A/N: Hi all! This is a long story. It's over 100k words and 35 chapters, so it will take a while to post fully. It's complete on my hard drive as usual and will be updated weekly. So, settle in for a long ride. I hope you like this unique take on Time Travel in the HP Universe. If you can't tell, we're going to throw a good deal of canon out the window, but not all of it. Mwahaha.

Chapter 1

Severus Snape hurried through the Hogwarts halls to get to his class. He'd been held back at breakfast by his Housemates who were talking about plans for after their graduation… again. Most wanted to join Voldemort as soon as they could after graduating in the coming June.

He wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do. The power they spoke of was enticing, and being part of a group where he could belong sounded even better. All his life he had longed for camaraderie, but it had eluded him. Sure he had some friends at school, but he knew they weren't true friends–not anyone he could count on. The Death Eaters promised a brotherhood that was appealing, but he'd heard some things in passing from Lucius that seemed rather extreme, and he wasn't sure he wanted to get involved in that.

Heading up the stairs, he got to the seventh floor and turned the corner. He stopped dead in his tracks. Potter had Lily up against the wall and was kissing her as if the world were about to end. Severus felt his stomach drop as he watched them. He ducked back behind the corner before they could notice him and waited for them to end their makeout session.

"Oh James," he heard from Lily. "You're wonderful."

He grimaced as his heart constricted within him. How could she let that cad paw her like that? After everything Potter had done… was still doing to him. She knew how Potter and his cretin friends had taken every opportunity to hex him. She knew that they were enemies, and Potter had been cruel and horrid, yet she had fallen for him anyway.

After everything they'd had… Lily and he had been friends… best friends… at least they used to be.

Well, they weren't anything to one another anymore, were they? He'd gone and mucked that up good in fifth-year, and she hadn't spoken to him since. Even when they shared classes, she didn't bother to look at him or address him. She obviously didn't care if she fell into his enemy's arms. She didn't care that his enemy had done awful things to him. She just didn't care.

He peered around the corner and saw that the hallway was now empty. He hurried along to his classroom, making it just in time before Professor Slughorn walked in to start class. There they were again… lab partners, Lily and Potter. He watched them out of the corner of his eye as he prepared the potion for class. They giggled together, and she looked at him like he was good enough to eat.

Severus wanted to be sick.

Pushing them out of his mind, he concentrated on stirring his brew… Veritaserum. Professor Slughorn meandered by, peeking into his cauldron.

"Perfect as usual, Mr. Snape," he acknowledged as he moved on.

When he got to Potter, he bent low to view the potion.

"I believe you've not put in enough Jabberknoll feathers, Mr. Potter," he advised before moving to Lily's work.

"Very good, Miss Evans," he said before moving to the next table.

When Slughorn had his back to them, Severus watched Potter lean in and kiss Lily. He took his sweet time, and she seemed quite overwhelmed. Severus wanted to vomit right into his cauldron.

He frowned. Done with his potion, he placed his stirrer on the table. Picking up the cauldron, he placed it in the secondary room on one of the tables set up in there. Here the potion would sit for a month before it was ready to be used. Severus waved his wand over the cauldron, effectively putting a lid on it with his name scratched into it so no one would mistake his for someone else's. He returned to his seat, glaring as Potter and Lily continued their makeout session. Thankfully, at that moment, Slughorn turned and advised everyone to put their potions into the other room and that class was over. Severus grabbed his books and marched up to Slughorn's desk.

"Might I have a library pass to the Restricted section?" he asked.

"Of course. What are you researching?"

"I want to find a new spell to… counteract hexes."

"Have you developed a hypothesis as to how it would work?"

Severus shook his head. "No, that's why I want to go to the Restricted section."

Professor Slughorn took a small piece of parchment and waved his wand over it, writing a pass for Severus to be able to explore books in that area and take them out if he so chose. Severus nodded his head in acknowledgment, snatched up the permission slip, and made his way out of the Potions lab.

Heading to the library and giving his permission note to Madam Pince, Severus moved to the Restricted section. He'd lied to Slughorn. He was looking for some way to escape this hell he was living in. His Housemates only looked out for themselves and had chosen Severus so they could get honor with Voldemort by bringing him into the fold. All of them were already promised to the Dark Lord by their Death Eater parents. Severus was a wild card.

Despite being interested in the Death Eaters, he didn't like being forced to join the organization, whether he would get power or not. Part of him did want to join, but a bigger part was very wary of them and their actions. Everything was so secretive. He was told that all would be revealed once they had joined. Well, he didn't want to wait for that.

And then there was Lily. The previous year had been horrid with her totally ignoring him, but this year… Well, it was only a month in, and watching Potter fall all over her was sickening. He missed his friend, but he was also hurt by her actions. She knew that Potter was his enemy. She knew that he went out of his way to attack him. She knew!

It was as if she was rubbing their falling out in his face by parading around with Potter. He didn't know if he could take an entire year of Lily flaunting her relationship with Potter wherever they were. He didn't know what he could do to avoid it, but he hoped that he could find a spell that would make him indifferent to everything, or something that would change his focus so it wouldn't matter so much.

Looking through the books in the Restricted section, he searched for something new about spells. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he thought that possibly casting a spell upon himself might make his school year much more bearable.

He paused as he found a book that might just do it. He removed the book from the stacks and looked at the title.

Spell Theory

Like all Restricted section books, it had an invisible magical lock on it that only those students with permission to be in the Restricted Section could remove. Severus waved his wand over the book and the lock snapped open. Finally able to open the book, he cracked it to the contents page. He drew back as a puff of smoke emerged from it.

Waving his wand, he cleared the smoke and peered at the table of contents. There were many different sections within the book. He arched a brow as a section on time travel spells caught his eye. He wasn't sure if that would help him in any way, but the topic was definitely interesting and might give him some ideas on how to survive the year.

Moving to a table, he sat and buried himself in the text. As he read, he found the basics of creating a time travel spell that could take him either to the past or the future. Closing the book, he checked it out and took it to his room to study more in-depth.

oooOOOooo

Severus settled into his bed and cracked the book open again. He found it interesting that there was a spell that could move a person through time. He only thought that was possible with a Time-Turner.

He smirked at the text as he read.

As one never knows when a trip through time will be needed, and a Time-Turner isn't always available, it is necessary to have a spell to help one along in their endeavors.

When creating a spell to travel through time, one must take into account the direction in time one wants to go. Once that has been determined, the reason why must be visualized. Create your spell using the Latin words Tempus Motus and then add futurum or olim depending on the direction.

The final word or words in the spell will describe what you hope to accomplish with your time travel. Use the Latin word that best describes what you want to do. Use no more than three words extra in your spell as more than that will muddy the spell and cause you to be transported somewhere you do not want to be.

He looked up from the tome. If he were to disappear from this time, where would he go, and why? The past… Well, he somewhat knew what to expect with the past, didn't he? Perhaps he could change something? Make it so he'd never said that awful thing to Lily. How would that change time for him? He wasn't even sure if it would change anything, as Lily had been upset with the company he kept, and unfortunately, those were his only friends aside from her. He didn't think a trip to the past would change that no matter how he tried.

Besides, the spell said it was random. He wouldn't be able to set the time frame. What if he wound up in the Middle Ages or something? He enjoyed the comforts of his current time. He thought about it for a while and came to the conclusion that ultimately, he wasn't interested in going backwards.

The future… totally unknown. That held a certain draw to it. He could start over. Maybe have some real friends. Friends who cared about him.

But why would he travel forward?

The book said that you didn't have to pick an exact time, just a reason, and the spell would determine the best time. His eyebrows knit together. It all seemed too arbitrary. He wasn't one to just let chance figure things out.

Picking up the book, he continued reading.

When the spell is built in this way, it can predict where the best location is for the caster. In this way, the travel would be meaningful for said traveler, and they will be able to accomplish what they set out to do by casting the spell. Nothing is guaranteed, but the possibility is there when the spell is cast in this way.

Severus put the book down again. This could work. He could transport to the future and accomplish something. But what?

If he left this time, he'd want to have peace. His entire life had been filled with pain and stress. His father had made his childhood horrible, and his time at Hogwarts had been a negative experience. He wanted to live where he was accepted… where he'd have people who were true friends.

He had thought he'd had a true friend in Lily, but now he questioned even that friendship while it had lasted.

If she could fall in love with his mortal enemy so easily, could it mean she'd never really considered him a friend at all? Or had their friendship meant so little to her that she could throw him away and not even care that James Bloody Potter had been attacking him for years? He didn't pretend to know what Lily thought anymore, but the idea that she'd never truly cared about their friendship made his heart constrict within him.

Perhaps just removing himself from being around Potter and Lily would help him feel better about life. Moving into the future would definitely remove that negativity for him.

But wouldn't that be running from his problems? Perhaps it would be, but he wanted to examine this option fully before he cast it off as a ridiculous notion from a desperate man.

He rested against his headboard, returning to thoughts of traveling into the future. What could he do that would be fulfilling? What would he want to accomplish? He wanted to do something good… to make a difference.

Yes, that was it. He would go somewhere where he could make a difference. Where he could have serious friendships and have a happy existence.

But could he have that in the here and now?

His eyebrows knit together as he thought about it. He truly didn't know, but the last seventeen years had proven that his life had been pretty miserable so far.

From the text, he gleaned that weaving his desires into the spell would make them happen. Obviously, they could happen in innumerable ways, and there was no guarantee that he'd like the happiness he'd find.

He frowned. That sounded so ridiculous. Happiness was happiness. Whatever would happen in the future may be different, but it could make him happy. That's what he yearned for, wasn't it? Being happy.

He wasn't happy now. He'd never truly been happy for any length of time. He'd been labeled negatively right from the start.

Loner

Oddball

Waste

Loser

Strange

Git

Would those labels follow him throughout his life in the here and now? Probably.

Severus frowned. He put his book aside and left his bed. Stalking out of the Common Room and up the stairs, he was soon outside and headed for the lake. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his trousers as he hastily made his way to the path along the lake. He finally got there, and he stopped and gazed out across the lake.

Was it bad of him to want to do this? Was he trying to escape the life and experiences he had been dealt? Was this just a copout?

He sighed and began walking along the pathway, glancing out at the water now and then. He mulled everything over in his mind. He tried to ignore the feeling in his heart. He wanted to work this out in his head before he followed his wayward heart. It was always getting him in trouble.

If I stay, I pretty much know what my future will be. I will be a Death Eater. I'll have power, but true friends will probably not be part of my future, even with the promise of belonging that being part of that group gives.

–What Lucius said about the raid he'd been on… it was troubling. He never declared anything outright, but it hadn't been just about convincing someone that they should follow the Dark Lord. You could glean from what he didn't say that torture was included in what they'd done… possibly even murder. Even more disturbing was Lucius' pride in what had happened.

Hexing someone as a joke or in defense is one thing, but I don't know if I can attack people who don't side with the organization's views. I'm not sure I want to be that person. I will be committed to that lifestyle for the rest of my days if I join because I know there is no leaving that group once I take the Mark.

On the other hand–If I travel to the future, it may be so far into the future that all that I know now won't exist. Would I even be able to adjust to such a difference? Even if I do, how would I accomplish my goal? Will it be evident or will I have to search for it?

I would be able to start anew, though. Be the person I want to be without all that the last years have piled on me. It sounds freeing.

Halting his steps, he found some flat rocks along the path. He picked up a few and skimmed them across the water. That really didn't help him at all, but it was satisfying in its own right. He folded his arms in front of him and stared out at the water. The Giant Squid raised a tentacle as if he was waving at Severus. He smirked at that.

He stared out at the lake for a very long time, not thinking about anything. He watched the little ripples travel across the lake and concentrated on them to clear his mind.

Finally, he listened to what his heart wanted. He'd worked out the good points and bad points of both options. Now he let his heart speak.

Do it, you have nothing to lose. Casting the spell will give you what you have longed for your entire life.

His lips thinned as he came to accept what his heart had been trying to tell him all afternoon. He would travel into the future and try his luck at happiness there.