," he instructed. "Just like how the older me…well…I did."
Lily nodded at him, but she still looked a bit nervous, her teeth nearly drawing blood from her lower lip as she eyed the powder in her palm with a speculative look. "I just…shout out 'Headmaster's office, Hogwarts' then? Just like Professor Snape?" she said, the confusion and bewilderment she felt more than evident in her tone.
Severus nodded assuredly. "Yes. You can go first and I'll go last, so that—wait hold on a second…I think it might be big enough for the both of us. Let's floo together actually, that makes more sense."
Lily turned towards the hearth, and extended her hand for Severus to follow. He grasped it tightly, but noticed Lily's palm was sweaty and her fingers were trembling slightly. Hoping it would reassure her, his fingers tightened around hers and a little smile—barely shown to anyone other than the girl beside him—curled his lip. "On three, throw the powder down at our feet and I'll shout our destination. I think it'd work best that way," Severus said calmly.
"On three," Lily agreed, nodding tightly. "One, two three—"
"Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts!" Severus' shout was perfectly in sync with Lily's throw, and in the blink of an eye, their vision was enveloped with green as the floo worked its magic to send them halfway across Britain to the Scottish highlands. When the world stopped spinning and they gained a better grasp of their bearings, they stepped out of a far grander fireplace into a lavishly decorated room with high ceilings, intricate glass display cases that housed all manner of trinkets and toys. It was like stepping into an incredibly rich, hoarder's paradise—Merlin knew there must've been at least a few hundred Muggle and Magical objects of all kinds filling the room from top to bottom.
"So you haven't gotten lost. Good." Came the sound of a familiar drawl. Snape was sitting on a chair, opposite a couch. He inclined his head once towards the vacant velvet-cushioned couch, indicating his desire for the two of them to take a seat opposite him.
"Sir. I don't mean to be a bother," Lily said quietly; as she claimed the seat opposite Professor Snape, with Severus sitting down beside her. "but the other version of 'me'…the one that died, what happened to her?"
"She was killed by a dark wizard ten years ago protecting her son," Snape said slowly, his tone remorseful. "She…died, so her son, Potter, could live on. In her final act of sacrifice, she flung herself in front of the dark lord, took the killing curse intended for her child, and vanquished the dark lord."
Lily swallowed thickly, tears brimming in her eyes as a quick bit of mental maths told her that this time's Lily Evans must've died when she was twenty one or twenty two. She'd cried enough today already for herself, her parents, for Petunia and the goodbye she never got to have; so the tears refused to fall, but the watered her eyes all the same. "The other Lily…she died so young," Lily whispered, "she'd have been…barely double our age, Sev."
Severus nodded quietly, although a little smile twisted the corners of his mouth upwards. "But Lily…at least you have your…son," he pointed out quietly. Severus thought he imagined it, be he could've sworn he saw Professor Snape wince. "And Petunia too—" he definitely wasn't imagining it now, a scowl as wide as was humanly possible was etched on Snape's face. "—And I'll always be your friend, Lily, so you'll never be alone. Not if there's anything I can do about it."
"Yeah," Lily said, her beautiful smile blooming on her face despite the tears in her eyes. "Friends for life, right?"
"Of course," Severus said assuredly, his smile broadening in response. "And I have you, right sir?"
In a very welcome break from the perpetual scowl or sneer that seemed to grace his severe-looking face, Snape smiled a little bit at hearing his younger self's words. "Yes. You will," was all he said.
"And me too sir? Were you friends with the older 'me' in your time?" Lily asked, her big green eyes peering up at him with undiluted curiosity.
For a split second, a time so brief they may very well have imagined it—Snape's expression seemingly turned regretful—but it was quickly replaced by a mask of neutrality void of any emotion. "Yes. We were friends once, good friends. I'll always be there for you too, Lily, as I will be for Severus," he said neutrally, Lily's smile broadened and her eyes appeared to soften. "I'll never fail you again, Lily. Never. I'll die before allowing that," he added under his breath. There was no need to let them know that part.
"So how'd you find us sir?" Severus asked, his tone curious.
Snape scoffed loudly, and turned to face his younger counterpart with a wide sneer on his face. "Didn't ma tell you about the wards she cast around the house? I for one remember being told about them when I was ten, younger than you are, certainly. One of them is a detection ward, so when I was alerted to the sudden appearance of two miscreants in my attic, how do you think I reacted?"
"R—right, sorry. I'd forgotten," Severus said sheepishly, his head drooping low in an effort to avoid Snape's scorchingly harsh gaze.
Snape's intense reproachful look directed at his younger-self lessened slightly, and with a sigh he got back to explaining how he and the Headmaster had come across a pair of unconscious eleven year olds in the attic of seventeen Spinner's End. Between Snape and Dumbledore, the combined spell repertoire that both supremely impressive wizards boasted was incredibly vast; but not even a single revealing spell that the two powerful wizards had cast revealed the two unconscious children to be anyone other than eleven year old Severus Snape, and Lily Evans. It was then that the ever-observant Snape spied a little golden object clutched between Lily's fingers, and upon examining it, he and Dumbledore both arrived at the conclusion that it was a broken time turner.
That, coupled with the fact that the rings of the device had been burned through and cracked; as well as the unconscious state of the two children lead them both to believe that they had both time-traveled to the future through the use of the time turner in their possession. And that judging by their approximate age, they seemed to have been sent twenty years into the future from 1971 to 1991. Snape kept his explanations brief and short, which was seemingly enough to appease both Severus and Lily for the time being; then again their acceptance of Snape's brief, and concise answers to their numerous questions may been the result of not wanting to piss him off. Despite initially indulging their questioning, Snape quickly grew tired of the incessant flow of questions the two eleven year olds were spouting, and was on the verge of telling the two boundlessly-curious children to shut their traps; when the door to the office creaked open and in stepped the headmaster with a young boy by his side. Like what Albus Dumbledore had said all those years ago on the night of Halloween 1981, the boy with his scraggly mop of hair, and lightly tanned skin, had precisely Lily Evans' eyes. Like Severus, who the boy briefly glanced towards before looking back at Lily, the boy wore mismatched clothing—some of it being several sizes too large and with holes poking through the fabric.
The boy, Harry, turned to Severus and Lily, his eyes finding their doppelgänger's—and both pairs of eyes widened on sight, it was like staring into a mirror. Everything else about them was different, Harry was underfed, wore ill-fitting clothing, and was short for his age; Lily was dressed properly, well-cared for, and was rather tall, taller than Harry even. Harry seemed nervous, all of the children did as a matter of face, but Harry particularly so now that he was in his mother's presence. In a soft, barely audible tone of voice, he only spoke one word.
"Mum?"
A/N2: Thanks for reading! Be sure to leave a review on what you liked/didn't like, and what I can improve going forward.