𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐬 𝐒𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐱 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝙻𝙾𝚅𝙴 𝚂𝚃𝙾𝚁𝚈

Chapter 17 - the Diary, the Letter, the Veil

Adeline's heart pounded in her chest as she sprinted down the corridors of Hogwarts, her hands clutching a small, black diary so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

She had finally found it—Malia Beaumont's diary—the one thing she had been desperately searching for since the moment she arrived at this world. The diary hadn't been where she expected; it was discovered in the last place anyone would have thought to look—the Hufflepuff common room.

Adeline had no idea how Malia's diary ended up there, she assumed that Malia placed it there herself, hidden away in a secret candy locker, a place where no one would think to look for it.

It didn't matter now. What mattered was that she had it.

Adeline had seen the diary being passed around by a group of unsuspecting Hufflepuffs during dinner in the Great Hall. She overheard them discuss finding it. Without a second thought, she had secretly snatched it from the bag of the student who had it, and now she was racing to Severus Snape's classroom, almost tripping over her own feet as she dodged other students in the hallway.

Bursting into the Potion's classroom without any warning, Adeline nearly collided with a table as she came to a stop, waving the diary in front of her. The professor, who had been deeply engrossed in grading papers, looked up, caught off guard by the girl's sudden and frantic entrance.

"Adeline," he began, voice edged with irritation, "what is the meaning of—"

"I found it!" Adeline interrupted, her voice breathless. She hurried over to his desk, thrusting the diary towards him. "I found Malia's diary! It was hidden in the Hufflepuff common room. Please, you have to try and open it! It is magically locked."

Snape's eyes narrowed as he took the diary from her hands, his fingers running over the worn, black cover. He muttered a few incantations under his breath, attempting to unlock it, but the diary remained stubbornly closed.

"Alohomora."

Nothing.

"Scribolibera."

Nothing.

"Memorae Aperio."

Nothing.

"Clausum Revela!"

Again.

Nothing.

Frustration began to show on his face.

Adeline, eying the secret filled note, had a sudden idea sparking in her mind.

"Professor," Adeline spoke, getting the man's attention.

"Yes?"

"Malia and I," she began, her eyes locked on the diary, "we are quite similar, wouldn't you say?"

"Similar? Not how I'd describe you. What makes you say that?"

"Our eyes, they are the same," she whispered. "And many people say that the eyes are the window to the soul. So, maybe the reason her and I were able to switch in the first place was because in that other reality... I am her."

Snape looked at the girl, then at the black notebook. He let out a sigh.

"I wouldn't be able to say."

"You know," Adeline said with a chuckle, her mind lost in the past, "when I first got here and began to study, I spent most days just going through the Hogwarts library. I read everything that had to do with souls, body-switching, or other dimensions... The one thing I always remembered was that the author, Bathilda Bagshot, one of the most eminent magical historians to date—