-Prince Manor, 21 August 1976

When Hermione and Draco finished being sorted, they both returned to the manor.

"Severus, we're back," Hermione said as usual, but this time she was a little nervous.

Severus greeted them calmly as usual but he stared at them for a few moments longer than usual, as if he was waiting for them to say something.

Hermione knew immediately that although Severus never asked them about their private lives, he was now a little intrigued to know which house they had been selected for.

She swallowed at this situation as it was the worst thing that could happen to them, she didn't know how Severus would react.

'I know how much he hates Gryffindors..., this could turn out very badly' thought Hermione.

Yes... She had been selected in Gryffindor.

No..., she hadn't completely forgotten about the situation she was going to have to face when she returned to Severus.

Although she had only thought at the time about how to gain Dumbledore and had forgotten for a moment that her decision to be a Gryffindor could affect the whole relationship they had with Severus.

She already knew that it wouldn't be so bad with Draco going to Slytherin..., but things didn't always work out the way she expected them to.

Hermione looked at Draco and he looked at her.

They both swallowed.

Draco like Hermione hadn't thought about the consequences this might have, he had been thinking about something else during the sorting, though he would never say or admit what.

"I see..." said Severus suddenly making them both look at him.

"Huh?... What is it?" they both asked automatically and a little nervously.

Severus smiled slightly amused at their behaviour.

"I just wanted to know how you two had been getting on with Dumbledore..., but it seems you both misunderstood what I wanted to know..."

"Looking at your expressions it is probable that one of you has been selected in Gryffindor or maybe both of you...," he added with a glare at both of them.

Making Draco and Hermione even more nervous.

'How did I not think he would want to know that ahead of our houses' Hermione complained thinking about what an idiot she was for not guessing that first.

"Well..." started Hermione wanting to explain.

"I don't care, Hermione, as I told you before, as long as you don't involve me in your plans you are free to do what you want, I thought I had made that clear," said Severus before Hermione could explain.

"But I see that if you care about something so simple you didn't quite understand me..., well never mind, just remember that," he added.

Draco nodded quickly and Hermione was still conflicted, for some reason, she still wanted to explain herself.

"So, did Dumbledore suspect something? or did you just decide to tell him the truth?" asked Severus intrigued, he wanted to know what the old man knew, Dumbledore was unpredictable and troubled.

"We didn't tell him anything, at first he seemed cautious and intrigued, but he didn't seem to have suspected anything about us, at the end of the selection process I even think he end up accepting us, excited and happy," answered Draco.

Severus looked at Hermione to confirm that what he said was true and she nodded.

Now, Severus frowned, the two of them being selected to Gryffindor wasn't enough for the old man to stop being cautious or suspicious, there had to be something more...

Especially if they didn't tell him anything relevant.

"Well, looks like that's one problem less than," Severus said and then turned away to go back to his duties, but he wasn't convinced that Dumbledore really trusted them.

When Severus left, Draco and Hermione let out the breath they were unconsciously holding.

They both thought he was going to react very badly to finding out that they were Gryffindors.

There was even the possibility that he would cut off all connection with them, though Hermione doubted he would do this as Severus still had a lot of things he wanted to learn about different types of magic from the future.

She couldn't be sure what he would do in a moment of anger, but she was surprised that he didn't care at all about that.

It was as if in his eyes something so insignificant wasn't worth caring about.

Now both she and Draco could be sure that Severus changed quite a lot.

Although for them it wasn't so bad since he was now one less worry.

Hermione hadn't thought about it at first as she had planned to go to Gryffindor and figured that with Draco going to Slytherin things wouldn't get much worse with Severus.

But it came as a surprise to her that Draco was selected for Gryffindor.

She asked him repeatedly how that happened, but he refused to tell her, no matter how much she insisted, he refused.

Although she was happy that they didn't have to be separated when they arrived at Severus's that happiness had evaporated as she remembered why she hadn't worried before being selected for Gryffindor.

Draco had changed everything she had thought and planned.

It was just her luck that Severus wasn't pissed off or even interested in them going to the house he hated the most.

-Diagon Alley, 25 August 1976

Lily was excited and happy to hear that her two new friends had been Sorted into Gryffindor.

And to make things better they were going to the same year as her.

She was delighted with this news, she really needed some fresh air, her friends used to hang out with their boyfriends and Lily had to spend most of her time with Remus as he was the only one of her closest friends who weren't in a relationship.

But the problem with Remus was that there were always the Marauders.

She wasn't going to deny that they were fun and used to get a lot of smiles and laughs out of her, but they could also be complete idiots.

Remus was the exception though and so she tolerated them, gradually she was getting used to them and getting closer to James and his group.

Especially now that they were all initiates of the Order of the Phoenix.

These two months spent together training and practising magic for a common cause had bonded them all together.

But Lily still couldn't get the recent events with Severus out of her head, it was a constant headache and the marauders only caused her more headaches by badmouthing him.

Luckily Remus managed to make them stop talking about Severus in front of her, otherwise, she wouldn't have put up with it.

For Lily meeting Draco and Hermione was a relief, being with them made her forget about all her problems for a while.

"Well Lily, thanks for the nice invitation but we should be getting back," Hermione said with a smile.

Today Lily had invited them both over to celebrate that they had joined Gryffindor and that the three of them were now housemates.

"Yeah, I should get back too, my mum must be complaining by now that I didn't come back" nodded Lily.

"So... I'll see you on the train?" she asked, hoping to share a wagon with them and introduce them to her friends.

"Sure, it's not like we have any other plans," laughed Draco.

'And I doubt Severus would want our company on the train, especially now that we're Gryffindors' he thought.

"Sounds good to me, then we'll meet you there Lily" Hermione also agreed, she also knew Severus wasn't going to be interested in going with them on the train.

"Perfect, I'll see you then!" Lily greeted as she left.

Once she was gone, Draco and Hermione sighed a little tiredly.

"You know she's going to get a big surprise at Hogwarts when she finds out about Severus as Severus Prince, our cousin, right?" commented Draco.

"I know, I'd rather have told her before we went to Hogwarts, but she didn't ask about him again and we couldn't just bring it up out of nowhere," replied Hermione.

"So...what do you think will happen?" asked Draco a little nervous as to how she and the other Gryffindors might react to the news that they were his cousins.

"I don't think anything will happen Draco, she won't walk away just because we're her cousins."

"And the others in Gryffindor?"

"Well..., it might be awkward for a while, but with Lily, it won't be too bad."

"And Potter's father along with Black, Lupin, and that rat?" asked Draco again who couldn't stop worrying.

"We just have to wait and see what happens Draco..., but stop thinking of our house as Slytherin, Gryffindor isn't like that snake hole," Hermione clarified.

Draco just snorted and went back to the manor.

-Prince Manor, 31 August 1976

Today Severus was organising everything so that the Prince Family business and the Skywalker Industry would run perfectly smoothly during his stay at Hogwarts.

Tomorrow he would start his Hogwarts schooling again, but he could not neglect the business he had been doing during this time.

He had managed to create several Droids that would take care of the projects he had pending.

They would also keep him informed at all times about what was happening in the Muggle world.

Severus wasn't going to deny that he wasn't enthusiastic about the idea of going to Hogwarts, he knew about the forbidden area and he was looking forward to discovering all sorts of spells and wizardry there.

He hoped he could find something interesting.

It wouldn't be easy as Dumbledore would have an eye on any Slytherin who tried to go near the forbidden area, but he would come up with something.

Finishing organizing the last of his remaining matters, Severus stood up and put his new uniform together with all the things he would need for Hogwarts in a magical Trunk.

No doubt this year was going to be very interesting…

-1st September 1976

The next morning, September 1st, Severus got up and got everything ready to go to the Station to start his sixth year schooling at Hogwarts.

He had already arranged with Hermione and Draco that they would not be going together, in fact, he had made it clear to both of them that the only thing they would still be doing together was magic practice.

They had told him that perhaps it would be better to postpone practice since they were Gryffindors and he was a Slytherin, but Severus refused this suggestion.

He wouldn't give up his daily magic practice for anything in the world and he didn't really care about some Slytherin teenagers either.

If there were any Slytherins who objected to him...

Well...

There are always ways to make them understand their place.

Arriving at the station, a crimson steam train could be seen standing still on a platform packed with passengers, mostly young wizards accompanied by their families.

The train's placard said: "Hogwarts Express, 11 o'clock."

In the British magical world, the start of the school year at Hogwarts can be considered one of the biggest celebrations in the whole year, just like festivals like Christmas, Halloween, and others, for the most part, young wizards will take the train to Hogwarts to start Hogwarts activities and that is why it is so crowded.

Many families can be seen talking noisily as they say goodbye to their children.

Severus walked directly to the train, bypassing all the people around him.

As he entered the train he could hear all sorts of noises, animals, luggage, and people.

The first carriages were already full of students, most of them talking to each other, others were waving to their families by leaning out of the train window and the rest were still looking for available seats.

Severus went to the back of the train as he always used to do to be calm, then he found a free carriage, arranged his belongings, and sat comfortably reading a spell book that Hermione had given him.

It was a very interesting book as she had made many updates to the magical theories of this time and had put in the "current or future" ones that she and Draco knew about.

Eventually, more and more people began to enter the train and in a moment, the sliding door of the carriage Severus was in opened and two young men of about his own age peeked out.

Severus knew immediately who they were.

"Hey Severus, long time, spent another miserable holiday?" joked the young man laughing lightly just before his body settled on the bench in front of Severus.

"Come on Rosier, don't ask such obvious questions, it's obvious he still feels bad about losing miserably to Potter," added the other young man laughing as he sat down next to Rosier.

"I wouldn't say miserable, but full of surprises..." replied Severus without looking away from his book.

"And how exactly did I lose to Potter, would you like to explain, Avery?" hissed Severus now turning his gaze to the young man next to Rosier.

These were Aiden Avery and Evan Rosier, his "closest" mates in Slytherin.

"Well..., considering he humiliated you openly and then made you crawl back to Gryffindor begging for that m..." Avery started to explain but before he could finish speaking Rosier elbowed him to shut him up.

"I think he got the point," said Rosier politely as he watched Severus react to what Avery said.

But he was surprised to see that he didn't seem upset at all.

No, in fact, Severus seemed to be seriously thinking and processing what Avery said.

" Yeah..., it looks like you're right, Potter really made a good job," Severus nodded calmly after carefully considering what Avery had said.

Severus might have been angry with him, but everything he said was so true that he couldn't deny it, Potter really had beaten Severus Snape.

But he wasn't the old Snape anymore.

"See Rosier, even he admits it," laughed Avery.

Rosier ignored him and stared at Severus.

"So..., are you feeling alright Severus?" asked Rosier surprised and intrigued, he knew Severus and how Avery's comment should have thrown him for a loop.

Besides, Severus Snape accepting that Potter had beaten him?

'Impossible' thought Rosier.

Maybe Avery was an idiot and didn't realise it, but Rosier was smart and knew there was something different about Severus.

"Better than ever" Severus replied in his soft, gravelly voice and returned calmly to reading his book.

" Usually, you don't take these things so kindly. If you're not sick, why are you agreeing with this idiot?" asked Rosier.

"Hey, who are you calling an idiot?" complained Avery.

Rosier just ignored him and stared at Severus waiting for his answer.

"Simple, because the idiot is right," replied Severus as if it were a simple fact.

Rosier frowned while Avery was considering if he should be angry that he was called an idiot or proud that Severus had agreed with him in front of Rosier.

"Before I forget. I heard there are two new Gryffindors in our year," Avery suddenly mentioned.

"Hmm.., Yes, I heard about them," nodded Rosier.

Severus who heard this didn't bother to look at them but smiled at the thought of how they would react when they found out that these two persons were in fact his 'cousins'.

"Oh, did your father tell you their names?, I only knew that they were distant relatives of some noble family, but had no further information," Avery commented.

"They're from the Prince house, but that's all I know," Rosier replied.

"Prince...? hmm, sounds familiar," Avery thought aloud.

"Of course, it sounds familiar you idiot, they're a major pureblood noble house, and recently the new heir took charge of everything, he even released a lot of new potions" Rosier reprimanded him and rolled his eyes.

"Huh?... Oh yeah, that's right" Avery smiled sheepishly.

"But I still feel like it sounds from somewhere else..." he added.

Rosier just ignored him and continued to think about Severus' strange behaviour.

A few seconds later Avery's eyes widened as if he had remembered something.

"Wait, Snape!, doesn't your Potions book say that it's the property of The Half-Blood Prince?!"

James Potter and Sirius Black were walking along the train.

They were hoping to meet up with Peter, but unlike usual, Peter wasn't waiting for them outside the train.

"Hey, where do you think he is?" asked Sirius.

"I don't know. Maybe he got into trouble again in his rat form," commented James.

"No way, do you think he did something again?"

"Well..., I don't blame him, if I could sneak anywhere I wanted I would too," said James.

"Don't let Evans hear you say things like that, or she might think even worse of you," Sirius sneered at him.

"It's not funny, you know this holiday I couldn't make much progress in my relationship with her... I missed a great opportunity," James complained.

Sirius looked at James.

In fact, this holiday was the perfect opportunity for James and Lily to get closer with the whole Order of the Phoenix thing.

But Snivellus was shameless enough to actually declare his love in front of Lily when they were all present.

If it wasn't for the fact that his declaration of love was so pathetic, aggressive, and bizarre, James would probably have reacted much worse in that situation.

However, Lily seemed to have been very affected by the words Snape had said that day, causing an annoyance to James who wanted to get close to her.

And to make matters worse, one of the Prewett Twins was interested in Evans, making things even more difficult for Potter over the holiday.

Even the marauders didn't have the confidence to play pranks on the Prewett twins.

They were amazing wizards and both James and Sirius had great respect for them.

The funniest thing was that James demanded a "man-to-man" conversation with his love rival.

The conversation was nothing more than to make sure that Prewett wouldn't use his position as an official member of the Order to get close to Lily and that it would be fair game.

Well... not entirely when James had convinced Remus to help him with Lily.

Remus tried to convince Lily that James was very "suitable" and "adequate" for her.

Yet he was not particularly convincing, although it wasn't all in vain, as Evans slowly began to accept them.

Sirius smiled in amusement as he remembered how much they had to do to give James a chance.

James had been claiming Lily since his first year, and although he had other relationships just like Sirius it was never serious as the only one he really liked was Evans.

But it wasn't until the fifth year that she started to notice him more and it was then that James put aside any other interests he had to take the chance he had with the girl he liked.

The Marauders always made sure to stop other boys at Hogwarts from dating or asking Evans out.

Of course not with threats, just by pranking the boys who dared to do that, and in most cases, it was enough.

Although Severus Snape was an exception as he stayed close to her for up to 5 years.

Actually, they might have let Snape go, as on the surface he wasn't a threat to James, he wasn't an attractive or charismatic young man.

But for some reason, James couldn't let him go.

According to James, he knew that Snape's target wasn't just 'friends', he said that he had seen it in Snape's eyes and that those eyes were even hungrier than his own.

Sirius could agree with this a bit, Peter always supported them, and Remus...

Well, Remus wasn't convinced, but Snape had a lot of things seriously screwed up, he wasn't just a greasy-haired, big-nosed Slytherin...

No, Snape had an obsession with the Dark Arts and Sirius knew it from his brother Regulus.

That was the biggest reason that brought the marauders together to keep him away from Lily.

"It looks like it's already pretty crowded... I wouldn't want to go to the back with the Slytherins," James commented.

"Then let's not wait for Peter any longer and get into a wagon," said Sirius, to which James just nodded.

"This one, there's only two people in it, what do you think?" asked James.

Sirius looked out the window of the compartment.

Sure enough, in this compartment there were only two people, a man and a woman who had already changed into their Hogwarts robes and were now sitting opposite each other, looking out the window at the mountainous landscape of Scotland.

" It is fine. Peter can sit next to us afterwards," Sirius replied lightly and opened the compartment door and the two teenagers inside turned to look at him.

James and Sirius could now clearly see the two occupants of this compartment, and their faces were very unfamiliar.

The man had black hair, grey eyes, and pale skin.

While the girl had brown hair, warm brown eyes, and her face...

'Her face is pretty cute...' thought Sirius who was a bit stunned at the sight of the young witch, he, Sirius Orion Black, would recognise any attractive woman at Hogwarts at a glance.

But he had never seen the young woman in front of him, she definitely wasn't at Hogwarts before.

Sirius' eyes lit up as if he had found a treasure.

" Oi, listen, most of the other compartments in this carriage are full, can we stay here?" asked James with a smile without thinking as much about the two young wizards in front of him as his friend Sirius.

—-

Hermione and Draco had gone to the Hogwarts Express by themselves as Severus had decided to go on his own.

When they arrived they expected to meet Lily but she wasn't there so they both entered the train and searched for a wagon.

Both assumed that Lily would look for them on her own when she arrived, so they decided to go and find a wagon to sit in.

Once they were seated Draco and Hermione didn't talk much, each had their own worries on their minds which kept them quiet as they watched the view.

"Jaime..." Hermione whispered softly suddenly catching Draco's attention.

Draco noticed how her bottom lip trembled, curious he looked out the window she was looking at and he saw two young wizards outside her carriage.

'She must be thinking about Potter already' Draco thought as he realised who the people outside were.

But even he had to admit that the resemblance between Potter father and son was too much, the only thing that made them look significantly different was their eyes.

Suddenly the door of the wagon opened and Potter along with Black stepped inside.

" Oi, listen, most of the other compartments in this carriage are full, can we stay here?" asked James with a smile.

"Sure, go ahead" Hermione quickly replied.

Draco frowned.

" I remind you that we're still waiting for someone," Draco said to Hermione.

" No problem, there are up to 6 people allowed in here and it's not even certain that she will come" Hermione affirmed causing Draco next to her to scoff at the obvious interest she had in meeting and talking to them.

'She's definitely thinking about her dear Potter..., but this just complicates everything. Well, her problem' Draco thought with a shrug, he'd rather not have anything to do with them, but he wasn't stupid either, and being in Gryffindor having a good relationship with them was better than having a bad one.

Besides, if they wanted to defeat Voldemort they would need the help of the Order of the Phoenix and the marauders should already be a step away from being members if they weren't already.

James and Sirius nodded and put their bags on the rack.

Draco was amused by the look Sirius gave Hermione.

He was interested in her.

Draco noticed that Hermione didn't notice Sirius as she was distractedly staring at Potter.

No doubt it's going to be a nightmare for her to see Potter's father being so similar to him' Draco thought and shook his head, then looked at Sirius again and he almost laughed as he watched Sirius frown at being completely ignored by her, probably thinking that Hermione was interested in his friend and not him.

Once the two of them had finished settling their things they sat down.

"I don't remember seeing you two before, which House are you in?" asked Sirius looking at the two of them but focusing his gaze on Hermione who was still looking at Potter.

Sure the look Hermione was giving Potter could be mistaken for interest, but Draco knew there was only melancholy in it.

"That's because we're new students," Draco replied.

"My name is Draco Prince. And this is my half-sister Hermione Prince" he added making Hermione finally stop looking at Potter and wake up from the old memories with Harry that she was re-living by seeing Potter father.

"New students? I've never heard of a new student entering Hogwarts that wasn't a first year," said James squinting his eyes suspiciously.

"Maybe they're transfer students," commented Sirius.

"No, we don't study at another magical school," Hermione denied.

"Then..." Sirius was about to say something but Hermione interrupted him causing him to frown again as he looked at her.

'Oh... he doesn't seem to like that someone didn't let him finish talking, Hmm... I remember Professor Snape mentioning that Black always had a bad temper' Draco thought.

"We both always did Homeschooling. We only moved to Britain just over two months ago and enrolled at Hogwarts to finish our studies," explained Hermione.

"Wow, Homeschooling...that sounds bloody boring" mentioned James making Hermione laugh lightly.

"It's not that bad, it has its advantages," said Hermione.

"But it's like being cut off from all of magical society, I couldn't stand it," said James disgusted with the idea of having to study alone at home without being able to make friends at school or joke around with anyone, it was like hell to him.

Sirius nodded in complete agreement with James.

Studying at home with his parents, yeah...that was worse than hell for Sirius Orion Black.

"One has more freedom to do what one wants," Draco replied in disagreement with Potter.

"But you miss out on all the fun of a magical school," said James.

Draco was about to continue arguing in disagreement with Potter, but Hermione intervened before he could say anything.

"Well, now we can experience it so it's not so bad. By the way, you are?" Hermione quickly changed the subject not wanting to see a discussion between Draco and Potter, it was as if in this time things hadn't changed between the two sides.

And for her watching them argue was like watching Harry and Draco fighting, just painful memories she'd rather not remember.

Draco wanted to complain, but he could understand that it wasn't easy for her to watch Potter, so this time he decided to let things go.

James and Sirius took a few seconds to nod as if the subject no longer bothered them.

"James Potter, you can call me whatever you like," James grinned.

"Sirius, Sirius Black, I would prefer to be called just Sirius."

"So... Do you guys know which House you're going to yet?" asked James.

"Yes. When we were admitted to Hogwarts a few weeks ago, the Sorting Hat sorted us right away" replied Hermione.

"So, which dormitory are you in?" asked Sirius staring at Hermione with intrigue.

"I'm in Gryffindor as well as Draco" answered Hermione.

"Gryffindor?!" shouted James and Sirius in unison with wide eyes.

" You are in Gryffindor?!" asked James looking at them in incredulity.

"Yes" replied Hermione with a giggle at their behaviour.

'Why am I not surprised that at the word 'Gryffindor' they react like that' thought Draco rolling his eyes.

"That's great you should have said it before!" said James with a smile.

"So we're housemates then, good, Jamesy you know what we should do," said Sirius.

"Yeah, two new Lions is something to celebrate" nodded James quickly.

Immediately the two of them started bombarding the two of them with things about Gryffindor and Hogwarts.

And it all got worse when Hermione mentioned that they would both be joining the sixth year along with them.

"Wait, Snape, doesn't your Potions book say that it's the property of The Half-Blood Prince?!" said Avery suddenly catching Severus and Rosier's attention.

Severus was surprised to hear what Avery said, he hadn't expected him to know about it, but it wasn't strange.

Avery was always trying to copy his Potions homework, so in one of his many tries, it was likely that he had seen that.

Rosier who heard this looked at Severus very intrigued.

"Severus, do you know any Prince?" asked Rosier suspiciously.

Severus looked at them for a few moments without saying anything.

Then he just sighed.

"Congratulations Avery looks like you found out," Severus laughed lightly.

Avery smiled proudly but a doubtful Rosier stared at Severus as if seeking to know something of the utmost importance.

"What do you mean he found out?" asked Rosier again with many thoughts in his head.

"Oh, well, I didn't expect to give the news so early, but I suppose it's not worth waiting any longer. I am the Prince's heir," said Severus lightly.

"What?!" exclaimed Rosier and Avery in unison.

This had taken them both by surprise as the Princes were a very important house in the magical world.

"You... Impossible..." commented Avery shaking his head.

"Severus don't joke with us," said Rosier looking at him with narrowed eyes.

"Yes, Snape, don't say such things, I almost fell for it," Avery complained and then he gave a chuckle that was quite annoying to Severus' ears.

"Well, if you don't want to believe it, that's your business," said Severus and continued reading as his two fellow Slytherins stared at him trying to discern if what he said was true or a joke.

"Tell me, Severus, no jokes, are you really the Prince heir now?" asked Rosier seriously.

"Why would I lie to you?" asked Severus with a faint smile.

'Severus Prince...' thought Rosier suddenly.

'This..., indeed it is him, the new Lord Prince, Severus Prince, damn it how did it not occur to me before?, Severus is really the heir of the Prince house' analysed Rosier with wide eyes, he had seen in the newspaper the name of the new Prince heir, but it never occurred to him that it was actually the Severus he knew, the idea didn't even cross his mind.

"Damn it, Severus, how come you never mentioned it!" said Rosier, frustrated that he had been living with him at Hogwarts since first year and never knew about something so important.

They always thought Snape was a half-blood from a poor magical house or the rejected son of some wizard who had relations with a Muggle.

They didn't expect him to be the heir to a noble house like the Princes.

"Wait, you actually believe him?" asked Avery in confusion.

"Idiot, it's obvious now, didn't you see in the paper that the new Prince heir was Severus Prince, do you think it's just a coincidence now?"

"Huh, so Snape is now Prince, wow," said Avery not knowing how to react to the revelation.

The three of them kept talking about many things.

Severus thought they would be a bother, but part of him knew them so well that he even enjoyed talking and joking with them a little.

After all, Snape didn't talk to many people and they tended to be some of the few people he talked to, they might not be friends, but they were better than nothing.

After a few hours, it started to get dark, the wizards left at eleven in the morning and were arriving at Hogwarts around seven.

Once the train began to stop, all the wizards and witches began to dress in their robes and the official Hogwarts uniform.

The temperature started to get colder and colder, so they had to put on heavy coats underneath their wizarding robes.

At this precise moment, as the wizards were changing, several loud yells were heard coming from one of the carriages of the train.

Severus and his two companions heard them...

And it didn't seem to be that far from their carriage.

"My clothes!"

"Cunt!"

"All our clothes!"

"Bloody disgusting, what is this?!"

"It smells horrible!"

"Fuk and it looks even worse!"

"How the hell did this happen?!"

"Those arsehole!"

"Damn, who the hell did this?"

" Damn bastards, they're going to pay!"

They were heard shouting at a group of young men who looked very angry.

Severus, Avery, and Rosier knew automatically that the shouts were coming from the Slytherin prefects.

"They're getting bolder and bolder every day, now they're even attacking the prefects' carriage!" hissed Avery with hatred and disgust.

"Looks like Potter and his gang of wankers want to celebrate the admission of your cousins by humiliating our prefects," commented Rosier glaring at Severus.

Now they knew quite a lot about Severus and his new inheritance, as well as about his two distant cousins.

He told them everything without bothering about what they thought, but neither Rosier nor Avery had any problems with Severus.

No, there were always distant relatives who were less than desirable.

There were even siblings who were, as in Regulus' case with his hated brother Sirius.

All of Slytherin hated Sirius Black, but they had nothing against Regulus Black.

"What makes you think that?" asked Severus intrigued.

'Did Potter already know about them or did he just find out about them now?' he wondered.

"Why else would they pick on all of Slytherin for no good reason?" said Rosier.

"I don't remember them ever needing a good reason," Severus commented.

"Against you maybe not" commented Rosier.

"But remember that things are tense at Hogwarts, and going against the prefects is going against all of Slytherin"

"And as much as Gryffindor support Potter and his gang of wankers, they won't like knowing that they got everyone in Gryffindor into their problems," explained Rosier.

"Yeah, those mudbloods and blood traitors in Gryffindor are terrified of us, the last thing they want is for things to get worse," grinned Avery amused at the idea of being able to intimidate and scare the mudbloods.

Things at Hogwarts were as the two of them said, the Slytherins used to bully any mudblood they could find...

But the other Houses had organised themselves to never leave anyone alone, so they all moved in groups.

There were still a lot of conflicts, but it was mostly between Gryffindor and Slytherin that things were very tense.

The two Houses always ended up fighting...

Perhaps most notoriously the constant bickering between Potter and his gang against Snape...

But that was only a small part of what was going on inside Hogwarts.

And it wasn't usually the Gryffindors who started the conflicts, no...

It was the Slytherins who tended to bully, intimidate and threaten other Gryffindors.

Snape's case with Potter and his group was rather special.

Many Slytherins wanted to get involved in the conflict Severus Snape had with James Potter, Sirus Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, but Snape was very proud and didn't want anyone to intervene.

'Yeah... Proud' Rosier thought sarcastically as he shook his head.

Rosier knew it wasn't just pride, though, as Evans had had to intervene on many occasions, completely crushing the "prude" Snape spoke of.

Rosier was smart enough to know that Snape only gave that excuse to the other Slytherins to avoid admitting that he didn't want them to intervene for fear that they would do something to Evans.

Yes, that was his bloody way of keeping the Slytherins away from her since she always intervened in his conflicts with Potter and his gang.

"Oh... So you think they already met them?" asked Severus.

"Hmm, not necessarily..." said Rosier.

"Yes, we already knew there would be two new Gryffindors this year" seid Avery.

"Maybe they did too," commented Rosier.

"That is, yes, Rosier is right" nodded Avery.

"Ha, now if they became friends with Potter and his gang they wouldn't be excluded from Slytherin's wrath" Avery laughed looking at Severus.

And even Rosier looked at him wanting to see how he would react knowing that Slytherin wouldn't let go of the ones responsible for the attack and probably give his cousins trouble.

Severus just smiled and shook his head at the obvious looks they were giving him...

As if he cared about that.

When the train completely stopped at the edge of the platform, the little wizards hurriedly got off and descended to the platform.

All the first years met up with the half-giant Hagrid to go to the boats and get to Hogwarts by the lake.

Then the rest of the wizards hurried to board the carriages pulled by Thestral.

Severus caught his first glimpse of the large horse-like animal, thin as a bone covered in a skeleton and with bat wings folded at the sides pulling his carriage.

Rosier who was now sitting next to him, seeing the look on Severus' face couldn't help but ask intrigued:

"So... now you've seen death too, did anything interesting happen?"

He knew that Severus couldn't see the Thestral before, so something must have happened.

Before Rosier used to answer a lot of his questions about what these animals looked like or other things.

Severus was always very curious about them and Rosier was one of the few he talked to who could see them.

It was at this question that Severus frowned for the first time since Rosier and Avery had met with him today.

"If killing is considered interesting... then yes," Severus replied lightly with a deep, dark look.

That made Avery and Rosier's skin creep.

'What the hell is he talking about?' they both wondered, but neither dared to ask when they saw that look on him.

Rosier was never afraid of almost anything, his father was a very loyal death eater and made him experience all sorts of things, making him lose sensitivity to most things.

But that look in Severus' eyes made him remember what his father had once mentioned to him that he felt when the dark lord looked at someone with anger...

Now Rosier felt something similar to what his father had told him.

Luckily, the three of them were distracted because after a while they began to hear a lot of laughter from the young wizards.

Severus looked at those "responsible" for making all the young wizards laugh.

They were a group of wizards in Slytherin uniforms that at first glance one knew were from noble families, but since they were all dressed in pink robes, no one paid attention to their status or house, only to their amusing clothing.

They even exuded a smell that wafted up to the carriage where Severus was standing with his companions.

The Gryffindors couldn't stop laughing and the other houses also smiled in amusement but were more reserved as they didn't want unnecessary trouble.

Now Severus was sure that Potter and his group were responsible as Snape had suffered something similar in the past.

Although now they clearly improved their methods as the prefects couldn't get the colour out of their clothes or the bad smell on them with their magic.

Severus even heard Potter and Sirius laughing loudly in the distance.

They had surely been wholly carried away by the fun and couldn't help but laugh like fools, not even bothering to disguise that it wasn't them.

"When I find out which one of you miserable Gryffindors it was I'll make you pay dearly for this offense!" shouted one of the Slytherin prefects irritably.

Most of the Slytherins around gave the Gryffindors dirty looks.

Everyone knew that this year had just begun but there was already going to be a lot of trouble.

Then the prefects along with the rest of the Slytherins went to their own carriages giving one last look at the still-laughing Gryffindors.

After the crowd calmed down a bit, everyone went to Hogwarts without much more conflict, just the occasional poisonous glare, and warnings.