A True Slytherin

by snapesgirl1981

Feedback: Always appreciated at snapesgirl1981@yahoo.com.au or review were possible

Rated R for ff.net and NC-17 for others. I will publish an edited version on ff.net

Disclaimer: J.K.Rowling owns everything, I don't. No copyright infringement is intended.

Spoiler: After OotP so don't read if you don't know what happened there. Almost everything from all five books is mentioned somewhere in the text so don't read it of you don't wanto get spoiled.

Warning: This fic wil in time get very dark covering probably very offensive topics like a relationship between Snape and Hermione (with sexual intercourse before she turns 18), rape,  explicit violence, suicide and character death. This is not light reading. Please try to notice the warnings on the appropiate chapters and stay away from anything you feel might offend you. You are warned.

Summary:  This story is about the house of slytherin, its history and how Hermione explores what it is that makes a true Slytherin. It is also a love story but a difficult one between two persons who are seperated by more than house rivalry and a war. It is a story about dark and light and the journay and sacrifices it sometimes takes to arrive where we belong. Novel-length fic.

1. [ The Necklace ]

The summer holidays slowly moved into a haze of days and in retrospect Hermione could never have explained what happened exactly. Her parents were as usual glad to have her around for the few weeks and they were visiting family and friends mostly. She did her school work, prepared for the next year which would be her sixth in Hogwarts and waited for her O.W.L grades. Normally she would have been terribly nervous as for her these results were the first measurement of her scholastic success or failure. And she had been all summer since she had received a letter this morning- not with her results but from Ron and Harry- she was supposed to spend the last two weeks at Grimauld Place 12 in London. The two boys were already there and even so Harry was in a terrible mood she was looking forward to it.

So far she had not even begun to think back to the events in the Ministry of Magic and of Sirius' death but she knew she was bound to when she spend time in his house. It was doing no good to avoid thinking of the tragic events and she was determined to help Harry deal with it.

But there was another letter with a package that had arrived by owl this morning and for some reason it filled her with a feeling of unease. Not that she was scared of it- there was no reason to be since the envelope was covered with the Hogwarts crest. It couldn't be her results- it was simply to early in time. No it had to be something else. But what?

Having made up her mind she opened the crème coloured envelope and took out a parchment filled with some lines in a spidery handwriting that she couldn't place for a moment. But when she saw the Slytherin emblem on top of the letter she knew that it was from Professor Severus Snape, Potions Master and Head of Slytherin. For some to her complete unknown reason he had sent her a letter and a package.

Carefully she picked up the parchment and began to read it.

Ms Granger,

As instructed by Professor Dumbledore I am sending you this short note accompanied by a necklace that I want you to wear at all times. Everything will be explained when you arrive in London but since then it is extremely important that you wear the necklace no matter what happens.

By the way, your results in potions were satisfying.

Severus Snape, Potions Master and Head of Slytherin

Intrigued now Hermione opened the small package and a tiny box fell out. The necklace was a simple one but nevertheless beautiful with its green emeralds and strange symbols being incurved into the silver pendant. The necklace was not silver but what material it was made off exactly she couldn't say. It certainly looked like silver but it was not cold but warm and felt almost like velvet. It was small enough to wear it under her shirts so that nobody would immediately recognize that she wore it. For some reason that felt important, nobody was to know that she had received this gift at all.

Carefully she placed the necklace around her neck and the moment she closed the fastener a soft greenish light bathed her in warmth and a tranquil peace like never before in her life. Closing her eyes for a moment she couldn't have explained how she knew it that it was a family property- owned by the Snape family. It figured since most of the symbols on the pendant were snakes and runes commonly used for protection. So they wanted to protect her? But what from?

Voldemort. Very likely. But why her and not Harry? Maybe Harry had been given something else to protect him, maybe even something from Dumbledore. She couldn't imagine Snape giving Harry a family pendant- he would rather die.

Or give it to a bossy know-it-all he usually despised but if it spared him Potter…

Bitterness flooded her mind and she felt almost like taking off the necklace that was surely given to her because of an order by Dumbledore. Somehow she knew that the necklace was special, a special gift made by someone from the Snape family to a person they wished to protect. The impulse to take it off was stopped when her fingers brushed the warm material.

"Ms Granger, stop taking off that necklace!" thundered Severus Snape's voice through her room.

She jumped and looked afraid as if he had caught her cheating in class. The dark figure stood in the middle of the room, the robe covering him and his expression one of anger.

"I have no time for interruptions like this Ms Granger. So stop doing it!" His voice sounded as if she had cursed an Unforgivable.

Staring up at him she helplessly gestured with her hands to the door.

"How- how did you… I mean you didn't use floo powder…"

He sneered and if possible his features looked even stricter.

"I apparated. And I would sincerely appreciate it if you could spare me from having to do so more often, so please just leave the necklace on."

Mutely the girl nodded and in one second he was gone.

For a moment she stared to the place he had just vacated and then turned to the letter once more.

By the way, your results in potions were satisfying.

So he knew her scores already. She hoped that for him satisfying meant something like an O. Or at least an E.

Groaning she sank onto her bed and covered her face with a pillow. Now the nervousness was back. And not only for the O.W.L. results.