Sometimes, things take a lifetime to change; sometimes, less than that. Sometimes they take more time. Rarely do they (a chance within a trillion) take just single moment. Sometimes, though, all it takes is a single second for everything to break to shards, and piece itself back into something that is different just so, that it's now completely foreign in ways that strikes the heart-string in just the right (or wrong) way, that life as its know simply can't be anymore.

-v-v-v-

It was one of those times when little Harry Potter of Privet Drive turned his back on his purple-hued whale of uncle and ran from the idealistic home on the oh so perfect neighborhood and didn't look back. He knew, Harry knew, nothing could ever possibly be as it was again. Not now that he ran instead of taking the deserved punishment for his freakishness. He assimilated so quickly to the fact that no one would ever believe he'd been the skinny little nephew of the Dursleys' that just disappeared one day when all was said and done.

As he ran and ran, gasping and heaving for every puff of breath that left him, Harry Potter called himself Harry no more. He would be a nobody, a shadow, anonymous, nothing from this day on.

Severus Snape cursed the wind as he stalked the midnight streets of London, why he'd ever come to allow himself to be dependent on muggle means he didn't know, (‘Liar, you know exactly why!’). His nimble fingers moved from his sides to dig into the deep pockets of his coat. He was so tempted to use his wand; especially on nights like these, when every form of muggle transportation had failed him and his luck was near dry. But, then, he remembered that he could not, (‘Not if you want to stay hidden from that liar, you sniveling bastard’). When his fingers felt around the wool constraints only to not touch smooth wood, Severus halted. He casted a sweeping look from left to right, searching the shadows for movement, when he found none, he began to twist around in a tight circle. With criticalness honed from his years as a spy, Severus picked up a minuscule shift in a shadow as a body moved into an alleyway.

"Oi!" he shouted, striding after the being. A soft gasp sounded and faint footfall vibrated against the pavement as the person took off.

If times had been different, Severus would have sneered at the ridiculous attempt and promptly used a bit of wandless magic to call his wand back to him before beating the snot out the unfortunate soul with several creative hexes – muggle or no. Alas, things were strained and it would do no good for Severus Snape to draw that sort of attention to himself.

So, without thought, Severus flew after the person, dodging rubbish bins and bits of trash with far less grace that he would care to admit. He nearly lost sight of the figure on occasion, yet, despite every attempt on his robber's part, Severus managed to gain headway and grasp the figure's narrow, bony shoulder.

"NO!" they screamed and Severus lifted his arm to shield himself from the array of golden sparks that spurt from his wand.

"Shit," Severus cursed.

Undeterred by the surprising hail of sparks, the robber – a child of undecided origins – could do magic. That was just his luck, he supposed. His other hand shot out, taking a firm hold of the child's wrist, causing said child to release his wand. Severus's hand fumbled in the pitch black and he nearly lost it, but, then, the wand was in his palm and he was tucking it away as the child wriggled and struggled to escape Severus's strong hold upon his shoulder. "You've done it now!" Severus hissed at the boy. "They'll be looking for me now.” With an aggravated sigh, Severus squeezed the child's shoulder tighter and disapparated away from the dark alley, and to a (hopefully) safer place.

-v-v-v-

They land under the yellow light of a street lamp near where his old home once stood (its long since been bulldozed and replaced with new, trendy townhouses.) Squinting at the child, Severus felt his blood boil. They were just shy of Hogwarts age, with mane of dark messy hair and wide luminescent green eyes.

‘An urchin…’ he thought, staring at the boy with little more than contempt.

"W-What are y-you?" the boy stammered.

 Severus just frowned and ignored the boy's inquiry in favor of scoping the area for anyone (or thing) that mayhap be threat to him or the child.

"The same as you," Severus finally answered, (and if the boy was so ignorant as to not know what he was, then, well, Severus had no intention of explaining).

The boy's eyebrows scrunched together and his lips mouthed silent sounds, then, he licked his raw, cracked lips and croaked, "…You're a freak?" At Severus's furious glare, he shrank into his ill-fitting clothes and murmured, "Like me?"

Severus's face morphed into a snarl. "I am not a freak," he said, almost spitting the word. "I am a wizard."

The boy's fringe dipped into his eyes when he scowled. "I'm not dumb," he grumbled.

Severus raised an eyebrow and with a lofty tilt of his chin, drawled, "Really?"

The boy's hands rounded into tense fists as he bit, "I'm not!"

Severus smirked, amused. Swaying just a tad to the side, he crossed his left foot over his ankle and waited for further entertainment.

"Magic's no' real! It's for babies and 'tards!" the boy yelled at him.

Feigning a yawn, Severus, seeing that the boy was now seething, decided to lean over him. Hovering just centimeters above the boy’s countenance, he asked, "Then what came from that wand, hm? Or how did we end up here? Do you know?"

The child's jaw clenched and through grinding teeth, he growled, "I don't know!"

Severus barked a laugh in his face and stood back up. Raising his arms to the sky, Severus shouted, "Then, I must be right! We are wizards!" Crouching down to the boy's height Severus said in a quieter voice, "Not everything you know is always true."

The child's breath heaved and squeaked with suppressed tears. "I know that," he muttered.

Severus ran a hand through his limp locks; reminding himself in the process he was due to cut his hair again. It was better if he kept it short, it made him less recognizable.  Looking into the strange, (‘familiar,’ his mind murmured,) green eyes, Severus held his hand out to the boy.

"You have no family?" he asked, but they both knew it was not a question.

The child gave him the bitterest of smiles (Severus was sure he wore one similar at his age). "None that'd I'd call mine," he answered.

Severus accepted this with a tilt of his head and let silence reign over them for a pause as they both seek out any tells in the other's features.

"How would you care for a roof? What about three meals a day? Knowledge?" Severus inquired.

The boy grinned wanly. "Can get most o' those at any old shelter," he replied. But upon seeing the near offended spark in Severus's eyes, quickly followed his declaration with a polite, "sir."

Chest smoldering with contempt and approval in one, single grandiose feeling, Severus countered, "They do not have the knowledge I have."

"What kind of knowledge we talkin' about? I don't think I want the kind you could be implying if you're a pedo," the boy said, skirting around him in an agitated sort of way.

"Any attraction I hold for you is strictly a platonic," Severus replied with a dark quirk of his lips.

"Yeah?" the child questioned doubtfully.

"Teacher to student," Severus supplied almost kindly.

"Okay," the child agreed, putting his grubby fingers in Severus's hand to shake. The man held back a face of disgust and gave the frail fingers a firm squeeze before releasing them.

Rising to his feet once again, Severus Snape bowed and offered, "Severus Snape."

The boy bit his lip.

Severus raised a fine eyebrow and demanded, "What is it?"

"Don't got a name," the boy muttered.

Severus made an irritated noise in the back of his throat. "What do people call you, then?" he asked.

"Garbage, brat, ickle boy," he said in quick succession with a shrug.

Severus glowered and tapped his foot for a minute. "What do you want to be called?" he finally asked.

The child gazed up with earnest eyes and told him, "Whatever you think's best, sir."

"You will call me Snape, or, if you prefer, Mister Snape,” he snapped at the boy as he drummed his fingers along his thigh in thought.

The child nodded and waited in fidgety silence as Severus stayed still, trying to come up with a suitable name to call the boy by. Glancing down, his eyes met unreal green, and in that split-second, he was reminded of another pair of green eyes.

‘Lily…’

She had a son, hadn't she? And that son had been with her sister until–

No, he wasn't going to think about what that fool Dumbledore had done by leaving that poor soul with those monsters. Bringing his thoughts back to Lily, he recalled the child she had was named Harry. It was pedestrian, but… It fit. Before he could begin to doubt his decision, or himself, he turned to the boy and bestowed upon him the name.

"You will be Harry," he said.

The boy blinked, mouth slack and open.

Glaring at him, Severus sniped, "Just perfect, I give you a name and you turn into an imbecile!"

Harry shook his head and in a hurry mumbled, "No, sir, erm, Mister Snape, it's just…" he trailed off. "It's just–" He quieted and dropped his eyes to the ground. Then, he lifted his gaze up once more to connect with Severus's own and offered a shy smile. "I like it, Mister Snape," he said.

Severus found himself at a loss for words, the gratitude the boy gushed at the name left him feeling uncomfortable and out of depth. Sniffing haughtily, Severus lifted his head imperiously and returned snidely, "It's common, but I thought it was fitting for an urchin like yourself."

The boy continued to smile at him. "Thank you, sir."

Severus gave him an odd look. Abruptly, he began to walk down the road.

"My home's across town. We'll need to find a phone to call for a cab," he explained to Harry.

The boy began to jog beside him in an attempt to keep up with Severus's long strides. “Yessir!" the boy agreed. They don’t speakfor several minutes before the boy asked, "Why don't we use your magic again, Mister Snape?"

Severus glanced at the boy, then back to the street in front of them. "It attracts unwanted attention," he said

"Oh," the boy replied.

Severus couldn't stop the crooked smile from taking over his lips. "Indeed," he snorted.

"Thanks again, sir," Harry said as they slow to a pace that didn't leave the waif of a child panting for breath.

Severus eyed the boy sidelong. "You're welcome, Harry."

Neither of them missed the other's muffled chuckle as they turned their heads away.

Seldom does something take seconds to change. Most of the time, it takes more, other times, eons more. Yet, when things do alter themselves within a span of a breath, they fall to pieces so completely, in such away, that they can never mesh back into what was the past; all they can do is become the future.