All characters with the exception of Lucrezia belong to J. K. Rowling.
"All right," Mother said brusquely, "here's the key to the family vault. Take as much as you need for school and some floo powder so you can get to platform nine and three quarters. Sorry we can't accompany you, darling, but you do know how very important Father is overseas."
"Yes, Mother,"
"Off you go, then." She tapped a few bricks and they immediately spread apart to reveal Diagon Alley. It was a sight that Lucrezia never seemed to fully notice. It was 1995 and she was coming into her sixth year at Hogwarts. She had been ignored all the years there. It was perhaps only Professor Snape, her head of house, who even knew her. She always was a little odd, a little uncontrollable. Never around the other students, Professor Dumbledore always made sure to keep her, her temper, and her unexplainable spells away from other students.
Yes, she was rather curious. Even mad according to many portraits in the aged headmaster's office. But that didn't matter now. She had the key to the family vault for the first time in her life. All the gold and antiques and family heirlooms that had been placed there throughout her family history were at her disposal. And yet… there was only one thing in there that would ever interest her: a time turner.
Her mouth almost turned into a small grin as she walked to Gringotts with her wand. Thirteen inch and the first ever to be made from a feather of Ollivander's peacock and the wood of the Womping Willow itself. Maybe that's the reason the aggravated tree never hurt her when she rarely managed to sneak out of the dungeons and onto the grounds. And Ollivander told her whilst she was buying her six galleon wand that normally he'd never let this one leave him as it was made of all new materials and dipped in none other than Basilisk venom.
Once she finally arrived into Gringotts, an elderly goblin sneered down at her as if he believed her too incompetent to even be entrusted with the key. Lucrezia demanded to be taken to the vault and was led by a slightly younger looking goblin wearing a child's waistcoat and a tie that was obviously tailored for him. She wondered for a brief moment whether or not goblins had vaults in Gringotts. She almost asked but she knew what her mother and father would do if she made any effort to speak to another species like that even remotely cordially.
"Here we are." The goblin growled at her. He opened the door and, unlike the bricks shifting and shaping themselves into an arch, the glittering gold and jewels always commanded her attention. With all this wealth, surely her parents could afford to get her some new robes and books. But obviously not. She walked into the large vault and grabbed a handful of galleons and, whilst the goblin was turned away, the time turner.
"You can take me up now, goblin." Lucrezia said in a tight voice that was almost her mother's. She felt ashamed for talking to him like that but was sure it would relay to her parents if she did not. She climbed into the cart and closed her eyes the whole ride back to the surface.
When we left Gringotts, Lucrezia almost felt a sense of panic fill her. She'd surely be caught by the Ministry for the illegal use of tampering with time but she didn't care. It didn't matter. She never cared where she ended up or what time period it was; she just knew she had to get out and away from her parents. She walked quickly to Knockturn Alley and turned up her ragged and holed up cloak. Once away from any prying eyes, Lucrezia took out the time turner and turned the dials an indefinite number of times, wanting to make sure she'd be farther and farther away from this personal Hell that her parents forced her into. After hearing a quiet click, the time turner would not budge anymore. The world around her melted away and was soon rebuilt by curious and hideous folks passing by her, staring. Walking away as soon as she could, leaving Hell and Knocturn Alley behind her, she went into a nearby store for a small handful of floo powder and a fireplace.
"'Ello, lovely. What might you be doing here?" A short and creepy stock attendant asked her.
"I just would like to use your fireplace. I require to be at platform nine and three quarters extremely soon. So may I?"
The attendant nodded curtly and watched Lucrezia step into the fireplace.
"Platform nine and three quarters!" She said harshly and was immediately engulfed in flames. When she opened her eyes again, there were witches and wizards all around her scurrying around with trunks and owls and various other things that belonged to them. Lucrezia suddenly felt extremely out of place at the fact that she had nothing with her but a bag filled with books and gold and a few spare sets of moth bitten robes. She had more than they thought she did in that small pocket of hers, well hidden in her robes. She ignored all the glances and scrutiny at her and stepped onto the scarlet Hogwarts Express. She was only met with more glances at her hooded appearance and her lack of luggage. Eager to escape the stares she opened the first compartment she could find.
Luckily, it only had one tall skinny wizard with long shoulder length dark hair in it. He was reading and scribbling into a copy of Advanced Potion Making.
"D' you mind?" She asked. He didn't even look up at her but he shook his head slightly. She sat across him and just stared.
"I'm Lucrezia," She said after awhile, eager to break such an awkward silence. "Slytherin. I… uhm… I had to transfer. I've been homeschooled." The moment she said Slytherin, the wizard looked up and put his book away. For a moment, Lucrezia thought he was about to get up and leave the compartment but he simply looked at her. She swore he smiled a little.
"What's with the cloak?" Lucrezia blushed. Not at the fact she was still wearing the cloak, but at he was smirking, not smiling, at her. She took off her hood and folded the cloak into her pocket silently.
"Undetectable extension charm?" He asked.
"Yes. I don't have a trunk."
"Couldn't afford one?" For a moment, she was completely taken aback. She came from both one of the most wealthy wizarding families of the century and one of the most prominent figures in the Muggle world. Not that she knew what figure her father was, of course. Quickly, she looked down at her tattered robes and ruined shoes. Her clothes did look poor but did she really give off that aura of being unfortunate? She had the looks of aristocracy: the black hair that waved and curled in just the perfect places, the extremely pale skin, the oval face, and the large eyes. She'd always been told she was pretty so she'd always assumed it was true, but now she wasn't so sure.
"No we couldn't." She said ashamed. No one would ever believe if she said she was rich anyways.
"Neither could I." He said after what seemed like hours. Lucrezia looked up at him quickly.
"You never told me your name. Or what you were scribbling in your potions book." She grinned that crooked smirk that she knew her mother detested of her.
"Severus. Severus Snape. And I don't recall you ever asking me what I was writing in that book." Shock swept right over Lucrezia at the thought that her teacher and Head of House was sitting right across from her. Forbidden thoughts ran away with her as she began to notice that he looked rather handsome to her at the age of sixteen. No. It could never be like that.
"I," she swallowed loudly and cleared her mind of any thought of him seeming handsome to her. He was eighteen years older than her, even if it didn't seem that way. "I believe I just did, Severus."
He opened his mouth to answer but someone slid the door to the compartment open before he could get it out.
"And yet another year has gone by and good Snivellus has not washed his hair. Maybe we should Levicorpus him into a pool of shampoo and water. What do you say Padfoot?"
"I don't think so, Prongs. Maybe he'll do it himself in yet another futile effort to get Lily back. But who do we have here with him?"
"Lucrezia," Severus answered for her through clenched teeth. Obviously the mention of that Lily girl upset him. "Now leave."
"No I think we'll stay, Snivelly." He turned to Lucrezia and put his arm on the seat around him. "So why it is I've never seen you before? I believed I would have noticed you before if I had."
"Transferred," She said curtly. "Now if you please will you and your friends please leave?" Padfoot merely grinned and pulled her closer to him. "I'm warning you. You're going to want to leave."
"And why is that?" Another boy stepped up to her wearing a prefect badge and an annoyed look on his face at her.
"Look," Lucrezia said angry. "I don't care whether you're a prefect or whether they're the sons of Merlin himself. So far all of you but him," she pointed at a trembling rat-like man that was glancing back and forth between everyone rapidly. Clearly nervous. "Have disgusted me. You with your, 'I'm a prefect so I'm so powerful and amazing.' attitude. Prongs here with him just scurrying in to start a fight and just be watched by his prefect best friend who wouldn't ever dream of punishing him. And you," She angrily turned to Padfoot. "Why must be so forward with a girl who clearly has absolutely no interest in you whatsoever. Now leave."
"No." Prongs said.
"And ten points from… what house are you?"
Lucrezia grabbed her wand and shouted her own incantation.
"Gatherum Dissapre!" The three students were shoved together as if a lasso was tossed around them and were tossed out of the compartment. "And I'm in Gryffindor!" She shouted out the door. With a small wave of her hand, Lucrezia closed the door without an incantation or even a wand.
"Where did you learn that spell?" Snape asked after a while.
"I made it up. I've been inventing spells for years. Most are much more dangerous than that, of course. Dark magic is easier to invent."
"I know. I have many spells of my own invention. And I thought you said you're in Slytherin?"
"I am. But they didn't know that." Lucrezia grinned again and this time, Snape returned it. Yes, he was very handsome to her.