Different

Finally got around to writing this chapter.

Thank you guys so much for the support and reviews! Please leaving me your thoughts and opinions!

Hope you all enjoy Chapter 3!

Chapter Three:

Different Time, Similar Plan

A few days passed since Lily overheard the conversation between Regulus and Severus, including the confrontation she had with Sev after class. But she got very little from him about it.

"It was just Reg being paranoid," he told her with a straight face.

"And since when did the two of you become friends?!" she demanded.

"A while ago," he replied, once again making it harder for her to know if he was lying. Nothing about his physical reactions told her he was, but there was something off. "Lil, we're one year apart. Of course, we talk and hang out. We just... grew closure."

She was speechless, unable to press the matter forward. Even his explanation that Reg no longer held the beliefs of their Housemates seemed to make some sense, though she was trying to process that. She had confronted Sirius first before Sev and found that even the Marauder was surprised by the younger brother's attempts to rekindle their relationship, even denouncing the Dark Lord a little too loudly. Though no one was there to hear those words except for the two of them.

Speaking of words and changing behavior, these were the things she had been hoping to see from him, more so than Sirius did of his brother. But doubts still lingered within.

Then she remembered.

The other matter she wished to speak with him about. It had completely slipped her mind until now.

"Sev, there's something else..."

"Oh? You seem to be in the mood of interrogating me today."

"Shut up!" she shouted, making him smile.

The act made her nervous and confused, 'Since when did he act this way so openly? We're in the middle of the hallyway!'

"The other night... I came to visit you and... I heard you mumble in your sleep..."

"Okay," he waited for her to continue.

She swallowed, holding her class books tightly against her chest, "I... overheard you say a name. Someone called... 'Hermione'?"

His eyes widened, he was completely dumbstruck, though it only lasted a quick second before he regained control.

"Care to repeat that?" he asked.

She could tell he was keeping his facial reactions neutral, whatever he was feeling she knew he was trying to keep it hidden from her. Or maybe she was imagining the look. She honestly didn't know.

"I heard you say that name, Sev! I heard you say 'Hermione'!" she pressed.

"Lil, I don't know anyone by that name who currently goes to this school," he explained.

"You don't just mumble someone else's name like that, especially in your sleep."

"The only Hermione I knew was someone from my past. You don't know her... and..."

She saw it. The look on his face that quickly formed, the look of sadness. She could tell he was uncomfortable talking about it and was trying to look for a way out. Instantly, she began to regret bringing it up, but she had to know.

"Sev," she touched his arm as he stared at her, but not truly 'at' her.

He jerked up and grabbed her hand, snapping him out of his state. He blinked and shook his head, releasing her hand as she began to rub it.

"I'm... sorry..." he looked away.

Her heart stopped.

'Did... did he just...'

"Sev, what's wrong?" she approached him, touching his shoulder.

He flinched.

"Please, tell me!"

He didn't answer, only slowly turning to look at her, his face neutral once again.

"Sorry, I'm still a little... sensitive."

That didn't surprise her. He wasn't the type to allow hugs or slaps on the shoulders like others were. But still... apologizing? He never did that.

"Sev, who is Hermione? Why have I never heard of her before?"

He stared at her, intimidatingly. She felt like a small child once again under that stare.

"You don't know her because... I've never spoken of her. She..."

He stopped, a look of pain covering his face again.

"It doesn't matter. Not now."

He turned and walked away.

"Excuse me," he whispered. "I need to go."

She wanted to chase after him but the look she saw made her freeze. She hadn't seen that kind of pain from him in so long. Not since they were third-year students. Instead, she decided to let him go, afraid to press him more.

Now she was watching him from afar, from her sit at the Griffindor table. Her friends took notice and rolled their eyes, telling her to stop worrying about him. Even once again trying to press her to let him go as a friend. The very idea made her flinch, especially after what happened three days ago.

She kept her eye on him since then, trying to see what was going. Both him and Reg kept disappearing together. Where? She didn't know. And it worried her. What were they talking about? Did they plan to join the Death Eaters and were meeting in secret to discuss those plans together?

No, that made no sense. They have an entire House to do that in, where no one would rat on them. And she knew they weren't disappearing back to their dorm rooms, especially after Avery and Mulciber tried to corner Severus that one time.

"Okay, what is up with you and Regulus?"

The two surrounded Severus, though he didn't appear to be intimidated.

"What do you mean?" Sev asked.

"You two of you have been avoiding us for two days!" exclaimed Mulciber.

"Yeah, and been sneaking off with Regulus. Hell, he disappears the night before your incident at the day and only reappeared a day before you awoke from your injury. What kind of hideout do the two of you have anyway?"

"Hideout? We just study together in any room we find. Hardly a hideout," he appeared to be clueless, though the way he spoke sounded so... adult.

"Okay," the two seemed to accept his explanation, though the fact that studying for OWLs ended already seemed to slip their minds. "But where did Regulus disappear to during your stay at the infirmary?"

Lily frowned, surprised.

"Oh, that. Regulus was hiding."

"From who?" the two demanded.

"His brother, of course!"

They stared at him with suspicion, "Why?"

He shrugged, "Honestly, I'd bet what happened to me made them want to do it to him too."

"I... guess that makes sense. Knowing Potter and Black, they probably wanted to see what new tricks they could test on you."

"Wait, if they know how to do this, then why haven't they tried again?" Avery asked.

Severus smiled, "I destroyed the pages."

"You what?!"

"Seriously?! How?!"

"I found the book it was written in and destroyed it for good."

Lily frowned. She knew he was lying. Potter and Sirius weren't smart enough to do something like that, nor have the patience to come up with a spell that would put someone in a coma for days. Something wasn't right.

"Can't they recreate the spell?" Mulciber asked.

Severus raised an eyebrow, "You honestly think they're smart enough to remember how to do it again?"

"Then why is Regulus still hiding?" Avery demanded.

Severus sighed, "He's... going through a tough time. He'll only open up to me."

"Since when did the two of you become such close friends?" Avery frowned.

Severus' face fell, "It's... complicated."

The two Slytherins sighed.

"Okay, fine!" Mulciber exclaimed.

"Just make sure to get him back to normal," Avery warned. "And stop avoiding us!"

Lily kept herself hidden as they walked away, waiting until it was safe to follow Severus again, but she lost him on the seventh floor of Gryffindor Tower.

The conversation she had overheard confused her, especially considering how Severus went to Gryffindor Tower. He hated being anywhere near there, so why was he going to the seventh floor? There was nothing there except her and as far as she was concerned, he wasn't looking for her.

She watched him eat his meal during dinner, making sure not to let him out of her sight.

He finally left the Slytherin table, grabbing a small bag as he began walking out of the Great Hall. She took her chance and rushed after him, ignoring the calls of her friends and the strange look Potter was giving her.

She followed him down to the girls' bathroom on the second floor, frowning over why he would go into there of all places. She carefully followed him in and kept to the shadows, not wanting to be seen.

"Really, Sev? This was the place you wanted to meet?"

She recognized Regulus' voice.

"Figured it was as good of a place to meet like any other," Severus replied, placing the bag he had on the ground.

"And the Room of Requirement wasn't good enough?"

'Room of Requirement?'

Severus sighed as he sat down opposite of Regulus.

"Avery and Mulciber are getting angsty."

Regulus chuckled, "No surprise there."

The two remained quiet for a little while, making Lily roll her eyes. Why boys were like this was beyond her.

"Sev," Regulus swallowed. "Do you... miss her?"

Lily's hear popped up, leaning closer.

Severus leaned his head against the cold wall, staring into space, "Not a second goes by when I don't."

Regulus nodded, "I miss her too. Everyone, in fact. Lavender, Harry, Draco, Ginny, Viktor, Neville, Fred, George. Even Dumbledore, no matter how much of a biased bastard he was."

Severus laughed.

Hearing him actually express emotion besides anger and brooding was so bizarre to her. She never thought it was possible.

"I have to admit, those three years were... amazing."

"But also the darkest," Severus added. "Which is why... we need to stop it."

Regulus raised an eyebrow at him, "What?"

Severus locked eyes with him, "Reg... there's no going back."

"Come on, man. You know we can do this. We just need to find another way.."

"There isn't!" Severus reached inside his bag and took out something that Lily couldn't see. "We tried! Three times! Two of which took us to different periods. The third one, just close enough and even then it wasn't the same."

"It just can't be gone," Regulus put his head between his hands, struggling to hold himself together. "I hate it here! I can't stand being in the same house as those... murderers! I want it all back!"

Lily's eyes grew wide, she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"I know but its time to face the facts!" Severus slammed whatever it was that he was holding onto the concrete ground. Lily was able to tell that it was some kind of book. "What happened to us resulted in a timeline that wasn't supposed to happen."

"We proved that the future can be changed!"

"It's more complicated than that, you know it is!"

The two didn't talk for a few seconds, taking the moment to get themselves under control.

"The spell may allow us to go into the future, but upon de..." he paused, "...the moment our tether was gone, we were forced back to where we left off. And anything we did was washed away. The consequences of a ripple effect."

"You don't know that!"

"It's the only explanation that explains everything! I don't want to believe it! I really don't! But there's no denying it, not after those three attempts."

Regulus shook his head, sniffling.

"We were winning! Victory was right there and-"

"I know," Severus said with a soft voice. "I remember that day well. Too well."

"But we can stop it!" desperation was in Reg's voice. "We can go back there and stop it from happening."

"Reg!" Severus was full of frustration. "It's all been reset. There's no going back."

"Prove it to me!"

"Okay, fine," there was a tone to his voice that scared Lily, making her move as silently away as she could. "Say if you're right, say that we can go back. How would that work?"

"We'll be back in our bodies, just like the way it was."

"No, we would be in a reset timeline where we would need to rebuild everything we had from before. Every action, every relationship, every single little detail will need to be redone in order to get those things back. There's no jumping back and preventing what happened, that would mean there would be two of you and that doesn't work."

"So, what are you saying?!" Regulus demanded. "That we just give up?!"

"No, that we accept the truth and prevent what we know is coming."

Regulus frowned, "What do you mean? You just said that everything was 'washed away'."

"Everything that involved us. But the events that we saw... those are still going to happen. Harry, Hermione, Lavender, and everyone else will have to face those dark times without us. At least, current age us."

"Then let's jump forward and stop it!"

Severus rolled his eyes and shook his head, "You're not listening. No matter what we do, it'll be reset the moment we die. We'll just end up back here and everything we had done would have been for nothing."

Realization struck Regulus as his head jerked up, looking at his friend with new hope, "You mean... instead of going forward-"

Severus nodded.

"But... what about..."

"Reg! Do you think I would be telling you this if I hadn't accepted it? That I hadn't accepted that she is gone and that there is no way to get that life back? I'm telling you this because we can't waste our time holding onto the past."

Silence followed.

Lily felt so confused and uneasy, she felt unwelcome in every way possible. She wanted to know what the hell was going on and what they were talking about. And she wanted to run away.

"So, they're really gone, aren't they?" Reg's voice broke, piercing Lily's heart.

Severus nodded.

"So... what do we do now?"

"Well, we can always fight back against those murderous bastards."

Reg scoffed, "And not expect them or him to kill us? You know that's a death wish."

"Not if we kill him first."

Reg looked up and a smile formed, "But we would need knowledge of how to do that."

Severus grabbed the book from the ground, shaking it.

"And we would need to be experienced DE hunters."

"Physically, we would need to prepare, but-"

"Mentally, that's a different story."

There was a new atmosphere to the room, something energic.

"We would need to be motivated and dedicated enough. Pissed off enough."

Severus raised an eyebrow, "Well, are you pissed off?"

Regulus' smile grew, "What do you think?!"

Severus reached into the bag and grabbed something.

"Where did you find that?!" exclaimed Reg.

Severus shrugged, "What did you think I was doing most of the time in the Room of Requirement?"

"So, you know where to find them? All of them?"

Severus nodded, "But we will need something to destroy them. Which is the very reason why I brought us here."

Regulus' eyes widened, "Oh no! Don't tell me!"

The two looked towards the sinks.

"We're not seriously thinking of going down there, right?!"

Severus reach inside the bag and took out two things, tossing on to Reg.

Catching it, he looked them over, "What are these?"

"Put them on. I designed them so that we don't get petrified."

Reg frowned at them before putting them on, "You sure they'll work?"

"I didn't get the chance to test them out last night."

"Great! Where is Hermione when you need her?"

"Come on!"

Lily listened as they got up and walked over to the sinks, looking around the corner of her hiding spot to see them doing something to the sinks. Her eyes widened as they began to part, revealing a hidden entranceway. She watched as each boy disappeared down the hole, waiting until it was safe to walk on over. She looked down and saw darkness, hearing their voices down below.

She knew she should report this to a teacher or the headmaster, but she was curious and wished to get to the bottom of... whatever it was that was going on with Severus. And Regulus too, she figured. But mainly, Severus!

After much debate, she decided to follow, closing her eyes and jumping down the dark hole, nearly screaming as she slid fast through the tunnel until she hit the bottom, landing on the hard ground. Her tail bone and back hurt but was otherwise fine.

Opening her eyes, she found herself in a cave of some sort and saw a pathway, hearing the boys' voices in distance.

She got up and followed, wondering what she'll find further down this rabbit hole.

For the moment between Severus and Regulus when they start 'war-gaming' out their plan, I took inspiration from the ending scene of 'John Wick 3: Parabellum' (Highly recommend that movie! All three films in fact! Go buy or rent them if you can!). I think you can easily find out which moment I am talking about.

We do indeed learn some more information going on with Severus and Regulus. And before you ask, this story is only from the perspective of Lily, so no flashbacks or POV with Severus or Regulus. I believe that the stories that leave things up to the imagination are the best kinds of stories. It helps get people hooked on what is going on.

Reviewer QNA Time:

To 'Hermione Snape': "Will there be a romance between Hermione and Severus in this new timeline? Well, I'm not SPOILING anything here, but the story will 'imply' certain things. Hope you are enjoying the story! And please check out my other stories."

To 'Kawisdom': "Thank you for the amazing reviews and support on all of my stories. And to answer your question, a romance with Hermione will not be something to be concerned about, though please bare with me in how it may or may not affect the story. Once again, thank you so much for the amazing reviews."

Anyway, that's all I have for you. I'll see you all in Chapter 4!