Chapter 4: Of Slytherin Commons and "Friends"
Emilia wished the Hat could have stayed on her head a moment longer because she was sure she wasn't in control of her expression. The Slytherins, however, were cheering loudly and beckoning her to join them. Emilia looked longingly at the Gryffindor table before walking steadily to the table that lay under the silver and green banner, the snake curled tauntingly on the banners façade.
It hurt her heart to see the downcast looks of Lily and Remus as she sat on the side of the Slytherin table that would allow her to at least make eye contact with them when possible. She sat as if she were petrified, her eyes glazed over as they cast her gaze on the table and the perfectly shined tableware. She sensed more than heard the mutterings going on beside her but one voice cut above the rest and it chilled her.
"She is simply overwhelmed. I am more than sure there are a few of you who did not know what to say when you realized you were accepted into the greatest House at Hogwarts," came Lucius Malfoy's silky voice. She blinked, refusing to look at him, as she turned her gaze to the Sorting.
Just a couple students after her, James Potter got into Gryffindor. And although she felt bad for Lily's being stuck in the same House with the two of them, at least she had Remus. She felt almost physically ill.
Emilia watched as more students were sorted into Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and even Hufflepuff.
"Severus Snape!" called McGonagall.
Emilia's mind cleared slightly as she remembered Severus had wished to be in Slytherin. It took the Hat only a short while to decide and Severus walked over with a small but pleased smile on his face. To Emilia's horrified relief, he sat beside her the smile fading slightly. "I guess the sides have been chosen," he said softly. Her skin prickled at his simple statement and looking back to the Gryffindor table, she saw Lily's sad face before the red head turned her attention back to the Sorting.
After the Sorting was complete, plenty of delicious foods suddenly appeared on the table. Emilia couldn't stomach much but a few glasses of pumpkin juice though. When the main course disappeared to make way for the dessert she wasn't even fazed. When finally Professor Dumbledore stood to call an ending to the meal, he encouraged them to get a full night's rest in preparation for classes the next day, bidding them a goodnight before leaving the table.
"First years, follow me," Lucius commanded as they all stood up from their seats and made for the doors of the Great Hall. Keeping up with Severus wasn't too hard as he was only an inch or two taller than she, but Emilia felt like these were the footsteps of doom as the group turned a corner and started going down into the dungeons. A sudden panic fluttered under her ribs as her body felt the open sky being lost above them. She started to get dizzy as she couldn't breathe properly, and though the other students probably wouldn't notice, the ensconced candles flickered as if about to blow out. Severus caught her as she stumbled down a step and looked at her for once showing some concern but he didn't ask.
"Keep breathing, little bird," he muttered putting a hand on her lower back as a reminder for her to stand straight so as to be able to draw in enough air. Slowly she was able to regain a normal breathing rate, a boy in front of them glancing back with mild concern. She held on tightly to Severus' proffered hand and the boy, seeing this stopped looking. They finally arrived at a dead end and Emilia glanced at Severus concerned when Lucius turned to address the first years.
"This is the entrance to our Slytherin House common rooms," Lucius said earning a few skeptical looks from all the first years. "The password will change every week so pay attention," he said turning to the wall and clearing his throat. "Dragon droppings," he said causing a few students to giggle but then gasp as he walked through the supposedly solid wall. A few tentative first years touched the wall, their hands disappearing, and then more confidently stepped through. The rest cheered excitedly and walked quickly through. When a few bumped into the wall, someone said the password and the walking in resumed, Severus towing Emilia along behind him.
The common room had an eerie green glow to it and Lucius was explaining that they were currently under the Hogwarts Lake they had traversed on their way to the castle. Emilia swallowed suppressing a shiver that wanted to crawl its way down her spine. "Girls' dormitories are to the right and the boys' are to the left. You will find all your belongings that you brought on the train there. If you have any questions just ask me or the prefect girl of Slytherin, Livy Parkinson" he said before bidding them a goodnight and disappearing through the boys' door. Livy Parkinson was tall compared to her first year counterparts with a rather unfortunate pug-face and frizzy hair tamed back into a low bun. She didn't say anything but disappeared into the girls' dorms.
Severus started to walk toward the boys' dorms but Emilia still held onto his hand. He turned back to look at her exasperatedly.
"You need to go to bed. Or else the night will never come to an end," he said yanking his hand out of hers and walking away. She tried to protest but he ignored her and soon she was the only person left in the common room. She looked over to see a crackling fire in the hearth but it, too, was casting a sickish green glow.
Emilia walked dejectedly into the girls' dorm quickly finding her four-poster bed. All the other girls were already in their pajamas talking excitedly about the day of classes in the morning. On her bed were laid out her robes with the coat of the Slytherins sown onto the breast, a green and silver striped tie, and a green and silver scarf. She scratched at the coat of arms before removing the things that would peg her as a Slytherin for the next seven years onto a small shelf beside her bed. Glancing around, she saw the gilded cage she had brought Pip in but it would appear that he was let out as well and she was at least glad for that.
Rooting out her pajamas she quickly changed and crawled into the small bed, being used to a queen herself. Pulling the curtain closed she could at least imagine that she were in the Gryffindor dorms and she curled up miserably and fell asleep.
When the morning came she was surprised she awoke at all considering it was pitch black within her four walls of curtain. She smiled grimly to herself thanking her father for helping her set an internal clock to wake up at precisely seven every morning. She pulled back her curtains and saw her three roommates had already made their way to breakfast. She grimaced realizing she might have to find her own way to the Great Hall.
She hastily dressed, pulling a face as she tied the green and silver tie around her neck before shoving her arms through the sleeves of her Slytherinized robe. Running a brush through her hair as she walked to the door of the room she tossed the brush toward her bed, her innate magic guiding it to rest comfortably on the pillow. As she walked down the stairs she tied her long sheet of silvery hair with a black ribbon and started when she found Severus looking at her impatiently.
"It's about time, princess," he said sarcastically before turning to leave the commons. She jogged after him stepping through the door that turned into a wall when she looked behind her.
"You waited for me, Severus?" she asked a little awed in spite of his sarcasm. He rolled his eyes to look at her.
"No Malfoy told me to wait for you so you wouldn't get lost," he said dryly. She was hardly about to believe that so she just imagined he had been joking with her and thus perked up considerably as they made their way up to the Great Hall.
She started to prattle on about how she would eat with Lily when Severus looked at her and she lost her words mid-sentence. "You are to eat at your House table. It's a rule Malfoy told us of this morning if you would have been up a few minutes earlier." His tone left no room for discussion, apparently disgruntled as well about the circumstances and so Emilia bit her tongue.
The Great Hall's ceiling was slightly cloudy. It looked like it would rain to Emilia and she thought no weather could be better for her mood. Upon sitting at the Slytherin table, Emilia looked up to see Lily looking their way. She pointed this out to Severus as Lily waved and Emilia waved boisterously back. Their attentions were caught by the arrival of their class schedules. Covertly comparing hers to Severus', the half-Veela noted that they had the same classes all day.
She could have screamed in delight had she not had control of herself when she saw that the majority of those classes would be shared with their Gryffindor counter parts. Looking up she saw the green-eyed Lily had just discovered the same thing and was smiling brightly at her.
Shoving a piece of toast into her mouth and disregarding Severus' attempt to stop her she rushed over to Lily's side and they compared schedules having the same courses at the proper times to share them.
"This is great!" Emilia exclaimed as Lily hugged her. A few Gryffindors sitting close by gave them curious looks some of which were rather disapproving.
"What's this?" asked a boy sitting on the opposite side of the table. Looking up Emilia saw that it was Sirius Black. She felt his keen grey gaze take in her tie and coat-of-arms and she turned her nose up slightly before turning back to Lily.
"Hey now, I just want to know how a Slytherin comes so unabashedly to the Gryffindor table," he prompted again, a strangely fitting elegance to his voice she hadn't noticed the day before that coupled well with his looks. Emilia stiffened when he called her a Slytherin and she looked at him darkly. He looked slightly taken aback before laughing almost arrogantly. "What a poor expression to be on a pretty face," he said easily as if it were a sincere compliment.
"Come Sirius, stop teasing Lily's friend. Emilia, wasn't it? Any friend of Lily's is a friend of ours," the Potter boy said causing her eyes to snap to him.
"Funny, how my friends are your friends but we aren't friends," Lily snapped looking from James to his friend. Emilia looked at her friend startled at her outburst before laughing warmly at it. Lily looked up at her before blushing and Emilia looked at the stunned boys.
"Well, I think that says it all. But in case you weren't clear any person not a friend of Lily's isn't a friend of mine," she said grinning before pulling Lily up with her. It was only then that Emilia noticed Remus had been sitting on the other side of Lily. "Remus!" she greeted warmly.
He smiled up at her a sincere but close mouthed smile. "How did you sleep, Emilia?" he asked gently. She shrugged in response pushing an escapee hair behind her ear.
"As well as one can when one sleeps beneath the fishes," she said rather ruefully.
"I can see that not being ideal," he said sympathetically before returning to his toast and tea.
"I guess we should probably get our books and start heading to class, eh?" Emilia asked Lily who agreed and started to walk out of the Great Hall but as they left the table they heard James and Sirius practically pounce on Remus asking him why the girls were civil to him and not themselves.
The girls had gone their separate ways promising to meet at the bottom of the main stairs to walk together to their Transfiguration class with Professor McGonagall. Emilia only got lost once on her way to the correct wall after having tried the Slytherin password on one particular wall multiple times, running into it each time before the Bloody Baron, the resident ghost of the Slytherin House stopped her to ask what she was doing. All he said was it was the wrong wall and to try again before he floated away, chains clanking all the way.
Unfortunately, classes seemed to crawl by and even slower than a crawl when Emilia was not paired up with the Gryffindors. The teachers were merely giving them overviews of the course materials and criteria and expectations of the coming year.
When she walked out onto the grounds that afternoon with the Slytherins on their way to Herbology, Emilia took the chance to soak in the grounds. There seemed to be so much green and there was a quantifiable amount of trees to sit under on the hotter days. However, due to the weather, most of the Slytherins had donned their matching scarves in a variety of ways. In her mind, Emilia was practically begging the clouds to unleash their torrent seeing as the clouds had gotten increasingly heavier and more ominous looking as the day had passed on.
Entering the green houses, Professor Sprout welcomed them and encouraged them to squeeze in tight. A flash of red and gold and Emilia broke out in a smile easily locating Lily and standing beside her mixing slightly into the Gryffindors as Severus stood on her other side with the Slytherins.
"Hello, Emilia," Remus said warmly as he made his way to stand beside her.
"And hello to you, Remus," she responded looking up at him with a grin before Professor Sprout called their attention so she could give her speech on all things Herbology. Emilia let her head knock into Lily's as though she had fallen asleep and the two girls giggled quietly as some of the class forced a bit of laughter at a joke the squat woman had told. She felt a hand pull on her hair gently and she looked around to see Remus holding her black ribbon out for her.
"It was falling out," he explained as she took it from him with a quiet thanks. For some reason she blushed at his noticing her ribbon slipping but pretended as though it were merely too hot in the greenhouse for her as she unknotted her scarf to give the act of breathing.
Some boys a little behind Lily started whispering among themselves and she looked at them with her peripheral vision while pretending to look at Lily as if to ask her something. She saw that they were from her own House and she tuned in a little more attentively.
"That darn Gryffindor- touching her hair so familiarly. Who is he to have the right to do something like that so quickly just because he's standing beside her…"
Covertly, Emilia checked the other side of Remus to see to her vague dismay that Sirius and James and a short mousy haired boy stood beside him. 'Could they be talking about me?' she thought incredulously. She tuned back in to the disgruntled Slytherin boys.
"Do you think she would go out with me? I mean, I know I'm only a first year…" one of the boys said and she stood up a little straighter.
"You dolt," snapped one of the others, "She's a first year too!"
"But I've even heard some of the second and third years talking about her. It's her beauty… it's unreal for a girl our age, isn't it?"
Emilia's mouth went dry as she realized they must be talking of her Veela qualities. She wasn't necessarily ashamed of the fact that she was a half-breed but Lewis had told her that they were often faced with prejudice once found out especially by those of pure-blood houses such as Slytherin. "Are you feeling alright, Emilia?" Lily asked wrapping an arm around her friend's waist. Emilia checked herself and found that she was almost hyper-ventilating before she calmed herself-at the same time she noticed a few plants close by looked a little under-watered and she mentally apologized to them.
"I'm fine," she said after taking a few good breaths. "Sometimes I forget to breathe," she laughed which was true when she was nervous but she meant for Lily to take it as her being absentminded… and Lily did so.
However had she been looking to her other side, Emilia would have seen the concern on Remus' face. Professor Sprout called class to an end as the bell rang and all the students flooded out of the green houses to find that it had started to sprinkle. Some of the girls cried out racing up the slight hill to the castle, some of the boys groaned flipping up the hoods of their cloaks. Those were the Slytherin reactions at least.
Emilia let out a soft peal of laughter. "Oh, the irony! Slytherins are supposed to get along the best out of the four houses with water elements. Shouldn't it be the Gryffindors who are making ninnies of themselves?" Emilia asked no one in particular as the Gryffindors pulled up their hoods and continued a relaxed pace up the hill.
Lily giggled quietly, Severus was silent and Remus… was walking more closely to James, Sirius and the mousy haired boy than with the former group. Emilia could feel her expression turn from joy to hurt in a split second and she didn't understand the reaction. Remus was laughing quietly at something Sirius had said when he happened to look over at her and the laughter faded but he looked at her intently for a moment before she turned her face away.
A hut caught her gaze and she stopped suddenly with an "oh!". Lily stopped to look at her, her hood up while Emilia hadn't bothered with one. "What is it?" she asked curiously.
"I meant to stop by Hagrid's today!" she exclaimed easily changing her course as the rest continued to walk up the hill. "I'll catch up with you later!" she said smiling with a wave. She assured Lily she could go alone when Lily offered to tag along and the Gryffindor told her to not catch cold before turning her gaze back up the hill and talking to Severus who seemed to be the only Slytherin not already at the castle.
Shout Out to My Reviewers: Great Story, Mel and sara253xxx
And of Course My Followers (:} Makes me sound awesome!): Alakazambo and sara253xxx
Thank you!
C.B.