George Paddington had always been alone.

Not by choice, but by cruel design.

The world had not been kind to him, and it all started with a cough. Just a simple, persistent cough from his mother one evening that turned into something far worse.

It was late 2020, the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. George was only sixteen when he stood outside the ICU, watching helplessly as doctors in full PPE suits rushed past him, their expressions hidden behind layers of protective gear. His father had been admitted three days before his mother. George had barely been able to speak to them before they were whisked away into isolation, leaving him with nothing but unanswered texts and growing dread.

At first, he had clung to hope, believing that the statistics favored people their age. But the virus didn't care about hope.

It stole both his parents within a week.

One moment, he was a normal teenager, struggling with school assignments and balancing his growing YouTube channel on gaming content. The next, he was an orphan. Alone, quarantined in a silent house that no longer felt like home.

The weeks after their passing blurred into one long stretch of emptiness. The house was suffocatingly quiet, except for the occasional knock of a social worker or a neighbor offering their sympathies. But sympathy didn't bring his parents back. Sympathy didn't ease the bone-deep loneliness that crept into his soul.

His relatives—those distant aunts and uncles—made their judgments quickly. None of them wanted to take in a teenager, especially not one so close to adulthood. And so, George found himself in the foster system, shuffled between homes where no one truly cared.

By eighteen, he was on his own.

He poured himself into his work as a gaming content creator, building a modest online presence. His channel, PixelPhantom, had a dedicated following. He spent hours live-streaming RPG games, analyzing mechanics, and engaging with his virtual audience.

It was the only time he didn't feel alone.

But even that couldn't fill the void completely.

Despite his internet fame, his real-life connections were few. He had no close friends, no family to check in on him. His days were spent inside his small apartment, illuminated only by the glow of his computer screen. Sometimes, he would go an entire day without speaking a single word aloud.

It wasn't a bad life—just an empty one.

And yet, in a way, George had accepted it.

Until the day everything changed.

It was raining that night. The streets were slick with water, the neon signs of the city reflecting in shallow puddles. George had just finished a late grocery run, his hood pulled up against the cold drizzle, when he heard it—

A child's cry.

He turned sharply, spotting a little girl barely three years old, standing dangerously close to the edge of the road. Her tiny hands gripped a stuffed bear, her wide eyes filled with confusion as she sobbed.

And then, in the distance, headlights.

George didn't think.

He ran.

The next few seconds felt like slow motion. His feet splashed against the wet pavement. The girl turned to him just as the truck's horn blared. George lunged forward, his arms scooping her up in one swift motion before he twisted, shoving her out of harm's way—

Impact.

Pain exploded through his body. A brutal force slammed into his side, knocking the breath from his lungs. The world tilted, spinning wildly before everything came to an abrupt stop.

He lay there, rain mingling with something warm and thick pooling beneath him. His body refused to move.

Distantly, he heard people shouting, footsteps rushing toward him.

The child was safe. That was all that mattered.

His vision blurred.

His last thought?

I hope... there's something more.

Then—darkness.

When he opened his eyes, he knew something was wrong.

His first instinct was that he had somehow survived. But as the haze lifted from his mind, confusion quickly replaced pain.

He wasn't lying on the wet pavement anymore. Instead, he was in a dimly lit room, resting on a stiff mattress. Thick, musty curtains hung around the bed, casting eerie shadows in the flickering candlelight.

His fingers twitched.

His hands felt... different.

Thinner. Paler.

His breathing quickened as he slowly sat up, heart hammering. His body felt off—not just injured, but wrong.

He reached up, brushing his fingers through his hair, and froze.

Long. Greasy.

That wasn't his hair.

A creeping sense of dread filled his chest as he swung his legs off the bed, standing shakily. His vision swam for a moment before clearing.

His gaze landed on a mirror across the room.

The reflection staring back at him was not his own.

It was a boy—tall, lanky, with sallow skin and a hooked nose. His black robes hung loosely over his thin frame, and his dark eyes held something deep, something wounded.

Recognition slammed into him like a freight train.

This was Hogwarts.

And he was Severus Snape.

The realization sent him stumbling backward, gripping the edge of the bed for support. His mind reeled, struggling to comprehend the impossible.

This had to be a dream. A coma-induced hallucination.

Yet, the memories weren't his own.

Flashes of childhood—Spinner's End, the murky river, his mother's quiet warnings, his father's drunken shouts.

Meeting Lily Evans for the first time, the way her green eyes had lit up when she did her first bit of accidental magic. The warmth of their friendship.

Then, the fight. The cruel word that had escaped his lips in a moment of anger. The look of betrayal on her face as she turned away.

His chest tightened.

These weren't just images. They were memories. Feelings. A lifetime embedded in his mind as if they had always belonged to him.

But they hadn't.

Because he wasn't Severus Snape.

He was George Paddington.

Or at least, he had been.

The weight of it all crashed over him.

Somehow, impossibly, he had died in his world... and woken up in this one.

A sudden chime echoed in his mind, cutting through his thoughts like a knife.

[System activated. Welcome, Host. Initiating Integration...]

George—or rather, Severus—stared at the floating text before him.

"…Oh, you've got to be kidding me."