Severus had stolen himself out of the castle well enough, but as he watched the fading light as the sun dipped below the highland hills it hit him of just how much of a herculean task he'd gotten himself into. He gathered his thoughts as he leaned heavily against the standing stones in the sundial courtyard. He had to be careful. Awful things happened to wizards who meddled with time, and he planned to meddle with time in one of the most intrusive ways possible. He tired to recall where he would have been at that time of the early evening. Or where possibly Circe would have been at this moment. He cursed himself for not asking her about her movements before he went spinning back in time. It all seemed like something Circe would do, charging headlong into danger and he dragged behind her. He was slow and purposeful, even his work in the wizarding war had been more about biding time and waiting for the right moment. She came at life with all she had, whilst he allowed life to happen around him. Her energy up amongst the stars whilst he was the grounded one. But he had to be the one that saw the whole thing through in every excruciating detail, he had to be the one this time to stretch for the stars.
This time it's my turn to wonder out in the world, whilst you stay put. Severus thought. He suddenly remembered what Circe had said to him that night in Manchester. He stared at the palms of his hands and touched one to his heart. "...there's nothing in your day that you don't have the strength to tackle."
Snape's fingers lingered on the timeturner around his neck and he stuffed it inside his doublet. It hummed against his skin, burning like the touch of a light acid on flesh.
He heard voices coming over the wooden bridge and he hid himself away in the shadows under the bridge's eaves.
"There's Buckbeak, he's still alive… " the voice above him said.
"Dumbledore said that we could save more than one innocent soul tonight."
Potter and Granger? Severus thought.
"Come on, let's go…" Harry said decisively and they rushed off out of Snape's earshot.
Moments later Snape heard another voice he recognised as the young Mr Malfoy, walking with Mr Crabbe and Mr Goyle, out towards the standing stone circle. Malfoy was boasting of his involvement in the hippogriff's sanctioned execution, making cruel jokes and fishing for compliments amongst his cronies. He rolled his eyes as he heard Draco talking of the enchanted binoculars he'd bought to watch the proceedings. He could not see them, but the boy's crass words and big-mouthed boasts were enough to make him cringe. He was firmly rooted to his hiding spot as he heard another set of footsteps pass over his head, over the wooden bridge.
Fuck , who is it this time?! He raged in his mind.
But as he strained his ears to the new voices, realisation hit him and he blanched. It was the voices of Harry, Ron and Hermione he heard having a very different, less jovial conversation about Buckbeak's fate.
Again?! How...How is this possible. I just heard them run down to Hagrid's hut.
"Ahh, Gryffindors. Come to watch the show?" he heard Malfoy call tauntingly to them.
"You… you foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach!"
Hmm, points to Granger for an inventively adjectivised insult… Snape thought as he listened to the confrontation.
He felt a twinge in his own nose as he heard the collide of Granger's fist into Malfoy's face, and heard once more the sound of their footsteps rushing back over the wooden bridge above him. He itched to get moving, but he could not go anywhere until Potter and his friends moved from the spot above him.
Eventually, after their little blubbing session over the hippogriff's death he heard them rush off in hot pursuit of Ron's rat. He cursed under his breath again as he pictured that swine Pettigrew in Weasley's arms above. So close and yet so impossibly far, and he unable to do anything about it. As he poked his head from out of the bridge's shadows, he thought long and hard about the impossible situation he had just overheard.
Dumbledore. Granger mentioned Dumbledore's name. Could it be he's sent them on his own little mission back in time...?
Snape suddenly felt ill. This was all getting too much. Not only did he have his own ulterior motives to deal with in the past, but it seemed there was someone else running around trying to influence the course of this night's events. His head swam with the criss-cross of timelines and the confusion of different people at different times and different places. It suddenly felt like he was only seeing a piece of the puzzle. Only the crescent of the moon. He forced himself to get up and move, casting a swift muffilato and disillusionment charm on himself to quieten his footfalls and blend him into the surrounding area like a chameleon. Even though he knew he was near invisible, he still ran down to the forest by Hagrid's hut as fast as he could.
From his spot amongst the trees, he watched as Granger and Potter blundered their way through the past in full view, not a concealment charm cast amongst them. They thought they were so well hidden, so well concealed as they wrestled with the hippogriff and dragged it into the woods, to safety. What were they planning to do with the beast now? They disappeared off into the trees and Snape moved to direct his attentions back on the Giant's meagre hut. Severus watched as Hagrid, Fudge and Dumbledore talked agitatedly over the supposed disappearance of the animal. He stood as still as he could as Hagrid passed mere feet by him with his lantern raised high, grinning like an idiot as he muttered "Good job, Bucky…" into the seemingly empty air. He decided to follow the giant for a while, at a safe distance of course, whilst he thought of how best to locate Circe.
As he wandered through the trees at Hagrid's back like a stalking specter, he thought again of the dangers that faced him. It had suddenly occurred to him that what he'd told Circe in the Hospital wing may not be true. If he did, by some miracle, manage to pull off his goal of saving Circe from the werewolf attack, what would happen to him? There would be two Severus's walking around in two different timelines. As the thought occurred to him, he felt the timeturner burn against his chest, almost in agitation. As if it sensed what he was planning to do and the wrongness of it. Thinking of the Severus that would go on with his life, having survived the werewolf attack was like a splinter in his mind. It felt unnatural. And as the light faded around him, the tree trunks looming around him like cracks in a mirror against the dusky sky, the timeturner feeling hot and heavy about his neck, he saw for the first time that evening time splintering.
At first, he would have almost walked into it. But he came to a sudden stop and stared into the black abyss that had opened up like a tear in the fabric of the world. It was a nothingness that called to him, a complete void of dark. He stared at it, looking around it's frayed edges curiously as it was simultaneously there and not there. It was like a ladder in a pair of tights, if the tights had been the world in which he stood. But more so than that, it felt conscious and alive. It wanted him. It needed him and Severus fought desperately as he felt the pull of the void, time desperately trying to right itself by being rid of him and his intentions.
But then he heard her voice beyond the trees…
"Hagrid… It's complicated. So, so complicated..."
Circe!
Her voice was brilliant and scintillating to his ears. Like a comet, blazing a bright trail. Hearing her voice again put the wind back in his sails.
"God, I don't care 'ow it's 'appened, but this day's gone an' delivered another bleedin miracle!" Hagrid boomed into the twilight air.
He pulled himself away from the fracture in time with all his might, and skirted around its edges until he felt himself free of its influence.
No, not yet… Not yet… I need to save her.
He was drawn to her voice like a moth to a flame. His heart soared as he saw her face again by the light of Hagrid's lamp. The giant seemed to be dragging her bodily by the hand along the path and back up towards the castle. Severus too was forced to comply with this change of scenery and followed yet again at a safe distance. He felt like he was rather running in circles as he stood back outside the Giant's hut, watching as he and Circe disappeared behind the door after she, rather out of the blue, had asked for a cup of tea. Crouched low, he moved under one of the hut's many windows. Suddenly, he let out a cry of pain as he trod on a shard of broken glass.
"Wot the 'ell was that?" he heard the giant grumble as he thudded over to the broken window.
Severus shoved a fist into his mouth and pushed himself tight against the walls of the building. He cradled his foot and prayed his disillusionment charm was still holding strong. Who the bloody hell had smashed Hagrid's window? He waited patiently for the giant to finish his wary look outside and go back to his kettle. He cautiously moved away from the open window as he heard Hagrid busy himself in his cupboards. From just behind the stack of wood Hagrid kept in his yard, he watched as he saw Circe fidgeting nervously with her wand.
What are you waiting for, Circe? Hit him with a confundus and be on your way! But he saw her flinch as the giant turned around suddenly to ask her something, hiding her wand at her back. Ah, you need a proper distraction….
Severus looked around him on the ground and picked up a rather large looking rock. He regarded it in his hand and looked back towards Circe, dithering and fretting near the open window. He didn't want to hit her with it. He was a terrible shot and he'd probably end up striking her when he didn't mean to. Then he remembered what Circe had given him before his departure from the Hospital wing. He pulled out the page on Brigadoon from his pocket and scrunched it around the rock. She had been adamant that he took it with him. Again he was struck by her assuredness whereas he was slightly dumbfounded by the truth of it all, how it all fit together. Another part of the crescent...The page wasn't much of a protective layer, but it was better than nothing. He tested the weightyness of the stone and the feel of it in his palm, now wrapped in the paper. He sucked in a long breath, took aim, and threw.
It hadn't hit Circe, but it had smashed its way through the remaining glass in Hagrid's window pane. He flinched and ducked behind the lumber pile as he heard the giant roaring out into the air for the attacker.
"Where are you, ye devil!" he cried out, unknowingly at Severus. "I ain't leavin' this window until ye show yerself!"
Snape waited patiently for Circe to seize on the opportunity and was pleasantly surprised when he heard the whoosh of magic and the giant step dozily away from the open window. As he sat behind the pile of timber, he took a moment to still his rapidly beating heart, listening to Circe moving and shuffling her feet. There had been a time, not long ago, that he'd imagined he would never hear from her again. Her loss was a great void inside him.
"Hello?" she called out.
Snape did not reply. He closed his eyes as he let her curious voice ring in his head like a bell rousing him from sleep. It seemed strange to him that he should be helping to put her in harm's way, only to endeavour to save her from it later…
But it's best if I try to change as little as possible. And she knew nothing of my presence here, otherwise she would have said so in the Hospital.
The timeturner burned at his skin as the thought passed through his mind, and he shifted uncomfortably as the space to his left opened up into a time-fracture. If he'd wanted to, he could have leaned right into it, letting time heal itself and swallow him whole into nothing.
No, not yet. Not yet…
Hagrid walked straight past him and the rip in time, carrying his lantern aloft, still a little befuddled by the charm Circe had placed on him. He watched as Circe ran headlong from the hut, and off towards her target location. He realised he'd spent too long waiting behind the pile of wood, resisting the pull of the void and she was quite a way ahead of him now. He hastily stood up, feeling like his head was swimming after rising too quickly following a few drinks. He had to run quite fast to keep her in his sights. He finally realised where she was headed as the Whomping Willow loomed into view. And for a brief moment he saw the black smudge of himself pass under its branches before he delved into its boughs.
Ugh, do I really look that imposing? He thought as he watched the dramatic swish of his black cape disappear into the tunnel.
"Severus!" she called out to him, and he almost answered her.
He gasped as he composed himself. She'd been right there, just behind him when he'd gone to the Shrieking Shack as night fell. He'd been ready to eviscerate Black and Lupin both. The only solace in the torment of her disappearance was the promise of catching Remus and Sirius in their conspiratorial meetup. He didn't want to believe Circe had been found and attacked by the murderer on the loose, but perhaps if he met his old enemy head-on he could force a confession out of him and begin the slow march through grief and closure. Remus could go to hell too, even after their brief play at being friends the night after Circe's concert. He didn't have any particularly warm feelings towards the man, especially if he was aiding and abetting Circe's murderer. Still, he'd been wrong. So very, very wrong about them both. Again, Circe had seen the bigger picture before Severus had even realised he was looking at the wrong metaphorical painting… It was excruciating to watch. Knowing that she had been mere feet away from him as he'd been in indescribable suffering, missing her with every cell of his being.
Yet his musings were dashed to the winds as he watched Circe run forwards after his past self. He cast an eye up to the Whomping Willow, and back towards the tunnel. At the speed she was running, she'd never make it… The tree would swat her down before she managed to sneak beneath it. It was like watching a puppy waddling out into the middle of a motorway. Severus's stomach turned sick with anticipation. And his heart lurched into his mouth as he saw her go down.
No no no noo. Get up! GET UP!
He looked up at the Willow tree and it shook violently, throwing a large, thick chunk of branches towards Circe on the floor. He heard her scream. Raise her arms futilely out above her. He did not hesitate as he pointed his wand and cried out.
"Protego!"
He realised that he needed to hide, and fast. She couldn't see him. He threw himself into a thicket of bushes nearby whilst his spell shielded Circe from the onslaught of the Whomping Willow's branches. Eventually she recovered enough to cast the immobulus charm on the tree and it came to a shuddering halt in its thrashings.
"Who's there?!" Circe screamed into a desolate landscape.
He waited in silence, smothered in leaves and coarse thorns. He held his breath, hoping that he'd not just endangered his whole mission.
"Umm… thank you…" came her unsure follow up before she stole away into the tunnel beneath the Willow's root.
Severus sighed in deep relief.
As he rose from the bushes, picking a few leaves from his hair, he felt well and truly run ragged. He looked up sourly at that infernal tree, looking beautifully harmless in its immobilized state, and he shot up a few bad-tempered insults at it. He took the time to refresh his concealment charms as he ducked into the tunnel and followed Circe through the darkness into the Shrieking Shack. He heard the frantic voices of Black and Lupin arguing over what to do with Pettigrew as he drew closer.
Peter Pettigrew?! Snape thought, his eyes widening as he pressed an ear to the wall in the room adjacent to the one where everyone was stood. But… Sirius.. .He killed him. He's dead. How can he be here?
Snape guessed that he was probably unconscious already and he rubbed instinctively at the back of his head, still a tad sore after Potter's disarming curse had floored him. He'd heard nothing of this, and he wasn't sure he'd have believed it if he had. Sirius's righteous fury at his old, former friend afforded Severus the cover that he needed to move about the old house. He screamed and shouted at the top of his lungs, eviscerating him with his contempt.
"You traitorous, lying, back-stabbing, faithless little bastard! What did he promise you, eh? What could he have possibly have promised you to turn you to his side and betray us all, Peter?!"
"The Dark Lord… you have no idea of the powers he possesses…." a weedy voice that he slowly began to recognise whined on the other side of the wall.
That… that is Peter! Severus thought.
His eager, high-pitched voice almost unchanged from their younger years. In his school days it had normally been saying something like "Go on, James." or "Good one, Sirius." and it filled Snape with the same disgust now as it had done when he was a teenager.
"So you sold James and Lily to Voldemort to save your own skin?" Remus retorted, his disgust manifest in his voice.
"He promised me safety. He promised me rewards. He was taking over everywhere, Remus! It was futile to try and resist him!"
As Snape listened, his own anger bubbled up and he felt himself shaking with rage. It was fury. A violent hatred that tore through every part of his body as he realised:
You… you are the one who killed Lily. You bastard, it was you all along...
His hands shook, begging him to leap out of his place of hiding and strangle the man. The man that had killed his love. His Lily. He would have done, if showing himself to the peopel inside the Shack wouldn't have caused a tangle in time. If his own past self handn't been passed-out on the floor already. But his bones ached for vengeance. His mind still reeled with understanding.
"Peter, you should have known that if Voldemort didn't kill you then me and Remus would!" Sirius roared.
He nodded to himself, teeth clenched. If he couldn't avenge Lily, he was glad that somebody would.
"No, wait!" Harry's voice piped up. "Stop! My Dad wouldn't have wanted his two best friends to become murderers."
"Harry… this man is the reason why he's dead." Remus said levelly. "Why Lily's dead too."
The mention of her name sent a shard of pain through Severus's heart.
"But, if he's not dragged in front of the Minister, we can never prove Sirius's innocence." the young boy replied.
A heavy silence descended over the ruin of a house and Severus held his breath, waiting for the outcome of Peter's fate.
"...Uncommonly kind, wonderfully clever, and fiercely loyal. And so is her son, it seems." Circe's voice came from very close to the wall.
It was the first time he'd heard her speak since he had begun listening to the confrontation. It made him jump just how near she was and he pictured his limp body lying motionless in her arms on just the other side of the crumbling plaster. Snape heard a pained sniff from Remus, obviously moved by Circe's words for some reason.
"He's right, Remus." she finished sagely.
In the scuffle and shuffling that followed, Severus stayed as still as he could whilst the gathered group of misfits agreed to leave and journey back to the castle, Pettigrew in tow. He heard Sirius leaving with Ron first, Hermione close behind. He waited for Remus and Circe to make a move, but he flinched as he heard Lupin's voice close to the wall as he moved closer to Circe.
"Leave him, Circe. He'll be alright."
"But… he looks so helpless." Circe said quietly, obviously referring to him. Passed out cold on the Shack's floor.
"Then.. here…" He heard Remus rufling about as if he were undressing and Snape furrowed his brow. "Put it under his head and he should be comfortable enough."
"Do you remember what you asked me at my party? When we were smoking out on the quad and playing truth or dare?"
"The "How much?"question?"
"Yeah, that one... The answer is - a lot. A hell of a lot, Remus."
"Oh Circe, I know. It's written all over your face."
"...so much that it hurts, Remus..." her voice was laced with tears and she sniffed. Severus listened, deeply confused but heart aching emphatically for her once again. Whatever she was on about, it was obviously laden with so much emotion that it pained her. Her sniffles became muffled and Remus comforted her. He realised that she must be crying into his shoulder and that familiar sting of jealousy towards Lupin reared its ugly head again.
"Come on…" Lupin said gently. "Let's go."
-----
It had been a strange experience, looking at himself asleep on the floor, Remus's jacket placed neatly under his head. A series of fractals had opened up in the room around him as he'd stared down at his motionless body. But he found himself more intrigued by his calm, placid face, relaxed and un-lined with a scowl as it often was when he looked at himself in the mirror. The sight of himself almost looking at peace was enough to distract him from the pulsating voids of the ladders in time. He'd cast a quick jinx-relieving charm and had left when he was beginning to groan back into existence.
Getting himself out of the Shrieking Shack, though, had been a much more difficult affair. The tunnel to and from the Whomping Willow was carved through the sheer rock, born into the cliff that the tree sat upon. Severus had been forced to climb a craggy rock face to position himself just right to witness the scene of the crime. Much to his chagrin, he found himself poised in the middle of a thicket of thorns again. The only place where he could stay hidden and surveillent of events. He'd been forced to abandon his long cloak, in case it became tangled around him, and he shivered as the night air chilled him to the bone. It wouldn't be long now.
He let his mind wander as he waited in the cold for the moment of Remus's transformation to come. The moon was playing coy, hiding behind the clouds, only offering small glimpses of herself through the clouds. It was like she was playing with Severus. But his attentions were distracted once he heard the motley crue of Sirius, Remus, Circe and the children emerge from the tunnel. Peter, of course, made his presence known with that shrill, eager voice that sent a shiver down Severus's spine. He lolled about on the floor, crying and screeching at anyone who would hear him. Snape thought it was all rather pathetic. If Pettigrew had been outright caught, confessed to his betrayal, the least he could do is accept his fate with dignity. It almost made Severs feel worse that it had been this pitiful, feeble little man that had brought an end to Lily's life. At least Sirius carried himself with an air of dignity and an arrogance that he had loathed and was somehow envious of. Severus could almost see some of his old swagger and confidence returning to his otherwise haggard and corpse-like appearance as he walked about beneath the Whomping Willow's eaves. Severus looked at him with contempt as the Black he knew, the one that strutted about as if he knew a secret that you didn't, started to slowly return. Sirius may not have been the person who guaranteed his love's demise anymore, but he found he still hated him. Twelve years in Azkaban had done little to change that…
"I do know that you robbed a young boy of growing up with his parents, without his mother, and I do know what that's like…" Circe's voice came clear and livid over the cold night air. "A rat indeed..."
He looked over the brambles and saw her tugging her coat away from Pettigrew's grasp. Then, Circe stomped her boot heel onto his hand. Hard. Pettigrew wailed into the night and Snape flinched. He'd felt that heel before on his own feet. It bloody hurt. But it was only an instinctive reaction; he held no sympathy or warmth for Peter. He watched as Circe's eyes burned in fury in the dark night. There was something in the look in her eye and the way she carried herself in her anger that reminded Severus of Lily then. He smiled sadly, thinkin that perhaps the spirit of his long dead love had animated Circe's actions in that moment. Back to eviscerate Peter with her words as she had been known to do in life. Lily was always merciless in an argument...
Good girl… Snape thought. Shame she didn't spit on him.
The moment was drawing nearer and Snape still found himself at a loss for how exactly he was going to save Circe from Lupin's attack. It had been a promise made out of gallantry and a deep need to grasp at some of the control that he believed he'd lost during Circe's disappearance. Perhaps this was just fate, as Circe had said in the Hospital Wing. But then he thought of her, tossing and turning in pain in that sweat-drenched bed. The fear in her eyes as they'd talked of the upcoming transformation. Her scared, small voice calling out to him…
Even if it costs me my life. He reaffirmed to himself. I let Lily die once. I let her leave this earth without me, bloody and bruised at her side. I won't let it happen again.
Then, the moon appeared. And chaos descended.
Severus stood in rapt horror as he watched Remus's transformation. Feeling every inch of his skin crawling in horror as he beheld the morphing of man into monster. He recalled that night in his teenage years when he had followed Sirius's directions to the Shack. Then, he had only heard Remus's transformation, hidden from his line of sight as he snuck up on Lupin. He had been saved by James and dragged to safety before he could see it in full. Now, seeing all of it in grim detail, was a fresh awfulness that even he couldn't have imagined. He knew James had saved his life that night. But from what exactly had remained the imaginings of his nightmares. Now, he didn't have to imagine anymore.
"Remus...Tell me Severus still made you the wolfsbane when I was gone…" he heard Circe ask, and he realised that he hadn't.
He had been so distraught over Circe's disappearance that the monthly chore of refreshing Lupin's supplies of the draft had not even entered his mind. His gut sank as he realised this all could have been somewhat avoided if he'd gotten his shit together just enough to ensure Remus was provided for. But knowing himself, and as he'd suspected Remus knew something about Circe's disappearance that he wasn't fessing up about, Severus suspected that he'd probably have withheld the draft from him anyway out of spite.
Severus could barely keep up with what happened next. He heard a whizz of magic and a shout of voices. Sirius, now in his dog form, leapt upon Remus and they began fighting with one another. Friend turning on friend in a desperate hour. He stood up, sensing that it was now time to make his move, but he froze as he saw Pettigrew shrinking down into his rat animagus whilst Circe shot a few halting curses at him, trying to stop his escape.
"Impedimentia! IMPEDIMENTIA! IMPEDIMENTIA!"
It was too late by the time Severus had the wherewithal to register that one of Circe's spells was heading straight for him. It hit him straight in the chest and he felt his legs turn to cinder-blocks under him. As if they were now as heavy as solid marble. He could not lift them an inch.
"Aaaaahhh!" He roared into the air.
Somewhere in the thicket of brambles underneath him, he heard the triumphant squeak of a rat. He desperately looked for signs of movement, his own wand raised.
Pettigrew can't escape… he killed Lily. HE KILLED LILY.
But it was useless. The little rodent was invisible in the thicket of thorns.
And then Padfoot's limp, weighty body collided with him.
The man and the dog toppled over in a sprawl of limbs, falling back into the sting of thorns. When Snape's shock subsided and he regained his wits, he realized that he and the dog were both in an impossible tangle. The wolfhound howled as he tried to rise up, but whimpered loudly as the thorns tightened around him. Snape tried to stand up too, but found his legs were still heavy and uncooperative. He began to panic. All of what he had done tonight might be rendered useless by this fuck-up. But Severus went rigid as he heard another rodenty squeak.
The next few seconds happened achingly slowly.
Severus's mind went into overdrive, thoughts racing and rattling through his skull at alarming speed. He had a choice to make: Pettigrew or Sirius.
Pettigrew's close. He's here. I could find him. Find the bastard. He killed Lily. He's the reason she's dead. He killed Lily. I could avenge you. After all this time I could lay you to rest, my love.
"Severus!" Circe's voice ripped through his psyche like a tear in the fabric of his soul.
Sirius, beside him began to thrash and bite at the thorns that restricted him. Not freeing himself fast enough…
She needs you now. She is your now.
Severus looked back towards the Irish wolfhound and then back to the werewolf advancing on Circe and himself. His guts twisted in sheer terror. She called to his past-self to take the children and run to safety. He recalled all of this too well. He tried to move his legs. Nothing. And he screamed aloud again.
Act, this time. Don't leave her on her own this time, old man...
Severus pointed his wand at the thorns that bound the dog.
"Incendio…" he whispered.
In a flash, the thorns burnt away from Sirius and he leapt to his feet. With a snarl, the dog rushed back over to the werewolf. Sirius jumped on Lupin's back just as the monster raised its claw. But their fight was recommencing and the werewolf and the dog engaged in their biting and scratching match once more. Severus watched from over the thorns as Circe rose to her feet and hobbled over to himself, Harry, Ron and Hermione. The other Severus enveloped her in his protectively spread arms they began to move out of harm's way.
As the last of the immobulus jinx began to leave his legs, Severus heard a strange howl from the Forbidden Forest.
What the bloody hell was that? He thought as he began hacking away at the thorns around him with his wand.
He halted and watched as Lupin looked curiously out towards the source of the noise. Sirius lay bruised and bloody on the floor at his side, bested by the monster. To his amazement, the werewolf abandoned his easy prey before him and went bounding off after the noise he had just heard.
A werewolf will always respond to the call of its own kind. Severus thought grimly, wondering if there was another meddler like himself somewhere out there.
Sirius slinked off into the Forest, limping awfully, and Potter broke free of other-Snape's grasp to follow him.
"Come back here, Potter!" he screamed after him.
But it was useless and the boy disappeared after his Godfather. Severus watched as his other-self and Circe talked, discussing between them what to do next in hushed voices. They moved to leave and Circe cried out in pain, clutching at her ankle. Severus scoffed as he watched his other-self take Circe up into his arms, carrying her in a very gallant show as she clung on him, her arms around his neck.
You show off… you could have just levitated her. He thought with a wry smile. Thank god that's the only injury she'll sustain tonight...
But as he watched them all recede away back up to the castle, the swell of pride in his chest, the timeturner against his skin burnt angrily. Time was not happy.