"Well, then, what am I supposed to wear? An evening gown?" Elaine said with both sarcasm and exasperation. She noticed that a few people snorted into their morning sherry, while others looked like I had just spat in the devil's face.
"No, Elaine, you are to dress in this," Her uncle said coldly as he handed her some kind of dress, no, it was a robe, A black robe. She sighed; decided it was better left unasked, and marched upstairs to change.
* * * * *
After Elaine had finished changing and had left the inn, her and her uncle started walking toward a gigantic castle.
"Is, is that where we are going?" Elaine asked with a hint of wonder in her voice.
"Yes. That is where I teach, and everything you have asked about will be answered there." Her uncle replied and smiled a bit when he noticed that she quickened her pace.
When they finally reached the castle, Elaine couldn't help but wonder if all the schools in Scotland were as beautiful and foreboding.
"So, what is the school called?"
"It is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," her uncle answered in his usual menacing tone.
"What? Did you say Witchcraft and Wizardry?" Elaine asked, stopping in her tracks.
"Yes, everything will be explained when we get to the Headmaster's office."
"Oh, hello Severus, a woman wearing black robes, and a black pointy hat said. She looked very strict, but not mean.
"Hello Minerva. May I introduce my niece, Elaine," her uncle said indicating towards Elaine. Elaine noticed that there seemed to be a sort of tension between the two, as if they didn't like each other, but were too mature to say so.
"Hello Miss Snape, will you be attending Hogwarts this year?" The woman, Minerva, asked.
"I really have no idea if I will be attending. And my last name is not Snape, I am Elaine Sampton, how de do!" Elaine said as pleasantly as she could.
"Well, you definitely didn't get your uncles personality, that's for sure," Minerva muttered to herself.
"Minerva, is the Headmaster in," Snape asked as though he hadn't heard Minerva's remark.
"Yes, he is in his office, have a good day Severus, and you too Elaine," and with that Minerva continued down the hall.
Elaine and her uncle also continued on their walk through the castle, Elaine was just thinking what beautiful paintings these were, when she realized that they were moving.
Elaine jumped two feet in the air grabbed onto her uncle's arm and yelled "Oh my God! Uncle Severus the paintings are moving! They're moving!"
"Of course there moving! Now be quiet, do you want to disturb the classes?" Her uncle snapped at Elaine. Elaine let go of his arm, and found many other surprises around every corner. Between coats of armor that talked, moving staircases, and moving paintings she was a nervous wreck when she reached the stone gargoyle.
"Ice Mice," her uncle said, and it was obviously a password because the gargoyle came to life. Now this was just too much for Elaine she gasped, looked at her uncle, and promptly fainted.
"Oh great!" Her uncle sighed. He took out his wand and muttered some Latin words, and Elaine's body rose up into the air. He stepped on the moving staircase making sure Elaine's head wouldn't hit the floor, and made his way to the Headmaster's office.
* * * * *
"Professor Dumbledore, may I introduce my niece, Elaine," Severus Snape said when he had maneuvered Elaine's still unconscious floating body into Professor Dumbledore's office.
"May I ask what happened," Dumbledore asked with a smile on his face.
"As you know she is not very accustomed to magic and with the moving paintings and suits of armor I believe she was very high strung, and I think your moving gargoyle set her off. She fainted right outside her office."
"Ah, I see, well we better revive her," Dumbledore said conjuring a bed out of nowhere, "it wouldn't do for her to spend the whole day unconscious. Enneverate." And with that Elaine woke up. She looked around, noticed that there was an old man staring down at her, and her uncle looking at her with an expression almost like worry, but which quickly returned to his usual sneering face.
"Dumbledore I presume?" Elaine said to the old man.
"Yes, this must be the famous Elaine that everyone is dying to meet," Dumbledore said. Elaine looked at Dumbledore and was sure that she could trust him. "Severus, would you mind if Elaine and I talked alone?"
"No," and her uncle left.
"Elaine, your uncle has told me about your, err, strange experiences concerning fire and water. Could you by chance explain them to me?" Dumbledore asked looking at her, not condescendingly, but with respect.
"Well, I'm reluctant to talk about this, but I suppose I will since you have brought it up. Well I guess I should start by telling you that its not only fire and water that I can manipulate, but also I can make rain clouds, and make plants grow, and I can control lightning, so I suppose I have a strange connection with the four elements: Water, Fire, Earth, and Air. I've tested my limits and so far, I've only been able keep my powers in check for a week, and on the Sunday of that week, my powers (I guess you could call them powers), go haywire, I mean fires springing up everywhere, it starts raining inside the house, 50 mile per hour winds in the kitchen, the living room becomes a rainforest, I mean totally out of control! So every Sunday I go somewhere private and vent my powers by like making a little cloud and having it rain, making a couple fire balls, moving things with my mind…" Elaine said, but Dumbledore interrupted her.
"So, you can move things with your mind also?"
"Yeah, did I forget to mention that? Well I don't know if I told you this already, but I can move things with my mind, I can teleport myself, and, well I don't like to mention this and, and I don't think I will, no, not yet at least. I want to keep at least on of my powers a secret. Oh, and I can sometimes read minds"
"Why only sometimes?" He asked showing both amusement and interest.
"Well, there's this whole process I have to go through, and it takes awhile so I use it only sometimes, and well, its also kind of rude, don't you think?"
"Hmmm, I suppose so."
"Well, yeah, so that's the extent of my power, and may I ask you a few questions now?"
"Why of course, ask away!"
"What is going on here? The pictures move, the coats of armor talk! And that, that gargoyle! Either your castle is extremely haunted, or, well, something fishy is going on here."
"Oh there's nothing fishy going on, this is a magical school, and from what I've heard, you will be attending here next term. The term started September 1st, but I believe you can catch up on three weeks work. Your uncle will take you to get your supplies, and we will hold a special sorting ceremony at dinner on oh, lets say September 27th. Well, if you would by chance step out and inform your uncle that I wish to talk to him privately it would be greatly appreciated. Have a nice day Miss Sampton.
"Now wait a minute! Magical school? Like magic wands and broomsticks? Proof it."
"As you wish. Now lets see," Dumbledore said taking out a stick, "Aurora Tandem" When he said these words brilliant colors lit up the room. Elaine gasped and looked at Dumbledoore with amazement.
"Magic, this is, magic!" Elaine said.
"Of course, now please go out and fetch your uncle."
"Ok," Elaine said going out of the office. Her uncle was there waiting. Elaine told her uncle that Dumbledore wanted him, and her uncle went into the office. Elaine put her ear against the door to listen.
"You know she's a force." She heard Dumbledore say.
"Yes, that's what I thought, but I wanted you to confirm it." Her uncle answered.
"That's the reason her…" Dumbledore started to say but was cut off by her uncle.
"Yes."
"Hmmm, I don't believe we should let her know until she's ready."
"Yes, I agree."
"Well, you better take her to Diagon Alley tomorrow. She will start in 5 days. Well, have a nice day Severus, ta ta.
* * * * *
"Well that was pretty strange," Elaine said to her uncle.
"Not to me," He replied. He was extremely glad that she had stopped jumping every time a picture moved.
"Yeah, I guess so. You know you're very quiet, I really don't understand how people can think I have that I am like you. I'm not trying to be rude, but even you must see the difference." Elaine said all this while walking backwards looking at uncle. Somewhere in the distance some bells rang.
"Dinner."
"Oh, cool bells. My bells were so very annoying at my old school…" Elaine started to say but three people had come running down the stairs knocking both Elaine and her uncle down.
All five people were lying in a heap, when her uncle got up, red in the face and said, "Potter! Weasly! Granger! Detention for all of you, and 10 points form Gryffindor each!"
"But we didn't mean to!" A boy with red hair said.
"Do you want to make it 20 points each, Weasly?" Her uncle warned. The boy with red hair, Weasly stayed quiet.
"Um, uncle Severus, it was really my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going, and I was walking backwards. I'm sure they are sorry," Elaine said to her uncle, but noticed right away that that was the wrong thing to say. Her uncle's face got very dark, and he gave her a look that said shut up now or you will regret it! She quickly closed her mouth and looked at the people who had run into them. She was puzzled to see their mouths open and their eyes wide.
"Elaine, I need to get something from my office. Stay here, I'll be right back," and her uncle walked off into the darkness.
Elaine looked back at the three people, and they were still staring at her as if she had two heads. "What?" She asked.
"You, your, how, your Snape's niece?" A boy with black messy hair said.
"Yeah, and who are you?" She asked.
"I am Harry Potter, this is Ron Weasly, and this is Hermione Granger. What's your name?"
Harry, who had been expecting her to ask him about his scar and such, but instead she said "Nice to meet you. I am Elaine Sampton."
"Hi, so, is it terrible living with Snape, I mean your uncle?" The Hermione asked.
"No, we mostly don't talk, don't interact at all, I mean I didn't even know he exsisted until, oh, three days ago. So I'm guessing you don't like him." Elaine said.
"Well, he is very, ermm, strict," Hermione, said.
"Strict! He's a monster! You know one time Hermione got hit with an engorgement charm on her teeth, and Snape said he didn't see any difference! I mean her teeth were longer then her chin, and he didn't see any difference! Can you believe that?" The red head, Ron, said as if he had been waiting to tell this to someone for a long time.
Suddenly Elaine realizes what the kid with the black hair's name was, Harry Potter. Hadn't someone in the inn said we had the same eyes? And now that she looked at him, she realized that she had seen his face somewhere, but she couldn't remember. "Did you say your name is Harry Potter?" Elaine asked.
"Yes," he said. "Oh here it comes," he thought.
"You know, I don't think my uncle likes you, he got really huffy when a person at the inn mentioned your name. Huh, go figure."
"So, what year are you, and what house?" Hermione asked.
"Huh? What are those?"
"Oh, you don't go to this school, do you?"
"Not yet, I'm starting on the 27th, at least that's what the principal said."
"Principal?" They all asked.
"Yeah, you know Dumbledore. What do you call it here, Headmaster I think. In America we call them the principal, and vice principal. Is there a vice headmaster here?
"No, but there's McGonagal, and she's the Headmistress."
"Ah, I see, oh I think I see my uncle, so I guess I'll see you on the 27th, bye." And as Elaine said Professor Snape, came down the hall and Elaine followed him.
"Snape, has a niece. Huh, I always thought he was an evil ogre. You know she seems much to nice to be his niece," Ron said.
"Well," Harry said, "look at the Dursleys."
"Yeah, I guess your right. Wouldn't in be funny if she became a Gryffindor?" Hermione said.
"She deserves to be in Gryffindor, standing up to Snape like that!" Ron answered, and with that they went into the dinning room, to spread the news. Snape had a niece.
* * * * *
"Elaine, you never, ever, ever try to correct my judgments. You have undermined my authority, and I don't appreciate it. Those kids are punks," her uncle said this in a quiet voice, but Elaine could tell he was very angry.
"I'm sorry, but I think you were being at little hard on them. I mean all they did was come down the stairs a little fast.!" Elaine retorted. "I mean, what do you have against them?"
"It is none of your business what my motives are," Snape snapped.
"Well from the way your acting, I'm starting to believe what Harry, Ron, and Hermione said about you!"
"Oh, I see your already on a first name basis. And what may I ask did they say about me?"
"That you're a blood sucking mean and evil monster!"
"Well Ms. Sampton I would like you to know that I was not forced to take you in. If I were such a blood sucking monster, I would have left you to go to an orphanage. I never expected or wanted to have a 14 year old brat thrust into my life for me to raise. So you just think about that!" Snape said bursting into a yelling fit. On the last sentence he turned around and stormed down the hall.
"Well just for your information, it not exactly wine and roses for me to be sent to Scotland to live with a cranky old bat!" Elaine yelled down the hall. Her uncle apparently didn't hear her and if he did he didn't show it.
* * * * *
"Hello Ms. Snape, good to see you again!" The bartender said.
"It's Sampton not Snape! This is the third time! God how can anybody think I'm related to that, that man!" Elaine screamed as she ran up the stairs to her room.
"Looks like she's had a run in with her uncle. Told you it would happen, I told you!" the bartender said to his customers who just shook their heads.
* * * * *
It was late and the feeling of guilt was coming over both parties (yes Snape can feel guilt). Elaine was pacing around her room thinking. "God, why was I so mean? He was right, he did go out on a limb taking me in, and what business of mine is it how he treats his students. Grrr…If only I hadn't been so stupid. Well, I suppose I better write him an 'I'm sorry' letter." Elaine raised her hand and the drawer of her desk opened up and a quill came out of it. "Quills? God, you think with all this magic they would at least have pens, but this parchment is nice," she said looking at the parchment she had just made rise out of the drawer. "Okay, lets see. Dear Uncle Severus, I'm just writing to apologize. I had absolutely no right messing around in your business. Well that pretty much sums it up, except I'd like to thank you for taking me in." As Elaine said this the quill began writing on the parchment. Elaine had learned this trick when she had to write an Essay and had gotten sick and tired of writing. She had begun to speak the words out loud and her pen began writing. Elaine folded her letter and walked downstairs. The innkeeper was down their polishing glasses. "Um excuse me, I was wondering if you could deliver this to my uncle?" Elaine asked.
"Oh hello, Miss Sampton. Oh, of course!" The innkeeper said.
"Oh, and by the way, what's your name?" Elaine asked.
"My names Max, Maxwell Tallepe. Is that all you need Miss?"
"Yeah, and thanks."
"Your welcome Miss."
