A/N - Hi! Thanks for taking the time to click on my story. Hope you enjoy it and if you read it, please review it! It makes me happy and I'm always curious to hear opinions, either good or constructive criticism! Obviously, I don't own Harry Potter as it is owned and created by the brilliant J.K Rowling. (:

Thanks!

It's a new year at Hogwarts and fresh students are flooding the castle with youthful faces and wide eyed wonder. 'Brilliant' you may think, or perhaps 'marvellous' or 'just great!' or in the case of Severus Snape you may view it as a mundane necessity dulled over the many years of mediocre students with adequate talent and a few shining stars who's ability is tainted by their insufferable personalities. But this year, one student has a letter that will change his world forever.

Stood at the foot of the wide iron gates, Evangeline was shocked and shaking ever so slightly. A tiny figure silhouetted against the huge imposing bulk of the castle, the place she would call home for the foreseeable future as she embarked upon her academic career. Clad in her newly purchased robes they hung precariously on her willowy frame and her long black hair fell in straight cut curtains down her back and sloped slightly into her round, green doe eyes that gazed out unblinking from the alabaster skin that looked porcelain in the moonlight. Lost in thought, with eyes so wide that they seemed out of place in the narrowly contoured face she was unmoving with her hand clutched tightly around a roll of parchment that was crumpling under the pressure in her hand.

"All right students, if you'll just follo' me we'll 'av you up in the castle in no time" the loud, booming voice cut across her thoughts like a blunt axe, hacking them apart and bringing her back to reality and the cruel cutting breeze of the autumn night. The huge, imposing figure began to lumber off; clutching a lantern in his huge hands that seemed as though they could completely encase her head and petite sloping shoulders, but he had a friendly demeanour and she was not afraid. In one jerking movement the first years all began moving, in a giant tidal wave that left Evangeline being pushed and nudged in various directions as the herd of small cloaked figures jostled for positions leaving her feeling as if she were on the savannah, battling to avoid some hideous stampede. She was a shy girl, with a reserved nature who seldom spoke unless approached by another, it was as she was stumbling forward trying to remain on her feet that she tripped and fell hard upon her knees, feeling the cobbles bite hard into her delicate skin.

"Ouch" she hissed softly, scrambling to stand and falling again due to the many marauding people that seemed not to notice the figure that was writhing like an upturned turtle upon the floor. Giving up she heaved herself to her knees and rubbed her shoulder which was beginning to ache from the repeated collisions with other students. Slowly, the crowd began to thin and she found herself at the base of the throng. Getting to her feet she brushed herself down and tucked the wispy black strands behind her ear.

"Are you okay?" The words came from a small, bespectacled boy with messy black hair which stuck out at odd angles and fell roughly over his forehead.

"Oh, yes. Thanks, I fell over" she stumbled, averting her gaze toward the floor and continuing to rub her shoulder with an intensity that portrayed her discomfort.

"So, you must be a new student like me then?" The boy continued, unperturbed and with a wide grin, he was carrying the cage of a large white owl who watched Evangeline through the wide amber eyes that shone in an almost lamp like fashion as she turned her head, muttering softly. Watching her eyes pass over his bird the boy spoke again,

"This is Hedwig, she's my owl"

"She's lovely" replied Evangeline, glancing up briefly to meet the smiling emerald eyes of the young boy.

"we're going to be late" she continued, looking toward the castle and nodding slightly.

"Oh, right." Said the boy somewhat awkwardly, tearing his vision away from the orb like eyes of the strange, somewhat mysterious girl who was already beginning to recommence walking, jogging slightly catch up with the fast departing crowd of students.

"I'm Harry!" He said, jogging alongside her and continuing almost excitable conversation as they panted their way toward the castle and its heavy oak doors.

"Evangeline" she replied quietly, barely audible even above the gentle lapping of the lake, she looked around, making eye contact for just a split second as she swept the straight, unruly hair from her face.

"Great! My friend should be ahead somewhere, we met on the train. I didn't see you anywhere..."

"mmm"

And with that entirely unhelpful response they regained position at the back of the crowd who were being addressed by a stern looking woman in tartan who wore a pursed expression and a neutral expression.

"Good evening students, I am professor McGonagall. If you will follow me into the main hall, please" the voice was tart, direct and sharp but Evangeline couldn't help but feel it had a quality about it that she felt herself instantly warm to. With a quick swish of fabric she had turned on her heels and the group of eager students was moving again, following her through some tall doors in the high ceilinged building into a hall that was beyond Evangeline's imagination or indeed comprehension.

"Wow" she mouthed, almost silently.

"Pretty cool, huh? Ron told me all about this, his brothers all come or came here" the boy had reappeared alongside her and wash chattering away again but Evangeline was far from listening as she rolled her head back, watching the ceiling that twinkled back at her with the many stars that winked merrily in an inky black sky, complementing the hundreds of white wax candles that floated mysteriously; the effect was dazzling.

Professor McGonagall had ascended some steps and now stood in front of the expectant hall, filled not only with shining new faces, but also recurring students who sat chatting and laughing but falling silent under the cutting interjection of the imposing transfiguration teacher.

"New students, you will come up here when I call your name and the sorting hat will allocate you to your house, which you will be a member of for your time at Hogwarts School. So, without further 'to-do' I shall leave it to the sorting hat which will be followed by a speech from your headmaster before the feast begins" followed with a quick half smile of the pursed lips, McGonagall picked up the tattered old hat that sat unmoving next to her but burst into life as she placed it gently down upon the chair beside her.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, one and all

While you are here, try not fall

Foul of the beasts, the mayhem, the riot

Let me tell you of gryffindor's who'll never keep quiet

For they are the chivalrous,

The brave,

And the strong

Listen to me carefully, heed to my song

Let me tell you of slytherin,

The pure and the cunning,

Seeking victory always, in the race they are running

Now of ravenclaw, great heads on their shoulders

who will pore over books, over scrolls,

over folders

for they are tactical, thoughtful and wise,

With keen edged intelligence behind bright, noble eyes

Hufflepuff's are kind, with equality and fairness,

With good sense of justice,

they rarely are careless,

So now you have heard, of what you may be

So ask if you dare, come now...

Try me."

Evangeline watched, mesmerised as Professor McGonagall began calling names from a scroll she held in her taught wizened hands. Sometimes the hat would take only a second to decide, shouting a house name no sooner had it touched the delicate hairs on the various character heads. Then she watched as the curious case of the boy she had met, Harry Potter, as he argued strongly with the hat until it changed its mind and placed him begrudgingly into Gryffindor as he asked. She was impressed and couldn't decide which house she wanted to be in, she knew that she had to find the potions master, Severus Snape and deliver the message in her hand and she understood that he was the head of slytherin house. But she couldn't help but feel that she didn't possess the attributes for slytherin.

"Evangeline Taylor" The sharp voice cut her thoughts rather like a scalpel this time and she walked toward the front of the hall shuddering slightly as coursing ripples surged her tiny body and her heart beat a most violent tattoo against the inner workings of her chest.

Still shaking, she felt the hat slide onto her head...encasing her and sloping over her eyes so that she could see only the dark weathered fabric as the brim of the sorting hat tickled the bridge of her nose.

"hmm, a difficult one. I feel you shiver girl, no need to be afraid I will sort you will the diligence and care I have applied for centuries. Alas, you are difficult to decipher for you contain contrasting attributes that suit you various places, you are clever and thoughtful...most prized by ravenclaw. But I sense within you, despite the shaking form I am presented with, lies inner strength and a core stability of unfaltering determination. Yet, something in you suggests you are linked in some way to slytherin, but you are so mismatched, maybe hufflepuff is your destiny, you seem a quiet and sweet girl."

"Eh hem" interrupted McGonagall, imploring that the sorting hat move along.

"Gryffindor"

A shocked silence fell over the room quickly before a slightly more subdued cheer from the Gryffindor tables. As the hat was lifted and the huge, fawn like eyes stared out with a look of terror etched across the sweet features, she sure didn't look like a Gryffindor...but the sorting hat was never wrong, was it?

Her body still racked with shivers and shakes she struggled to place one trembling foot in front of the other, walking toe to heel with the delicate softness of a feline or ballet dancer as if struggling against the fervent want to sink into the cool stone floor. Taking a seat with her fellow gryffindor's she felt hands patting her back and shoulders and could hear mumbled cheers, they were certainly friendly it seemed. What was she so worried about?

The following half hour or so passed in a blur and she was aware of no more than a distant drone from the hat that called out various house names and mused every now and again. She was fixated now, upon the skulking image of the potions master, Professor Severus Snape whose pallid expression looked blank, even scornful as he watched over the hall. He had a hook like nose and black curtains of hair that added to the sullen expression and overall dull outlook that resonated from the inky black eyes. She was still clutching the crumpled piece of parchment, with the spidery writing and smudged water stains from her adoring mother. She didn't know what it contained, just been told prior to leaving;

"Eva, you must give this to the potions master. His name is Professor Snape, he has black hair and is the head of slytherin house. You must give it to him without reading it, you will know in time but for now you must resist and we shall enjoy what time we have."

Her mother had been crying, and what she said had been making little sense. She made it sound like something was going to change forever? She was only going to school...It made no sense, even less so as Evangeline thought back over it.

"You're such a sweet child, I am blessed for you to call me 'mother'"

"But, you are my mum" Evangeline had laughed, fending off her teary mothers hands as they rearranged her hair and cradled her ivory cheeks.

"That's right" she had replied. It really did make very little sense, but she couldn't read the letter and she had to give it to Snape when she got the chance and she was sure that chance couldn't be far away. For now though, she would settle and stop poring over her memories of earlier that day because it didn't mean a thing, not a single thing...and that is what she would keep telling herself. It was then that the prestiged headmaster, Albus Dumbledore stood up to make a speech before the feast.

"Welcome students, new and old, to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry..." but Evangeline was already beginning to phase out and all she was aware of was the distant noises of those around her...wrapped in thought and thinking with a mixture of excitement and trepidation about the following days, weeks and year.