The last weeks of summer before the term started again flew by and soon, staff was beginning to return to the castle to prepare themselves and their classrooms for the onslaught of students. During the last few days Severus had unexpectedly shifted from aloofness to wanting to be next to an adult every waking hour of the day. He did not particularly want to do anything with them, but if Dumbledore or McGonagall even thought about going somewhere that Severus couldn't, he would chase after them and stand uncomfortably close. While it would have been easy to leave the boy in her room while she attended the first staff meeting of the year, Severus had looked so terrified when she made for the door that she could see the meltdown coming before it happened. She wordlessly took his hand and led him out of her quarters.

"It's going to be very crowded," she warned as they approached the staff room. Already, the low din of voices could be heard. "You'll need to be very good and stay quiet while Professor Dumbledore speaks, alright?"

But to Minvera's horror, Albus Dumbledore was not there for his own meeting. He usually arrived early, as did she, but they had both seemingly been running late that day. This left her to recite the explanation, albeit with significantly less detail than Albus would have, to her gawking coworkers.

To make matters worse, as she has predicted, Severus became instantly fretful at the sight of the room filled with strangers. He first tried to tug her back out of the room and when that didn't work, he hid behind her and pressed himself so close she could feel him trembling. With all eyes on her, she had to bend down to take him into her arms.

The upside was, with his sniffling nose pressed into her neck, nobody could see his face.

As Dumbledore predicted, the professors of Hogwarts happily went along with their story with little to no interrogation. But it was clear from their reactions which of them had their own theories.

"Sev," Pamona sighed, her hand to her heart. Despite the clearly nervous child she had stepped closer, as children were often very fond of her, and caught sight of the boy's dark eyes when his head snapped reflectively towards the sound. And, as Minerva feared, she had a sudden look of realization on her face.

"Short for Sevastian," Minerva said, as she could not think of a better alternative. Another hidden blessing of the kid shaking in her arms was that he was too nervous to correct her that his name was Severus. "But, he prefers Sev."

"It's good of you to take him in." The larger woman said, her voice low and full of emotion, as if this was a secret they were sharing. "How sad it all is."

The 'death' of Severus Snape still weighed heavy on the faculty. He had been well liked, despite his own insistence otherwise. Snape had not been friendly but he was sharp-witted and rather funny, when he chose to be. His absence was obviously felt, even if he would not have been happily conversing with his colleagues.

"Does anyone know who…" Filius began, but trailed off at the unpleasantness of the idea, "that is, was Albus able to interview on such short notice?"

"That's a wonderful question, Filius," said Dumbledore as he entered the staff room. Behind him were two newcomers, a cheerful blonde woman and a broad, handsome man with a strong jaw.

"Charity Burbage is joining us as the permanent new Muggle Studies professor. You may recall that she graciously offered to cover the position last year."

Charity gave a grandiose bow and then laughed at her own antics.

"Muggle studies?" Asked Aurora Sinistra, looking pointedly at Quirrell.

"Yes, yes, see," Quirrell stammered, "I wanted to wait to announce it— that is, for Dumbledore to announce it. During my sabbatical, I learned so much about the Dark Arts and…"

"And since the position was open, I thought he would make a wonderful candidate," said Albus, charitably finishing the explanation so the professor didn't have to stutter through it any longer. He had attempted to say the word sabbatical three times before he managed it. "And Eldridge Sage," Albus continued, "will be our Potions Master."

Eldridge simply gave a short nod. He was an imposing man with dark eyes and dark, neatly cropped hair.

And he was, if rumors were to be believed, a Death Eater.

His wife certainly was one. She had been killed just before Voldemort's defeat, but not before taking out a few Aurors and half a neighborhood of Muggles with her. Sage had avoided Azkaban completely by rather infamously claiming that it was no business of his what his wife did in her spare time and he did not keep up with her hobbies. There was not much solid evidence against him, but more importantly there was a lot of money in his Gringotts vault.

And there he stood, with his nose in the air.

Not everyone recognized his name, of course, as there had been countless Death Eaters on trial. The question on the minds of those who did recognize him was, what was Albus thinking, hiring a Death Eater?

Snape had been met with the same question on his first day as an awkward, morose professor, although he had the benefit of a private inquisition and only his school reputation to fuel rumors. It had been different with Snape, though, because Dumbledore had immediately waxed poetic about how talented and qualified the young man had been. The man had even put his own name on the line to clear Snape of any suspicions.

Eldridge Sage received no such praises. In fact, if thirty-one year old Severus Snape had been there, he would have protested that not only was Eldridge Sage absolutely a Death Eater, but his wife Angelica had been very close friends with Avery and that alone made his desire to teach very suspicious, given recent events.

But Severus Snape was not thirty-one anymore. He was pressing his hands against his ears and his nose into Minerva's shoulders.

"Oh, and before I forget; the Third Floor Corridor is off limits this year and I will ask you all to help enforce this rule."

The arrival of the Harry Potter for his first year at Hogwarts was an exciting time for the entire staff. Minversa found herself smugly satisfied that he had been sorted into Gryffindor; it wasn't a surprise, though, considering who his parents were.

Albus introduced Quirrell, though most students recognized him from muggle studies, and the newcomer Eldridge Sage. Almost instantly, the Slytherin table was filled with whispers. Harry Potter, from across the hall, couldn't hear any details

"I wonder what they're talking about."

"They're probably celebrating. I hear the old potions professor was horrible," said Ron. "Mum made me go to his funeral over the summer."

"Funeral?" repeated Harry. "What happened?"

"Blew himself up," answered Fred, sounding delighted despite the grim story, "good riddance, I say."

"That's not true," Percy said sternly. To Harry, he said, "there was some sort of accident in the classroom over the summer."

"That's horrible," said Harry, who had never met the man but, like most people, felt sort of sad at the mention of anyone's death.

"Not really," George piped up, and Percy looked like he wanted to hit his brother. "He was nasty. Got us in trouble all the time. That guy looks better, at least."

Sage was more handsome, certainly. He was seated next to Quirrell, whom Harry had met before. Quirrell looked visibly nervous and Sage appeared to not care at all, as he was leaning closer and clearly trying to engage the man in conversation. As he accidentally locked eyes across the room, Harry felt his scar burn. Sage smiled at him.

Severus spent the opening feast in Dumbledore's office, because McGonagall had her hands full with the new and returning students. He was completely asleep by the time Minerva finally went to collect him, well past midnight.

The next day, when classes began, is when things became more complicated. McGonagall was gone for the entire day, between classes and helping poor first years who were hopelessly lost. She did not return to her personal quarters until the evening, after supper.

"Good evening," she called as she closed the door behind her.

Severus glared moodily back at her from the door to his bedroom. He was a remarkably capricious child; at times he would appear starved for affection and want nothing more than to cling tightly to any adult in the room but other times he was irrationally angry and dramatic, flinging himself on the ground or finding the most obscure hiding spots to spend hours in. Other times, he seemed perfectly mellow, a bit dazed and quiet as he flittered silently around. Minerva knew, on some level, that young children were famously fickle but this knowledge did not make things easier. Severus was, as Minerva liked to say, selectively affectionate. The trouble was that she could not determine which mood he would be in. He was remarkably self-sufficient; he could dress himself all on his own, lead himself to the toilet without prompting, and rarely sought her out for help. Sometimes, though, if she approached him too quickly or touched him when he wasn't expecting it, he would freeze and become tense for hours, if not days. Other times, he would seek very close touch, like settling right next to her on the couch. On more than one occasion, he had climbed into her or Dumbledore's lap while they were having their own discussion. And, of course, Minerva had woken up several times to Severus staring at her in the middle of the night.

Severus had spent the last few hours alone in her quarters, listening to footsteps and shouting from groups of students running by. Each time, his little heart would seize and a surge of panic flooded his veins. To make things worse, he could not even leave the room to wander the castle or walk around the grounds. When his father was at work, Severus spent the entire time playing outdoors and going where he wished. The injustice of it, to not be allowed to go home or go where he wanted, bubbled inside of him like a simmering cauldron. By the time Minerva returned, he was fried and that had translated into a grumpy, pouting toddler.

"I want to go," he mumbled. This had been a frequent and unfortunate argument for the past few weeks, as professors returned and the castle started to come back to life. Severus was very, very interested in school and very, very much not allowed to attend.

"You will, when you're eleven," sighed the witch for perhaps the hundredth time. "But that's many years away."

"I want to go now," he argued.

"That may be, but…" She trailed off completely when she caught sight of the small table at the corner of his room. "You didn't eat your lunch?"

Severus regarded her with that intense gaze that she had come to recognize as the boy's way of assessing the situation before responding. Although they were standing by several now-cold plates of food in Severus's room, he asked;

"Lunch?"

Minerva stared at him, baffled by the idea that Severus had assumed the entire meal delivered to his room was somehow not intended for him.

"Yes. This was for you, were you not hungry?"

Severus was very hungry. But, he said, "No, ma'am."

"And you didn't eat supper either," she exclaimed. "You must be starving!"

"It's okay."

"No wonder you're in such a mood," she sighed, ignoring his answer. "You haven't eaten since breakfast."

There was still plenty of food from supper and the house elves happily sent more to Minerva's study. She led the moody boy to the table and, only when she prompted him, he ate the whole lot.

The arrival of students was always a very busy affair and Minerva was exhausted when she finally went to bed. When Severus crawled in with her only an hour after she turned the lights out, she did not even attempt to send him back to his room.

A/N: What would Philosopher's Stone be without a red herring? Enter the friendlier-but-somehow-worse Professor Sage who exists to make Quirrell not SUPER obvious as the bad guy in Harry's mind.

Although I could have spent chapters upon chapters of the day to day life of little Sev, I think fast forwarding to the real story will be fun. Because of course, Voldemort still has his own plans...

Thank you to everyone who has supported the story so far! And rest assured, Minerva will slowly start to admit to herself that Severus had a bad childhood. Dumbledore...well, he might already know.