Chapter 6: Healer

The new Severus Snape bore no nametag, much like Heartless, but it was clear that he was different aside from the obvious fact that, of course he was a different Snape. Unlike Gestalt and Heartless, this new Snape wasn't wearing black; instead, he wore robes one would usually see on a Healer at St. Mungo's.

"Nametag," Obscurial said blankly, gesturing to the box.

The nameless Snape took one and put it on, and the word 'Healer' appeared.

"Seems appropriate," Healer said, looking down at his nametag. Even the way he spoke was more relaxed and calming.

"... alright, what happened?" Heartless asked.

"What do you mean?"

"We all have stories, what's yours?"

"... what's yours?"

"Emotional lobotomy," Heartless said.

"Timeline rewrite," Gestalt said.

"Self-loathing," Obscurial said. "We have a janitor who's a Squib. Now then, what about you?"

"Perhaps we should establish a baseline for all new arrivals?" Healer suggested. "So, you have one who's a Squib, and three, or four, who are not. I know of Gestalt's history, but what of you two?"

"My life deviates after the point where I called Lily... that word."

"... you did that as well?" Healer asked sullenly.

"Caretaker's the only one who dodged that bullet," Obscurial said. "Being a Squib and all."

"Right." Healer sat down at the bar. "Well, I called Lily that word, and then I went through the rest of the year regretting it. Obviously."

"Obviously," everyone else repeated.

"The day after I arrived home for the summer, I went over to Lily's house to try to speak with her. The whole family was there; Petunia was in the middle of moving out. Dad decided to follow me to the house because he was angry about something; Mum followed him. Apparently, it was the worst possible time to do so."

"What do you mean?" Gestalt asked.

"It would seem that a variant of Dragonpox had been spreading across Britain."

"A variant?"

"The variant started infecting half-bloods, and, due to the shared nature of muggle and magic, Muggle-borns. The heatwave made it worse. Anyway, we had to quarantine in Lily's house for the summer. Can I get some water?"

Obscurial gave Healer a glass, and the latter took a long drink.

"Thank you. Eventually, we made it through, and by that time, Lily and I made up. I decided to pursue something I'd wanted to become before I got involved with the Death Eaters, and here we are now."

"How was your career?" Gestalt asked.

"I did fairly well for myself, all things considered. Of course, being a Healer meant that I wouldn't have to take the children anywhere when they were sick."

"You had children as well?"

"Two daughters, one son."

Gestalt couldn't help but smile at the news. "They must have been a handful."

"Well, our parents helped us with that. You know, their first words were 'Toby'."

Obscurial chuckled a bit. "Of course."

Heartless shared a confused look with Gestalt, but the latter simply shrugged. He had no way of knowing how that had happened, but here they were.

As they spoke, Caretaker reappeared, this time, changed out of his old clothes and into similar ones. "Just the three of them so far?"

"So far," Obscurial replied.

"Did you have any pets?" Gestalt asked Healer.

"A cat," Healer said. "Part-Kneazle. Always tended to cling to Evan more than the girls."

Gestalt liked the name 'Evan'; he'd wondered what would have happened had he named Harry that. While in thought, he felt another presence.

"Someone else?" Obscurial asked, seemingly picking up on Gestalt's mannerisms.

Gestalt nodded. "He's close... he feels different, somehow."

A minute passed, and a scarred Severus Snape walked into the room.