Never Forget
A/N: This was supposed to go up yesterday, but in my defense, I just started chemo last Saturday –and I did not expect for it to be so draining. Oh well, I have it here now. Thank you for all the kind reviews. I hope you enjoy this short chapter.
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Chapter 2: First Day
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The First Slytherin House Meeting of that year went without a hitch, with Professor Snape delivering his usual about unity and camaraderie amongst his snakes. Now, only seven people remained with him in the common room; this year's firsties.
The House of Snakes acquired Samantha Birmingham, Nola Pressman, Damon Edgemont, Charles Riverton, Blake Rookwood, Emma Warrington and last, but not the least, Seraphim de Noir. All seven were seated on the floor in a semi-circle, around the overstuffed armchair the Potions Master sat in. He fixed each and every one of them a subdued glare –well, almost everyone; he could not, for some reason, bring himself to look at those emerald eyes. The Head of Slytherin cleared his throat.
"Very well," he began, pulling out seven identical sheets of parchment from his robes. "I shall not be keeping you any longer. These questionnaires –" he gestured to the scrolls in his hands and passed it out. "Shall be filled with appropriate responses and handed to me tomorrow after dinner. That should give you enough time. All of my snakes are required to do so as they come in. Do not worry about answering truthfully. Those are charmed so that only I may read them. With that being said, you may go. I expect nothing but proper decorum from you all –at all times. Remember what I said about our House. We cannot afford to be divided amongst ourselves –that would just leave room for people to weaken us further. Am I making myself clear?"
A chorus of "Yes, Professor," rang as Severus stood up and made his way to his office without another word, his black robes billowing behind him.
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"Professor Snape does not seem to be as scary as what those other kids made him out to be in the train," Sam whispered to her fellow first years as the man stalked away from their group.
"My dad says he went to school with him –says the Professor is smart but subdued," said Blake.
"He hates me," Seraph put in dejectedly. He hadn't even finished his first day at Hogwarts and he already felt like crap. Why would Professor Snape hate him already? It's not like he had even spoken to the man yet. But those discreet sideway glances couldn't amount to anything but animosity in his young opinion.
"That's rubbish, Seraph! Why do you say that?" Emma asked incredulously.
Seraph sighed.
"I –I just feel like he's wary of me or something –" He then shook his head. "Never mind, maybe I'm just missing my mom. We should all go to sleep. We can't afford to be late on our first day in class."
Six heads nodded and murmured heir assent. The seven new snakes then all went up to their dormitories, thus ending their first night at Hogwarts castle.
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Seraph was up before dawn the following day, finishing his letter to his mom. His new owl, the gray screech he called Nebula, was perched but the foot of his four-poster bed. The emerald-eyed boy then sighed as he sealed the envelope he was holding. He turned to his owl.
"Make sure she gets this, okay?"
The owl hooted affirmatively and took off with his young master's missive.
"Seraph? Why are you up so early?" It was his roommate, Charlie. The boys shared –two to a room, with Damon bunking with Blake. The three girls huddled up in one large room. Seraph smiled at the blonde, blue-eyed boy.
"Just finishing a letter for my mom,"
"Oh, okay. Well, you want to go and get breakfast early? We could snatch some good seats if we're early." Charlie said.
"Sure, but let's drop by Sam's room first. I promised her we'd go down to breakfast together."
Charlie grinned.
"She's your girlfriend of some sort, huh?"
Seraph flushed.
"No. She's just my friend –let's go, I'm starving!"
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Half an hour later, the seven Slytherin first years made their way to the Great Hall in a group. On their way there though, they managed to bump into a pair of identical redheads.
"Ooh, look it –"
"Ickle –"
"Firsties –"
"What –"
"Fun!"
The twins gave the little snakes a couple of conniving looks before reaching for something in their pockets.
"Fred! George!" A girl with bushy brown hair appeared behind the twins. "You'd better not be doing what I think you're doing to those first years!"
"Aw, come on, Hermione –"
"We were –"
"Just –"
"Having –"
"A bit of –"
"Fun!" The two chorused, looking a bit put out. They walked away, but not after throwing longing glances back at Seraph's group.
The brunette girl sighed.
"I hope they weren't bothering you much"
Seraph shook his head.
"No, miss,"
The girl smiled.
"I'm Hermione Granger, third year – Gryffindor, you can see –"
"Seraph de Noir –and these are my friends. Thank you for interfering –I could sense that those two were up to something,"
Hermione waved him off.
"Fred and George are a lot of fun –they just don't know how to rein it in, especially with first years."
"I thought they were picking on us because we were Slytherins," Blake said curtly. Hermione looked like she was to say something to negate that fact, when a couple of voices called her attention.
"There you are, Hermione!" Another redhead. "See Harry? 'Told you she'd be here already. Come on, I'm starving!"
The other boy with jet black hair and emerald eyes laughed.
"You're always hungry, Ron." He then glanced at Hermione, then at Seraph, with a questioning look. Hermione smiled.
"Harry, Ron, these are Seraph and his friends –"
"But they're snakes!" Ron the redhead blurted out. "What are you doing consorting with the enemy, Mione?" Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Oh, honestly! They're not enemies, Ron. And I've just saved them from another of Fred and George's attempted schemes –"
"WHAT –"
While his two best friends bickered on the righteousness of Gred and Forge, Harry extended his hand out to Seraph.
"Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Harry,"
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"He's nice" Sam breathed out. The seven young snakes were done with breakfast and now, headed to their first class: Charms with tiny Professor Flitwick and the Hufflepuffs.
"For a Gryffindor, yeah," Damon agreed.
"He's Harry Potter. He's supposed to be nice," Charlie said. Blake scoffed.
"You mean, he's supposed to hate us. We're Slytherins. He's in Gryffindor. They hate us all. Did you hear the redhead friend of his?"
"But the girl –Hermione –she was nice," Nola argued. "Maybe not all of them are hateful towards us Snakes." She then turned to Seraph, who as of that day became their sort of ring leader. "What do you think, Seraph?"
"I think he's okay," Seraph said off-handedly. He was born in France and raised in the United States. He knew Harry Potter, but he was not brought up in blind hero-worship of the Boy-Who-Lived unlike his friends were.
"You know what, Seraph? I think you look a bit like him," Emma said quietly. Seraph looked at her inquiringly. Sam on the other hand, stared at Emma, then eventually at Seraph.
"Your eyes… you have his eyes…"
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The day passed by almost unnoticed to Severus. It had been an uneventful day filled with his 6th and 7th year NEWT classes. Tomorrow would be a horror though; he'd be sitting in his most volatile class of all time: 3rd year Gryffindor and Slytherin. In his opinion, any class with Neville Longbottom in it was almost like signing a death warrant.
He was now sitting in his office, fire burning brightly in the grate. He had just finished grading summer homework. It was almost curfew. A head popped through his slightly ajar office door.
"Professor?"
"Miss Birmingham," the girl blushed slightly at the acknowledgement before proceeding.
"Here are the questionnaires, sir,"
"Please set them down on my desk. Then, you may leave."
A stack of parchment was placed on top of his handsome mahogany desk.
"Goodnight, Professor,"
Severus nodded as the girl closed the door behind her. He had not been expecting Samantha Birmingham to be the one delivering the answered sheets. He had been watching his little snakes all day, and he was well aware that the group had chosen Seraph de Noir as their unofficial leader. He had seen the earlier altercation between them and the Golden Trio. Had the boy caught on and was now avoiding him?
Severus rubbed the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache come on.
The boy probably thought him a lunatic. He had no outright reason to hate young Mr. de Noir, or avoid him, or be wary of him –he haven't even talked to the boy yet!
Except for that dream –the one that had been plaguing him for more than a decade now.
The Potions Master sighed. He needed to figure it out soon, for his sanity's sake, at the very least. He poured himself a glass of scotch and reached for the stack of questionnaires. He thumbed through all of them until he reached the last one.
Name: Seraphim de Noir
Nickname: Seraph
Birthday: June 300, 1982
Birthplace: Marseilles, France
Mother: Callista de Noir…
Severus felt a strange pull. He surely did not know a 'Callista de Noir.' Why did that name stirred feelings of familiarity in him? He shook his head. It must be the scotch. He continued reading.
Father: …
He did not get past the next line. He read and re-read that line until he fell asleep in his chair. His last thoughts were…
'Is the boy mocking me?'
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A/N: How is it going so far? Do you like the pacing? Too fast? Too slow? More details? Please let me know! –C.
