Chapter Text
Severus was muttering under his breath about the dunderheads he had the “privilege” of teaching this year. At least next year he would be able to teach his godson Draco in an official capacity. So far they had only shared a few private tutoring sessions that were few and far between.
The dour potion master was pulled from these thoughts by the shrill scream of one of the students. No matter how vicious he may have seemed to his students, he felt it was his duty to keep them safe. Even with his best students, accidents could happen. Right now he was teaching the fortunate few who made it to their potion NEWTS under his teachings. Therefore, a scream meant big trouble.
He had just thrown the girl in question behind him as the cauldron exploded. Severus was showered with whatever goop the De-aging potion had become. This was not good. He barely registered the room around him getting bigger before darkness took him.
~Sometime later~
Severus’ eyes began to flutter open groggily. The bright lights and the overly white room let him know he was in the infirmary. He tried to bring a hand up to rub away the fogginess, and was surprised when said hand smacked him in the nose. His body felt off. Once he was able to focus on the offending limb, his eyes widened in shock. The hand was small.
Severus began looking over the rest of himself. He was only about two-thirds the length of the bed he was on. What had that potion done to him? He had to get answers.
“POPPY” again shocked as the voice that spilled from his lips was much higher. Severus knew his voice hadn’t been that high since he got through puberty at fourteen.
Suddenly the kindly matron was rushing through the curtain around his bed. “What...oh Severus I see you are awake. Now… gently dear lay back. I have some potions here for you.”
“What has happened to me Poppy? Last thing I remember was getting coated in a failed potion. Are the students ok?”
Poppy looked at him with a smile. While Severus never showed it to many people, she knew he cared far more than most thought. She had seen it over the years. Ever since he had first come to Hogwarts. In fact, he cared too deeply, he just got very good at hiding it behind his cruel, stern spy mask.
She handed him several potions. Recognising each of them, Severus grimaced but dutifully downed each one. First, was the calming drought. If that was first he knew he wasn’t going to like this. Second, came a headache reliever, he had not realised how badly he needed that until the pain was gone. Lastly, was a pain potion. Again with the shock of everything, he had not noticed his body clenching in pain.
Once Severus had taken all the potions, he raised an eyebrow at Madam Pomfrey. When the matron stifled a giggle, he tried to give her his sternest glare. This only caused her to lose her battle and burst out in laughter. He began to pout, at which she calmed herself.
“I am sorry Severus. You are just too cute to pull off those looks anymore. Here, see for yourself.” She conjured a mirror and gestured for him to stand up.
Upon doing so, Severus found himself looking up at Poppy for the first time in 15 years. Turning towards the mirror, a gasp escaped him as he looked upon his eleven year old self. Although, it wasn’t quite a boy that was staring back. Severus realised he looked like pictures of his mum as a child. Objectively, the girl in the mirror was very cute. Long black hair came down to just above her bum. Her eyes were dark but ringed in cerulean blue. Gone was the beak like and broken nose. Gone were the gaunt cheeks and horrible teeth. This girl’s features were adorable and would turn aristocratically beautiful as she reached maturity. All of this was taken in subconsciously as the now eleven year old girl shook her head vehemently.
“No, this can’t be. No, no, no! Tell me it’s not permanent.” Severus cast pleading eyes at the mediwitch.
“I’m sorry Severus. Dumbledore and myself tried everything we could think of. We even tried an aging potion, and a gender change potion, but those nearly killed you. It looks like this is very permanent.”
The mirror suddenly shattered as Severus fell to his knees in anguish. He was going to have to relive some of the worst years of his life. This time he wouldn’t have Lily to be his friend either. Was he going to have to go through Hogwarts again? His memories seemed to be intact. What about...even as he thought it his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. He stared at his left arm. Gone...it was gone. He was free of that bloody, awful, thrice-damned mark.
Eyes glancing at the mirror once again, Severus tugged his shirt up and stared at his back. The scars, a daily reminder of his father’s cruelty were almost all gone. He still had a few. His father had been a bastard even before Severus went to Hogwarts the first time. Somehow, the potion had changed him into an eleven year old female version of himself. It had left his mind intact however.
“What...what am I going to do?” he wailed at nobody in particular.
Warm arms surrounded him then. At first he flinched away, but Poppy’s soft, gentle words and strong arms pulled him close. After a moment, he gave in to his need, as his body was wracked with sobs. Poppy held him close. She had forgotten that he used to be a more open emotional child. His father and the cruel kids at Hogwarts, namely the Marauders and the other Slytherins, had turned the precious Severus, onto a darker path. One he later turned from, but only through an act of love.
“Severus it’s ok. This is a lot to handle, but maybe this can be a second chance. I have been talking with Minerva and we would like to offer to take you in. You could choose a new name. We want to give you the chance for a happy childhood. You could start fresh, make new friends, new memories. No one knows what happened, except myself, Minerva, and Dumbledore. Also, if you can adjust to being a girl, that will further distance yourself from your past.”
Severus pulled back, his eyes now puffy from tears. “What? You really think I could do that. To let go of 19 years of bad memories. I….I don’t know if I can. I mean it would mean going to school with Draco, but that also means going to school with the Potter brat.”
“Now, now Severus, the boy may be nothing like his father. Who knows, you could even end up as friends.”
Severus scoffed at the idea. However, as he gave it more thought, Poppy did have a point. Just because Dumbledore told him the boy was spoiled meant nothing really. The headmaster meant well, but often things were overlooked by the old man in his pursuit of the greater good. Severus had only become visible to the man once he had something to offer.
Albus wasn’t necessarily a bad man, but in his crusade for the Light, he occasionally slipped into an ends justify the means mentality. That sort of thinking got people hurt. Perhaps, Harry Potter was another victim, instead of another bully. It was months until the next school year and only time would tell how things would go.
Severus could admit that it felt good to be held by Poppy. It had been many years since anyone had shown him any affection.
“Yes, please let me start over with you. I think I need this more than anything.”
With those words, Severus tried to look beyond his past and into her new future.
~Several Months Later~
Alison didn’t understand it. She was giddy, full blown anxious, and excited to be returning to Hogwarts as a student. The months since the incident had been a whirlwind. She had been taken in and adopted by Poppy and Minerva. The life with them had been mind boggling at first. The two ladies loved each other quite obviously. However, he had been stunned by how welcoming they had been.
Apparently the two had been talking about adopting for a while now. Severus’ accident meant that they got a daughter and she got new mums. That was how she saw them now. While she still had nightmares, many of her adulthood memories were faded or at least pushed back. They loved her, and she had grown to love them as well. She would be one of the strongest kids at Hogwarts, thanks to being many years advanced in practice and knowledge. However, that wasn’t stopping her from enjoying a second childhood.
She had taken on a new name. Alison Prince-McGonagall was now legally the child of Minerva and Poppy. She had gotten a new wand, made of acacia with a dragon heartstring for its core. Severus’ own had been destroyed in the blast of the accident. Alison had excitedly shopped for school supplies with her mums. It was nice being free to be open and to wonder as a child again. It had taken some time and a fair amount of embarrassment getting used to her new body. Clothes shopping in particular had been a struggle, especially as her body was entering female puberty and therefore needed training bras. Alison no longer misunderstood how Lily had acted at certain times of the month back when they were friends. Periods were a whole new world of emotions and discomfort. It even slipped over into pain at times. Her mums gently talked her through all of this and gave as much comfort as they could.
Over the summer, his mums had re-introduced Alison to Draco. It was amazing to start a childhood friendship with her former godson. Luckily, her skills as a spy plus her new outlook, kept Draco from suspecting a thing. Draco told her of running into Harry during his school shopping. Draco informed Alison that Harry was tiny for their age and hadn’t spoken at all when Draco tried to introduce himself. Draco seemed unaffected though, but it made Alison wonder about the boy. Why was he so tiny? Harry’s parents had been rather tall.
Now Alison stood on the platform of 9 ¾. Her mums hugged him and told her they would see her later that night. Alison looked around until he spotted a familiar head of blond hair. She ran up to Draco, bowing politely to Lord and Lady Malfoy.
“C’mon Drake we don’t want to miss out on picking a compartment before they all fill up.”
She grabbed the blonde’s hand and pulled him towards the train, more excited than she thought possible. Finally, after searching around, they found a compartment relatively empty. Inside was a single small boy with a mop of dark brown hair. Alison did catch a few red highlights as the light caught the hair just right. Then emerald eyes were staring into hers, and she couldn’t breath. Nothing else mattered for a moment as her former best friend's eyes stared back at him.