A/T: Fluff. Romance. In other words, Joy.

Disclaimer: I don't own them- if I did, I'd actually be including this in the books, traumatizing poor children as they read. ahem The awaited fifth book! Harry Potter and the Alley of Dreams! evil, gleeful laughter If only! But I guess this will have to do. I don't own any HP characters, save Cedric- these are owned by J.K. Rowling, Scholastic, Warner Brothers, etcetera. Don't sue me because I'm borrowing them... sue me because I'm beautiful.

Note: For those who are reading, it might be hard to tell when scenes are changing. The stars that everyone uses in their fics aren't working for me, so I've uploaded the chapters again and I'm trying periods instead. If those don't work then I'm not sure what I'll do- it's not like I didn't put them in there, they just aren't showing up on As a writer, you have my deepest apologies. For those who aren't easily confused (unlike yours truly, but we won't go there) read on!

Alley of Dreams

Prologue: The Box of Lost and Found

It was hard to miss him, really. A sniffling child huddled in a stone corner- it reminded Severus of someone, but after much consideration, he couldn't exactly place his finger on who. He didn't care; didn't want to care, but a lost child in the middle of a busy Diagon Alley was heart breaking, even to an admittedly dark and bad tempered Potions Master.

With a discreet roll of his eyes and an impatient huff, he milled his way over past a large and noisy crowd towards the quivering child. He couldn't believe he was doing this. You would think that after sitting there, crying for at least ten minutes, someone other then himself would bother asking what was wrong. There had to be a million Molly Weasley's in Diagon Alley strolling about, and, to his chagrin, it was obvious he was about to become one of them.

He observed the child from a few feet away. The boy was tall for his age, he'd grant him that, but incredibly slender and fair-skinned, with a mess of dark hair that didn't seem to want to do much of anything besides stick up every which way. His robes were nice, if not a bit wrinkled, and it was evident that he was miserable. He was clutching to his chest what looked like a Mathematics textbook, almost Muggle by the looks of the cover.
Well. Enough was enough. And if no one was going to pay attention to him, it was his duty as a professor to do so himself. He was sure that if his fellow Slytherin classmates from so long ago could see him now, they'd laugh themselves silly.

But Severus could understand what it was like to be lost and faraway from home.

With a breath, he walked over and cleared his throat. The child immediately took notice. He indicated this by attempting to shrink back into the wall that supported him, as if trying to disappear into oblivion. It was a trick Severus knew was simply not possible- he couldn't count the amount of times he'd tried it himself.

The child tried to stop crying, it seemed, wearing a look of both humiliation and resolve, although Severus could tell that he was young, frightened, and no matter how hard he tried, it was inevitable that those were fresh tears beginning to leak through his eyes.

"You don't look very happy. May I ask what the matter is?"

The child had such brilliant green eyes.

They were too brilliant for his tastes and he was tempted to turn away and hide from such light. Now he remembered who this young man reminded him of. Now he knew. But he refused to even consider such odds. He was just fulfilling his duty, and in order to do that, he had to find this child's parents.

"Who are you?"

A lonely, dim man. "My name is Severus Snape. What's yours?" he asked, bending down so that he was eye to eye with the youth.

"I'm not supposed to tell you. Dad told me never to talk to strangers."

Severus sighed again and sat down his bags. "That's completely understandable, and your father's right. However, if you want your father back then you're going to have to tell me your name so we can find him."

The explanation was simple and the boy obviously wanted his father back. He was lost, but he wasn't stupid.

"I- I lost my dad," the child replied softly, taking a brave, shuddering breath. "He-he only turned for a moment, and..."

A look crossed the boy's face. It was easily readable to Severus- he had seen it so many times before. It was a look of uncertainty, and that uncertainty was directed towards him. Should this child trust a man like him?

You shouldn't, but you probably will.

"All right," he said quietly, his tears beginning to subside. "My name's Cedric."

An unexplainable pang in Severus's chest startled him, the emotion simply crashing through him, like waves in the ocean. Cedric? Cedric Diggory... yes, he remembered the student quite well. You often do when they die.

"And your last name?" Severus's hair had fallen from its neat ponytail into his own pale face and he brushed it back impatiently with long, nimble fingers.

An uncomfortable glance. A thoughtful frown...

"It's Potter. Cedric R. Potter."