1971-1972: Russ the Runaway

Severus stepped forward, sat awkwardly on the stool, and stood still as McGonagall placed the Hat on his head.

Despite knowing it was going to happen, he almost jumped out of his skin when a voice echoed between his ears. "A ready mind, I see. Perhaps you would fit well in Ravenclaw..." There was a pause. I suppose Ravenclaw would be fine. "It would, would it not?" the Hat agreed. "I sense a thirst for knowledge and a pursuit of wisdom. But then... There is also ambition to consider. And your brother is quite wily, is he not? He would be better suited in SLYTHERIN!"

Quickly removing the Hat from his head, Severus handed it over to the tall witch beside him, then hurried to the Slytherin table. He was almost there when it hit him. My brother? He glanced back at where the Hat was sitting atop the next student's head, looking notably unmoved by what it must have seen in Severus' mind. The boy's eyes were unfocused when he reached the table, his ears might as well have been stuffed with cotton because the only noise he could make out was a dull humming. His housemates cheered him, someone patted him on the back, but he only slumped on the bench and covered his face with his palms. Someone knew already. Someone knew already! His head was throbbing painfully and he rested it on the table. Questions and doubts and guilt were racing through his head, and he only barely suppressed the urge to flee the Hall and go hide in some dark corner. How did the blasted thing know? Was it a Legilimens of some sort? Must be... But when had it entered his mind? He'd spoken to it but... He hadn't felt any disturbance in his head, not a trace of another's presence. He should've known the Hat would use Legilimency! He should've been prepared to guard his mind, he should've-

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you!" Someone was shaking him. "Hey! Hey!"

He lifted his head and let his hair cover his face. Both his hands went to his temples. His head was still spinning but his breathing had now slowed down to its normal rhythm, and his hearing had become clearer. Had it? The Hall appeared to be silent, and Severus had the terrible feeling they were all looking at him. And then, as if on cue, the room erupted with excited chattering. A thousand voices mixed to form a horrible din but then - thank God for small mercies - Dumbledore finally managed to silence them by firing a few lights toward the ceiling.

"If I can have your attention," the Headmaster said, and everyone turned to look at him. "I would like to say a-"

What the man would like to say Severus was obviously not meant to hear because at that moment the matron appeared out of nowhere, and placed a hand on his shoulder so as to force him to look at her.

"I would like you to follow me, please," she told him.

Severus couldn't very well make a scene in front of the whole school - not a second one, anyway - so he complied, and followed the woman out of the Great Hall and all the way to the third floor, where apparently the Hospital Wing was located.

"You can sit here," she pointed at one of the numerous beds in the room, and proceeded to walk toward what must have been her office. She paused midstep, seemed to think of something and turned back to him, "Can I have your name?"

"Snape," Severus replied shortly, and waited as the matron disappeared behind the door.

A scene in front of the entire school may not have been an option, but he sure as hell was not going to mess up for the second time today. And 'keep away from the matron' was one of the main rules of his existence at Hogwarts. So he bolted. He bolted and ran as fast as his feet could carry him until he reached the heavy doors of the Great Hall, and spotted an alcove behind a suit of armour near the entrance. It turned out to be a perfect place to hide until the feast was over because he could stay there without anyone spotting him but at the same time could still hear some of what was being said inside. Not that that mattered. No-one said anything important and soon the food appeared on the tables, so the Hall filled with hundreds of promiscuous conversations mixed this time with the clinking of knives and forks. His stomach grumbled loudly and Severus silently cursed his luck. He dared not move from where he was crouching behind the armour suit.

At last the feast was over and the students were sent to bed. Groups of children began to exit the Hall; all of them seemed to have a prefect leading the way. Severus spotted the group of first-year Gryffindors: Lily was walking strictly behind their guide while Potter and Black were at the end of the line grinning at each other.

It wasn't long until Severus saw his own housemates exiting. A tall boy with shoulder-length blond hair was leading the new students. He vaguely remembered the same boy sitting next to him at the table. Unnoticed, Severus managed to leave his spot, and joined the group of first-years which headed in the direction of the entrance hall, and through a door on the right side of the marble staircase. It led to another staircase descending deep into the dungeons. The dungeons themselves were a whole different story. They consisted of seemingly more than a hundred corridors all meandering left and right, intertwining with each other, and leading to what should have been dead ends but turned out to be secret passageways or hidden doors every single time. By the time the group came to a stop Severus was absolutely certain he was not going to find his way to the Great Hall until at least next year.

"Bothrops jararaca," the blond spoke directly to the wall and Severus would've thought him mental if the wall hadn't split up in two to reveal a passage leading to the common room.

It was a long room with rough stone walls and a high ceiling. The place was lit by half a dozen chandeliers, and a big hearth on the far wall. A number of sofas and carved chairs were scattered around the room with tables of various heights between them. Just above the hearth was situated a giant portrait of Salazar Slytherin along with the Slytherin crest and a few green flags around it.

Most of the walls were covered by bookshelves and cupboards. In the big columns supporting the ceiling were carved a few shelves on top of which were placed a few trophies and heirlooms.

"The common room," the blond boy announced, and after letting the new additions to the House look around for about a minute, continued, "You will probably spend most of your time here. Over there," he pointed at something like a tunnel on the left wall, "is the boys' dormitory and on the other side is the girls' one. I'll advise against entering other people's dormitories unless you need to speak with the prefects or have the desire to pay a visit to the infirmary. That's inevitably where you'll end up if you play games with people you have no job bothering. My name's Lucius Malfoy, you can find me over there," he gestured to another tunnel on the left. Then proceeded to explain how they could contact each of the other prefects. "There are a few rules within this House that you'll be expected to follow, but we will discuss them tomorrow before breakfast. I will be waiting for you here at seven o'clock. Now, off to bed."

The group split in two with each student going to their respective dorm room.

The tunnel led to a heavy wooden door which opened to reveal a midsized room with five four-poster beds. On the far wall there were three round windows looking out to what Severus assumed was the Black Lake. It was too dark to say for sure.

"So it's that bad being sorted into Slytherin that you almost fainted, eh?" said one of the boys who Severus was pretty sure was called Mulciber.

Severus didn't reply.

"Well... He's a mudblood. A mongrel at best. Probably realised Slytherin was too good for him," another boy laughed. He was an average height boy with short dark brown hair and too many silver rings on his fingers. Severus remembered the same boy standing close to him just before he'd gone to be sorted. "I'm taking this bed," the boy pointed at the one closest to the door.

Before Severus had managed to say a word all the beds were taken, and he was forced to keep the bed a bit to the side from the other four. Not that he would've preferred it any other way.

He didn't bother to respond to the others' slight but instead climbed into his bed and drew the curtains. He had much bigger problems to deal with than some spoiled drivelers' insults. For one, he had to face Sev and relay the events and utter disappointment of the day.

The trunk had appeared at the foot of his bed the moment he'd claimed it as his, and was thankfully covered by the curtain, so his going inside it would remain unnoticed by the other four boys.

"It's not as bad as you make it out to be," said Seuthes once he withdrew from his brother's head.

"No? It seems pretty bad to me. The Hat knowing means Dumbledore knowing, which potentially means the staff knowing, and from there it all goes to hell."

Seuthes was looking at him as though he'd grown a second head. "We don't know that the Hat will tell anyone. We don't know that it even talks outside of the Sorting. Besides, we'll learn tomorrow, and it's my turn, so I'll take the brunt of it." He eyed the food Severus had brought down here. "I'll take this sandwich, thank you. You go to bed now."

"Mr Snape appeared to be a very interesting young man," Dumbledore said. He was somewhat hoping for a response from the portraits, but was mostly talking to himself.

"Indeed," someone replied. And to his utter surprise it turned out to be the Sorting Hat. "And much more interesting than you think, I'd say."

Dumbledore looked at it for a long minute, stroking his beard with one hand absentmindedly. The Sorting Hat's comment made the situation all the more curious. It rarely ever spoke (except, of course, to torment him with its hundreds of verses for its song for the beginning of the year. Some of them were so doggerel even the Headmaster's infamous patience was often nearly used-up). And when it spoke, that meant it had discovered something truly special.

Indeed, something strange had happened to the boy after he'd been sorted. Thankfully, Malfoy had managed to help him even before Poppy had reached the Slytherin table, but had it not been for him, Snape might have even fainted. What worried him, however, were the parallels between this boy and another that had walked the corridors of Hogwarts thirty years ago. A half-blood Slytherin with pale skin, black hair and narrowed dark eyes. Dumbledore was not one to draw conclusions from physical appearances but the similarities were certainly intriguing.

A sharp knock on the door pulled him out of his thoughts and he called for the person outside to enter.

"Ah, Poppy! Do come in, have a seat," he invited her and gestured for the chair opposite of him. "Sherbet lemon?"

Poppy glared at him disapprovingly but said nothing when he put one in his mouth anyway.

"What brings you here at this late hour?"

"The boy ran away!" the matron exploded. "Never in my life has something like this happened before. The gall-"

She stopped herself mid-sentence and fixed her gaze on his eyes as though expecting him to do something about the situation. Dumbledore couldn't help the smile Poppy's rant had provoked. Yes, Mr Snape was a very interesting boy, forsooth. Defying Madam Pomfrey — that was something the Headmaster himself dared not do. It was an act of bravery admirable even for the bravest of Gryffindors.

"You left him alone in the infirmary?" It wasn't an accusation, merely an inquiry so that he could form a better picture of the situation. "And he ran away... Perhaps you should have locked the door, Madam."

"Now, don't you play games with me, Headmaster!" the matron snapped. "The boy's obviously hiding something-"

"So I have been told," said Dumbledore, glancing at the Hat where it sat on its shelf still as stone.

"-and if it has anything to do with his health it's my duty to- what?!" His words seemed to register a second later. "And does this... secret... of his concern me?" Poppy inquired, a bit calmer now.

"I did not have the answer to your question until you entered this room tonight. Considering that Mr Snape ran away from you, it most likely does concern you. I will be sure to send him your way tomorrow."

Seuthes was starving. He'd only had a single sandwich the previous day, and he suspected his hunger was the only thing that led him to the Great Hall in less than thirty minutes. He'd only managed to lose his way twice and his housemates arrived at least half an hour later, apparently having walked in a circle for the better part of that time.

The Great Hall was - simply put - breathtaking. He'd seen it in Russ' head the previous day, of course, but being physically there was totally different. The high ceiling was charmed to look like the blue sky outside, the four House tables were much longer than he'd realised, and the High Table looked as if it'd been taken from an actual royal's dining room.

Although he was one of the first Slytherins to arrive, the other Houses' tables were already full and the students had greedily thrown themselves at the piles of food. They must not have had the talk about in-House rules.

The Malfoy boy had been waiting for them in the common room with Slughorn - the Head of Slytherin - by his side. The older man had greeted them, explained how to find his office, and left. Apparently, Malfoy didn't want him to hear what he was going to say after that, because he deliberately waited for the man to take his leave before beginning his speech. He went on a long rant about House unity and winning the House Cup, told them that it was absolutely forbidden to let anyone from a different House in the common room, and proceeded to explain that they were not to do anything that might help another House get points.

Seuthes considered this meeting a complete waste of time. The whole thing could've easily been done within less than five minutes but had actually taken about twenty minutes. It was lucky he'd remembered the way to the Hall for the most part because otherwise he might not have made it on time for breakfast.

But back to the piles of food, Seuthes' jaw had practically fallen to the floor at the sight. He'd never seen so much food in his life. Not in photos, not in paintings, not even in his wildest dreams had there been so many eggs, biscuits, toasts and a thousand other things he hadn't even heard of. It was a shame he could only eat a single toast without feeling ill.

He searched the Hall for Lily. And there she was, sitting on the other side of the room, surrounded by a few other girls. She quickly noticed he was looking at her and responded with a slight smile. Seuthes did the same. Then both turned back to their tables, the boy staring at his plate with an empty gaze.

It wasn't until his third class that things ready began to go downhill. Their first period had been Charms with the little Professor Flitwick. The man was shorter than Seuthes himself (who was noticeably shorter than all his peers) and quite literally had to climb on a stack of books just so that he could stick his head above the desk. His squeaky voice greatly reminded the boy of a bird's cheep. Despite this fact, however, Seuthes found the little teacher much better than the ones he'd had to deal with in his muggle school. And even though his lecture on the basics of magic was pretty useless in Seuthes' opinion, it still grabbed his attention and he even learnt a few new things - something he hadn't expected to do on his very first day of school.

It was Malfoy who was assigned to take the first-years to their classes, and thank heavens for that because, as Seuthes soon found out, maybe the hardest thing one had to do at Hogwarts was get from one place to another. Some of the corridors were moving around or even acting as elevators and getting the students to different floors (not always the ones they were aiming to reach). At least half of the doors didn't lead anywhere, and the other half led to a different place every time you opened them. Some even required you to caress or praise them in order to allow you to enter. Why someone would design a school like that Seuthes couldn't fathom.

The second class was Herbology with the Ravenclaws. Professor Newtwig spent the whole time on safety precautions. He seemed to be obsessed with those. But Seuthes had read lots about plants. It had been the topic of quite a few Potions books and the only plants they named as too dangerous were ones that couldn't be found in the Hogwarts curriculum.

"Lily!" exclaimed Seuthes just as he was about to enter the Great Hall for lunch. His friend was standing a few feet away and talking to an older Gryffindor that - judging by his badge - must have been a prefect.

"Oh, hi!" she replied and quickly moved to him. "Didn't see you there. You wanna have lunch together?"

The boy tugged his sleeve but after a moment replied, "Don't think my housemates would welcome a Gryffindor on our table. And same for yours, so... But maybe we could get something and go outside?"

That ended up being exactly what they did. The grounds were one of the very few places they could go to without getting lost on the way. But that wasn't the only good thing about them. The sun was shining, the grass was soft and green and the sounds of the lake and trees peaceful. One particular tree was even more so than the others because it greatly resembled the tree in their hometown where the two kids had spent so many hours laughing and talking to each other.

"So? How's it goin'?" asked Seuthes. Both friends were sitting on the ground with their backs against the trunk of the tree and their hands full of the two big sandwiches they had brought from the Great Hall.

"Oh, it's great! We had Herbology - that was pretty boring but the professor seemed nice. And then we had Transfiguration with McGonagall. She's pretty strict but not in a bad way. Seemed pretty interesting but she said it would be quite hard."

Seuthes nodded energetically as he bit hungrily on his food. He hadn't had lunch in a very long time.

"We had Herbology too," said the boy when he'd swallowed his bite. "Newtwig talked about gloves and stuff like that for 40 minutes straight. I mean, sure, some of the plants can hurt you but do we really need those fluffy slippers to walk around!"

The time was running much too fast, and it wasn't long before the two had to head for their next classes. They parted with promises to meet again the next day and Seuthes went to find his housemates.

"McGonagall," said Malfoy as he gestured toward the door beside them. "Be sure to make a good impression because she's not very fond of Slytherin. And she's in too deep with Dumbledore. That's never a good thing." With that, he spun on his heel and left with his robes bellowing behind him.

It was only Seuthes' never-ending bad luck that had once again decided to make his life as miserable as possible. All his housemates were pureblood. Which, of course, meant they already knew each other even before boarding the train. And as always, the dirty poor Snape boy was to be looked down upon because he was unworthy of anyone's time and attention. The only one that didn't treat him like dirt was Malfoy and that might have been because he was a prefect. It was better than nothing...

Just like Newtwig, McGonagall started the lesson with an explanation about how difficult Transfiguration was. Apparently, every teacher thought their subject was the most dangerous of all. Maybe professors here always decided to teach the subjects they'd had most trouble with? She then proceeded to give them a bunch of incomprehensible notes and a few far simpler instructions on how to turn a match into a needle. Transfiguration was one of the subjects Seuthes had little to no experience in. He soon found out the woman hadn't been exaggerating when she'd told them the branch was difficult because by the end of class the only thing he'd managed to do was move the match about two millimetres to the left and he was pretty sure that didn't even count as Transfiguration. He was glad to note, however, that the others weren't doing any better.

"Mr Snape," he heard a sharp voice and twisted his head to look straight at McGonagall's face where she'd managed to sneak behind him without him noticing her. He'd have to work on his hearing harder, it seemed. "Stay after class, please. You will be excused from History of Magic today."

"Yes, Professor," Seuthes replied quietly and pinned his gaze to his desk.

Everyone was throwing him suspicious looks and half-glances but no-one uttered a word until they were free to leave. Seuthes, too, stayed silent. He didn't have the slightest idea of what this might be about but he had the feeling it couldn't be anything good. The only thing that kept him from fleeing the room with the others was his fear of losing House points on his first day and making even more enemies within Slytherin.

"Now, I won't pry into your dealings with the Headmaster," began the witch once Seuthes was the only student left in the room. The sentence left him completely baffled. "But he has asked me to take you to the Hospital Wing."

That second sentence didn't help with his confusion. If anything, it left him even more lost than he already was. Well, those damn staff members must have set a goal to make the life of 'Severus Snape' as hard as possible. Why couldn't they just leave him in peace?

"Mr Snape," McGonagall ushered him and he noticed the woman was already at the door waiting for him. Her lips had formed a line that made it clear she was not pleased with Seuthes' lack of response. "Hurry up, you might be excused but I still have classes to teach."

McGonagall seemed to know the castle much better than Malfoy because they reached the third floor in at least half the time it had taken the first-years to with the prefect as a guide.

Seuthes' heart was pounding in his chest as he was gently pushed inside the infirmary. His legs seemed to be glued to the floor and his eyes were fixed on a single point somewhere out the window, but in contrast with them his mind was racing. He couldn't even begin to comprehend how everything had got so out of hand in the course of only two days. Not only was he not fitting in with his housemates, but both the matron and the Headmaster had taken an interest in him. He was half expecting Russ to come out any minute now and announce his presence to the whole wizarding world while impeaching him as an impostor.

Seuthes was still trying to come up with a plan to escape from this situation when he felt someone forcing him to sit on one of the numerous beds, much like he'd done with Russ the previous day. It was too late to run now. The door was closed. Pomfrey was standing in front of him with what appeared to be a notebook in her hands. The only thing he could do now was try to prevent her from casting any diagnostic spells and revealing the treacherous scars on his back, as those were the main difference between himself and Severus.

"Are you listening yet?" the woman asked.

"Yes." The boy noted that McGonagall had left the room. So there was still a chance he might be able to get out now that it was only the healer he had to deal with. The only issue was that if Dumbledore had sent him here, there was no evading his wishes forever.

"Good. Now, I would like you to answer a few questions for me, Mr Snape. Did you have any sleep disturbances tonight?"

What did that have to do with anything? If such questions were all the woman wanted from him, he wouldn't have anything to worry about. "No."

Madam Pomfrey noted something in her notebook. "And how about any numbness? Have you noticed your arms or mouth feeling numb after yesterday?"

"Er... no." Although, come to think of it, Russ might have.

"Okay. I am glad to hear that. And you will come to me if something like this happens again, understood?"

That was certainly not going to be the case, but... "Yes."

She looked back at her notes and scanned the page, then closed the book.

"Now, Mr Snape, would you care to tell me what happened yesterday?"

Ah, so it wasn't going to be only easy questions after all.

"I don't know what you mean," the boy replied as he hung his head and let his hair cover his eyes. Better the damn woman be unable to read his face.

"You know perfectly well what I mean. But let's split the question in two - what caused such violent reaction from you during the Sorting? And why did you run after?"

"I don't know."

Even through the black curtain of his hair, Seuthes could feel the woman's irritated glare and could see her pursed lips.

"Mr Snape," she began with the tone of someone preparing for an hour-long lecture, "I am sure I don't need to tell you that answering my questions is in your own interest. It is my duty to tend to the students' wellbeing, and I have deemed that this question is of utmost importance so that I can treat you appropriately."

Seuthes didn't care to hide his smirk as he retorted back, "With all due respect, I don't think you know what's good for me and I'll very much prefer it if it stayed that way."

The look on Pomfrey's face at that was so comical Seuthes regretted, for the first time in his life, not having a camera to capture the moment. As was always the case, things never went as planned and in the end he was forced to tell the nosy matron it had something to do with what the Hat had told him. That was all he was willing to let on, however, and soon enough, Pomfrey must have felt too drained to deal with him anymore because he was allowed to finally leave the insufferable place.

AN: I don't want to be annoying, so I'll just say it once while you're still at the beginning: ~Please~ leave reviews. Even if it's criticism, just knowing you're reading along will make my day. Alright, no more begging. I hope you enjoy the story!