chapter 1 Spider's End

In 1997, Hogwarts.

Severus Snape lay prone on the cold floor.

The world ended, and a terrible silence and darkness seized the air all around.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lily's son crawling into the house with two of his inseparable classmates.

"Take...go...take...go..."

There was a horrible wheezing, clucking, clucking sound coming from Snape's throat.

He squeezed the last trace of magic power, allowing past memories to condense and flow out of his mouth, ears and eyes.

cold.

It's never been so cold.

It's like soaking in the black lake of winter.

The cold snake venom spread out, and the gushing blood was quickly taking away his remaining warmth.

Perhaps the fighting would not stop yet, but Snape knew that his story ended here.

Headmaster of Hogwarts, Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Potions professor, Head of Slytherin, members of the Order of the Phoenix, Death Eaters...

These titles that have lingered in his past time will disappear in the long river of time together with the "Half-Blood Prince" he quietly wrote.

Snape grabbed the front of Harry's robes and pulled him towards him.

"Look... look... I..." he said softly.

Black eyes stared at green eyes.

After a second.

The world collapsed quietly, and he fell into endless darkness.

…………

It's been a long time...

Or maybe there's no time at all...

A gleam of light fell on his eyelids, and Snape tried to open them.

A bright mist hung around him, and the cloudy steam had not yet formed a scene.

"Headmaster! They're camping in the Forest of Dean, the Mudblood—"

"Don't say that word!"

"—that Granger girl said the name of the place when she opened the bag, and I heard it!"

"who?!"

Snape turned around sharply, and he saw "myself" standing in the headmaster's office talking to Phineas' portrait.

The light and shadow in the bright cloud was stirred by him, and in an instant it became Albus Dumbledore.

"Don't panic, Severus. How many men and women have you seen die?"

"Lately, there are only people I can't save." He heard "myself" say, standing up, "You used me."

"No--"

A strong irritability rose in Snape's heart.

As soon as this idea was formed in my mind, the cloud and mist were immediately dispersed.

"Kill me, Severus."

"I want you to swear that you will do everything in your power to protect the students of Hogwarts, okay?"

"You know, sometimes I feel that our branch is too sloppy..."

"Keep an eye on Quirrell, will you?"

"Is this remorse, Severus?"

"And what will you give me in return, Severus?"

Like bricks and stones flying backwards under the effect of the restoration spell, countless lights and shadows of the past flashed backwards before his eyes.

He saw Lily's scornful look before she turned around at the door of the Gryffindor lounge.

He saw himself by the beech tree after the OWL exam, shouting the unforgivable word at Lily: Mudblood.

He saw himself arguing with Lily in the castle yard...

He saw the sorting hat moving towards his head...

The surrounding lights and shadows are still distorting and reshaping, and the phantom of Hogwarts Castle is faintly visible.

Severus Snape knew exactly what was coming...

That messy living room, that dirty spider's end...

And his loathsome Muggle father...

And... Lily and Mom.

If every wizard had to go through this before dying, it would be about the same...

At this moment, the phantom of Hogwarts Castle suddenly began to dissipate rapidly.

The figures lingering around the castle dimmed one by one.

Without any reason, Snape "knows" that the "ground" under his feet is collapsing, and the fall is about to start again.

"Wait! It's not over yet—!"

Snape waved his hands furiously.

As the thought occurred to him, he saw his own arm—a terribly thin and thin one.

not far away.

In the phantom of Hogwarts Castle that kept going away.

Compared with other lights and shadows, a small figure is extraordinarily bright, as if dozens or hundreds of figures overlapped together.

Just a little more, just a little more...

With all his strength, Snape grabbed forward like a drowning man.

— catch it!

pop.

The sound of an egg cracking.

The "ground" was empty, and he fell uncontrollably.

…………

1971.

Cokeworth Town, Spider's End.

"hiss--"

Snape woke up in excruciating pain.

The pain was like a wave coming from all parts of the body.

Seems less cold - wait, not so - what does "that" mean?

Snape opened his eyes, instinctively running Occlumency, while subconsciously touching his neck.

The pain in my body still persists, but...

There is no snake venom, the neck is smooth, and there are no wounds.

The surrounding scenery gradually changed from blurred to clear, a dark, narrow room.

as well as……

Snape looked past the child's right hand in mid-air, and landed on the dirty window.

In the reflection of the glass covered with stains, scratches, and dust, a thin, black-haired boy was looking at him.

"Damn Merlin, what's going on—"

Snape raised his right hand, flipping, shaking, and making a fist carefully.

It would be strange if this were the afterlife—he had never heard of such a thing.

Severus Snape stood up, opened the window a small crack, and looked out of the window.

The cobbled alleys are hidden by spotty and dim street lamps.

The dilapidated, gloomy brick house, the windows nailed with wooden boards, and...

Snape let out a breath, sniffing the smell of the sewage river blown by the evening wind, his eyes fell on the distant night.

Beneath the cloudy and dull clouds, the tall mill chimney rose skyward like a gigantic finger raised high in warning.

In Snape's memory so far, there is only one place that fits these elements:

On the outskirts of Cokeworth Town, in the Spider's End Alley deep in the abandoned mill area-the place where he grew up.

But……

Snape tried to remember that not long ago, Voldemort manipulated the snake and left him mortally wounded.

Lily's child and his partner accepted his memory thread, and followed Dumbledore's script to meet the final decisive battle.

After that, he fell into a strange place, flashing back the same cloud, light and shadow...

Later, um, later...

"Hmm..."

Before he could sort out his thoughts, a sleepy murmur came from behind him.

Severus Snape turned alertly before he noticed someone else in the room.

Or, more accurately, there was someone on his creaking plank.

"Who's there—"

The voice got stuck in his throat.

The "uninvited guest" on the bed was a petite girl.

Under the matted, thick brown wavy long hair, is a childish face.

The girl curled up, holding a wand in one hand, and a schoolbag that was about to burst in the other.