Just to make it known, I'm basing this book off the original Harry Potter books, so you will recognize some things said or mentioned. Another words, anything you recognize from the books (and even the movies) does not belong to me. The language doesn't belong to me.
It was September 1st, the first day of school at Hogwarts. Currently, witches and wizards were dropping off their kids on platform 9 3/4 to get on the Hogwarts express. Children were running about the platform, running to meet friends from years previous and even to make new ones, so when one child that was unaccompanied by an adult walked onto the platform no one noticed. It wasn't uncommon for muggle-born children to not be accompanied by their parents onto the platform, but in the case of this particular child, it was. For this child had magical parents, well only one; a single father who was a wizard.
The child looked around at all the people, seeing parents hug their children before they got onto the train, some just talking to other parents. Owls and cats were in cages on trolleys, suitcases, and trunks stacked on top of one another. This particular child had a completely dark brown barn owl along with two suitcases and one large trunk.
Pushing their trolley to the carriage that carries the luggage, they quietly asked one of the adults there for help. The adult in question had red hair and a kind face, nice clothes but it was obvious that they were quite old. The man had been helping a younger boy put his own luggage into the carriage, the boy having the same red hair and similar features; obviously father and son. As the man loaded the luggage the boy turned to talk to a red-haired woman, obviously his mother, saying something about how he's scared about the sorting, wondering what would happen if he wasn't placed in Gryffindor. The mother just hugged him and said something the child couldn't hear, seeming to ease the boy's worries. Two older boys, obviously twins, moved to stand on either side of the younger boy, leaning down to say something to him. The child turned away when the father handed them their owl, having finished loading the luggage.
"And there's your owl, now what was your name? I don't think you said." The man asked, turning and crouching slightly to be face to face with the child.
"My name is Rilma, sir." The child said, not wanting to tell the man his last. Rilma knew that the man was Arthur Weasley, and if he were to tell his last name there would be many questions. "I am sorry sir but I must go, I would like to find a seat."
Arthur Weasley nodded animatedly. "Right you are! If you need assistance with something you can ask my son Percy, he's a Prefect this year."
Rilma nodded, "Thank you, sir." Before walking away. Rilma passed a bleach blond family with a boy his age but went unnoticed. Rilma also passed the rest of the Weasley family, hearing the mother speaking loudly to be heard over the crowd.
After boarding the train Rilma walked down the aisle, avoiding running into people and suitcases on the way. A few people giving Rilma curious looks, or even flat-out stared at him, thinking they were seeing someone else. 'Likely father.' Rilma thought, catching most, if not all, the glances.
A little more then half way down the carriage, Rilma found a compartment with only two people. Opening the door enough to clearly talk to the occupants, he asked, "Do you mind if I sit with you?"
The two boys were his age, one with messy black hair, emerald green eyes, and round rim glasses. The other boy was the son of Arthur Weasley from earlier. Ronan? Robin? As it was both were wearing secondhand clothes.
"Not at all." The black haired boy said, indicating to sit wherever he wanted. Rilma stepped in completely and closed the door, before placing his owl's cage on the seat next to the red-head and sitting beside the black haired boy.
The door suddenly opened, the red-headed twins poking their heads into the compartment and addressing their younger brother.
"Hey, Ron." They said together.
"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train; Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there." The twin on the right side said.
'Ron, as in Ronald Weasley.' Rilma thought, mentally hitting themselves for forgetting.
"Right," Ron mumbled while looking down slightly, seeming to become slightly squeamish.
"Harry," the twin on the left said, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother."
Harry and Ron nodded to each other in greeting. The twins turning their attention to the third occupant, and when they saw Rilma's familiar features they seemed to freeze, before looking at one another. When they looked back at Rilma he smirked, knowing what they were thinking and confirming their suspicions with the smirk; a very familiar smirk.
"Are you related to a teacher at Hogwarts by any chance?" the twin on the right asked, the three ignoring the conversation between the other two first years.
"I am," Rilma confirmed, still smirking. He watched as the twins looked at one another again, but this time in pure shock. The twins suddenly adapt mischievous smiles, making Rilma's face go blank. Rilma was told quite a few stories about the Weasley twins and what they tend to get up to at Hogwarts. Since their first year the two have been pranksters, and not even Filch, the caretaker, has any effect on the twins.
"Is that your owl?" The twin on the left asks conversationally, pointing to the owl while his brother continued to smirk at Rilma.
"Yes. Why?" Rilma asks, wary of the twins intentions. Rilma has heard many stories about the twins from his father and was anxious about what they had planned.
"Would you like to join us in our compartment?" The twin on the right asked, holding out his right hand for Rilma to take.
"We might provide better entertainment." The twin on the left continued, not missing a beat between his words and his brothers.
"Is that all you have to offer?" Rilma questioned. He didn't want to say yes and regret the decision, but it would also be rude to refuse the offer.
Both twins smirked. "No not quite." the left twin assures.
"Granted we have a few questions." The right twin continues.
"But we are willing to provide answers to any questions you may have." The left twin points at Rilma to emphasize the you.
"And for any trouble, we may give you," The right twin points at both himself and his brother.
"We will happily grant you our services if the need ever arises." The left twin bows slightly, seeing that he had very little room to do so.
Rilma smirked again, about to take the right twins hand, but said twin pulled it away and used it to point at Rilma. "Only if you promise to never tell your father anything that we may discuss. At least, as long as it can't come back and bite our arses."
Rilma laughed, before standing up and grabbing his owl's cage with his left hand and once again extending his right hand to shake.
The right twin grinned and used Rilma's extended hand to pull him out of the compartment. Rilma could hear the left twin say, "See you later, then." to the two remaining people in the compartment before the door was closed.
The right twin started guiding Rilma toward the middle of the train, and eventually, they got to a compartment with a few people hanging around the door, looking in.
I can't believe you bought the bloody thing, Lee." Rilma could hear someone say, slight fear and wonder in the tone.
I just hope they let me keep her. They weren't on the letter." Another voice, presumably Lee, solemnly said.
Rilma walked around the people at the door, looking in to see three people sitting in the compartment. To the left one person sat, a tarantula held in both hands on their lap. This person had a dark complexion, dreaded hair, and Gryffindor robes.
To the right were the other two people. The person closest to the door was an older boy with short dusty blond hair and Gryffindor robes. Next to the boy was a girl with a light brown complexion and long dark hair.
The two people at the door turned to look at Rilma. The girl to the left had long brown hair and tanned skin, while the other girl had long black hair and pale skin. The girl to the right had Ravenclaw robes on while the girl on the left had muggle clothes. Both girls were older, likely in their last year at Hogwarts.
"Hi, I'm Sarah McHall. Is this your first year at Hogwarts?" The girl to the left asked, catching the attention of the girl to the right and the people in the compartment.
Rilma turned to Sarah and looked up at her, letting her see his face properly. "Yes, this is my first year."
Sarah's eyes had widened when Rilma turned to face her, seeing someone else in the 11-year-olds features. That someone just so happened to be the youngest and most feared professor within the walls of Hogwarts.
"What's your name?" The other girl asked, Rilma turning to face her.
"My name is Rilma Snape." Rilma introduced, putting their right hand out to shake, smirking. The occupants of the compartment all looked at each other, shock written across their faces.
I-I'm Lora Miller." Lora stiffly stuck out her own hand, taking the smaller one into her own and shaking. For the last few years of her life at Hogwarts, she thought things couldn't get any stranger then moving staircases or even mirrors that can talk. But after years of having Professor Snape teach potions, the last thing she, or anyone, would have guessed was that the man who openly showed dislike for children would have one himself.
"Pleasure to meet you." Rilma greeted, a slight accent poking through, though it wasn't one from Britain. Turning to the compartment occupants, Rilma addresses them all saying, "I actually know who you three are."
The girl closest to the window leaned forward to talk around the boy beside her, eyes wide. "How do you know us?"
"My atar tends to complain about the Gryffindor Quidditch team in his letters, especially about the most recent captain," Rilma turned his head to look at the boy to the right, "Oliver Wood. It is a pleasure to meet you. You are Alicia Spinnet, reserve chaser." Rilma turned to the girl, seeing her head jerk in surprise when her name was said. Rilma then turned to the boy with the tarantula, tilting his head to the side. "And you must be Lee Jordan, the Quidditch commentator. Also in Gryffindor."
All three occupants looked at one another in surprise. The twins snickered and one threw his arm over Rilma's shoulders, leading him into the compartment. "Like we said earlier, we have questions," the twin stated, sitting on the same seat as Lee, closest to the window, Rilma in the middle. The other twin, after sending the two girls off, sat down across from Rilma.
"And we have any possible answers to questions you may have." The twin across from Rilma finished, leaning back and crossing his legs. The teens within the compartment watched as Rilma set his owls cage on his lap, the cage door facing him. The compartment occupants noticed the familiar features that they associated with their potions professor; the slightly protruding cheekbones, thin eyebrows, jet-black hair, even an angled jawline, giving the 11-year-old a rather narrow face and slightly pointed chin. The unfamiliar features were the dark green eyes, unlike the potions master's pitch black ones, a smaller nose, non-greasy hair, and the obvious height difference. The compartment occupants watched as the 11-year-old opened the cage door and stuck his hand into the cage, the owl stepping onto the offered hand. When the owl was completely out of the cage Rilma placed the cage onto the compartment floor and rested the hand with the perched owl onto his lap, petting the owl with his free hand.
Rilma looked up from the content owl, glancing at each of the other occupants before looking at the twins in turn. "You two brought me here to question me, so you might as well do so."
The twin across from Rilma nodded, before leaning forward slightly. "Is Snape really your father? Or his he like, your older cousin that took you in?"
Rilma raised an eyebrow, "Who said he is my father?"
The twin blinked, before pointing at Rilma. "You said, back in the compartment our brother's in. You said he's your father."
Rilma smirked. "You asked if I am related to a teacher at Hogwarts. The answer is yes, but I never said he is my father."
The older students looked at each other before the twin next to Rilma spoke up. "So he's not your father?"
Rilma laughed lightly, before turning to the twin. "I believe it is my turn to ask a question." The twin pouted, crossing his arms and sighing in a show of irritation. Rilma laughed at the display. "Are there really moving staircases?"
The other compartment occupants looked slightly startled at the question. "Uh, yes?" Oliver answered though it came out as a question.
Rilma rolled his eyes. "That wasn't a question that can be answered with a question. Are there moving staircases or no?"
Oliver shook his head slightly before answering again. "Yes, the stairs in the main hall do move."
Rilma nodded before looking around at the other people to see who had the next question. In truth, Rilma knew very little about Hogwarts, despite having a father for a professor. Albus Dumbledore had offered to allow Severus to bring Rilma and his wife with him to Hogwarts during the school year, but he had turned the offer down. Severus didn't want his little family known to the wizarding world before his son was able to start learning magic, afraid that followers of Voldemort that escaped Azkaban might infiltrate the school for the sole purpose of targeting his family. In the past, professors with spouses and underage children have been allowed to bring their family to live with them at Hogwarts. The professor's spouses would have the same freedom to walk the halls as the teachers, but have the same limitations as the students, except for curfew. The professor's children would have the same limitations as the students, and they would have to be accompanied by either parent at all times unless a prefect was able and willing to watch the children.
Instead, Severus left Rilma and his wife, Katline, at their home, which was in the middle of nowhere. The house and the grounds surrounding it are warded against muggles and apparition, only the owner of the grounds and caster of the wards can apparate within the wards range, both being Severus. Anyone can floo into the house, as long as they have direct permission from Severus himself. Not even Dumbledore knows where the house is, and no matter what he does or says, Severus never gives in and tells the location out of paranoia. Rilma was raised by his mother for the first 7 years of his life before she died suddenly during the school year two weeks before the Christmas Holiday. Because of the testing and grading that needed to be done before winter break, Severus was unable to go home and look after Rilma, so after the weekend funeral at the closest cemetery, Severus brought Rilma to Hogwarts for the remainder of the school year before winter break.
Rilma had stayed within Severus' quarters, only leaving twice after curfew started to allow Rilma to get some fresh air. The first time Severus walked Rilma around the first floor, not wanting to increase the risk of being seen by a head boy, head girl, or even a prefect or fellow teacher. The second night Severus took Rilma outside to play in the snow, the moon phases being a new moon, allowing the two to go unnoticed by any who would look out a window and onto the grounds. Rilma had enjoyed himself for the first time since his mother passed, making snow angels and mini snowmen. Rilma had been able to convince Severus to make one snow angel beside his own, before surrounding the imprints with mini snowmen that oddly looked a bit like trolls. When the students went outside the next day to enjoy their Saturday, the entire school buzzed with the discovery of the snow angels and snowmen. The student's debated as to who the child was, seeing that the imprint was much too small to be from a student, and the larger one could only be a teacher, seeing that there were no known visitors within Hogwarts. At one point Dumbledore had to make an announcement, saying that one of the teachers had had family over for the night, and they had brought their child with them. This announcement had alleviated some of the suspicions the students held, but for the rest of the winter, some of the students continued to try and see if they could see who had done it.
Once Christmas Holiday started and Severus was able to take Rilma back to their house, Severus was allowed to take two house-elves from the Hogwarts staff to help look over Rilma while he was teaching at Hogwarts. Severus was able to connect a fireplace to the Hogwarts private floo network to allow Rilma to contact him if he needed. Over the next three years, Rilma was looked over by the now four house elves for the majority of the school year, only during breaks or vacations were the two borrowed house elves allowed to go back to Hogwarts and Severus to go home.
Lee shifted so he was facing Rilma, his tarantula still held in his hands. "So, did Professor Snape tell you about the stairs? I've never seen him above the first floor, and because the great hall is on the first floor and his classroom in the dungeons he doesn't really have a reason to use the moving staircases."
Rilma nodded. "From what he has told me he only uses those stairs to get to the headmaster's office, and that is usually after curfew. I had been within Hogwarts once for about two weeks, but I only left the quarters twice."
"When was that?" Lee asked.
"About three years ago. I was 7 years old." Rilma looked at the twin across from himself, the owl in his lap shifting their position. "Honestly the stairs were my only question. Though I would like to know which twin you are."
The twin nodded, before pointing at himself than his brother. "I'm George, that's Fred." Rilma looked over at Fred briefly to see him wave, before turning back to George as he continues talking. "What's the name of your owl, and what type of owl? It's like a barn owl but its feathers are all wrong."
Rilma looked down at the bird, stopping his petting of its back to scratch its head with his pointer finger, before continuing to pet the owls back. "Her name is Nulla Quessë. She is a barn owl, but was born with melanism, which is the opposite of albinism."
George nodded. "Does Nulla Quessë mean anything?"
"It means Black Feather."
"In what language?" Alicia asked, waving a hand to emphasize her question.
"A language my mother taught me. I do not actually know what it is named." Rilma shrugged.
"Who is your mother?" Fred asked.
Rilma shook his head. "You wouldn't know her. She was from America."
"Was?" Fred continued, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"She died when I was 7. That is why I had to come to Hogwarts. It was two weeks before Christmas Holiday if I remember correctly."
"Oh, sorry. Didn't realize." Fred apologized, looking down slightly.
Rilma shook his head, taking a deep breath. "Thank you, But it is alright."
George jerked, looking like he was shocked. "Hang on! Our older brothers told us about a weird thing that happened around that time." Fred looked up, nodding in agreement while the other compartment occupants looked on in confusion.
"What was it?" Rilma asked, tilting his head to the left in curiosity.
"Yah, Charley said that one Saturday when everyone went outside there were snow angels and snowmen already out there. The smaller one was too small to be a student," Fred said, looking at the other occupants before turning to Rilma.
"But the largest had to be a professor." George continued. "Headmaster Dumbledore had said that a professor had family over for the night and that they brought a child, but Bill said that there were only two pairs of footprints leading in and out of the Entrance Hall."
Rilma looked down, thinking back to what the twins were describing. "Indeed, that was me and atar. He wanted me to get some fresh air after staying within the school's walls for almost two weeks." Rilma looked up to see the other occupants with shocked and startled expressions.
"Professor Snape made a snow angel?" Oliver deadpanned.
"Yes," Rilma confirmed, before laughing slightly. "It took a lot of begging to make him agree."
The other occupants laughed slightly as well before Oliver continued talking. "What is an Atar? You've said it twice when talking about Professor Snape."
Rilma smirked. "I am surprised you did not continue asking how we are related. It means Father in the language my mother taught me."
"George and Fred high fived. "I knew it!" George exclaimed.
"Why didn't you just answer the question when I asked?" Fred questioned, exasperation bleeding into his tone.
Rilma just shrugged, not really knowing himself.
"Did the trolley pass already?" Lee asked, shifting his tarantula into his left hand before getting up and opening the door. Just as the door opened a group of three boys ran passed. Two looking rather bulky, one holding their hand to their chest as if it was hurt. The third boy had bleach blond hair and was quite shorter than the other two. All three boys were wearing robes, but none of them had house colors on them, showing that they were first years.
Rilma, recognizing the bleach blond hair from the brief glance, quickly stood up and pushed Lee to the side so he could poke his head out of the compartment door, his owl somehow having ended up in George's lap.
"Nornoroatyar seldo!" Rilma yelled after the retreating boys, laughing when he saw the blond look back in confusion.
Rilma was still laughing lightly when he turned around and grabbed his owl from Georges lap, the twin still looking slightly startled to find the bird there.
"I apologize for that. I would have put her on my seat if the boys were not running so fast. I did not want to lose the chance to say that to the twat."
George nodded. "It's ok, just didn't expect it."
Lee turned around after watching the three boys run into the next carriage and looking the other way to see if the trolley was on its way, which it was. "Which is the twat? And what did you yell after them?"
Rilma laughed again, before answering. "I yelled, 'Run daddy's boy!' at the blond, who is also the twat. The other two are just dunderheads apparently."
"Huh, well that's good to know," Fred stated, moving the cage that was knocked onto its side to the wall, straightening it as he did.
A few minutes later the trolley came to their compartment, the older lady calling out, "Candy from the trolley dears?"
Oliver took out a galleon and bought three chocolate frogs, Lee buying a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, and Alicia two sugar quills.
"You two want something?" Rilma asked, looking at the twins.
"No, we're saving up our money," Fred said, shaking his head.
"How about you? Don't you want something?" George asked, looking at the chocolate frog card Oliver handed him.
"No, but I can pay for whatever you two would like," Rilma said, fishing into an inner pocket to take out a money purse.
The twins looked at each other, debating whether if they should accept the kind gesture. "We wouldn't want you to spend your money on us," George said.
"Honest," Fred added.
Rilma looked briefly at the two, before turning to the trolley lady. "Five chocolate frogs and two bags of Fizzing Whizzbees, please." The lady nodded, grabbing the requested items while Rilma counted out the proper payment.
The twins looked at one another in shock, before turning back to Rilma, about to protest but the exchange was already made. Rilma turned to George, handing him the Fizzing Whizzbees, before turning to Fred and handing him the chocolate frogs. The twins looked shocked. "How did you know what we wanted?" Fred finally asked after a few moments of silence.
Rilma smiled softly, before turning to Fred. "I saw you eyeing Oliver's chocolate frogs," then turning to George, "and I saw you glancing at the lowest shelf, where Fizzing Whizzbees were the only items visible."
Everyone looked at the 11-year-old in wonder. "Who are you? Sherlock Holmes?" Alicia asked, the twins and Lee looking at her in confusion.
Rilma chuckled. "No, but I read all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's books with the man, and I must say he was brilliant."
"Sorry, who's Sherlock and Sir what's his name?" Lee asked, popping a bean into his mouth before grimacing.
"Sherlock Holmes is a Muggle story of the fiction genre, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle," Rilma said, looking at Lee.
After the three boys nodded Alicia looked around George to see Oliver's reaction, only to see him reading a chocolate frog card. "Oliver," Alicia said.
"hmm?" Oliver asked, looking up from the card, which had Dumbledore on it.
"Do you know Sherlock Holmes?" She asked, nibbling on the end of a sugar quill, the other in one of her pockets for later.
Oliver nodded. "Yes, I found two books with all the stories while in the muggle world last year. Couldn't put them down."
Rilma looked impressed. "My mother read me the books as bedtime stories to me when I was just starting to read. Atar found it amusing when I started to talk like Sherlock."
Alicia and Oliver, both knowing how the detective spoke, laughed at the image of a child sounding like Sherlock.
"Do you know what house you're goin' to be sorted into?" Oliver asked, looking at Rilma.
Rilma tilted his head to the right, thinking. "The obvious answer is Slytherin, but atar said that I might be placed in Ravenclaw."
The other compartment occupants were shocked to hear this, having expected the Slytherin head of house to want his child to be put into the house he is head of and was once in.
After a few minutes of comfortable silence, a voice could be heard clearly throughout the compartment, saying "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."
Once the train started to slow, Rilma grabbed his owl's cage and placed the bird into it, Lee grabbing a container from the shelf above his seat and doing the same with his tarantula. Rilma whispered something to the owl that the others couldn't hear before he placed the owl above the seat, Lee doing the same with his tarantula. When the train stopped the twins stood simultaneously, George moving to the door and opening it, Fred leading Rilma in front of himself and putting the first year between him and his brother. As they walked out of the compartment Fred leaned down to talk to Rilma. "Don't want you to get lost on your way off the train."
Rilma just nodded in thanks. Once the three were off the train George turned and pointed at a rather large man bellowing "Firs' years! Firs' years! C'mon follow me!..."
"that there's Hagrid. He's a half-giant, but he's a big softy. He'll take you to the boats where you'll then be taken to Hogwarts. We'll be taken the carriages over there." George said, pointing to a location Rilma couldn't see over the crowd of student's. Rilma just nodded, before he started to push his way to where Hagrid was standing. When he got there Rilma could see Harry and Ron talking to the half-giant. The first years were all quickly rounded up and lead down a steep and narrow path. Rilma, having stayed behind slightly, was one of the last to start down the path. He could hear Hagrid say something, followed by a chorus of oooh's. Not long after Rilma had a similar reaction, having been able to see Hogwarts properly for the first time.
Once all the students were near the edge of the black lake between them and the school, Rilma could hear Hagrid call, "No more'n four to a boat!" Rilma looked around, seeing a boat with only three people in it waving their arms at him to get in. Rilma jogged over, seeing that it was the closest boat with room for himself.
When Rilma carefully got into the boat the other three occupants introduced themselves. Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, and Padma Patil. Hannah was sitting to the left of the boat and behind Susan, who was in the front next to Padma. All three, having already introduced themselves to each other, turned and shook hands with Rilma as they introduced themselves.
"Rilma Snape." Rilma introduced after the girls were finished.
Hannah's eyes widen. "Sarah was talking about meeting a professors kid back on the train. She said that they had a name like Rilmy or something. Was that you?"
Rilma grimaced slightly. "Yes, it is Rilma." He corrected.
Hannah nodded. "Right, sorry. So is your father really as mean as Sarah was saying? Or was she just exaggerating?"
"My atar does not tolerate children that have no respect for the art he teaches. He treats everyone the same at the beginning, but once he sees how you perform within his class, he either continues to treat you how you treat potions or he helps you develop your skills."
The boat fell into a comfortable silents, it's four occupants enjoying the view of the castle as it slowly got closer.
The boats eventually came to a cliff with a cave in its side and Hogwarts directly above them.
"Heads down!" The group could hear Hagrid yell back, the first boats just passing a curtain of ivy that was hanging over the cave entrance. When Rilma's boat passed the ivy he could see a tunnel leading directly under the castle. Eventually, the boats came to a sort of harbor, stopping to allow the first years to get off. Rilma quickly jumped off the boat to help steady it for the girls, who were giggling every time one of them almost falls in. As the girls hop out they thank Rilma, before joining with the rest of the first years. Rilma once again stayed near the back, hearing Hagrid talk of a toad and a boy exclaim "Trevor!" before Hagrid turned and knocked, or bounded, on the door.
and with 5,235 words to the story itself, I'll call this a good start! The next chapter will start to be posted soon, so look forward to seeing that completed!