Chapter 1: (2387 words)
"Naomi, come quickly!" called a middle-aged woman, her hair in a long, think braid with straight hair the colour of deep, dark brown. A young child of eleven years ran down the stairs, an excited grin on her face. Her hair was the same colour as her mother's, though it was in a messy bun instead of a neat braid.
"Has it come, mother? Is it my letter?" she questioned, whilst standing somewhat patiently in wait for her mother to respond. It was still near the beginning of the Summer holidays, near the beginning of July in the year 1976. Her birthday would be in a week or so, on the 14th of July. Her mother had told her all about the magical world. She was a muggle who had married a pureblood wizard, who had been disowned for marrying such a low-class citizen in the eyes of his family.
The woman looked at her young child, "Yes, my dear. Here, come look!" Naomi calmly walked to her mother, having been taught by her father that no matter what blood she had, manners were always important. She thanked her mother and took the letter into her hands, before skim-reading the entire thing, not entirely able to stop her excitement. Still not completely able to believe that she had magic (even though she had recently had a massive spurt of accidental magic the past few months; it had been a pain hiding it at school), Naomi kept reading the same part where it told whoever reading what equipment was required.
A wand. A real-life wand! She had only ever seen her father's wand, and he had never preformed magic with it; afraid that someone would see or force him to return to the magical world, where he was only controlled by his parents. He was fearful of his daughter returning, but Naomi had learnt from using it on the schoolkids that she could be pretty persuasive when she wanted to be, convincing her father to allow her to try for a year, and if it worked out, she could remain for the rest of them.
Her mother left the house to call her father, who was working in the garden: he had found a passion for the flowers in it. They were large and golden, and Naomi had learned long ago from the local library that they were called buttercups, though they seemed bigger than the ones in the picture. Maybe they liked the magic in her family? She loved them herself; the yellow always managed to calm her down and make her see the goodness in life.
Her parents walked in and smiled, though her father had a slight grimace, "Well, my dear, I suppose we have to go to Diagon Alley to get all of this…"
"Oh, don't be silly, Salazar," her mother waved her hand, "I can go with her to Diagon Alley. No one will see you and she looks like me at first glance; no one will suspect anything. Anyways, I thought that your family was pretty hidden in the wizarding world?"
He nodded, "They are. Slytherins are protective and secretive. My father still goes to the Wizengamot though, but the rest of the family hides in Slytherin Castle, which most people believe to be abandoned." He turned to his daughter. 'Naomi' wasn't actually her name, it was her middle name. It sounded more muggle-like, and it was her aunt's name on her mother's side, so it fit well. "Rionach, do you mind if I don't come along? Someone could possible recognise me."
Rionach Naomi Slytherin-Wright nodded at her father, understanding his reasoning. "I don't mind, father. I will miss your company but your safety is more important. Though, I have something to ask you."
"Yes, my child?"
"Should I send a letter to this Professor McGonagall to change my name? Or should I stay a Slytherin-Wright?" she questioned, worried that she would be discriminated for being a half-blood.
Her father paused to think for a moment, "I'm not sure if we should remove the Wright so that no one will know your blood status, or if we should remove the Slytherin so that no one knows your ancestors…"
"I believe that the first option is the best. She would be treated better as a pureblood, and especially with the name of a founder," her mother, named Caitlin Wright, cut in.
He nodded at his wife, "Very well. You can write that letter first and then you two can go to Diagon Alley, how does that sound?" Naomi (she preferred the simplicity of the name rather than her pureblood name) nodded with a smile, before thinking as hard as she could, until a minute later some paper appeared. She sighed with disappointment: she didn't get a pen. "Now, now, Rionach. Don't look like that, you did wonderfully. Many grown wizards wouldn't even be able to do that. Merlin, even I couldn't! I still can't!"
Naomi giggled at her father's theatrics, glad that he was improving her mood. She nodded and took a pen from the nearby kitchen counter, before writing the letter for the Deputy-Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She wrote that she would be there on the correct day, as well as asking for the change in her name per request from her parents. Once she was finished with that, she ran to her mother stating that she had finished.
"Alright, Naomi," she smiled, "Let's go see this diagonally shaped place for ourselves." Her daughter giggled at her mother's humour. "Do you want to invite Sev?"
"Yes please, mother!" the young child asked. The sixteen-year old was like a big brother to her.
"Okay, okay," Caitlin rolled her eyes at her daughter. Salazar, Naomi, and her had known Severus ever since Naomi had gotten lost just over half a decade ago and had been found by the older boy, who had not yet gone to Hogwarts. She accidentally did some magic in her worry and panic, but he walked her around the nearby streets until she calmed down. He then snuck her into his home and introduced her to floo powder. They went to her house where her parents were delighted. It would be an understatement to say that Salazar was ecstatic that another pureblood married a muggle, though he was severely displeased when he learnt that Tobias Snape was an abusive drunk. They invited Severus over as much as possible to reduce the amount of pain he'd have to see, and his mother had been over several times as well, wanting to thank them, and to get away from her husband. "Let's go and get Severus, and then we can go to Diagon Alley together."
"Yay! Thank you, mother."
(-Line break!-)
"Sevvy!" Naomi called, eager to see her 'older brother'. She and her mother had used the floo to get to their house, since they knew that Severus' father would be too busy getting drunk at the local pub to be at home.
The teenager turned his head from his homework to see his 'little sister'. A smile formed on his face, which was quite rare all in itself, "Hello, Naomi. Why have you and Caitlin visited me today?"
"I just got my Hogwarts letter so I thought we could all go together to Diagon Alley. Though only if you have time," she added, seeing that he had quite a bit of work in front of him.
He only waved his hand at her, "I have the rest of the Summer holidays to do this, Naomi. Of course I'll come with you to Diagon Alley: I've got to look out for you, you know." Naomi giggled and nodded excitedly, impatient for once as she wondered about how amazing the wizarding world would be. "C'mon, my father could come back at any time, it's best if we leave as soon as possible. Let me just put this away," he said as he looked his homework into his trunk and pushed that into his cupboard.
The trio then caught the Knight Bus and rode all the way to the Leaky Cauldron in a matter of seconds. They got off and walked into the pub. Severus looked at Naomi and raised an eyebrow, expecting her to show off her social skills. She nodded minutely and walked to the countertop, her back straight and her face emotionless, "Excuse me, sir?"
"Yes, littl'un? Me name's Tom, an' I'm the owner o' this place. Have ye come here te get te Diagon?" he asked kindly.
She nodded, "I've never been here before, you see, and I'm ever so confused. You see, my mother and brother have also never been here so we are quite lost."
"Ahh," he nodded, understanding now, "Ye's a muggleborn, aren'cha? 'Course, it's the only thing what makes sense."
She nodded, trying to show some embarrassment, as if she were ashamed of such a fact. She could never be though, not inside, not when she knew how amazing her mother was and how muggles were just the same as wizards, just without magic, "Yes, I am."
"I see. C'mere then, dearie. I'll show ye the way." He tapped a brick from the wall and smiled at the look of plain awe on Naomi's face, and her mother's as well, though Severus just looked slightly amazed, though mostly bored.
Naomi turned to him and smiled gratefully, "Thank you very much, Mr. Tom."
"It's nuthin' dearie. See ye when ye come back," he waved goodbye and headed back into the pub, whilst Naomi, Severus, and Caitlin headed towards the grand bank at the end of the street. Apparently, there was a grand fortune within it's walls for the heirs of the founders, and Naomi was the official heir since she had never been disowned whereas her father had, and there were no other children from this generation, all of those from her father's generation had never had children, and not from lack of trying. They were just so closely related that all children that were born died soon after, or they failed to get pregnant in the first place. Naomi's father had been lucky, he was born from a marriage between Lord Slytherin and a woman from the Potter line, who had been disowned a long time ago for marrying such a 'Dark' family.
They had gone to fetch her money, and once they had returned, Naomi was holding a small bag with just enough money for everything she needed and enough to get some extra books too. Severus showed them around the Alley whilst holding Naomi's hand in case she got separated from him, though when he caught sight of a trio of teenagers his age, he paled even more than he already was and tried to hide behind Caitlin, though it didn't work very well: they spotted him before he even let go of Naomi's hand.
"Hey look, James! It's Snivellus! And what's this? Has he become a paedophile now? I'm actually not that surprised," the teenager howled, leaning on his friend since he was laughing so much.
The boy he called James grinned, "Me neither, Sirius. He's not even denying it!" he laughed along, both boys being incredibly loud. The boy next to them shook his head and sighed, as if he couldn't believe that they were being so immature. Ignoring his friends, that boy walked up to them and apologised for their behaviour.
Before Severus could respond with a snarky comment or Caitlin could tell them all off for being so rude to her 'son', Naomi stepped up instead, "It's alright. I'm sure they feel bad about it." She sincerely doubted it: they were still shedding tears of laughter. The boy turned to look and sighed once more, likely to be having similar thoughts. "My name is Rionach, this is my mother, and Sev is an honorary part of my family, like my big brother."
The boy nodded and introduced himself as well, "Well, it's lovely to meet you, Rionach. My name is Remus, and those two idiots over there are called James and Sirius. Sometimes I wonder how we're friends." He shook their head at their immaturity. "You should just leave them be, don't make yourself a target or they'll mercilessly prank you until you want to murder them in their sleep. No joke." Naomi's eyes widened, and looked to Severus, who nodded.
"Very well. Thank you for the advice, Remus. I hope to see you at school, then I'll actually know someone other than Sev and those two over there."
"As do I, Rionach. It's been a pleasure meeting you. See you around," he waved, before nodding at Severus and Caitlin, and dragging the two other boys (who were still giggling) away to whichever shop was in the area to continue their shopping.
Naomi turned to her brother, "Sev, you never said that there were kids bullying you. Why not?" Caitlin wanted to start machete-chopping those two boys who had made fun of her honorary son, but she figured that it would be better if she just stayed and comforted him.
"I've dealt with it since day one, Naomi. I suppose I've gotten used to it," he then lowered his head a bit, embarrassed that he was apologising, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you both sooner."
Caitlin patted his arm sympathetically, "It's alright, Severus. We understand, and we just want to help. Luckily, Naomi will be there to save the day by making friends with the enemy."
Naomi giggled whilst Severus just rolled his eyes and explained further, "Lupin isn't so bad, it's the other two, and their other friend, that are the problem. Lupin's the one who's always having to stop them from going to far and apologising for them."
"I see, and I understand," Naomi began. I'll probably go through the same thing since you were with me, but let me tell you, Sev, I don't mind. I'll fix this for you the best that I can."
He nodded, grateful to have such a sweet little sister, "I know you will, Naomi. Now let's go and get your school supplies so we can get out of here."
"Of course, Sev," she agreed with a smile and the trio left to go and complete their shopping.
A/N: Hi everyone! So…. New story! :D
I know I'm just pumping out new stories and never finishing them and I'm SORRY but I keep getting so inspired by so many little things. The main thing that influenced this story is one of my friends from school just casually mentioning how awesome it would be if a Slytherin and a Hufflepuff became besties. Mainly because I'm a Slytherin and literally all of my friends are Hufflepuffs except for two Ravenclaws and two Slytherins. There's like over five Hufflepuffs in the friend group and no Gryffindors. XD
Now, I didn't mean to make James and Sirius seem so horrible, they're not that bad in the future, promise. I love both of them and will be making them much better.
Anyways, enjoy!