In his time as a spy in his past life Severus had prided himself on making intricate plans that had kept him out of danger, tricked Voldemort and his followers, and kept him alive.  He was putting those skills to use again, and for the first time in four years, he felt alive.  He didn't know exactly what was making him feel invigorated, maybe it was the scheming, maybe it was the favors he was calling in, or maybe it was just that he finally believed he wasn't crazy, and that Harry really was alive.  Albeit, he didn't like to say it to himself because then he did sound a little crazy.  Harry took Voldemort into a paradox back into the middle ages, where he then made passageways and closets he hid in when he was in school in the future... no, it sounded to crazy to say out loud.

No time turner could take him back in time to the middle ages.  He knew that because he'd spent days researching it.  The sand inside time turners however, had special properties.  His plan was to invent a potion that he could add the sand to that would take him back, hopefully to the time right after Harry appeared at the castle naked to Mrs. Lyons on the front lawns.  He'd even concocted the story he would tell to anyone who asked when he got there, and set to working out the astronomical calculations he needed to get the right proportions into the potion so he could go back to the right time.  All he needed now, was a time turner, and those were hard to come by.  Time turners were restricted by the Ministry, and even in other countries you could not just procure one anywhere.  He knew a lot of people in the Ministry though and through the years had amassed many favors.  He was using them now, or trying to, to get hold of the time turner he would need.

Inventing potions was not easy and though Severus had researched the subject many times before, he spent the next two weeks researching it in more depth as he waited for any of his called in favors to come through for him.  He hoped to have the potion ready and waiting for when the time turner came to him, in case word got out (as he was sure it would) that Severus Snape was looking for one.  He'd already considered going back to the moment Harry died several times, but he'd nixed the idea each time.  Harry had to be the one to kill Voldemort, it was in the prophecy, and if Harry had really gone back in time and made all of these things in the school, then he couldn't stop him or else he could seriously be altering history, and he did not want to chance altering history in such a way that Draco and Harry were not his surrogate sons.  His goal was to go back, snag Harry, and then drink the potion he had for them to return, where he could help Harry remember who he was and what had happened to him.

There were only a few days left until the start of the term, and Severus desperately wanted to have this done before then.  He didn't want to face another year not knowing where Harry was.  He didn't want to face another year of school, facing the children who were there in the final battle, who had lost friends in the final battle.  Many of the children he taught now, had known Harry.  The first years were now fifth years, and though for some the memories of the battle had faded, for others it was still fresh, and they seemed far to mature for their young age.  It was strange how war could carry on after it was over.  It carried on for Severus daily, and he wanted it to end.  He wanted to be at peace.

He felt the potion was ready.  It was a complex combination of magic, ingredients, and ingenuity.  Once the sand from the time turner was added, it was supposed to permeate his body and clothing, which he would soak in it, and send him back.

With the potion as finished as he believed it could be, and his lesson plans in, Severus turned back to the archives looking for any mention of Henry Silver while he waited for the time turner.  The day before the students were to arrive back at the castle, he felt like he'd struck gold as he found an ancient looking black book with the peeling letters, "Notes of Henry Silver," embossed in silver.  It had fallen to the floor behind one of the tall shelves and other books had been placed in front of it.  Unable to wait to take it back to his quarters, he took a seat at a table at the back of the library near the forbidden section and opened the book.  He squinted at the untidy scrawl across the page and didn't breath.  It looked like Harry's writing.  Severus knew, because he had the last essay Harry had ever turned in.  He'd never had a chance to grade it even before the last battle.  Now he read it every few days.

November 15th, in the year 1035

Mrs. Lyons named me Henry today.  I feel like a Henry, but I feel like I'm not a Henry either.  The children call me Silver because of my silver quill and my silver pen.  That makes me Henry Silver.  I don't feel like a Silver but maybe I am if that's what they call me.  If I'm not Henry Silver, who am I?

November 16th, in the year 1035

I don't think Headmaster Lyons likes me very much, but having no choice to keep me because of Mrs. Lyons, he has let me work.  I teach the Muggleborns after school sometimes.  I teach them defense and Mrs. Lyons says I must be an experimental magic maker who had an experiment go wrong, because some of the things I teach them, nobody has seen before.  Headmaster Lyons says I must have been trained somewhere, but he can't think of where unless I was taught at home.  If I was taught at home, I must have a family.

November 29th, in the year 1035

I finally completed the broom cupboards.  The caretaker is very kind and I was happy to help her.  It felt right to do it.  Mrs. Lyons asked me if I wanted to make other rooms too.  She called me a builder.  I don't know what that means exactly.  Maybe that I make things.  It takes a long time to get from certain halls to other halls.  I told her that and when I said hall she didn't know what I was talking about.  She asked if I meant corridors and I told her I thought that I did.  She said I could make new corridors but there's no room between classrooms.  I'll have to think about it.

November 30th, in the year 1035

A lot of the Muggleborns were put into Hufflepuff house, and a few into Ravenclaw.  Only one went into Gryffindor.  The Slytherins act quite badly towards the Muggleborns, but so do the others.  They call them names and taunt them in the halls.  They say they're not meant to be here.  Sometimes I feel like I don't belong here either.  I wonder if I'm a Muggleborn.  One of the Ravenclaw's came up with the name Mudblood today to describe the Muggleborns.  I would have said something about it, but Headmaster Lyons laughed and told all the ‘Mudbloods' to get back to class before he put them in shackles.  Sometimes I don't think I like it here very much.

December 2nd, in the year 1035

I have found that between some rooms there is just enough space to put a very tiny corridor.  I have started work on one on the fifth floor.  The students are curious about what I'm doing.  I decided to let a Muggleborn named Agretious Malfoy help me.  They've been picking on him the most.  I told him and all the others that it's a special privilege to help Master Silver make new corridors and rooms.  Later the Hufflepuffs let Agretious sit with them at lunch instead of shunning him.  Perhaps I'll let someone different help me with the next corridor.

December 31st, in the year 1035

The corridor on the fifth floor has been completed.  The students told me they wished there was a faster way to get from one corridor to the next on the first floor.  Since it was the Ravenclaws who suggested the corridor, I'm going to call it Ravenclaw's Pass.  Mrs. Lyons said when it's done we'll mark it with a Ravenclaw hanging beside it.  Since Agretious helped me with the one on fifth floor and he's in Hufflepuff, we've already added a Hufflepuff hanging next to it.  The students use it every day, even if they don't need to.  It's narrow, and sometimes it gets jammed up with students.  I think it irritates Headmaster Lyons.  I overheard him saying to Mrs. Lyons that as soon as I leave he's going to cover all the corridors back up again.

Severus was more certain now than ever that this was Harry he was reading about.  This was Harry's journal, and this was his son in 1035, waiting for him to come retrieve him.  Severus closed the book carefully as if it were precious, which to him truly it was, and hurried back down to his quarters with it.  He sat up all night reading it.  It went all the way through January before the pages had all been filled.  I'm coming Harry, he thought.  I won't leave you stranded there.

Four days after the start of term feast, Severus' time turner came to him in the hands of David Dunblane, a former student whom he'd helped get into a prestigious apprenticeship in France with a Master Potioneer.  Apparently he and his former master had gone to a great deal of trouble to procure it, and Severus was grateful.  Dunblane asked no questions, which he was also greatful for.  He gave it a single upside down turn and held tight to be sure it worked, and it sent him back one hour, which he used to write a letter to Dumbledore explaining his evidence of where Harry had gone and how he had gotten there, and why he was going back for him.  He set it on top of the books he'd bookmarked for Dumbledore to read through, and also a map he'd drawn of the locations he'd found the lightning bolt carved into the stones.  When he'd come back to his initial hour, he pried the end off of the time turner.  He could only hope that he was doing this right and that his calculations had come out correct, including those he'd made converting the calendar now to the calendar that Harry was using in the middle ages.  He put his thumb over the open end of the time turner and turned it upside down exactly four hundred and seventy two times, and then held it over the cool green potion and let the sand fall out into it, ever last grain.  He stirred it until he was certain it was well dispersed on the bottom, and then bottled the potion into four phials.  One phial for him to drink now, one each for him and Harry to drink for the return trip, and one extra, in case one of the phials broke.  He also had three phials of an intricately crafted reversal potion to mix the return potion with, so that it would send them back to this exact time (he hoped).  He also used his wand to spread the remaining potion on his robes and wand, and put the phials and wand in his robe pocket.

With a last look around his quarters and the note he'd left on the stack of books for Dumbledore, Severus uncorked his phial of potion and sent up a prayer that it would work and take him back to Harry.  He drained it, and closed his eyes.  He felt his stomach bubble in upset, and then as though he was holding a portkey, felt a jerk behind his navel and knew he was being taken away, to where, he didn't know.

The next day, when Severus had failed to turn up for classes, Albus came into his quarters looking for him.  He spied the letter on top of the stack of books, and went to it, and then heaved a heavy sigh.  He feared that Severus was in for a world of hurt, and knew it to be true.