Chapter 7

The summer passed quickly for the Granger girls. Between studying, working out in the training room, finishing their holiday homework, and trying to relax as much as they could at the headquarters of a warring Order, the students breezed through the rest of their holiday. Harry narrowly missed expulsion from Hogwarts, and everyone was relieved when he announced he was still a student there. As September the first drew closer, Bri grew more and more nervous. Anxious as she was to see the place that fascinated her friends so, Bri also felt the fear of the unknown. She knew it was silly, but she felt what everyone does when they begin something new; a tightness in her chest, and a fluttering stomach. The only bright spot that she could find, one she wouldn't tell another soul, was that she would finally see Professor Snape again, as she hadn't really seen him since her first night at Grimmauld Place.

Severus Snape had barely been seen the rest of the summer, by the teens at least. He kept to his house at Spinner's End when he wasn't required by one master or the other, trying to recharge and enjoy the solitude of sometimes going days without the presence of another human being. He also was anxious about the coming term, not that he would admit to that however. While he knew his position as a teacher would lessen the frequency of summonses before the Dark Lord, dealing with hundreds of students, and he suspected the antics of whoever would fill the defense position, was sure to be exhausting.

September first dawned bright and sunny, not that you could tell that from the girls' bedroom. Bri was, of course, awake before the rest of the teens, and had finished her running and was settled at the table in the kitchen before Ron and Harry even opened their eyes. After a hearty breakfast (Mrs. Weasley had spent what time she had trying to fatten up everyone, especially Harry), the group made their way to Kings Cross, and onto Platform 9 ¾.

The group would have gotten plenty of stares, just because their number included Harry Potter, but once the older students began to notice that Hermione Granger had a doppelganger, the whispering and pointing started to escalate.

"Oh honestly, you would think that had something better to do at the moment," Hermione huffed. "Let's go find a compartment, Bri."

After goodbyes to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and pats on the head to the shaggy black dog that accompanied them, Briseis and Hermione Granger loaded their trunks on the train, and walked the hallway to find a compartment big enough for their group.

Bri ignored the commotion around her, content was she to just watch the reactions of her fellows, and to enjoy the confusion that would blossom on their faces when they looked back and forth between herself and her sister. So engrossed was she in her people watching, she brushed past a pinched face haughty looking boy, without a second glance.

"Oh look, it's the mudblood," sneered the boy when she passed.

Just as he was opening his mouth to say something probably equally as foul, Bri drew her wand and pushed him up against the corridor wall, thankful that now she could use magic without fear of discovery and that her position behind him meant he was now stuck between her sister and herself.

"You must be the Malfoy ponce I've heard so much about," she sneered, taking one more menacing step towards the blonde. "My sister may just ignore your disgusting language but I will not. Speak to her like that again and I'll make sure you're permanently stuck as the animal you are now known for, ferret."

Malfoy looked back and forth between the two girls, noticing the angry look on one face, and the slightly exasperated look on the other. "Two mudbloods, then? Oh this is rich, just wait till my father..." The boy never got to finish that statement. Bri and Mia were known for their inflatable tempers. Mia had had years to build up a tolerance towards Draco Malfoy, but Bri had those same years of hearing all the horrible things he had done and said to her sister in order to build up an intense hatred of the boy. Without thought, Bri silenced and sent a mild stunner at her sister's nemesis, then leaned in to give her final warning.

"I am not my sister Draco Malfoy; I will not stop at hitting that horrid face of yours. You tell your father this for me, yea?" She said watching his eye dart around seeking help. "Come near Hermione Granger, or Harry Potter, or any of my friends, and I'll personally make sure he has no heir to leave the Malfoy line. Try me, Malfoy," she said in a whisper her bushy hair crackling with menacing magic, "I dare you."

The corridor was too small to allow for much of an audience to gather for the spectacle, but the impact on those few was just what Bri wanted. Her private goal was set in motion quite spectacularly, and through no real machinations of her own. She had been told of the rumor mill at Hogwarts, and hoped that by the end of the evening, her short speech would be told to everyone.

"Briseis Marie Granger!" hissed Hermione, grabbing her smirking sister and roughly pushing her into an empty compartment down the corridor. "What on earth were you thinking? That's Draco Malfoy! You know, son of a Death Eater? Biggest bully at Hogwarts? That was an incredibly stupid thing to do!"

"I'm actually quite glad it happened, Mia," Bri said sitting down.

"What? Why?" Mia asked, hands on her hips.

At that moment, two ginger heads and one black head walked into the compartment, with questioning glances.

"What's going on around here?" Ron asked. "Why is everyone on the train gossiping like old ladies?"

While the three newcomers sat down, Mia explained what happened in the corridor. Still fuming and pacing with hair flying everywhere at the display her sister had made and the first impression the Hogwarts student body now had of her sister.

"Sit down Mia," Bri said calmly, "I'm glad it happened that way, since I had planned on making a big scene at Hogwarts anyway, but now I won't have to worry about getting detention for it," she smirked, winking at Ginny.

"Oh Bri," the redhead sighed, settling in with Crookshanks on her lap.

"Oh Ginny," Bri said, flipping her hair, batting her eyes and then bursting into laughter.

"There is nothing funny about any of this, Briseis!" Hermione said with tears in her eyes. "That family is dangerous."

"I understand that Hermione, I really do. I always planned on making some kind of spectacle of myself when I arrived at Hogwarts because I know how much attention you and Harry and Ron will be getting. I figured, and hear me out before you start judging, that the more people who are focused on your crazy sister, the less they will focus on you."

When she said this, Harry, Ron and Hermione all looked at Briseis like she was crazy, eyes wide and mouths slightly open.

"Yes, it sounds stupid, and it is probably a big mistake. I realize I'll be in danger since I've angered the son of a very prominent Death Eater, but, I'd rather they be so angry, so focused on me that they leave you alone to do what you need to do for Harry."

"She's right, guys. I've already tried talking her out of it, but she's determined. And if you really think about it, she's right. You three are always at the center of everything that happens, and now that," and here she gulped, "Voldemort is back, we need to keep as much attention off of you as we can. Bri here is an unknown, people are going to be curious anyway, and the Malfoy's would have hated her for being a muggleborn regardless of what just happened. I wouldn't have chosen to be quite so violent," and at this, everyone in the compartment snorted, "but it got the job done didn't it? Malfoy will be so focused on Bri, he won't spare Hermione a second glance."

"Yea, unless he uses Mione to get back at Bri," Ron stated red faced, "did either of you think of that?"

After a moment of intense thought, Bri nodded to herself and, with an eyebrow raise said, "Well, Ron, looks like Mia will need a bodyguard this year. Know anyone who'd like to follow my sister everywhere she goes and spend every waking minute with her?"

Harry and Ginny both coughed, covering up laughter, while Mia and Ron both turned interesting shades of red and refused to look in the other's direction.

The rest of the ride to Hogwarts was spent playing chess, or discussing the new term, or everyone telling Bri more stories about Hogwarts and its residents. When they finally pulled into Hogsmeade station, and Bri had put on her uniform like everyone else, they stepped off onto the platform to the hustle and bustle and general hubbub of gathering students. Bri was slightly nervous, not that anyone besides Mia and Ginny could tell.

A dark haired giant of a man greeted the group, warmly introduced himself as Hagrid to Bri, and extended an invitation to all to join him for tea when they were settled.

A chorus of, "hello Hagrid!" and "of course Hagrid" and "alright mate!" was heard, and then the big man was calling for the first years, and herding them towards the boats by the lake.

"Professor McGonagall told me I could ride in the boats with the first years, if I wanted to," Bri said softly when they'd gotten into a carriage. Mia grabbed her sister's right hand while Ginny grabbed the left.

"Everything will be alright Bri, I just know it," Mia said. The girls' hands remained clasped the whole ride to Hogwarts, and when Bri saw the castle up close, and felt its latent magic, a gasp of surprise and awe was heard, and small secretive smiles were shared amongst her friends.

The welcoming feast was everything Bri imagined it would be, made even better, in her opinion, by the opportunity to sneak glances at the intriguing man who'd been on her mind constantly of late, despite only having met him the once. Her sorting had caused somewhat of a stir, not because it took any time to sort her once the ancient hat was on her head, but the novelty of a transfer student caused quite a few whispers, especially when she was announced as the twin of Hermione. Her placement in Gryffindor was welcomed, and she was happy to finally be introduced to the people Hermione wrote to her about, and called friends, especially Neville Longbottom.

While everyone in the hall, or so it seemed, stared at Harry, and sometimes at Bri, the group of Gryffindors kept up a steady conversation about the new defense teacher, and what Hermione thought the horrid pink woman might do (or not do) this term. Many times throughout the night, Bri noticed the malevolent glare of Draco Malfoy, but chose to ignore it. Her threats had indeed spread through the school, she learned when she met her new roommates that night, and she fell asleep in Gryffindor Tower with so many butterflies in her stomach, and such a heavy heart, that halfway through the night she crawled into bed with her twin, and they slept as they had for many years, with their hands joined and hearts just that much lighter.

Severus Snape had no such boon. Alone in his dungeon rooms, Severus Snape sat on his shower floor under a steady stream of hot water. Knees pulled up to his chest, Severus sat in silence, neither praying for his circumstances to change, nor weeping, just staring into nothing and trying to think of nothing. The toll of the demands of both his masters was high, and his thinning body bore testament to his constant stress and the terror of his Dark Lord.

The water on his body was the most soothing touch he had ever felt in his life, and he spent many an hour in his granite shower at Hogwarts, most of the time just sitting and basking in the silence, sometimes caressing his member in a way he was sure no one ever would. With a sigh, and the slight stiffening of a certain body part, Severus remembered seeing the new Granger girl at dinner, and wondered about the way she looked at him when she walked to the dais for sorting. Just for a moment, when her eyes swept across her new professors, her eyes widened a bit before they narrowed as they took in his sallow, sneering face. If he would have looked into her mind in that moment, he would have realized her concern on his behalf. Her narrowed eyes took in his face and realized, just for a moment, that he was not the dashing, James Bond type hero she had morphed him into in her mind, but rather, an exhausted, overly-used and simple, man.

Severus did not look into her mind in that moment, however, only saw in his mind her narrowed eyes as she looked at him. Not understanding that they narrowed in concern rather than hate, Severus sat on the floor of his shower, pulling and squeezing himself, and shed one single tear at his completion. Thinking that a girl that had only met him once had already seemed to jump on the bandwagon of hating Severus Snape, he wondered if he'd ever find someone willing to see past his persona and into the wreck of a man underneath.