The Way it Should Have Been

Chapter 1

A/N: I'm Back and I've got a new story for you. Sorry I haven't updated the others yet. Read the A/N 's at the bottom for more info. Cheers and Read & Review Please.

A man, looking to be in his late twenties to early thirties, sat with his head buried in his hands as a picture lays discarded on the bed beside him. In the picture is a man, woman and their child, It was taken outside and the man and woman were waving and smiling while the child was playing with a small kitten. Those were some of the happiest times in this man's life, but then the Dark Lord's reign of terror separated the happy family, as the man knew that his wife and child was no longer safe. A distant relative of the man's took the woman and child into hiding so that they would be safe, yet they didn't know that their secret keeper would betray them to the Dark Lord.

Flashback October 31, 1981

The man's relative, James Potter, was found dead by Aurors; the killing curse had been used on him. The man's wife, Lily, was found upstairs in the child's room, also killed by the killing curse. The room was in shambles as the Aurors searched for the young child; they heard a pained cry faintly arise from underneath the smashed crib but was silenced almost immediately. The child may have survived the killing curse, had to have because the sensors detected three killing curses were cast.

What they didn't know is that the same person that cast the first two did not cast the third curse, it was cast at the same time as the second was, and they both hit their targets at the same time. One hit the woman, who was protecting her son; the other hit the Dark Lord, who had just killed James. The curse that the woman fired wasn't strong enough to kill the soul of the Dark Lord, just his body, so his powers drained to nothing and his body ceased to exist… but his spirit sought out another vessel: one of his minions. The child wasn't found because the necklace that hung around the small boy's neck was an emergency portkey that would take the boy to the Headmaster Albus Dumbledore's office in Hogwarts. Hogwarts was a school that taught magic to young witches and wizards.

The old wizard was awoken by the sound of a child's crying, painful tears as the child was bleeding from the forehead and had many cuts and scrapes. The Headmaster didn't recognize the boy right off, His eyes scanned to year old child and landed on two things he knew he had seen before. One was the deep emerald green eyes that the tearful boy was staring up at him with; eyes that belonged to Lily, a young witch who was almost like a daughter to him. The other was the necklace that hung around the boy's neck; it was in the shape of a phoenix and he recognized it because it had once belonged to him, before he gave it to Severus Snape. He had given it to Severus Snape when he joined the Order and became a spy for him. Thoughts rushed through the headmaster's head as the pieces fell into place and it finally clicked: This was Lily and Severus' son.

He picked the child up and tried to calm him down… it wasn't working so he decides to inform Severus of his son's presents. Laying the child, who was still crying but not as hard as before, on one of the oversized chairs he had in his office; he walks over to the fireplace, takes a pot off the mantle and tosses in some powder. The flames flash up and turn an emerald color, Albus then calls out 'Severus Snape's Personal Chambers' before poking his head in and calling for the man to awaken… as it was well past midnight.

"Severus! Wake up!" The voice of the headmaster found it's way into the man's dreams, causing him to wake up.

"Wha…Albus? It's 2 am?!" The man was irritable at being awoken from his blissful dream.

"Come to my office. It's very important." Albus' head disappears from the fire as Severus grumbles about 'doesn't he know that some people actually want to sleep at night…'

Albus looks down towards the child, who has cried himself to sleep, and feels sorry for the child and wonders what has happened and what the child has been through. A knock is heard at the door, Albus quietly walks over and opens the door for Severus. Severus looks at the headmaster, who seems to be deep in thought, He quirks a brow before closing the door behind him.

"What was so important that it couldn't wait until morning?" He asked groggily. The headmaster said nothing but pointed towards the oversized chair that the child slept on. Severus sends Albus a questionable look before going over to see who or what the headmaster was pointing at, what he saw he was not at all prepared for. His son was sleeping in the chair; Severus noticed the dried blood and the cuts and scratches that were on his son. His eyes wild he looks up to the headmaster and asks in a low, silky voice that threatened to crack.

"What happened to my son? Where's Lily?" The headmaster looked the man in the eyes sadly.

"I don't know…I just don't know…" A billion thoughts ran through the young man's head as he

sank to the ground and held his head in his hands. 'My son… What happened to you?' Albus placed a hand on the man's shoulder reassuringly, though he was just as lost as the man was.

Severus gently picked up his son and sat down in the oversized chair, pulling his legs underneath him, soon he is asleep and the boy hugs his father in his sleep. Albus smiles and summons a blanket for the pair, his eyes twinkle as he looks over the two for a moment then heads towards his private chambers so he could sleep a little before the sun rises.

The next morning Albus is the first to wake; He changes into a deep blue robe and goes into his office, where the other two are still sleeping soundlessly. He smirks before gently shaking the man's shoulder and successfully waking him up. The child soon awakes and recognizes the man who is holding him and smiles, as he feels safe. The sound of an owl tapping on the window of the headmaster's office broke the silence that had filled the room. Albus opened the window and allowed the Barn Owl to perch on his desk, The owl drops the Daily Prophet on the desk and waits as the headmaster puts a few knuts in the small bag that is attached to the birds foot. The Headmaster unfolds the paper and his mouth drops open as he eyes the picture on the front page and then reads the headline.

You Know Who strikes Again! Wizarding couple found dead!

Last night the bodies of James and Lily Potter were found dead in their house in Godric's Hallow. They were killed by the killing curse, and we suspect that their son was also killed, as the child could not be found through the wreckage of the house. Many Death Eaters have been captured and sentenced to Azkaban charged with the murders of countless people. It is hard to believe that this young couple and their child is no longer with us, my heart goes to their families and friends. RIP James Godric Potter, Lily Ann Potter, and Harold James Potter.

End of Flashback

The man looked in on his son with a small saddened smile, the child was five years old and four years ago that day is when the man found out that his wife and second-cousin were dead. He then closes the door and walks into the sitting room of his personal chambers. He didn't sleep at all that night, as memories of happier times floods his head, he just merely sat and watched the crackling fire burning in the fireplace.

The next day the man was awoken by a very mischievous five year old, the man must have drifted off to sleep sometime during the night. The boy has shoulder length silky black hair, dark emerald green eyes, and porcelain white skin. He was kind of tall and skinny for his age but that didn't matter, around his neck he wears the same necklace the reunited them in the first place, the Phoenix pendent with the blue gems for eyes. The man swears that he can see the bloody thing twinkling as much as the person who gave it to him.

Noticing the look that his son was giving him and the fact that the boy was already up and dressed he decided that he too would get up and get dressed, they had things in town to take care of. After the man was dressed, he was wearing silky black robes that matched his son's own robes, He took the boys hand and apparated into the Leaky Cauldron where they were greeted by Tom. After nodding a greeting to the old inn keeper the pair headed towards the entrance to Diagon Alley, people bustled by the two without much thought, the man lead his son through the crowds and into the bank, Gringotts.

Once inside the man spoke softly to one of the goblins saying that he needed to transfer all of the money that was in the 'Potter' family vault to the 'Snape' family vault. The goblin nodded asked for the keys and lead them towards the mine-cart that would take them to the desired vaults. The first vault they stopped at was the 'Potter' family vault, after getting out the goblin opens the vault, the boy was surprised because this vault was not only huge and had lots of money in it. The vault also had other things like portraits of the family and heirlooms and such.

The goblin mutters some words and the money and all that was in the vault vanishes, the boy looks to his father with a questioning look before he is ushered out by the goblin. They board the mine-cart and off they go towards the second vault, the 'Snape' family vault, and after about ten minutes of speeding down the track they reach their desired vault. Again the goblin gets out and opens the vault door, and again the boy is shocked by what he sees. This vault was even bigger than the last one, but as the goblin mutters some more words the mass of money seems to almost double as the two vault's contents have been added together. The boy knew that they were rich but he didn't think that their wealth could ever rival, if not surpass, that of the Malfoy family.

The man and boy board the cart for the third time, only after the man filled a small bag with a mixture of galleons, knuts and sickles, they head towards the main part of Gringotts. After thanking the goblin the man and son exit the building and go off to find a friend of theirs. They walk into a semi-deserted alleyway that connects Diagon Alley with the much darker Knockturn Alley, the man and son come here often and are known by all of the local shopkeepers. The man spots the person they were looking for and calls out to him.

"Lucius Malfoy, So nice to see you again." He smirks to the blondish white haired man in front of them.

"Ah, Severus. I was wondering if you'd be here on time, and I see that you are as prompt as ever. And who is the strapping young lad?" Lucius eyes the boy curiously as cold, stony gray met dark, emerald green.

"This is my son, Salazar Alexander Snape. I do believe that Salazar here is around the same age as your own son, Draco. Speaking of which, where is the young lad?"

"Draco is getting a few new robes over at Madam Malkin's, I was about to go and collect him before you came."

"Ah, We needed to go there ourselves, shall we accompany you there?" Lucius nods his head slightly as he talks to Severus about other things.

For the most part the journey to the shop was rather uneventful for Salazar; that was until he ran into a pair of boys, twins he guessed, who only looked to be about 2 or 3 years older than him. Severus and Lucius had not seen this incident and were still walking, thinking that Salazar was still following them. Salazar looked up, from where he now sat on the ground, at the two and automatically knew who they were… the flaming red hair, freckles and hand-me-down robes gave them away. He stood up, ignoring the hand he was offered by one of them, and dusted himself off. He knew that they didn't know who he was but they were about to find out, he offers a sly smirk, as he looks them over.

"Let me guess, your both Weasleys" he says the name with such disgust

"Who are you and how do you know that we are Weasleys…" one of them asked

"My father told me that the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford... Now I see that he was right. I am Salazar Snape."

"Snape. Just as I thought only a slimy snake like you would be related to that greasy git." A woman clearing her throat behind them interrupted their argument. The woman was also a Weasley, as she had bright flaming red hair and freckles, she was holding the hand of a boy and had a small child in her arms.

"Aren't you two going to introduce me to your little friend here?" she said sweetly while sending the twins a look.

"Mum, This is Salazar Snape. Snape this is our mum." They said his name with equal venom, but the woman overlooked this for the time being.

"I must be going now, my father is probably waiting on me. 'Tis a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Weasley." He says in mock kindness before rushing off to catch up to his dad and Lucius, who was still chatting away and occasionally Salazar would hear 'Death Eater' or 'Dark Mark' pop up in their conversation. They reach the robe shop and enter quietly, the two adults stopped talking as they entered. Salazar saw a boy about his age being fitted for some robes; he guessed that this was 'Draco' because he looked a lot like Lucius. Severus told him to go and pick out some robes while he gets a few things in town, Salazar nods to his father before going to look through the millions of robes that hung on the racks. Lucius had told Draco something, probably the same that Severus told Salazar, before heading out after Severus.

The old witch, that was doing the measurements for Draco, calls him over. Salazar stands on the platform beside Draco as the measurements are being taken, once they were done with the measurements they were free to look around at the different robes and cloaks that filled the shop. Salazar picked up this one robe that was Dark Green with sliver trim, then he saw a matching cloak, it was also dark green and had sliver trimming. The cloak had snakes on the back of it and they formed a giant 'S', while the closure for it was twin snakes that formed a double 'S'. Salazar thought nothing of this as he took it up to the seamstress to alter for him.

The gray-eyed boy was curious about this boy; His father hadn't said anything about Uncle Severus having a son, or how he resembled Salazar Slytherin slightly. This boy was full of mysteries and Draco was determined to find them out. He walks over to the boy and offers his hand to him; Salazar returns the gesture with a small smirk.

"Salazar Alexander Snape, and you must be Draco"

"Yes, Draco Lucius Malfoy at your service. Nice to finally meet you cousin." He gives a small bow in the beginning then stands upright as he reviles a secret that the boy was unaware of.

"Cousin?"

"Yes our mothers are sisters. And our fathers have been good friends for years now."

"Speaking of our fathers, here they come." He waits for his father to come in so he could show him the dark green robe and cloak. The blond just smirks as he also waits for his father to enter the shop. Severus was carrying two small boxes that had holes poked in them, one was slightly bigger than the other, even though they were both shrunken and placed in his pocket. He was surprised to see the robe and cloak his son had picked out, slytherin colors, more precisely Salazar Slytherin colors. He swore that he had once seen a picture of Slytherin himself in robes very much like those his son now wore.

Pride welled up in Lucius, as he looked at his nephew; so proper looking and well-mannered much like his own son. Back at the Snape Manor, Severus is nervous because he hopes that Salazar likes the presents that he got for him. Severus calls his son into the sitting room on the first floor; on the table in front of him are the two packages that he bought earlier. Salazar entered the room quietly and sat down in one of the comfy black oversized chairs that were in the room. He looks to his father and smiles.

"What is it Father?" He asked when he saw that his father was nervous or something.

"Sal. These are for you, I hope you like them" He motions to the two boxes on the table. Without a word the young Snape picked up the bigger of the two boxes and unties the strings that are holding the paper on; he then takes the lid off and reaches his hand in to see what it was. He felt something warm and soft, it felt like fur, He then picks the furry object up gently and sees that it is a small kitten. Vaguely he remembers once playing with a kitten like this when he was really young but he couldn't place the memory. A small tear runs down his face as he gently strokes the kitten's back causing the kitten to purr softly.

Then he reaches for the second box, which is a bit lighter then the other one was. Again after untying the string that held the paper on he lifted the lid and saw something he least expected, A baby snake, and from the looks of it a very poisonous snake.

"Is it poisonous?" He asked not looking up from the snake.

"Why don't you ask the snake?" Severus said with a small grin, he hoped he was correct in his suspicion that his son was a parseltounge, one who talks with snakes. Salazar quirked a brow but obeyed, he tried to think how he would ask a snake something and have it to understand him. He decided to just try asking its name first.

"What is your name?" This came out as a series of hisses to Severus, who smiled proudly towards his son.

"You speak that of the Snakes?" was her reply

"I guess so. What is your name?"

"Anubis, What is your name, Master?"

"I'm Salazar Alexander Snape… but you may call me Salazar."

"Okay Master"

"I was just wondering… Are you by any chance poisonous?"

"Me? Poisonous? Of course, I'm one of the most poisonous snakes in the world." Salazar nods before turning to his father and says, this time in English.

"Yes Anubis is very deadly. Thank you for both of my pets; I love them." He says and hugs his father. "Sakhmet is beautiful also, thank you father"

"Aren't the names 'Anubis' and 'Sakhmet' of Egyptian origin?"

"Yes, Why?"

"Just wondering" The boy shrugs, Anubis wraps around Salazar's neck gently, and then she asks him her question.

"Do you mind if I stay here master? 'Tis quite comfy." The question is answered with a slight giggle and a 'yes' hissed back. Sakhmet was playfully batting at Salazar's hand while Severus just watched them happily.

A/N OKAY! Finally got that chapter written. 5 pages in word, that the longest chapter I have ever written in my life. I hope that all of the chapters are like this and I hope that you read and review this story. Also I hope that you aren't too mad that my other stories have seemed to die as I have had MAJOR writers block with them. I was starting to write the 6th chapter of 'History with a twist' when I started getting the plot of this one going. My other fics were going nowhere fast and I hope that this story does not follow in its ancestor's path.