AN: I got this idea from another apparently abandoned story, I've tried contacting the author to see if I could adopt their story. I haven't heard back yet so I'll give a brief summary here of the background and where I'm starting from and the rest is mine, and of course J.K. Rowlings.

June 1976, Severus is about to finish his 5th year at hogwarts and is 16. He's currently on the outs with Lily after calling her a mudblood.

June 1996, Harry (15) has just witnessed Sirius death, when meeting with Dumbledore his emotions get the better of him and he has both a tantrum and a severe case of accidental magic destroying Dumbledore's office and knocking Harry out.

June 1976, Harry wakes up in Dumbledore's office in his 7 year old body - 20 years in the past. Somehow Dumbledore knows who this boy is that suddenly appeared in his office and for some reason can't or won't try to send Harry back to his time. Instead he contacts Tobias Snape to take in Harry and changes Harry's appearance slightly so he doesn't resemble James Potter as much (namely fixes his eyesight and lightens his hair slightly)

At this point Dumbledore is unaware of how horrible the Dursleys were to Harry. Tobias is not an abusive arse as he is in the books but he is very strict and tends to favor corporal punishment over other options (consider this your warning- its the 70s, CP was common). He also tends to punish first, ask questions later. Eileen is not in the picture, she has either left or died, I'm not sure which yet.

Tobias opened the door to his house and gently but firmly pushed Harry in. The little boy looked around So this is Snape's house? He thought as he looked about the living room, it wasn't very large, a few bookshelves, a old black and white TV in the corner, a sofa and comfortable looking armchair and coffee table, there was a plank with hooks for coats on the wall by the door and a big front window and a fireplace on the wall across from the stairs. A doorway at the back of the room glimpsed the small kitchen, and stairs that went up to the bedrooms and bathroom. Harry involuntarily took a step back when he noticed the door to the cupboard under the stairs and shuddered slightly. Tobias noticed but didn't say anything as he lead Harry to the couch. Harry sat down while continuing to look around, still completely in shock as to everything that happened.

"Now then Harry, I'm Tobias Snape. Professor Dumbledore asked me to take you in, he said you needed a place to stay..."
"I don't belong here." Harry interrupted, practically shouting. Tobias gave Harry a hard look, he didn't like being interrupted.

"Oh? And where should you be?" He crossed his arms and gave a cold look that made Professor Snape's look like a puppy's, however if Harry indeed had a home that was suitable he'd willingly take the boy there.

Harry opened his mouth but then closed it again, he couldn't think of saying the Dursleys. They'd never take him in, not that he'd want to go back there anyway. He looked down at his hands, "The Weasleys?" he asked hesitantly.

"Arthur and Molly?" Tobias asked and Harry nodded "We'll they're quite young, Arthur only has an entry level job at the ministry right now, and they have two young boys already, Molly's expecting a third later this summer, I'm sure she'd love to have you Harry, but they wouldn't be able to add an extra kid right now."

"The Potters?" Harry had to ask.

Tobias snorted, "They've done a fine job with their son, alright," in a tone that clearly meant the opposite "letting that boy bully others and not doing a damn thing about it. They're up there in years as well. And if Dumbledore wanted you with them he would have contacted them." Tobias said with a note of finality.

And that's when it hit Harry, all at once, Ron, his best friend, didn't even exist yet. Nor Hermione, and Ginny, Neville, Luna. And Sirius… was still a teenager. His mom and dad, alive but didn't know who he was. Giant tears welled up and rolled down his face.

Tobias, never really one for any displays of emotion felt a little lost at what to do for the crying boy sitting on his couch, he knelt down in front of Harry he couldn't believe he was trying to comfort the child he must be growing soft he thought as he uncertainty pulled Harry into a hug.

Harry couldn't remember the last time he'd been hugged by anyone other than Molly Weasley, she had a motherly, nurturing sort of hug, or at least she did, he didn't know if she would here in 1976. Tobias had a strong, protective hug and Harry melted into it, sobbing hard as his world crashed down around him. Everyone he knew and loved was gone, or didn't know he was him. His friends weren't born yet, the adults in his life were teenagers, and the only person that knew who he really was, Albus Dumbledore, either couldn't or wouldn't send him back to his time, and with no explanation at all had sent him to Snape's father of all people. On top of all that, he was stuck having to relive a childhood again, because the first one hasn't been horrible enough. He heaved trying to get air as the panic and isolation engulfed him, but Tobias held him and rubbed his back gently until exhaustion over took him.

Tobias lay the boy down on the couch when his breathing evened out and small shuddering sobs only occasionally escaped. Harry's eyes closed and he was asleep almost instantly. Tobias looked over the boy one of his trainers had come untied, his jeans had some grass stains on them, and the blue and green striped shirt was a little rumpled from the days wear but in good shape. His mop of unruly dark brown hair looked like it had never seen a brush. The man took the blanket at the end of the couch and covered the small figure, he gently brushed the boys hair off his brow, his rough thumb traced over the odd lightning bolt scar on his forehead. Tobias knit his brow as he wondered where the child could have gotten it.

Harry woke up screaming, his dreams plagued with images of Sirius falling through the veil, Bellatrix Lestrange's cackling laugh, Voldemort, Professor Snape in their occlumency lessons, and the memories in the pensive.

"Harry!" a deep gruff voice was calling his name and slowly he opened his eyes and looked into the concerned black eyes of Tobias Snape.

Harry startled again, believing for a moment that they were Professor Snape's eyes, they were that similar, but then he remembered where he was and his breathing slowed and he calmed down a bit. The worry on Tobias's face lessened a bit, but didn't disappear entirely.

"You must be hungry, come to the kitchen, dinner is almost ready."

Harry sat up, rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and headed to the little kitchen in the back of the house. Aunt Petunia would have hated it, it was quite small, just the bare basics and a formica table set, that in his own time would have been considered retro, pushed off to the side. Harry sat down and Tobias set a glass of milk down for him and then served up bangers and mash with a side of canned carrots.

"I'm not much of a cook.." the man started to explain.

"It's ok, I like it."

Tobias raised his eyebrows in surprise. He was glad Harry, at least so far, didn't appear to be a fussy eater.

"Um, sir?" Harry cautiously asked "what do I call you?"

Tobias was half way to putting a fork full in his mouth when he stopped and put his hand down again and looked thoughtfully at Harry. "I suppose it would be premature to say you could call me 'dad'." At this Harry nodded in agreement "Although if you ever want to you may. And it's completely inappropriate to call me by my given name. Perhaps just stick with 'sir' for now until we find something else that works for us. Alright?" he could not believe he was asking the child if he was ok with this.

Harry who was relieved he wouldn't be forced to call the man 'father' or any of its derivatives, earnestly agreed that 'sir' would be just fine for now.

"Now then, since we didn't get a chance to talk earlier," Tobias gave Harry a hard look that made him blush slightly "The main rules in this house are that you are respectful and obedient. Do as you're told and don't give me cheek. You're to clean up after yourself and if I ask for you to do something you do it."

Harry bit his lip and whispered a nervous "Yes, sir."

"Now then, I have a son, Severus, he's 16. He's at Hogwarts right now, but will be back in a week when school ends. You can use his bed while he's not here, which is most of the time, but when he comes back you're to use the trundle bed beneath. Understood?"

Harry nodded, it seemed reasonable. "It would be unproductive to register you for school with only one week left, so you'll be on your own for the next week while I'm at work. I work at the plant down the lane. Don't go thinking you can watch the telly all day while I'm gone."

"No, sir." Harry agreed and Tobias gave a nod of approval.

"This neighborhood is called 'Spinners End' and you're free to roam about provided you do not cross the river on the east side or the railway tracks on the west. I also don't want you going past the factory to the north or past the primary school on the south side of town, understood?"

Harry nodded as his mouth was currently stuffed with mashed potatoes. "Good, be home by 6 for supper, bedtime is at 8, and we'll figure the rest out as we go. I don't want to put too much on you at once. I'll pull out some of Severus's old clothes for you, and since tomorrow is Saturday we'll make a stop at the store get you skivvies and socks and then grocers."

Harry blushed at the idea of getting underwear with Tobias, the Dursleys had at most tossed him a package every few years, but he nodded and finished as much of his dinner as he could.

"Sir, I can't finish, it's too much." he said, worried that he'd be in trouble. In his 16 year old body he could have eaten twice the amount, but back in his scrawny 7 year old self, it had been too much for him. Fortunately Tobias nodded "I suppose I'm more used to teenage portion sizes." he chuckled. After washing up the dishes Harry followed Tobias upstairs, he pulled a trunk out of the crawl space and pulled out a couple more jeans, t-shirts, jumpers, a coat, a pair of athletic shorts, and pajamas.

"There, looks like the basics are here except the personables, like I said, we'll get them tomorrow and a toothbrush I think too, yeah."

"Yes, please." said Harry as he realized ironically that he'd be wearing his potion master's old clothes and that said professors father had just given him more decent clothing than his relatives ever had.

"Oh, almost forgot." Tobias pulled out plush bear and handed it to a shocked Harry. Harry was about to protest that he really didn't need it, after all he was 15 on the inside at least, but when he looked at it and something made him not want to part with the little bear who's black eyes and tilt of its head looked sad and lonely. He felt the urge to give the bear a hug, then smiled at Tobias "Thanks." and Harry realized this was his first ever stuffed animal that was given to him. He'd pulled a couple out of the bin at the Dursleys, but if Aunt Petunia found it it had been taken away and he'd go without dinner that night.

Tobias nodded "Do you need help with your bath?"

"No, sir, I'll manage." said Harry. He hated the idea of heading to bed so early, but convincing Tobias Snape that he normally stayed up past 11 didn't seem like a winning argument. Tobias tucked Harry in. Harry didn't take long to drift to sleep, it had been a very weird day.