A/N: Hello all! ^-^ So many kind reviews! Thank you Juliefjad, SamanthaJane13, Brenton Ashworth, vxnityprince, TigerInTheMoonlight, and Sofia. I'm sorry this took so long. To be honest, this chapter was finished a long time ago, but I've been trying to prewrite future chapters. And guess what? I forgot about this one! Terrible right? I know.
Chapter 10: First Impressions
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Siobhan asked somewhat demandingly.
The two girls had gone to Rosette's compartment to begin their much needed time to catch up. They were still hugging each other tightly as they sat down. They had both been crying with joy, Siobhan's face had turned as red as her hair by the time they calmed down. Rosette took a deep breath and let go of her friend.
"Rosey," she urged, again, "It's been years since you just up and vanished. After what had happened that day, we all thought that you had died," she said, holding back tears that the memory had brought on. "Three years, Rosey. What happened? We had a little funeral and everything. I'll need to write to the orphanage and tell them to get rid of your headstone. Why didn't you contact us?"
Rosette looked at her friend, "I was…saved during the on Kingsbridge by a man. He just kind of...adopted me on the spot. And," she paused. Running off with a random man sounded like a terrible idea. She fumbled with her words, trying come up with a story that would validate her actions. "You know how the pureblood families in England are with their intermarriage stuff and how practically EVERYONE is kin to one another somehow? Turns out, the man is actually a blood relative of mine that I didn't know about." She stopped and studied Siobhan's face, hoping she would believe her story. It wasn't really a lie. She just decided to omit the part about her brother being public enemy number one. "And, we never contacted you because he was worried about people coming to take me away from him. We're really close."
Siobhan's jaw dropped, "Wow! My wish came true then! That's so amazing!"
Rosette looked stunned, "What wish?!"
Siobhan threw her arms around her friend, "I had wished for you to find family so you wouldn't be alone, and it worked!"
"I guess it did, Bhan. Thank you."
After the girls had finished catching up, and Siobhan had finished introducing Rosette to what seemed like half of the first years on the train, the girls parted ways for a while to get dressed and gather their belongings, for there were only a few hours left until they reached their destination. Rosette had just finished putting on her robes and was about to reach for her socks when she heard someone let out a cry. Next thing she knew, the door to her compartment slammed open and closed faster than her eyes could register. She suddenly realized that someone had come in. She looked from the door to the seat across from her and saw a boy. He looked like he was a few years older than she was. His hair and eyes were the same colour. Obsidian black. He was very lanky, and he seemed to be out of breath. On further inspection, she saw that he had a horribly bloodied lip and black eye.
"Hey! Snivellus! I know you're around here! Where'd you go? We weren't finished with our little conversation!" She could hear the malicious laughter of a few boys headed their way. She looked down at whom she presumed to be "Snivellus", although positive that was not his name, whispered to him.
"Don't worry."
She kneeled down next to him and gently pressed her pointer finger against his injured lip. He shuddered at first, still confused as to why this girl was helping him. No one ever helped him. Even Lily's efforts were half-assed when it came to helping and sticking up for him. He watched as she pressed her finger onto his lip and was surprised to feel the pain start to disappear. After a few seconds, she pulled her finger away from his lip. His eyes followed her finger as it moved away. He then finally got a good look at her. She was small, so he guessed that she was a first year. He was sure he looked whiter than snow compared to her soft-toned brown skin. Her silver hair showed signs attempted containment, but it looked like the hair won. And lastly, her eyes. They were violet. Not a colour one typically saw. She looked at him while he was still examining her and black eyes met violet ones. He turned an outstanding shade of red before looking away.
Just before he could utter a "Thank You", the door slammed open, again. However, this time, there were four boys about the same age as the black haired boy standing in the entrance. In front stood a boy wearing glasses. Next to him, stood what Tom would have called, "a lady's man" boy (he also told her to stay away from them). Behind them was a stubby, rat looking boy, and even further behind them stood a tall boy that who seemed to not want to be a part of what was going on.
"There you are," the one with glasses smirked. "We've been looking for ya."
He reached down to grab at the black haired boy. Rosette slapped his hand away with a stinging jinx. He yelped and cradled his hand, shooting a glare at her.
"Sod off, ya brat," the "lady's man" boy growled, pulling out his wand and pointing it at her. The boy in the very back quickly grabbed the up-front by the scruffs of their robes.
"Hey hey hey now. Guys, just leave him alone. James, you already punched him twice. And Sirius. Really? You'd pull your wand out on a girl like that? Come on, you two. This isn't worth getting expelled over. Let's just go."
The tall boy mouthed "sorry" before guided the angry boys out, with the rat one following behind them.
"Fine! Next time, his little girlfriend won't be in the way," they heard one of the boys say.
Rosette looked back at the black haired boy, who was also looking at her.
"Why'd you help me?" he asked cautiously.
Rosette raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I help you? Those boys were being bullies and looked like they were about to give you a good thrashing."
He sighed, "Yes, they were. But, you could've gotten hurt, too. Why help someone that you don't even know?"
"First off, YOU'RE the one that appeared in my compartment all of a sudden. And I just did what I thought was the right thing. Now, let me fix up your eye. It's as black as your hair." She said rather forcefully and moved closer to him and placed her finger on the blackened skin below his eye.
"You didn't have to help me…but thank you-"
"Rosette Sarpong," she finished. "Nice to meet you…"
"Uh…Severus. Severus Snape."
The train stopped and everyone grabbed their belongings. Rosette and Siobhan found each other, again. Rosette looked around, trying to spot Severus in the sea of students with no such luck.
"Watcha looking for, Rosey?" Siobhan asked.
"Mmmh…that boy I told you about," she said, still searching, "I was hoping I would be able to introduce him to you, but I guess he's with his friends or something. He left shortly after I helped him. Oh well. Now, who were you telling me about?"
Siobhan smiled, "There's this really dreamy Gryffindor…"
The girls talked about nothing of importance all the way to the castle. Their excitement kicked into overdrive when they finally stopped talking and realised where they were.
"Merlin! Rosey, we're actually here! Gosh, the castle is so huge! I heard it was super old."
"Hard to believe, though. Look how nice it is."
The girls gawked at their surroundings until a prefect herded them along with the rest of the first years. Rosette was amazed at the architecture of the enormous castle. She had read about Hogwarts and seen pictures in more books than she could remember, but she felt that all of the information in the word couldn't have prepared her for the awe she was feeling. They walked through a large doorway that led into what anyone could have guessed was the Great Hall. The older students watched as all of the first years made their way to the centre of the room. In the front of the room sat the professors, listening to the eager din of the children. A professor with grey-streaked black hair and green cat-like eyes stood up and the students began to whisper.
"The deputy-headmistress." "I guess it's time." "I'm hungry! Let's get this started!"
The deputy-headmistress walked to the front of the table, carrying an old and dirty hat. The students began to quiet down, for they knew what was going to happen next. The deputy headmistress introduced herself as Professor McGonagall. She placed the old hat on an equally old looking chair. Was this the Sorting Hat that Rosette had read about? It looked like it had a face. She didn't get any time to contemplate because the hat started to sing. She wondered if the hat really did change its song each year. I'll have to remember this one for next year, then. And then, came the moment they had all been waiting for. Professor McGonagall began to read off names from a VERY long list. The anticipation was killing Rosette, and she suddenly wished that her last name was Aarons or something closer to the beginning of the alphabet than "Sarpong".
"Siobhan O'Brien!"
Siobhan, who had apparently been spacing out, looked up with a confused expression on her face.
Rosette shook her head. "Go, dummy! It's your turn!" She pushed her friend forward.
"Oh! Yeah! I knew that! Wish me luck!" she grinned back.
The Sorting Hat barely touched a single one of her red hairs before shouting-
"GRYFFINDOR!"
The Gryffindor table roared in celebration and the new Gryffindor waved at her friend before running over to her new house table.
"What a surprise," Rosette chuckled. She sat tight and waited for her turn.
After what had seemed like an hour and way too many Hufflepuffs in a row, she finally heard her name being called.
"Rosette Sarpong!"
She bolted up to the stool and waited for the professor to place the hat on top of her head.
"Ahh," it said to her, "It's been a while since I sorted a descendant of one of the Founders. Wait wait, don't tell me. Salazar's kin. What are you? His great great great great great great great granddaughter?"
"I don't know…" she answered quietly. How did he know that I was-
"An heiress of Slytherin? Believe me, it was hard to tell at first. But," it paused, "I guess some people have chocolate cravings from time to time."
"What?!"
"Anyway," it laughed, "Where, oh where should you be placed? You have the brains of a Ravenclaw for sure. But, you actually like to have fun. Putting you up there with those stuffy Ravenclaws would be terrible. You're brave. I can sense that you did something rather courageous a few hours ago. Gryffindor?"
"Why are you going to slow? You know which house I need to be in." Rosette was losing her patience with the hat. For years, she had known where she wanted to be and she was more than ready.
"Oh, you're absolutely right… HUFFL-"
"NO!" she shrieked.
"Ahahah!" It cackled, "I'm just kidding. SLYTHERIN!"
She got up quickly and shoved the retched hat into Professor McGonagall's hands, gave it one last glare, and ran off to join the cheering Slytherins at her new house table.
"Oh! There you are!" she said, spotting Severus. He looked up at her.
"Huh, that's odd. After what you did today, I would have thought you would have been placed in Gryffindor. Well, Welcome to your new house."
She smiled at him, "Is this seat taken?" pointing to the empty spaces next to him.
He shook his head and scooted over. They chitchatted while watching the rest of the Sorting Ceremony.
"So, what year are you?" she asked him.
"A fourth year."
"Oh! You're fourteen? Cool! What are your favourite subjects here?"
"I enjoy Defence Against the Dark Arts and Potions a bunch."
Her eyes lit up. "I LOVE everything about potions! Oh, and Charms and Transfiguration. I've never delved much into the dark arts, but my brother is a fan."
Severus tilted his head to the side. "You like potions, too? That's a first. All the girls here always complain that messing around with potions for too long ruins your hair."
"Whaaat? That can't be true. My hair is fine. I mean, it's always looked a mess like this, but that's because my brother and I haven't figured out how to control it," she said dejectedly.
"There's nothing wrong with it. It's a pretty silver colour. Pretty rare, too. I heard that trait is only passed through the father's genes."
Rosette nodded. "Yup, my papa had silver hair, too! And his eyes were like mine."
Severus didn't let her past tense use go unnoticed. "Had?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "My mum went mad and tried to kill us both, so he killed her. But, he didn't make it," she said with a straight face.
His mouth opened in horror and he looked at her apologetically. "Oh, I'm sorry-"
"It's fine!" she reassured him, "It happened a while ago. I'm ok. Hey, I think the sorting is finished!"
The headmaster rose from his seat once he felt that the students had enough time to chitchat. He beamed through his glasses at the sight of all of the new students. He rose both of his hands and within seconds, he had the entire room's attention.
"Good Evening and welcome to a new year at Hogwarts!" he started. From that point on, he had every student's focus locked on him.
A/N: Have a good day everyone! Favourite, Follow, and Review if you want!