Severus Snape x student LOVE STORY

Chapter 2 - Welcome to Hogwarts

Adeline Blanchet, a young woman with cascading brown hair and vivid green eyes, lay on her bed in her one-bedroom flat, tears streaming down her cheeks. The room around her was dim, illuminated only by the soft glow of a bedside lamp. The worn copy of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' lay open on her chest, its pages damp with her tears. She clutched the book to her chest, her heart heavy with the weight of the story.

The scene where Severus Snape reveals his undying love for Lily Potter, the main characters mother, and then dies, leaving Harry to gather his memories, had always struck a deep chord within Adeline. Despite having read it countless times, it never failed to reduce her to tears. "Always," she whispered, the word slipping through her sobs as she closed her eyes, letting the exhaustion of the day and the emotional turmoil of the night pull her into a restless sleep.

Her dreams were a blur of shadow and light, fragmented memories mingling with the grief she felt for Snape, as if she had known him herself. He reminded her of herself, the girl had lost her own mother and father when she was very young, a part of her resonated with the character of Snape, he was just as alone in the story as she was. The world of Hogwarts, so far removed from her reality, was a place of solace and sorrow, a world she longed to escape to yet knew she could never reach, a small part of her had always hoped that this world was real, that these characters were real.

But when the girl awoke, the world she knew was gone.

Adeline's eyes fluttered open, her breath catching in her throat as she took in her surroundings. The familiar warmth of her flat was replaced by the cool, musty air of a room she did not recognize. She gasped, sitting upright in disbelief, clutching green silk sheets in her hands. The walls were made of grey stone, rough and ancient, with green drapes that swayed gently in the draft from a large, high window. The furniture was dark wood, heavy and ornate, with an old-world elegance that made her feel as if she had stepped back in time.

She glanced down at her hands, her heart racing. The book was gone, and in its place was nothing but a lingering sense of dread. Her breath quickened as her eyes roamed the room, taking in every detail with growing unease.

'Is this a dream?' she thought.

Two other beds occupied the room, each covered with dark green bedding, the colour of deep forest moss. In each bed lay a figure, their faces obscured by thick blankets pulled high against the cold. Adeline's mind raced, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. Was this a dream? It had to be. She was still asleep, she told herself. Any moment now, she would wake up in her flat, the book still in her arms, and laugh at how vividly she had imagined this all.

But the dark wood under her bare feet as she slipped out of bed felt too real, the air too sharp and biting for a dream. She needed to get out of here, to understand what was happening. Panic began to rise within her as she stumbled toward a door at the far end of the room, her heart thudding in her chest. She pushed open the door and found herself in a small bathroom. The stone walls continued here, their rough surface glistening slightly with moisture, and the room was sparsely furnished with a small wooden sink and a mirror above it. Adeline rushed to the mirror, needing to see her reflection, to ground herself in some semblance of reality.

But what she saw in the mirror made her blood run cold, and she screamed.

The face staring back at her was not her own.

Her breath caught in her throat as she leaned in closer, her trembling hands rising to touch her face. The skin under her fingers was smooth and cool, but it wasn't her skin, not really. The girl in the mirror had long, wavy black hair that cascaded down her back, darker than Adelaide's own. Her new eyes were the same shade of green as Adeline's, her eyes were the only part of herself that remained the same. And those bright but scared eyes were framed by long, dark lashes that seemed almost too perfect to be real. Her skin was pale, with a natural flush to the cheeks that gave her an ethereal beauty Adelaide had never seen in herself. Her nose was small, her lips full and pink, she looked like Sleeping Beauty in the flesh.