It was the evening of October 1, 1981 and Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office, having tea together with his wife Minerva. She was very upset tonight, because of the – in her opinion – lack of behaviour of Professor Slughorn, the Potions Professor and Head of Slytherin. He was obviously favouring certain students over others.

“I think, Albus, it is time to suggest retirement to the Professor and look for a successor,” she said in a very upset voice.

The Headmaster thought for a moment, before he replied pensively, “What do you think of Severus Snape? As you know, he is on our side now, and he is a Potions Master. In fact, he is the youngest Potions Master England has ever seen, and as he has been in Slytherin, he would be predestined for the job; don’t you think so?

Minerva threw him an unsure glance and enquired, “Are you sure, Albus, that he is really on our side?” Albus gave her an affirmative nod, and she continued, “I know I have already asked you on several occasions, but what is it that makes you so sure?”

Albus sighed and replied patiently, “As I have told you on these occasions, it’s not my secret to share. Let me just tell you so much: It has to do with Lily Evans-Potter.”

“Oh,” Minerva said surprised. Lily had been her student a few years ago, and even now, they were meeting frequently; Lily often brought her baby to Minerva, so that she could baby-sit when Lily and James had to go out and couldn’t take the child with them. Lily was more or less like a daughter to her, and the little tyke, Harry, was even calling her ‘Gwanny’. A giggle from Albus brought her back to reality and she said, “If you think he is the right person, then I will agree.”

-----

Suddenly the fireplace flared green, and two well-known persons were thrown out of the Floo. Within seconds, Minerva and Albus were standing behind the Headmaster’s desk, wands in their hands, and Albus asked in a very stern voice, “Who are you? Reveal yourselves!”

Severus and Minerva were still sitting on the floor, dizzy from the long Floo travel, which had taken about an hour Severus noticed when he glanced at his watch. Severus stood up, put his wand in front of him on the floor, took the letter for Albus out of his pocket and laid it on the desk for Albus to take it. Then he sighed inwardly. Hopefully, the Headmaster and his wife would give them time to explain themselves before they hexed them into next year.

Finally, Severus managed to say, “Sorry, we are both very dizzy; we come from the future by travelling four years into the past and have just travelled by floo powder for about an hour. However, we are who we look like, and if you give us a few minutes, we will explain everything.” He turned to his colleague, “Minerva, are you alright?”

Minerva slightly shook her head and Severus took a Headache Potion and a Stomach Potion out of his pocket, explained to her what they were and asked, “Would one of them help you?”

Minerva nodded and gulped both of them down, before she stood as well and quickly sat down on the next chair, mumbling, “Oh, Albus, that was horrible.”

Past-Minerva was still standing, pointing her wand on the intruders. However, in the meantime Albus had read the letter and told Past-Minerva to ask her counterpart something nobody except from herself would know.

Past-Minerva thought for a moment, before she voiced the question, “When was my wedding day?”

Future-Minerva let out a small laugh and replied, “April 1, 1965.” ‘Go on, younger self, continue asking so easy questions,’ she thought, slightly relieved.

Past-Minerva frowned. ‘Maybe it’s really my future self. Nobody else should know that.’ Confused, she proceeded to ask another question. “Who was playing seeker, when he or she was captain and won the cup for Gryffindor on your 70th birthday?”

Future-Minerva answered in a blink without even thinking about it, “James Potter.”

“You say you come from four years in the future, right?”

Future-Minerva nodded and was questioned, “Who are the fifth years Gryffindors this year?”

“Julia Bottom, Roger Daniels, Kevin Murphy, Andrew Strong, Edith Stone, Aidan McNulty, Adel Cassidy, George McKenzie, Morag Blair and Rachel Brown,” Future-Minerva answered like someone who knew the own students well.

Past-Minerva turned to Dumbledore and confirmed, “Nobody else could have answered these questions so fast and correctly. I am sure this must be my future self.” She relaxed and sat down as well, still not knowing what to think about her future self.

Albus gave her his letter and turned to Severus, “And you, I assume, are Severus Snape?”

Severus nodded and said, “Yes, Albus.” Seeing the astonished but curious glance he received from the headmaster, a sudden thought popped up in his head, and he apologized, “Oh, I am sorry, Professor, I assume that in your time we were not yet on a first-name-basis, is that correct?”

Albus laughed with his usual twinkle in his eyes and assured Severus, “That is correct, but I don’t mind. I’ve read in my future self’s letter, that you’re the Potions Master here in your time; therefore, I don’t mind at all.” He looked at his watch and saw that it was nearly 1 o’clock in the morning. “As much as I would like to hear your story, I think we should all go to sleep and discuss this further tomorrow morning. Are you feeling better, or should we let Madam Pomfrey check on you before we take you to your apartment?” Both of them shook their heads vehemently, and Albus continued, “If the two Minervas don’t mind, I would suggest that you stay in the guest rooms in our quarters. From there you could enter this office and have access to the fireplace without walking around the halls of Hogwarts, which perhaps would not be too good.”

Everyone agreed immediately, and the meeting was adjourned until the next day, which fortunately was a Sunday, after breakfast.

-----

When Severus woke up in the morning, he had the impression that it already was quite late; however, his watch told him that it only was about breakfast time. He groaned inwardly when he remembered being in the past. During the last weeks, he had been very engrossed in researching the Floo powder and the new Polyjuice Potion. Apart from that, he had kept Harry company whenever he had a free minute. Therefore, only now he seemed to realise that his plan wasn’t fool proof at all. Today he would speak with his younger self. Severus quickly took a shower, changed, went out into the Dumbledores’ living room, and couldn’t help laughing aloud.

“What is so funny, Severus?” Future-Minerva asked him, while Past-Minerva was looking at her older self in awe.

Severus replied, smirking, “It’s good that I am not a student any more, otherwise I would have got a shock seeing two of you sitting here together. I remember well that it was even frightening enough standing in front of one of you.” He flinched at the stern glares the two Minervas shot at him and bowed his head a bit as an apology.

Future-Minerva could not hide a snort and Past-Minerva motioned Severus to sit with them and said, “Albus has excused me from breakfast in the Great Hall, so that we can have breakfast here together.” She called Twinkle, the Dumbledores’ family house elf.

Twinkle appeared with a POP and bowed so deep that her ears were touching the floor. She looked at Minerva, and fainted straight away. The two Minervas gasped, while Severus could not hide a chuckle.

“Can we wake her up by ‘enervate’?” he asked and earned a double glare from the two teachers, who looked like twins.

Finally, Future-Minerva explained patiently, “Never use magic on house elves; otherwise you could get in real trouble with all of them.” She conjured a cold, wet towel and laid it on the head of Twinkle, who jumped and was wide-awake immediately.

Throwing frightful glances at the two Minervas, she again bowed deeply and said, “I is very sorry, Mistress Minerva and Mistress Minerva and Master Guest sir, I is just so surprised to see two of you.”

Knowing that Twinkle would keep on apologizing for hours, if she didn’t interrupt, Past-Minerva asked for breakfast, which popped up on the table in a blink, after Twinkle had left with another POP. They had just started to eat, when Albus entered the room and joined them.

“Good morning, Minerva and Severus; I hope you had a good night and feel better on this fine Saturday morning,” he addressed the time travellers, before he glanced at the two versions of his wife and said pensively, “We have to do something about your name, Minerva; how shall I call you to express whom of you I am speaking to?”

Severus sneered suggesting, “That’s easy now, isn’t it? Just call your younger Minerva ‘Nerva’ and her older self ‘Minnie’.”

Albus eyes started to twinkle merrily, while Past-Minerva snorted and Future-Minerva stated in a very upset voice, “Professor Severus Snape, just in case you want to rely on our help for your ‘project’,” she emphasized the word, “I would recommend a little more respect towards ladies who are more than three times your age.”

Severus smirked and replied, “I am sorry, Minerva, then we will call your younger self ‘Minerva’ and you ‘Professor’, how is that?”

Future-Minerva rolled her eyes, but Albus stopped them and said, “All right now, you two, that’s enough. I know that you won’t like it, but I think we will just use ‘Past-Minerva’ and ‘Future-Minerva’. I mean Future-Minerva and Severus have come here in a very noble alas serious matter, and in order to work together efficiently, sometimes one or the other has to live under unfortunate circumstances. Therefore, Past-Minerva and Future-Minerva, please cooperate. We won’t be able to distinguish you most of the time anyway, as you look identically as twins.”

They both looked daggers at Albus and Severus but agreed. As soon as they had finished breakfast, the Headmaster invited them to his office to start their discussion about Severus’ plan.

-----

When everyone was sitting comfortably in the headmaster’s office, Severus started to tell the events that had let to his decision to travel into the past. Seeing the photo of Harry lying in the Hospital wing helpless and nearly blind, Past-Minerva broke into tears and sobbed, “I am sorry, but you must know that he is like a grandson to me, and seeing him like this…” she slowly trailed off.

Albus pulled her into a bear’s hug and said, “Shush, shush, it’s alright, Minerva. Let us hear what Severus has planned, and I promise you now: In the worst case, if his plan doesn’t work for some reason, we will take Harry in; I will not give him to the Dursleys whatever happens. Therefore,” he threw Severus an approving glance, “You have already changed the future for Harry for the better – Congratulations Severus and Minerva! Now I think your plan is about saving Lily and James, am I right?”

Severus nodded with tears welling in his eyes. He was so happy. He had not even thought about it before, but what Albus had said was correct. Just by coming to the past and talking to Minerva and Albus, he had already succeeded in changing the future, at least for the small boy he for some reason cared so much about. He looked at Future-Minerva and stated,

“Min…err… Future-Minerva, I don’t know if I have thanked you in advance for coming with me, but anyway: ‘Thank you very much for accompanying me here and helping me to at least achieve our first goal, to ensure a better future for Harry. I appreciate your help very much!”

Dumbledore jumped into the conversation and said pensively, “What I cannot comprehend is why my future self let you go on something as dangerous as a time travel, Minerva. Do you have an explanation for that?”

Future-Minerva sent him a loving smile and replied, “Yes, Albus, there are several reasons.” She thought for a while before she proceeded to tell the Headmaster about his future self’s motives.

In fact, Future-Albus felt very guilty for leaving Harry with the Dursleys, although they had told him often enough that it was not his fault because he couldn’t know the danger Harry was in. He also was very fond of Severus; in fact, he had a similar relationship to Severus as Minerva had to Lily until she died. Therefore, Albus probably had full confidence in Severus to bring Minerva back safely. Moreover, as it had been Severus who invented the Floo powder, which would take them back into the future, Albus had known that it would work, because Severus was the best Potions Master ever.

To Albus, Future-Minerva explained, “Severus gave you a spare portion of the floo powder, and you told us, if we were not back by Christmas, you would come and get us.”

Severus grinned at her and said teasingly, “For coming here, we needed several meters of freely given elfin hair, which we received from Twinkle. So please be careful not to give her any more frights, as we need her to agree to give us some more hair in order to go back.”

Dumbledore gave him a stern look and asked, “You have not yet prepared the potion that will take you back?”

Severus groaned and rolled his eyes. “Of course I have prepared it, Albus. However elfin hair is the only ingredient that has to be added freshly,” he stated annoyed.

“Ah, I see my boy, and I am sure Twinkle will give it to you.”

“If I could start telling you my plan then,” Severus impatiently changed the topic, and when everyone nodded affirmatively, he started to explain what he had thought of. It took Albus and Past-Minerva a moment after he had finished his explanation to comprehend everything they had been told. After a few minutes of a pensive silence, Albus was the first to speak.

“All right. This is an interesting approach. Whom did you think of?”

Severus looked at his mentor and said flatly, “I am not sure, Albus. Maybe Black?”

Albus thought about it and nodded thoughtfully, “Maybe, yes, however, he is very powerful. We have to think about this later; first of all we will need the help of several people,” he said, then started to list, “Severus Snape Junior,” when Severus interrupted him.

“You see, Minerva and Minerva, we will have the same problem with my name, but I tell you now, dare not call him ‘Sevvie’, or he will never agree to come to Hogwarts to teach the dunderheads.”

Everyone laughed and Albus continued, “As I was saying, we need Severus Junior, Remus Lupin, and we also need to speak to the Potters. I think they should know everything about it.”

“Albus, do you think they would leave their son to me if they knew?” Severus asked doubtfully.

Albus however replied, “Severus, my boy, if we tell them what you and Minerva have taken on to come to the past in order to save their lives, they will trust you enough to leave their son to you. In the meantime, Minerva and I will care for them here at Hogwarts. Moreover, you could promise them that if anything happened to Harry, you would go another day back and prevent it from happening, right?”

Severus nodded and said, “Fortunately I have brought two doses of the powder with me just to be on the safe side, in case we would arrive here at a wrong time.”

-----

“Very well done, my boy,” Albus commended and suggested, “So the first action to take will be to summon Past-Severus. As he is a member of the Order now, this won’t be a problem.” With a flick of his wand, a phoenix Patronus emerged and made his way out of the castle, and a few minutes later, the fireplace flared green and Severus emerged.

“Good day, Headmaster, what is it that I’d find so shocking? Oh,” he stated flatly, finally becoming aware of his other self and the ‘Minerva-twins’. “Excuse me, but what does this mean, Professor?” he asked in an even, silky voice.

His eyes twinkling, Albus ordered Past-Severus in a friendly manner to sit down and listen what he had to say. During Albus’ whole story, Past-Severus managed to keep a blank face showing no emotions at all, although Future-Severus could imagine how his younger self must feel hearing of the death of his beloved Lily.

As soon as Albus had finished, Past-Severus straightened and agreed to help. “Yes, Professors and Severus, I will of course help you. I assume that I will have to work closely together with my older self in order to go through with this plan.”

Future-Severus threw his younger self an approving smile and said, “Thank you very much, Sev. I appreciate your help very much, and I really need your collaboration as you surely understand.”

Albus jumped into the conversation, asking, “Severus, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what are you doing at the moment?”

At this instant, the older Severus interrupted and said, “I am sorry to interrupt Albus, but I would like to have one word with my younger self.” Seeing the Headmaster agree, he continued, “Severus, in my time I am teaching Potions at Hogwarts and Albus is like a father to me. I would like you to tell him nothing but the truth; he and Minerva may know everything.”

Past-Severus showed a blank face and started to speak to the Headmaster. In fact, at the moment, he wasn’t doing anything special. He was living at Snape Manor, brewing potions for clients, especially the shops in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade as well as for private persons. He had just invented the Wolfsbane Potion, which helped werewolves to keep their mind during their transformation. Apart from that, he was also working as spy for the Order of the Phoenix and pretending to act as spy for the Dark Lord. Past-Severus threw a scarcely noticeable glance at his older self, who discreetly gave him an encouraging smile, which remained unnoticed by the others.

Albus cleared his throat and turned to Past-Severus again, “Severus, I have two suggestions I would like you to think about. The first one is something Past-Minerva and I were just talking about yesterday, when these two,” he pointed at Severus and the older Minerva, “arrived here. We would like you to come to Hogwarts as our Potions Professor and Head of House for Slytherin from the beginning of the new school year.”

Past-Severus was stunned, and his older version snorted, before he told him, “There is nothing to think about, Sev, I have been teaching here for two years and I can promise that you won’t regret it.”

Past-Severus scowled at his older self but said, “All right, then I fear that I don’t have a choice. However, Headmaster, I would like to insist on still being able to do my work as Potions Master.”

Albus nodded calmingly, “Yes, my dear boy, I know. Severus here has told me everything about it. He is making potions for the Hospital Wing as well as complicated potions like the Wolfsbane, which he sells to the apothecaries.”

Past-Severus glanced at Severus in awe. How nicely he had managed to even the way for him; it was unbelievable. Of course, everything was in the interest of both of them, wasn’t it? He was pulled out of his thoughts, when Albus started to speak again.

“Now, my second suggestion is that you move into the castle as soon as possible. This would have the advantage that you would be better able to help your future self with his mission, and you could directly start brewing potions for the Hospital wing, as Madam Pomfrey is having great difficulties with Professor Slughorn. You wouldn’t be able to use his quarters yet, as he will still be here until the end of the school year, however I could provide you with adequate quarters, which would just have to be connected to the office and the classroom in the summer. You would have a private potions lab, which would be arranged according to your wishes. Now, what do you think?”

Past-Severus threw a discreet glance at his future self receiving a barely noticeable nod in return and agreed easily, “Thank you very much, Headmaster. I appreciate it very much.”

Albus opened his mouth, but before he could call Twinkle, the two Minervas talked him out of it, telling him that Twinkle fainted in the morning when she saw the two of them. Who could know how the elf would react to having two Severus’ there. Everyone laughed and Albus agreed to speak to Twinkle later. He promised the two Severus that he’d let them talk to Twinkle tonight after properly preparing her for the fact that there would be two of them. The twin-like men thanked the headmaster as they wanted to instruct the elf how they wanted to have their private potions lab in their new living quarters.

Dumbledore thanked Past-Severus for cooperating so easily and promised to Floo call the Potters in order to make an appointment with them, if possible, for the afternoon. Then he asked the two Minervas to take their colleagues up to their quarters for lunch, promising that he would call Twinkle while they were on their way.

Before the two pairs left, Albus remembered something. “Past-Minerva, you don’t have to worry about going to the Great Hall or about your students; I have already told our colleagues you were sick, and Rolanda has kindly taken over your Head of House duties.”

The younger Minerva looked daggers at him and made him promise to at least tell Poppy the truth before she came to look for her.

-----

As Albus had been able to make an appointment with the Potters for three o’clock in the afternoon, everyone was sitting in the Headmaster’s office again waiting for them to arrive. Suddenly the fireplace flared, and Lily stepped out with Baby Harry in her arms. She sat him onto the floor and turned to Albus.

“Good day, Headmaster. I am sorry, but James will come in about ten minutes; he is still discussing something with Sirius concerning the mission they have to go on tomorrow.” Receiving a greeting back from Albus, she looked around to take the others into view.

In the meantime, Harry had recognized his Granny and his Uncy Sevvy and was just working on standing up from the floor. However suddenly he noticed that there were two Grannies and two Uncy Sevvies – and at the same time as Lily fainted in shock of seeing everyone twice – Harry, who had just managed to stand up, screamed and fell back into the fireplace, hitting his head as he fell.