"Why dearie aren't you supposed to be at King's Cross Station?" the snack witch on the Hogwarts Express asked a sad-looking young girl sitting in the far corner of the last compartment of the train.
"Unfortunately,no. I'm on my way to Hogwarts for the holidays, see?" the young girl said,thrusting the ticket in the direction of the witch. This young girl was actually a fifteen-year-old girl by the name of Elizabeth Snape.
"Well then.We'll just have to get you some food now won't we?" the kindly witch asked.
"That would be fine with me. Thank you very much," Elizabeth said, pulling her dark blue eyes up to meet the witch's. They held a sad, tortured look that unnerved the witch as she smiled distantly at the girl.
Upon exiting the train Elizabeth was taken by horseless carriage to the castle. She was greeted by none other than Albus Dumbledore himself.
"Well Elizabeth, it's good to see you," the old wizard said with a mischievous glint in his blue eyes. "I hear you've been causing quite a stir at Beauxbatons this year," he added mildly, leading her though twisting hallways until they reached the Great Hall. She smiled a little at that 'stir' was a mild word to use…
"Um,Professor Dumbledore, Sir, I was wondering where I am going to stay for the next two weeks, since I don't actually have a House to stay in," Elizabeth offered timidly.
"Well, we could either put you in the dungeons with your uncle and his House or we could make you an honorary Hogwarts student and put the Sorting Hat on you."
A light inside Elizabeth's eyes shone very brightly. "Could I please try the Sorting Hat on! I've read lots and lots about it at school. Everyone will just be so jealous."
"Well then milady, before we commence with the evening's feast we will go to my office and make you a Hogwarts student."
Winding their way even deeper into the castle Dumbledore and Elizabeth finally paused in front of a large stone gargoyle. "Chocolate Chip" Elizabeth watched amused as the wall slid open to reveal the revolving staircase. She followed silently until they were seated in his office.
"Sorting Hat, I'd like to ask a favor of you," Dumbledore said solemnly to a tattered wizards' hat sitting on one of his shelves.
"But of course Headmaster," the hat said jovially, twitching a little as it spoke.
"I'd like you to sort this nice young lady here. Her name is Elizabeth Snape and she is here for the holidays, spending them with her uncle. Here you go, just put it on and the hat will tell you which house you're to be in," he said handing thehat over.
Elizabeth put it on. Well well, a Snape aye? That makes you a prime candidate for Slytherin you see. But what is this? You've got enough brains for me to put you into Ravenclaw without batting a brim. And Gryffindor, my, my, this is interesting.It seems Godric is there too. You seem to favor the bravery of the Lion more than the cunning of the Snake. This will definitely influence you choices for the future. I think I'll make you a GRYFFINDOR!" the hat said merrily.
"Well Elizabeth it seems we have ourselves a new Gryffindor I see. Here, I'll take you to their common room. Only two other girls are spending the holidays from that House. You may share a room with them for the time being," Dumbledore said as he led her back down the spiraling staircase.
After giving the Fat Lady the new password, "Egg Nog," Elizabeth was thrust on to a comfortingly familiar scene of high-backed plush chairs and red carpet with a roaring fire lighting the entire room.
"Harry,Ron, Ginny, Hermione, I'd like to introduce you to your new housemate for the holidays. Her name is Elizabeth and if you would be so kind as to share a room with her girls?" Dumbledore said kindly eyes twinkling.
"Hi Elizabeth, I'm Ron Weasley," Ron said practically tripping over himself to get over and shake hands with Elizabeth, "That great prat over there is Harry Potter,the bookworm with the brown hair is Hermione Granger and the red head is none other than my favorite, not to mention only, sister, Ginny Weasley."
Elizabeth smiled. She was going to like it here. Potter? Harry Potter? It couldn't be. She realized she was his age but….
"I'm Elizabeth Snape," her smile faded when the group gave a collective gasp at her last name. "Hey, only the name is Snape, I am nothing like my dear darling uncle who I've gathered rules the dungeons around here. I only got forced to stay with, and this is one of my favorite phrases in the world 'my only living relative' for the holidays so Beauxbatons doesn't expel me and I'd be forced to attend here with Uncle Severus. Luckily, Professor Dumbledore was nice enough to let the Sorting Hat do the job and pick where I stayed for me."
Harry gave a snort at the phrase 'only living relative' it's not like he was very happy with his either. "So, Elizabeth, where do you go to school, since obviously you are a witch," Harry said trying to make conversation.
"Well, I go to Beauxbatons, but probably not much longer. I almost got expelled for bewitching a girl's quill to jab her every time she wrote the words 'crystal ball.' Unfortunately for her, she was in advanced Divination."
Ron laughed. And filed away that prank for later use on Lavender. This girl didn't sound like a Snape, in fact she sounded just like a Weasley. "Is Beauxbatons nice? The only opinions I've ever encountered were those of Fleur Delacour."
Elizabeth made a face. "Yeah, she seems to think that the only reason our school exists is her presence on this earth. My bum that's the reason!!"
Harry smiled benignly at Elizabeth. He was thinking how familiar that laugh was. Oh well, he thought, shaking it off, lots of laughs sound the same. "Well, make yourself comfortable. We were just planning our next assault on the Slytherin Common Room. Got any inside info?"
Elizabeth smiled a lopsided smirk. "I hate to break this to you, but Uncle Severus isn't overly fond of me, or my very existence. It seems he had some issues with my father, whoever her was."
"You don't know who your father was?" Hermione asked surprised.
"Not an idea. I only know is first name was William. This helps me not. Do you realize how many Williams there are and were in this world?"
"So your mom was a Snape?" Harry asked. He'd always thought Snape had to have been an only child. How could there have been any more of them?
"Yeah, mom and her brother weren't on speaking terms. It seems she didn't quite approve of his friends at that point in time," she said heavily, "Hey, why don't we go down and get some food eh?"
"My stomach's telling me the same thing. Let's be off shall we?" Ron said pulling Ginny and Hermione up from the couch and toward the portrait hole.