Harry awoke to find himself in a small bed with crisp white sheets. Sunshine was streaming in through the windows and the smell of sanitiser was permeating throughout the room. The raven haired youth suddenly sat bolt upright in the bed, looking around the bright, sterile room.
"Where is my cupboard?" he thought, not realising that in his shock he had spoken aloud.
"Cupboard?" A middle aged woman inquired.
She sounded half shocked and half horrified. "In all my years…" she began before trailing off when she realised Harry was still in the room.
"Well you're finally awake!" she said in an irritated tone. "I am Matron Smith, the head matron at Sunnyvale Boys' Home. You are my newest charge and will be sharing a room down the corridor." She began speaking in a way that let Harry know she had made this speech many time before.
Matron Smith had paused to examine a clipboard. "Hmm... It appears you will be sharing with him, the problem child, whom I expect you shall meet shortly." She stared at Harry for a couple of second raking her eyes over his scrawny form with disdain and making a clicking sound with her tongue. "I shall expect you will be staying with us until you are 18, unless of course I manage to get rid of you beforehand. Which I doubt although you do have a rather cute innocent look about you despite your age…" The matron shook herself out of her thoughts and continued.
"That policeman who dropped you off said you were 10. You can read can't you?" This was apparently a rhetorical question for she continued without pausing for breath.
"I expect you to read and memorise this rules by next week or else there'll be trouble." Having finished her spiel, smith dropped several dusty looking tombs onto the table and exited without a word from Harry who appeared to be lost in thought.
Matron Smith was not a bad woman however the orphanage was, as is often the case, overcrowded and under funded. She was already struggling to deal with her existing charges without the additional burden of an abused, hungry boy who appeared, in the eyes of the state at least, to have never existed before yesterday.
While the matron had been talking, Harry had most certainly not been listening. He had been frozen in panic at his new realisation. This was not a dream. He knew that now, he knew it in his very bones. Yet he apparently didn't exist in this world and was now stuck in an orphanage. It seemed that he had landed in a nightmare, a real life nightmare. It appeared that everything the Dursley's had ever threatened him with was coming true.
He was a freak, and a nobody, out of his time and to top it all off he was in a dreaded orphanage. He felt for the second time in as many days on the verge of tears but he knew he couldn't face returning to the Dursleys even if it was possible, which he felt it wasn't. He steeled himself, blanked his face and looked up determined to meet the bossy matrons eyes. However, while Harry had been preoccupied Matron Smith had left and in her place was a young boy. 'That must be my roommate' Harry thought. He was about Harry's age but was a couple of inches taller with sallow skin, cold black eyes and greasy black hair. He had a sullen almost sulky air abut him but it was clear that in a few years he would be intimidating but for now he appeared to just be grumpy.
"Hello" he began in a silky tone.
"My name is Severus Snape and I'm a wizard too."
AN: yes, I know Snape should be at Spinners End with Lily and he was however why he isn't will be answered later. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, to be honest I'm still in shock that anyone wants to read it at all!