Don't believe everything you read in books
What if JK got it wrong? What if what she wrote had some mistakes and how would the truth change things? This is my take on my challenge and I hope you like it.
Some the changes I've made are:
Severus and the Marauders are in the same year as Harry, Ron and Hermione.
James Potter is Harry's twin brother.
Severus is not in love with Lily
Ron and Harry don't get on, Ron is James' friend and is a pureblood supremacist as is James and Pettigrew.
Remus is friendly with Severus
Hermione and Ginny are not in Gryffindor
Also there is a slightly unusual friendship in this, see if you can guess.
There are others but there'll be more about them later and I'm also adding two new characters so that I can explore some of the possibilities I've opened up.
I don't own HP; anything you recognise is not mine.
'We've tried so hard to understand, but we can't.
We held the world out in our hands and you ran away.
It takes some time to let you go and it shows.
Cause all we know is falling, it falls.
Remember, cause I know that we won't forget at all.' From 'All we know' by Paramore
Chapter 1: New friendships
Nia Ddriag stood on the platform 9¾ at Kings Cross Station silently watching the other young people her age. She was 17, almost 18, and had been schooled for years at St Trinian's Girls' School, she'd even been one of the main candidates for Head Girl, while her twin brother, Hywel Ddriag, had gone to the boys' equivalent.
Theirs was an old family, from the line of two of the greatest people in the Wizarding world. Like her ancestor, Nia had long black hair, a milky complexion and bright sapphire blue eyes. She was tall for a witch, standing at her full height of 5'9" and very slim but toned. Her brother also had black hair and pale skin but his eyes were a dark and stormy steel grey. He was slightly taller than her, about 6'1" and very well built. His hair was jaw-length and hung messily around his strong and handsome face.
Although Nia was a Pureblood witch, she had a fondness for wearing Muggle clothing, in fact she wore it all the time, this of course being due to her schooling at a school that had Muggles as well as a few witches. On this particular occasion she was wearing a pair of distressed and torn jeans, a black corset, black buckled ankle boots and a pair of black fingerless leather gloves with several black bracelets and ring. On the middle finger of her right hand she wore an emerald ring, a family heirloom, and she had emerald earrings in her ears; around her neck was a black choker and a dark chain that plunged down into her cleavage. On the end of a chain was a black cross that was hidden from sight by her corset. Draped over her trolley was a black leather trench coat, the top of which was lying on her black trunk with her initials stamped on it in silver lettering.
"Are you alright Nia?" He asked in Welsh, looking anxiously over at his twin. As often as she'd told him that she could protect herself he still felt the need to look after her.
"I'm fine Hywel, just observing everyone." She smiled in return.
The train's whistle blew, signifying that everyone had to get on the train. Once their luggage was on board Nia just had to find her familiar.
"Taffy! Ble ach? D 'ma Taffy!" She shouted, calling loudly. A small meow down by her ankle let her know that her pet had found her. Nia swept Taffy up in her arms and held her close. Taffy was a Toyger, a breed of cat that's been bred to look like a tiger, but a very special one with special powers.
Nia and Hywel rushed aboard the train and set about trying to find an empty compartment. Unfortunately they were all full apart from two; one had two boys in, one with bright red hair and the other with messy black hair, grey eyes and glasses, and the other had one boy in with long black hair who was sat reading a book. They decided on the latter.
"Excuse me, do you mind if my brother and I join you? All the other compartments are full." Nia asked politely. The boy looked at her with his black eyes and shrugged.
"Whatever, makes no difference to me." He replied in a silky voice that held a hint of a Welsh and Irish accent.
"Thank you. I'm Nia and this is my brother, Hywel." She smiled sitting down across from him.
"Severus." The boy grunted as he went back to his book.
Nia let Taffy jump onto the seat next to her and then put on a square pair of glasses before pulling out a battered copy of 'Dracula' and beginning to read it. They all sat in a comfortable silence for at least an hour before the door to the compartment suddenly opened.
"Well, well, well. Looks like Snivillus had already started trying to manipulate the new students." A cocky but slightly whiney voice sneered from the door. Stood there were the two boys from the other compartment and they had three other boys and a girl behind them. One of the other boys was tall and thin with long messy hair, another was short an fat with dirty blond hair and the last boy was about mid-height with light brown hair. The girl was average size for a witch with long strawberry blond hair and bright green eyes. The one with black hair and glasses pulled his wand out, pointed it at Severus and shouted "Levicorpus!" causing Severus to be held aloft by his ankle.
"Who wants to see me take Snivilly's pants off?" The grinning bully asked. The red-headed girl giggled inanely.
"Oh very mature." Hywel whispered under his breath, taking his own wand out to help. Before he could though the boy with red hair had stunned him.
"Hey babe. You don't want to hang out with these losers, come and hang out with us instead." He grinned at Nia.
"Cer at Annwfn!" Nia yelled. Severus let a small smile creep on his face.
"What?" The boy asked stupidly.
"I said 'Go to Hell!' Why would I want to hang around with a load of bullies that have just attacked my brother and someone else for no reason!" Nia snarled. She could feel her temper rising, as could Taffy who hissed at the group of infantile bullies. By now there was a crowd of people watching the Nia. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, her eyes were not human anymore. The blue had spread so that it covered the whole of her eye and the pupil became a long black vertical slit; in essence, her eyes had become those of a dragon.
By this time, Hywel had woken up and helped Severus down.
"Shouldn't we help her?" Severus asked.
"Nope, we'd just get in her way. Let her deal with it." Hywel replied. The boy with long messy black hair pointed his wand at her and shouted "Stupefy!" but Nia caught the spell in her right hand. A gasp went up from the crowd as she turned so that her left side was facing the bullies and put both hands around the spell. Holding it up to her face she turned her head to look at them; as quick as lightning she moved her hands down and her left leg up before bringing her hands back up. As she did that, she flicked her wrist so that the spell went flying back at the boy who'd fired it at her. It hit him suddenly, causing him to fly back several feet.
"You little bitch!" The ringleader growled, pointing his wand at her.
"That's enough Mr Potter." A stern Scottish voice said from behind Nia. Turning to look, Nia saw Tall woman with grey hair pulled back in a severe bun.
"Yes Professor McGonagall." Potter grumbled before running away with the rest of his gang (or at least, those who were able to run).
"Miss Ddriag, I know that you're a new student but that doesn't mean that you can break the rules and attack another student." Professor McGonagall said sharply as she checked the stunned bully.
"Actually professor, everything I did was in self-defence. Potter attacked Severus, the red-headed boy attacked my brother and that one" she pointed at the boy "tried to stun me but I caught his spell and threw it back at him." Nia said calmly, allowing her eyes to turn back to normal.
"If that is the case then you shall have no punishment as Mr Black is the aggressor." Professor McGonagall nodded before levitating 'Black' as she'd called him to the hospital compartment of the train.
Nia turned and sat back down across from Severus once more. Their arrangement was the same as before only this time Severus was looking at her.
"Why did you do that?" He asked curiously.
"I hate bullies. And I hate chauvinists, like that red-headed pig." She scowled, her expression fierce and her eyes flashed back to their dragon-like appearance.
"So it was pity?" Severus snarled, his face angry.
"No, what she was saying was that she hates bullies and chauvinists. What she hasn't said is that she did something that she only does when a family member or someone that she considers a friend is attacked." Hywel said calmly, but from his face it was clear that he was suppressing laughter.
"A friend?" Severus asked, looking slightly confused.
"Yes, it's someone that people can hang out with and talk to, and they're someone you can count on." Nia said sarcastically. At this Hywel let the laughter that he'd been trying to suppress out in great booming laughs. Nia and Severus sent a death-glare at him, both so scary that it would make a grown man cry, but Hywel was unfazed.
"You can't scare me with your death-glares, I'm used to seeing Nia's. I'm laughing because you're both so similar." He finally managed to say. Nia and Severus raised an eyebrow which set Hywel off again. They turned to look at each other and, noticing their matching expressions, started chuckling.
They were broken out of their laughter by a slightly timid knocking on the door. Through the glass Nia could see a tall girl with chocolate brown eyes and curly caramel coloured hair dressed in the Hogwart's uniform. Her tie and robes proclaimed her to be a Gryffindor. Stood next to her, in the boys' Gryffindor uniform was the same boy with glasses and messy black hair only this time he had bright green eyes and a scar on his forehead.
"Severus! Are you alright? Harry and I heard James bragging about what he did!" The girl gabbled. Severus scowled.
"As you can see Miss Granger, I am fine." He growled.
"Severus, how many times have I told you to call me Hermione." The girl sighed. It was then that the girl noticed Nia and Hywel.
"Hi, I'm Hermione and this is Harry. Who're you?" She smiled brightly.
"I'm Nia Ddriag and that idiot staring at you with his mouth open is my twin brother, Hywel." Nia replied, a slight smile rising on her own face. Hywel frowned at Nia and in return she stuck her tongue out at him.
"Oh that's real mature, it's easy to see that you're the youngest." He retorted.
"Yeah but I can still give you one Hell of a noogie!" Nia smirked.
"I'd like to see you try!" Hywel snorted.
As quick lightning both Nia and Hywel were out of their seats. Severus, Hermione and Harry had watched the exchange between the twins with interest and now were definitely curious to see what would happen next. They were surprised to see Nia suddenly disappear from right in front of their eyes. Before they could blink she was stood behind Hywel with him in a headlock.
"You should remember brawd mawr, that I would have been Head Girl if I'd stayed at St. Trinian's this year. I won't give you a noogie this time but next time you won't be so lucky." She smirked before vanishing once more and reappearing in her seat once more.
"How the Hell does she do that?" Harry whispered to Hermione. Nia smirked and looked smug.
"I have no idea and I've had the same training as she has." Hywel sighed, taking his seat.
Hermione was staring at Nia, with her eyes wide.
"You were at St Trinian's?" She said softly.
"Yep." Nia grinned.
"And you were to have been Head Girl?!" Hermione gasped.
"Of course, I was the best at St. Trinian's." Nia replied.
"What's the big deal? It's only a school isn't it?" Severus said, looking a little confused.
"Not really, you see St. Trinian's is quite a well known in the Muggle world. You see, it's reputed to be the worst school in the country, possibly the world." Hywel grinned.
"Oi! I don't insult your school so don't insult mine. The only reason people think that it's such a bad school is because they encourage our creativity." Nia growled.
"But the creativity they encourage is anarchy." Hywel argued.
"Ok so we were a bit disorganised." Nia said.
"A bit disorganised! You blew up part of the school in your third year!" Hywel snickered.
"You actually blew up the school?!" Harry gasped, looking at Nia with a sort of horror.
"Well…yes…a bit…you see I sort of blew up the kitchen…and the chavs' area…and the maths room." Nia admitted, her face slightly red.
"How?" Severus asked. Harry and Hermione looked at him. "What? You want to know too, I can tell." He added.
"Well, I sort of made an explosive potion but I kinda lost it so I made it again but again I lost it so I made it once more. The only place I actually meant to blow up was the maths room, it wasn't my fault that the chavs found one of the potions and blew up their own area! Or that the cook found the other potion and thought it was a new ingredient and so added it to a soup!" Nia replied, obviously trying hard not to laugh at the looks on everyone's faces.
Harry and Hermione spent the rest of the train journey with them and they did have fun, although Severus didn't seem overly fond of Harry and Hermione after a while. He especially seemed irritated when Nia and Hywel left him alone with them briefly while they changed into their uniform. By the time they reached Hogsmede station, where they were to get off to go to the school, it was painfully obvious to Nia that Hywel fancied Hermione like mad. Throughout their conversation he'd been overly attentive to her and had a slightly possessive look in his eyes when she giggled at something Harry had said. Nia smiled at this thought, it was good that her brother had finally found someone. With his status he couldn't afford to stay single forever.
They reached the castle in good time thanks to carriages pulled by thestrals. Not many people could see them, only those who'd seen death but Nia had been able to see them since she was 6 years old. The moment they reached the castle, Nia and Hywel were whisked away by Severus and Hermione to the headmaster's office to be sorted. As they walked in the door the headmaster began beaming at them.
"Welcome to Hogwarts, before the welcoming feast you need to be sorted. If you will sit on the stool and place the sorting hat on your head, Miss Ddriag, then we will begin." He smiled with a twinkle in his eye. Nia sat down on the stool and placed the hat gently on her head.
It sat there for a few seconds before moving gently and whispering quietly.
"Hmmm… there's an strong sense of loyalty there, as well as intense bravery. There's also a lot of intelligence and cunning. But where would you be best suited for?" It said. Images of herself in the colours of each house crossed her mind. She swiftly rejected Hufflepuff yellow as yellow looked hideous on her; she rejected Gryffindor red too as she didn't actually like it. Suddenly she saw herself in Slytherin green and stuck with that. Memories of each time she's fooled her brother and parents flowed through her mind too. It took her several moments to realise that this was how the hat was choosing her house.
"Well it seems that while intelligence is one of your main characteristics, your cunning is more prominent by far, even than all the others put together, although not by much. So I think that you'd be best off in Slytherin!" The hat said finally. Nia took it off her head and reverently put it back on the stool before walking over to a slightly disappointed looking Hermione and a smug looking Severus. Her tie and robes changed to those of a Slytherin in an instant. She then turned to look at Hywel who walked to the stool and removed the hat before sitting down on it and placing the hat on his head. It seemed to communicate with him for a few moments before shouting out "Gryffindor!" It was Hermione's turn to look smug and Severus' to look slightly disappointed.
Once they'd been sorted they walked down to the welcoming feast. Hywel sat beside Hermione and studiously ignored all the simpering girls near him that were batting their eyelashes attempting to get his attention. Instead he talked to Hermione and Harry along with another two friends of theirs, a boy of about 18 with dark blonde hair and grey eyes and a girl in the year below with flame red hair and brown eyes. As Nia walked to the Slytherin table with Severus it seemed that all the guys stopped talking and started to stare at her. Nia ignored them and followed Severus with her head held high and her back poker straight. Severus sat opposite a boy in the same year as them with light blonde hair and grey eyes and Nia sat next to him, at the end of the table.
"Hey Severus, who's the new girl?" The guy asked.
"Nia Ddriag." Severus replied not saying any more. The guy turned towards Nia.
"Don't mind him, I'm Draco Malfoy." The guy smiled, holding his hand out to her.
"Hi." She smiled back. There wasn't time for any more talk as at that moment Professor Dumbledore stood up to give his start of term speech.
"The usual notices for the start of term apply, students should note that the forest is strictly forbidden to all students unless you have special permission from myself and mister Filch has posted a notice on his door concerning banned items. Also, any student's who feel the urge to be 'creative' would you make sure that you don't blow up any parts of the school. I have only four more things to say before you can enjoy the feast and they are: Flibber, Wibble, Squilukle and Pong!" He said, the last five words caused lots of amusement with the student but they were soon distracted by the plates in front of them.
To Nia's delight she saw a plate stacked with sushi to her immediate left and, to her immediate right there was a large platter of Welsh Rarebit with another in the middle of the two, containing Crempogs. She immediately helped herself to some of each.
"You actually like sushi? Isn't that raw fish?" Severus asked, distaste clear on his face.
"It's one of my favourites but it's not actually raw fish, sushi is generally cooked fish but it doesn't always have to have fish. Sashimi is raw fish, it literally means raw fish. You should try some sushi, you might like it." Nia smiled before popping a piece of sushi in her mouth. Severus sighed.
"I can't believe I'm actually going to do this." He muttered under his breath. Before he even had a chance to ask her, Nia passed him the plate of sushi.
"How'd you do that? I hadn't even asked you yet!" Severus asked her as he took a couple of pieces of sushi.
"I'll explain later, let's just say that I'm not normal." Nia replied.
"So what do you think Dumbledore meant by that notice asking students not to blow up the school?" Draco asked as they were eating. Severus and Nia looked at each other.
"Let's just say that that notice was most likely directed at me." Nia grinned.
"Why?" Draco asked, looking confused.
"I sort of blew parts of my last school up a bit." She explained.
"Is that why you've come to Hogwarts this year?" Draco asked, looking slightly nervous.
"No, it happened in third year, I learnt a valuable lesson that day." She smiled.
"What, that chavs are stupid?" Severus asked, a small smirk on his face.
"No, that while Nitro Glycerine can be added quite easily to a potion, it's very unstable once you do. Also that it's best to not lose a potion you made to blow up the maths room before you actually do it." She giggled.
"So you deliberately blew part of the school up?!" Draco gaped.
"Yep, it was sort of a protest. They wanted me to do maths as well as following the normal Wizarding curriculum and I hate maths! So I blew up the maths room so I didn't have to do it." Nia grinned.
The rest of dinner passed uneventfully and, by the time pudding was over Nia was completely stuffed. Once the school was dismissed, Severus showed Nia and the Slytherin First-Years to the Slytherin Common Room. Once he'd made sure that everyone remembered that the password was "Aconite" he allowed them to head off to their dormitories, all apart from Nia.
"Professor Dumbledore decided that because you are very different from the rest of the students that it would be a good idea if you stayed in the Slytherin Head Girl's room, if you will follow me then I will show you where it is." He explained upon seeing Nia's slightly confused face. Nia nodded and followed him as he led her out of the Common Room through a secret passageway behind a portrait of Salazar Slytherin.
The passageway was dark and smelled musty. Nia could hardly see a thing in front of her face, she knew that if it weren't for Severus leading the way then she'd have gotten lost easily, it was so dark and there were so many twists and turns. Finally they came to a door where Severus paused and whispered "Belladonna". The door swung open to reveal a warm and pleasant room that was decorated in Green and Silver. There was a large fireplace on the West wall that contained a roaring fire and, before the fire there were two dark green wingback chairs. In between the two chairs stood a small, round table made of dark cherry wood. There were various different pieces of furniture, including a bookcase, that matched the table.
"This is the Slytherin Head's Common Room, your room is through that door on the left, mine is on the right." Severus said, after several moments of silence.
"Thank you." Nia smiled. Severus briefly smiled back before walking to his room.
"It has been a long day. I think I will retire for the night, goodnight." He said as he went.
"Goodnight Severus, sleep well." Nia smiled. At her words he looked back.
"You too." He said softly before he strode through his door, closing it behind him. Nia stayed looking at his door for several moments before she decided to explore her room.
As soon as she opened the door she gasped aloud in horror.
"EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!" She yelled, quite loudly. There was the sound of a door opening and footsteps running towards her.
"Nia, are you alright?" Severus said behind her, concern written plainly on his face.
"It's PINK! I hate PINK!" She growled, glaring at him. Severus didn't say a word but looked at her with a sort of shock on his face. Nia huffed and turned away from him before waving her hand. The walls turned from a bright and garish pink to a deep emerald green, the wood darkened to black and oriental pictures appeared on the walls.
"Much better." Nia smiled happily.
"I have to admit that your interior decorating sense is much better than that of whoever designed this room originally." Severus chuckled softly as he recovered from his shock.
"Of course; whoever designed this room had obviously had way too much sugar! I'm surprised that they hadn't painted pink prancing unicorns all over the walls!" Nia snorted. Severus softly gave a deep chuckle before wishing her a good night once more and leaving the room.
