-----Chapter 7-----
Saturday found Sela happily exploring the Potions classroom. She peered up at a particularly disgusting lizard-like creature suspended in a purplish liquid and stuck her tongue out in an imitation of it. Severus was ignoring her in the hopes she might go away, but he was discovering it didn't work. So far the little girl hadn't done anything to warrant being yelled at, but as soon as he could catch her at something he'd send her packing. He glanced up and caught the middle of her imitation.
"What are you doing?" he asked, irritated.
"Oh, I was just seeing if it was possible for something living to look that way. What's it for anyway?"
Severus stared at her a moment. Not many people ever asked what the jars were for, of course, most people looked decidedly sick at the thought of them and his personality scared the rest off.
"They're used to teach-" he hesitated at the word 'idiots', "students...what the creatures they're using in their potions looked like."
"Before they got chopped into itty-bitty bite size pieces?" Sela asked, turning her head to look at another jar.
"Yes." He answered. Albus had been right about one thing in their conversation earlier that morning, Sela was a very odd child.
"The people are coming tomorrow, right?" She asked after a few minutes. Vamptor yawned from his perch on one of the students desks.
"For the thousandth time, yes. Now, shut up or I'll make you shut up." Severus growled as he continued writing out his schedule.
Sela didn't speak, but stuck out her tongue at him.
"If you keep that up, I'll put you in Gryffindor so I can deduct House Points for it."
Sela just grinned in a slightly cheeky manner and wandered out of the room.
The next morning, Sela was sitting in the Great Hall waiting for the students to arrive. The professors were finishing up all the last minute things they invariably forgot to do. Sela sang a song to herself to keep entertained. Peeves chose that particular moment to make his first appearance of the year. He carried a bucket full of Merlin knew what. He floated over the tables.
"Poor ikkle professors...heeheeeheeeee..." then he noticed Sela. "A child? What's a child doing here so early, eh?"
"Who are you?" Sela asked looking up at the poltergeist.
"Who are you? Who are you?" Peeves repeated, doing a backflip in midair, balancing the bucket somehow.
"Well?"
"Who are you? Whoooooo are yoooou?" Peeves taunted. Sela frowned at him.
"Don't bother trying to get anything out of him...he's just doing that to annoy you." Professor Sinistra offered.
"That's all you can saa-aaay." Sela said. Peeves countered with several insults.
"Peeves smells like an old sock! He likes to hang out with all his gross and smelly friends." Sela countered.
Peeves looked somewhere between pleased and angry, no one had ever really insulted him back, just threatened him on occasion.
"You look just like your daaaaaddy...and there's nothing more insulting than being a big nosed, greasy haired, foul tempered git!" Peeves said, dancing in midair.
"You look just like a lizard. The one in the potions classroom that looks like this..." Sela did her imitation of the lizard, tongue lolling, eyes rolled back and arms and legs at odd angles.
"Peeves was saving this for some First Years, but I think you should have it instead!" He upended the bucket over Sela's head, drenching her in ice cold lake water with a few handfuls of lake weeds thrown in for good measure.
"Thank you! Now I don't have to wash!" Sela called after the poltergeist, who cackled something about her greasy hair. She got up and shuffled toward the kitchens, still dripping water and leaving a trail of weeds. She sang a muggle song she'd heard once as she hopped down the stairs.
"You put the lime in the co-co-nut and shake it all up..."
"You! You're dripping all over the floor." a voice snarled behind her. Sela turned her head and came face to face with Argus Filtch. "I should make you clean it up...disgusting children..."
"AAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEE!" Sela turned and charged down the stairs and into the kitchens. She spent the rest of the morning drying out by the fires and snacking as the house elves had taken to her for some reason or another. Perhaps it was because no matter what they gave her she seemed to have a pocket for it and she hardly ever refused anything.
"The first years are being here now. Mistress Sela told Dobby she wanted to meet them." Dobby said, bobbing his head.
"Oh! It's that late? I've gotta go!" Sela said, pulling a cookie from her pocket and taking a bite to fortify herself for the climb. The house elves giggled as she shuffled away. She wouldn't have to eat for a week with all the food she was carrying.
Sela made it to the Great Hall just in time to catch the second through seventh years as they came in, greeting old friends, eyeing old enemies and generally getting resettled into Hogwarts. Sela wandered among them all and was nearly stepped on by a blond haired boy who snarled at her.
"Aren't you a little young to be here, you little brat?" Hermione noticed the commotion and was thinking about intervening but Sela proved she didn't need any help.
"You stepped on me, buttbrain. I should squeeze the jelly from your eyes!" Sela said, waving a fist at Draco.
"Don't you even know who I am?" Draco sneered.
"From your attitude I'd say you were some relation to that horrible cleaning man."
"Cleaning man?" Ron said looking at Harry. "Do you think she means Filtch?"
"That's the name! That's the name! Filtch! The one with the cat."
Draco's pale complexion darkened in anger.
"The only difference is that no one beat you with the ugly tree."
"Enough." Ron, Harry and Hermione winced as the soft voice of their most dreaded professor came from behind them. For once, he wasn't after the Gryffindors. Sela, however, didn't seem the least bit fazed by him. She walked up to him and, rummaging in her pocket, came up with another cookie.
"Want a cookie?"
"No. I do not want a cookie. Go." Snape pointed into the Great Hall and Sela scrambled in. Severus followed her and told her to sit at the very end of the Slytherin table where he could keep an eye on her. Sela already knew she would be in trouble once she got back to their quarters. As it was, the Gryffindors were now wondering what that whole episode was about.
"You're serious? She offered him a cookie?!" a third year asked
"And he didn't hex her?" Neville asked.
"Yes, Yes, and No." Hermione answered.
"I wonder if she's related to him." Lavender said, looking across the room.
The others all stared at her.
"What? I mean, she looks just like him, only, well, without the nose and the grease." she whispered the last part to avoid anyone overhearing.
"Snape? Have a family? I think I'll die." Ron muttered, making choking sounds. The others laughed as Ron continued his act. Sela looked over at them.
"What? You want to go live with the Gryffindors?" one of the Slytherins sneered.
"Why not? They must be infinitely more intelligent than you. It must be some sort of code about this house, everyone is either really smart or really dumb." at the confused look on the girls face Sela elaborated, "You were the second one."
"Oh."
Sela slipped off the bench and hadn't taken two steps when Severus asked her just where she thought she was going.
"I want to go visiting..."
Before Severus could say anything, Madame Hooch stepped in.
"Visiting? Oh, go on, let her Severus. It's not as if she's going to be burnt at the stake."
Severus began to protest, but Sela slipped off as he was arguing. She had to wonder if that was what Hooch meant for her to do in the first place.
"Hello."
The Gryffindors looked around to find Sela standing next to the table looking at them.
"Um...hi." Harry said when no one else seemed able to speak.
"What are you talking about?" Sela asked.
"We were just talking about how y-" Lavender started and got a nudge from Parvati. "how, yonder lake has a squid in it." she finished, hoping she didn't sound stupid.
"You were talking about how I look just like Professor Snape."
"How did you know that?" Ron asked.
"Well, unless the squid has flaming tentacles there wouldn't be too much to say about him. I've seen him. Not too energetic, is it?"
"Well...um, are you his niece or something?" Parvati asked.
"Who? The Squid? No. I'm not a squid."
"No no no...I meant Professor Snape."
"Oh...well, he's kinda squid-like at times isn't he?" Sela was distracted, watching her father who seemed quite irate.
"I'm waiting for him to blow a fuse sometime. I'm Sela, anyway." with that, she ran back to the Slytherin table.
"Absolutely useless."
"What do you mean, Harry?"
"You can't get a straight answer out of that kid. What's she doing here anyway?" he wondered.
"What do you expect if she's related to Snape?"
Ron laughed. "Yeah, but she said he was like a squid. She can't be that bad...even if she is a Snape."
