The Locket

Flossey

Ch 1: Fight or Flight

Disclaimer: I do not own JKR's wonderful characters or world. I own my plot and my characters.

Laila and Rebecca Darrow sat upon their green thrones, acting as the queens of the Slytherin common room. As twins, they looked similar. Their eyes were both the same celery-color, while their pale skin adopted same eerie green sheen from the dull, green light of the room. They sat in the same way on their matching green armchairs; one leg over the other. Laila's left leg dominated, while Rebecca's right did; one of the most obvious differences between the two if they were compared on a superficial scale. Their strawberry hair shade was almost identical and matching looks of boredom crossed both of their faces.

They were sitting amongst a sea of green and silver. These colors matched the great crest that was displayed proudly on the cold stone walls; a large green shield with an ornate silver lining. On the shield was a glistening silver snake with emerald eyes, proudly displaying its fangs. The lighting was a muted green to match, coming in through the lake above, aided by a few dim green lamps that could be brightened at night. Overstuffed green armchairs and couches, like the ones they were perched on, were scattered throughout the room. There was an obvious gathering point; a place where the couches and chairs formed a U, with a large table in the middle. This was in front of the snake-mouth fireplace. Skulls lined the walls in an eerie way, but after years of getting used to them, they only brought silent company and a sense of peace to the room.

The peaceful atmosphere of the room changed as the girls heard the great stone door open, turning lithely towards it simultaneously. Laila smiled slightly as she saw their new company, while her twin sister rolled her eyes. Their company had remarkably greasy hair, a very large bird-like nose, and a very bad posture. His eyes were beady and a slight snarl on his mouth revealed unnaturally yellow, chipped teeth. Rebecca detected a slight smell coming from him; most likely from her imagination or his unwashed robes.

"Hello, Severus," Laila greeted lowly, allowing some pleasure to escape in her tone.

"Hi Laila," Severus replied softly, being careful to not make direct eye contact with her as he took a seat across from them.

Rebecca looked at the six feet of greasy hair that was Severus Snape, sneering, "No hi for me?"

"No," Snape growled, glaring at the girl.

"Whatever, grease face. My mother says not to associate with half-bloods, anyways," Rebecca put up air quotes with her fingers while smugly leaning towards the boy, quoting her mother exactly, "'You may only get half the dirt on you, but it'll still ruin your best dress.'" She then snatched her latest book from the end table next to her, proceeding to read.

Laila gulped, trying not to interfere. Every word Rebecca just said was entirely true; they were not supposed to associate with muggles or their offspring, no matter what. She was technically the one who was more wrong in this situation, at least according to their family. This however made her slightly sick to her stomach and her mouth downturned apologetically. Severus had practically growled at Rebecca's quote, a string of curses mixed with curse words coming out of his mouth. Rebecca did not even give him a look, completely zoning out of the known world. Severus almost hated her and wanted to blow her head off, but merely removed his Potions book as well as his self-inking quill, beginning to record notes in the margins and letting the curses diffuse in the air. Laila sighed, unable to subtract from or add to the situation; she was merely stuck in the middle of the line of fire, as she often was.

A few minutes later, after almost complete silence, the stone door was again opened and the distinct sounds of boys talking began to overtake the quiet.

Of course, this sound was followed by the distinctive squeal of Rebecca hearing her boyfriend's voice, exclaiming, "Regulus!" She quickly marked her place in her book, jumping up to meet him as he came into the main common room area. Severus and Laila both rolled their eyes in sync at her over exaggeration; she was acting as if he had just come back from a war and hadn't seen him in months, while he was actually coming back from his Quidditch practice and she hadn't seen him in two hours.

Regulus, a boy of slightly above average looks, greeted her with open arms, lifting the small girl off the ground and giving her an excessively long kiss on the lips. Regulus' friends eyed the couple cautiously, continuing around them and taking seats in various places around the dull green room.

"How was your Quidditch practice?" Rebecca enthused, grinning at him ear-to-ear.

"Perfect, but I missed you," Regulus answered lowly, hoping that his friends and teammates wouldn't hear. Of course, that could never happen. Severus made a loud gagging noise in response; somehow, Laila somewhat agreed with the gesture.

"Shut it," Regulus growled to his elder and friend.

"Oh, sure. You two are the perfect couple," Snape said sarcastically, rolling his eyes at the two.

Rebecca looked Snape in his beady eyes, her eyes practically burning, "Jealous much?" Snape returned with a look of equal detest, "Can't you muzzle your dog, Regulus? She's like one of those freaking Chihuahuas. She looks like one, too."

Laila gulped, waiting for her sisters reaction. Severus' and Rebecca's encounters hadn't quite gotten seriously violent before, but there definitely had been some curses thrown between the two. Looking at Regulus, he seemed to be thinking the same thing.

Rebecca's eyes slid slowly up to meet Severus', narrowing into slits, "You are the most insufferable little mudblood lover that I've ever met!" Rebecca was practically spitting venom out with her words, but soon amended them, "Except for the fact that you're the only mudblood lover I've ever met. I don't know why you were ever let in here." Snape look almost dumbfounded for a second, before his temper kicked back into high gear, "I do not love any-" he paused for a moment, slightly hesitating at the pain it took him to say the word; in actuality, he mumbled it, as if he was being forced to do something he wanted to, "mudblood."

Rebecca wrinkled her nose, "You're weak, Snape." With those words, she grabbed her book and headed towards a large wooden door, briskly leaving to her dormitory. Laila watched as Regulus frowned a bit at Severus, who was obviously livid at the girl. The other bystanders seemed to have ignored the situation almost completely, as it was commonplace that Rebecca and Severus fought. She was friendly to most of them, or at least the ones that were pureblood. She merely ignored the others, as long as they stayed out of her way. It was something particular about Snape; possibly his wish to be pureblood, like the others. It could have been how he associated with one particular muggleborn freely, as if it didn't matter. Whatever it was, her detest for him had started when she first met him and had only gotten worse since. Regulus moved towards the door Rebecca had just gone through silently, slow enough to hear Severus express his sincere hatred of Rebecca to Laila.

The tension in the Slytherin house had temporarily ceased now that it was dinner time. The majority of the house had come to the Great Hall, filled to the brim with students from the whole school. The Slytherins were all sitting at the same a long wooden table, one of four like it, which was garnished with silver plates full of scrumptious food. The chatter in the air was lighthearted and mixed with similar tones from other tables; the other houses in the school. Furthest from them was Slytherin's sworn enemy, the damned Gryffindors under their red and gold. The Slytherins preferred their green and silver, and in their opinion, they were what Hogwarts was meant to be: the crème de la crème of the wizarding world.

Therefore, when James Potter, a cocky, messy-haired Gryffindor approached, they were less than pleased. James had some rather unfortunate ties to Regulus' brother who was also a Gryffindor. They were best friends, and Sirius had chosen to align his beliefs with his friends over his family.

"My dear snakeheads!" James drawled, arms spread in a hug as he approached the short side of the table, near Regulus and his Quidditch friends, along with Laila and Rebecca. When all he was met by was glares, he lowered his arms so that he was leaning against the table.

"So boys," he said, glancing around the table. Noting the two girls, he nodded at them, "And harem, of course." Laila grimaced a little; while she was used to the rude comments, she preferred to be ignored in these types of situations. Rebecca rolled her eyes with extreme exaggeration, "No one likes you, Potter." James ignored her, "How's your pathetic team doing?"

"None of your business," Regulus answered promptly, wishing this particular annoyance would vanish.

James gave a fake grin, "So we'll be winning our match, then?" At this point, the Slytherin Quidditch captain, Evan Rosier spoke up, "Shut your little Gryffindor mouth, blood traitor. We won't lose." Rebecca smiled at Evan; while James was a pureblood, he had an uncanny knack for being in love with Lily Evans, an obnoxiously bright muggleborn student who was a favorite of nearly all professors at Hogwarts. Personally, Rebecca hated Lily Evans; almost as much as Snape.

At this remark, James' temper flared, "Who do you think you are, Rosier?" he was in Rosier's face, who had been sitting at the end of the table.

Evan stood up, dwarfing James with his bulk, even though they stood approximately the same height, "Don't make me show you who I am," he responded gruffly, stepping closer to James. By this point, most of the dining hall had quieted, except for a few daft Hufflepuff girls who were giggling like none other. Someone shushed them, and there was then a tense silence that had taken over the students and even the ghosts who watched on, taking bets on the winner.

Rebecca took the few seconds to review the situation; the two boys were facing off. It was obvious that James would lose in a fist fight, and unfortunately, a duel would probably be a draw. Everyone knew that Evan was destined to be a Death Eater, a ruthless follower of the Dark Lord, but James was an obnoxiously talented trickster. However, Rebecca would never admit this and could bet that several of Evan's friends, including Regulus, would step into any fight without hesitation.

Disappointingly for many watching, the tension was broken between the two in a flash as a long line of professors began to file in from what seemed to be a tiring faculty meeting. They paused momentarily, looking over the two and the silent hall. James broke away from Evan at that moment, the Slytherins letting out a small cheer at his retreat. The professors were used to this sort of tension; with a war being fought, the student body was also extremely polar in their views. While their headmaster's wish was to unite the school under one front, they found this task impossible. They had taken up a new way of handling the students: as long as they didn't kill each other, they tended to look the other way.

That's all for now, folks. Please remember the first chapters of this story will set the stage for the world they're in, so hang on if you want serious Death Eater/Voldypoo action. :) Thanks for reading!