My Brother's Keeper
by ChatterChick
Summary: Sophie Potter is the younger sister of the infamous Harry Potter. Her life at Hogwarts should be set, but things take an unexpected turn when she is sorted into Slytherin. Being green is never easy, especially when those cunning folk will befriend you just as fast as they would cut your throat.
A/N: I have made some changes regarding the curriculum at Hogwarts. I could post a longer explanation if wanted, but the short answer is that I removed astronomy and history of magic, and had the first years take maths, english, muggle culture and wizarding society. MC and WS are the attempt to introduce muggle-borns to the magical world and half-bloods/pure-bloods to the muggle world.
Chapter 3: Silver Serpents
Sophie felt as if she were in a daze as her feet led her to the Slytherin table. She glanced back at her brother's house. Ron's mouth had fallen open and Harry was trying to cover up his own look of shock. Tears pricked behind her eyes, but she quickly blinked them away. The last thing she wanted to do was to make an even bigger fool of herself by crying in front of the entire school.
Sophie Potter, The-Girl-Who-Cried was not something she wanted to be called. Although, maybe the headmaster would take pity and let her be re-sorted if she did.
She didn't though, and soon enough her foot had taken her to the long table. The Slytherin house had jumped to its feet in applause. Students eagerly shook her hand as she walked by them. "Welcome to Slytherin, Ms Potter!" she heard as she made her way to the end of the table where the rest of the first years had gathered.
"Here, Sophie," Astoria slid over to make room for Sophie to join her at the table. "I'm so glad we'll be together!"
"Y-yeah," Sophie shakily agreed.
Sophie had barely taken her seat when the Slytherin house burst into another round of applause. A girl with silky blonde hair was making her way over to their table. She sat across from Sophie and Astoria.
Sophie glanced back towards the sorting where another girl was joining the cheering Ravenclaws.
There still remained a few students left to be sorted. "Sekelsky" …, "Selwyn"…, "Summers"…, – then finally, the sorting ended with "Vane, Romilda!" who was sorted into Gryffindor. Sophie didn't even bother to watch the girl join the house that she should have been in.
Professor Dumbledore rose to welcome the students and gave a few odd words before letting them eat. Various conversations among the newly sorted Slytherins broke out. Astoria joined some of the others in friendly introductions, but Sophie just wanted to be left alone after the sorting.
She half-heartedly began filling her plate with food, her appetite had vanished.
"I wonder who the new Defence professor is," the blonde girl across from her wondered aloud.
Harry and Ron hadn't known who would take the post after Lockhart had become 'ill-disposed'. The textbook on their class list had given no clue either; it was the standard textbook that most defence professors recommended. Curious, Sophie glanced at the staff table to see who would be taking the new position. Her eyes met the friendly, tawny ones of her uncle and former tutor, Remus Lupin.
Remus was teaching? How long had he known? And he hadn't said a word all summer? Suddenly, Sophie felt her face burn. Remus had been at the staff table to witness her humiliation in front of the entire school.
"That's Remus Lupin," Sophie found herself contributing at last. "He taught my brother and me before Hogwarts."
The girl looked impressed. "He tutored Harry Potter in defence?"
"Well, not exactly. He taught us maths and history and writing." Sophie shrugged. "He's a really great teacher, I'm sure he'll be brilliant with Defence."
She wasn't sure if it was due to her foray into the discussion or the causal reference to her famous brother, but she caught the attention of the rest of the first years.
"That's promising," Astoria piped in. "Daphne said Professors Quirrell and Lockhart were both very knowledgeable, but neither could really get it across in a classroom."
Sophie wondered what her brother would say to Astoria's assessment of Lockhart being 'knowledgeable'.
The blonde-haired girl seemed interested in Sophie after that. She watched her over the course of supper and tried to prompt her into answering more questions. Astoria and the rest of the first years were much better conversationalists and Sophie wondered why the girl didn't join them.
"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," Sophie said after a while. She supposed it was only polite to try to be nice to her new dormmates.
"Nephele," she airily responded.
It wasn't just Nephele who had tried to prompt Sophie into speaking. The female prefect kept trying to include Sophie in the conversations, asking her opinion on various things or what she had heard so far.
Sophie was relieved once Dumbledore stood up to indicate that the feast was ending. There was a few announcements regarding Quidditch try-outs, new rules and the new professors. The applause she gave for Remus was the most enthusiasm Sophie could muster since being sorted in Slytherin. She was happy to see he received a good welcome. He looked right among the rest of the Hogwarts professors, dressed in brilliant midnight blue robes with silver embroidery.
Hagrid's introduction as the new Care of Magical Creatures professor had received a less enthused one, with only the Gryffindors and a few Hufflepuffs making much noise. Sophie joined in the applause, earning a few odd looks from the upper year Slytherins.
The female prefect, with her male counterpart, appeared at the end of their table once everyone began standing and clearing out of the hall.
She smiled at them, and introduced herself once more. "I'm Fiona Greystone, one of your prefects. This is Jason Greengrass, your other prefect. We'll be helping you while you adjust to Hogwarts, so don't be shy to ask us anything. Come along, we'll lead you back to the common room."
Sophie fell in step with Nephele on the way to the Slytherin common room. Astoria happily talked to the male prefect, who Sophie learned was her older brother, and made introductions.
"Monkshood." Jason said to the stone wall. A giant wood door appeared which he opened and allowed the first years through. "The password changes every two weeks, the new one will be posted on the notice board twenty-four hours before. Please do not give them out to friends in other houses."
Fiona continued, "Girls' rooms are in the passage on the left side, boys' rooms are in the passage on the right. Your trunks and things have been brought in from the train. Breakfast is served at seven-thirty in the Great Hall. We can all meet here in the common room so none of you get lost on the way there. Professor Snape, our Head of House, will give you your schedules in the morning."
The girls broke apart from the group, taking the passage to their new dormitory. A sign reading "First Year Girls" was on the first room.
"This is us," said one of the other girls. She opened the door and let out a startled gasp as Artemis dashed out of the room. "Merlin, someone's cat just escaped!"
"Just let him go," Sophie sighed. "He'll come back in the morning."
Each of the beds had one of their trunks at the end. Sophie found herself between one of the other girl's and Nephele's.
Sophie curled up in the bed and cried herself to sleep.
xXxXx
Sophie looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her school robes had gained the silver and green Slytherin crest over night and a house elf had laid out a selection of silver and green ties for her to choose from. The shops charmed the robes to reflect the house colour upon sorting and the former black lining had turned to emerald green. From now on, Sophie would be allowed to accessorize in neutral tones or emerald green and silver.
"The green and silver look good on you," Kitty kindly told her. "They bring out your eyes."
Sophie tried to give her new roommate a smile as she thanked her. She had found out in the bathroom this morning that her other roommates were Katharine Penrose and Lyssa Belby.
"Lyssa, are you done yet?" Nephele knocked on the bathroom door. "We're supposed to meet Fiona in ten minutes!"
It surprised Sophie how normal life in Slytherin was turning out to be. They were all still over-polite as they got to know each other and work out a routine in their shared bathroom. They had shared stories about home while getting ready. Sophie had confessed that her Uncle bought her all red and gold notebooks and Lyssa shared that hers were all blue and bronze. Nephele had charmed them green and silver so no-one would know they didn't get placed in their first choice. Not that that wasn't obvious in Sophie's case.
They were not at all how Harry and Ron described the Slytherins in their year. Sophie still vowed to stay far away from the likes of Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy though. Slytherin had a bad reputation for a reason.
"Hagrid says there isn't a wizard who went bad who wasn't a Slytherin." She could remember her brother saying after his first year.
She wondered what her brother thought of her now. What James and Sirius would think. While her dad had tried so hard not to prejudice them against any of the houses, she knew he didn't think much of Slytherin. And Sirius hated the Slytherin house. He and Harry would trade stories about all the evil gits in it.
She wondered what her mum would have thought. James had filled her head with stories about her mum growing up. He'd tell stories about her kindness, her cleverness, her courage. How Lily stood up against bullies and bigots in the wizarding world and how she died to save the people she loved.
She probably would be ashamed to have a daughter in Slytherin, Sophie thought miserably.
Finally, all five girls were assembled and ready to go to breakfast. The common room was much brighter in the morning. It was still eerie; the windows into the Blake Lake bathed the room in a greenish light. Large, suede emerald couches and armchairs were clustered into groups around the room. Along the walls were tables with cozy armchairs for students to do homework.
As promised, Fiona was waiting in one of the large green armchairs near the centre of the room. The first year boys must have already left with Jason. Sophie vaguely remembered the way back to the Great Hall, but was grateful Fiona had shown them all the same. It was certainly better than trying to navigate it by themselves.
Fiona wished them well and then left to join the rest of the fifth year Slytherins.
They were soon approached by none other than Severus Snape himself. Somehow, he looked worse in person than Sophie ever imagined. The greasy, unkempt black hair hung limp to his shoulders. The large, hooked nose. The sallow, yellowish skin. For once, Harry and Ron were rather accurate in their descriptions.
"Belby, Greengrass, Penrose – " Professor Snape read as he handed out their schedules. His lips curled as he reached her name. Snape's hatred of her father and brother seemed to extend towards her as well. He'd probably have her expelled just for existing. "Potter, Rosier. I'll be holding a mandatory meeting for all Slytherins in the common room tonight at seven. Do not be late."
He left quickly after that to speak with the sixth years about their schedules.
Mathematics was first thing in morning. Sophie was hoping to sit with Myron and Elliott, but was forced to sit with Astoria and Nephele when the Gryffindors clustered together. Professor Tan gave them an hour long quiz to assess what everyone had already been taught. Sophie sighed as she filled out questions and basic computations. From what Harry had told her, most of the fall term would be review to make sure everyone was on the same page. Everyone had attended different primary schools or received different tutoring from their parents. There were a few wizarding primary schools, but it hadn't been safe for Harry to attend one until he was nine and by then there wasn't much point. Remus had tutored her family along with the Longbottoms and McKinnons since they were young anyway.
Maths was followed by a period of Defence Against the Dark Arts. Harry had said the previous two years hadn't been much good, but Sophie knew Remus would be the best Defence professor Hogwarts had ever had.
"Welcome to Defence Against the Dark Arts." Remus greeted them. "I thought we'd begin today with a discussion about what are the Dark Arts and what we need defending against. Then we'll go over what we'll be looking at for the rest of the year. Can anyone tell me what we could need to depend ourselves against?"
"Curses," Myron volunteered.
"Some hexes and jinxes," a girl from Ravenclaw added.
"Thank you, Mr McKinnon and Ms – ?"
"Pfeffer."
"Five points to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Yes, the Dark Arts are largely a lot of unfriendly spells." Remus agreed. "Anything else?"
"Dark creatures," Lyssa's hand was raised this time. "Werewolves, vampires, trolls, banshees, - "
Remus nodded. "Excellent. Ms Belby, five points to Slytherin. Anything else?"
Sophie raised her hand this time. She remembered her trip to Knockturn Alley with Sirius. "Cursed objects?"
"Yes, thank you Ms Potter. Five points to Slytherin. I'd like you all to read the introduction in your textbook and then we'll move on to something a bit more interesting for today."
There was a large, rustling sound as the class pulled out their copies of The Dark Forces and flipped to the introduction chapter. After twenty minutes, Remus told them to put their books away. He asked some volunteers to summarize what they had read, and lead a short discussion on what they would be doing for the fall term.
Remus smiled, "Now, I promised we'd do something more interesting, didn't I? I suspect some of you are ready to take a crack at magic, so I thought we'd begin with a basic shield charm today."
They spent the rest of the period practising the incantation and wrist movements for a bubble shield charm. Remus walked around the room, poking at the shield bubbles produced. Most of them burst with a little probing or faded before he came around.
"I want to see those stronger by the end of the week. Class dismissed," he cheerfully announced at the end. Lowering his voice, he stopped by. "Sophie, a word?"
Sophie lowered her eyes and shook her head. She feared that a conversation with Remus would break her already shaky resolve and reduce her to tears again. "I – I can't stay, I should get to my next class."
"Why don't you stop by my office tonight after supper?"
"We have a meeting after supper, Professor Snape – "
"Oh, alright," Remus sighed, letting her leave with Astoria, who had been waiting by the door for her.
They were just in time to their English lesson. Again, Sophie had to sit with the Slytherin girls as a Gryffindor girl with thick, curly black hair had taken the seat next to Elliott and Myron, and two others had taken the seats in front.
Elliott shot her an apologetic look. "Hey Sophie, I'll see you at lunch?"
She nodded, but her smile quickly vanished at the Gryffindor girl's glare. She hastily took her seat with Astoria before Professor Appleton started roll call. The lesson passed quickly, with another brief introduction and outline of the term, and then Professor Appleton asking them to write a paragraph about their previous schooling to hand in.
Before long, they were making their way back to the Great Hall for lunch. Sophie excused herself from the group, wanting the chance to speak to her brother. Some of the first year Gryffindors gave her a curious look as she followed them to their table. She smiled nervously at them before sitting down to join Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"There's the Dark Witch," Ron greeted. "Have they made you pass a blood purity test yet?"
Sophie didn't bother to tell him she'd fail it anyway. Half of her grandparents were muggle.
"Shut up Ron," Hermione glared at him. To Sophie, she kindly said, "I'm sure not all of them are like Malfoy."
"The girls in my year seem nice," Sophie looked at her brother, who had so far remained silent. At least he hadn't said something cruel about her house yet. "Astoria's sister is in your year."
"Astoria?"
"Greengrass," she supplied.
"Greengrass is okay," Harry grudgingly agreed. "Just be careful around Malfoy."
Hermione directed the conversation after that, asking how classes were going and telling her about the new electives they had taken. They had just come from Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid. Harry and Ron took great delight in telling her how Malfoy had insulted a Hippogriff and had to be taken to the hospital wing.
Sophie laughed with them. "He'll probably be impossible in the common room tonight. I bet by the time I hear it, Buckbeak would have tried to rip his arm off."
She still had yet to meet the infamous Malfoy, but from her brother's stories, she imagined he'd like to exaggerate and show off.
Hermione fretted. "I'm worried he'll try to get Hagrid in trouble over this."
"He'll probably owl his Daddy." Harry scowled.
Feeling a bit heartened, Sophie rejoined the girls in her year for their afternoon classes. They had Theory of Magic, Introduction to Muggle Culture and Transfiguration. Again, it was mostly the professors reading over the syllabus and talking about what they would cover during the term. McGonagall got them started with turning needles into matches. None of them had managed to transfigure their needle by the end of the period, although Sophie thought hers was looking a little thicker and duller.
"Can't believe we have homework on the first day," Nephele grumbled as she tossed herself on her bed. "I thought this was supposed to be review."
"This is review," Lyssa replied. "Read the first chapter of Magical Theory, write twelve inches about our current knowledge of muggles and – "
"McGonagall gave us an essay for next week!"
Sophie realized why it seemed that Harry and Ron did nothing but homework and class. There didn't feel like much time to do anything else.
"Owl post," Astoria suddenly interrupted.
Astoria opened the window next to her four-poster bed and James' great horned owl, Rumplestiltskin, flew into the room. Sophie was surprised, she hadn't even written home yet. She was going to give a letter to Hedwig whenever Harry did.
"I don't have any owl treats," she apologized as she untied the scroll around Rump's left foot. Rump gave, in her opinion, a rather filthy look at that admission. "You'll have to go to the owlry if you want food."
Kitty offered him one of her owl's treats and stroked his neck, cooing at what a handsome owl he made. With Rumplestillskin content, Sophie returned her attention to the rolled parchment in hand. A pair of letters fell out as she unrolled it, one from her dad and one from Sirius. Apparently Remus had written after the sorting, worried about Sophie.
Her dad had written a good foot about how much he loved her, and he was proud of her and how Slytherin gained the best witch it could want. Your house doesn't define you, he had written. Don't listen to your brother about all dark wizards coming from Slytherin. Gryffindor doesn't have the cleanest reputation either.
She had wondered what he meant by that. If only he had listed a few evil Gryffindors that she could throw in Harry and Ron's faces. Even if they had been nice about her sorting at lunch, that didn't mean they had let up the jokes at Slytherin's expense.
Sirius' letter was much shorter, but it made her laugh as he listed off all the 'good' Slytherins he had known. His cousin Andromeda and his uncle Alphard were high on his list. A few other Hogwarts professors were mentioned. Her grandmother had even been a Slytherin.
Sophie smiled, feeling a bit lighter now that her family had responded. Maybe she could survive this house.