A post-DH kid-fic! Mostly Severus/Harry, but there is a return of Dumbledore too.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
When the Next Great Adventure EndsChapter 1A youth with long straight red hair was physically dragging a much smaller, struggling black-haired boy into the Great Hall.
The small boy was making it clear to anyone who bothered to listen, "I want to go home. Let me go," while punctuating his demands with punches and kicks to the Gryffindor head boy who had hold of him.
"Some assistance please," the head boy requested calmly amidst the sea of grief and jubilation.
Only minutes had passed since Harry Potter had defeated Lord Voldemort.
No one paid the head boy any mind, even if his uniform was close to a century out of date.
It was not until he got close to an elderly man in a kilt that there was a barely voiced question of disbelief directed to the Gryffindor, "Albus?"
"Thank goodness. Aberforth, I have no idea how or why, but without my wand, young Severus here is uncontrollable."
Aberforth narrowed his eyes to study this person that appeared to be his brother from the turn of the century who claimed to be trying to control a boy too young to even attend Hogwarts, much less have the unlikely name of Severus.
The young boy drew his clenched fist back and gave his captor a harsh blow to the groin. Albus doubled over and fell to his knees, losing his grip on the other boy's arm.
Quirking his lips at the obvious pain of this person, Aberforth was amused that this fellow would be unable to strut about as his head boy brother had nearly a century ago for at least a couple minutes.
Unable to speak, Albus weakly pointed after Severus who was weaving his way through the Great Hall towards the exit. Unlike him, Severus did not have his adult memories. Albus's were severely out of date, but Severus thought he was a child. He accused Albus of taking him from his home and had screamed and struggled during the entire walk to the castle.
Unlike Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape did not trust people. He thought he had died earlier tonight, but something had gone terribly wrong. He may not know what, but he was still Severus Snape, even in a smaller body. Until he knew what was going on, it was best to play dumb. He believed Dumbledore was Dumbledore since he was almost definitely sure he was himself, unless this was some dying fever dream due to Nagini's poison. If it was, Severus expected a higher level of terror, rather than a spotty teenage Dumbledore dragging him by the arm to Hogwarts.
For now, if people considered him to have the mind of a child, he might have time to piece together what he should do. Being a known Death Eater and on the losing side would lead to immediate arrest and transport to Azkaban. Severus was not sure about murdering the headmaster since he was no longer dead, if he was understanding this unlikely turn of events correctly. However, why would that be important to the Wizengamot, if he was even given a trial? A child might receive some leniency, rather than have delighted enemies clap their hands gleefully together that his younger age made it possible for him to serve a longer life sentence. Until he knew what Dumbledore planned, Severus could not depend on him. He moved around the room, scanning it. Severus decided there really was no one that would aid him, even if he figured out what he needed. There were so many people dead. Someone would be made to pay for this, and it certainly would not be the Dark Lord since he was no longer accountable. He had heard McGonagall earlier when she attacked him. Potter? Malfoy? Shacklebolt? Then he realized that his ordeal had left him addled as he briefly considered Longbottom.
Leaving the castle, he tried to consider what a child would do, or even him as a child. Severus was allowed to wander outside the house till it was dark. Trouble was, if he was really this young, he'd be panicking because it was currently dark. He knew his address, but he had to plan his return home carefully, with every step traceable since apparating to Spinner's End would expose his adult knowledge.
Be logical. Pretend to be lucky enough to choose the main road which led to the front gate? Once he was in Hogsmeade, there was a train station. Ask for help there, even though he knew that the train was not currently running, unless arrangements were made to ship the students home? On his way towards the gate, Severus stopped to check some corpses, picked up some small change and after testing that he could cast with a wand, tucked it under his trousers in his saggy underpants. If he was caught, he could jar it so it slid out his trouser leg.
Severus did not want to make his apprehension easy, if anyone was following him. He also did not want someone trying to hurt him since he appeared to be a helpless child. He did not carry a light, moved parallel to the Hogsmeade road and walked quietly to listen for anyone either following or coming towards him.
He had not expected everyone in Hogsmeade to be awake, along with many students, and for them all to be milling in the streets like a bunch of dunderheads waiting for a massive destructive spell to do them all in, if they did not know the fighting was over. His height made it easy for him to blend in and look around the train station, besides listening to the students. What was happening with them? If the Hogwarts Express was summoned, he could board it with them. Many of them were not in uniform and he may be mistaken for a very short first year.
When some prefects joined Prof. Vector and then started yelling for the students to line up, Severus remained behind. He did not want to go back up to Hogwarts.
He had been thinking he should approach anyone appearing gullible for assistance, when there was a loud bang as the Knight Bus appeared. Someone else had summoned it, and a queue formed since there were a number of people stranded in Hogsmeade. Severus joined the end of it.
Trying to appear innocuous, Severus tried to appear as if he was with the big woman in front of him, then he would innocently ask about his destination later.
It did not work. The female conductor eyeballed him and asked, "Where is your parent?"
"Home. I got lost and I want to go home," he replied. That was not an unreasonable request.
"Do you live in Hogsmeade?"
Severus denied it and supplied his address. The woman asked him to stand to the side while she got the rest of the adult passengers loaded, then took out something that looked like a small steering wheel. Severus glanced at the nearly blind driver with his ridiculously thick glasses that appeared to be a stronger prescription than Trelawney's, but he had a steering wheel. After she fiddled with it, she requested he take a seat and pointed at the nearest bed. Severus gave some thought that children of his age may be allowed to ride for free since he was not asked to pay a fare, but it did not seem practical since he was not with a paying adult.
The ride was horrible with many stops with more passengers hailing the Knight Bus. He sat patiently and listened. The news was mostly rumor, but the wildest stories stopped after they crisscrossed England, Wales and back into Scotland. More facts were confirmed, and Severus continued to listen for his name especially. He remained a well-hated person, but no one pointed him out. Potter was mentioned as having declared that he had been Dumbledore's man all along, however that did not sway some people who were happy he was dead, or if there was a mistake, were certain that he would end in Azkaban for Dumbledore's murder. There was no mention of a young and very much alive Albus Dumbledore being sighted by anyone. Severus doubted the old manipulator was lying low to give Potter his moment in the spotlight.
Once the sun rose, Severus was starting to consider that he may be able to get a copy of The Daily Prophet if another passenger left it behind. The stops were in no order. First on was not first off, nor did the bus seem to be following a logical order of going to the next closest destination.
When they stopped in front Purge and Dowse in London, Severus was expecting someone to board since no one that had boarded after him had mentioned St. Mungo's.
The conductor pointed to him and announced, "This is your stop."
"No, it isn't," Severus denied and repeated his address at Spinner's End.
"Your parents will be notified where you are when you check in, and then they'll pick you up. Come on, I'll take you to the desk."
Severus followed her. It was not where he wanted to go, but there were real train stations in London that he could use to get home once he snuck out of here. Even if he was a lost child and his parents were alive, he was not sure if his mother would have come to retrieve him from St. Mungo's quickly. Perhaps he could get a breakfast out of this and a discarded newspaper to read the official version of what happened.
Like the bus trip, things happened slowly, however now it was a bureaucratic rather than inefficient slowness at St. Mungo's.
He could not think of any plausible reason why an innocent child would lie about his name so he supplied it which led to some spells being cast on him. Since they had no idea that he did not know exactly how old he was, it was announced that he was eight while that fact was recorded. He was confirmed as Severus Snape, and the paper pusher's initial question regarding if his parent was also named Severus Snape was disproved to match his truthful answer that no, his father was Tobias and his mother was Eileen.
When he realized there was going to be an exam involved, he was allowed to change into a set of hospital pajamas in a loo, and he stashed the wand in the toilet tank. It was doubtful someone would find it before he decided whether he could risk coming back for it.
Severus briefly considered trying to make a run for it. Healers were skilled witches and wizards. If they thought he belonged here, he would be detained unless he cast spells back at them. Although surprise would be on his side, an eight year old showing off that he could stun people was not the kind of attention he needed.
These were not the people he feared. Those were the ones that had to be convinced he was young, confused and perhaps quite stupid.
The examination was troubling. He did not want it, but he kept calm by daydreaming he should have gotten lost thirty years ago. What would have happened to his parents if someone cared that he was underweight, short, undernourished, had physical injuries, especially those lovely ones made with a belt buckle, fleas and lice? Severus was surprised regarding the head lice. He just remembered that he was itchy all over and never made the distinction between what was biting him where.
He was healed, cleaned up along with the vermin being removed, fed breakfast, and given a potion to rectify the vitamin and mineral deficiencies detected in his body.
The misconception that he was staying here while they waited for a parent to collect him, or until he was able to slip out, was corrected. At some point they realized he was an orphan so he was turned over to some nitwit from the Ministry.
He followed her through the floo and joined a roomful of other children. This certainly was good towards blending in, but they had his real name, parents' names and address. Furthermore at some point, he was going to have to fake being upset over the sudden discovery that his parents were really dead since they were alive when he was eight years old. Severus hoped he'd only have to do that once or twice since shedding tears over Tobias Snape would really gall him.
If the Ministry got around to clearing his name or anything favorable regarding him, Severus figured he could always fake an accidental blow to the head to restore or partially restore his memories.