Chapter Text
Was hell supposed to have grey ceilings with plaster chipping off?
Or was it supposed to have the buzzing sounds of a motor?
Whatever it was, Severus didn’t care much about it, because why would he? He was finally dead and now what was left was eternal peace.
But how could you forget its severus snape we are talking about, peace? In his life? Hah! never!
He tried to look around, he saw a wall (nice observation skills) and then he saw a woman… She wore hospital clothes and had a clipboard.
“Are you awake now?” she asked in a voice which had an accent but was laden with sweetness.
Severus nodded slowly
She then asked again “what is your name?”
He tried to open his mouth but no sound came out of him.
The lady helped him sip some water. He then finally spoke “severus” in a small voice
She probably noted that in her clipboard, and then asked “age?”
Severus paused for a second and said “38..?” his answer was more of a question because the lady looked at him with a weird gaze and said “i don’t like liars”
Severus felt utterly humiliated; he argued "I am not a liar!” and that's when he realised, his voice sounded weird like squeaky weird and the lady looked unimpressed and said “fine i will write 9, because you look like one” severus gave a small scowl at that.
Severus asked “can I look into a mirror?” the lady hands him a pocket mirror from her tunic’s pocket
And Severus looked horrified, what he saw in that mirror was not what he expected, he looked small, like really small, his features were of his younger himself, his skin was fair like before not sallow because of potions, his bones were protruding and he looked way underweight, he looked like what he would had looked like at 9.
The lady gave him a pitying look.
He hands her the mirror and touches his face.
The lady then speaks “i am nurse brown, and you are in wool’s orphanage, don’t worry you are safe here”
Severus nods numbly. He couldn't believe what was going on, he was probably 9 or maybe 10, because he looked the same until he hit 3rd year in hogwarts. And now he is at some orphanage. He really was in hell right?
The nurse then hands him bread and some soup in a tin mug to eat. He ate like a dog, he was hungry and didn’t care about his surroundings.
And then before he could finish and hand nurse brown his tin mug a man came to the doorway, he was tall, like really tall, maybe hagrid and this man could be distant cousins, hagrid was a good exaggeration but the man was tall and bulky, his beard was trimmed but still looked shaggy and his eyebrows were thick as a worm. He was probably in his late 50s.
He came in and nurse brown greeted him and he stood in front of severus. He spoke in a thick welsh accent “so.. This is the kid, severus is it?" Severus nodded at his name, the man then introduced himself as vice superintendent of the orphanage. And told him about how he will now have to follow some rules for living in this orphanage which were ‘you will share a room with a kid around your age’, ‘you will follow the curfew rules and not sneak out’, ‘you will attend all the classes which are being taught in the orphanage’, ‘you will have to help in chores such as dusting your own room, making your bed, help younger kid’
All these were piece of cake for severus so he nodded at all of them and then came a woman in her mid 40s, she introduced herself as “mrs cole, matron of this orphanage”
She brought him outside to a room and said “from now on you will live with tom okay?”
Severus nodded.
The room was small, similar to his childhood bedroom in spinner’s end. The room had one window in the centre and two beds, each on one corner of the room, separated by a bedside table, the room has one closet and one bookshelf.
The tom kid they said about was not there but the neatly folded sheets at the edge of one bed was evidence of living.
He touched his bed and Mrs Cole brought him to the dining hall where everyone was there eating plum cakes.
Severus didn't mind that and sat at one corner and he was given a piece of cake, he ate silently now. Like a human, his earlier hunger was somewhat sated by the soup and the bread earlier at the infirmary.
What brought Severus to curiosity was a newspaper laying on the countertop of the serving table, the date was ‘2nd January, 1938’.
Now severus knew he was fucked up, he was in his childhood body, in an orphanage and in fucking 1938 for gods sake. He might probably be in hell because now he might have to survive an upcoming world war.
He was finished but no kid left from there so he sat there for extra 5 minutes and then a speaker buzzed from above which crackled and announced “you all may play” the kids started to scream and run towards the ground
Severus followed them, he sat under a tree alone thinking how he could have possibly come here, but a girl interrupted his thoughts. She was young, probably 7 or 8, had black hair reaching her shoulders and she carried a stuffed teddy bear. She asked “will you play with me?” before he could deny 3 girls came up to them and started to mock “look Stephanie is here again bringing her snotty nose everywhere!” They cackled and the girl with the teddy bear, probably Stephanie, started to cry and Severus stood up and said “don’t bother us!”
The girls came up to him and said “oh look at this little girl, all cutesy and pathetic!” they all laughed again and Severus pushed one of them and one girl shrieked and Severus said “I am not a girl!”
Stephanie looked at Severus and said “thank you.. What is your name?” Severus replied “Severus” and she said “Stephanie!” and she handed him her teddy bear and said “her name is Anne” . Severus looked at the bear and said “nice name” . The girl beamed and started to tell him stories which several half heard or ignored but did not ask the girl to leave.
After a few hours everyone headed in, so severus too headed inside and went to his newly assigned room.
The tom kid was now there, he looked probably 10 or maybe, just maybe 11.
He was fair and had black hair cut neatly and combed neatly.
He gave a scowl to severus and said “Look i don't care who you are or what sob story you have, if you live with me you should know i am dangerous, i can burn you” he gave a sinister smile and severus looked unimpressed he touched an empty glass and did some wandless agumenti to fill it up to the brim and said “try to burn me and i have enough water to cool it down”
Tom looked at him with his mouth hung open and spoke “how… how did you do that?”
Severus smirked and said “it was easy. What? Scared?” he gave a smug mocking face.
Tom pushed him and said “don’t act like you know better!”
Severus pushed him back and said “you don’t even know my name!”
Tom huffed and said “what is it?” “severus” “just that?” “yes” “okay” “what is yours?” “tom” “just that?” “tom marvolo riddle”
The name struck him harder than death could.