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PATH to DARKNESS by Tyde
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Chapter Four – Slytherin
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He was huddled in a receiving hall at what he guessed was the front of the school. Coming up from the lake underneath the school they'd twisted and turned so many times he was feeling rather dizzy. The gaggle of excited school children huddled together and waited for someone to greet them. A voice that didn't quite seem to be on this plane of existence interrupted their chatter. It took the young ones a while to locate the source of the voice and several of the students with Muggle parents took a quick intake of breath at the sight of the ghost.
'Welcome to Hogwarts, I'm Professor Binns. The final preparations are being made in the Great Hall for your arrival and in just a little while I'll be leading you through the doors towards the front of the room so that you may be sorted into your houses. I trust you are familiar with them – Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Gryffindor. I myself was a Hufflepuff and I pride myself on the fact that our houses's namesake fought in the Great Goblin Wars of 850 and 895. Goblins are a terrible menace, such as Gorka the Grotesque. I remember back when I was in school that the..' Professor kept rambling on and if they hadn't been standing Sevi and Slatero were certain they would have fallen asleep. The professor had the most monotone voice they had ever heard and they had a sneaking suspicion that he didn't know that he was dead. This was further demonstrated when he tried to open the door and found to his shock that his arm just went straight through the door handle. Muttering something about counter curses he got a student to open the great doors and Severus found himself for the first time in the Great Hall his parents had told him about.
Bewitched candles floated in mid air making everything in the room sparkle. The ceiling was dark and stormy and occasionally a flash of lightening would illuminate the house tables and the faces of the older students. He looked out the window to check to see if outside was raining but all he could see was an all consuming blackness. He felt self-conscious walking up the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables. It was almost like they had been put in that specific order just so he could be reminded of his mission. He started his silent mantra of 'I'm brave and courageous' as he and Slatero came to an abrupt stop at the front of the Great Hall. He looked up at the teachers' table and saw the groundskeeper on one end and a whole lot of other teachers. The old man sitting in the middle with flowing robes of blue with chocolate brown embroidery of little birds of prey looked to be the Headmaster. At odd intervals the birds would flap their wings and give the impression that the fellows robes were covered in bugs. He had a scrap of a beard that curled under his chin in a little twist and his brown eyes matched the embroidery on his robes. He was the oldest person Sevi had ever seen and he was surprised the man wasn't yet in his grave. The Headmaster seemed to be staring off into the distance and Severus had a feeling he may have been asleep with his eyes open. The professor sitting on his right had sparkling blue eyes and a beard that didn't seem to stop. The young boy couldn't see the end of it as it disappeared under the table. The professor's eyes seemed to give him a look of vague amusement or a flash of interest he couldn't determine what. He suddenly felt very aware that the mantra was still running through his head 'Must be the Divination teacher' he thought to himself 'Can hear what's going on in my head? Thinks he knows what's going to happen? Well I'll show him up something proper when the hat puts me in Gryffindor!'
The head boy and girl brought out a stool and the sorting hat while Professor Binns consulted a ghostly piece of paper with student names. Severus stared at the sorting hat. 'That's what I've been afraid of?' he thought 'A patchy, dirty old hat? Don't know why I was even thinking of getting a potion to bewitch it, you could probably convince it that it said Gryffindor because it's so old and probably losing it's mind..that is if it has one?' He wasn't looking at the hat when the tear at it's brim opened up and it began to sing it's song. All people in the hall were deathly silent because, as you know, the song was different every year and they were enthralled to hear what it came up with this time.
He stitched me
up with magic lore
And brains a little too
That great wizard leader you all know
Godric Gryffindor
Sly Slytherin was by his side
And so too Hufflepuff
It's best we not forget them all
One more, it's Ravenclaw
They built these walls from magic stone
These walls we all hold dear
Now we should get round to it
The purpose of why I'm here
It's sort of hard to explain
It's sort of hard to factor
But you're to be sorted now
Not by name but nature
Ravenclaws are a beauty
Of the mind as well as flesh
Never has one been so wise
And quick to make a jest!
But Hufflepuff are quieter
And never so loyal will you find
Harder working than a house elf
But paid by self in kind
Gryffindors are hardy and brave
With chivalry on their side
With courage as their game
There are many they will save
Slytherins are slippery ones
And determined they are at that
They hardly need to put me on
Before I sort them out
So here I am the Sorting Hat
The one you hear about
I sit there on a shelf all year
To think up what I'll shout
So plant your bottom on the stool
And plonk me on your head
I know you've been waiting many years
To have your little mind read
The last line delighted Severus. To have your little mind read. So if the hat read his mind and heard that he was saying brave and courageous then he'd be a shoo in for Gryffindor. Happy with this knowledge Severus didn't notice that 10 people had already been sorted and Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were each five people larger.
'Severus Snape' Professor Binns called out in his wavery type drawl. Walking towards the stool he sat down while screaming 'I am brave and courageous' in his head. He plonked the hat on his head and waited. The response from the hat was immediate.
'You can't tell me which house to put you in. I'm the sorting hat boy and you'll go where you are told.' The voice rang out loud and clear in his ear, though not unkindly but more amused, and didn't sound at all senile. Severus gulped. 'SLYTHERIN!' the hat shouted out to the people in the hall. The boy's heart dropped into his stomach and it felt like a block of ice. Slytherin? No one in his family's history had ever been put in Slytherin. He would have been happy to be put in Hufflepuff or even Ravenclaw now. He would have dated Hortense Hamilton for Merlin's sake if it had saved him being sorted into Slytherin.
Getting up from the stool he felt his weak knees buckle for just a split second before they righted themselves. Looking out at the sea of faces at the Slytherin table he could see them clapping that a new Slytherin had been assigned but he couldn't get over the fact that a lot of the seventh years looked slightly dangerous. Walking past the remaining first years to be sorted he almost walked into a pretty young redhead. She smiled at him sweetly and he found himself smiling back with a goofy look. He had never found any of the Muggle girls at school cute and he began to think it must have been the magic in this girl's veins that made her different. She blushed and looked down at her feet and the hair fell across her bright green eyes. Severus drifted off to the Slytherin table and promptly tripped over his own feet just as a boy named Longbottom was being sorted into Hufflepuff. Peals of laughter rang out over the hall and a Slytherin prefect shook his head in embarrassment. He was heard to mutter 'They get worse every year these young ones. I only hope one day he'll uphold the values of Slytherin and become great'.
Severus plonked down onto the bench next to a boy named Macnair and hid his face in his hands. Several more students were sorted and the black haired boy kept his head in his hands not even noticing that Slatero Quirrell had also been sorted into Slytherin. For some reason when Professor Binns called out the name Lily Evans it made Snape raise his head. He saw that Lily Evans was the red head with the magical aura about her. He took a sharp intake of breath as she sat down on the stool. Surely this vision of a girl wouldn't be sorted into Slytherin, she just seemed too pure, but that is what our young boy wished with all his heart. He wanted Lily Evans in Slytherin because there was something about her that drew him to her. He needed to find out why she had mesmerised him. He wanted to have her close to him. He barely heard the hat shout out Gryffindor, but he saw, as if in a blur, as she walked towards the Gryffindor table and a boy with black-rimmed glasses slapped her on the shoulder and congratulated her.
'That's one of the ones from the t-t-train that were doing s-s-spells' Quirrell whispered into his ear.
Severus jumped and admonished his friend. 'Don't do that Slat, geez – you scared me half to death.'
'I'm just saying' Quirrell cowered a little. It was something that he would do a lot of in the future.
'Thank you Quirrell' Severus snapped. 'You can shut up now'. Under the table Snape had a fist clenched so tight his nails were digging into his palm. Already he didn't like this Gryffindor boy with the wild hair and black-rimmed glasses. Severus Snape soured that day..if only a little.
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Author's note: Is it really that hard to review? I take anonymous reviews! Please, please, please, I'm begging you! I'm sad and pathetic and have some unpronounceable disease that occurs when people don't review your stories. *cough* Puhleeeeease??