Severus looked around his surroundings with a dazed expression.
This was an office filled with British medieval decorative style, with an overall aesthetic leaning toward dark and simple, even the wool carpet spread on the floor was a plain gray color.
On the bookshelves close to the walls were densely packed various books, most of which were in English, with a small portion in scripts that Severus was certain he had never encountered before.
But whether it was English or those unknown scripts, he could surprisingly read them all without any obstacles, as if he were reading his native language.
Magical Drafts and Potions, Advanced Potion-Making, Moste Potente Potions, Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, Magical Theory, Curses and Counter-Curses...
Those diverse books about magic, the Victorian-era British decorations surrounding him, and the flood of foreign memories surging through his mind like a tide.
All of this was telling Severus that he had transmigrated!
Just ten minutes ago, he had still been a newly appointed teacher preparing to report to a new school for work. But while crossing a bridge, he got caught up in a chain reaction drowning incident caused by an electric scooter hitting someone, and accidentally fell into the river himself!
When he opened his eyes again, he had become this British man named "Severus Snape."
Wait! Snape?
As this surname flashed through his mind again, Severus's body suddenly froze!
He rapidly reviewed the memories that had emerged in this body's mind.
Complex and profound magical knowledge that had apparently become muscle memory, an unfortunate and dark childhood, a girl with beautiful emerald green eyes who had illuminated his life...
The Marauders who had hung him upside down using the spell he invented, that sentence he regretted for a lifetime—"Mudblood," becoming a fanatical follower of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named...
Betrayal, pleading, death news, treachery, becoming the Potions professor at Hogwarts, Head of Slytherin House...
At this moment, Severus, who hadn't read the original books but had completely watched all eight movies, finally understood who he had transmigrated into!
The ultimate loser of the Harry Potter series, the greasy-haired man, the bat-like creature, the classic example of childhood friend losing to someone who fell from heaven, the one who called himself the Half-Blood Prince during his teenage years—Severus Snape!
After standing dazed in place for a full ten seconds, Severus rushed to a full-length mirror in the innermost part of the office.
Looking at himself in the mirror—pale-faced, with dark and hollow eyes, shoulder-length hair greasy and smooth like seaweed—he finally received confirmation once again.
That's right, it really was that Snape!
I've become Snape, but what about the original Snape?
This question involuntarily arose in Severus's mind.
Then, his gaze seemed to hallucinate as he saw within his own body a transparent, smaller version of himself, looking bewildered and shocked!
"Who are you!" the ghostly Snape demanded.
That ghost had also noticed Severus's gaze at this moment. He quickly suppressed the unease and shock in his heart, meeting his gaze with those cold, hollow eyes like stagnant water.
Severus didn't answer his question; he just collapsed into the chair in front of the office desk.
When he saw that soul, all the answers were actually laid out before him.
He had transmigrated and become the living Severus Snape, while the original authentic Snape had somehow died and become a ghost. And he was right inside what had originally been his own body!
"No matter who you are! No matter what kind of magic you used to steal my body!" Ghost Snape continued, his face as cold as frozen frost. "I must remind you that this is Hogwarts. You don't have the ability to completely replace me. Albus Dumbledore has always been in this castle. He can easily discover your flaws and capture you! He might already be on his way here!"
Ghost Snape had immediately tried to leave this body that had been occupied by an outsider. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break free even a little. His body had become like a prison, locking him tightly inside. Except for the now-living Severus, no one could see him, and no one could communicate with him.
So after discovering this, he immediately suspected that thief who had stolen his body! Throughout all of magical history, this was an unprecedented method!
After clearly understanding that he was now at someone else's mercy, Ghost Snape could only invoke Dumbledore's name, hoping to intimidate this shameless thief.
"Come on, it would be best if he could finish me off right now," Severus muttered. "Maybe I could transmigrate back..."
But Severus was completely unconcerned about the ghost's threats within his body. He had already collapsed into the chair with no will to live, feeling that even though he had transmigrated, his life was still over.
When others transmigrated, even if their starting situation was terrible, they were usually lone orphans with no attachments. No matter how bad their hand of cards was, at least they still had a chance to play.
But transmigrating into Severus Snape? Not only were his cards terrible, but the order of play and the way he was supposed to exit the game had already been predetermined!
As one of the killers responsible for the death of this world's savior—Harry Potter's parents—there was no way for him to clear his name. If he really wanted to be cleared, he could only die for Harry like in the original ending.
As for completely turning to the dark side and becoming Voldemort's loyal lackey, helping him kill Harry Potter and rule the entire magical world? Don't be ridiculous. He was now at Hogwarts, right under the nose of that greatest Hogwarts headmaster in history, Albus Dumbledore.
Want to turn dark? Perfect time to settle old and new scores together. Your greasy hair would be pulled out, your bat robes torn to shreds, and your ashes scattered along with everything else!
Ghost Snape, after hearing Severus's words and seeing his current behavior, also had a change of heart, feeling that things might not be as he had imagined.
From this thief's performance, he didn't seem like someone who actively wanted to steal his body, and even now he was clearly unwilling.
This made Snape, who had been panicking internally after becoming a ghost, take a deep breath of non-existent air and try to make his voice not sound so instinctively sharp and mocking.
"Have you already obtained all of my memories?" Ghost Snape asked.
"Memories? You mean your loser life?" Severus replied listlessly with a curl of his lip. "I don't even need to look at that stuff—everyone on Earth knows about it."
Ghost Snape clenched his fists. Even though he had no physical form now, he could still clearly feel his temples throbbing constantly.
Struggling to suppress the anger in his heart, he spoke in an extremely serious and earnest tone: "Regardless of whether you actively stole my body, since you've obtained those memories, you should know what you need to do now and in the future!"
"Listen carefully," Ghost Snape continued. "Follow the plan I once agreed upon with Dumbledore. That man will make a comeback sooner or later! During this period, you must stay away from Harry Potter, and even after he enrolls, you must constantly target him and give him trouble! But behind the scenes, you must protect him well..."
Ghost Snape began his lengthy explanation, while Severus, who had originally been lying in the chair thinking about how to slack off in the coming days, gradually became more serious in his expression.
"You're right!" Severus suddenly declared, standing up from the chair.
This made Ghost Snape freeze, completely unexpected that Severus would agree so readily.
But since there was such a high level of cooperation, this was certainly a good thing.
As a former magical genius and now accomplished magical master, Ghost Snape actually understood that he might forever only exist in this world as a ghost. Then the agreement and plan between him and Dumbledore would have to be continued and executed by this thief!
"This is also beneficial for you," Ghost Snape said. "After all, you're now bearing my title and identity. Wherever you go, you'll be respected—this is something countless wizards could only dream of!"
Originally, this speech was meant to entice Severus, but when he reached the last sentence, Ghost Snape still couldn't suppress his old habits and adopted that sarcastic, passive-aggressive tone.
"Now go find Dumbledore!" Severus announced.
Severus drew his wand. Muscle memory made him lightly wave the small wooden stick, and then the black wizard robes on a nearby rack flew up by themselves and dressed him.
His words made Ghost Snape nod involuntarily.
"Right, we indeed need to let Dumbledore know about this first," Ghost Snape agreed. "Maybe he'll have a way to reverse our current situation. Even if not, he can teach you how to replace me going forward."
Severus, now fully dressed and buttoning up his robes, looked puzzled.
"Who told you I was planning to tell Dumbledore the truth?"
Ghost Snape's face stiffened. "Then what are you going to do?"
"Of course, I'm going to ask him for approval to go to Harry Potter's aunt's house right now," Severus said matter-of-factly. "While he's living in misery and still has two years before being admitted to Hogwarts, I'll quickly bring him out to cultivate our teacher-student relationship and clear my name early."
"..." Ghost Snape felt like his lungs were about to explode. He breathed heavily, and within Severus's body, he almost squeezed out this cold, hard question through gritted teeth: "Did you listen to anything I just said?!"
"Ah, were you talking?" Severus replied innocently.