After twelve years living with Drusella Snape, he had come to accept that cutting off a child's air supply was some sort of sign of desperately worried affection, so he stoically endured it, secretly pleased that the Headmaster cared enough to try and kill him like this. With his parents no longer . . . around, he had been somewhat worried that nobody would.

"Headmaaa-ster," he complained, when it became increasely obvious that the man really did mean to kill him. It was the same tone he so ofter said Muuuh-ther under similiar circumstances.

"Albus," the auror growled, in a close enough approximation to his father's Drusella to be funny.

Severus started to laugh into the beard. Apparently taking the laughter for sobs, the Headmaster loosened his hold enough to allow breathing, and began rubbing his back comfortingly, "There, there, child, you're safe now." Severus instinctively slipped his own arms around the older wizard, and wasn't quite sure when the laughs turned to real crying. The headmaster's whispers continued soothingly, "You're safe, I'm here, child. It'll be all right now."

Feeling embarrassed and like a weak little Hufflepuff, crying all over the Headmaster, Severus forced his breathing under control, and wiped away the tears. "I'm better now." He really wished his voice hadn't cracked. Where had the crying come from anyway? He had just been laughing at weird resemblance the situation had to his parents . . . Best not to think about them, really. Far better to think of Voldemort. "Headmaster, I can't ever leave Hogwarts without some kind of portkey to get back."

"Why is that, Severus?"

He touched his right hand to his left forearm. "The tattoo. It lets them apperate me to them. Mr. Nott told me so after breakfast this morning."

"Snape never said he was under that kind of threat," the Auror said. Despite his apparent seperation of older and younger Severus, he still glared down at the boy.

Severus wondered briefly if the auror hated the younger or older version more, before dismissing it as unimportant. He shrugged in answer. "It's what Mr. Nott said."

"Mr. Nott, indeed," grumbled the auror. He glowered at the Headmaster. "Do you have any idea what you little . . . pet Death Eater did while I was there?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Severus is not a Death Eater, Mundagus."

"Then how do you explain him casting Avada Kedavra at me?" the auror demanded angrily, with just the smallest hint of smugness as he glared at the twelve-year-old.

"I didn't!" Severus denied, looking at the Headmaster in alarm. "I was aiming over his shoulder! I wasn't trying to hit anybody!"

The headmaster looked stunned, and a little sad, "You cast the killing curse, Severus?"

"The spell, yes! But not to kill! I was distracting Mr. Nott before he could cast one and mean it!"

"There," Fletcher all but gloated, "He admits it, Albus. Casting an Unforgivable."

Now Severus was angry. "Oh, come on, sir. You can't tell me my older self never did as part of his spying. How is this any different? It's not like I killed anybody. Or even tried to. You're just mad because I scared you." He realized belatedly that this was probably not the most diplomatic way of putting things.

The headmaster looked like he was having a very difficult time not to laugh. The auror fumed silently. "Severus," Dumbledore said seriously, pulling himself together except for the dancing twinkle in his blue eyes. "Why did you choose that spell, aimed at Mundagus, to distract Gideon Nott with, rather than stupifying the Death Eater or something else less . . . controversial?"

"So that when Mr. Nott tells Voldemort how I got away, I'm seen as a victim, kidnapped against my will. That way, next time he gets his hands on me, he won't kill me out of hand." There would be a next time. Of that Severus held little doubt. "Besides, I wasn't a hundred percent that Mr. Fletcher was even an auror and not some kind of test. Had to cover my tracks. That's why I called for Mr. Nott's help in the first place. His testimony was just an added bonus."

"Albus, you can't seriously consider letting this go?"

Severus looked at the headmaster, biting his lip nervously. He really didn't see that he did anything wrong, but Fletcher's outrage, and the almost disappointed seriousness evident in Dumbledore's expression was worrisome. The headmaster shook his head, "I don't see that I can do anything else. As Severus said, it was part of his spying, and there was no intent to injury, Mundagus."

"And you believe the two-faced little traitor?"

Severus flinched at the last word. He knew he wasn't, but was just as aware that his older self was exactly that. Well, maybe not little. He wasn't really sure how tall he would get. If his father and his previous trend of being tallest in his class were any indicator, he doubted he would be particularly 'little' as a grown up. Which meant the auror was talking about his current self. He scowled up at the man. "I'm no traitor, sir. I picked your side and I'm still there." No thanks to you.

"You're awful Dark for one of us, Snape."

"Tell me you have never used Adava Kedevara, Auror Fletcher, and I'll agree with you." As Severus expected him to, he only scowled fiercely. "Finding your high moral ground shaky, sir?"

"That's enough, Severus," Dumbledore interrupted softly but firmly. Before the auror could more than open his mouth, he added, "You, too, Mundagus. I see you two get along no better now than before."

Severus sidled up alongside the headmaster. "He hated me first," he defended himself, sounding just a little too sulky even to his own ears.

"He tried to kill me, Albus!"

"I did not! Headmaster!"

The new argument was interrupted by the door opening. A head with messy black hair and wearing glasses stuck itself into the room. "Headmaster, I was - Severus!"

Severus brightened immediately and completely forgot his fight with the auror. "Harry!" he exclaimed, throwing himself towards the older boy.

Potter caught the smaller boy, turning the flying tackle into a bear hug. They broke apart after only a moment, in mutual embarassment. "Where have you been? I've been so worried!"

"Nott Manor. Auror Fletcher brought me home." Home? When did Hogwarts become home? Shoot! An awful realization hit him. Mother would be very disappointed. He turned to the auror. "Thank you!" He was somewhat astonished to see Fletcher staring at him gape-jawed. "What?" he checked himself for strange colorings or new appendages. He didn't really think Harry would do that to him, but he was James's son.

Harry smirked. "I think he must've know the professor, is all, Sev."

"I'd gotten that impression, but what's that to do with him looking at me like my hair is pink?" He pulled a lock of hair forward for inspection, just in case. No, still black. That was good. He liked his hair color just as it was, though Black and Potter (James) seemed to prefer it red and gold.

Potter (Harry) laughed. "You said 'thank you' and aren't trying to get me expelled."

Severus frowned, utterly confused. "Why would I try to get you expelled? You're nice."

A choking sound made him look sharply back at the auror. He looked like he was dying. "Sir?" Severus asked uncertainly, "Do you need to go to the infirmary?"

With some obvious difficulty, the auror pulled himself together, shaking his head. "I'll live," he croaked. The Headmaster watched this exchange with a mad twinkle dancing wildly behind his half-moon specticles.

After a few moments silence that seemed to confirm this assurance of survival, Harry asked, "So what exactly happened, Sev?"

The headmaster became immediately sober, and even the auror looked at him attentively. His spy's report had begun. Severus took a deep breath, then started, "I was with Harry when it burned, so I told him to tell you, sir, while I went out to the forbidden forest where Lucious had told me to go."

"Lucious?" prompted Dumbledore, raising a white eyebrow.

Severus nodded. "After the first summoning attempt, I wrote a letter to him, and had Draco pass it along. I explained that I couldn't answer the summons because I don't remember how to Apperate. I was hoping he'd somehow give me lessons."

Fletcher looked a bit surprised by this, but then growled, "Twelve year olds can't Apperate. Their magic isn't strong enough."

"Mr. Nott said I should have my full adult potential, that the potion shouldn't have turned back my abilities."

Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully. "What did Lucious answer?"

"Just that I should go out to the forbidden forest the next time I feel the summoning. I thought someone would meet me there and either teach me Apperation or bodily Apperate me to wherever the meeting was. Turns out, that wasn't even neccessary. I had barely stepped outside the Anti-Apperation boundry when I suddenly wasn't anywhere near Hogwarts anymore. Surprised and off-balance, I fell. When I looked up again, I noticed I was surrounded by Death Eaters, just like the first time. Voldemort was stepping into the circle." Severus shuddered.

"I was terrified," he admitted, "I don't really remember exactly what was said. I know I fouled up. Not as badly as I could have, but I didn't handle it right. I was too mad and scared. Next time I'll block that before going." There were frowns at this indication of further spying, but Severus pressed on, not wanting to argue it right now. "Anyway, I somehow ended up sitting in his lap - he had conjured a throne at some point - and I was told that I wasn't going to be allowed back at Hogwarts because you were an unwholesome influence on my opinions." The others stared at him in horror, and Harry looked like he was going to be sick.

Not really sure what was bothering them so much, Severus ignored their reactions, and continued, "He made me say I was his, so I did, and then he told some guy called Wormtail to take my to my room. So Wormtail brought me to Nott Manor, and left right away. I was given a bed, a desk, and three books. One of the books was on curses, so I used that to double check that I remembered a bird-controlling spell right, and then used a sparrow to get a message to Dumbledore telling him that I was still alive, and that I couldn't get home." There was that blasted H-word again. Home was supposed to be Snape Manor, not Hogwarts. Now was not the time to think on it.

"For breakfast, I ate with Mr. Nott, and he told me about how I got to be twelve. Voldemort figured out I was a spy, so I was tortured with Crutaciouses, and made to be the ginea pig of a new experimental potion that was supposed to turn back time in a person, making them both physically and mentally younger, but not magically. Mr. Nott said that I probably would have been one of the people made to take it even if it were proven, since they knew I was once loyal to them." He frowned. "But they overshot their mark, I think. Went back too far. I don't know what decided me the first time, but this time, they did everything wrong and you guys did everything right, so I'm proudly on your side now. I think they don't understand why I changed sides. I think you guys do know why I went dark. Um. Why?"

Dumbledore sighed. "I fear it was in part my fault, and in part Sirius Black's."

Severus tilted his head curiously. Black? He glanced at Harry and saw him fidget nervously.

"Your father had recently -"

"Stop!" Severus interrupted, suddenly not wanting to know. Knowing Black was involved was good enough. No more details were neccessary, really. He was doing everything in his power not to think about his parents, no need for a story involving them. "Tell me later. I have to tell you what else happened at Nott Manor." He hurried on with his own story to block out Dumbledore's. "So I told Nott that they made a mistake since I'm not the same age physically and mentally, and he started to laugh because it was apparently a very older-me thing to say, then we just ate for a little while. After breakfast, I was left alone for a little while, so I sent my other note to Dumbledore, telling him that I was at Nott Manor. I'd barely sent it when Mr. Nott came into the room to start my first lessons."

Come to think of it, they probably didn't want to know about the lesson. Or maybe he just didn't want to tell them about it. One of the two, perhaps both. "Learned about Curses," he glossed over it. No need to mention which ones or that mice had been used for practical experimentation. "After a while, he left me to think about what I'd learned, and maybe practice a little bit. That was when Auror Fletcher came. Like I said, I don't remember ever knowing him, and he just popped into the middle of my room. Since it was the same spot Wormtail had popped to, I thought it might be a test or trick. So I called for Mr. Nott."

"Calling him by his first name, no less" Fletcher told Dumbledore.

"I'd found out early that calling him Gideon made him a bit more gullible. We were evidently friends of a sort. He hadn't believed I was really a spy until I accidently let it slip that you, Headmaster, had told me I used to be one. Felt kinda sorry for the guy. He looked crushed. Anyway, calling him Gideon made him forget I was just a new untested recruit and not his best friend." Best friend? Where did that insanity come from? "So, like I was saying, Mr. Nott came running into the room, right after I missed hitting Auror Fletcher with a stupify."

Severus scowled at the auror, "You didn't even duck for that one, and it still missed. And that's exactly where I aimed the killing curse, too."

"The what!" Harry exclaimed.

Sighing dramatically, Severus looked up at the older boy. "The killing curse. The one I used next to distract Mr. Nott for throwing one of his own. Worked too. The guy jjust sort of stared at me for a minute, impressed. It was long enough for Auror Fletcher to reach me and Apperate us away. So now Mr. Nott can tell Voldemort I was kidnapped and showed no signs of being in collusion with the ministry. If you want to prevent me from going to any more meetings, and I beg that you do for a little while anyway, you're going to have to put me under visible guard, twenty-four seven, so that Draco can tell Lucious I'm being held against my will here."

Three sets of eyes stared at him. "Gives me a clear reason to turn Dark, too, cuz obviously, I'm not going to enjoy this. No reason for them to suspect I'm a willing party to such boundries on my freedom, now is there?" He felt quite pleased with this line of reasoning. And it would get him out of seeing Voldemort until he felt better prepared for it. At the very least, he would need to know how to Apperate.

"Severus, you do understand what you're asking, don't you?" Dumbledore asked in concern. "That the whole school knows that you have a Dark Mark? That everyone believes you wish to be at the Dark Lord's side? That you should be in Azkaban if it weren't for the crazy ideas of a loony old headmaster?"

Oh, that did sound bad. But what choice was there? He nodded, fearing his eyes showed how scared he was, and feeling that his face was probably even paler than normal. He'd have to act all the time, even here. Acting was fun, yes, but there had to be a time to be real. "Can I be somebody else, too?"

"Somebody else?"

He nodded. "To be real. So people will like me some of the time. A new student, transferred from Beaubaxtons or something after his parents . . . got taken away, and now he's living with a guardian, maybe even someone at the school. Like maybe you, sir? Your grandson or great-nephew or something. I'll use a time turner so I can be in two places at once. And use spells or potions to change what I look like. Get re-Sorted, hopefully not to Slytherin. Please?"

At first the headmaster just looked stunned, then he started to look more and more delighted by this idea. "Of course, child!"

A giant grin split Severus's face and he ran into the opening arms of his . . . grandfather? "It'll be good practice, too," he said into the old wizard's shoulder. "Being two different people. Make it easier to seperate."

Severus pulled away from the hug first, his mind racing with the possibilities. In an unconscious effort to redirect the bubbling enery, he began to pace. "So Severus Snape was found by Aurors in the home of a known Death Eater, bearing the Dark Mark himself. Headmaster Dumbledore, not willing to send a child to the Dementors or Azkaban, insists that he finish his education, and hopefully the poor, deluded boy will see the light before he graduates. To keep him out of the vile clutches of his Master and to prevent him from hurting any of his fellow classmates, he is constantly under supervision by . . . who?" His eye fell on Fletcher, and a cunningly evil glint entered his eyes. "Auror Fletcher? Would you be my guard?"

The auror looked startled. "You want me around you?"

"Figure you'd do the best job of looking like you hate me and appearing to think I belong in Azkaban instead of wasting your time being a baby-sitter. Seeing as how that's exactly what you think." He smiled sweetly. "Since I did try to kill you, after all."

Dumbledore laughed. "Severus, I fear you will be Sorted to Slytherin again."

"Thank you, Headmaster. Anyway, so Auror Fletcher, whom Severus all but killed during the raid that found him in Death Eater sympathy, was assigned as his guard. Auror Fletcher will be with the little piece of scum - as he sees the boy - day in and day out, to be certain the kid doesn't try to leave the grounds or contact his Dark friends. Severus, not liking this one little bit, becomes sullen and bitter. Just how much of my older self's reputation was real and how much was cover, Headmaster? This is starting to sound familiar."

Harry looked pole-axed by this question. Severus grinned at him, then looked questioningly at the Headmaster. He smiled sadly. "I fear the elder Severus was more real than cover, though there was some of that, too."

Slightly disappointed, Severus resumed, his pacing speeding up, "So Severus is bitter and angry, Draco will likely try to befriend him. He'll become friends with Malfoy, in all liklihood, and complain about his tight restrictions on the few occassions when he is out of earshot of his guard. Thus Lucious will know why he isn't able to leave school grounds and attend meetings. MEANWHILE, there was a tragic Death Eater attack, or perhaps just a random accident which claimed the lives of a couple who's closest living relative is Professor Dumbledore, so he takes in the couple's orphan, who was at school in Beaxbaton's at the time, and transfers the kid to Hogwarts so he keep a closer eye on his new charge. Uuum, second-year Matthew Groves gets Sorted, is a fairly nice person, and becomes well-liked by his new classmates. With the Headmaster as a guardian, he becomes close friends with Mr. Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived." He smiled beautifically at Harry and he ended his story with a grand flourish.

Harry laughed. "Matthew Groves, huh?"

"Call me Matty," his black eyes danced merrily. He then looked to Dumbledore, "Oh! Maybe I can even skip to third year, to add another degree of seperation between Matty and Severus. I'm sure I can keep up with the work, sir!" His hopeful look twisted to a smirk, "Then I can be a magical thirty-nine year old in a ten year old's body, with a twelve year old's mind, pretending to be a thirteen year old. It'll be fun!"

A/N: Matty Groves is an old folk song.