To dispense with the formalities, I do not own anything you may recognise from the Harry Potter books . . . I do however, own Viola and her friends, plus the Sorting Hat song, which was a lot of fun to write!!

To warn you, this story is rated a definite R, for language, and eventually graphic sex, abusive relationships, self injury, drug use, and not graphic rape, since it gives me the heebi jeebies somewhat terribly. Also, a romantic relationship with a pretty large age difference. . . but the age of consent is 16 here in Canada, so I am well within the law. Besides, the wonderful Severus Snape deserves a nice young lover. If any of this stuff offends you, turn around and read something better.

Also, this is my very first attempt at a fic, so if you hate it and absolutely must tell me, be polite. I really hate it when people are mean, and i would never flame one of YOUR stories.

Now that that's all out of the way, enjoy!









Chapter one



"Another year at Hogwarts,

much like those of years long gone.

Another group of students,

terrified to try me on.

I won't bite, so don't be shy

place me on around your ears.

I'll tell you where your talents lie

so deep beneath your hidden fears.

Should you go in Hufflepuff,

where the lovers all reside,

Or even yet in Gryffindor,

where the fighters find their kind.

Maybe you're for Ravenclaw,

where your awards would line the shelf.

Or should you be in Slytherin,

with such a thirst to prove yourself?

The ancient founders of our school

placed their judgement all in me,

and even though I'm just a hat,

I know where you have to be."



Viola Rienne applauded the Sorting Hat's song along with the other students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She always had enjoyed watching the sorting, and she would sit with her friends every year at the Hufflepuff table and guess what houses the first years would be sorted into. She remembered a few years before, when Harry Potter was sorted. Her friend Brianna practically laid down cash on him being put into Ravenclaw, and Viola was the only one of her group who called Gryffindor.



Everyone thought Hufflepuff was the worst house in the school, but Viola held a very fierce pride in it's heritage and nobility. She cheered loudly as a nervous looking girl with very long hair was sorted into the 'worst' house. Though in Viola's opinion, the bravest person she knew had been a Hufflepuff, and that was Cedric Diggory. She could vividly recall his awful death, which marked the second rise of the Dark Lord. She had known Cedric since she started school, and she still felt a terrible despair when she thought of him.



Viola was in her seventh year at Hogwarts, and her good grades and Quidditch ability had earned her a shiny silver Head Girl badge. She wore it modestly on her robes, but was secretly very proud of herself for the achievement.



Viola was a bit tall for a girl her age, almost six feet. She was willowy rather than slender, and she kept her blond hair shorter than most girls normally did. Her face was cute, with a small upturned nose, interesting brown eyes and a light spray of freckles.



"That lad, right there." she straightened her pointed hat and pointed at a chubby young boy who was just taking a seat on the stool. "He'll be in Slytherin." She stated.



"I doubt it." said Brianna. "He looks a bit too nice. Maybe he'll be in here with us."

Viola laughed a bit bitterly. Being nice was all that got you recognition in Hufflepuff. Not bravery, success, or intelligence, but being nice. Nevertheless, deep down, she knew that she was meant to be in this house. She was a very firm believer in kindness, generosity, and generally just being a good person.



"SLYTHERIN!" The hat shouted, after a moment of thought, and Viola punched Brianna playfully.



"I thought he was gonna be in Ravenclaw." said another friend, a short, very pretty Hispanic girl named Gwendolen.



"Naw, he looks like a dumbass. Perfect for Slytherin." This was meant as a joke, and it came from Randy, a redhead with shaggy curls, a dirty mouth, and a heart of gold.



Gwendolen, Brianna, Randy and Viola were best friends. They met each other att he sorting ceremony of their first year, and they were intimates ever since. The rest of the sorting passed on without event, they just sat and laughed with each other, enjoying the company of friends and anticipating the meal to come.

Just as Professor McGonnagal was about to put the hat and stool away for another year, it's mouth opened again and shouted. "Viola Rienne!"



Every head in the Hall turned in the direction of the Hufflepuff table. Pretty much everyone knew Viola, and since she was in seventh year, there was no reason for the hat to call her.

"I need to sort Viola Rienne." the hat insisted, wriggling fitfully in the Deputy Headmistress's grasp.



McGonnagal hesitated for a second, then slowly placed the stool back on the floor. Viola got up from her chair uncertainly, but approached the front of the Hall quite steadily. She could feel the eyes on her, just like her first sorting. Headmaster Dumbledore was leaning forward in his seat, genuinely curious as to what this was about.

Viola removed her black pointed hat and sat on the stool. She had grown a lot since the last time she sat there, and now her feet could touch the floor. She felt gangly and awkward, like she didn't belong on that stool anymore. She felt the hat being lowered onto her head, and it slipped down over her eyes.



"Hello." the soft voice whispered in her head. She sent her confused greetings back mentally.

"Sorry Vi," the hat said, using her childhood nickname. "This is for the best, really. You'll thank me later."



"What are you going to do?" she asked with her mind. The hat didn't answer her, instead it opened it's mouth and shouted out for the whole room to hear.

"SLYTHERIN!"





**********************





"So they're just switching you to Slytherin?" Brianna asked incredulously.



"They can't just do that, you've been in Hufflepuff for six years!" Gwendolen interjected. They were in the Hufflepuff common room later that evening, and Viola was just dragging her trunk out of the dormitory so she could take it down to the dungeons with her.



"We'll still see each other guys, it's no big deal." Randy was sprawled all over an armchair, watching them talk. He was rolling a joint, and seemed little interested in anything else. "It's not like you're switching schools or anything, Vi."



"I know Randy, I just can't stand the dungeons. Or the Slytherins." She got out her wand and levitated her trunk towards the exit, which was a painting of Helga Hufflepuff.

"We'll see you tomorrow Vi," said Brianna, removing her pointed hat and shaking the braids out of her long mousey hair.



"Bye you guys," Viola said as she flung a duffel bag over her shoulder and left the common room, her trunk floating in front of her.



She smiled sadly at Helga Hufflepuff, who was quite upset to see her go. The chubby witch in the painting blew her nose into a pink handkerchief and sighed. "But you're such a nice young lady." She said wistfully.





Viola set out in the direction of the Slytherin common room with a little uncertainty. She knew it's general place in the castle, but she wasn't sure exactly where she was supposed to go. She thought bitterly about her horrible luck. She was off the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, of course. And there was no chance the Slytherin team captain would let her on their team. Another pang of distress struck her. She was muggle born, and Slytherin's usually had little tolerance for her kind.



She kept telling herself that it couldn't be that bad, or the Sorting Hat would never have put her there.



She paused her troubled thoughts long enough to realise that she had no idea where she was going. The dungeons were like a dark maze of even darker twists and turns, impossible to navigate unless you knew them by heart, which she did not.



She could see the door to the Potions classroom in the near distance, and headed towards the only familiar landmark in the labyrinth of cold tunnels.

Maybe Professor Snape would be in the classroom, she thought. He was head of Slytherin House, and would most definitely know where the dormitories were, but would he help her? Of course he would, she was a Slytherin now, as much as she loathed the thought of it. He always favoured the students from his own house, and he had never really seemed to hate her like he did to some people. Potions was her favourite class. She would fight through a hurricane to get to the lab on time, and he recognised her passion for the subject in himself, and therefore had always been at least civil to her.



She knocked shyly on the door, and waited for a response. She heard footsteps inside, and a moment later the door was opened and she found herself confronted by the imposing height of her Potions teacher.



"Can I help you miss Rienne?" He asked courteously, leaning slightly on the doorframe. Viola had always been shy, but she was finding it increasingly difficult to speak. The day had been difficult, what with her entire life being moved down where there was no windows, and when she saw Snape looking at her with his deep black eyes, she suddenly wanted to cry.



"I don't know where the dormitory is." she mumbled, feeling rather stupid, but Snape didn't seem to mind her interrupting him in his work.



"But if you're busy, I could just keep looking . . ."



"No, of course not. I was only preparing for my classes tomorrow." He closed the classroom door behind him and levitated her trunk for her. He also took her duffel bag, which she thought very gentlemanly of him.



They didn't say a word to each other as he led her through the torch lit hallways, not until they reached a blank stone wall.



He handed her luggage back, and told her the password. Then he left without a word back to who knows where.



Feeling completely lonely, and wishing that she was in the greenhouse with her friends smoking pot and laughing, she entered the Slytherin common room.







She just couldn't shake off the feeling of their eyes on her as she rushed into the Girls Dormitory. Sobs racked her body as she lay sprawled out on her four poster bed with the black curtains drawn tight, hiding her from the view of the four other girls that shared the room with her. All she wanted was to be in the Hufflepuff dorms, with her friends. She hated the way the Slytherins looked at her, sneered at her because she was a Mudblood to them. An oddity that shouldn't be in their house.

For some reason, just as she was falling asleep, she thought about Snape. The mild sympathy in his cutting eyes that told her he knew what she was about to go through.



Perhaps it's odd, but Severus Snape was thinking briefly about Viola at that same moment. He was in his private rooms, pacing around as he got ready for bed. He contemplated her situation as he brushed his teeth. She was in for a pretty rough haul. The Slytherins would not except her, he knew they would reject her for her muggle parentage. What a stupid world, he though to himself.

He always liked her as a student. She performed exceptionally in Potions, and she had a very adept mind, quick and witty, much like his own. Even though it was going to be difficult, he knew she would get through it alright. He had a lot of respect for her abilities.



He splashed water on his face and looked at himself momentarily in the mirror. He was thin, but still kept the athletic physique of his Quidditch days. He had never much like his own appearance, but he rather enjoyed having long hair, and so refused to cut it, even though it hardly befitted a professor of his age.



After running a brush quickly through his raven locks he got into bed and was quickly asleep.



Viola had a terrible night. For whatever reason, she could not stop crying. Even after the other girls had come in to go to bed, she succeeded in getting them all fully angry before she managed to control the noise she was making. She hardly slept at all, and what little sleep she did get was right through breakfast.

Her first class that morning was potions, and she would have rather died than be late. She rushed through her shower in the unpleasantly cold bathroom she shared with her dorm mates, and ran to the classroom with her hair still wet, and sat down at a desk at the front of the room just as Snape walked in.



He looked like he was in a bad mood, but he usually was, so it came as no surprise. He began to lecture them on the potion they would be starting on, and Viola sat in rapt attention, leaning forward and taking careful notes on everything he said. More than once she caught herself staring at him, and quickly turned back to her notes before he could notice. She could see how much he enjoyed teaching, even though he tried to hide it. He seemed to glow with a sort of excitement as he explained the fine art of potions to them, and, if he was left uninterrupted, he would even smile once or twice, very slightly.



Viola yawned uncontrollably. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying all night instead of sleeping, and her hair was unbrushed and messy.



"Am I boring you, Miss Rienne?" Snape had paused mid sentence at the sound of her yawn.

"No sir, sorry." she mumbled, looking down at her paper and blushing crimson. He didn't persist in humiliating her though, and continued with the lesson.



She felt the tears well up in her eyes again, and tried desperately to hold them in . . . it would be like a death sentence to cry in front of Snape.



She spent the rest of the class fumbling rather awkwardly around to get her potion finished correctly, which was terribly difficult since she didn't have a partner among her house, and she was keeping her eyes on the ground so no one could see she was upset.



Probably because she wasn't watching, her potion was quickly going bad. It was supposed to turn red after she added the last ingredient, but for some reason it was blue. She almost panicked, it was the fist time she had ever messed up so badly in potions.

Her stomach fluttered strangely as the Potions Master approached her, his robes billowing and his deep black eyes drilling holes through her. Far from looking condescending, he looked rather disappointed in her, and the dissatisfaction he sent her way made her feel more shabby and useless than a million of his insults.



"Lost again, are we?" He sneered, eyeing the potion disdainfully, and Viola hung her head, her eyes stinging from the threatening tears which were welling up again, despite all her efforts to subdue them. He noticed, though, and not wanting to face the awkwardness of a crying student, he left her alone to frantically repair her destroyed potion.



Thankfully, the bell rang and Viola packed up to leave. She glanced quickly at Snape, but he was erasing the instructions from the blackboard, too preoccupied to give her detention, so she hurried out into the hallway.



"I thought Snape would start to like you, being in Slytherin now." She looked up at the boy who spoke to her, and gave him a tiny smile. The boy was Brandon Carter, a devastatingly handsome seventh year. His longish honey coloured hair fell over large hooded eyes, and his high cheekbones and full lips left his face beautiful, but masculine. He was almost a head taller than Viola, so that when she turned to face him she was confronted by his stately size and perfect smile.



Severus watched them move off down the hallway, talking amiably and he shuddered. He knew he would have to keep a watchful eye on this new Slytherin, as she was bound to get herself into a bit of trouble with Brandon, who's preferred entertainment was a bit on the painful side.



Viola never noticed the worried potions master's gaze, though, and felt herself ease up considerably in Brandon's presence. She shrugged the weight of anxiety off from her shoulders and even smiled once or twice at his quips. Standing rather close to him, she could smell marijuana smoke on his uniform, which she greatly approved of. When they separated in the entrance Hall, Viola on her way to Divination and Brandon to Arithmancy, they touched hands without thinking, and Viola was in a much better mood then when she woke up that morning.



On the way to the North Tower and Divination class, she met up with her friends. It was very lucky that Slytherin and Hufflepuff had at least one class together, or she might never get to see them.



In the sweltering classroom of Professor Trelawny she sat at a round table with Randy, Gwendolen and Brianna, happy now to be with them.



As the glittery insect that was Sybil Trelawny began to lecture them on the more specific uses of the crystal ball, Randy kicked Viola under the table to get her attention. She looked swiftly at him, hiding a laugh as he made a crude gesture with his hand, reminding them of a conversation they had once had, about how Trelawny kept a job when she had no talent. Randy had suggested that she was servicing Dumbledore in other ways. Viola grinned wickedly at her friend and returned the motion.



Viola's attention turned from her friends to her crystal ball, swirling ominously with half formed shadows manifesting themselves behind the pearly fog in the sphere. She peered closer, and almost screamed in shock as a bejewelled hand clasped her shoulder gently. Trelawny leaned over to look in Viola's crystal ball, her beads jingling and curls of her long hair tangling becomingly with large hoop earings.



"Your inner eye is clouded dear," She commented in her misty voice, observing the obscure haze inside. "No doubt you are confused, though, what with present occurrences."



Present occurrences . . . Viola ran these words through her mind a few times before getting back to her crystal ball. Professor Trelawny moved on to Randy, who was giggling at something he was seeing in his own divinatory tool.



She tuned out all distractions and cleared her mind of all thought. The ghostly shadow was slowly taking shape . . . it was a tall, dark, brooding figure . . .





She gasped silently to herself. It was Professor Snape. He seemed to be looking at her with his ink black eyes, an unreadable expression there. Behind him loomed another figure, that of Brandon Carter. She looked closer, wondering how these two could figure into her future. Suddenly, the crystal ball Snape wheeled around and dealt a stunning punch to Brandon's jaw.

Suddenly, though, she was jogged out of her reverie by her friends. Randy had said something to Brianna, and she knocked him playfully backwards. His knee jarred the table as he fell, and Viola's crystal ball went rolling, the images therein disappearing. She pounded the table with her fists in frustration.



"Damn it Randy!" she cursed loudly, earning an arched eyebrow from the professor, and another bout of laughter from her friend, who was still on the ground, his red curls shining in the light from the fireplace.





************************





"Sorry I messed up your prediction, Vi." Randy apologized later, as they vacated the castle in the direction of the greenhouses while everyone else went to lunch.



"It's no problem love." she smiled at him, using an affectionate pet name to show she wasn't angry.



"It was my fault really." Brianna admitted, as they rounded the corner of the greenhouse and sat down on bales of hay. "Randy was predicting lesbian action between the three of us, so I decked him."



Gwendolen smirked. "A threesome, eh?" Then she laughed. "That would be pretty hot." They joined into the laughter as Randy pulled a joint out of his breast pocket, hiding it from Viola until she removed her Head Girl badge. It was a superstition of theirs, for Viola to take off her badge in the presence of illegal substances, so she wouldn't have to tell on them later.



Randy lit the joint and breathed deeply. "What were you seeing anyway?" he exhaled in a group of smoke Os.



Viola pulled her own joint out of her robes, frowning slightly as she twirled it between her fingers, finally wetting it quickly and lighting the end. "I saw Snape." She admitted. She decided not to mention the fact that Snape, in her vision, had broken Brandon Carter's jaw.



Gwendolen grinned knowingly, leaning forward to take a shotgun from Randy. "No wonder you didn't want to be interrupted." She said quietly. Gwen wasn't one to talk very much, but when she did, she always seemed to make some strange sort of sense.

"Elaborate, Darling." Viola made a drawling gesture with her arm, the joint sticking comically out of her mouth.



"Well, you know . . ." she mumbled, leaning back against the wall, her shoulder gently nudging Brianna's. "The Potions Master, so dark and saturnine, with ink well eyes and raven hair . . . a voice like black velvet, those elegant, masculine hands . . . he's so . . ." She paused to breath deeply from the joint, her face partially hidden by a cloud of sweet smoke. "He's so erotic."



"Man." Brianna stated, smiling and shaking her head. "You always turn into a fucking poet when your stoned Gwen." Gwendolen giggled and blew smoke in her friends face.



"Snape is erotic?" Randy demanded, since this was obviously news to him. "That oily son of a bitch?"



"He's not oily." Gwen insisted. "His hair in beautiful, so long and soft looking, just waiting for someone to tangle their hands in his ebony locks in a moment of passion."



"You're sick honey." Viola laughed at her friend as she finished her joint. "Since when do you have a crush on Snape?"



"I don't, but to give honour where honour is due . . ." she trailed off, leaving Viola, Randy and Brianna staring at her in disbelief.



They left then, heading up to the castle to catch the dessert end of lunch. This year won't be so bad, thought Viola to herself. Her friends were still here, so it would be okay. In the Great Hall, while she was eating, she locked eyes for a second with Snape, and a delicious chill went up her spine. She felt like she was seeing him in a totally new light . . . she shook those thoughts from her mind though, making a mental note to kill Gwendolen later for awakening the possibility that Snape could be a sexually virile man.



She ate alone at the table, interrupted briefly by Brandon, who waved to her from the entrance to the Hall, as he left with his friends. She stood up, pinning the head girl badge back onto her breast and quickly exited the hall, her head swimming in a wonderful way but her mouth completely dry. She left the Hall, unaware that Snape was watching her leave.











***********************



Thanks for reading this far! I'm sorry if you hated it, and happy if you liked it! I'll post the next chapter soon, which will have much more Snape in it.