Yesterday's Tomorrow

Yesterday's Tomorrow
Potter47 ~ Prologue ~
Interview with the Potions Master "What's past is prologue."
~ Shakespeare

A figure sat in a chair behind a great desk. He -- for it was clear that the figure was male -- was clothed in darkness, his face invisible in the shadows of the chamber. He set a quill on a piece of parchment, muttered something, and the quill stood upright, erect with attentiveness.

"Sit down, if you may," the man said, gesturing. He had a very deep voice, though he spoke rather haltingly. "Now, let's...start at the beginning, shall we?"

Professor Snape sat opposite him, glaring. He did not like this man. But of course, that was to be expected. Snape did not feel comfortable telling him the truth -- he could easily lie, he thought, and never would anyone be the wiser. But Dumbledore had insisted.

"That would be the logical place," drawled Snape.

"Yes, it would, wouldn't it?" said the man, nodding. He cleared his throat. Snape could not see his face, for the darkness, and he did not like that the man could see his.

"Your name? Title?"

"Professor Severus Snape, Potions Master."

"And you have...borne witness to the anomalous events of the past months?"

"Yes. Nearly all of them."

"When did the...events begin?"

A moment of silence. "When the bell jar fell."

"Explain about this bell jar," said the man. He leaned back in his chair, watching the quill scratching on the parchment, taking down what they were saying.

"The bell jar is tall; it glitters with light; it is made of crystal. Within it is contained a hummingbird. It is located in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic." Snape took a breath. "The late Vincent Crabbe, Senior, bewitched it to fall upon Potter and Miss Weasley."

"Full names?"

"Harry Potter and Ginevra Weasley."

"And what happened when this...bell jar...fell upon the two students?"

"They were transported backwards in time, to the years of 1945 and 1978. No one knows why."

"No...one?" the man said, disbelief clear in his voice.

"Not that I know of," said Snape. He continued:

"They returned after two full days, though by that time their friends had been kidnapped by the Dark Lord."

"Which friends?"

"Miss Granger, Miss Lovegood--" the man seemed to draw a harsh breath; "--and Mr Weasley."

"Full names?"

Snape narrowed his eyes. "Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, and Ronald Weasley."

"And...then what happened?" the man asked.

"I left Hogwarts in attempt to rescue the three students. They had been imprisoned at the Riddle House, in the dungeons. Each was interviewed individually by the Dark Lord, and he demanded of them information they were not willing to give. Trelawney arrived in full Death Eater robes--"

"Full name?"

Snape rolled his eyes, practically growling. "Professor Sibyll Trelawney. She arrived, stated that she was also a spy for the Order, and began spouting nonsense about her Inner Eye. It was then that Potter arrived with Miss Weasley."

"Full names?"

"I already stated them."

"Oh, yes... Of course. What happened next?"

"Miss Lovegood removed the Dark Lord's thumb," stated Snape.

"Removed...it?" said the man. "How?"

"With a pocket-knife." Snape raised his arm, curled his finger to demonstrate. "It was a Harpy. Shaped like a claw." The quill made a sketch of the shape.

"Potter arrived just as the Dark Lord was to kill Lovegood, apparently. He used the Tempus Fugit spell, and stole the Dark Lord's wand."

"Do you...have any idea how the boy...learned such a spell?"

"No," said Snape, shaking his head. "Not a clue."

"I...thought you were his...teacher?"

Snape glared at the man. "I...am...his...Potions...professor," he mocked, "or at least I used to be."

"Used to be?"

"Rumour has it he did not do very well on his potions OWL." Snape smiled slightly. "Lucky me."

"Continue...in your explanation, if you will."

"Surely," said Snape. "Chaos ensued. Potter, Miss Weasley, and Miss Lovegood arrived at our cell--the Dark Lord following close behind."

"Another...confrontation between the two of the...prophecy?" remarked the man. "Intriguing."

Snape narrowed his eyes--"It is not out of the ordinary; they have confronted nearly nightly over the past year, most unknowingly."

"Ah, of course," said the man, "the cause of Potter's failed...Occlumency lessons...of course. Continue, if you will."

Snape did so: "The Dark Lord managed to get hold of Potter's wand, but did not use it--perhaps he was not able. Potter still has the Dark Lord's wand, to this day."

"And what does he plan on...doing with it?"

"Who knows?" said Snape, shrugging slightly.

"Continue--"

"--in my explanation, if I will," said Snape. "Sure thing. The Dark Lord had set up Potter--it turned out that Pettigrew, who had taken me captive in the kitchen of the Riddle House, was actually Trelawney in disguise--she was a loyal Death Eater."

"Where is she now?"

"In Azkaban," said Snape, and the man leaned forward slightly, attentive, curious.

"But the Dementors revolted--any Death Eaters left in Azkaban had broken out--"

"Not Trelawney," said Snape. "She has stayed in her cell, I'm told, never complaining, never speaking a word."

"Worthy of note, that is," said the man, leaning back once again.

"If you say so," said Snape. "Continuing--Potter and his friends -- along with myself -- eventually returned to Hogwarts, where things weren't what one could call 'anomalous', till the end of term."

"And what happened at...the end of term?" the man said expectantly--Snape furrowed his brow.

"Nothing--the students went home. Of course nothing anomalous happened at Hogwarts after the end of term--I was merely stating that for the rest of the term, nothing special happened."

"Then please do...say that next time," said the man. He cleared his throat--hem, hem. "Now," he said. "Things began acting anomalous once again soon thereafter--" Snape wondered why the man seemed so fascinated with the word 'anomalous'; "when were you first taken into...what is it called? Logical-Land?"

"Logica-Land," corrected Snape, though of course the man heard no difference -- "and it was one week ago--well, a week ago yesterday. "

"One week ago," repeated the man, as if the scratching quill had inquired the last thing said. "And what was the date?"

"The eleventh of July."

"And what exactly is...Logical-Land?"

"It is a world," said Snape. "A fantastical world that exists, now, shoulder to shoulder with our own. It was created in the mind of Miss Lovegood--"

"The same Miss Lovegood?" cut in the man harshly, leaning forward so that half of his face could be seen--Snape noticed a day or two's stubble on his chin, which boasted a large cleft, slightly off-centre. "Surely not the...mother?"

"The same Miss Lovegood," said Snape, wondering why the man had reacted so violently. "Luna Lovegood, Ravenclaw, fifth year come September."

"Yes, yes, of course," said the man, relaxed once again. "Of course. You were...describing this...Logical-Land?"

Snape now cleared his throat, not nearly as loudly as the man had. "The place is non-magical, entirely, apart from myself--I am there known as 'the Wizard', for I am the only Wizard to exist there, it seems, for decades."

"But... you said that Miss Lovegood created this place...how then could it be decades old?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," said Snape. "If you wish for me to describe Logica-Land for your record, I do believe you'd best be silent for at least three moments in a row."

"Of course," said the man. "Go right ahead--what does this place look like?"

"It is old-fashioned, and recalls London in its features."

The man seemed confused; "How on earth does a place resemble London?"

Snape blinked. "By having similar buildings, streets, et cetera," he said, himself bewildered as to what confused the man, who now laughed softly, a slight throaty chuckle.

"Oh, of course--the city--go on ahead with your telling."

"Thank you," said Snape, and did so: "Five days had past since my initial arrival when a most unexpected thing happened--Miss Lovegood happened upon my quarters, accompanied by a Harpy, and--"

"Her knife?" said the man, and Snape shook his head.

"Of course not--the creature. Accompanied by a Harpy and none other than Miss Granger--"

"Hermione Granger?" asked the man. "Potter's friend?"

Snape was getting immensely irritated by the constant questions this man seemed to have. "There are not many Grangers that I could be speaking of," said Snape bitterly. "In fact, the only one I know of -- apart from my student -- is a resident brewer in an apothecary in Wales--not exactly relevant to this story, is he?"

"No, I perceive not," said the man. "Continue."

"I was planning on it," said Snape. "Anyway, Miss Granger arrived, not recalling that she was indeed a witch, for of course those in Logica-Land do not quite believe in magic. They believe in many things, but magic is not one of them. Half of them don't even think I -- the Wizard, that is -- truly exist."

"Do you?" said the man, and Snape did not grace the question with a response.

"Miss Granger eventually allowed herself to believe that she was indeed a witch. She and I were both taken out of Logica-Land, however, and--"

"Do you have...any ideas as to who...or what...decides when you are taken in, and taken out, of Logical-Land?" said the man shrewdly. Snape did not.

"I assume it is random," he said, and the man seemed to find this interesting, for he stroked his chin.

"Of course," said the man. "Of course."

Snape continued: "Nothing of interest happened to me until sometime in the middle of the night--I don't know what time--when I was taken out of my bed, or more accurately, my bed disappeared from beneath me, and I was somewhere else entirely."

"And this is when the...switch, may I call it? When the switch occurred?"

"Apparently," said Snape. "I found myself in a cell at Azkaban prison, with none other than Miss Granger as my cellmate--yes, the same Miss Granger," he clarified, before the man could ask.

"Soon after--or, perhaps not, for we had no means by which to tell the time--came Weasley and Miss Lovegood--the same ones as well--to our cell. They had been taken as well, and we discovered the cause of the...switch, you called it? I suppose that works. The cause of the switch."

"And that was...?"

"Miss Lovegood, essentially, reached back in time and changed the event that would forever alter the course of her life--and, without knowing it, our entire world."

"And what was this event?"

"Her mother's death."

The man did not speak for a long while, though Snape did not sense that he was supposed to continue--the man was thinking, reflecting, doing something in his head, something.

"Her mother's death?" he echoed finally. "C-Cynthia Cy--Lovegood, Cynthia Lovegood's death?"

"That is what I said."

The man cleared his throat, sitting up in his chair, back a bit straighter than it had been a moment before. "You may continue."

"The four of us were taken to another location, I do not know precisely where. We were placed in a cage--directly across from another cage, containing Miss Lovegood's parents. The Dark Lord arrived, tormenting, torturing us. Miss Granger and I were then taken back into Logica-Land, and--"

"Convenient, wasn't it?" said the man, interrupting. "That you just happened to be taken when in dire need of help?"

"And there we found the Harpy, the live one, not the knife, lying next to death on the floor."

"Death was also on the floor, then?" said the man, and Snape did not know what he was talking about.

"She died before we could help her, but she did tell us of her attacker, who--"

"What did the attacker look like?" said the man, though Snape had been about to say anyway.

"It was a man in dark robes," said Snape. "Who wore my face."

"Polyjuice?" asked the man, but Snape shook his head.

"I believe it had to have been the Wizard--the one who is in Logica-Land when I am here, my doppelganger, if that is the correct word. It is the only logical explanation."

"And it is Logical-Land," reminded the man, thinking. "You may continue."

"There is not much left to say--we were taken out of Logica-Land once again, and were able to help Miss Lovegood and her mother escape--the other two had been killed."

"And then?"

Snape looked at the man evenly. "And then," he said, "I died."

"You died?" said the man incredulously. "How on earth...did you--"

"The Dark Lord, he..." And Snape hesitated. Why did he have to tell the specifics, after all?

"The Dark Lord cursed me, that is all. I found myself in my bed again after the worlds had been switched back. And that is the end."

"Oh, no," said the man, and he stood, walking round his desk--Snape saw his entire face for the first time; "that is the beginning."

Snape blinked, and stood as well. "How do you mean?" he said, eye-to-eye with this mysterious man.

"See you at Hogwarts," said the man, and he left it at that. With a crack, he was gone, or so Snape had thought--but no. Snape was the one that had gone, and now he was at Hogwarts himself, in his rooms. But why? And how? After all, one can not Apparate or Disapparate on Hogwarts grounds, so how had he, how had Morgen, how had he...done that?

Snape did not care to know.

~ Author's Note ~ If any of the events told of in this prologue intrigued you, I suggest you read the first two fics in the Yesterday Sequence, Living inside Yesterday and Believe in Yesterday, which present them in much more detail. Of course, you should have read them already anyway, but, you know, just in case...