Chapter 3: A Whole New World

"...dy…"

Severus's head ached fiercely as it violently throbbed against his skull in the same rhythm as his heartbeat. Why was he on the ground? And not the cold, dirty, splintered floor of the Shrieking Shack? This one felt smoother and warmer than where he remembered falling.

"Verus… ok?"

Did he hear someone calling his name? Impossible. He was slowly dying from Nagini's venom coursing through his veins. Dying as a traitor. No one would mourn his death; not a single soul. Except, something about that didn't sit right with him in much the same way as the floor feeling the wrong texture.

"Da… d... daddy!"

Severus's dark eyes shot wide open when the one word he would never in a million years use to describe himself made it through his muddled brain. The events of the morning - waking up in a room he didn't recognize, seeing Lily for the first time, Potter, learning about the prophecy - came racing back to him so fast, he physically grasped the sides of his head and grimaced in pain. It was all true. Whatever world he landed in, Voldemort was gone, he and Lily had a daughter, and he had somehow become the stepfather of Harry bloody Potter.

"Daddy," the small voice exclaimed to him, again. "You ok?"

He blinked several times until two black eyes, as dark as his own, surrounded by a curtain of red hair, came into focus.

"Rosalie?"

"Daddy!" Severus hardly made it up onto his elbows when she flung herself into him. She wrapped tiny little hands around him and clung tightly to his sides, leaving him no choice except to wrap his right arm around her slight frame. The other he kept firmly planted on the floor to support them.

"I'm ok, Rosie," Severus tried to reassure the child. In response, she pulled herself tighter to his chest.

"Rosie," Lily, who Severus now noticed kneeling beside him, pulled at the young child, "give your dad a little breathing room."

Severus cringed as he heard the small sniffle directly on top of his ear, grateful to not feel any liquid leaking onto it. With a nod of her little head, Rosie shuffled to the other side of Severus, giving him a perfect view of Lily - his wife. His heart became heavy as he gazed into her concerned green eyes. How much he wished he could believe this reality truly existed. He'd give almost anything to stay right there forever, but as it always did, his logic prevailed. Something happened for him to end up wherever 'here' was, and unfortunately, it could be undone. Ultimately, he needed to figure out what, and why, it happened. Otherwise, even if he got to permanently live here, he'd always be watching over his shoulder… waiting for the other shoe to drop to be sent back to his deathbed as abruptly as when he woke up here.

Out of the corner of his vision, Severus saw Lily pull her wand. Instinctively, he flinched; a reaction she, regrettably, did not miss.

"Harry," Lily called to her son, never removing her eyes from Severus's, "please help Rosie get her breakfast so you two can eat. I need to make sure Severus is alright, and you're already late as it is."

Potter pushed himself closer to the trio still sitting on the floor, giving Severus his first proper look at the teen with his new, albeit extremely limited, memories fresh in mind. As the only person or thing he knew existed in both worlds, Severus set aside his rising frustration with his Potter to glean any clues into the new world he lived in.

The young wizard looked, well, younger - and significantly less gaunt and haunted, he noted - than the one he left behind. If forced to take a guess, he'd say that this Potter was around sixteen… or possibly fifteen, depending on the month. The next thing he noticed about Potter, he was dressed in a Gryffindor uniform, without the outer robe. So clearly, school was still in session and the two wizards were on their way to the castle. Why they didn't live there during the year, he did not recall. However, he could easily assume it had to do with Potter's condition. Bringing him to his last observation about the teen: the muggle-looking wheelchair he so confidently sat in. Severus furrowed his brows, fighting against his rising emotions while watching the boy move with the familiarity of someone who grew up with his disability and likely didn't remember life prior to his accident.

He was three, Severus sadly reminded himself. No, Harry wouldn't remember life on two feet.

Without warning, the memory of the toddler's rescue triggered a flood of intense sorrow he'd never experienced for anyone before, let alone this specific child. He recalled the panic filling up inside of him as he tried his damnedest to find Lily's son, leaving no stone unturned, and seeking every contact who dared to speak to himself or Lucius. But he'd been too late. Only when the Death Eaters, Pettigrew somehow leading the way, wanted the information discovered did he finally find him. By then, his injuries had permanently damaged his tiny body.

As swiftly as the memory of Potter's kidnapping whisked Severus away to the past, the teen's defiant voice in front of him shook him back into the present. Finally, a familiarity with the world he knew best.

"But mom, Severus passed out!" The young wizard argued, throwing his hands in the air. "That has to be a good enough reason to miss school."

Of course, he'd use my misfortune to get out of his own responsibilities.

Severus emitted a low growl through his clenched teeth, fighting against his intuition's warning that his assessment of the boy was completely wrong. Like a wild tornado running rampant inside of him, a clash of two feelings from his respective words overwhelmed him: the hatred for the child of James Potter and the… fondness… endearment… he held for his stepson.

Regardless of his confused feelings, he refused to be used for anyone's personal agenda. Severus pushed himself up into a full sitting position, a loud groan accidentally slipping from his lips in the process. "I'm fine, Pot-" catching his slip up this time, he quickly amended with a scowl, "Harry. Now, listen to your mother and go eat your breakfast because we are going to school."

To no surprise, Potter did not move as instructed. Rather, he continued to blink down at his family sprawled on the floor. Severus ignored the anxiety reflected back at him in those green eyes.

"Ok, fine," Lily eventually conceded. "If you want to help, please get Severus a glass of water."

Severus held back a laugh at the thought of how long it'd take Harry to go to the kitchen to fetch him water. Proving him wrong, the young wizard didn't hesitate to pull his wand out of a bag tucked under his chair, cleared his throat, then conjured an impressively smooth, clear, and stable glass goblet onto the table beside him. Harry shifted himself closer to the table until he could touch the tip of his wand to the edge of the glass. With a whispered aguamenti, he filled the glass to the brim with crystal clear water - a sign of the flawlessly performed sixth-year charm. Nonverbally, he levitated the glass into his mother's waiting hands. The entire process took less than ten seconds and left Severus literally speechless.

"Very good." Lily's praise snakes Severus out of his amazed stupor.

So not only do we permit him to use magic outside of school, he's encouraged to.

To his credit, the perfectly cooled water had a sharp, refreshing taste to it; another testament to Potter's skill in Charms. Midway through his second sip, he choked at the surprise tingle of a diagnostic charm running down the length of his body. Slightly panicked, he turned, relieved to see Lily's wand hovering over him. For a split second, given Harry's level of Charms, he worried Lily had allowed Potter to run the complicated charm on him.

Like hell I'll let him use his wand near my body!

"Well, nothing's broken." She peeked her green eyes over the top of the conjured report, a sly smirk on her face.

"Perfect, now if-"

"I didn't think you hit your head when you fell." Lily interrupted him. The further her eyes scanned through the report, the further her frown fell. "This is showing an inconclusive reading, but no other contusions are present. Maybe a slight concussion? How does your head feel?"

Severus resisted the urge to lie. His head had been throbbing since he'd awoken, after all. "I wouldn't turn down a headache potion."

"You know," Lily teased, "you are allowed to admit when you need help sometimes. No one will fault you for it." A small phial blew by his head to land directly into her outstretched hand from the direction of the kitchen in front of her. "Will you at least promise me you'll see Poppy today if, Merlin forbid, it gets worse? I'd tell you to come home early, but I already know you won't."

Severus obediently gulped down the potion, breathing a sigh of relief when it lessened the pounding of his skull enough to think clearly. "Yes." He nodded. "I'll go to the infirmary-".

"What's the date today?"

Severus scowled at Potter's interruption, except he realized that the question left Potter's mouth with no hint of anger or satisfaction at seeing Severus suffering. In fact, the more the professor looked at the otherwise silent boy, the more he saw the same worried creases lining his face as Lily.

"I don't have to answer y-"

"That's a good idea, Harry," Lily cut Severus off yet again. Severus's nostrils flared in his attempt to keep his increasing temper under control. "Do you know the date, Sev?"

Sev. The single word cooled his rising anger, just as he presumed Lily knew it would.

He had to think fast. If Potter appeared to be around fifteen or sixteen, he could narrow it down to either 1996 or 1997. Based on the sunlight he saw through his bedroom window, he took a confident guess. "1996."

"The month and day?" Potter challenged, without missing a beat.

Lily's stare practically burnt a hole straight into his heart while she awaited his response. He absolutely needed to get this right, if not to keep his true situation a secret, but to also calm his wife's visibly fraying nerves. Severus closed his eyes to bring up his memory of walking through their home in an attempt to locate anything to reveal the actual date; his bedroom, the sitting room, the dining room. Finally… a diary! There, hanging on the wall behind Lily in the kitchen while she finished preparing their family breakfast, was a scribbled on diary.

"June," he said. In his mind, he could see the word written along the top as clear as if he were currently holding the coveted object in his hands. His struggle, though, was to come up with the date. Despite the diary containing a series of events notated on it - Potter's O.W.L.s beginning on the tenth, three healer appointments all scheduled in the week after the last day of school, 'DD party' circled on the twenty-second, and every other weekend obscurely marked 'JP' - it did not have any days crossed off of it, making it impossible for him to make an educated guess.

"Ooh, I know! I know this one!" Rosie's excited voice startled his eyes open. The little girl wiggled next to him with her hand outstretched, waving high in the air.

"Rosie, no-" Potter tried to stop her, but he was too late.

"It's the third!" She proudly announced. "Mummy showed me it on the wall this morning!"

Severus silently thanked his daughter.

"The third," he repeated. Lily closely followed him when he stood, so he wrapped his arms around her to whisper in her ear, "I am fine, Lily, I promise."

Lily's lips pursed in a fiery display of her disagreement, but it was Potter's - Harry's, a voice inside of his head sternly corrected him - relief that almost broke him down. The only time he had ever seen such an expression made for him was as he died when a very different Harry granted him his last request.

"C'mon, Rosie," Harry carefully backed up, gesturing for his sister to follow him to the table, "do you want strawberry jam or butter on your toast?"

"Peanut butter!" The little girl excitedly jumped up from the ground into her chair - milk now cleaned and refilled - beside the space missing the chair.

Harry's spot.

A memory flashed across Severus's eyes of their unconventional family laughing during dinner in the conservatory. The young wizard routinely transferred over to the high-backed dining chair to enjoy their evening meal, yet for their short weekday breakfast, he stayed in his wheelchair; so they could efficiently leave, especially when they were so often late.

"I told you, you looked peaky this morning," Lily lectured. She sat down at the plate less seat to Severus's right, the one with the stack of parchment, which she began sorting through almost immediately. "I think you should reconsider staying home today. You rarely call in sick, and I'm sure Albus can find someone to cover your classes."

"I agree!" Harry chimed in before Severus had the chance to answer.

Lily paused her scratching quill. "Not you." She pointed the sharp end of her quill at him on the other side of the table. "If I remember correctly, you're revising in Charms today."

Harry snorted. "As if I need any extra help in Charms."

There's the arrogance I know so well.

"I'm not getting into this again with you, Harry," she warned. "I am the parent here. You only have one week until your exams-"

"But I don't really need my O.W.L.s. Fred and George-"

"Enough!" Lily slammed the quill onto the table so hard that the table shook, threatening to overturn Rosie's cup of milk for the second time. "First, they're in their N.E.W.T.s, so it's not even close to a proper comparison, and-" she harshly emphasized to prevent Harry's predictable interruption, "I know for a fact Molly will not allow either of them out of those exams. Now, you're going to school. I will take you there myself if I have to."

Severus half expected Harry to continue his tirade, therefore confused when the young wizard turned to him; his face secretly pleading for Severus's help. Besides the idea of Harry Potter asking Severus Snape for help, he hadn't the slightest clue of how the other him would respond in this situation - a power struggle between a mother and her son, or in the professor's case, between the woman he loved and the child he once hated. He paused his thinking to correct himself. Regardless of having no real context behind it yet, he knew he didn't loathe Potter… Harry… here. Yes, the anger and resentment he held for the other boy still existed, like a pool of lava bubbling up under his skin, only now it came accompanied with a side of guilt as he began to see how he and his stepson had more than just an amicable relationship in this strange world. Here, Harry depended on him to be the voice of reason in times like these. Severus felt equally intrigued at, and terrified to learn, how they evolved to this level in their relationship.

In the end, trusting his instincts had helped him survive far more dangerous situations in his life. This one was no different. "I'll take him, Lily," he said with an exasperated sigh. "There is some have… work… which honestly, I cannot put off today. I've already said I'd stop by the hospital wing if need be. Trust me, we'll be fine."

Harry's expression relaxed, and Severus almost fainted again when the Gryffindor whispered the words "thank you" to him.

The rest of breakfast continued in a strained atmosphere, far too reminiscent of those last meetings at Malfoy Manor for Severus's liking. Although he didn't learn any revolutionary information during the meal, he confirmed the Board of Governors indeed allowed Harry and Severus to permanently commute to school each day instead of boarding at the castle; much to the extreme displeasure of the young Gryffindor, yet another sensitive topic Lily did not seem pleased to discuss. The change in residency made him ineligible to be the Head of Slytherin, a small price to pay to see Lily every day. Rosalie lightened up the atmosphere near the end by animatedly chatting about the blue and purple butterfly she saw through her bedroom window when she woke up. She went on and on about how she'd like to be a butterfly animagus if she got to choose, which, of course, Harry quickly pointed out she can't. For Severus, the best part of the meal was how, despite Lily's initial insistence on being too busy that day, Rosalie convinced her to take her to the park that afternoon.

A future Slytherin, he thought. I guess the Gryffindors won't outnumber me, after all.

"We should get going," Harry promptly announced, putting an official end to their morning. Once again, the Gryffindor pulled his wand from under his chair, this time to vanish his plate to the sink. Unfortunately, unlike the water, right afterwards, they winced at the loud clunk coming from the kitchen, turning Harry's face a bright red.

"I think you're getting better," Lily patronizingly offered. Harry's mumbled response was completely incoherent. "You still need to work on making sure the picture of where you're vanishing the object to is as clear as possible in your mind before you begin the incantation. Something Professor McGonagall will help practice as you continue in school."

Harry rolled his eyes as he moved through the doorless threshold into the sitting room, his mother and Severus following behind him. "If I haven't seen the sink yet, how am I supposed to know if there are dishes in it? When I picture it without them there, my plate hits the top too hard. But if I assume the sink is filled with dishes, and it's empty, then it crashes down because I didn't vanish it directly to the bottom in the first place. Maybe I'll try the countertop from now on."

Harry stopped at a wooden desk next to the fireplace covered in so much parchment, quills, and school books not a single part of the surface was visible. As if following a choreographed dance, Severus curiously watched the young wizard pull the small school bag off the desk chair into his lap, then he proceeded to haphazardly shove more supplies into it than Severus knew could fit. Diligently, Harry checked inside the front pocket, moving his lips as he counted whatever it held inside, then slung the bag around the back of his chair - proving to Severus it had a featherweight charm on top of an extension charm, otherwise it would have surely altered the young wizard's centre of gravity enough to tip his chair backwards. What he didn't know was if Harry, who obviously prided himself in his Charms work, had done them himself or if someone had them professionally placed.

"Severus, you're not ready!" Lost in his observations, Severus completely missed Harry approaching. For a moment, falling into his previous life, a disgusted expression came across his face, ready to ream the child sitting in front of him. Severus had barely gotten his string of insults queued up when Harry's next words, accompanied by a sly smile, all but evaporated his steam. "Now look who's going to make us late? You'll get to deal with mum this time."

"Pot-"

"Forgetting these, Sev?" Lily hurried up to him, holding two bags out for him. The larger messenger style letter bag was filled to the brim with parchment, no doubt end-of-year essays and pre-tests to mark. The smaller one was a solid square, and when he took the bag from her, he recognized the familiar cacophony of potion phials knocking against each other. By not living at the school, it could have been he brought home student potions practicals to mark, however, he'd need some place to test them and he hadn't seen a laboratory set up in their home yet.

"Thank you, Lily," he replied. Carefully, he placed his hands on her shoulders, half surprised when her entire body relaxed into his arm. He wrapped them tightly around her, afraid she'd vanish into thin air if he let go, then he kissed the top of her head, breathing in the fragrant scent of her floral shampoo. At that moment, standing in their sitting room, he could almost forget about everything - his old world, this strange new world, and his insecurities about how he'll successfully navigate through it -, never wanting to leave that spot. Unfortunately, Harry pushing past them broke up their tender moment.

"I still think you should stay home," Lily urged one final time.

Home. The word sounded simultaneously foreign and comforting to him. Yet as much as Severus wanted to push Potter off to school to stay there with his family, something brewing inside of him said he'd find more answers at Hogwarts than at home. And now, he needed answers more than ever.

"I'm alright now, Lily." After over a decade of missing her, he doubted he'd ever get used to saying her name again.

"Be careful." She smiled and rose onto her tiptoes to give him a soft, warm kiss on his unsuspecting lips. "I love you, Sev."

He didn't say it back. Those three words still did not come as naturally to him, and he'd later wonder if she found it strange that he didn't.

Turning, he took two whole steps towards the front door before he heard Harry in the opposite direction. Naturally, they wouldn't leave out the front door if they lived in a muggle village. Why did they live in a muggle village? Another question for another time. With both bags secured on his shoulder, Severus abruptly turned to follow the young wizard into the conservatory they used for family dinners. Harry never once slowed down as he pushed his way through the room - demonstrating how they kept the table off centre to allow Harry ample room for him to get to the garden - and up to the door, which automatically swung open when he approached, so he didn't have to slow down on his way out.

Severus's dark eyes blinked hard against the blinding morning sun as soon as he walked out of the conservatory onto the smooth stone walkway. The industrial landscape of his childhood home on Spinner's End, where his garden was as much trash as grass, had left him with no expectations for their family garden. But as soon as his eyes adjusted to the light, and he got his first view of the oasis tucked behind their home, he understood why they - or Lily since he wasn't sure when the move out of Godric's Hollow occurred - lived out in the countryside.

He smiled at the sight of an extensive potions greenhouse and garden, complete with a wide variety of magical plants, budding up against the wooden fence on the far left-hand side of the garden; hidden, he was sure, by strategically placed privacy enchantments. Although he couldn't see inside the small solid structure connected to the back of the greenhouse by a narrow walkway, he knew it contained his potions lab. Where else would he use all the magical plants he saw?

Directly in front of him, in the middle of the garden, sat a large shade tree with a wooden swing dangling from one of the sturdy branches. As he watched it swinging in the warm spring breeze, he could picture Rosie laughing while he pushed her high on the swing. The partial memory of his daughter brought him back to a different time and place where another redheaded little girl loved to jump off a similar swing to show her sister how she could safely float down from the highest arc. Like magic, Severus remembered thinking when he first saw Lily do it at the park in Cokeworth.

Closest to the house, and to Severus's immediate right, a large square flower box was filled with a rainbow of floral colours - all of the muggle variety, though a touch of magic kept them in the best of health. He chuckled when a memory flashed across his vision of building this specific area for Lily's birthday three years ago. She had just gone off on him about needing her own space because one of his more aggressive magical plants was continuously crossing their previously shared space to attack her begonias, killing them each spring. Magic meant he didn't need to wait for the ground to thaw to surprise her with it by the end of January. The plants had to wait a few months to test out their new home.

To complete their outdoor oasis, and the first time Severus suspected they used an extension charm or two, was a large glass building with an oval in-ground pool off around the right side of their house. A series of conversation snippets played in his ears at the sight of the pool. For weeks, they hotly debated the decision to add it after Harry's healer suggested swimming to help in his therapy. They'd been traveling for months to the local pool when Severus suggested adding one to their home. Lily was against it at first, having just found out she was pregnant with Rosie and feared a pool would be too dangerous with a baby and toddler. Eventually, Severus worked out the right protection charms and convinced her to allow him to go through with it. It had easily become one of their favourite family activities.

He was barely halfway down the pathway, right on course for a small sectioned off plot of stone tucked near the side of the greenhouse where Harry impatiently sat waiting on him - when Severus heard Rosalie's panicked voice call out behind him, "Daddy, wait!"

At first, he didn't respond. It took the sound of her little bare feet pounding on the walkway for him to turn around. The small child was running towards him at what he assumed to be her full speed, with Lily chasing behind her, trying to get her to stop and put on the pair of fuzzy purple slippers she held in her hand. Moving almost against his will, Severus knelt down on one knee and extended his arms out wide just in time to catch his daughter.

"You appa… a- ap-era-rate to Hogsmeade," she whispered into his ear under the guise of giving her beloved father a goodbye hug.

In the aftermath of his fainting spell and rushing through breakfast, he'd forgotten the odd references she made to him when he initially arrived at the table. Now, her instructions to him - someone who knew wouldn't know how to get Harry and his chair safely to school - practically guaranteed she somehow knew he didn't belong in their world. How did she figure it out? He didn't know, and regrettably, it would have to wait. He needed to get to the school and disapparating alongside Harry became his next challenge.

"How do I-"

"He uses a charm to stick him in his chair. He's only 'spose to use it when he travels, but I know he does it other times too," she quietly informed him. "Oh! And you come home for dinner!" She looked over her shoulder at Lily approaching, then leaned in to plant a quick kiss on his unshaven cheek before wiggling herself out of his arms. "Good luck!" She said to him and peering over his shoulder at her brother, she yelled, "Bye Harry!"

He had so many questions - too many questions - none of which he had answers for in the present moment. He needed to get to Hogwarts and push himself through his classes well enough so he could speak to Albus in the afternoon. Based on his few memories, it seemed like he had a similar relationship with the Headmaster as he did in his old world. It might have been those long nights planning with Albus's portrait during his final year, but he felt confident the man would have some explanation for what happened to him.

"Severus!" Harry called out to him. "Are we going, or what?! I have a Defense exam first period!"

Thankfully, just as Rosalie said, Harry knew exactly what to do. This meant outside of grudgingly having to hold the young wizard's hand for the sidealong disapparation, Severus's contribution merely consisted of transporting them to the gates of Hogwarts; finally, something he couldn't mess up between the two worlds. Or at least that's what he thought until they landed - rather expertly in Severus's opinion, considering the odd weight distribution to account for - to Harry frantically searching his body while Severus stood by curiously waiting for any sign of what he should be doing. It didn't take long for him to get his answer given to him by a peculiarly agitated Harry.

"Are you going to help me out?" The teen spat. "Or are you siding with mum now on what I have to know to move into the dorms? Because if so, I hope you tell her a diagnostic charm is pointless since we can't apparate in there. Hermione'll be more than happy to outline all the details for her if she needs them.."

Given Harry's extremely misguided attitude during his tirade, Severus figured there was clearly more to the story of Harry's living arrangements than Severus knew about. Therefore, he chose not to comment on the mishandled accusation in favour of running the diagnostic charm, as he assumed he normally did after each transport; something Rosie probably didn't know about. In hindsight, it made sense for this step to be completed if Harry couldn't feel specific portions of his body to be sure to check nothing got splinched during transport. However, not knowing the exact details of Harry's disability and being surprised by the Gryffindor's demeanor made Severus unable to pick up that piece of the puzzle laid out for him.

"You're fine," Severus hissed through his clenched teeth, secretly grateful the report came back clean because he did not know how this version of him would act if they found an issue. What did know was he wouldn't dare live in a world where the lookalike of James Potter spoke to him in such a manner, regardless of their supposed relationship here. "And you will never speak to me like that again, understood? I am the adult, you are the child, and you treat me with the respect I deserve."

To keep his composure, Severus turned towards the Hogwarts gates, not waiting for Harry's sure to be insolent reply. He held his breath during the entire waving of his wand across the school crest, relieved to see it open as it did in his old world. This fragile farce he was building could have come crumbling down at that simple oversight. Again, he paid Harry no attention when he stormed off up the familiar paved path leading up to the school entrance, never once turning around, but knowing the Gryffindor followed only by the sounds of crumbling earth roughly four steps behind him. And for him, that was fine.

"'m sorry, sir. I didn't mean to disrespect you back there."

The unexpected apology - one sounding quite genuine, with no malice found inside of it - when they almost reached the doors to the school made Severus stop abruptly. Turning around to face the teen, he glared down at Harry and accidentally slipped back into his old persona. "An apology from the Great Harry Potter." He bellowed, "Shall I feel honoured? Did it hurt you to say such words to someone like me?"

Harry's head jerked up so quickly at the reply that Severus feared he'd inadvertently tip backwards. Obviously, that wasn't something the young wizard's stepfather would have said to him. "What's going on with you today, Severus? First, you call me… y'know… Potter-

"-that is your name-"

"-then you faint-"

"I did not faint."

"Yeah, you did," Harry teasingly said. He approached Severus, who instinctively took a step back in response. The action did not go unnoticed by Harry. "So then, what's going on with you today? Is it mum? I know she's been a little crazy lately… ok, a lot crazy, actually. I don't know what's gotten into her. If she's said or done something-"

"She loves you," Severus uncharacteristically blurted out. Though he hated the mixed signals he'd been having to sort through in the short time since he woke up here, in this case, the statement was accurate no matter which version of Harry he spoke to. He studied the same face that had been the last he'd seen before dying, but this face - reddened by his embarrassment of being told his mother cared for him - didn't hold the same darkness within it. It hadn't seen or experienced the death and destruction the other did. Briefly, Severus's dark eyes flickered up to where the lightning bolt scar was missing. Voldemort's evil soul hadn't touched this version of the boy. This child would not have to die to save the rest of the wizarding world.

"And why do you keep staring at my forehead?" Harry's question, not said nearly as accusingly this time, brought Severus out of the Shrieking Shack and onto the sunny - not war-ridden - Hogwarts grounds.

"Your scar is missing."

He blamed the strange situation for the words leaving his mouth before his brain could stop them. But rather than reach for his forehead to touch the curse as Severus had seen Potter do frequently, the teenager touched his right cheek, feathering his finger down a deep line several shades lighter than the rest of his face.

He didn't come out unscathed. This reality hit Severus like a herd of erumpent. Just because the child didn't see the horrors of the old world didn't mean he didn't have his own demons to fight.

"I don't know what this is about," Harry scowled at him, the words barely audible through his clenched teeth, "but it's not funny."

The hurt on Harry's face made Severus ashamed of his actions for the first time in his adult life. He should have said something, that much was obvious, but a student exiting the castle doors in front of them stopped him.

"Late again, are you Potter? That's what? The fifth time in a month?"

Severus would have recognized Draco Malfoy's snide voice no matter what universe he landed in. What surprised him here was Harry's reaction to his long-time nemesis.

"It's only the fourth," Harry said with an unexpected chuckle, "and this time it was Severus's fault, so I don't think it really counts against me."

Unfazed, Harry pushed his way past Severus to the stairs leading into the school, where Draco leaned against the heavy door to hold it open. The Gryffindor paused several meters short of the steps. Curious, Severus moved closer to get a better view, something Harry didn't notice being too focused on whatever was about to happen. It took less than half a minute to answer the question lingering in the back of his mind since learning of Harry's disability: how would Hogwarts adjust to accommodate his needs? Severus's dark eyes widened when the four stone steps transformed and expanded into a smooth ramp, allowing Harry to meet Draco at the castle entrance. Severus waited to join them once the stairs returned to their usual formation, not wanting to get caught on it mid-transformation.

"Morning, Severus," Draco greeted him. "Rough start to the day?"

"I'll tell you later," Harry answered instead. "We have to get to class."

In a similar fashion to how Severus, Harry paid no attention to him trailing behind as the three wizards casually walked through the wonder then usual door frame.

"There you are," Ron Weasley declared, much more jokingly than concerned about being roughly a quarter-hour late for class. "Thought you weren't going to make it today, mate."

The disappointed shake of Harry's head couldn't hide the wide grin spread across his face. "You know you didn't have to wait for me, right?"

"Of course we knew," Ron cheerfully said, "but by the time we realized how late you were, figured we were already late. Plus, Professor Lupin likes you, so we have a better chance of getting out of it if we show up with you."

Already in a state of shock over Harry and Draco's friendly conversation - adding Weasley, of all people, into the mix - Severus fell into a coughing fit at the sound of Lupin's name being referred to as their professor.

"You alright there, Professor?" Ron asked. Severus glowered. Never had he wanted to wipe a smirk off another person's face - including Longbottom on his worst day - as he did Ron at that moment. Especially when, unlike the redhead in his old world, this one didn't appear nearly as intimidated by the gesture.

"Let's go… just because Remus allows me to be late, doesn't mean I should be." Harry motioned his head towards an empty corner of the wall opposite the towering stone staircase leading up to the classrooms or down towards the dungeons. By all appearances, it looked no different from any other part of the high stone structure. But after a second glance at it, Severus noticed a small symbol - an up and down arrow, midway up the wall. He got his second view of how Hogwarts adjusted to help his stepson when the wall melted to reveal a hidden lift as soon as Harry rolled up to it.

"Come on, Weasel." Draco slapped the other wizard hard on his shoulders. "You heard the man, get moving. I'm sure Hermione's having a right fit about now and we'll never hear the end of it otherwise."

The two friends must have picked up on the animosity between Harry and his supposed stepfather - a phrase wrong on so many levels - because neither of them bid farewell to their Potions Master. With a whispered, 'he's been acting really weird this morning,' Harry entered the lift first, and they took off to Defense Against the Dark Arts; leaving Severus to wander his way down to the Potions classroom.

How difficult can it be to teach here? He rhetorically asked himself. Potions hasn’t changed in centuries. I'll be perfectly fine. If only he foresaw the challenges awaiting him on the other side of the door, perhaps he might have been a little more prepared for the rest of his day.