Perhaps Another Time, Severus [A Severus Snape Fanfiction]

1994

1994
A firm hand shaking her shoulder throttled Shaylah from her dreams. She rolled over to see Carrie looking down at her. Loose pieces of dark hair sticking wildly out from the untidy bun on her head. "Professor Snape is looking for you. Do you want me to walk you to his classroom?"

Shaylah rolled over and straightened her clothes. She had no robes or anything to change into, so she had slept in the same clothes she arrived in. She ran her hand along the front of her body and the wrinkles disappeared, refreshing her slept in attire. "Sure. Thank you."

Her mind still felt so tired but her body had gotten plenty of rest. She had forgotten how it felt to be eighteen. She followed Carrie out of the common room, her stomach becoming tangled in a series of intricate knots. She was about to see the man she had built a life with but he wouldn't know her. It was a jolting realization. Carrie rattled on about the castle and how she would show Shaylah the library and the moving stairs when she returned. It was a short distance to the classroom since it was also in the dungeons. Carrie placed a hand on Shaylah's shoulder when they arrived at the door to the potions classroom. "Come find me when you get back, yeah? Good luck with Professor Snape." Shaylah nodded and thanked her as Carrie disappeared back the way they had come.

She took a deep breath and knocked on the heavy door. A deep voice invited her in but she couldn't have prepared herself for what awaited her. As she swung the door open a tall man in black stood behind his desk. His hair was shorter and his face less wrinkled but the black robes that flowed behind him were the same as they always were. The air about him even from a distance was the same. Severus.

He scowled at her as she stood awestruck in the doorway still trying to gather her senses. Before he spoke, his eyes traced over her, much like they did when she was in the Order. She could have sworn she saw a flicker of recognition in his dark eyes. The eyes she had so often found solace in, but it was gone as quickly as it had come. "Miss Epans is it?" His voice was like a song she hadn't heard in ages. Though the annoyance dripping from it wasn't lost on her.

"Yes sir."

"Odd name." He huffed. "I am to take you to Diagon Alley to procure your robes and the supplies you will need for your year since you were incapable of doing so yourself." The scowl still lingered on his face as if by muscle memory.

Shaylah still stood in the doorway clutching the handle of the door. Her feet begged her to run to him, to throw her arms around him and make the world right again but she fought the urge. This was not her Severus and in this time she was his student and he didn't know her. She didn't let tears prick her eyes, she pushed everything down and planted a smile on her face. "Yes sir."

Shaylah followed Severus through the castle and out onto the grounds. Her eyes swept over her surroundings as they walked, everything looked different in the dim light of the cloud covered sun. He didn't speak to her until they had made their way through the gate she had come through that morning. "I assume you can apparate." He said gruffly.

She nodded. "But I have never been to Diagon Alley sir." It was a lie, one she hoped he wouldn't question. Perhaps he would just think she had been a sheltered child. Her mind was too flustered to apparate, if she attempted it she was sure she would splinch herself. She couldn't stop her thoughts from bouncing long enough to even think about Diagon Alley.

He huffed and stuck out his elbow to her, annoyance and frustration burrowing in the lines of his face. The war had only helped to deepen those lines. She placed her arm along his and too soon they appeared in Diagon Alley. He quickly retracted his arm tightly to his side. The bustling noises helped ease the flurry of thoughts in her mind.

Severus thrust a rolled piece of parchment into her fingers, thankfully he didn't linger or he would have felt them trembling. "I have some ingredients to procure. I'm sure you're capable of finding the items you need." He rolled his eyes before leaving her alone on the crowded street.

She knew where everything she needed was, she just hoped the distraction was enough to quell the hurt that coursed through her. Her first stop was Madame Malkin's where the kind witch helped her get fitted for robes which would soon dawn the Slytherin crest when she got back to the school. She also purchased a beautiful teal dress, just in case the occasion called.

Her next stop was Flourish and Blotts for the school books she would need. A rather helpful gentleman easily gathered the volumes she would need with a flick of his wand. She watched as books floated from different places in the shop and stacked themselves neatly on the counter. She also purchased a brown courier bag to carry all of her purchases in and she shrunk everything down into a more comfortable carrying size.

Her last stop was the Owl Emporium where she purchased a spotted barn owl who hooted happily at her. His white feathers were freckled with brown and black spots. He was an oddly colored owl but he felt like he belonged with her. Not that she would be sending or receiving any post.

With her list concluded she made her way back to where she and Severus had separated, taking notice of how lively the alley was. Diagon Alley had long ago become vacant in her time. Windows stood dark and no one but Voldemort's followers walked the streets. They had set up several shops dedicated to the Dark Arts, turning Diagon Alley into another version of Knockturn Alley.

Shaylah stood with her bag and her owl, waiting for Severus to return. She thought he wouldn't be bothered if she departed without him, but she also didn't feel she wanted to see him angry. So she waited until an infuriated looking Severus trudged toward her with a scowl on his face and a bag clutched in his fist. "I hope you have everything because we will not be back." He presented his arm to her again without looking at her and she placed hers over it.

When Shaylah arrived back in the dorm she was surprised to find Carrie, Marsha and Lexi in their room and a trunk at the end of her bed. She proceeded to pull everything from her bag and return it to its normal size. She dressed in her new robes and began to feel less out of place. She packed her belongings into the trunk as the girls asked her questions about her life and told her about theirs. Her life was easy to talk about as it was all made up. The idle chatter was nice after a day of heated thoughts and a heavy heart.

When it was time for dinner she followed her new friends to the Great Hall. She gawked at the enchanted ceiling that now glittered with stars like the outside sky. She was greeted by the other Slytherins she had yet to meet and was soon pulled into idle chatter with those surrounding her.

She felt someone watching her, the eyes boring into the side of her face. She scanned the room without turning her head and caught Severus staring in her direction. Perhaps he was looking at someone else near her, but she was sure it was her. Her eyes scanned the head table and landed on Moody, the whole reason she was here. The reason Voldemort had returned at all. A heat coursed through her as his robotic blue eye whirred around in all directions. It paused on her, the deep fake blue of it boring into her natural pale blue. It stared at her as if it could see the years that had been shed and the new skin she wore, then it whirred back toward the Hufflepuff table.

She spotted Harry Potter at the Gryffindor table, he was just a boy lost in this cruel world who had no idea what awaited him. "Viktor Krum." Carrie said with a dreamy lilt in her voice. Shaylah had missed the conversation at hand.

"Who's that?" Shaylah asked to the astonishment of the other girls around her.

"You really were homeschooled." Marsha Braves jabbed. Shaylah let the comment slide, it didn't hold the weight Marsha thought it did.

"He's a famous Quidditch player." Lexi chimed in along with another girl next to her at the same time. "And he's gorgeous." The other girl finished. "He's here from Durmstrang."

Shaylah glanced back toward Severus but his attention had shifted somewhere else. She scooped a pile of potatoes onto her plate. She hadn't realized how hungry she was.