The Life He Could Have Had

Death did not take him. Not yet.

When Severus Snape closes his eyes beneath the blood-stained floor of the Shrieking Shack, he expects the end. Instead, he wakes up decades earlier-in his sixteen-year-old body, memories intact, pain still raw.

This time, there will be no Dark Mark. No slurs thrown in anger. No desperate chase for the love of a girl already slipping away.

This time, Severus chooses something different.

With a new wardrobe, a quieter heart, and a growing mastery of potion-making, he begins to carve a different life. One of dignity, of peace-and, perhaps, of love.

Because when Regulus Black begins to take notice, Severus finds himself drawn to the one person who might understand what it means to walk the line between expectation and rebellion.