The Forgotten Child - Part 1
The moon seemed larger than usual, almost taking up the whole sky. Rays of moonlight shining down on her, exposing her sleek, raven coloured hair. Her emerald eyes, sparkling like diamonds in the night sky. She begins to walk through the doors to the Great Hall, passing stone statues. As if she was aware that these were magical, and so could awaken at any moment, she only takes small steps, just as though she is walking for the first time.
The walls surrounding the Great Hall dazzled in front of her eyes. Flickering candles floating in mid-air, banners of different animals: a lion, a snake, a badger and a bird, each fluttering slightly as a small wave of air rippled from beneath it, but what caught her attention the most was the long table in front of her, where a man was sitting.
'I take it you're Cassie. You're late! You've missed the ceremony, I suppose I can just as easily figure out which house you belong in though,' said the man. He looked strangely familiar to her, with his greasy black hair and scowl on his face, though she had never met anyone outside the muggle world. She couldn't help but smile at this odd looking man. 'What are you smiling about? Wait, never mind, we have more importing things to attend to. I'm Professor Snape, you will surely see me, I will be your potions teacher. Now then, lets see…' he gazed at her as if he could see right through her, then he pulled a face. A face as if something had come back to haunt him, and also of hatred at the same time. 'Potter…'
'Pardon sir, what do you mean Potter?' she said
'You…you remind of Potter, bad attitude towards school, always late, getting into trouble…'
'But sir, I've only just started. It's not my fault I turned up late, I didn't know where platform 9 and...'
'QUIET! I've had enough of your attitude already! I think you should belong in Gryffindor, which's where Potter was…you're the same you and him…too much alike,' with that he started to walk out through a door near the table. 'Excuse me sir, where do I go?'
'You stupid girl, how am I supposed to know that! I have nothing to do with your house or riffraff like you. I take it you were muggle born…parents both muggles I mean?'
'Actually sir, I never knew my parents.'
'Well, either way, find you own way there and stop calling me sir!' He left, slamming the door behind him, leaving only the sound of the large oak door reverberating around the room. Not knowing where to go, receiving no help from Prof. Snape, she wanders aimlessly through the enchanted corridors. The eyes of the antiquated portraits followed her, which caused her to stumble.
Finding herself in a long dark corridor, she became aware of a soft glow, creeping out from under a portrait. Without thinking, she felt herself drawn towards the portrait, to her surprise, it moved, revealing a room. Entering the room, the glow intensified, giving her a warm comforting sensation over her body that she recognised, but wasn't sure how. There was a single bookshelf on the opposite side of the room, which was where the glow was emanating from. Cautiously, not daring to breathe, she approached the shelf, searching for the source of the glow. Waving her wand frantically, trying to make something happen, a book magically floated into the air. The golden inscription on the cover shone even more brightly in her eyes. 'Records, 1900-1999', the pages appeared to turn themselves over, one by one, revealing records of births of students from Hogwarts school.
'What do you think your doing in here!' startled by the voice, her eyes jumped up to find Professor Snape standing at the opening. His eyes looked black and cold, showing no emotion whatsoever. 'YOU! Getting into trouble already I see…20 points off Gryffindor for that! Now get to your common room, before I give you a detention!' he bellowed.
'Why is he so uptight?' she asked herself.
'He's a teacher, what do you expect…especially with the scare recently of he-who-must-not-be-named. You're Cassie right?'
'Yes, I'm Cassie…who…where are you?'
'Over here,' ahead of Cassie was the large portrait of the fat lady; the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. 'I am the entrance to your common room, Professor Snape said you would be on your way. The password is fizzing whizzbee, you must remember the password for when you want to enter the common room.' The picture swung open. She found herself in a dimly lit room, surrounded by a few other students. A girl approached her. Her silken, auburn hair shimmering, somehow, in the feebly lit room. Her deep, ocean coloured eyes stared at her in recognition. 'Hello, I'm Libby, I'm a first year too. I already know your name, your Cassie right?' How come everyone seemed to know her, yet she'd only just started. 'Follow me, I'll show you where your dormitory is.' She followed the girl up some stone steps, to a room.
Soon, she was walking down the corridor again, wondering how she got there. The golden glow as before, was in front of her but it all seemed different. The portrait opened by itself revealing the bookshelf again, but this time, someone was stood there, reading, it was Professor Snape. He looked up at her, 'what are you doing out of bed, I thought your mother told you to stay where you were.' This confused Cassie a lot. As he walked up to her, she realised he had grown about five times in height and was towering over her like a giant. He took her hand…
'Cassie, are you ok?'
'What?…oh yeah…I'm fine,' she answered. Libby looked at her worried. 'Sorry, I must have slipped into a dream-world or something,' and she smiled at this.
Next morning, she entered the Great Hall with her new friend. Suddenly looking up, she sees hundreds of owls flying above…owl post! Her owl could be spotted easily; it was pitch black with white rings around its eyes, hence why she called it Ebony. It dropped a letter into her hand, with scrawled writing on it that she had never seen before. Cassie quickly opened the letter, wondering whom it was from.
I will be back for you soon my child, but keep away from the one called Professor Snape. He will obstruct your path and your true course.
What did this mean?
'So who was your letter off?' asked Libby.
'I don't know, it didn't say.' She walked to her house table ready to have breakfast, unaware of what this letter meant and the things that were to come.
