In all his life, Severus never had a moment where mind was completely void of anything.

Never had he closed his eyes to sleep and woken many hours later without a single dream or thought in between. And yet, as he became conscious again, that is what his mind was like. It was a void of emptiness, until his first thought for the day was: “where am I?”

Severus opened his eyes, realising he was lying comfortably on his back, and glanced warily at his surroundings. He was in the Hospital Wing, and felt very strange. Not ill or injured, yet different somehow in a way he couldn't quite decipher. He tried to remember what had happened to cause him to end up where he was now.

There was nothing, once again. No memories or familiar sensations, no instinctual reactions or reoccurring thoughts, and it terrified him.

'You're awake.' A statement was spoken towards his left.

Severus glanced in the direction and saw Poppy looking down at him, her face serious and concerned.

'Poppy, what-?' Severus gulped and raised himself onto his elbows.

He was covered with a sheet, which he quickly pulled off and turned to sit upright on the bed, his feet hovering above to floor. Strangeness filled him once again, as his feet should have touched the cold floor of the Hospital Wing, and his clothes were notably much too big for him.

'You tell me.' Poppy sounded tired and cautious.

Severus glanced behind his bed to the window, seeing a rising sun in the distance through the glass. Had she stayed up all night to watch over him? How could he explain his condition if he didn't even know what it was or what had happened to create it? His gaze trailed to the bed nearest his line of sight, where he saw a small child sleeping under the covers.

The boy had untidy dark hair and was breathing with slow, careful motions.

'He's in a coma.' Poppy sighed, following his gaze. 'I believe he will wake, though it may take some time. Harry's magical core is intact, yet somehow it's exhausted. His entire being seems to have been pushed to the bring of death and then rapidly recovered. Your current age is far less temporary than his. I suspect you'll age about a year every two days until you reach whichever age will be the one you'll stay at, so you can age naturally again.'

'My age?' Severus was alarmed to hear her words. 'That is Potter?'

He stared at the boy, trying to believe her as he doubted Poppy would lie, but he saw no glasses or lightning bolt scar to identify with. He looked like an entirely different child, though it might have more to do with the fact the boy was now three instead of eleven.

Poppy reached to the bedside table and picked up a hand-held mirror. She held it towards Severus, and took several steps back. Severus frowned at her and lowered his eyes to the face reflected in the mirror. He would have gasped in alarm, if his throat hadn't given him the impression it was clamped with shock.

The teenager staring back at him looked as startled as he felt, but Severus did not recognise him.

Sure, it was himself de-aged to be fifteen rather than in his early thirties, but he'd never looked like that. Not really. His face was clean and his skin healthy. His eyes were as dark as ever, but looked so alive with emotion. His hair was mostly the same as it had been when he was an adult, but wavier and much healthier than he ever imagined it could be. His teeth were as white as a baby's, and his face showed no signs of any past torment, age, or sorrow.

Now he knew why he felt so strange, why his clothes were much bigger than they should be, and why Poppy kept a careful distance from him in case he reacted dramatically. Severus would have shouted or fainted, if he could properly grasp what was going on.

It felt too unreal.

As he looked back at three-year-old Harry, Severus realised he did remember something. He remembered it had been nightfall, just after dinner. He was wandering the corridors of Hogwarts, though he could not recall why, when he'd felt the urge to go outside. Something compelled him, called to him, and Severus was barely aware of heeding it.

He had stood on a hill and looked over at the eleven-year-old Harry Potter. Severus had been furious to see the trouble-making Gryffindor outside at such an hour, so soon after the boy had woken in the Hospital Wing following the misadventure with Voldemort. He'd approached the boy and had been about to shout at the brat, when he wondered what the child was looking at. Harry stared upwards at the darkened night sky filled with thick clouds and no viewable stars, and Severus did the same. A flash of light, so bright it burned his eye sockets, cascaded down upon them both. He heard Harry scream, before everything went black.

It was followed by nothingness, and then he was waking in the Hospital Wing.

Severus, his entire self feeling disrupted and his reactions delayed, told the tale to Poppy. She seemed unsurprised, though glad to hear what happened. He stared at her, waiting for something, but it never came. She seemed so serious, more than he had ever seen her, and feared there was something else he had not been informed of.

'I was worried that's what it might have been.' Poppy finally spoke. She gently sat on the edge of Harry's bed, as though she was the one who was overwhelmed instead of Severus. 'I did a bit of research, when Harry woke.'

'If the boy had woken, why is he in a coma now?' Severus did not understand why he had to ask that, or why it bothered him as much as it did.

'It was only for a moment, after I found you both lying in these beds last night.' Poppy said, revealing very little of how they got there. 'I did not recognise either of you. Harry opened his eyes and I felt dizzy. Memories burst into my head, and suddenly I remembered everything. It had all been gone before - the incident at Godric's Hollow all those years ago; You-Know-Who's reign of terror; Harry's miraculous survival; Your youth with Lily Evans, and various times I have patched you up over the years. You and Harry did not exist. I had no recollection of either of you, not even the tiniest hint of it.'

She seemed shaken by this.

'And then it was back. I spent most of the night trying to make sense of it. I researched while you slept, and I think I know what it was you saw.'

'What was it?' Severus' irritation was growing. His shock was fading as he began to comprehend that he had been de-aged to his fifteen-year-old self, only differently than he had been at that age.

And he blamed it entirely on Potter.

'I've heard Albus mention it before.' Poppy frowned at his disrespectful tone. 'Every so many years, magic-infused lightning strikes a witch or wizard in need of a very specific new life. A do-over, it seems. The person struck by the magic is forgotten by all, except a single person they choose to have remember them and therefore be the keeper of their secret former life. I believe that is how my memories returned - Harry picked me.'

Severus, had he not been so shocked and angry, would have passed out.

He was fifteen again, and now no one other than Poppy could even remember he existed? All his tiresome efforts to build his reputation as one of the greatest Potion Master's in all of Britain, his sacrifices for Lily and those he was loyal to, the influences he had placed on the students of Slytherin house, being godfather to Draco Malfoy, his dark past and troubled childhood, his inventions and recognition...It was all gone?

How was he supposed to react to that?

Severus felt tense and dizzy. He lay back down on the bed and stared upward at the ceiling, trying to focus on the situation and form a solution. It proved to be a huge struggle. He couldn't think straight and his entire being felt wrong or out of place.

If he walked out of the Hospital Wing right now, not a single person would recognise him. Not even the great Albus Dumbledore. He knew what Poppy said was true, because now she had mentioned it, he too remembered the mythical magic she spoke of. It was said to be one of the most ancient and rarely-sighted forms of magic in the entire world.

Worse of all, it was entirely non-reversible.

And suddenly, he had pushed away from the bed and was on his feet. Severus swore and paced the space of floor nearby his bed. He even kicked the bed, which only caused himself pain, and cussed some more. He ranted and raved, shouted himself nearly hoarse, then sank to the floor to let loose an animalistic groan of despair.

'Severus-' Poppy reached for him, but he smacked her hand away.

'Don't.' Severus said in a low, angry tone. 'Just...Don't.'

'I most certainly will!' Poppy frowned at him. 'You may be fifteen now, but you have the memories and experiences of your former self. This is an opportunity to shed your past and start over! It is a blessing.'

'A blessing?' Severus glared at her. 'I have lost everything I had left! I have no place to go, and what am I supposed to do now? My merit of Potions Mastery is gone along with my name. I am nothing!'

'Cease the theatrics, Severus Snape!' Poppy, with alarming strength, grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. She pushed him back to his bed and cast a sticking charm to keep him there.

She stood over him in an intimidating manner, and Severus felt very small under her stern gaze.

'I may be the only person who remembers you, but I am also one of the few who knew you better than most.' Poppy lectured. 'The countless times I have seen you come here, nursing an injury or fighting an illness you only admitted to having because Lily refused to believe your stubborn denial. You made many terrible decisions, yes, and yet you came back. You sought redemption and I know deep down you care more than you'll admit, Severus Snape.'

She looked away, as though she was trying not to be emotional.

'It was easy for others to think of you as Professor Snape, but I never forgot how many turned their backs on Severus.' Poppy said. 'The shy, eleven-year-old boy I first met when you'd burnt your hand trying a new spell - that is who I felt the most sorry for.'

'I don't need your pity.' Severus snarled.

'It wasn't pity, young man! It was a sadness towards how unfair life could be to a child.' Poppy snapped back. 'Do you think I never noticed the bruises? The flinching? The fearfully wide eyes, as though any ounce of trust you granted me was at a high risk to yourself?' She shook her head. 'And now, for me to be the only person in the world who does remember any of that? No, Severus, I can't stand by a second time. You have to accept this for what it is - a second chance. You need to go somewhere else, to be with people who will love you. You deserve a do-over.'

'I deserve nothing of the sort.' Severus growled. 'Don't preach to me about how miserable my childhood might have been. I lived it!'

Poppy opened her mouth to argue back, but the door to the Hospital Wing opened and a rather unexpected visitor approached them.

'I hope I'm not interrupting.' Molly Weasley said, seeing Poppy was with a patient. 'I just wanted to make sure my son is as well as he claims to be.' She said, referring to Ron and his night-time venture down the trapdoor. 'His friend Hermione Granger was there as well?'

'You son was a bit bruised, but he is fine now.' Poppy said. 'He suffered no long-term effects from being knocked out by the giant chess pieces. Miss Granger only required a calming draught, and she has otherwise fully recovered from the experience.'

As the two women talked, Severus crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the end of his bed.

When Lily died, he lost almost everything with any ounce of meaning to him in his life. And now, Harry Potter had stripped him of whatever he'd had left. The brat reduced himself to a three-year-old, which was bad enough without dragging Severus down with him. He didn't acknowledge that the boy hadn't cast the magic, and there had been no escape from it, because Severus believed if the brat had just stayed where he was supposed to be than none of this would have happened.

Tuning into the nearby conversation, Severus realised Molly really hadn't recognised him at all. He may be years younger, but he still resembled his older self in a way, and he was dressed in the exact attire of Professor Snape. It was silly, he soon realised, to think Molly could automatically realise it was him from a mere glance. The sharp truth that Poppy would forever be the only person to remember Severus Snape was turning his insides even colder.

Why did he care so much?

This was his chance to start over, as Poppy had said. It was an opportunity to form a new reputation untainted by his sickening servitude to Lord Voldemort or any other aspect of his background. With that in mind, he checked his left forearm and saw the dark mark itself had been erased. It wouldn't be too difficult to regain his Potions Mastery, he supposed, even if he had no money for his studies. He could return to Spinner's End and work odd jobs to afford his “education”, and sell potions on the side. Under a false name, of course, to avoid further suspicions.

It wasn't necessarily doomed from the start, if it weren't for the fact he still had a vow to watch over the Potter brat. And where would Harry go? Not with him, that's for sure!

He then remembered the Weasleys were rather fond of the boy, from what he had overheard and noticed by the tell-tale jumper the brat wore during Christmas. Would the Weasleys take the boy into their care if they had no clue who he was? Severus despised the memory alterations on everyone else, as it only made things more difficult in regards to the child.

Without realising, he decided he wanted Molly to know the truth.

Poppy was startled when Molly suddenly gasped and clutched her head, grasping the end of Severus' bed to steady herself. A flash of light had Severus shoving a pillow in front of his face, in memory of what happened earlier, though he soon lowered it with embarrassment. He should have reached for his wand, not a pillow! As Severus looked around for his absent wand, only to find it inside one of his pockets, Molly turned to look at Harry and then Severus with confusion and strained recognition.

'Who stopped You-Know-Who ten years ago?' Poppy asked Molly almost immediately.

'Harry Potter, of course.' Molly's expression showed she thought Poppy had asked her a really silly question. 'Why are you asking? Has something happened to him?'

'A moment ago you did not even know who Harry Potter was.' Poppy looked at Severus, whose eyes were wide and filled with a typical expression of teenage guilt. 'Severus?' She asked in a firm voice, being quite certain she knew what had just occurred.

'It was an accident!' Severus growled.

He had one person to pick who would know about his secret de-aging, and of his former life, and he had just wasted it on Molly Weasley. It should have only happened if he realised what he was doing! Severus snarled and wanted to sleep the entire situation away. He felt confused, as his fifteen-year-old mind was conflicting with his thirty-two-year-old conscious. He was torn between kicking things and trying to think of a reasonable solution, so instead he merely sat there and sulked as Poppy explained to Molly what was going on.

Gripping his wand tighter, Severus ended the sticking charm on his bum, and jumped up from the bed. He muttered an excuse about needing to take a walk to clear his head, and marched out, only to fall onto the floor because he'd stumbled on his former clothes. Glaring at the material, he didn't bother shrinking them to fit as he alternatively shed the outer layers. Standing in his white shirt and black pants, Severus rolled up his sleeves and stormed from the Hospital Wing, ignoring the chuckles from behind him.

Severus had no idea where he was going.

He walked and walked, turning corners and descending stairs along the way. It wasn't clearing his head at all, but his real motivation to leave was because he could not stand sitting in bed any longer. Not with a three-year-old comatose Harry Potter beside him. It was still early in the day and breakfast hadn't even started, so Severus didn't come across anyone in his anger-fuelled walking.

His strides were as long and purposeful as always, though he felt a bit awkward in his younger body.

Reaching the dungeons, Severus didn't go to his quarters, and instead exhaled with exhaustion and sank against a wall in the shadows. He curled his arms around his legs and rested his chin on his knees, still gripping his wand, as he thought about the recent events and what they meant. Severus didn't know what to do. He thought it would be like being in a teenager's body with an adult's mind, except it felt as though he had both ages in his mind. He had thirty-one years of experiences, skills, education, memories, and so on - yet it was all crammed inside his new fifteen-year-old self.

The realisation that he was stuck this way, at the mercy of anyone who obtained authority over a teenager, really struck him hard. It almost caused Severus actual physical pain to think about what he was going to do now. Poppy said he would age several years in the next however many days, but how much older would he get? Hopefully, he would at least be of legal age to use his magic.

It was something he had taken for granted.

Severus felt very vulnerable, and even scared of his uncertain future. He always had to plan his major goals, while relying on his careful composure and striving determination to get through them. His usual instincts and skills were there, but he had trouble grasping any composure he usually had that prevented him from being too emotional or affected by his surroundings and the pressing situations.

Severus didn't know how long he sat there on the stone floor of the chilly dungeons, sniffling and feeling sorry for himself. It can't have been too long, as no Slytherins passed him and he remained alone. Until Mrs Weasley found him with the aide of a locater spell.

'Are you alright, dear?' She asked him kindly.

'What do you think?' Severus grumbled and didn't look at her. He kept his dark gaze on the wall opposite him in the corridor.

'What are you going to do now?' Molly continued, unaffected by his sharp tone. She wasn't surprised by his mood, in consideration of what he was going through.

Her question received no response, which said more than his words could have. Poppy had told her quite a lot, not just about the past day that led them to where they were now, but of how desperately Severus needed something he'd never had before: someone to care about him, to fully accept him as he was, and to teach him what it meant to be a person, not a burden.

Molly had come to talk to him, but when she found Severus crouched on the floor in tears, all she could see was a lost child. He was fifteen – that was one year younger than Percy, and a year older than her twins. She felt incredibility sad for Severus, and all Molly could think about was how alone he must feel now. He was confused and on his own in a world that had completely forgotten he even existed.

Molly felt there had to be a reason why he chose for her to know the truth, of all people, and decided she had a duty to help him.

'I know this must be very difficult to adjust to.' Molly said, knowing the tempers of emotional teenage boys and therefore spoke with practised calmness.

She didn't want him to think she was pitying him or telling him what to do, because it always brought about undesirable reactions at times like this.

'Essentially, right now you're fifteen years old and an orphan. Your options at the moment are very few. How about you hop up off the floor and we can discuss if you'd like to stay with my family?'

'What?' Severus looked at her with surprise. 'Why?'

Molly wasn't sure if he asked why she would make a promising offer like that, or why he would even consider such a thing. She answered regardless, giving him a stern motherly look as she did so.

'It is your best option. I know who you are and I have the room for you to stay in, until you're comfortable facing the world on your own.' Molly explained. 'Come on, up you get.' She instructed.

Severus, despite his glaring, did as he was told and watched Molly with caution. He was pleased to notice he wasn't looking up at her, as he had always been rather tall for his age. He wasn't happy to remember most of the Weasleys were rather tall for their ages as well. The last thing he wanted was to stay in a house of Gryffindors, or have anything in common with them. He wanted to tell Molly he was fine on his own, as he wasn't really a teenager, and he could look after himself without any assistance.

He followed her back to the Hospital Wing, preparing a speech for all the reasons he hated her offer and why he had to disagree to it.

Stepping inside the room he had fled from, Severus evaded Poppy's hand, which had been aimed to cuff him on the back of his head for making her worry, and moved to sit on his bed again. The truth was, he had nowhere to go, and no one knew who he was. Staying at Hogwarts with Poppy would be easy enough for a while, though even Severus could not find a convincing enough reason to return to his own quarters and go about his usual routines.

In a few days, the summer would begin and no students were supposed to be at Hogwarts during that time anyway. He wasn't a student, but if he stayed then Severus might have to be one. What happened when his age increased every few days? How could he explain it all to those who had no idea who he was?

'I cannot accept your offer.' Severus told Molly. 'I may very well have lost access to all of my belongings, and therefore the funds inside my vault. I would have no way of paying you in exchange for your hospitality. I would only be a burden on your time, resources, and your family.' He said, having no idea what he was going to do other than return to Spinner's End as he had originally planned.

'Nonesense!' Molly waved off his words. 'My family recently won a lottery, and we have plenty of funds to care for you in addition to our children. We will have no trouble finding you somewhere to sleep.' Molly explained, though there was still the mystery she and her husband could not solve in regards to who had placed their name into the special once-every-ten-years lottery, as each were convinced they hadn't.

They couldn't, anyway, as it was the sort of event one could only be a part of if nominated by another.

'You're a child, Severus.' Molly added. 'Your company wouldn't be a burden at all.'

'I am not a child!' Severus snapped. 'I am an adult. I can take care of myself, as I have been for the past twenty-five years!'

In his frustration towards being treated like the age he looked, but felt he was not, Severus did not realise he hadn't taken the time to amend his words to fit his sense of private protection over his secrets. He had not meant to reveal he had been looking after himself since he was a small child, rather than when he'd graduated from Hogwarts. Severus didn't even notice his slip-up, as he was too annoyed with his current age to think of much else.

'Your adulthood is only memories now, Severus.' Poppy reminded him. 'You ARE fifteen. You'll age a few years over the next two weeks, which will make your moods further erratic, but you need to accept the truth of your situation. More importantly, no one knows who you are, so you'll judged only by what they see. And what we see right now is a fifteen-year-old boy with an attitude problem.' She frowned.

'Severus.' Molly sighed. 'With the current situation, you have very little control over your life until you're of age. If we don't act fast, you could be placed under the influence of the Ministry or put into an orphanage. I think the best thing you can do right now is allow me to help you. I can make the arrangements to say we adopted you at fifteen, but alter the dates. It's a safety net, that's all.' She reasoned. 'When you age, you'll probably be older than seventeen so you'll legally be an adult. You can do what you want to then.'

'She's right.' Poppy joined in before Severus could object. 'It's your best chance right now.'

Severus glared at the two woman he felt were ganging up on him and not really giving him much choice at all, but he could not deny their logic. The idea of being adopted as a Weasley made his skin crawl, and yet he had suffered a lot worse in the past. It was just a name, and he wouldn't be staying there forever. Nodding his head, Severus agreed to the plan and lay back down on his bed.

He rolled over to face away from them, but listened keenly to their discussions about Harry.

'I would keep him here for observation until he wakes up,' Poppy was saying. 'But it would raise questions and I am visiting family over the summer. I haven't seen them in years and a lot of work was put into the plans. It's unavoidable.' She sighed regretfully. 'He doesn't need anything, just checking up on. He'll wake when he's ready.'

'I can take him.' Molly decided, looking down at the small boy who had been the best friend of her youngest son. She felt sad for Harry as well, if anything Ron had told her about his relatives were more truth than exaggeration.

'Are you sure?' Poppy asked, as she carefully lifted Harry from the bed and cradled his sleeping form in her arms.

'I wouldn't have said it otherwise.' Molly nodded with determination. 'He deserves this as much as Severus does.'

'He's nothing more than a spoiled brat.' Severus turned around again and faced them, angry that Potter was following him everywhere like a bad smell he couldn't get rid of.

He blamed Potter for the situation, and once again he was unable to hold onto any composure as his feelings spilled into his tone and posture.

'I don't want to stay in the same household as him.' Severus said. His usually eloquent speaking manner took lesser priority in his fifteen-year-old mind, which was cranky at everything outside his control.

'Severus Snape, you mind your tone!' Molly scolded.

'I am not a child.' Severus repeated as he stood again, getting further frustrated because he wasn't being treated his age. He was an adult, not a teenager!

'You're doing an excellent job of imitating one.' Molly shook her head with disapproval.

'I am an adult.' Severus reminded them. 'I may look like a teenager, but I'm not. Merlin, I am old enough to father a child!'

'Oh?' Poppy gave him a sharp look as she was at her wit's end with his disrespect and the absence of his usually rationally reasonable self. Even at fifteen he had been more composed and mindful than this, so the situation was clearly taking a strain on him. But she was not going to let him use it as an excuse for his behaviour, as she took his words to heart and gently placed Harry into his arms.

Severus was startled by her action and had to quickly shift his weight so he didn't drop Harry, who wasn't light - even at the young age of three. 

'Then congratulations, Severus.' Poppy told him while Molly looked on with amusement, thinking Severus had gotten himself into quite a predicament.

'It's a boy!'