A/N - Not totally sure where I'm going with this story but bashing ahead for Dumbledore and some Weasleys, maybe Harry, not sure yet. Voldemort won't become a good guy, but he won't be the bad guy of the story.

Not sure yet on what the main pairing will be, I am leaning towards an older Slytherin (Pucey, Flint, etc), do let me know if you have suggestions.

Chapter 1

Severus Snape was annoyed. Spending the year with Dolores fucking Umbridge trailing the castle like a deranged attack dog was tiring, having to save Potter and his friends tonight was exactly what he didn't need. When the boy said his godfather was detained and being tortured, Severus knew it was a trap and he saw the frown of annoyance from the Granger girl, likely she was also aware and still rushing into danger for her friend. Her loyalty over the years confused him, she was steadfast in her friendship with both Potter and the Weasley boy, despite how badly they often treated her. A couple of years ago, the duo had stopped talking to her for months over a broom, gaining the support of their entire House and leaving her alone and isolated and once they got over it, she received no apologies from anyone. It was maddening how she still kept them a priority despite their awful behaviour. The Potter boy was slightly better than the other, but not by much as he never said anything against his best friend behaviour to their other friend, staying silent and enabling the bullying. While Severus often thought the insults from his own godson were too much, he still saw how much the ones from the Weasley boy affected her a lot more.

He waited a couple of hours before warning anyone, he had spied the group leaving the grounds flying on the back of Thestrals of all things, and knew no matter how fast the creatures could be, he still had time before they reached the Ministry. He wondered if they would realise how easy breaking in was, how no one really stopped them while they reached the Department of Mysteries. He wondered if Potter would realise the whole thing was a trap, but if Granger did and it didn't sway the boy, clearly nothing would.

Having to maintain his cover as a spy, he alerted the Order and stayed at Hogwarts himself. This whole spy thing was getting old and causing him too much stress. When he was ordered to offer his services and undying loyalty to Dumbledore to save his childhood friend, he thought there was no way Dumbledore would believe him. He did, though. He wasn't a benevolent saviour about it, he was a manipulative bastard but because Severus spoke of love, he was immediately considered truthful.

He had loved Lily Evans, as a sister growing up where he had no one else. Being sorted into different Houses and her drive to prove herself to the point of easily making enemies soured the friendship relatively fast. By fifth year, they were mostly acquaintances as she would always be defending Potter and his sidekicks, she was of the firm belief, brainwashed as soon as she was sorted, that being a Slytherin made people automatically bad and untrustworthy, which meant the bullying at the hands of the so-called Marauders was not a real issue for her, but a normal balance of things at Hogwarts. It was maddening, but considering her sister Petunia less than tolerant view of the world, it wasn't that much of a stretch to see how much the siblings truly resembled each other.

The mudblood incident had been bad and a true accident. While he did apologise, she never even tried to hear him out, finally finding the excuse she had been looking for to throw him away from her life. Which simply lowered his view of her as a person, which already wasn't very high as she refused time after time to learn anything about the traditions and culture of the Wizarding World. Severus didn't love her after that, and certainly not when he was begging Dumbledore to help him. He held a sisterly affection for her from their childhoods but nothing more. Dumbledore was too much far gone into his own delusions to realise that, however, and gaining his trust was far too easy. Of course, Severus didn't have his full trust but he still had access. Enough of it to see how much the Leader of the Light manipulated events and people to sway them to his liking. While Voldemort was the one to kill Lily, he wasn't the one to create the opportunity, nor was he the one who really wanted to do it, but being shackled to a prophecy left him little choice.

Unfortunately, he had been less than stable since his resurrection and the whole trap in the Hall of Prophecies plan left much to be desired, but his closest advisors were too scared of him to point it out. The trap hadn't worked as expected, they still didn't have the prophecy and the mutt had been killed despite orders to not kill anyone, children and adults alike. His insanity still spared magical lives as much as he could, but Bellatrix Lestrange was so far gone since Azkaban, since the night with the Longbottom really, to obey orders and killing her own family didn't seem to shock her.

With a sigh, Severus Snape left his quarters and made the trek towards the infirmary, as apparently one student was injured and Madame Pomfrey needed his expertise. It was nearing 2 am, and the Castle was eerily quiet and empty as he walked into the infirmary, there was one bed occupied.

"Ah Severus, thank you for coming. Miss. Granger has been cursed but nothing I do seems to work." Madame Pomfrey said as he approached the occupied bed, only to see the small form of Hermione Granger on the bed. She was asleep but clearly in pain and a purple gash was bisecting her in two from shoulder to hip.

Severus sighed, "I know the curse. I will deal with it. Was anyone else hurt?"

"Ronald Weasley was sent to Saint Mungo's on Headmaster Dumbledore's orders but Miss. Granger was the worst of it, everyone else only had small scraps."

"Why wasn't she also sent to Saint Mungo's then?" Severus inquired.

Madame Pomfrey frowned, "I'm not sure. He said you would be able to help and it wasn't needed."

"I see." Severus replied in a clipped tone. There had been no guarantees he would actually be able to help the girl, that particular curse wasn't widely known, it was a recent creation of Antonin Dolohov, another complete psycho they needed to get rid of, and he was sure Dumbledore wasn't aware of it. Not sending her to specialists under those circumstances felt like a death sentence to the girl and Severus did not like what it implied.

"Right, leave me."

Severus took a deep breath and started casting once Madame Pomfrey was out of sight. He first made sure the curse was really the one he had anticipated, then started casting the counter-curse, with the diagnostic of her magical core still hovering near her to have a visual of the curse leaving her.

Dolohov had designed it to empty a magical core, while in theory it could create squibs, it was too fast for someone to adapt and they would simply die from it. It appeared he had cast it in a weaker form at least so she would suffer no side effects, except the scar.

It took almost 30 minutes of constant chanting but the curse finally completely left her body and her core looked full and bright.

While he was focusing on the visual, he had noticed there was a sort of shadow on her core, something unrelated to the curse, but it appeared his counter-curse removed it as well.

Exhausted he finally cancelled the diagnostic charm and looked back at the girl before freezing in shock.

Where Hermione Granger had laid, minutes before, with bushy brown hair, freckles all over her nose, brown eyes and tan skin, now laid a similar girl but she had wavy white blond hair, pale skin with no freckles and while her eyes were closed at the moment, Severus was rather sure they would either be the light blue of the Malfoy or the silvery grey of the Black.

Once his stupor wore off, Severus Snape closed the curtains around the bed to make sure no one would see her, despite the late hour, he refused to take a risk.

Lucius Malfoy was one of his closest friends, and he knew how much the man had suffered in his grief when his little girl, his first born had died overnight a few months after her birth. There was no medical or magical ways to explain her state and Severus still remembered the magical outburst his rage had cause when the Aurors dismissed the case, saying there was no signs of murder.

Hermione Granger, now without what he assumed had been a long-term glamour tied to her magical core, looked very much like a Malfoy. Before creating a chaotic situation he didn't really want to be a part of, he summoned a blank piece of parchment and cast the only parentage charm he knew of.

With a small cutting spell on her index finger, he let a drop of her blood fall onto the blank parchment and watched names appear with both dread and fascination.

Hermione Jean Granger
Name magically changed on 19 September 1979

Born Lyra Narcissa Malfoy
On 24 July 1979

Biological parents - Narcissa Druella Malfoy and Lucius Abraxas Malfoy

No adopted parents

Magical godfather - Severus Tobias Snape
Declared on 25 July 1979

Magical godmother - Cassiopeia Violetta Black
Declared on 25 July 1979

Severus let out a stuttered breath and felt a lone tear escape his eye, in his shock he hadn't even thought about the girl being his goddaughter. Her godmother had died a few years ago, so in his mind at this moment he made a promise to take care of her, no matter what.

Once he had regained his bearings, he focused on levitating the girl out of the standard bed she was in and putting her in one of the only private rooms, casting wards to stop anyone he hadn't approved her from coming near the room, including the Headmaster. He wasn't sure what the best course of action was regarding that but felt better taking precautions.

Once he was satisfied she would be able to rest in peace, he conjured his patronus and sent a message to Lucius Malfoy.

Despite the late hour, he only had to wait 20 minutes before the man arrived, he ran towards the room and entered without a word spoken, once inside and being able to see the still sleeping face of what appeared to be his long lost daughter, Lucius Malfoy fell to his knees clutching her hand and let out an agonising sob.