The day finally arrived when I had to go to Hogwarts. Mother was excited and woke me up early.

"Are you sure you have packed everything?"

"Yes..mother, I have and this is the 5th time you are asking me this.."I sigh as I dodge her hand that wants to comb my hair...again.

"Sorry...it's just I can't believe you are going to Hogwarts. I am worried about you."

"You don't have to worry, mother. I can take care of myself."I say to reassure her.

She goes silent after that.

"So….what's for breakfast?" I ask to break the silence.

She fidgets a bit before replying, "Well..it's the usual."

Bacon and eggs it is then.

After having my breakfast, I go get dressed in some casual attire and get my trunk. I wanted two things when we went to Diagon Alley, a house elf and a bigger on the inside suitcase but unfortunately, I couldn't either.

Who knew that a house elf would cost 5000 galleons and that's the starting price for the weaker ones.

And the suitcase was expensive too, costing 1000 galleon for a medium one. I don't think I will be getting one as big as Scammaner anytime soon. Of course, the Hogwarts trunks also have the extension charm but nowhere as big as Scammander's.

The extension charm was a charm that expanded the internal dimensions of an object without affecting the external dimensions, enhancing its capacity, and rendering its contents lighter.

Its usage is restricted by the Ministry or atleast large scale usage of it. Mother can use it too but she can't make a very big space, even if she could it would wear off after a while and anything I stored in it would come out at once.

To make a suitcase like Newt's, strong magic is required and runes are used to sustain it especially for ones with habitats to keep magical beasts.

But its alright, I will get them one day or make one myself, they are not a must for now.

I wanted the house elf though as I could have kept Tobias alive when I went to Hogwarts. It's a pity I had to "kill" him.

"All set?" Mother asks as she holds my hand.

She had practised apparating these few months and can now confidently use it. She even appararted me once and it was disorienting to say the least. Now I can barely, just barely tolerate it.

…..

*crack*

The world distorts in front of my eyes and before I know it, we are in an alleyway.

I rub my temple and get myself under balance.

"We are here, Severus. Lets go"

We were indeed here, 'here' being King's Cross station.

It was a bustling station with a moderate crowd. There were a few people who were wearing robes, they looked odd and out of place like all wizards in the muggle world.

I looked around and soon spotted the one I wanted to see.

"Hello there." I say trying to imitate a certain jedi's voice. Of course, I failed but it had the intended effect.

"Severus!" Lily says as her eyes widen and she jumps back startled.

"Don't scare me like that…"

"Morning Mr. Evans." I say to the man standing next to Lily.

"Ah...Severus, morning to you too and it's a pleasant surprise to see you here. I was wondering where the platform was…."

"Oh the platform is hidden from sight. Come with me, I will take you there."I say as I pick up the trunk and help him move it.

"Mother."I call out as I spot her near the portal wall.

"Oh there you are Severus, I was wondering where you had run off to…"She says as she walks towards me and then she spots Lily.

After exchanging customary pleasantries, all of us walk through the barrier one by one.

My trolley passes through the wall and I push through feeling no resistance. I reach the other side and spot the iconic Hogwarts express.

The entire platform is bustling with wizards and witches, all carrying their luggage.

Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every color wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks.

"Daily daily...get your daily prophet for just 2 sickles." A boy shouted as he went around parents and elderly trying to sell the papers.

As I am looking around, Lily and the others walk through the barrier.

Lily had an awed expression on her face as she took in the sight.

"..Its...so cool" she exclaims as she looks at the trains.

I take a look at the clock and find out that it reads 10:45 and the train leaves at 11.

"Come on.. Lily, we have to leave now or we won't get good seats." I say as I pick my trunk up.

"Oh..alright..I guess."she says and looks down.

I can tell that its setting in now that she won't be going home for a while and she is clearly nervous especially after I told her the 'truth' of the wizarding world.

I gently hold her hand and show her a smile. She calms down somewhat after that.

"It's alright Lily, Severus is right...do write letters home okay."Her father reassures her.

"Yes...but..Tooney…"

"Ah..don't worry about her Lily, I will convince Petunia if your mother has already not done so"

So that's the reason why her mother didn't make it, I was surprised not seeing her here but now I know the reason. It seems her relationship with her sister has worsened.

Mother probably thinks they are loving sisters who couldn't bear to be apart. Well I don't correct her as it's pointless.

"Well...then, Goodbye mother, I suppose I will write letters too…." I say awkwardly.

"Mhm…"she says as she tries to hold in her tears.

I inwardly roll my eyes at this. I guess she is still feeling guilty and seeing all parents here with their kids didn't help.

I just nod and walk away with Lily to find some good seats.

The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. I pushed my cart off down the platform in search of an empty seat.

I soon found one at the end of the train. "Lets go, Lily." I gesture towards the compartment.

Lily tries to lift her trunk and get it on the train but it turns out to be too heavy for her as she nearly dropped it on her foot.

"A little help here Sev…"

It was too heavy for me too but I had lifted mine using dominator's touch discreetly.I can't reveal all my cards yet so I just pull out my wand and say, "Wingardium Leviosa" while pointing it at the trunk.

The trunk frees itself from Lily's hands and starts floating. Using my wand I guide it gently and bring it inside the compartment.

"How did you do that, Sev!...you already know magic?!"

"It's a simple spell Lily, you will learn it in your first year."

I convince her that it's not a big deal and she gets convinced albeit reluctantly. We just sit quietly and gaze out the windows as the train speeds up and carries us out of London past fields of cows and sheep.

It is times like these that make me happy to be alive. Knowing what awaits after death makes me more determined than ever to never die again.

Breaking the silence, Lily says, "You know….." she pauses as she looks for the right word.

"..You were right Sev.."

"Oh...About what?" I ask, raising an eyebrow curious to hear what I am 'right' about.

".Well...Everything...A professor McGonagall came to my house with the letter to Hogwarts." Her face morphs into a frown as she continues.

"She was surprised when she learnt that I already knew about magic from you and I did as you told and pretended to not know much. I asked her questions but she dismissed most of them and when I asked her about houses , she gave me vague descriptions of each except Gryffindor."

Hm..So they subtly tried to manipulate Lily. It's a good thing I 'warned' her otherwise she would have no doubt become a Dumbledore fan.

Gryffindor is Dumbledore's playground and he picks and nourishes his pawns there. I don't know what Dumbledore is like here as my view of him has become jaded after reading many fics. I know fics are not source material but the source was written from Harry's point of view so you can't be sure either.

This is not a fictional world anymore so I can't take any risks, hopefully my changes to Lily gets her in a different house preferably Ravenclaw.

Canon knowledge is mostly useless when I am in a different timeline. At most it's a reference guide with an inaccurate insight into the minds of the characters from the point of view of a boy called Harry Potter.

The house I want to join is Ravenclaw as it would provide me the perfect cover for my thirst for knowledge and attention placed on me will also be less but my ambition or goal would put me in Slytherin. Manipulating my mother and Lily is also not a very Ravenclaw thing.

So the chances of me getting sorted into Ravenclaw is very low unless I fool the talking hat which while I will attempt to, I am not sure whether it would work or not.

After that I spend the next hour or so talking to Lily about magic and how Hogwarts might be. I also 'learnt' how her relationship with Petunia had deteriorated further.

Turns out they almost reconciled but it all went down the drain when Petunia wrote a letter to Dumbledore asking/begging to be a witch and a chance to enter Hogwarts to which Dumbledore wrote back "kindly" rejecting her.

And with the white lies I whispered in her ears about him, her opinion of him further dropped. Honestly it was quite easy defaming him when Lily didn't have a clue who he was.

All I did was make him look like a weak incompetant man which I backed up with how he hesitated in the war with Grindelwald. Of course, I didn't overdo it as that would have negative effects as when she actually came in contact with him and if he was completely different from what I described, Lily would doubt me and doubt is the seed that once given a chance to grow, destroys trust and without trust, any meaningful relationship cannot be formed.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

----------------------------------------

Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back to our compartment door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"

I was in the body of a growing boy and the light breakfast had made me a bit hungry. I was also curious to try the wizard equivalent of snacks and candies. The ice cream I had on my first visit to Diagon Alley was quite good and had painted a positive picture of wizard delicacies.

I cocked my head in Lily's direction and asked, "Want anything? It's on me."

"Mhm."She nods. "But what do I choose?"

The woman answers, " Well there are chocolate frogs, Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Cauldron cakes, Licorice wands and….."

She kept on going and Lily looked at me with a confused look. She didn't know what to choose, I wouldn't too if I hadn't known about them.

Interrupting the witch,"Alright we will have a couple of chocolate frogs and Licorice wands please."

"And how much will it be?"I ask.

"Oh it will be four sickles dearie."

I took out four silver coins and handed it over to her receiving the candies.

The witch thanks me politely and goes away, a smile on her face the entire time.

I close the door and offer Lily the candies and chocolate.

She takes it and analyzes them cautiously before looking me in the eye, "You aren't giving me anything weird, are you Sev?"

Giving her a smile I replied, "Now why do I do that to you Lily?..And besides if I wanted to pull a trick on you like that, I would have had you taste Bettie Botts every flavour beans."

"And it has almost every flavour you can imagine but there are chances of getting a weird one like grass or as I heard, vomit."

"Eww….why do they even make that?" She asks, making a disgusted expression.

"Mostly for pranks, wizards don't have many sources of entertainment so this is what they do to keep themselves amused."

She then proceeds to open the chocolate frogs. She finds a Dumbledore card in it and I get a Merlin card.

"Sev this card is creepy, it smiled at me." Lily throws the card towards me.

I laughed as seeing her throw the card away in panic was funny. She glared at me not amused by my laughter as her face turned red in embarrassment or anger I couldn't tell.

I heard the sound of something being torn or ripped and I turned towards the source only to find my cat Nox trying to eat the card. Ah...I had almost forgotten to let her out.

I quickly unlatch the cage and she immediately leaps out in an almost comical manner and plops on my lap.

"There..there, you are free now."

I gently caress her fur as she meowls in my hands.

"..Sev...Why didn't you tell me you had a cat, a cute one at that. Can I touch it? Is it a him or a her?" She fires off and speaks so quickly its almost gibberish.

"Alright...alright Lily, calm down, you can touch her….that is if she comes to you."

"What do you say Nox"

"Meow" is her answer and she just curls up on my lap.

"I take that this answers your query." I look at Lily.

"Sev its your cat, please make her listen. I want to pet her."

Well she was being polite where most kids her age would have grabbed the cat forcefully.

"Go to her Nox...just for a while, I will give you more catnip.."

I pull out a can of catnip to show her. Her ears perk up and she jumps towards the can in an attempt to taste it but I move it away from her reach.

"Now...now, you will have to listen to me if you want this….let her pet you and I will give it to you."

"Meeeeow~" she growls cutely before reluctantly jumping to Lily's lap.

Nox was an ordinary cat but her intelligence was not. I don't know if its because of being exposed to magic but she could understand me or atleast understand my intent.

I read in a book that familiars exist but it depends on affinity between the pet and the owner. I know my cat rather well and I hope she one day becomes a familiar.

[A few hours later]

"Wake up, Lily...we are almost there." I gently wake her up.

"..What..where...haah~" She wakes rubbing her eyes.

"Hogwarts. Magic. School. Ring any bells?"

Hearing this she immediately jolts up. "Have we arrived? Are we late? Oh no….

Why didn't you wake me up earlier? What do I do if I am expelled?..."

I cut her off, "I said we will be there soon...Well better get ready soon, I will have to go change into my robes in the boy's side so see you in a minute..?"

"Wait...you are leaving me here?" she asked nervously.

"Now..now, its not like I am abandoning you...besides this is a good chance to make some friends of your own." I reply and slide the door open and walk out before she asks me more annoying questions.

I almost regret making her so dependent on me. Once outside I see many kids running around the corridor, shouting and giggling as they do so.

I ignored all of them and walked towards the boy's side where the changing rooms were located.

As I made my way trying to put with these overenthusiastic and immature, I spotted two characters that stood out.

James Potter and Sirius Black. Potter has short, messy hair and brown eyes framed by ugly classes. Sure these glasses might look 'classy' now but from where I come from, it screamed 'nerd'.

Of course, Potter had a sort of confident aura around him that is not found in nerds. His brown eyes met mine and a smile formed on his face.

"Hello.."I greet him as he strides over pulling Sirius along with him. It seems that they already hit off before arriving at Hogwarts.

"Well..hello to you too..So what house do you think you will end up in? Oh and I am James. Well the name's James Potter. Short ,sweet,rolls off the tongue, ladies love it." Potter begins with a smile.

"...I am sure they do…"I answer in a monotonous voice. I inwardly cringe at it.

Sirius rolls his eyes, "He has been asking this question to everyone who passes through here…and I am Sirius."

I turn to look at him. Sirius has chin length wavy hair and steel blue eyes.

Both were already dressed in their robes and I didn't want to indulge them but I knew that they would keep pestering me so I put on a fake smile and answered, "Well nice to meet you James..and Sirius. I am Severus, Severus Prince. As for your question...well I think I would like to be sorted in Ravenclaw."

" Oh Ravenclaw huh...its not the best house like Gryffindor but atleast you are not a slimy snake like the ones in Slytherin.."

I chose not to comment on his views on Slytherin. What his sheep mind thought was none of my concern so I just nod.

"Well then..its been a pleasure meeting you but I need to get dressed so if you will…"

"..Oh alright..alright, we were about to leave anyway. Come Sirius, let's go meet more first years. I must show them that Gryffindor is the best house~"

And thus they leave me and I quickly change into my robes. After getting dressed, I leave the compartment and go look for Lily.

A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

Hmm...saves the trouble for me then. I kept moving along the corridor as the train slowed down and finally stopped. All the students pushed their way towards the door and out onto a dark platform.

It was dark out there and soon a man called Ogg came towards us with a lantern. He was the one supposed to do the tradition of taking first years by boat. It seems Hagrid was not the gamekeeper yet but I am sure he's here somewhere in Hogwarts.

Ogg quickly made us climb into the boats, I couldn't Lily in my boat and I suppose it didn't matter.

After everyone got on their respective boats, Ogg shouted "FORWARD"

And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

I looked at the Hogwarts Castle in awe. It was a magnificent sight to behold. The movies didn't do it enough justice. It was much bigger and taller. It looked old and ancient giving off a vibe which can only be described as 'magical'.

The boat ride was interesting and I spotted another interesting character who was not supposed to be a first year now.

Narcissa Black. She sat in a corner ignoring everyone only having her eyes set on the castle. She had a cold expression on her face and exuded an aura of "don't talk to me".

This proved that the world I am in is not an accurate Rowling world and there are things that are different from what I knew. I make a mental note to be extra cautious as I didn't want to be blindsided due to preconceived impressions as it most probably was inaccurate.

And another factor was the age of most of these characters. They have not grown up so nothing is set in stone as to how they will grow up to be in the future. An example would be Lily who was supposed to be a headstrong, cheery girl but with my appearance she didn't get the chance to mature and instead she relied on me.

She is now dependent on me and trusts me more than anyone barring maybe her parents.

Like this, my actions however small, will affect everyone and how they turn out is not something I can predict.

Once we are ashore and finally hit land again, Ogg leads us to the castle. He knocks on the door three times.

The door swung open and I saw a young McGonagall making her way towards us. She still is wearing her emerald green robes and she had donned a pointy witch hat. She looked like she was in her mid thirties with lesser wrinkles then her old self.

"Here they are, Professor…"Ogg said.

"Thank you, Ogg, I will take it from here."

She led us to the great hall whose walls were very tall. Soon we reached an empty chamber off the hall.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room."

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

And with that, she promptly walked away as all the first years started chattering amongst themselves.

"Sev! You are here.!" A voice came from behind me. It was quite obvious as to who it was, I turned to look at Lily.

"Oh Lily… I am glad you made it.." I say teasingly.

She makes a pout, "..You prat, do you know how scared I was when I didn't find you there…"

"I did try to find you though…"

"Oh well...whats done is done I guess….Anyway meet my new friend!" She says excitedly as she pulls a girl.

"This here is Pandora Heart. I met her when I went out…" She then points at me and tells Pandora. "Pandora..this is Severus."

"Hello there." I reply.

"Nice to meet you Severus. Its a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Pandora says.

Pandora...Pandora..now where have I heard that… Pandora had dirty blonde hair and silvery grey eyes. Her appearance was well kept and she looked like a refined young girl but as I looked closer, I finally realised who she resembled.

She looked very similar to Luna Lovegood then this means that this is her mother or would be mother if things followed canon.

I almost didn't recognize her as she looked completely different from Luna. My mind raced as I tried to find memories about her. Ah...I remember now, she apparently died whilst creating a spell..in front of Luna.

As I am pondering over stuff like usual, I heard screams and I was amazed to see what appeared. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance …"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost - I say, what are you all doing here?"

A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.

"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"

A few nodded.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."

"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."

We followed her yet again as she led us into the Great Hall. Lily was walking right behind me and was looking around with wonder and awe written on her face.

I too take in the sight as we keep walking. Thousands and thousands of candles were floating in mid air over four long tables which probably represented each house. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting.

I saw familiar faces there but all of them were significantly younger than the ones in my memory. Flitwick, Slughorn, Sprout and almost all the same teachers except the DADA teacher who was different and nobody I recognized.

I looked upwards and saw the illusory night sky dotted with stars. It was an 'enchanting' sight. All the other kids too looked upwards with their jaws agape and eyes wide open. It was quite amusing but my main attention was on the dirty hat that was placed on a stool at the end of the hall.

All students were immediately snapped out of their thoughts when the hat twitched and started to sing.

The song was batty and boring, I only caught a few lines…. the hat was saying you would be sorted into houses and it described the houses.

Basically it would shout out to the world to hear if you are a loud mouthed idiot, a boring nerd, a lying cheater, or a pushover who will never get anywhere in life.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Aubrey,Bertram"

The sorting went on like in the books and most were instantly sorted when the hat came in contact with their head.

"Evans, lily."

My ears perked up at that and I watched as a nervous Lily made her way to the stool. Mcgonagall picked the hat up and Lily closed her eyes as the hat was placed on her head.

All was quiet for a while as people were noticing that the sorting was taking more time. Finally the lips on the hats move and it bellows, "RAVENCLAW."

Lily seems surprised and she makes her way to the Ravenclaw table where she is welcomed warmly.

The next sortings went as usual and canon characters except Lily went to the same house as in canon. James Potter went to Gryffindor where he received a grand welcome. Sirius Black getting sorted into Gryffindor was a sight to behold.

Everyone was shocked seeing a member of the infamous Black House getting sorted into Gryffindor. Even Sirius' face was a shocked one but it quickly turned into a wide smile as he went over to his table where he received glares and suspicious looks but he didn't seem to care.

Pandora went to Ravenclaw and she sat next to Lily as they chatted together. Narcissa went to Slytherin as expected and before I knew it I heard Mcgonnagall call out my name.

"Prince, Severus."

I blinked and gathered my bearings and made my way towards the stool. Mcgonagall placed the hat on me.

There was nothing for a while and then I heard a small voice inside my head.

"Well what do we have here? Either you are the most unstable delusional person to ever grace Hogwarts or your memories are true…."

'So the little trick didn't work then?'

"Obviously not, it was at best an inconvenience but don't worry I won't tell on you. The founders did respect their students' privacy…"

'So will you sort me into Ravenclaw?'

"HAHAHA...the only place you belong is in Slytherin my boy."

'But I pursue knowledge…'

"Only to further your own ambition. The very reason for you not wanting to be in Slytherin is the reason why you belong there."

'What do you mean?'

"People choose another house as a matter of opinion but you didn't choose Ravenclaw because you believed that it would further your knowledge or not choose Slytherin because you don't like it but you chose it because not being in Slytherin furthers your cunning."

"Now if that doesn't scream Slytherin then this will".

Without giving me a chance to finish, the hat shouts "SLYTHERIN!"