Part I. The Turning

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September 1979

Severus looked up at the moon shining through the trees. Waning, so no need to look out for werewolves. The September night was damp and chilly so he pulled the hood of his black robes up higher while double-checking that the mask was still in his pocket. He had worn it for almost a year but it still occasionally felt new and strange, the powers of anonymity it granted him intoxicating. With it on, he could do anything, especially in the company of his brethren wearing theirs.

They'd had a meeting at Lestrange Manor earlier that evening despite it being a weekday. Rabastan hosted, the manor was his now after his and Rodolphus' parents had died in Dragon Pox, or if the rumours were true as Severus suspected, at the hands of their sons and daughter-in-law. The Dark Lord had been in splendid form and talked for a long time with his chosen Death Eaters about his planned reforms, the way he wanted to change society and bring back proper order into the world. He had withdrawn to the Manor's study with the Inner Circle after that, leaving Severus and the other younger Death Eaters outside, wanting a chance to get in on the action, to prove their worth to the cause. After an hour or so he had returned again to the larger gathering, with a request that they go out and show the world what His name meant. Severus had jumped at the chance together with Yaxley, Reemberg and Jugson, and now they were walking silently towards a small Muggle town in Hampshire. He eyed the others disdainfully. Yaxley had a brain and knew how to use it, but Reemberg rather thought with his lower head and Jugson merely did what the others told him to, although he was eager when it came to the promise of violence. Still, of those four Severus was the youngest and the one with the most to prove. He liked the challenge of taking down wards or working out how to get information or access to something, or brewing advanced potions for the Dark Lord, making use of his skills. Sometimes the raids were more physical, though. He'd shown his worth in the staged duels the Dark Lord occasionally arranged, and sometimes it felt really good to beat up a Muggle, imagining his target to be his father or the Marauders.

He quickened his step and walked up to Yaxley who nodded at him. Yaxley had been present during Severus' initiation, a little over a year ago, and he had gained the older man's respect then, doing things he'd rather not remember. Yaxley had planned the evening's raid. They would hit a Muggle-lover's home, with the intention to intimidate or hurt the Muggleborn wizard who had married a Muggle woman and had a half-blood son. Severus also guessed there was money involved, somehow. Either he owed someone, or more likely, someone else owed him Galleons.

Jugson had scouted ahead a bit earlier and had told them to watch out for the dog, which Reemberg had offered to dispose of. Severus was tasked with taking down the wards and then guarding the back entrance so that no one escaped while Yaxley and Jugson would take care of the wizard.

From nowhere, just off to their left, something suddenly crashed through the brambles and thudded to the ground. Severus whipped out his wand and cautiously walked up to the spot when no further attacks were coming. It was too dark to see anything so he lit his wand as he approached. The lump of cloth on the ground resolved itself into a person… a woman. A witch? She was dressed in Muggle jeans and a jumper but seemed to have Apparated there, into the clearing. She groaned and raised her head, blinking against the harsh light of the Lumos. Her brown hair was put up in a messy ponytail but half of it had broken free, framing her face in frizzy, messy curls.

She smiled at him. "Professor Snape? You're alive…" She didn't get further before collapsing in a heap, unconscious. Blood trickled from her temple where a branch must have snagged as she fell.

Severus shook his head and tried to make sense of it, was she a trap, set by the Aurors perhaps? It didn't seem like she had company, however. Yaxley walked up from the side and looked down at the young woman. He poked her in the ribs with his boot but the girl didn't stir.

That witch had smiled at him. As if she knew him, as if she was glad to see him. But why? No one ever smiled at him, not like that. Something twitched in his chest, an odd feeling, why would he care about a girl he'd never seen? "I'll deal with her."

Yaxley glared at him. "She saw us without masks, Severus. Kill her quickly."

Severus frowned. Something… There was something going on here. Something strange. He thought he'd heard her call him Professor Snape although he must have gotten that wrong. She'd definitely said Snape, at any rate. How could she know his name?

The tall blond wizard turned to walk away. He never saw Severus raising his wand. "Obliviate!"

Severus took a deep breath, trying not to think of what he had just done. If the Dark Lord should find out somehow, he was as good as dead. Making the second rash decision of the day, he Apparated back home with the girl in his arms. She was light as a feather, dirty and bloodied. He pushed the door open with a booted foot, carried her upstairs and stalked across the hall to his old bedroom. Dust assaulted him when he opened the door with a muttered wandless spell; dust and stale memories.

He deposited the girl on his old boyhood bed, pulled his wand out and removed the worst of the dust with a quick Tergeo, frowning when he looked down at her. Who was she? If she'd attended Hogwarts he would have recognised her, but although she appeared to be not too far from him in age he'd never seen her before in his life. She was bleeding from a cut on her neck, and her arm was wet. He pulled up her sleeve to check for the source of the blood that had leaked onto her jumper and gasped when he saw the cursed scars forming a word. Mudblood. Still raw and scabbing over, whoever did that must have been very powerful. Casting a diagnostic charm over her, one he'd learned from Madam Pomfrey during his many stays in the Hospital Wing, it seemed that there wasn't anything majorly wrong with her. He had to return to the others or there would be questions.

He was almost out the door when he suddenly stopped, frowning. Quickly he returned to the bed, found her wand jutting up from her back jeans pocket and removed it. Again he was halfway through the door before he turned, this time to Transfigure a pen that lay on his old desk to a glass, filling it with a quick Aguamenti. He warded the room, making sure she wouldn't be able to escape, and then Disapparated with a crack.

"Where were you?" Jugson asked. They had apparently beat up the wizard already and torched a barn before setting the Dark Mark blazing across the sky.

Severus shrugged. "Nature called."

Yaxley snorted. "Right, you were probably throwing up in the bushes."

Severus glared at them, squared his shoulders and pulled up ahead. "Come on, you know he doesn't like to be kept waiting."

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A/N: So, this is the start of an epic-length canon-fixing time-travel story. I hope I can add a new twist to this trope but we'll see if I can pull it off. Updates will be rather erratic. I have about 60k words written so far but this fic will be a lot longer than that. Hope you'll enjoy the ride!

Although I do love Rickman's acting in the movies I think of Severus Snape more as a non-smiling Adrien Brody, looks-wise. Especially as a young man. All angles and black hair.