Ah...magic, something almost every kid dreamed of at least once in their lifetime. Now that I was in a world where magic was real, I couldn’t help but get excited.

There were so many things I could do with magic, so many things I could accomplish that just thinking of them made me giddy.

The magic system so to speak in this world was not very well explored by the author and I am not even in the same period as the protagonist

My canon knowledge of the plot is pretty much useless and any action I take could drastically change it without me knowing anything.

It still had some use as it did give me an insight into things that would have otherwise remained hidden from me. This knowledge would help me choose a path however I want and gives me many options.

Coming back to magic, I had already set up a goal of sorts to reach with it. Some would call me delusional for having it, most would call it a pipe dream but it didn’t matter as I didn’t want to go back there. By there, I meant the place I went to when I died,... the void.

Therefore my goal was to become immortal thus avoiding going back...there.I didn’t know whether I would even go there if I died again but I didn’t want to take my chances.

The void was a terrifying place, just thinking about it filled me with a sense of dread and helplessness and I never wanted to go back there ever again.

No wonder Voldemort was afraid of death if this was the place that awaited one after death, it was natural to fear it and only immortality would keep me away.

Voldemort had a similar goal and he did everything he could to accomplish it but his biggest mistake was being hasty. He found one option and without assessing the risk went along with it and he was supposed to be smart.

….heck he didn’t even bother exploring other options until later when he lost to Lily Potter, not Harry because he didn’t do anything. It was Lily Potter’s sacrifice that saved him after all.

Worse still, he didn’t even wait for graduation and went ahead with the ritual.

Granted he succeeded and how to make a Horcrux wasn’t a question that would appear in his O.W.L.S or N.E.W.T exams but it was basic sense to try it after doing more research on it and its effects.

Many theories or fanfic theories to be accurate, suggested or even outright stated that Tom Riddle went insane after making his first Horcrux.

I didn’t know how much of that was true but from what I saw, he already had a few screws loose.

His impatience was his first big mistake and the second was a very ‘Hermione’ mistake that is believing in a book blindly. Now I knew that not all books were wrong but the one Riddle believed in was not accurate nor did it explain in detail.

It only vaguely mentioned that Horcruxes were evil and foul with a ‘don’t try it at home’ warning. In fact, Riddle had to sneakily consult Slughorn who gave him even lesser information.

He was a gifted student but being gifted didn’t equal making wise decisions apparently as time and time again, he kept making worse decisions.

Maybe, just maybe...if the book was written by the creator of Horcruxes, Herpo the Foul himself then perhaps it could be trusted. Even then I wouldn’t be willing to take the chance unless it was the only option I had left.

But...that was not the case, with my foreknowledge I had many more options than Riddle ever had and better yet even had a general idea on how to accomplish them.

He didn’t stop after making one Horcrux but kept going like a madman.
He mutilated his soul seven times, making it smaller and weaker each time. I still couldn’t believe how he didn’t notice that he couldn’t sense his Horcruxes. Harry destroyed most of them before he learnt that they were getting destroyed.

His empathy for the living or at least what little feelings he might have ever had for humans were lost and he went from killing as a means to an end to a murder hobo who relished in it.

I didn’t know if dark magic messed with his psyche and turned him into what he became at the end so dark magic was a field I would approach with utmost caution if I didn’t want to lose myself to its seduction...kind of the dark side of the force but less obvious.

But all things considered, Horcruxes were still an option, it was the easiest path to immortality compared to the deathly hallows whose effects were never confirmed or the philosopher’s stone which was not foolproof.

Any object that is made into a Horcrux turns into a pseudo sentient dark artefact that is near indestructible by normal means. Even house-elf magic has no effect on it. The object also tries possessing a person who holds it.

If I could resist the effects of possession with occlumency, something which was a must to learn, I could make Horcruxes or at least have others make them and then use the object that is used in making them as a weapon or an artefact.

It was a very crude and inhuman way of making high-grade artefacts. But it was effective and relatively easy to make. Of course, it came with side effects like the artefact trying to kill or corrupt its wielder but it could be overcome if the wielder was skilled enough.
They were nearly indestructible and even elf magic couldn’t destroy them but I was not sure about this as it could have all been attributed to charms and curses Voldemort put on them.

As for living Horcruxes like Harry, they could be viewed as a higher level of the mark but they were double-edged swords as I could become vulnerable to the person who I was technically inhabiting.

I decided to look into this later but the mark idea reminded me of another snake man who also dreamt of being immortal.

This man was none other than pedo sannin Orochimaru. His curse mark was like the dark mark but better and also shared similarities with Harry Horcrux.

I could try and replicate it with magic but those were thoughts to be explored when I am proficient in magic.

It enhanced the curse bearer’s power but slowly increased Orochimaru’s influence over them making them seek him out for more power and in the end, they only served to increase his power.

As I thought about it, Orochimaru was just a better Voldemort. Both pursued the same goal,i.e immortality but the paths they took were different. Voldemort took the easy way out and didn’t work hard for immortality.

He just went along with the first option he got and never looked for more whereas Orochimaru on the other hand actually tried to understand immortality and made his own path.

Voldemort abandoned manipulation as a means to get people on his side and just ruled through fear while Orochimaru used both.

Voldemort was prejudiced against muggles and muggleborns. This narrow-minded approach limited his following and thereby limiting his options.
Next up was the fabled philosopher’s stone, a stone whose elixir granted immortality.

The stone which is described as the pinnacle of alchemy was made by Nicolas Flamel. Nothing much was told about him in the books but he did make an appearance in the recent movies which also didn’t give much info about him.

I only knew that he was Dumbledore’s mentor at one point and that they worked on something?

Something about dragon blood I think…

Back to the stone, I couldn’t recall when it was made nor did I remember how old Flamel was supposed to be. The time period was not as vital as the fact that it was man-made.

Flamel made it but how come no one else made it? Was Flamel that good that no one was his match, was it a fluke?, or did Flamel even make it? For all I knew, he could have found it, snatched it from some chap and pulled a Lockhart move.

But still considering that it was actually man-made, I could try making it. I would have to learn alchemy….Yet another thing to do on my to-do list.

The stone though was not as appealing as it didn’t grant true immortality. It may be an artefact of “immeasurable” power but it has its limits. The elixir produced by the stone merely extends one’s lifespan and doesn’t stop ageing.

It slows it down but doesn’t halt it. But I still decided to make it because it has many uses and an extended lifespan means more time to reach my goals.

And finally, last but not least were the deathly hallows. By far the most interesting one of the lot. First, it didn’t state that it granted immortality, only that the one who gathered all three would become a 'master of death’ whatever that means….

I had a general idea of where they were but I was far too weak and young to get any of them.

Deciding to shelve these thoughts, for now, I looked around the room I was in. It was a dingy old room with little space to move around and a cracked mirror on the wall.

I slowly made my way towards it to see my new face. What greeted me was a young boy with a malnourished body and hair that reached his neck.

Running my hands through it, I found that it was not as oily as depicted in the book. Perhaps it was the potion fumes that made them so. Nevertheless, I was content with this body.

I stretched my body and got used to it. After tidying my hair a bit, I finally decided to head out and thus start my new life.
…
The house too wasn’t in better condition than the room. It had gloomy vibes all over with paint rolling off the walls, dirty mats and I could go on.

I began familiarizing myself with the house as I jogged Severus’ or ‘my new’ memories.

….That was a bad decision as most if not all of them were bad ones. I was not looking forward to meeting Tobias….

While I was observing the room, a woman walked in. It was none other than Eileen Snape nee Prince aka the woman who should have known better.

If there was a word to describe her, it would be ‘tired’. She looked like she was exhausted with life.

A weary look marred her face and you could almost tell that she was in depression.
“Morning” I greeted her.

Her eyes widened, clearly not expecting this as Severus rarely ever greeted her.

Taking a closer look at her, I clenched my fist as I felt my anger rising. She had several signs of abuse that she had tried to cover up but clearly hadn’t been too successful.

“M-morning...Severus.” She finally replied awkwardly.

An awkward silence descended as I ran out of things to say. Severus didn’t talk much and I had not talked at all in a long time.

My conversation skills were more than a bit rusty. I had tried talking to myself in the void but had to stop when I started threatening myself.

Shaking myself out of these thoughts I broke the silence, “So….what's for breakfast?”

“I-I made some toast with eggs.” She didn’t wait for me to reply and went inside the kitchen to get it.

Watching her leave, I began looking through memories of her. Now that the pain had subsided, I could browse through them with more ease.

Eileen was a pitiable woman. She made the worst decision of her life when she fell for Tobias. She abandoned the world she grew up in, left her family all to marry this animal and what she got was a miserable life.

Initially, they were a decent family. Browsing through Severus’ earliest memories, the family looked alright but cracks started appearing as Tobias’ true nature began showing.

Eileen picked the worst time to show her magic to him. Tobias was an incompetent man who had been fired at that time so Eileen wanted to earn money by using magic.

But things didn’t go as planned when Tobias’ narrow mind somehow attributed her magic as the reason he got fired.

Regardless to say, things went on a downward spiral from there. Tobias’ temper and poor character didn’t get him any better job or the ones he got didn’t work out well.

Instead of working on his flaws, his twisted mind found a convenient scapegoat….his wife. He began blaming her for his faults and eventually started abusing her.

It started with verbal insults like a witch as the politest but as expenses became tighter, he...started venting on her.

I felt my anger rising yet again as I looked through the memories. Eileen had tried resisting at first. She had been in disbelief when he hit her and tried confronting him but he just switched targets.

He began targeting the then 6-year-old Severus who had begun manifesting magic.
Eileen couldn’t bring herself to kill him, a part of her broken and in denial, so she did the worst thing she could do. She gave up...she pleaded, begged and submitted to the monster.

I did have a theory though...wizarding oaths were pretty serious and I was sure that they took oaths when they had their marriage vows. The foolish woman might have taken one-sided wizard vows which restricted her.

Then again I couldn’t be too sure...I could only speculate for now.

After that the memories were hazy. I found it a bit weird considering how the memories before were clearer but the ones after looked like Severus didn’t want to remember them.

I could forcibly read them if I tried but something told me I wouldn’t like what I would see so I stopped. I didn’t want to have breakfast with terrible traumatic memories playing in my head.

I skipped these parts and quickly went through the parts about magic. Eileen had taught him some magic as a precautionary measure to prevent accidental magic.

Apparently if one began using magic consciously, accidental magic didn’t happen often.

The magic she taught him was fairly simple. She taught him some basic 1st-year charms.

Since Severus didn’t have a wand of his own, she had tried getting him to use her wand but she had no choice but to teach him wandless magic when it turned out to be incompatible.

His innate talent shone through as he quickly got the hang of it. He could cast all 1st-year charms within a year without a wand.

Eileen tried teaching him other magic but her own magic had stopped working. She could still use it but as days went by it deteriorated.

I had a few theories in mind and could recall similar situations. Magic heavily if not primarily relied on emotions. In fact, emotions could even be regarded as fuel for magic.

Tonks if I recalled correctly couldn’t use her metamorph ability well when Remus denied her affections. Dumbledore’s sister was traumatised at a young age and her magic turned volatile.

This could be the reason or she just didn’t want to teach Severus magic. Anyway, her magic started ‘malfunctioning’, she started teaching Severus potions. Severus excelled in it like the others but so far she had only taught him the basics.

I pretty much caught up to the current date after that and soon enough, Eileen came in with the breakfast.

The smell hit me more than I had expected. I did my best to hide my excitement as I saw food, genuine food that I could eat after a long time.

I think Eileen noticed my excitement but she kept quiet which won her some brownie points from me.

After tasting the first bite, I nearly moaned and just managed to hold myself back. The food just tasted so good! It was the equivalent of giving food to someone on the verge of death due to starvation.

I knew this effect would not last forever so I savoured the bite and chewed slowly.

“This tastes very nice.”

I complimented Eileen. It was very underwhelming praise for something so good but I didn’t want to come out too eager and besides it would be breaking Severus’ character which I wanted to maintain at least till I get my thoughts sorted out.

But clearly, even this compliment did the trick as Eileen’s face lit up. I let out a sigh as I felt sad for her. She probably hadn’t heard a compliment in years and seeing her tiny smile I made up my mind.

I didn’t think I could accept her as my mother...yet but I would do my best to be a good son at the very least.
….
After breakfast, I bid Eileen goodbye and set out for the location where Severus frequented most, the park. It was the place where he practiced magic and needless to say I was excited about trying some magic.