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The Hogwarts Express gleamed scarlet against the gray London skies, billowing steam that wreathed Platform 9¾ in ghostly tendrils. Severus stood motionless amid the chaos of tearful goodbyes and excited chatter, his trunk at his feet, observing the scene with the dispassionate gaze of both newcomer and veteran.
"Isn't it magnificent?" Lily breathed beside him, her green eyes wide with wonder. The enchanted paper lily was pinned carefully to her coat, its petals occasionally trembling as though stirred by an invisible breeze.
"It is," Severus agreed, though his attention was not on the train but on the platform itself, scanning faces that were simultaneously strange and familiar—younger versions of people he had known, taught, fought alongside, betrayed.
[SCANNING FOR TEMPORAL ANCHORS]
[IDENTIFYING KEY CONTACTS]
[STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIPS REQUIRED]
He ignored the System's prompts flickering at the edge of his vision. He had already decided his first priority—remain with Lily, whatever the cost. The rest could follow.
"Come on," he said, picking up his battered trunk. "Let's find a compartment before they're all taken."
As they moved through the crowd, Severus felt a strange doubling of perception. In one moment, he was an eleven-year-old boy embarking on his greatest adventure; in the next, he was the spy, the double agent, categorizing threats and opportunities with clinical precision. The effect was disorienting, like viewing the world through a shattered lens.
"Sev?" Lily's voice pulled him back to the present. "Are you feeling alright? You look strange."
"I'm fine," he replied automatically. "Just... taking it all in."
They boarded the train, finding an empty compartment near the middle. Severus helped Lily stow her trunk before securing his own, movements economical and precise in a way that made Lily tilt her head curiously.
"When did you get so strong?" she asked.
Severus hesitated. His adult consciousness carried muscle memory his eleven-year-old body shouldn't possess. Another slip. "Growth spurt," he lied, settling into the seat opposite her. "I shot up three inches this summer."
Before Lily could question this dubious explanation, the compartment door slid open. A girl with pale blonde hair and sharp blue eyes stood in the doorway, already dressed in her Hogwarts robes.
"Is there room in here?" she asked, her accent crisp and faintly Northern. "The other compartments are filling up."
Severus felt a jolt of recognition, though he couldn't immediately place her face among his fragmented memories. Not a Death Eater, certainly, but someone significant.
"Of course," Lily beamed, patting the seat beside her. "I'm Lily Evans, and this is my best friend, Severus Snape."
The blonde girl nodded politely as she entered, stowing her trunk with practiced efficiency. "Elara Vayne," she introduced herself. "First year."
"Us too," Lily said enthusiastically. "We're so excited! Do you know which house you'll be in?"
Elara sat primly, smoothing her already immaculate robes. "Ravenclaw, without question. My family has been in Ravenclaw for seven generations." She glanced between them. "And you?"
"I'm hoping for Gryffindor," Lily said. "Though Sev here has been set on Slytherin forever."
"I'm... reconsidering," Severus said carefully, aware of Elara's assessing gaze.
"Interesting," Elara remarked, though whether she meant his reconsideration or something else wasn't clear. Her eyes lingered on him with peculiar intensity. "You don't seem like typical Slytherin material."
"What does that mean?" Severus asked, unable to keep a defensive edge from his voice.
Elara shrugged one shoulder. "Just an observation. You're watching everything, calculating. Very Ravenclaw trait." Her gaze shifted to the window as the train lurched into motion. "Or perhaps very Slytherin, depending on your motivations."
The compartment fell into an awkward silence as the platform slid away, parents waving until they disappeared from view. Severus studied Elara surreptitiously. There was something familiar about her, a nagging sense of importance he couldn't place.
"Have we met before?" he asked abruptly.
Elara turned from the window, her expression carefully neutral. "I don't believe so. I would remember."
"Where are you from?" Lily asked, clearly attempting to ease the tension.
"Edinburgh, originally," Elara replied. "Though we've moved around. My father works for the Department of Mysteries."
That detail triggered a cascade of memory fragments: A spinning room of doors... Prophecies glowing on dusty shelves... Unspeakables in hooded robes... Severus pressed his fingers to his temple, where a sudden pain blossomed.
"Department of Mysteries," he repeated. "He's an Unspeakable, then?"
Elara's eyes narrowed slightly. "Yes. Most Muggle-borns wouldn't know that term."
"I'm half-blood," Severus corrected automatically. "My mother was a witch. Eileen Prince."
Recognition flickered across Elara's face. "The Russian branch of the Prince family? I've read about them in 'Pureblood Genealogy and Its Continental Variations.'" She leaned forward, her academic interest clearly piqued. "Is it true they practiced a form of blood magic that was outlawed even before Grindelwald's time?"
Severus blinked, caught off guard. In his original timeline, few had known or cared about his mother's heritage. Even he had known little beyond the basics until after her death, when he'd inherited her grimoire. But now, with the System granting him access to memories not yet formed, he found himself nodding.
"They fled Russia when the Ministry began rounding up practitioners of certain ancient arts," he said quietly. "My mother was the last of her line."
"Fascinating," Elara breathed, a scholar's hunger for knowledge evident in her expression. "I'd love to hear more about—"
"Anything from the trolley, dears?" came a cheerful voice as the compartment door slid open again.
The interruption broke the moment. Lily, who had been watching their exchange with growing confusion, brightened at the sight of magical sweets. Severus reached into his pocket for the handful of Sickles Eileen had pressed into his palm before departure—more money than she would normally give him, a guilt offering for sending him away so soon after Tobias's death.
"We'll take some of everything," he said, grateful for the distraction.
As they sampled Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and Pumpkin Pasties, the conversation turned to lighter topics. Lily's delighted laughter as she experienced magical sweets for the first time eased the tension in Severus's chest. For a moment, he could almost forget the weight of his mission, the fractured timeline he carried in his head.
"So," Elara said eventually, carefully selecting a green bean that turned out to be mint, "what subjects are you most looking forward to?"
"Potions," Severus answered immediately. "And Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Charms," Lily said. "And I'm curious about Astronomy. What about you, Elara?"
"Arithmancy, though we can't take it until third year," Elara sighed. "For now, I suppose Astronomy and Ancient Runes will have to satisfy my mathematical interests."
"Ancient Runes is also a third-year elective," Severus pointed out.
Elara's lips curved in a small, secretive smile. "For most students, yes. But my father arranged for special permission. I've been studying runic systems since I was seven."
The casual confidence with which she made this statement reminded Severus forcefully of Hermione Granger, though Elara lacked the Gryffindor's sometimes grating eagerness to prove herself. This was the steady self-assurance of someone who knew her own value without needing external validation.
[POTENTIAL ALLY IDENTIFIED]
[INTELLIGENCE ASSET: HIGH VALUE]
[RECOMMEND CULTIVATION]
The System's assessment flashed briefly, and Severus found himself agreeing. While Lily would always be his primary concern, having an ally in Ravenclaw—especially one with connections to the Department of Mysteries—could prove invaluable.
Their conversation continued as the train carried them northward, fields and towns giving way to rolling hills and eventually the rugged Scottish landscape. The sky had begun to darken when Elara abruptly pulled a star chart from her bag and spread it across her lap.
"What's that for?" Lily asked, peering over with interest.
"Tonight's astronomy lesson," Elara replied. "Professor Sinistra always begins first-years with a basic celestial navigation exercise on the first clear night. I want to be prepared."
Severus leaned forward, examining the chart. "Your calculations for Jupiter's position are off," he said without thinking. "It's shifted three degrees eastward since that chart was printed."
Elara's head snapped up, blue eyes suddenly sharp. "Excuse me?"
Too late, Severus realized his mistake. This was knowledge from his teaching years, not something an eleven-year-old should possess—even a precocious one.
"I... read it in the latest issue of 'Astronomical Quarterly,'" he improvised. "My mother subscribes."
"Astronomical Quarterly is an academic journal read primarily by masterlevel astronomers and researchers," Elara said slowly. "And the Jupiter shift was only documented last week."
Tension crackled between them as Elara's analytical mind visibly worked through the improbability of his explanation. Severus kept his expression neutral through long practice, though his heart raced. He had underestimated her.
"Well, I think it's brilliant you both know so much already," Lily interjected, clearly sensing the strange undercurrent. "You'll have to help me catch up, since I didn't grow up with any of this."
Elara held Severus's gaze a moment longer before deliberately turning to Lily with a small smile. "Of course. The transition can be challenging for Muggle-borns, but you seem quite adaptable."
"Lily is the most talented witch I've ever met," Severus said firmly. "She was doing controlled magic long before she got her letter."
"Is that so?" Elara raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical.
"Show her, Lily," Severus encouraged. "Show her what you can do with the flower."
Lily hesitated, then unpinned the origami lily from her coat. Holding it in her palm, she closed her eyes in concentration. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, slowly, the paper lily began to rise, hovering an inch above her hand.
"Wandless levitation?" Elara breathed, academic skepticism giving way to genuine amazement.
"Not exactly," Lily said, her face flushed with effort. "I'm not lifting it—I'm creating an air current beneath it. Like this—"
She opened her eyes, focusing intently, and the lily began to spin gently, rising higher as it rotated. Tiny motes of light appeared around it, like miniature stars orbiting a white sun.
"Extraordinary," Elara whispered. "That's not standard magic. That's..."
"Elemental affinity," Severus finished, watching Lily with a mixture of pride and aching nostalgia. He had forgotten this—how naturally magic had come to her, how she had shaped it with intuitive grace rather than textbook precision. "Very rare, especially in Muggle-borns."
Lily allowed the flower to drift back to her palm, the lights fading. "Sev's being kind. I can only do little things, and not always reliably." She smiled self-deprecatingly. "Nothing like recalculating planetary movements."
"Still impressive," Elara conceded, her assessment of Lily visibly revised upward. "Perhaps Ravenclaw would suit you as well."
"Oh, I'm not clever enough for Ravenclaw," Lily laughed. "I just work hard."
"Intelligence takes many forms," Elara said, folding her star chart with precise movements. "Academic knowledge is just one variety. Your intuitive understanding of magical energies suggests a different kind of intelligence altogether."
Severus watched this exchange with a strange sense of displacement. In his original timeline, Lily had never been friendly with Ravenclaws—her circle had been almost exclusively Gryffindor. Yet here was a connection forming that had never existed before, a small but significant deviation from the past he remembered.
[TIMELINE DIVERGENCE: 12%]
[CAUSALITY SHIFTS DETECTED]
[PROCEED WITH CAUTION]
The System's warning was unnecessary. Severus was acutely aware that each small change could ripple outward in unpredictable ways. But wasn't that the point? To create enough divergence to prevent the tragedy he knew awaited?
"We should change into our robes," he said, noting the deepening darkness outside. "We'll be arriving soon."
As they prepared for arrival, Severus caught Elara watching him with that same calculating intensity when she thought he wasn't looking. The Ravenclaw had already marked him as an anomaly, something that didn't quite fit her orderly understanding of the world. He would need to be more careful around her.
Yet when the train finally slowed to a stop at Hogsmeade Station, it was Elara who surprised him. As they prepared to disembark, she leaned close, her voice pitched for his ears alone.
"Whatever your secret is, Severus Snape," she murmured, "it's written in your eyes for those who know how to read them. And I've always been an excellent reader."
Before he could respond, she was gone, slipping through the crowded corridor with effortless grace. Lily appeared at his side, practically vibrating with excitement.
"This is it, Sev!" she exclaimed, gripping his arm. "We're really here!"
Severus looked down at her, allowing himself a genuine smile despite the unease Elara had left in her wake. "Yes," he agreed softly. "We're really here."
[PHASE ONE INITIATED]
[HOGWARTS ENTRY ACHIEVED]
[NEW OBJECTIVES UNLOCKING]
As they stepped onto the platform, the familiar call of "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" echoed through the night. Hagrid's massive silhouette loomed against the starry sky, lantern held high.
Severus drew a deep breath of the Scottish air, tasting pine and lake water and ancient magic. For all his trepidation, for all the weight of foreknowledge and responsibility, there was something undeniably right about returning to Hogwarts.
This time, he thought as he and Lily followed the stream of first-years toward the boats, I won't squander my second chance. This time, I'll get it right.
The castle waited on the horizon, windows blazing with welcoming light against the night sky. And somewhere within those ancient walls, destiny waited to be rewritten.
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