Chapter 3: Sorting
The rest of the summer flew by and soon Severus was seeing his daughter off at Platform 9 ¾. "Dad, why do I have to ride the train? I'm so tired from having to get up early to leave Hogwarts to catch the train just to get on it and go back."
"It's tradition to ride the train, now I demand a hug." The normally dark and imtimidating potions professor opened his arms to which his daughter quickly filled.
"You know you will ruin your nasty reputation by hugging me in public." Chelsea said after pulling away from her father.
"You're my daughter and you will only go off to school for the first time once, besides if anyone says a word about it they will be scrubbing cauldrons with their toothbrush for the rest of their educational career."
Chelsea laughed. "Now that's my cruel and malicious daddy."
"Enough of your cheek. Now go on, make friends." Chelsea gave her father a final hug before heading onto the train.
There were so many compartments! Draco had told her where he usually sat so she made her way down the train. Eventually she saw the blond head, but was sad to see the compartment full.
"Chelsea! Guys, this is my cousin Chelsea Snape." He turned back to the first year. "We can make room." He motioned for two fat boys to squeeze closer together.
"It's alright, I'll find somewhere to sit." Draco nodded and returned to his friends as Chelsea walked down the train as it began to move.
She finally came to a compartment with only two girls; each looked close to her age. She recongized Hermione Granger right away from her bushy hair and the fact that her nose was in a book for third years. The other one had to have been a Weasley. Her father had told Chelsea about Ron and the rest of his family.
"Do you mind if I join you? Everywhere else is full." The Weasley girl shook her head vigourously and moved over on her seat to make room.
Hermione Granger looked up into the dark, black eyes of Chelsea Snape. "You are Snape's daughter aren't you? Chelsea, correct?" She nodded and sat down beside the Weasley. "You haven't seen a red head boy or one with glasses and messy black hair, somewhere else in the train has you?" Chelsea knew she meant Potter and his side-kick.
"Stop fretting Hermione, Harry and Ron are bound to turn up eventually." The red head stuck her hand out towards Chelsea. "I'm Ginny, the youngest Weasley. I bet your dad has complained a lot about my siblings."
Chelsea laughed and shook Ginny's hand. "I see to remember something about a Fred and George trying to steal a toilet seat last year."
"So they really did try to send me one! I thought they were kidding!" Ginny laughed and smiled at the girl. "You don't look a lot like your dad."
"Really? It might be the fact that I actually wash my hair." Even Hermione laughed at that one, before standing up and going to the compartment door to look for the boys again.
"I'll be back. Maybe they couldn't find us so ended up sitting with Neville." The bushy haired girl was out the door and down the hall.
"She's worried sick about leaving those two alone and I don't blame her. Ron, Fred and George all stole my dad's flying car to go and get Harry from his uncle's house. Hermione seemed almost as mad at their stupidity as mum when she found out!" Chelsea laughed, esily picturing the bushy haired girl's face.
"Dad says if it wasn't for Hermione sometimes, they would be expelled by now." Chelsea leaned back against the soft seat of the train.
"Ah, if Ron was expelled before Fred and George I think I could mis behave for the rest of my life and mum wouldn't care." The two girls laughed together and began sharing stories about Fred and George, Chelsea having heard some of the best from her father, and continued chatting happily for the rest of the ride.
Severus arrived at the head table just as the group of first years was brought in to be sorted. He had previously had to deal with Potter and Weasley stealing Arthur Weasleys car and flying it to school. If he had missed his daughters sorting, the Gryffindor boys would have spent every free minute of their existence chopping up disgusting animal parts for his potions.
Severus was positive Chelsea would go to Slytherin; not just because of her biological parents being who they are, but simply because she was the essence of all that is Slytherin. Cunning, resourceful, ambitious, yes, everything a good little Slytherin should be.
"Snape, Chelsea." Severus saw Dumbledore eye him quickly before diverting his attention back to the students.
The black haired girl gave a patented Snape smirked as she sat on the stool, less the second after the hat touched her head it quickly shouted "RAVENCLAW."
Chelsea jumped off the stool in surprise and glanced at her father. He was unsure of what to think. He had been so positive that she would be in his house, that she would follow her parents and the man who raised her.
He smiled reassuring to her and she smiled back and scampered off to the Ravenclaw table, but not before hugging the newest Weasley addition to Hogwarts, making Snape raise an eyebrow. The only living heir to the Lestrange line just hugged a Weasley. This would be an interesting year.
Severus didn't pay attention to the rest of the sorting, or Dumbledore's welcome speech. His daughter wasn't a Slytherin. He had been so sure, so positive. She was cunning and sly, but the more he thought about it, it was her smarts that made her all these things. And maybe Slytherin wouldn't have been good for her, did she need to follow Severus's own Death Eater example?
Chelsea couldn't look at her father again after the one glance. She didn't know if his smile was real and he really was alright with her sorting. Chelsea didn't mind though, she loved the idea of being a Ravenclaw. Ravenclaws were smart, which meant everyone in her dorm would study a lot and she wouldn't be pressured to get distracted. Anyways, blue had always been her favorite color.
She sat down beside a blond girl, who was another first year, and pulled her long strands of dark hair over her shoulder. "I'm glad to see you know about Hairnipers." The blond girl smiled friendly at Chelsea. "A boy on the train teased me about the length of my hair and when I told him that I was trying to avoid a harniper infestation he laughed at me!" The girl's voice was soft and dreamy.
"I'm sorry. I'm not really sure what you are talking about." Chelsea tried to sound nice, but the girl was rather annoying.
"Hairnipers, they don't like nesting in long hair. Surely that is why you keep your hair so long isn't it?" The girl didn't look at Chelsea while she spoke; only swishing the liquid in her glass.
"No, I've never actually cut it. My dad doesn't want me to for some reason." Chelsea took a sip of her own drink hoping the food would appear soon.
"Then your dad must know about them. Otherwise he would let you cut it like all the other dads do. My dad told me about hairnipers when I was real little and I haven't cut my hair since." Chelsea laughed. She couldn't imagine her father believing in something called a hairniper. The idea only brought a smile to her face. "It looks like we are the only girls in Ravenclaw this year." Chelsea glanced up, seeing the sorting ceremony was over and she quickly scanned the room for Ginny, finding her happily sitting between her twin brothers. "I hope you don't mind the fact that I sleep walk. If you'd like, we can leave the door open at night so the sound of it opening if I leave doesn't wake you."
Chelsea Snape was definetly beginning to like her only roomate for the next seven years.
As the feast ended Severus slowly walked to the Dungeons carefully avoiding the Ravenclaws. He had decided that he was proud of his daughter, but he wasn't ready to face her on it. The first years were sitting on the couches in the common room as he walked in.
Severus Snape had imagined this night since Bellatrix had dropped off the tiny child, but it involved him overlooking the first years to see a small girl with black hair and black eyes smiling back at him.
