Soul of the Badger
Chapter Two: A Slytherin HufflePuff – The First "Dark" HufflePuff.
The usual hustle and bustle befell the first years as they were gathered for the final step in their journey, as were the experienced years – returning students gathered for their journey back to school, in lines and in separate directions towards Hogwarts. The first years were to take the boats, second and up took carriages pulled by magical invisible beasts or by magic itself.
Hagrid, Professor MacGonogall, an obvious Gryffindor, and by her side was a rather round man of middle wizarding years, one who Severus recognized from his mother's description of the Potions Professor and Head of Slytherin House, Horace Slughorn whom Eileen had told her son about. The man was a collector, a connoisseur of sorts. He collected people and favors. He was a snob of sorts. He liked to hob knob it with the rich and powerful. He only paid attention to those whom he believed to be worth his time. Those with a talent or power or money were key to Old Sluggy's connections.
"Old Sluggy likes to pretend he's an equal opportunities kind of Slytherin but even he has his short comings. If you don't have talent, you don't exist." His mother warned him. "Be careful of him but win him over to your talents. He may never like you personally, but he will do anything to further a truly talented student, just so he can tell others that he helped you. Never forget that once he's helped you, you'll owe him small gestures of friendship for life." She had instructed. "Show the man your gifts in potions Severus, and he will take you under his wing and show you the world of potions. He will make sure you go far, son."
Severus would do his best to get the Professor to notice his talent as his mother had told him to. He knew that with Sluggy Slughorn on his side his potions mastery as well as the best in apprenticeships was only a few short years away.
The Sorting Hat song:
End sorting hat song.
"Sirius Black"
Slytherin seemed to be waiting for their future brother only to lose their breath in shock as the Hat called out. "GRYFFINDOR"
After several more names were called, Lily Evans was then called forward to take the sorting hat upon her head. Lily was of course sorted into the Horrible and Brainless House of Gryffindor. Severus scowled and felt a crushing disappointment. He had hoped she would at the very least be sorted into Ravenclaw. She was far too clever for a thoughtless arrogant brainless house as Gryffindor.
More names, then. "Remus Lupin"
"GRYFFINDOR"
More names, then. "Lovegood "
"HUFFLEPUFF"
and then "Lovegood" again
"RAVENCLAW"
Then More names, then. "Peter Pettigrew"
"GRYFFINDOR"
More names, then. "James Potter"
"GRYFFINDOR"
Severus scowled, then glared hatefully. How dare those toe rags get into the same house as his sweet vibrant Lily Evans! It was horrifying. It was rotten luck. The damned hat had to be rigged somehow.
Then at long last his name was called. "Severus Snape"
Severus walked with dignity towards the stool with the hat that would sort him onto his destined path. He smirked knowingly. He knew he would be sorted into Slytherin. He had been raised and trained from birth to go into Slytherin, though Ravenclaw would be a happy second.
"ahhh, ahhh, you are a difficult one. Hmmnn. Let's see, let's see. You treasure your friendship and are loyal to a fault, brave even while terrified, a warm yet cold heart with ambitions both your own and your mothers but it is for your mother most of all and for young Miss Evans that keep you strong. You believe in justice though you wish for vengeance. Signs of justice and loyalty. You treasure your friends. You have many fine qualities and yet, though Slytherin house is where you seek it is not for you." Murmured the Hat.
Severus found himself sitting there in the great hall arguing mentally with the sorting hat letting it know how idiotic it was being; that there was absolutely no way he belonged anywhere other then in Slytherin, acceptable even possible Ravenclaw; but no other house would do!
What was this Sorting Hat getting to?
"A family true and loyal, love and understanding, the just minded, no other shall do!" insisted the Hat. "Trust me, I am never wrong. I know what's best. Your strongest characteristic is loyalty. Where do the loyal go?"
The hat had to be as mad as Dumbledore was rumored to be! It had to be toying with him. This couldn't be happening.
"Listen here sorting hat, I do not belong in…" and before he could finish that sentence the hat shouted out "HUFFLEPUFF"
The Hat tried to jump off his head and return to McGonagall but Severus jammed that hat down over his nose and ears growling, hissing.
"I don't fit in with Hufflepuff! I was raised to be in Slytherin! What about my thirst for knowledge? I should go to Ravenclaw. I am no Hufflepuff." He argued incensed.
McGonagall struggled with the surprisingly strong grip the child had on the Hat's rim. But her strength, that of an adult, overruled the furiously arguing child's grip. The Hat finally freed of the child's head gave a laugh and cried. "Trust me! HufflePuff, you've a Badger's soul, a true descendent of Helga herself, though your Badger self is far from the European stock."
Frustrated and horrified, he shot one last glare at the mad hat. He was terribly disappointed. None of his Mother's plans, or his own plans for that matter, had taken into account the perversity that Dumbledore would infuse into Hogwarts and into the Sorting Hat itself.
Life had never been fair for Severus Snape or for Eileen Prince; why should it start being fair now?
Life wasn't fair. That was the truth. Life gave you hardships and every now and then there was something to thank life for. The rare ice cream cone, the Toad he'd found as a Sprog and raised into Maximus and there was Lily. Lily would not abandon him. Lily made life worth living. She was a light in his dark and bleak existence. Fate had brought her to him probably for this moment, so he could take strength in the fact that she would never abandon him or think little of him for being a….
A….
A ….
A ….
He couldn't say it. He couldn't even think it.
It was enough to tear out his hair. But he refrained from doing so. He'd already humiliated himself enough for one day. He didn't want to look insane on top of being argumentative with a stupid hat.
He would overcome this obstacle as he had so many others in his life. Maybe there was something of a …a…a… still can't think it or say it, in his nature after all. One thing Severus Snape was not was a quitter. He would work hard and make his dreams come true. He would save himself and he would save his mother from that horrible life of theirs in Spinners End. He was not afraid of hard work or making his ambition take fruition.
Severus glared down at the badge that had taken form on his breast over his heart, the shape of a yellow and black shield with a proud yet seemingly sweet looking badger in the center of it, denoting his house. The badger house.
His pristine hand-me down black robes now had a stripe of yellow down the seems also indicating his house. Yellow and Black.
Hufflepuff colors.
Badger colors.
What was he going to tell his mother? How was he going to tell her that he was not in Slytherin? She would be so completely miserable, so completely devastated, with the news. Severus felt sick at having caused this newest disappointment for his mother. He couldn't tell her and yet, he could not keep this from her. He had to tell her.
He gagged for a second feeling his stale bread sandwich from the train trip come up a little. He forced it back down. He would not dare throw up, no matter how much he wished to. He would endure as he had endured such things before.
What was he going to do? Take the coward's way out and lie to her? No way! What kind of son would he be if he lived a lie? She deserved better from her son. He would not become his father. He would find the strength, somehow, to tell her the news.
Mum, you have a ….a…" he felt faint, "I can't even think it! How am I going to write it on parchment and tell her it?
He had to man up. He had to face his new house mates. Gathering what little dignity still remained in his spine he turned towards his new housemates and pseudo-family for the next seven years. He had to eventually face his mother but he didn't have to do so right this moment. Not while there was a table full of feast and new housemates taking his measure as he was theirs.
The table of Hufflepuff students watched him. They were most of them round and jolly, or average and good natured; they seemed like laid back sorts with easy smiles, and shy or nervous natures. Many of them seemed to take after Germanic or Norwegian wizard descendants.
Severus sighed. He knew he didn't belong to such a group of jovial sorts. He was dark, broody, macabre, scowling, tempestuous, smirky, sarcastic, even morbid and a little on the deranged side. He was too skinny, too sour, too sallow, too dark. He was a child of the night. He had insomnia and nightmares. He rarely slept or had any sort of joy and there had to be vampire somewhere in his lineage because the sun made his skin itch and he tried to avoid the sun as much as possible because of it.
They were all of them even the dark haired ones golden gods compared to Severus Snape, the dark freak from Spinners End.
And to top it all, he liked the dark arts and had a passion and gift for potions. There was no possible way he was going to fit in with Hufflepuffs.
Once he was finished taking their measure his attention went directly to the table full of feast. So much food, so much to drink and eat. What to start with? How would he even manage to eat all of it? He'd never seen so much food in his life, let alone eaten anything remotely this filling or sweet, succulent tender meats, puddings, pies, tarts, pumpkin juice, milk, and fresh clean water finished off the many foods and beverages available in the feast set out on the splendid and large table.
Severus had a deft hand at pocketing food and did so as his fellows dug in to their helpings. Carefully pilfering extra slices of meat and rolls and pocketing them in one of the many secret pockets in his mother's old school robe. He felt almost happy. He would store the food somewhere safe and preserve it for later when he could eat again.
He took a moment to gaze away from the food and from his self pitying thoughts to give Lily a look of worry; Lily, who was sitting at the Gryffindor table smiling at him holding up her thumbs in a gesture of support. He felt slightly better at that, and grinned back at her for a moment before taking his seat at the Badger table and his usual none smiling look.
Would she be all right in a house with those dunderheads in it? He fervently hoped so. As he finally took his seat at the Hufflepuff table and began pilfering the food in a sneaky, non verbal magic "notice me not" way. He almost jumped as he felt a hand touch his shoulder in what was actually a friendly gesture of welcome.
He blinked in shock. Who was touching him? Why were they touching him? Did they not know of the term personal space?
"Welcome Severus Snape!" a tall golden blonde young man greeted him warmly and placed his hand on his shoulder clasping it for a moment before letting go.
"Please don't touch me." He purred silkily, in that tone which Lily or any Snape would have recognized for the danger sign of immanent doom that it was.
"Oh, sure, no problem; I am your friendly Prefect, Gus Smythewick, as well as one of the welcoming committee. Welcome to Hufflepuff, Snape. We're pleased to have you with us!" He smiled brilliantly at him.
Severus shuddered as he witnessed white, white teeth, gleaming and sparkley, so white they were practically blinding. Who the hell had such teethe? Was it even natural? It couldn't possibly be natural; Perfect manners, Perfect looks, a veritable Hercules.
Severus suspected the nice act wasn't an act. Smythewick felt to Severus like some comic book hero, like Captain America, or Captain Awesome, or Thor, or whatever it was. Severus liked comic books but rarely could afford to buy them so his knowledge was rather erratic in the areas of comic books and their starring heroes.
Severus could only narrow his eyes and hope the older youth would leave him alone once the greeting was out of the way. Smythewick wasn't the only one or the last one to greet him to the House of …., Severus just couldn't think it. He was not a… well you know! He just wasn't one no matter what that scrap of old leather had said in sorting him.
Severus manfully survived every pat on the shoulder every smile and every greeting, answering each with a grunt and keeping his mouth full of food so he didn't have to say anything back to them. He pilfered food under their oblivious noses, sneaking little tid bits away into secret pockets inside of his robes, where he would eventually keep potions secreted away, while they talked to him or went back to conversing with others at the table. He managed to somehow keep down his meal and even enjoy it as well as a bite of dessert before his stomach finally protested and he listened to it.
Maximus croaked and hopped around the table taking his time to rudely eat from one person's plate or another. The greedy toad didn't seem to care for manners as he hopped, hopped, hopped over to the loud and grating Gryffindor table to make himself cozy in Lily Evan's flaming red and bronze hair.
In some lights Lily's hair really did look like a fire's blaze. It was a unique and beautiful color just like her eyes. A very rare and perfect green emerald, clear and pure, possibly inherited from some faerie being. Llly was one of a kind and even his toad was in love with her.
Severus glowered at his rude toad.
Maximus, you ruddy toad! How dare you leave me to the mercy of these… of this table all alone? Traitor! Severus fumed silently.
After all I've done for you. Raising you, feeding you, giving you a nice and cozy aquarium, my time and love, as well as keeping you hidden from my father who would have fried you up for frog legs or frog gumbo!
"Maximus." He snarled, low and threatening. "Treacherous, rude, vain, ill mannered, glutton!"
The frog merely shook his smug head at his daddy and snuggled more thoroughly into Lily's warm hair. Lily giggled and petted Maximus.
"Oh Maxy, I love you too. But I think Severus would appreciate your company, don't you?"
Maximus chirruped, let fly his tongue to drag an irritating dragonfly into his wide mouth and chomped on it happily.
"I told you Lily, his name is Maximus. He was not named for a female product."
Lily snickered good natured at the joke they shared between them. "Of course he's not. He's Maxy with a why, not an aye."
Severus snorted disdainfully. 'Maximus, I don't want to lose you. We're about to make our way to the…" curl of his lip in a silent sneer, showing a small bit of fang, "to our new home for the school year."
The toad was as stubborn as its wizard and would not be budged from his nest in his Lily's hair. Severus glared eye to eye with his toad as he tried to grasp his toad and dig him out of Lily's hair. Lily winced as Maxy clung desperately to her hair, little amphibian hands and feet gripped flame hair, wiggling this way and that to keep Severus from dislodging him even with Lily's persistent cooing and delicate finger work the toad would not budge from his lady love.
With a huff and a sniff, Severus growled, "Fine, Maximus, you leave me no choice." Flick and swish. "Accio Maximus, my Toad Familiar."
The frog was forced from its place on Lily's head. The frog looked if possible very discombobulated as he scrambled for a hold of anything to keep him anchored to the human witch he loved even above his love of his wizard as the magic took hold of him and floated him from his nest of sweet smelling hair and into Severus' unforgiving grip.
"I did warn you." Chastised Severus. Hugging his toad firmly to his chest. He turned smartly on his heel and headed back to his table, leaving Gryffindor mouths agape. Severus Snape had just done what was basically a fifth year level spell.
The feast concluded he waved at Lily as she like he followed his year mates into a line following behind their prefects who were to show them the way around Hogwarts and to their rooms.
"Goodnight Sev, hope to have a class with you!"
He felt himself blush and nod and he found himself calling, "The same, me too Lily, Good night!"
Many of the other Hufflepuffs smiled at him grinning warmly accepting him openly as well as accepting his friendship with Lily.
Severus was glad for that. Before coming to Hogwarts his mother had also warned him of the rising tide of discontent in the wizarding world and the rise of the dark lord who was seeking the annihilation of half-bloods and mud-bloods.
She warned him that his friendship with Lily might cause danger and attention to himself in the Slytherin dorms but since he wasn't in Slytherin he now realized he didn't have to fear a possible breakup with Lily Evans.
But he did still have to be aware and be careful of any bigotry that might come his or Lily's way.
"She seems like a very nice girl, you have there, Sev." One of the other Hufflepuffs commented
Severus scowled saying coldly, "Lily is my friend, please refrain from calling me Sev. It's Severus or Snape, not Sev."
"Oh, okay sorry about that Severus." The boy grinned as if he knew a secret but just let it go as they walked to the dorms that would be their home for the next seven years.
Severus groaned inwardly thinking. Seven years! How will I survive it? What if I don't have any classes with Lily? That would be dreadful. I don't know if I could handle that, being separated from her until holidays and summertime, it would just be so difficult to be in the same school and not see her except at meal times.
The two prefects the boy Gus and the girl Adelaide Godwin. Prefect Godwin had corn silk blonde hair. It was styled in a Norse type braid, coifed perfectly in fall colored flowers sprouting out from along the braid every so often as if the hair itself were a vine from a tree.
Severus again could not believe he was in the company of Hufflepuffs. They were so dotty and pleasant and, and happy! How was he ever going to fit in here?
Interrupting his thoughts a boy in his age group, a fellow first year, long blonde hair tied back in some strange thong with flowers, flowers? Seriously, flowers, on a boy? His mother would hardly approve. No Snape or Prince would. Severus sneered at him. But for whatever reason the Hufflepuff, he supposed the boy was an oblivious dunderhead as well as an addled one. Were those tie-dyed dress shirts under those robes? Oh good lords and ladies above! The kid had no sense and no style awareness. Beads wreathed his neck and wrists as well as bells at his ankles.
"Hi, I am Milo-Xylatou, yes, it is hyphenated and it's supposed to be a single name!" the boy continued to smile. He looked a little crazed. His eyes were the vivid green of the peridot, with just a slight hint of gold, an ideal gemstone color to go with that light summer robe in witch magazine. Milo's eyes held a mix of humor and strangely an unsettling amount of wisdom peeking outward staring Severus's obsidian eyes into gentle submission. A feeling of otherworldliness filled him as he continued to gaze into those light green and gold depths. Perhaps Milo-Xylatou was one of those that were said to be touched by the sight, or maybe he was just insane.
"Oh! And my last name is Lovegood! But please, please call me Milo or Milo-Xylatou, or Xylo, anything but Lovegood. It makes us sound like strangers, and we aren't going to be strangers, you and I, Severus, we are going to be fast friends, the best of friends! I am sure of it. We're going to be den brothers, and I really think we are going to become the best of friends!" he continued to insist.
"Maybe…" he mused reserving his right to say no, to this controversial friendship in the near future. Severus shifted his eyes left and right looking for an escape from the exuberant insane Milo-Xylatou Lovegood.
The kid seemed to sense Severus hesitance or rather his flight instincts and he grabbed on to Severu's wrist in a friendly grip which Severus tried to dislodge any number of ways, including knocking their joined hands into the door frames of any classroom that came into the vicinity.
Milo continued to blabber on and on to Severus trying to engage him in conversation. "My favorite subject is magical creatures, though I heard Professor Kettleburn is a bit dozy when it comes to creatures, so I don't know if we will learn as much as we should with the man constantly getting bits of himself eaten away after one disaster or another in Care of Magical Creatures."
The boy was a little taller then he and so strange. He had Severus curious as to know how this Milo-Xylatou Lovegood could be so sure of them becoming the "best" of friends.
"You'll see, we will," insisted Milo, "I had a dream about you, my surly friend. We're going to be great together! oh the things we will do! The adventures we will have." Exclaimed the lunatic with an eager grin and further sparkling peridot eyes. Severus tried very hard not to shiver in fear of this lunatic, he would not show fear, he would not!
Milo-Xylatou was so exuberant about the fact that they were going to be best of friends and have wonderful times to come together that he practically danced through the halls. Severus was trying hard to stay in the shadows and as far away from the strange puff as possible; hoping like crazy that no one would mistake him for a companion of Milo-Xylatou's.
Severus curled his lip rolled his eyes and heavily sighed but what could he expect from a bunch of Hufflepuffs? Or rather he was learning what he could expect from this strange boy named Milo-Xylatou Lovegood.
TBC