Draco woke suddenly and then opened his eyes a little groggily.

"Hello," a voice Draco recognised greeted him.

Draco flinched without realizing it.

"Professor..." gasped Draco, but hesitated and stirred in his bed, wringing his hands.

This was strange to Draco, he was facing a young man who looked like Snape, but the person in front of him had to be only about 15 or 16.

Severus raised his eyebrows in confusion and intrigue at what the young wizard in front of him had suddenly called him.

While Draco couldn't take his eyes off the young Snape.

'This must be a bad dream, or a cruel joke' thought Draco but slowly his mind began to clear and he remembered that now he was no longer in his timeline.

'Hermione!' thought Draco, but before he could look for the Gryffindor he had gotten himself into all this trouble with, Severus' voice spoke to him again causing him to stare at him.

"Well it looks like you've had enough time to clear your head, now, how about you tell me the truth about what's going on," Severus said.

Draco looked at him doubtfully and nervously, but he didn't respond, his gaze quickly moved from Snape and he looked for his "Partner" in all this mess.

Finally, Draco saw Hermione lying on another bed staring at him, she seemed to want to say something to him but for some reason, she couldn't speak.

Severus snorted.

"You know, it's not polite to ignore someone when they're talking to you," he said coldly.

Draco took a shaky breath.

" This isn't the way things were meant to be..." muttered Draco nervously under his breath, but Severus could hear him.

'Oh, so something went wrong. Good, we're making progress. Looks like he's easier to deal with than the young witch' Severus thought with a faint smile.

"You can trust me, if you tell me what's going on maybe I can help you," Severus said.

"I..., I can't!" replied Draco as he gave Hermione a nervous look.

"Why can't you...?" asked Severus.

"Is it because of her?" he added coldly, pointing his wand at Hermione.

Draco stared at him.

"No, no, it's not that, I really can't tell you," Draco answered quickly trying to stop him from doing anything against her.

Draco may not like Hermione, but he needed her, they both needed each other now.

Severus snorted tiredly and a little irritated, but he quickly calmed his emotions.

'Looks like this isn't going to be that simple' Severus grumbled internally.

"How about you start by telling me your name? I'm Severus Snape, come on, now you."

"Draco..." he replied weakly and nervously.

"Draco what?" asked Severus as calmly as he could.

"That..., that I can't say," answered Draco and in that instant, Severus' patience began to run out.

"Very well, you asked for it," said Severus, raising his wand and pointing it at Draco.

But the instant he did this, Hermione got up from the bed using the little strength she had and weakly grabbed his arm.

She knew what he was about to use... "Legeremens", and she had to stop him.

Severus paused to look at the young witch weakly grasping his arm, while Draco looked nervously at the two of them.

She gave Severus a pleading look, he almost believed she had thought he would use some dark magic on his friend.

But her eyes showed a different kind of concern, she knew perfectly well what he was about to do.

'Interesting...' thought Severus looking at the weak witch in front of him.

Thinking about it for a few moments Severus sighed tiredly and lowered his wand, causing her to relax noticeably, and instantly the witch's body collapsed in exhaustion.

Severus quickly grabbed her and helped her lie back down.

If he wanted to he could have easily dodged the young witch and cast the same spell on Draco, but he was impressed by the young woman's willpower since she shouldn't be able to move yet.

For a second he remembered Padme and his heart contracted in pain, but he didn't think much more about it, he had already accepted his past and decided to move on.

For now, Draco and Hermione posed no danger to him in their current state, so he had time to get them to talk.

Maybe being more aggressive would work, but it was just by looking into Hermione's brown eyes that he gave up on that idea.

They were annoyingly similar to Padme's.

"You know, you're not making this easy for me," Severus complained, and with a quick flick of his wand, he cast a spell on Hermione causing her to be able to speak again.

"Sorry... There are just some things we can't honestly tell you," Hermione sighed and said

finally seeing that she had no choice but to go with the truth.

While Draco just nodded.

" Fine, I understand..., then for now tell me everything you can tell me, and don't try to fool me again," Severus hissed in warning that he would not tolerate her lying to him a second time.

Hermione gave Draco a quick glance and he just nodded at her as if agreeing to her doing that.

It was then that she began to tell him as much as she could.

Severus listened to everything attentively without interrupting the young witch's babbling, even as he had more and more questions as he listened to her.

"So... Are you from the future?" asked Severus with a look in his black eyes full of interest.

"Yes," she replied, nodding a little more relaxed after many minutes of talking, that seemed to have released her from a great burden she was carrying.

Severus pressed them for more information, urging Hermione to continue.

He noticed that the young witch liked to talk a lot, he thought at first that it would be the young Lucius-like wizard from whom he would get the most information.

But he had never been so wrong.

Severus listened attentively, nodded, and politely interjected here and there into the mess of things she was telling him.

Hermione tried to tread carefully when asked about the details of the future, she knew there was a lot of information she couldn't give Severus, she could tell him some general details, but only that.

Severus insisted that she keep telling him more, but she would only answer the occasional question from him.

"Hmmm, so you two managed to get back to the past with the help of my future self?" asked Severus.

They both nodded.

"Interesting..., and you also say that telling me more about my future self could be... dangerous" added Severus very intrigued with the new developments.

Professor Snape had made it very clear to Draco and Hermione that no one from the past could know about the details of their own future and that only in the worst-case scenario could they tell someone about what led them to the past and their goal.

But he forbade them to tell details about their future to anyone, they must never do that.

Something that irritated Severus as he had many unanswered questions and doubts, but he let it pass considering the honesty with which they began the present.

'If they really did time travel, that means...'

'Had been given another chance...?' wondered Severus.

They told him that they had travelled around 22 years into the past and he determined that their time travel was the cause of that wave in the Force.

But when he felt that wave in the Force, he was in another galaxy, which leads him to think that maybe... just maybe...

'His time travel affected not only this galaxy...' Severus thought with renewed hope.

'The force surely worked in mysterious ways' he said to himself as he thought of the many possibilities of these events.

He now knew more than anyone that this was true, now that he thought about it, it was the Force balancing itself, using him as a way to correct the chaos these two caused by travelling into the past.

Maybe he was overthinking it, but it made sense, it made a disturbingly large amount of sense.

It was all connected, Draco and Hermione's time travel with the help of the Snape from the future, then Vader dying and staying in the Force, and then ending up in the body of a young Snape who was dying for creating all this chaos.

The merging of his souls as Snape and Vader that formed him and now his encounter with those who caused it all.

'Such a drag' Severus thought a little frustrated at the thought of all that was going on, but he also knew that this could be a good thing, it was an opportunity.

Part of him was overjoyed at this news and he knew that it was his Vader self that was unleashing all these emotions.

Just the possibility of seeing Padme again changed everything.

Without realizing it, his body unconsciously released a bit of Force which slightly affected the atmosphere around him.

This made Hermione and Draco flinch.

Severus noticed their carelessness and quickly controlled the Force he had unconsciously released but still, a great contemplation weighed on his brows as he leaned back in a chair in the room.

"Well, I guess that's all you will tell me. Now you can rest and then leave and get on with your plans," Severus said as he rose from the chair ready to leave the room.

He now had a lot of things to consider and contemplate.

"Wait!, leave?, didn't you hear what we told you about the Dark Lord, don't you plan on helping us?" Draco asked dryly, he had been quiet most of the time since they started talking.

'Snape sure was going to help us' Draco thought fully trusting his favourite professor.

"Draco..." Hermione tried to say, trying to remind him that the Snape in front of them was not the professor they knew.

And the reality was that they knew that the Snape in front of them had probably been thinking about joining Voldemort and his followers until recently.

But she could not tell him this.

At least she knew that young Snape was smart enough not to do such a thing after hearing what the future held for the magical community under Voldemort.

"You mentioned that you knew many things about my past, things that my future self let you see..., so you should know by now that if it weren't for what you told me, I would still be looking forward to joining Voldemort's side right now," Severus commented, causing them both to nod.

Although the truth was that their time travel had already changed the future, as Vader should never have made contact with Snape and he shouldn't exist, but that no longer mattered because here he was now and nothing could change that.

"And just because I know the evil that Voldemort represents for the future doesn't change the fact that he didn't do anything to me, clearly I'm not interested in joining him now but neither am I interested in seeking to kill him," Severus added.

And it was then that the realisation that he was now actually with a Snape of about his age and not the professor he could always trust came crashing down on Draco like a ton of bricks.

"But you..., you helped us get here, so you must understand that this is something your future self wants," Draco stated with hope in his eyes.

'Snape couldn't leave us alone in this, could he?' thought Draco.

"Yes, I'm sure my future self would have had a good reason to help you come to the past..." nodded Severus.

"But still, I'm not my future self," he clarified, making Draco slightly desperate and pissed off.

"No!, you have to help us, if you knew..." began Draco but was quickly interrupted by another voice.

"Draco stop it!" shouted Hermione before Draco could say something he shouldn't have.

Severus on the other hand looked at the two with interest, he knew there must be a very good reason why the Snape of the future decided to help these two young wizards, something for which he would want to take down Voldemort, but they didn't mention anything about their lives.

And now that Draco was about to say something that they were so reluctant to tell him before, he was interrupted by Hermione.

But Severus didn't really care about the future Snape's reasons, everything was different now, even him.

"Granger, he needs to know!" shouted Draco, mentioning the witch's surname for the first time.

They had only told Severus that Draco was a pureblood wizard and that she was a Muggleborn, but never mentioned their surnames.

However, Severus could guess that Draco was related to Lucius Malfoy.

"Draco, it's not an option!" Hermione said seriously as she glared at Draco.

Draco stared defiantly at Hermione for a few seconds, but finally, he gave up and huffed angrily.

He couldn't do anything if she refused, Professor Snape had made them take an unbreakable vow that they would only tell things about the future that they both agreed to.

This intrigued Severus a little, but not too much, he already had so many things to think about.

"Well if that's all..." said Severus not caring too much about the conflict between the two of them.

With the information they already gave him, he now had enough to start thinking about what to do from now on.

"Wait!" Draco shouted at Severus making him look at him waiting for whatever he had to tell him.

Draco's head was pounding, he didn't know how to convince the young Snape to help them, but he needed to.

Draco pressed a finger to his temple, grimacing as the nails of pain dug their way into his skull.

"We know where the Prince family ring is with which you can take the inheritance test to be the next heir," commented a calm Hermione instantly as she saw that Draco was not handling the current situation well.

Draco looked at her with wide eyes.

'How can I forget about that!?' he groaned inwardly, but he was happy that the know-it-all Granger was useful.

It was then that they saw the young Snape's reaction of intrigue, interest, doubt, and

complete surprise.

They both knew that they had now gained his undivided attention.

Hermione wasn't sure at first if mentioning that would work to gain Severus' favour, but seeing Draco's efforts to hold him back, she couldn't help but bring it up.

She didn't know if the young Snape was interested in his maternal family's inheritance, she only knew that Professor Snape had been investigating his family for some time until he found the ring.

But since he was an adult and could not obtain the Prince's inheritance, he ceased to give the matter any importance.

Professor Snape didn't seem particularly disappointed by it, it seemed more like a simple passing disappointment, so Hermione didn't know how much this inheritance might appeal to the young Snape, but from the reaction he had, she was sure that the current Severus cared quite a bit this matter.

And Draco was delighted with this development, he was convinced that no one would pass up the chance to get the inheritance of a Noble family, not even Snape.

Plus considering that young Severus wished to be a death eater along with him hating his Muggle father and even using the Half-Blood Prince alias, it was quite obvious to assume that being the heir to the Prince family could be one of the biggest dreams the current young Snape could have and this was beneficial to them.

"This... I didn't hear you right, you said you knew where the Prince family ancestral ring is?" this came as quite a shock to Severus, he couldn't believe they knew that, but this could be their chance.

With the political and economic power he would gain by being the heir to the house, he could stay away from the bothersome death eaters for a while and get money for his many future plans.

Now that he knew there was a possibility that Padme was still alive, he had many things to do, and they all required money and time.

He had discarded the idea of getting the inheritance because he didn't have the ancestral ring from his mother's family, but it seems that life is now smiling on him a little.

Things may have taken an unexpected turn, but he is benefiting from it.

"Huh, looks like you're interested now," Hermione couldn't help but tease a little at the intrigued young Severus in front of her.

"Alright, let's get straight to the point," Severus said not bothering to deny what she said.

"What exactly do you want in return for telling me where it is?" Severus finally asked in his usual cold voice, but much more sociable and approachable than before, his tone had stopped being so dry, direct, harsh, and intimidating.

He didn't need to get information out from either of them anymore, he knew he wouldn't get much more than what they already told him.

If he really wanted to know more he would have to use force, but part of him didn't feel right about doing that to innocent people, so he dismissed the idea.

He decided that there was no need to act tough and intimidating in front of them anymore, since both sides had something they needed from the other, it was better to speak calmly and honestly.

"Does that mean you'll help us?" asked Draco.

"No," Severus replied quickly.

"But since you are offering me something I want, it is fair enough that I listen to your terms and know what you want."

"But just because I'm willing to listen to you doesn't mean you can take advantage of the situation, I wouldn't want to have to use unconventional methods to get what I want," he added, glaring at them.

Making Draco and Hermione tense up and swallow.

Severus laughed slightly amused at the nervousness barely present in the two young wizards when he said that.

" Although no... I have no intentions of doing such things, too much work and time that I don't have at the moment," Severus commented lightly as he smiled slightly amused.

"You...!" Hermione and Draco realised that he was only teasing them.

Draco relaxed noticeably and so did Hermione, but she still wanted to give him a sharp reprimand, but she controlled herself, he wasn't her friend that she could do such things.

But despite not saying anything to him, she gave him a sullen look to let him know that she didn't think his comment was funny.

"Come on, don't look at me like that Miss Hermione, it was just a joke, it may have been an unnecessary comment and maybe I went a bit overboard, my mistake," Severus said not really feeling bad about his joke.

"Well from now on you can call me Severus to make things easier. So, what do you say we make a deal?" he asked, relaxing the tense atmosphere a little.

Hermione seemed to accept the apology, she was very nervous at the moment without her wand which made her feel so helpless, that's why she was angry at young Severus' joke.

Whereas Draco didn't seem to mind, Slytherins were usually like that, so he understood young Snape.

Still, Hermione and Draco were surprised by the sudden change in young Severus' attitude.

They were very confused, they hadn't expected the Snape in front of them to act intimidating and irritable on purpose, they would have sworn that young Severus was just like the adult Snape, with a few small changes.

But no, they were wrong.

Not only was the current Severus more sociable and outspoken, but he also didn't seem the least bit bothered by the fact that Hermione Granger was a Muggle-born and a mudblood.

'Come to think of it in the whole conversation he never showed any sign of displeasure at the mention of me being a muggle-born..., how strange...' Hermione thought intrigued.

Draco didn't think much of such things as he didn't give such a thing a second thought, after all, he wasn't a muggle-born, but he was surprised at the change in Snape's attitude.

"Yes, we would like that and you can call me Draco," he nodded quickly.

"Well..., it's not like I could call you different," Severus joked since he never told him his surname.

Draco smiled a little embarrassed but nodded.

While Hermione was silent, she couldn't help but think about what she knew about Snape.

She knew that he was a half-blood but like Voldemort, he didn't consider his Muggle father's blood his own.

Voldemort called himself a pureblood and abhorred anyone who did not believe or did not believe in the supremacy of blood and she understood that Snape as a teenager believed in the same ideals as the Dark Lord.

Severus hated his father and compared all Muggles to him, which was why he wanted to serve a powerful wizard like Voldemort, but apparently, he wasn't quite like that, or the young man in front of her didn't show much interest in those ideals.

And she wouldn't believe that this was all just because they told her what would happen if Voldemort won.

'Hmm, maybe Severus just looked like that on the outside, but inside he was never really like that...' Hermione began to question many things, remembering the various scenes in which she saw a young Severus Snape behaving like a typical blood purist.

Hermione could now tell that the young man in front of her was very different from what she thought he would be, he not only fooled them with his attitude at first, but now he was completely different from what they thought.

Yes, Severus was still cold and rather dark, but much more relaxed and honest when he spoke, he even joked with them.

Something Professor Snape never would do.

She was very grateful that Severus was more open than she expected, she thought he was going to threaten them or that he would find some method to get the information out of them.

Now Hermione was facing a young Severus who was willing to talk like a more sociable person, he even told them to do so, call him by his first name, that was almost unthinkable to Hermione.

Calling Professor Snape by his name, that was only done by Dumbledore along with a few other teachers or acquaintances of him.

"Miss Hermione?" called Severus interrupting Hermione's inner thoughts.

She had apparently been thinking more than she should have, making Draco and Severus a little nervous.

Severus thought that perhaps she was thinking about what to ask him in return for telling him about the location of the Prince family ancestral ring.

"Hermione," Hermione suddenly said, directing a serious look at him.

"Huh?" Severus was rather confused by the serious look she gave him, he didn't understand what she meant by saying his name so seriously.

"If I'm going to call you S-Se-Severus, it seems logical to me that you call me by my name only as well," Hermione clarified rather seriously as if she wanted to validate his logic and the importance she attached to this matter.

She called Severus' name with some difficulty, but strangely pleased to be able to call him by his name and not as Snape or Professor.

Severus, who saw the serious look on Hermione's face as they discussed such a banal matter as names and how to address each other, couldn't help but laugh lightly.

Even Draco chuckled at the strange Gryffindor.

'Puff... by Merlin..., I know a lot of weird people and species but she takes the top spot!' thought Severus amused.

" Forget it, Granger can be quite weird sometimes," Draco commented as he laughed mockingly at her.

Hermione played down Draco's mockery as seeing Severus laugh so suddenly surprised her even more, she hadn't expected these reactions from him.

"Ahem!...well, apologies, I didn't expect our names to be such a big deal, I was expecting another response from you when I saw that serious look on your face...something related to what you wanted for the ring or anything else really, it just surprised me," Severus said now a little calmer.

Hermione was dumbfounded, she could swear that never in her wildest dreams or thoughts had she seen this scene before, but now she was seeing the stoic, unchanging, cold, dry, hard and dark Severus Snape laughing and apologizing like this.

And his laugh was so unique, he had a deep, cold tone of voice that when he laughed created something unique and very pleasant to listen to, that day Hermione realised that Severus when he laughed was quite charming.

"Hermione?" Severus called her name again in his deep, cold voice, making Hermione freeze.

Severus Snape's call brought her out of her strange thoughts.

It was so strange for her to hear that unique voice of Severus Snape calling her name alone, but Hermione had to admit that it wasn't unpleasant at all.

"Yes?" she asked still lost in her strange thoughts.

"You know, I'm still waiting for your answer...," Severus replied.

"I told you, freaky," Draco commented again with a sneer and Severus had to agree that the young witch was indeed weird.

"Look, I don't mean to be nosy but I recommend that you stop getting so lost in your thoughts when you're talking to someone, otherwise the conversations you have will become quite awkward..." advised Severus gently suggesting to Hermione that she stop thinking so much while she was talking.

'Could it be that the time travel has affected her brain?' thought Severus, she was really starting to look weirder and weirder in his eyes.

What he said made Hermione think again that the young man in front of her might be very similar to the future Professor Snape, but no doubt the Severus in front of her was completely different and that could save him.

He couldn't go back to being a dark wizard, something she would make sure wouldn't happen.

"I'm sorry..., this happens to me quite a lot, I'll take your advice into account," Hermione replied a little embarrassed.

Severus just nodded in understanding.

"Yeah, right, as if you were going to do that," Draco scoffed, he didn't think that was possible, he had made comments to her about it on more than one opportunity, and she never gave it a thought.

What he didn't know was that Hermione tended to ignore him completely when he teased her, and clearly wouldn't pay attention to what he said unless he was more serious about it.

"I also agree to discuss what you could give us in exchange for the location of the Prince family ancestral ring, though I think you can already guess what we want," Hermione said ignoring Draco's comments.

"Yes, but it would be easier if you told me directly, just to make sure there are no misunderstandings, I'm not promising anything either, as I said before, I'm not interested in all this mess you two have," Severus nodded and replied.

Hermione then looked at Draco who only nodded.

That was the signal that he didn't care if she took care of the matter.

"Well, since you're not interested in our fight with Voldemort we'll just ask you to help us with other things."