This is cross-posted on AO3, many thanks to my beta, bondgirltrb, and the lovely lady who ended up helping me with my Portuguese, Mariana
Terra hated Hogwarts and its rampant racist bigotry streaming through the old stone halls. She knew as soon as she was forced to finish her schooling there, that it would be one of the most stressful experiences she had ever gone through. And the stupid sorting hat had argued with her over which house it wanted her to go in. Sure, she could be ambitious and cunning when the need called for it and yes, she read so many books that she could likely go through the school library in a year should she truly set her mind to the task. And certainly, she was pretty brave to move to a new country and start a new school. But she refused to be lumped in with the other Slytherins. Ravenclaw held no appeal to her as she wasn't really that academically inclined. And fuck, red and gold and all those loud preening douchebags she'd seen on her way to the headmasters office had been so annoying.
Hufflepuff however, fit her perfectly. Her loyalty, once gained, was unshakeable. She had never been afraid of being hardworking and industrious. And finally, it was a creche, not a fucking creepy tower of doom. So, after ten minutes of verbally shouting down every argument the hat made about truly finding what she needed in Slytherin or the connections for a lifetime in Gryffindor, the hat finally acquiesced to her demands and she left the headmaster's office wearing her black and yellow scarf proudly.
Of course, almost immediately upon leaving the office she had to duck a bright colored spell fired by one of those douchebags from earlier. The bravery that hat thought it had seen in her lunged forward into what it really was. A pissy, angry, bristling honey badger of rage. Her wand had materialized in the air above her head, guided by one upheld hand whilst her other hand shot behind her to shield retaliatory spells from whomever the shits had been targeting.
Long brown hair had whipped around her face as she shot wandless and wanded spells in tandem, catching both dark haired teens and their short blonde friend in rapid staccato flashes of color. The three truly antagonistic boys ended up trussed up like calves at a rodeo complete with oversized ears and tags. The fourth, who had just been watching was summarily hexed bright blue with white hair while she bore down on them, a stream of vitriol spewing forth from her mouth, the words 'fuck' and 'cunt' punctuating each of her sentences.
When Terra turned away from the boys to retrieve her belongings, she found a sullen teen her age, with long lank black hair and an oversized hooked nose, holding her bag out, his ebony eyes looking to one side. She took note of his green and silver tie and Slytherin house emblem before nodding in thanks and taking her bag. With one last warning glance over her shoulder at the aggressors, she walked away from all five boys and pulled out her class schedule to look over her time table. She had no time for that shit…and honestly just wanted to find the great hall before lunch.
Ironically, she found her first day of classes had her in transfiguration with all five boys and felt the weight of the three previously hogtied Gryffindor boys' glares on her back from where she sat in the front of the classroom. It aggravated her and her transfigurations reflected that when the teacher asked her to create an inanimate to animate Transfigured creature.
She'd meant to make a duck.
Instead students ran, screaming, from her table when her honey badger personality came to life in all of its rage filled glory. Thus, while the honey badger rampaged through the class, she'd sighed and rubbed tiredly at her forehead. A quick non-verbal incantation later and the honey badger turned into a red-eyed Goshawk that glared psychotically at the bullies. She took that for the win it was and apologized to Professor McGonagall before turning it back into the teapot it had started out as.
Blessedly, Terra's next class was herbology with the seventh year Ravenclaws and she was able to lose herself in the soothing steadiness of earth and growing things. Her head of house had been delighted by her clear connection to nature and plantlife, Which made up for all the points she'd lost due to the honey badger incident in transfiguration. It was that inner peace and goodwill that followed her into Arithmancy class where she was seated between the hook-nosed Slytherin and the scarred Gryffindor she'd met the day before.
Terra even graced the two with a warm zen-like smile and quickly got caught up to date on where the rest of the class stood. Through working with both teens on an in-class group assignment, she learned that the Slytherin boy's name was Severus Snape and the Gryffindor was Remus Lupin. She also learned that Snape was highly sarcastic and just as prickly as a hedgehog. It was adorable and caused her to smile brightly in response to his snippy commentary.
Remus, on the other hand, tended to be soft spoken and hesitant about interacting with them until she rolled up her parchment and whacked him in the ear. Lecturing him thoroughly on being the human equivalent of a fainting goat. The boy had the sense to be embarrassed at the comparison.
Odd as it seemed, she made friends with both boys for that silly rant once Remus stopped sputtering and Severus stopped laughing. This worked out fantastically since she ended up partnering with Snape the following day for potions. Which also ended up being in everyone else's favor since, though her ingredient prep and ability to follow instructions was above average, she had to keep the cauldron from spontaneously exploding. She'd been apologetic to him when she explained that, because her magic was relatively volatile, she rarely managed to have a potion reach completion without some great calamity befalling it. Shockingly, the dark haired teen had just taken it in stride and offered brilliant suggestions for different methods she could attempt when it came to making potions.
In charms, Terra met a stunning red-head with the most brilliant green eyes she'd ever seen on a person.
'Lily Evans', as she'd introduced herself, was top of the class and had been ecstatic when Terra produced a corporeal Patronus. True…it had also been a pissy honey badger, but at least it couldn't truly hurt any of their classmates. They very quickly became friends, bonding over a shared love of Charms and Magical Creatures, a class they had together that afternoon.
The downside of her newfound friendships was the fact that, while Snape was grudgingly willing to let Lupin sit with them when they were studying, he did not ever join them when Lily was there, a story she eventually got out of him after several months of working together in Arithmancy and Potions. Severus had to hold her back from hunting down Lily's boyfriend and his best friend once she learned what all led up to the two falling out. She did admit that she was also a Muggleborn but had lived with a Pureblood family for years before moving to England when her adoptive parents received a job offer as Unspeakables.
Severus just sighed and told her to be careful who else she told. There was the possibility of danger for her if some of the other Slytherins learned of her blood status.
On Winter Solstice, Terra made her way out onto the full moon-lit grounds and danced in the snow, celebrating her eighteenth birthday in her most favorite way. It would have been peaceful if a large black dog and a massive stag hadn't run towards her, the dog barking and nipping at her heels to herd her away from the edge of the Forbidden Forest while the stag danced back and forth, eyes locked on the tree line. A hate-filled and chilling howl ringing from the forest clued her in as to why the animals, Animagi, were trying to lead her away. But she had only laughed joyfully and, in an explosion of white feathers and a shrill cry, launched into the air as a nearly pure white Snowy Owl. The rest of her birthday was spent grabbing the werewolf's brush-like tail or riding on the stag's antlers while the two canines wrestled with each other. The following morning brought the start of an uneasy truce between James Potter, Sirius Black, and herself.
Unfortunately, the truce led to her arguing with Severus, loudly, when he returned from winter hols. His deep, rich, voice had transformed into hissed swears and near hysterical yells that echoed around the silenced classroom they'd moved their argument into. She understood his anger and frustration and, after yelling until her anger had fizzled out, had slumped at one of the tables. Her eyes tracked him while he paced, catlike, in the front of the classroom. Eventually she'd smiled, entranced by the sight of his ebony eyes flashing with anger that was directed towards the two Gryffindor boys and not herself. His pale skin was flushed along his high cheekbones and his normally sneering lips were pressed in a firm line, accenting the way his jaw was clenched.
Clouds shifted and sunlight filtered through the windows, casting long shadows across the room and she watched as his own overlapped and melted with hers. Her smile widened into fond amusement when he glared at her, unaware of where her thoughts had gone, before slumping into the seat beside hers. Leaning forward, she watched his shoulders tense then relax as she whispered in his ear.
"Você é como minha sombra e roubou meu coração." *
She'd been delighted by the way the tips of his ears had reddened and laughed when he asked what she had said. Telling him to figure it out, she'd patted his shoulder and danced from the classroom, leaving a bewildered young man watching her leave.
It amused her to no end that he asked her, again, what she had said in the classroom and in a singsong voice, definitely not suited for singing, repeated the phrase.
"Você é como minha sombra e roubou meu coração."
Each month leading up into exams and in between her growing friendships with the Gryffindors, he would pull her aside to ask her again what she was saying and each time she would smile and repeat it. Sometimes he would tense up in frustration and toss a sarcastic comment her way in an attempt to provoke her into using English, other times he would shut down and become snippy and defensive. Those were the times he really made her think he was really a hedgehog. All prickly exterior with a surprisingly tender center. Not…that she would ever point that out to him. So she slipped in a new nickname for her prickly friend.
"Ouriço adorável." *
Of course, not everything was fun and teasing the long haired teen. In April the other upper year Slytherins found out that the new Hufflepuff was a Muggleborn and soon she was rolling her eyes at their racial slurs. Or, on one memorable day at the end of April, part of a poorly thought out ambush while she was walking to COMC with Lily.
It had been; Avery, Rosier, Crabbe, and Mulciber trying to hex them whilst their backs were to them and Terra responded in full honey badger rage. Wand flying over her head, she used both hands to cast a massive wandless transfiguration on the grounds, trapping the boys in a ring of metallic spikes that pressed painfully against tender places. Her wand jabbed forward, writing 'coward' in elegant flowery calligraphy on their foreheads in a vibrant pink. Once she was satisfied with their new alterations, she tied all of their boot laces together and pantsed them to their ankles before releasing the transfigured spikes. And, if she sniffed and flicked her hair over one shoulder before leading Lily to class when their would be attackers fell in a heap on the ground, well...Lily wasn't going to say anything against it.
Also, if a few weeks later a quintet of transfigured honey badgers terrorized those same boys after another failed attack on her, the only one to comment was Snape telling them they were idiots.
By the end of exams, Terra was ready to leave school and get the hell away from Britain's painfully insular population. She already had a much coveted apprenticeship offer from Newt Scamander and, while she was pretty sure he was 'it' for her, Severus still hadn't figured out what she was telling him every month. Which was probably fine because he had admitted to her the night after their final exam that he'd received an offer of his own for an apprenticeship with a well known Potion Master. Unfortunately it came at a cost and with another offer that held interest for him in that, he hoped he could make use of it.
She had hugged herself tightly then nodded in understanding of his choice. Just because she didn't like him taking the Dark Lord up on his offer, she knew she did not have the right to tell him what to do. His decisions were his own to make and if nothing went pear shaped, this one could be good for him eventually. It didn't change the fact that she cared for him very much and one day hoped that they would not be on opposite sides of the conflict that was surely coming.
So, instead of the anger he surely expected after her acknowledgment, she had hugged him tightly and breathed in his comforting herbal scent mixed with cedar. They had stood there quietly, his own arms finally gone around her, his chin resting on top of her head. For herself, it had been a bittersweet moment of regret and hope. She truly hoped, beyond everything else, that things would be over soon and he would get through it unscathed.
On June 26th, 1978, they graduated and he once more asked him what she had been saying since January. Instead of repeating it out loud, she handed him a sealed envelope and grinned when he couldn't open it. Terra laughed and told him that it would open in three months if he truly wanted to know what she said then kissed him on the cheek and, with a final smile, activated the portkey Newt had provided her with.
When the Potter/Evans wedding took place some four months later, she returned to England as part of the bridal party and celebrated with Lily in spite of the hollow feeling in her chest. Severus had not opened the envelope, the magical seal remaining untriggered since the day she set it. And, in spite of wanting to reach out to him while she was in the country, she left as soon as the newlyweds headed out for their honeymoon.
Time passed and she stayed in touch with Lily in between working with temperamental Thunderbirds and a shy Demiguise. On July 31st, 1980, she received a patronus from James announcing the birth of their son, Harry James Potter. 'He has his mother's eyes already!!' Then a letter arrived from Lily stating that they had been forced into hiding under fidelus and would be unable to write to her until the war was over. So she threw herself into completing her mastery, needing the distraction from the twinge of magic she felt from the unopened letter for Severus and being unable to reach out to any of her other friends.
You are like my shadow and have stolen my heart.
Adorable Hedgehog
