NOT A SNAKE IN THE GRASS

Outcast

For the red-haired girl with the pointed face and very pale skin, Hogwarts was the worst possible place to be in despite the hundreds of wizard and witch hopefuls who roamed the corridors and studied there.

"Did you see Sirius?"

"Shh. He'll hear us!"

Keira Mitri made it no secret that she detested Hogwarts. She would have chosen to be home-schooled or sent to Durmstrang instead, if not for the letter that arrived four years ago. The problem with her first option was that she really had no place to call home and the other was that Durmstrang only accepted boys and it was evident that her frail frame could not even pass for a skinny and nerdy boy.

"Crud and dragon turd!"

"Watch your mouth, Hannigan."

"No, that's what I need for my potions homework."

Truth be told, she was fairly brilliant who taught herself the rudiments of magic by the time she could read. Holed up in her room or in the attic of the Vey Manor, she managed to sneak long-forgotten books from the library and read them until dark or some househelp looked for her, whichever came first.

No one looked for her except for the governess who was actually paid to do that. Her mother particularly didn't care what she did as long as she didn't get in the way of her parents who were still in charge of the Vey family and all of its businesses in both the Muggle and Wizarding world. Keira could understand that. Her grandparents were very rich and powerful people; the patriarch was well-known in the wizarding community as a cauldron mogul whereas the muggle-born matriarch controlled some shipping industries that involved lobsters, crabs and an iceberg or two.

"My mom sent me another knitted sweater, do you want it?"

"No way, dude! What guy in his right mind would wear something with rainbows and unicorns?"

Her mother on the other hand, she could not understand. She was neither as charismatic and cunning as her father, nor as shrewd and aggressive as her mother. What Keira's mother was was beautiful- a model in fact. And as models went, she had one day eloped with a free-spirited painter who ditched her the moment she had Keira. As far her father was concerned, that was all that Keira knew and cared to know. She had read a similar story before and preferred to keep a romantic view of her life to keep herself entertained. End of story.

The bell rang and students began milling into the Great Hall for lunch. The potions master, Professor Slughorn, was immediately surrounded by the more popular kids. Keira avoided them but not fast enough as to miss overhearing the juicy tidbits of today's gossip.

"You left this," a female voice suddenly said over her shoulder.

Keira looked at the object. It was her book. She looked at the speaker and stared into eyes so green that it was like staring into the Slytherin banner back at the common room.

She took the book and mumbled a thank you. The speaker, Lily Evans, smiled and invited her for lunch. Her companions didn't even bother to hide their discomfort at the mere idea of it while Lily shushed them.

"No, thank you, I need to go to the library afterwards," Keira excused herself and smiled politely, fervently hoping that it didn't come out lopsided and freaky as it had done in many occasions. If there was a single thing she could have inherited from her mother, it was her pretty smile that could turn heads, make people stop and more often than not, convince them to do whatever you wished of them. That would be very convenient.

"She's nice. She's not like the lot of them, give her a chance," Lily reprimanded her friends as soon as she thought Keira was out of earshot.

"That's what you said about Severus Snape, Lily," someone piped in.

"You don't know Severus."

Then- "what are you eavesdropping for?"

Keira stopped, suddenly annoyed and she didn't even hide it. After all, the greasy-haired boy with the hooked nose and even surlier attitude wasn't worth the effort for polite pretense. "What's it to you, Snape?" she hissed, "I am the one who should be offended, being put in the same category as you."

He looked murderous. "Don't mess with Lily Evans, Mitri," he spat out.

She rolled her eyes, "what's it to me?" He let her pass and she didn't spare him another thought.

Lunchtime was excruciating. Breakfast she could manage since most of her schoolmates were either still half-asleep with their elbows in butter dishes or frantically copying some other person's homework propped against the milk jug. However, by lunch, everyone was wide awake and raring to get noticed.

Keira had learned that if you ignore people enough and don't excel in anything, people were bound to forget you existed until they realized you had a few Sickles they can borrow and conveniently forget to return. Fortunately, this was not one of those days and so she just ate and stared.

"Oi! Look, it's Snivellus."

Four boys made themselves the center of attention again. The school regarded them with words such as "exceptional," "brilliant," and "good examples;" with the exception of the mousy one who probably was a charity case in terms of friends. He has good manipulative skills, Keira thought, then again, he could just be some pathetic loser who got lucky.

"Washing not yet done, eh, Snivelly?" the one with the glasses gloated, "let me do it for you!"

There was a bright light and a jug of water poised itself above Snape's head. Snape, in turn, was pointing his wand furiously at the boy, eyes darting to and fro the others as he did so.

Keira yawned. She knew how it would turn out and could practically see the whole scene in her mind's eye. Any second, Lily would enter the scene and it would all be over. But then again, there was someone worth watching so she looked all the same.

"Potter, stop it! You're a prefect, don't you care what example you're showing to the first years" Lily reprimanded.

Bingo.

The boy with the wand grinned. "I will, just go out with me, Evans."

His companion with the black hair shook his head in amusement as her face reddened.

"How many times will I tell you to get lost?" Lily countered.

"Around a hundred more should do it, to make it an even thousand," the black-haired guy replied.

Potter sighed. "Yeah, way to go sticking up for your mate, Black," he waved his wand and the pitcher went back to its original position on the table. "You really should be grateful that a girl like her is sticking up for you smelly behind, Snivellus- no offense meant, Evans- cause you certainly ain't worth it."

"I don't give a damn, Potter," Snape retorted.

Potter's ears pricked. "What's that, Snivelly? You want a fight?"

Snape pushed forward, "what if I do?"

"I'd kick your stinking-"

"Oh why don't you all shut up?" Lily interrupted, brandishing her own wand.

Potter held up his hands in mock defeat. "Alright, alright. After all, that's what gentlemen do."

She glared at him, "you, Potter, are no gentleman." Before he could say anything else, she had turned on her heel and walked away with her sortie of female companions. Potter and his crew were left to their own devices with Snape trying to get out of their way.

That night, at the common room, the moment she entered, Snape sneered at her. "Come to laugh some more, Red?"

"Shut it, Sev," she taunted, "leave me alone."

Snape pointed his wand at her but she went past him without even flinching. He snapped, cast a body-bind spell and leered at her. "Don't call me that!"

Keira had the sudden urge to poke him in the eye now that he was close- so close that she could smell what he had for dinner; however, her finger won't even move and decided it was futile to physically threaten the guy. "She calls you that and you think of her as the greatest thing on earth."

"You make it sound degrading," Snape retorted, flushing a bit.

"Right. You know that you'd get in trouble if you don't lift this spell on me, Snape. Imagine, how it looks like: you picking on someone like me. That's so unfair, don't you think?" Keira said. Her toes were starting to tingle.

"That's only because they don't see right through you," he shot back; but he undid the spell and let her pass. "But guess what, you just got lucky the hat put you in Slytherin. You're nothing special and you know it, Mitri. We have nothing to gain by being with you. That's why we leave you alone."

She didn't look back.