A/N: So I've finally gotten cobbled this chapter together, 8k words no less, and I hope everyone enjoys it. I'm planning on pacing it to be about 4-6 chapters per year for their remaining four years and then after that delving into their post-education careers/lives. I still think I could've perhaps done a little bit better with refining the OCs(their year mates in particular), but they'll get deeper as characters in the coming chapters and I've already got some ideas as to what I want to do with them and their arcs. All in all, I hope you find the OCs to be interesting characters going forward as we learn more about them and I'll do my best to make them as such, although I'm sorry to say the depth afforded to them will not match Severus or Lily. They are the two protagonists and the center-points of this story after all.
Chapter 14 The Opening Feast
Over the next few weeks, Lily and Severus explored all that Ilvermorny had to offer, the day after their arrival they began their exploration in earnest and sought to discover every nook and cranny the castle had. It had been a favorite past-time of theirs at Hogwarts back when they were starry-eyed first years and before their warring houses set to rip the two best friends apart. Back then, everything was so simple, but unfortunately nothing really remained that way forever and the house rivalry began slashing at the threads that held their friendship together, they were both changing, and the rhetoric of their 'friends' and housemates began changing the both of them for the worse. She remember the boy that dreamed of a bright future, who wished that one day, when he escaped Spinner's End, he'd have a life worth living. Seeing each and every of his hopes dashed—especially knowing just how desperately he'd wanted for those things to be true was nothing short of heartbreaking for her. They both weren't that popular in Cokeworth, but at least for her things had changed, not being able to say the same for Severus hurt immensely.
Now though, they had both entered a new world, with new chances of making friends; Severus had changed so much too and she believed that this new beginning would be better for the both of them. So on the night of September first, Lily and Severus were calmly sat in the meal hall awaiting the arrival of the returning students, as well as the soon to be sorted first years. In the meal hall, there were five sections of the room, one for each house, and the last for the staff. Like in the Great Hall back at Hogwarts, upon entering, one could see that the Professors and staff members ate at the far end of the hall on an elevated podium; that alone was the singular similarity the room held with Hogwarts' Great Hall. The founders of Ilvermorny though saw it fit to use multiple circular tables for each house in close proximity with one another as a better method to organize the students compared to four long tables. Lily and Severus sat together at one of those tables in the Horned Serpent section.
The flapping of powerful wings and the squawks of chattery Hippogriffs heralded the imminent arrival of their classmates as the carriages touched down in the courtyard just outside. Students in a sea of cranberry and blue robes filed out of the carriages, and were guided into the entrance hall by the staff. Moments later, the door to the Meal Hall burst open and students of all ages—their classmates, filed in one after the other into the massive hall. A few of them, most of whom were bearing Horned Serpent insignias on their uniforms looked over at the two newest students in their midst. More and more curious pairs of eyes met theirs, students from seventh years to second, some of them stared at them in confusion and others in curiosity. For the most part, their fellow Horned Serpents seemed curious, if a bit wary of the strangers in their midst, but a few decided to take the plunge and sit themselves down at their table. Five students of their house, all of whom appeared to be rising fourth years too, headed for their table and sat down with them.
An African American boy who looked about their age, was the first to join them—he was shorter than Severus, perhaps around Lily's height, but his small afro made him seem perhaps a couple inches taller than Lily was. Two girls joined them next, one was a black-haired girl with striking pale blue eyes, she was quite tall, taller than Lily and almost Severus' height; the other was perhaps a bit younger than they were; she had a load of freckles strewn across her nose and cheeks and her hair was a coppery shade of orange—much lighter than Lily's auburn hair, she was considerably shorter than them both. Another boy joined them, a little shorter than Severus with sandy blonde hair and very dark brown eyes—he wore a serious expression as he glanced towards them—yet he did seem rather curious of the new arrivals. The last to join them at the table was a blonde haired girl, sitting right next to the penultimate arrival, they looked to be twins judging by their shared hair and eye color as well as facial structure, but whilst her presumed brother wore a serious expression she seemed far more open and warm; the blonde girl offered them a small smile as she took her seat.
"You're the two new kids from Scotland aren't you?" The African-American boy spoke first, just as the blonde girl lowered herself onto the bench beside her presumed-brother.
"You know about us?" Lily asked, giving him a curious look.
The girl with curly black hair nodded. "Oh yes. Professor Rosier mentioned it quite a lot last term. I'm Sandra by the way, Sandra Noble." She extended her hand across the table with an even expression.
Lily grasped it first and gave it a hardy shake—as she always did when meeting someone new. "Lily Evans, Hogwarts dropout. It's a pleasure to meet you," she greeted with what she hoped was a warm smile.
Severus shook Sandra's hand next, his expression decidedly more guarded than Lily's but still fairly neutral. "Severus Snape."
Sandra nodded at them both in turn. "It's nice to meet you both as well. You, myself and Caroline—" she gestured over at the blonde girl with dark brown eyes sitting beside her, "—will be roommates. Nicole will be just across the hall—" she added, gesturing at the red-haired girl beside her.
"So are all of you entering your fourth year?" Lily asked, glancing curiously around at the group.
She was met with unanimous nods.
"We all are. I'm Thomas by the way, Thomas Baker," the African-American boy said, extending his hand towards the pair. "We'll be roommates Severus. You, me and two other guys, Billy Heywood and John McInroe, they're just over there." Severus turned around and saw two boys a few tables over in close conversation. Both boys, his roommates, seemed to be stealing glances at him and Lily, no doubt they were curious of the two newcomers. "And Scott over here is just across the hall from us—" he added, gesturing to the blonde boy next to him.
Severus and Lily both greeted Thomas in turn, before turning to face Scott. "Yes I suppose some greetings are in order considering we'll be housemates and all," Scott said loftily, this earned him an elbow to the ribs from his sister.
"What my brother means to say is that it's very nice to meet you all and that he hopes the seven of us can become friends," Caroline said.
"Well it's nice to meet you too Scott," Lily said warmly, extending her hand to shake his.
Scott shook her hand firmly—a gesture she appreciated, and then shook Severus' hand who chose to settle his greeting with a polite nod.
"So where are you guys from?" Sandra asked, gazing at them through a pair of curious pale blue eyes.
"Oh we live in England, in the same town, actually. It's uh…it's in-between Manchester and Birmingham, and is a bit further west of both…we only go to school in Scotland we don't actually live there," Lily explained.
"Sounds pretty neat," Thomas commented, smiling at the two of them. "So what's the name of the town?" he asked.
"Cokeworth." This time it was Severus who answered. "It lies along a river, and we both grew up there, well, I did, Lily moved in when you were…"
"Seven," Lily finished. "Where are you all from?"
"Scott and I are from around here, Manchester, but the one in New Hampshire, not England," Caroline laughed.
"I'm from a suburb outside Atlanta," Thomas added.
"Cleveland," Sandra chimed in.
"I was born in Minneapolis, but I moved to Providence, Rhode Island a few years ago to be nearer to school," Nicole said.
"So you're all from America then?" Lily asked, her brow quirked in curiosity.
"Uh-huh. Do you know much about the other Wizarding schools in North America?" Sandra asked, eyes glancing between the pair in speculation.
"Not really, only that there's one in Canada, and one or two more here in America—"
"There's five in America actually," Nicole interrupted. "Obviously we have Ilvermorny, it's the flagship school in North America and the one most people know about, they tend to admit mostly Americans although there are some Canadians and Hispanics here as well. Then there's the Darlington School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which is in New Orleans; there's also the Boulder School of Magic, which my mom went to and as the name suggests, is in Boulder, Colorado. There's also the Pasadena Academy for Young Witches and Wizards in California. And the last one we have in America is in New Jersey, the Hoboken School of Magic."
"Not to mention the Ottawa Academy of Magic in Canada, and the Yucatan School of Magic in Mexico," Scott pointed out quietly.
"Wow I didn't know there were quite that many actually," Lily admitted. "In Britain, we have just the one, although there's a lot less of us of course."
"Speaking of which, what's Hogwarts like?" Caroline, she leaned forward on her elbows onto the table in apparent interest.
Scott rolled his eyes at her over-interested questioning, throwing an exasperated look his sister's way. Lily and Severus exchanged a brief glance, he could see a silent question swimming about in her eyes, a request for her to speak on behalf of both of them.
Can I?
If you must
"Hogwarts was…an interesting place, but in our opinion, it did not live up to expectations," Lily said carefully, fleetingly meeting the gazes of all the other table occupants.
"How so?" Sandra asked interestedly, seemingly even more eager than Caroline was just a moment ago.
"What Lily and I mean to say is that there is a reason we elected to come to America, and we shall not get into it at the present moment. The subject matter is…sensitive," Severus interjected smoothly.
Sandra's pale blue eyes snapped to his, but upon seeing the seriousness of Severus' gaze, she nodded quickly and backed off.
"So what're classes like here then?" Lily asked, taking the momentary lull in conversation as an opportunity to ask a question of her own and turn things away from their difficult end to their Hogwarts tenure.
"Well we've got four periods per day for the most part, you should've gone through the selection process already with Rosy well in advance—" at Sandra's prompt, Severus and Lily both nodded. "So since you've already gotten your classes sorted, we'll get our schedules together at breakfast tomorrow. Oh and breakfast starts at seven o'clock, Rosy will distribute the schedules and our classes begin tomorrow at nine," she explained.
"We appreciate the explanation Sandra, but Professor Rosier's already told us that bit, I was more so curious as to what classes are like, are they more theory, or practical oriented? Or are they—"
"They're a good mix of both," Scott explained evenly—his dark eyes flickering briefly between the pair. "Some Professors, like Professor Wainwright, our Herbology Professor prefer a more hands on approach, and others like Professor Lambert, the Charms Professor, like a more theory-based approach."
"And what do you prefer?" Lily pressed.
Scott gave a meaningless shrug of his shoulders. "Depends. Both can be good depending on the circumstances."
Just then, the doors burst open with a loud bang and in strode a tall brown-haired man heading a long procession of eleven year olds. The first years all wore blue and cranberry robes with an insignia bearing one of the four house crests—meaning they, like everyone else, had just been sorted. The man leading the group; whom Severus and Lily had come to know as Professor David Bartholomew—the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, otherwise known as Barty to the staff, split the students up and directed them to one of the four sections of the hall where their housemates could be found. Older students, perhaps fifth or sixth years wearing bronze pins emblazoned with the letter 'P' waved them over and encouraged the nervous youngsters to sit at their tables. The recently sorted first years tentatively made their way over towards their assigned tables.
With all the first years seated, Bartholomew took his seat at Maxwell's side as the Headmistress rose to her feet and with a stern glare, cowed the chatter in the hall. The first years quickly caught on to the abrupt silence brought upon them as their eyes swiveled towards the Headmistress.
"Firstly, to our new students, welcome to the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; and to our returning students, welcome back. I am delighted to see you all in such high spirits for the commencement of a new academic year within these hallowed halls. The start of Semester announcements and notices have been posted in each of your common rooms, you may read them at your own leisure. Furthermore, your heads of house shall all be giving you a speech directly in your common rooms in lieu of the feast, there are a few start of term notices I am sure they wish to announce specific to your house, so please do ensure you make your way to your common rooms in a timely manner after the feast. To the first years, please do follow your prefects, they shall guide you to the common rooms," Maxwell announced, staring out over the assembled students with an impassive look.
"I sense that all of us are getting rather hungry, I know for a fact that I am, at least—" Maxwell's quip garnered her widespread laughter throughout the hall that brought a smile to the usually-severe woman's face. "So without further delay, let us begin our feast."
Maxwell clapped her hands and in less than a second, all of the tables began rapidly filling with all manner of dishes. Dishes aplenty appeared in front of the seven fourth years and they wasted no time at all reaching for their favorite dishes. Naturally, Severus helped himself to a large bowl of lobster bisque as well as some lobster rolls as well; Lily on the other hand opted for a large T-bone steak, hoping to compare it to her father's cooking. They consumed their meals quickly and efficiently, all the while chatting with their fellow housemates on what they could expect for the coming year. The twins, Caroline and Scott Foster seemed to be engaged in a hushed conversation with one another; but Thomas, Sandra and Nicole seemed to be more than willing to answer the questions that came their way from the two Brits at their table. As Severus and Lily would later find out, the five fourth years they'd sat down with were already close friends with one another going all the way back to their first year. Thomas and Caroline in particular had proposed befriending the new guys back in their third year when Rosier had announced the addition of two transfer students to their school; this was assuming of course that one or both of them would be sorted into their house.
"So who else is part of our dorm?" Lily asked Nicole and Sandra, both girls had taken seats to her immediate left. For the moment Caroline and Scott were still deep in discussion about something or other unknown to her.
"Oh, there's me, Caroline, you obviously, and Barbara," Sandra explained.
"Who's Barbara?" Lily asked, intrigued at who the last member of their dorm was.
"See that girl over there?" Lily turned to follow Sandra's gaze, her green eyes falling on a girl with short chestnut-colored hair the fell to the top of her shoulders, she seemed to be around Lily's height. The girl was sitting at a table filled of people around their age presumably—fellow fourth years or perhaps fifth years even; she was in deep conversation with a boy to her left and from the looks of things, whatever it was they were debating seemed to be getting rather heated.
"That's her then? The brunette?" Lily asked, her gaze swiveling back to Sandra.
Sandra nodded. "Yep. That's Barbara Merryweather, she's the smartest in our year."
"Oh." Lily seemed surprised at the fact, her eyes shifting once more to the brunette as she argued with the Asian boy next to her. Sensing eyes upon her, Barbara looked away and locked eyes with Lily; she felt slightly caught out but Barbara gave her a brief wave before turning back to her debate. "So she's the smartest not just in our house, but in our year?"
Again, Sandra nodded. "Yes. A real bookworm that one if I've ever met one—a bit pompous too. And the boy next to her is Michael Tsao, also one of the smartest in our year."
"Are they a couple?"
"No." Sandra smirked as she added; "but they sure do argue like one and Nicole seems to think it'll only be a matter of time before they profess their love for each other and get together."
Lily's eyes shifted to the other redhead who was nodding in firm agreement. "Just look at them. Usually, Michael is the one who loses their debates, not because he's less smart—they're about the same academics wise, but 'cus she's got him whipped!" Nicole chirped, her lip curled into a grin.
Lily chuckled quietly at that. "So are you two friends with her then?" Lily asked, giving Sandra and Nicole curious looks in turn.
Both girls shook their heads in unison. "She's nice and all…but she can be a bit snobbish at times. She's a pureblood, and while she isn't prejudiced against people without magical parents necessarily…she does think quite highly of herself," Nicole answered.
"Hmm…I hope she's not one of those bigots…there were plenty of those types of people back at Hogwarts."
Both girls shook their heads again. "No. No we wouldn't call her that," Sandra said swiftly. "Michael, that asian kid next to her is a half blood for example, so she's not prejudiced in my opinion. That being said, she tends to keep to those sort of circles, most of her friends have one or more magical parents. And her best friends which are in the other Horned Serpent girls dorm with Nicole are Melina and Rebecca, both purebloods," Sandra added.
"Yeah, they're in my dorm. For the most part, they're okay too, but those three tend to be pretty close even though, Melina and Rebecca are in my dorm, and obviously Barbara is in yours."
Lily nodded thoughtfully at that. "So Melina and Rebecca are purebloods…does that mean you two are half bloods or have non-magical parents?"
"I'm a halfblood," Nicole answered, "but Sandra's parents are non-magical."
"Yup. Non-magical born and raised," Sandra answered proudly.
"Oh same here then," Lily said, smiling. "Sev's a halfblood himself, his mum was a witch, but dad is a muggle."
"Oh…wait, did you say was a witch?"
Lily silently cursed herself for her little slip, then again she hadn't thought anything of it by saying 'was' as opposed to 'is.' How was she supposed to know that Sandra would pick up on that? Sandra's blue eyes had softened in apparent concern, it seemed she was already building suspicions as to why she'd chosen that word in particular.
"Severus' mum passed away a few years ago. Beyond that it wouldn't be my place to say anything," Lily answered, hoping their questions in regard to her boyfriend's prior home life would cease.
Thankfully, her answer seemed to appease Sandra, and Nicole too it seemed, although the former still bore a look of saddened curiosity. Sandra seemed far more perceptive than Lily had given her credit for at first.
"So what are your favorite subjects then?" Sandra asked curiously.
Lily smiled at the fellow muggleborn witch, grateful for the change of subject from Sev's parentage. "I really like charms, potions and care of magical creatures, and I plan on taking all three while I'm here. What about you guys?"
"Personally, I hate potions," Sandra said, her lip curling and nose wrinkling in distaste. "Although I really love Runes and Transfiguration, those two are probably the subjects I enjoy most and am best at, I honestly don't understand Potions at all. Nicole's really good at it though and was one of the best in our year…" she paused, drumming her chin in thought with her free hand before adding; "maybe it's a redhead thing, if you're any good Lily, and I know Nicole is, it just might be!"
"Yeah. And I was on track to being in Rosier's advanced class until you and Severus came along and stole that opportunity away from me," Nicole muttered.
Lily flashed the scowling ginger an apologetic look. "If you like potions though, I'd always be happy to share notes with you and we could work together in class if that's your thing," Lily offered, hoping it would cheer her up.
"You'd do that? I thought you and Severus were good friends, so wouldn't you want to work with him?" Nicole sounded skeptical, and frankly, Lily couldn't blame her. After all, she'd be skeptical too if some transfer student had come into Hogwarts and swiped an advanced class with only one or two students per year—from right between her fingers.
"Sure! Sev and I may be friends, but we usually like to compete in potions anyways, you'd always be welcome to join us if you'd like. In Hogwarts we were often the top two in our year for Potions and Charms at least, so if you're keen on a bit of debate, come join us!"
Nicole's brown eyes widened slightly at Lily's openness. She seemed a little more receptive to this and nodded. "If it's alright with you both then I think I will," she replied, now sporting a small smile on her face.
Sandra just gave a quiet sigh and rolled her eyes. "Honestly. Potions is so overrated, I can't wait to give it up after next year," she muttered tiredly.
"Yeah, well from what Lily's said, Severus was the best in her year at Hogwarts at potions. If you don't want to constantly disappoint Rosie and embarrass yourself, you should take it up with him then," Nicole suggested, her lips curling into a wry smirk.
Sandra's brows rose at that as she shifted away to glance at Severus, who was currently speaking quietly with Thomas on the other side of the table. "Yeah, I suppose that could work," she said offhandedly.
Nicole's conspiratory smirk had Lily on edge. The ginger then went on to say; "Say…perhaps a little one on one private tutoring could benefit you Sandra, I think that it'd work wonders for your potion grades," she teased, shooting the suddenly blushing Sandra a cheeky look. "After all, even if his advice doesn't help, just hearing Severus discuss Potions'll definitely improve your enthusiasm for the subject loads. I mean…that accent is so hot, isn't it?"
"I'll have you know that that's my boyfriend you're talking about," Lily said icily, cutting into whatever reply Sandra had on the tip of her tongue. Her tone was as hard as diamond, yet her scorching glare would've put the sun to shame as her emerald eyes flashed dangerously. "So if you want any study sessions with Sev, keep your advances to yourselves or we'll have a real problem on our hands." Her voice was laced with such sweetness, but it only provided a thin veneer for the venom that coursed through her words just beneath the surface—a sharp warning over what she might do if anyone made untoward advances on Severus.
"Whoah now, we don't want to start shit Lily, we didn't know you two were…dating," Sandra said defensively, her hands held up in a placating gesture.
"Good. Just so long as we're clear," Lily muttered lowly, giving both girls warning looks.
They nodded quickly.
Satisfied with their response, Lily gave a nod of her own and seemed to relax just a bit more into her chair.
"So tell me…what was that you said about Severus' voice?"
"What about my voice?" The boy in question leaned over, having heard his name crop up a few times too many throughout their conversation.
"Oh didn't you know Sev? Nicole here finds your accent sexy," Lily grinned, playfully punching him on the arm.
Severus seemed confused as could be, staring incredulously at Nicole as if she'd grown a second head with antlers. "What?"
Nicole was flushing a bright tomato red that quite nearly matched the tone of her ginger bob. She quickly averted her gaze back to her food without so much as a word and began picking away at her food quickly. She seemed to hide behind her curtain of hair in a similar fashion to the way that Severus would behind his hair whenever he was blushing or embarrassed. Severus still seemed incredulous at the thought that someone found his voice…his words, sexy of all things, he was glaring daggers of accusation at Lily. Granted, when his voice had dropped back in second year, Lily had jokingly told him that the combination of his deeper—more intimidating voice, his crisp and velvety tone, as well as the smooth undercurrent of a classic Cokeworth drawl—when all mixed together would have girls weak at the knees. Needless to say she'd been oblivious to his feelings for her back then, and Lily's prediction had not panned out at all seemingly because he had received a grand total of zero advances, despite his Lily-named 'sexy accent.'
Despite Lily initially being rather peeved as a result of Nicole's joking about hitting on Severus; she was grinning happily at finally being proven right. Severus meanwhile turned his attention away from Lily and her two new roommates and back towards his food.
"What was that all about?" Thomas asked, as Severus swallowed a bite of broccoli.
Severus shrugged. "Something about my accent. Nothing more than that," he muttered tiredly.
Thomas nodded, turning his own attention back to his meal as well. "So you and Lily will be part of Rosier's advanced class right?"
"That's correct. We were both the best at potions amongst our classmates in our old school."
"That's really strange though," Thomas replied. At Severus' look of confusion, he elaborated. "I mean…Rosier never picks more than one person for her private tutoring, the fact that she's picked both of you…you must be pretty good then. Nicole's super good at potions too, like really, really good, so I was kinda surprised to see her bumped out in favor of you and Lily," he admitted. "You both must be really talented then."
"I guess you could say that. Both Lily and myself do have a knack for potions, so…she would have had a tough time choosing between us if she had to settle for one."
"D'you think you could teach me?"
Severus heaved a sigh. "And what would I get out of this…arrangement?"
Thomas shrugged, but his lips had spread into a smile. "You mentioned you're not taking Advanced Runes this year right? Well how about I help you there? I for one am taking Advanced Runes so I can help you with that, if you help me with Potions. That's fair right?"
Severus did not look convinced, not by a long shot. The skeptical look he was giving Thomas would've made the Sahara seem as humid as the Amazon in comparison. Knowing Severus had yet to be convinced, Thomas elaborated.
"Also…I know what it's like being the new kid, coming into an environment where you know no one and you're all alone, so I thought you could use a friend. It's not easy going somewhere new."
"So you're offering a…deal of sorts then? I tutor you in potions, and you teach me—"
"No, that's not what I'm saying at all man! I'm asking if you want to be friends!"
"Friends?"
Thomas nodded eagerly. "Yeah. I mean…I don't have too many friends so I was kinda hoping you'd be cool with that. Scott and Caroline were the people I was closest to before all this…and John and Billy are alright too, but they're a pretty tight-knit pair those two. So I was kinda hoping that we could be friends, and if we are, then that'd be great. 'Cus I know what it's like going somewhere new and all the people you meet already have their own friends and not much time for the new guy. It ain't easy."
Severus seemed curious, so he asked; "Where do you know that from?"
"I…moved around a lot as a kid," Thomas replied. "My dad was in the military so we'd always be shifting around from base to base…I always had to meet new people and could never grow too attached to anyone—it was tough making friends that way. I even went to West Germany once, dad was stationed at Ramstein Air Force Base over there."
"Your father currently serves in the military?"
"Yeah. He flew A-4 Skyhawks out of West Germany as part of the Air Force's exchange program for a little while. This was just before I got my letter of admission here—so I'd been living in Germany when I was around ten to eleven. We stuck around there for about a year and a half before it was time to move again," Thomas explained. "What about you? Did your old man serve?"
Severus nodded, a dark look passing over his face as he did so. "Indeed. He was a Royal Marine during World War Two," he muttered.
Thomas was slightly taken aback at Severus' darkened tone when the topic of discussion shifted to his father, but decided not to press the issue further. "So…friends then?" He extended his hand across the table hopefully.
Severus eyed his hand for a moment, before his gaze moved back up to Thomas' hopeful-looking brown eyes. Without a word, Severus extended his hand to meet his and gave it a firm shake. Thomas smiled happily at the gesture as he withdrew his hand from their clasp.
"So what are Billy and John like?" Severus asked, relaxing back into his seat just a little more after their handshake.
"Oh they're cool, they...uh, well John in particular is really academics oriented, Billy less so but they're both kinda nerdy. John's the best Historian in our year, he's obsessed with magical and non-magical history. Billy plays for our house Quidditch team but he's really good at Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures, they're alright dudes but they tend to stick together for the most part. Oh, and John's really talkative, no matter what you do, do not let him get going about history, he'll talk your head off through the night if you so much as bring up History with him. Billy's is a bit more chill, but they're good dudes overall," Thomas replied.
Severus nodded, already wondering what it would be like to meet Billy and John later on when they retired to their dorms for the evening. From the looks of things, he seemed to have lucked out, if his roommates' most unsavory habit was being a chatterbox about history, then it was certainly a step up from how his prior dorm mates Avery, Mulciber and Rosier were.
"What about that guy over there?" He asked, eyes flickering to the next table over where Michael and Barbara were still in the middle of a heated debate over something or other.
"Oh that's Michael, he's in Scott's dorm."
"Someone mention me?" Scott himself turned away from his conversation with Caroline to fix his two housemates with an appraising look.
"Oh nothing Scott, just telling Severus here a little about Michael," Thomas explained, giving his friend a brief smile.
Scott nodded slowly and turned back to his sister. "Anyways, I s'pose I should mention that in the other dorm, there's Michael—as I mentioned, Scott of course, and two other guys, Hank and Jose. Now those two guys can be a bit of trouble and I suggest you stay away from them. Scott's cool and all but I don't envy him one bit, having to sleep with those two knuckleheads. They're trouble."
Severus' eyes narrowed slightly and his lips pursed. "Trouble in what way?"
"You're a halfblood right?"
Severus gave a single nod.
"Right. Well those two are purebloods, and as a person with non-magical parents, I tend to avoid those two. Let's just say they don't think too highly of people with less-than-pure blood. Scott and Caroline are Fosters, a pureblooded family here in America so they're all cool with Hank and Jose, the rest of us gotta watch our backs," Thomas said gravely—the anger in his tone was palpable, and Severus couldn't help but wonder what was driving his new friend's attitude towards their two housemates.
"So they're pureblood supremacists then," Severus surmised.
Thomas nodded—he still looked rather angry, his eyes dark and a scowl still plastered on his face. "Yeah. And they're just over there—" he said, briefly gesturing to a table behind Severus. "They usually sit with the upperclassmen, and while they are reasonably smart, they can be a bit…stupid and callous at times. They're not the nicest people to say the least. All those guys and girls over there are purebloods, and upper years too, they're best to be avoided," he warned.
Severus followed Thomas' gaze, so he twisted about in his seat to catch a good glimpse over what he was talking about. He briefly spotted two boys sitting amongst a group of fifth and sixth years—they were the smallest at a nearby table. One was caucasian, short and muscly, with light brown hair—Hank, presumably. The other was hispanic, very tall—taller than Severus even, and with closely cropped black hair. Through narrowed eyes, he began sizing them up, they certainly didn't seem too threatening, and he would be lying if he said they didn't strike him as similar in demeanor to a certain Potter and Black.
"From the way they're acting they certainly seem like prats," Severus scoffed.
"A what?"
"I said they're acting like pra—"
"I heard what you said, but what's a prat?"
"It's slang, I guess a close substitute would be a dickhead," Severus explained.
Thomas released a hearty chuckle at that, but before he had a chance to reply, the Headmistress had risen to her feet and was tapping her knife against her goblet. Aided by a sonorous charm, the sound of silverware against glass reverberated throughout the hall causing everyone to quiet down rather quickly.
"Good," Maxwell began, smiling out over the hall as hundreds of eyes fell upon her in silence. "Well I believe that it is now time for all of you to nip off to bed and get some rest before your classes tomorrow. I, and the rest of the staff bid you all a restful first night back and a pleasant term ahead. Prefects, kindly guide the first years to your common rooms; the rest of you please wait behind a moment whilst the first years vacate the hall."
On cue, the prefects of all four houses got to their feet and began leading the starry-eyed first years from their seats and out of the hall. When the prefects and their charges had left the hall, the grating sound of chair and bench legs scuffing against stone filled the hall as the rest of the student body got to their feet. They began to file out of the hall and the four houses split up to their own common rooms. Severus and Lily were well aware of the way to their common room by now, but still they followed their new friends from the hall towards the common room. They arrived shortly after and as they walked past Horner, through the archway, and into the warmly lit common room, they were met with the sight of most of their fellow Horned Serpents gathered in the common room with Professor Rosier standing on one of the tables. Severus, Lily, Sandra, Thomas, Scott, Nicole and Caroline entered the room line astern, and the few behind them followed them in. When the last student entered, Professor Rosier cleared her throat and brought silence upon the room.
"Before you all head off to bed, I'd like to say a few words of welcome and deliver our start of term notices," Rosier announced.
"Firstly, welcome to all our first years, it is wonderful to see you all as members of the best house in Ilvermorny and I am delighted to serve as your head of house for the coming seven years. To the rest of you, it is wonderful to see you all back in high spirits for the start of another school year. There are a few start of semester notices however that I wish for all of you to take note of before you head off to bed however. For those of you second year and above quidditch team try out's shall be held this coming weekend on both days just after lunch at the quidditch pitch. Also, my potions club shall be starting up next week on Wednesdays after classes, this shouldn't coincide with the majority of other clubs as well as quidditch practice to make it available to as many of you as I can," she stated.
"If any of you have any questions, kindly direct them towards your prefects—they have all been briefed on the notices and announcements well in advance, and if there any questions your prefects are unable to answer, you may approach me directly in my office tomorrow. I believe that is all for now, I wish you all a pleasant night and hope to see you bright eyed and bushy tailed for the start of classes tomorrow. Goodnight."
With that, Rosier stepped down from her pedestal and strode over to the now-closed section of wall that marked the exit/entrance to the common room. She gave her students one last nod and a tight-lipped smile before vacating the room and heading back to her own lavishly-decorated quarters. The stone wall slid open in recognition and allowed her through; the moment she was gone, the students began heading through to their dorms. A few students hang around in the common room after that, but for the most part—after Professor Rosier had left they began making their way towards the two doors that marked the entrance to the boys' and girl's dorms. Severus and Lily bade goodnight to one another, as the former followed Thomas and Scott through to the boys' fourth year dorms, and the latter went along with Sandra, Nicole and Caroline. While Lily entered her dorms and met Barbara for the first time, Severus and Thomas were heading through the corridor to their dorm where the former would meet Billy and John for the first time.
Thomas pushed open the door first and headed into the room, followed shortly by Severus; sure enough, both Billy and John were in the room already. The former was on his bed, his back to the door so he couldn't see the arrival of their third and fourth roommate—he appeared to be rifling through his trunk in search of Pyjamas or toiletries or something; Billy appeared to have dark brown—almost black hair and was rather short—even shorter than Nicole. John on the other hand already was on his feet, towel, toiletries and change of clothes in hand—he was taller, around about Severus' height with light blonde hair and dark green eyes. Billy seemed to be oblivious for the time being, but John's eyes widened as he spied the pair entering the room.
"Hey what's up Tommy, long time no see man! How you doing new guy?" John greeted jovially. He crossed the room towards them and gave Thomas a quick handshake and a warm smile, which he returned.
"How's it going John. It's good to see you too man," Thomas replied, grinning at his roommate.
Billy looked up from his trunk, his hands now laden with his change of clothes and toiletries, "Oh! Hey Tommy, I would shake your hand but my hands are currently a little full as you can see," he said, shrugging his shoulders. Billy's brown eyes shifted to Severus, and gave him a cursory once over. "What's up new guy?"
"The new guy has a name you two," Thomas chided, giving both boys a warning look. "This is Severus, he's come all the way from Hogwarts to join us in the house for the best of the best. So come on over here and give him a proper greeting."
John, who was nearer and had claimed the bed opposite Severus, came over first, his eyes warm and his smile genuine. "What's up new guy—" at Thomas' stern glare, he quickly amended; "I mean Severus, it's good to meet you man, although I've definitely heard about you before. I'm John. John McInroe." He thrust out his hand into the space between them, Severus grasped it and gave it a firm shake, John's smile seemed to warm slightly as the two boys shook hands.
"Likewise…McInroe," Severus replied, eyeing the shorter boy across from him passively. "It's nice to meet you too," he tacked on at the end.
"Cool. But please…call me John, I insist," John said, sporting a roguish grin.
"Very well, John. Well met," Severus said in an even tone.
"Well you'll have to tell me all about Hogwarts some other time man, I'm planning on being a magical historian after graduating so if I can nab a few interviews and sit downs with you, I'll be sure to credit you in my books when I'm published. I've had this huge project planned for a long time now—collating the history of all the magical schools in the northern hemisphere. I'm mostly finished in North America so if you could tell me just a bit about—"
"John!" Thomas shouted, cutting across the rambling boy. "You've talked his head off man, go shower and get the fuck out of here before you scare him back to England!"
John grinned apologetically at Severus and threw a sneer Thomas' way before giving the dark-skinned boy the classic two finger salute and heading into the bathroom.
"It's nice to meet you Severus. I'm William Heywood, but please call me Billy," the other boy said, stepping closer and offering his hand which was free of clothes and toiletries now. "Welcome to our humble abode here in the Berkshires. It's not much…but it's home away from home."
"Good to meet you too," Severus replied, grasping his hand.
Giving him a nod, the shorter boy turned away and headed to the bathroom himself. Thomas was busy unpacking his things and getting his change of clothes sorted for tomorrow as well as his nightwear sorted out when Severus plopped himself down on the bed. He'd already had his shower before the feast and had no need to use the bathroom now. Whilst Thomas was busy unpacking his trunk—his back being turned to him, and the other two boys were busy making use of the bathroom, Severus quickly changed out of his robes into one of the pyjama sets Violet had bought for him all those months ago. He was changed out of his robes so quickly and into his pjs that Thomas was shocked at his sudden change in attire when he turned around.
"You changed awful quick," Thomas observed, glancing up and down at him.
"Yeah, well I already used the bathroom before the welcome feast and I am rather tired," Severus said, a hint of defensiveness and exasperation creeping into his tone.
"Well don't let me stop you then," Thomas conceded, smiling. "I wake up rather early most days, it's a force of habit living in a military family and all. The other two guys tend to sleep in a bit more. Want me to wake you up before breakfast?" Thomas offered, as he folded his pjs over his arm and grabbed his towel.
"I usually wake up early as well, also a force of habit. Chances are you won't need to wake me," Severus answered. He walked over to his trunk and propped the newly-purchased piece of luggage open and took out a book—this one on Potions.
A small smile curled Thomas' lip. "Well I guess we'll see then, won't we? D'you wanna go to breakfast together?"
"I was planning on waiting for Lily, but she usually doesn't wake up too far behind me, if you're fine with waiting, then sure. I won't mind."
"Alright then sounds like a plan," Thomas said, shutting his trunk and carrying his things over to the bathroom door. Just as he reached the bronze handle—his hand already touching it but hadn't yet pushed it down, he turned around. "You going to sleep now then?"
"I did say I was rather tired, so yes, I am," Severus answered.
Thomas nodded. "Okay, well don't let me keep you then. Goodnight."
"G'night."
Severus drew the blinds shut and sank down onto the soft quilt of his four-poster—relaxing into the pillows and mattress with a heavy sigh. Although he was just going to bed, on the other side of the Horned Serpent dorm complex, Lily wasn't quite ready to go to sleep just yet and was going to attempt to introduce herself to Barbara. Sandra and Caroline were already in the bathroom using the showers, leaving just Lily and Barbara in the dorm. Lily had been sorting out her nightwear and organizing her books into her bedside table, whilst Barbara was currently unpacking her trunk. The other two girls were in the toilet so Lily hoped this would be a good chance to introduce herself.
"Hey…it's Barbara, right?" Lily greeted, giving the girl in question what she hoped was a warm smile.
Barbara turned about on the spot and nodded carefully. "Yes. Barbara Merryweather. And you're Lily Evans, yes?"
"Yep that's me. It's nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too."
"So…would you like to—"
"I apologize, Lily, but whatever you're saying will have to wait. Unlike you, I haven't had the chance to shower yet so do excuse me," Barbara said curtly.
"Oh." Lily blinked, caught off guard just a little bit by her rather abrupt response. "Right, yes. Yes of course, sorry."
Barbara nodded, grabbing her nightclothes into her arms and draping her towel over her arm. "Well I'd better go. If you wish, we can talk tomorrow, I am rather tired and I'd rather change out of these stuffy robes and freshen up a bit first if you don't mind." When she put it like that, her request seemed all too reasonable, yet it was also a clear dismissal.
"Sure. Don't let me keep you," Lily replied, inclining her head.
The brunette gave her a small, tight-lipped smile, hugged her nightgown and toiletries to her chest, and then headed past her towards the door that led to the bathroom. Sighing, Lily laid down on her bed and glanced up at the canopy of her four poster. True to what Sandra and Nicole had told her earlier, Barbara seemed nice enough, but from their limited interactions, she seemed closer with Caroline than she did with Sandra. Lily closed the blinds of her bed and laid back into the pillows with a tired sigh. Then again Caroline was pureblooded, and Sandra and her were Muggleborns. Barbara didn't seem prejudiced at least, but at the same time Lily still hoped to get to know her, as with all the other girls in her year—just like at Hogwarts. Like Severus, she too fell asleep quickly. She had a restful sleep that night, pleasant dreams filling her subconscious of a brighter future for the both of them.
A/N2: After wallowing in my misery over the fact that both Seb and Pierre had shitty races, one DNFed and the other had a puncture; not to mention Verstappen being taken out by Hamilton on the first lap, I finally hunkered down and wrote this. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and I should be able to update again soon. Thanks for reading!