Chapter I: A New Beginning
"You have everything?" asked Silwen's uncle. Silwen nodded solemnly. "This year will be different, will it not be?" she asked. Uncle Severus Snape shook his head slightly. "Remember Silwen, healing takes time. Many of the students will still be scarred—both physically and emotionally—from what happened last year. Many of those who participated in the Hogwarts Games will still be paranoid," he said to her. "All right¼Let's go, Uncle. Back to Hogwarts," she replied.
"We're flying. Here's your broom. Wait for me in the sky when you get high enough," Snape told her. Nervously, Silwen carefully tied her trunk and cat's kennel to the broom and leapt on her Cleansweep 99, and rose sedately into the air, dive bombing and circling around her home. "You are not to be noticed by anyone!" he called, bringing Silwen to a depressed hover higher in the clouds.
Snape got on his broomstick, with his trunks tied securely to his own Cleansweep, and rose with the pushing wind to meet his niece. "Start with heading due north east to London!" he called over the wind's parading whistles. "You meant I'm going on the Hogwarts Express? Couldn't I fly with you?" she called back. "I have lessons to prepare for tomorrow. I will not be able to keep you busy till the feast. Come with me, if you wish to stay with me and reunite with your friends later, fine. I will tell them you wished for silence on the way to Hogwarts when they come scowling that you weren't on the train." Silwen scowled in midair. "Fine. I'll go on the Hogwarts Express¼I certainly don't want them scowling at me," she teased.
"Start flying, or we'll miss the train," shouted Snape; the wind had risen to a rumble, promising thunder, rain, and lightning if they waited any longer in its good graces. Mischievously, Silwen dipped her broom forward and sped off toward London. Severus followed behind, keeping an eye on her.
The promised rain started to fall, licking the two flyers' faces. "Impervious!" shouted Silwen before her uncle could tell her to do so. A hidden smile crossed his face as he heard the words, and he too said the words, pointing his wand at his trunk and broom, "She's learned that spell's utility quickly," he thought to himself.
Unsalted tears accompanied Severus and Silwen all the way until the wizards' broomstick entrance to King's Cross Station. "I'll take your broomstick and trunk. I'll see you in a few hours. Check in with me before you go to your dormitory," said a rain-washed Snape. "Are you sure you don't want to go on the train? It'll be warm, and dry. I don't doubt that you'll be able to catch a few scuffles either," said Silwen persuasively. He shook his head, "Professors aren't allowed¼unless they have no other way. You know that. I will see you later."
Swiftly, he bent down, and kissed the top of her head, and gave her a small but firm hug. "You'll be fine," he whispered, and disappeared back into the rain. "Don't you dare get my things wet!" she shouted, now all alone.
Silwen was left alone amidst hundreds of parents, owls, trunks and students. Inside of her, she felt clammy tremors race up and down her spine and in her throat. "Just breathe," she whispered to herself. Quickly, she entered Platform 9 and 10. A clock above read five minutes till eleven, and the qualms' intensity rose. Until now, she hadn't realized that this was the first time she had gone to Hogwarts completely by herself. Even her cat, Tamera was safely locked in her crate and flying with her Uncle.
Four minutes left. The barrier that led to Platform 9 ¾ was straight in front of her, and she timidly walked through it with a family of three; two parents and a child. The child was going to Hogwarts for the first time. The parents were fussing and fretting over their child as if he was leaving for life and never coming back again. "Don't forget to be on time. You must brush your teeth, Bartholomew, and don't forget to NOT walk around during the nighttime. Talk to Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, for an Anti-Somnanbulsimic sleep potion, okay? Do you have your toad? Wand? Trunk?" they asked, and kept on going, smothering their little boy in hugs and kisses. "Mom, I'm fine. I have everything. I'll see you at Christmas, ok? I have to go now!"
Bartholomew dragged himself tearfully away from his parents, and Silwen, unnoticed, nonchalantly followed him onto the train. Her uncle had never fussed over her like that. Never smothered her like that boy's parents had smothered him. Would she have wanted to be smothered in kisses? Her expression in a hallway mirror was enough to answer that: no. Never.
Slowly, she drifted to an empty compartment.