Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any of J.K. Rowling's characters, places, items...you get the drift.
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Chapter 4 – A Strange Unity
Harry awoke the next morning with the feeling that something exciting had happened, but he couldn't remember what. Silver, he remembered. As he dressed, he briefly wondered if he had a habit of getting up early or if Ron had a habit of getting up late. He headed downstairs towards the kitchen, his stomach reminding him that the previous night he had an early dinner. When he entered the kitchen, he found it impossible to do anything for a second except gape. Although Snape had his robes covering it, as he swished around Harry caught sight of tight bandages encircling his abdomen. Snape paused and gave him a calculating stare.
"Never seen broken ribs before, Potter?" he asked.
"No," Harry replied, although it was a lie. Snape sneered at him.
Harry ventured a glance at Professor Dumbledore and saw, to his relief, that he was untouched. Lupin was also there, and smiled warmly at Harry as he entered.
"Morning, Harry," he greeted.
"Morning," Harry replied with a grin as he ambled over to sit next to him.
Across from Harry sat Tonks. She beamed her good morning at Harry, and he mirrored her. Snape took the seat across from Lupin. Harry realized that was where he always sat. Snape turned to him with annoyance.
"Is there any particular reason why you're staring at me, Potter?" he asked.
"Other than the fact that I find you interesting?" Harry replied with what he knew Snape saw as sickening sweetness, "Nope."
Lupin gave Harry a look that clearly said, "That was funny but you shouldn't do it." Harry simply grinned.
"Are pancakes good for this morning?" Mrs. Weasley asked. Harry looked up at her and gave her a good-morning smile. She seemed to appreciate it, although her eyes got dangerously bright as she looked at him. When her question was met by approval, she turned to making pancake batter.
The door creaked open, and Silver walked in.
"Good morning, Silver," Dumbledore said.
Mrs. Weasley turned from her pancake batter. "Good morning, dear, have a seat," she invited.
Silver gave everyone her cautious but sweet smile. "Morning," she said meekly.
Everyone called a good morning back, even Dumbledore and Mrs. Weasley, although they already had.
"Next to Harry, I think," Dumbledore instructed.
Silver obeyed, and Harry noticed that she didn't seem quite so cautious as she had the night before. Her eyes widened as she looked up at Snape. "What happened?" she exclaimed, seeing the bandages. Harry was surprised at her genuine concern.
"Nothing," Snape mumbled, drawing his robes closed, "Just had to deal with some death eaters." He reached into a pocket of his robes withdrew what looked like a silver necklace. He held it out to Silver. Silver reached out her hand and he released it to her.
"You didn't get hurt for this?" she asked.
"Of course I did," he growled, "You love that locket."
"Well you're more important than a necklace," Silver replied, a fiery edge to her voice, "What if you were killed?" "Well, I wasn't," Snape answered.
Harry watched in shock. Not only was Snape talking to someone like he were a normal, friendly person, but Silver was acting as if he were a normal, friendly person.
Silver glared at Snape a moment before looking down at the locket in her hands. She then looked back up at him with a much softer look to her eyes. He looked as if he didn't know whether to expect anger or gratitude.
"Thank you," she said softly.
Snape looked relieved. "Welcome," he mumbled.
Mrs. Weasley served them and in a bit everyone was down eating breakfast. Harry, Ron, and Ginny tried to get Silver to participate in a heated Quidditch conversation while Hermione looked on and Fred and George sat in a corner looking as if they were thinking up a new prank.
When everyone was done, Fred and George came up and stood behind Harry and Silver. "Let's go somewhere else and talk, these chairs hurt my butt," Fred said.
"Harry has enough candy to share with us all," Ron replied, "Let's go!"
"I don't remember saying I was sharing!" Harry called as Fred, George, and Ron raced up towards his room. He turned to Silver, Ginny, and Hermione with a smile. "Come on," he said. He and the three girls followed the boys up the stairs, although Hermione stubbornly stayed four stairs behind and would not say why.
Ron turned to Silver. "Are you coming to Hogwarts this year?" he asked. Everyone stopped fighting over candy to listen, and Hermione peered over the edge of her Transfiguration book.
"Yes," Silver replied, "I've taken a test, and Dumbledore says I can transfer in as a sixth year."
"Neat," Harry answered. To his surprise, she smiled at him. He allowed a stupid grin to pass over his face in return.
"So," George said, in a voice that commanded attention. Everyone quieted and looked at him, except for Hermione, who pretended to be reading her book. George turned to Silver. "What's your story?" he asked, "Only if you want to tell it, of course."
Silver's smile faded. "Well," she said, "I can try and tell you I suppose. It's hard, though."
Nobody said anything, seeing as nobody had a clue what she was talking about. She looked around and took a deep breath.
"Well, to start with, my parents," she said, "I've never met my father – I don't even know who he is. Dumbledore knows, but he refuses to tell me. As for my mother, well, I'm sure you've heard about her. She's a Death Eater. She has a horrible temper..." Harry watched as pain reflected in Silver's eyes, but she continued. "She...well...she abused me a bit. A lot."
"Why would anyone want to hurt you?" George interrupted.
Silver looked at him a long moment before replying. "Because she hates me," she said simply. Harry watched as her eyes filled with tears. Then she buried her face in her hands. "Sorry," she gasped as she tried to hold her sobs back. Ginny reached out, but the second her fingertips touched Silver's shoulder, Silver flinched as if Ginny had just slapped her. She wiped her eyes and said, "Sorry, I just -" Ginny nodded.
"What's your favorite subject?" Harry asked randomly, trying to clear those deep brown eyes of tears. She gave him a look so grateful it made him feel weak.
"Transfiguration," she said thoughtfully, "Or Defense Against the Dark Arts. Yours?"
"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Harry replied automatically.
She smiled. "I suppose I should have expected that."
Harry waited, but it didn't happen. She didn't look at my scar, he realized, In fact, she hasn't looked at it yet – at least not that I've seen. He decided that he rather liked it. It was the first mention she had made that she knew who he was – or at least what he had done.
Fred and George began to talk about the pranks they had played on their teachers. Harry listened and was amazed. He was surprised they hadn't gotten expelled.
"And once, we put a charm on Snape's robes so that they were bright pink the whole day!" Fred said.
"That's so mean!" Ginny exclaimed, and Silver echoed her, but they both giggled.
"Serves him right, the git!" Ron exclaimed.
"Git?" Silver asked.
Ron stared at her as if she had just dropped off another planet. "Come on," he said, "You've spent enough time with Snape to know that he's a git!"
"No he's not," Silver replied a bit defensively.
"Yes he is!" Ron exclaimed, "He's positively a monster!"
Silver's eyes narrowed. "He is not," she argued.
Hermione stopped pretending to read her book and put it down.
"He's horrible," Ron replied, "Especially to Harry. He treats Harry like the scum of the earth. Doesn't he, Harry?"
Silver turned shocked eyes to Harry, who nodded a bit uncomfortably. "Yeah, he really does," Harry admitted.
Ron went into long detail about the things Snape said to them on a regular basis and how terrible he was during Potions, during which he was supported fully but Ginny, Fred, and George. Harry tried to stay out of it as much as possible. When Ron was finally done with his long-winded speech, he looked pointedly at Silver.
"Well he's not a git," Silver said firmly.
"After all that, you still think he's not a git?" Ron goggled.
"Well Ron", she snapped, "Sometimes it's not as easy for people to be nice as you may think! Things happen that can hurt a person for life!"
"Like what?" Ron challenged. Harry instantly knew he had made a mistake.
"Like abuse," Silver replied passionately. "Tell me, Ron, have your parents ever pushed you into a corner and kicked you until your ribs broke? Have they ever grabbed you by the hair and thrown you across the room? Have they ever stuck a rod in the fire and then pressed it against your neck? Do you think you would go along being perfectly friendly to everyone if your own parents did that to you?"
Ron was silent for a moment. His ears turned red. "Well I wouldn't be a git like that idiot!" he replied, "Why are you so protective of him?"
"He hasn't done anything except react to life!" Silver replied.
"Yeah?" Ron asked furiously, "And how are we supposed to know that you're telling the truth? I mean, Snape is horrid to every living creature on this planet except apparently you. How are we supposed to know you aren't sleeping with him or something?"
"RON!" Hermione exclaimed.
Silver mouthed wordlessly at Ron. "That's just...just...horrid" she choked before bursting into tears.
At that moment Lupin burst his head in the room.
"How's it...going?" The last part of his sentence died as he looked at the sobbing Silver.
"Severus!" Lupin called he stuck his head back out into the hallway and Harry heard him say, "She's crying."
Snape burst in looking as if he were about to kill someone. When he looked at Silver, something flashed in his eyes that Harry had never seen before – concern.
"What happened?" he asked.
Silver just sobbed. Snape reached for her shoulders and for a moment Harry thought he was going to shake it out of her, but he did the opposite. He pulled her to her feet, and she immediately ran into his arms, clinging to him and crying. Snape looked both shocked and accustomed at her behavior as he winced. Harry decided that it probably hurt to have a girl throw herself at you when you had broken ribs.
He turned to them. "What happened?" he asked. He looked down at Harry, for once without the slightest trace of menace. "Potter?"
Harry shook his head. "I dunno," he mumbled.
"I do," Hermione said, eyes flashing in Ron's direction, "Ron was a jerk."
Snape looked at her questioningly, but she shook her head. "That's all," she informed him.
"I'll take over," Lupin offered, "You two go next door."
As Snape and Silver left, Lupin turned a menacing gaze on them. Harry had never seen him look so angry.
"Well?" he asked, "What did you do, Ron?"
Ron refused to say.
Suddenly they heard Snape and Silver in the next room.
"What happened?" Snape asked.
"He...he said...he said that I was sleeping with you," she said mournfully.
Amazingly, Snape didn't yell. "Well, you know that there's no truth to that, don't you?" he asked calmly.
"Y...yes, but he was being so horrible! He called you a git!"
Harry heard a smile in Snape's voice as he answered. "Well, I am a git," Snape replied.
"No you're not!" Silver cried passionately.
"Sure you don't want to take a vote?" he asked, sounding mildly amused.
"Yes," Silver answered, sounding muffled. Harry guessed that after her last answer she had enveloped Snape in a hug.
"Listen," Snape said, still sounding calm and in control, "I'm not as nice as you think I am."
"I know", Silver answered, "They told me. I still don't think you're a git. If people said horrible things about me all the time I'd be mean, too."
To everyone's amazement, Snape chuckled. "Well, I'm glad you don't see me for what I am," he said.
"I do too!" Silver insisted, "You're not a git!"
There was silence for a while and then Snape asked thoughtfully, "How are you doing with everybody?"
"I'm trying to trust them," Silver replied earnestly, "But I flinched today when Ginny touched me. I think I hurt her feelings." Silver gave a sigh, "Why do I have to do that?"
"Because of how you've been treated," Snape replied, "Trust me, it's when you try not to flinch that you make the mistake. You block them out instead...and then you become an old git like me."
"You're not a git," Silver replied halfheartedly. After a moment she added, "Harry has pretty eyes."
Harry blushed as everyone looked at him and he grinned sheepishly.
Snape chuckled again. "Does he?" he asked.
"Mmm hmm", Silver answered. "Are you really that mean to him in class?"
"Afraid so," Snape replied, "He looks so much like his father I can't help but treat him like it."
"Well," Silver said thoughtfully, "I think you should be nicer to him. He's really nice – I'm sure he'd forgive you."
"I'll try and be nicer to Potter," Snape relented.
"Harry," she corrected.
"I don't do first names," Snape said.
"You do now," she replied just as firmly.
"No" Snape answered.
Silver sighed. "Okay, but try to sound nicer when you say 'Potter'", she said.
"I'll try," he said, but he didn't sound as if he would.
"You're not a git," Silver said suddenly.
"Don't start that again," he sighed.
She giggled. "Why not? I'm determined to convince you you're not!"
"Won't work," he said simply.
Silver gave a contented sigh. For a moment she and Snape were silent. Harry's mind reeled. The foremost thing on his mind was that she liked his eyes – second was that she had the power to turn Snape into a completely different person. Snape wasn't sarcastic, bitter, or mean when he talked to her. In fact, he was more a of a - softie?
"Snape's gone paternal," Ron muttered in amazement.
"No kidding," Hermione replied faintly, looking as shocked as everyone else.
"And none of you will say anything about it," Lupin said with quiet firmness in his voice. They all turned to look at him. "She's good for him, and if you ruin his chance to make the most of life I'll have your heads. Ron, you'll have to be punished for what you said. I'll talk to your mother." Ron looked very disappointed.
"Guess I deserve it," he muttered, "But I didn't know it would make her cry. Sheesh."
"I think we should try and be nicer to Snape," Ginny said suddenly in a hushed voice. They all exchanged glances. As horrible as Snape was, they knew they should do it, even if it was more for Silver than anyone else.
Snape's voice became heard in the adjoining room once more. "You should go back."
"Would you ever hurt me?" Silver asked suddenly. The question sounded random, but Snape was prepared for it.
"Never," he said.
"What if I –"she began.
"Never", Snape repeated, "And you believe it, right?"
"I want to," she replied, sounding desperate. "I really want to. But everyone – everyone – hurts me."
"I won't," Snape replied, "And you should believe it."
"I want to," she repeated wistfully. Harry heard the pain in her voice as she said it.
Snape said nothing else for a while, and then he repeated his former suggestion. "You should go back in there," he said.
"Alright," she agreed, "But I want to talk to Dumbledore first. See if he knows where my mom is."
"If he knew he would have told you," Snape replied, "You're avoiding going back."
"I want to go just the same," Silver insisted.
"You're making an excuse," Snape told her.
"Please?" Silver begged.
"Alright," Snape relented, "Let's go and see if he's busy or not."
Ginny giggled. "He's such a softie," she whispered in amazement.
Even Lupin looked mildly amused. "Like I said," he reminded them, "Not a word about this."
They all nodded solemnly, although they knew that he knew that they had every intention of discussing this once he left.
"I'm off to have a word with your mother, Ron," Lupin said as he left.
Ginny got up and closed the door behind him and then squealed, "Can you believe it? That is not Snape!"
"Seriously," Ron said, "I can't believe him. Why couldn't have chosen one of us to be nice to?"
"Never thought the old git had it in him," Fred commented.
"Snivelly's gone all paternal on us," George agreed.
"It is interesting," Hermione agreed, "Especially how he promised to be nicer to Harry right away."
At this everybody looked at Harry, who said mischievously, "She thinks I have pretty eyes."
"Harry and Silver," Ginny sang out. She was quickly joined by Fred, George, and Ron, although at Silver's name Hermione bristled.
Harry looked over at her. "Come on, why don't you like her?" he asked over the singing, "What's she done?"
Hermione looked distressed. "I can't explain it," she said.
"You're jealous because she's prettier," Ron accused.
Hermione glared at him and was about to say something, but Ron held up his hand.
"It doesn't mean we like her any more, you know. It's not like she's our best friend all of a sudden and not you. But she could be our friend, all of ours, if you would let her."
"You just don't understand anything!" Hermione shouted, standing up and storming out of the room.
Ron looked flustered. "I thought I handled that very well," he said, turning to look at them.
"You did," Ginny assured him, "She's just sensitive right now. You have to prove to her that Silver's not a threat, not just say it."
"Well how do I go about that?" Ron grumbled. Harry got the feeling he didn't want Ginny to answer, however, and apparently Ginny was wise to his emotions as well, because she remained silent, although she looked as if she had something to say.
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At lunchtime Harry was surprised to find that the only people in the kitchen when they arrived were Snape, Mr. & Mrs. Weasley, and Kingsley.
"Where's Silver?" Ginny asked from beside him, looking disappointed.
Hermione gave a snort that clearly said she didn't care.
Snape glared at her a moment before answering. "She's with Dumbledore at the moment, they should be back shortly," he replied.
Sure enough, once they had all sat down (at the opposite end of the table), Silver and Dumbledore walked in. Dumbledore went to his usual spot at the head of the table, and Silver gazed hopefully at an empty chair next to Snape, but he gave her a reproving glance, and she reluctantly took a seat next to Ginny.
"Hi," Ginny greeted warmly.
Silver beamed at her. "Hi, Ginny," she replied.
The two girls smiled at each other for a second before returning to their food. Hermione watched in a disapproving manner.
"So," Mrs. Weasley said, "I think we should all go shopping tomorrow."
Dumbledore nodded his head.
"Mum," Ginny said suddenly, "Our owls haven't even come yet."
"Oh yes," Dumbledore said with the air of one who had forgotten to tell someone something important, "Seeing as you were all staying with me, I decided to give you your letters myself. Please remind me this evening."
"We're going to Diagon Alley?" Silver asked excitedly.
At this, several adults shot her disapproving glances. She quickly looked down at her plate.
"What was that for?" Ron asked.
"Well," she said, "I decided to go there once while I wasn't supposed to – but just to look around!" she added defensively.
"Yes, she obviously thinks there is a force field that deflects Death Eaters all around the place," Lupin said disapprovingly.
"I had a disguise!" Silver protested.
"I hardly think a hat and sunglasses counts as a disguise," Tonks replied.
"Well, not all of us are Metamorphagus," Silver answered, "And you found me quick enough anyway."
"Well, it's not that hard", Tonks said exasperatedly, "You just follow the trail of drooling guys you leave wherever you go."
Silver blushed. "I do not," she mumbled as she stabbed at her salad.
Tonks rolled her eyes.
Silver glanced upward and met Harry's eye. "Do too," he mouthed. She blushed and became interested in her salad once more, although she was smiling. Harry had no idea what possessed him to do that, but he was glad he did. He suddenly became aware that he had not been as subtle as he wished, however, because, to his dismay, Lupin, Snape, Dumbledore, and Tonks were all staring at him. It was his turn to study his salad very carefully.
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The rest of the day Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Silver played chess and Exploding Snap. That evening they went down to the living room, as was tradition, to continue their "chess tournament". Harry was very happy to see that he and Silver were on about the same level when it came to chess (which was "novice" according to Ron). Silver's pieces at first yelled directions at her, and she became so flustered at one knight that she threatened to throw him across the room if he didn't shut up, which made all the other pieces quickly decide to obey her. Silver had been the first to lose, to Harry, but Harry's triumph was short-lived seeing as Ron beat him easily in five minutes. After forty-five minutes, Ron cornered a very red Ginny and pronounced himself champion. He glanced over at Hermione, who looked very embarrassed at being caught peering over her Arithmacy book at them.
"Come on, Hermione, come play me," Ron invited.
Hermione looked indecisive. Suddenly Silver stood up. "I think I'm going to go talk to Dumbledore," she announced.
Hermione watched her go and then immediately came over to play Ron. Harry watched as Silver walked over to Dumbledore, and after a moment they both disappeared. She came back soon, however, with familiar-looking letters in her hand.
Ron successfully beat Hermione as she walked over.
"I have our Hogwarts letters," she said, shyly handing Hermione hers. Hermione gave her an icy look as she grabbed it from her, and Silver looked disappointed. After giving the others theirs, she backed away and looked forlornly around the room. Harry was about to call her back over (he didn't care much whether Hermione left or not at the moment) when she suddenly seemed to have picked out somewhere to go.
Silver was walking up to Snape, who was sitting by himself on a small couch reading a huge book entitled Do You Have Finesse With Potions? Judging from the way Snape was sneering at the book, he obviously thought he had more than enough finesse.
Silver sat down next to him and he glanced over at her looking surprised.
"Look at my letter," she said sweetly, holding it out in front of him.
Although Harry was sure Snape had seen many Hogwarts letters, Snape took it in his hands and read it interestedly.
"An Advanced Transfiguration book?" he questioned.
"Yes – I've passed the test to be in Advanced," she replied.
"And N.E.W.T. Potions," he said approvingly.
"Mmm hmm," she agreed.
Suddenly Snape frowned. "Now what's a smart girl like you doing in Divination?" he asked, "It's a load of rubbish; you should be in Arithmacy."
"Oh, no, I'm terrible with numbers," she replied.
"And do you only take the classes you're good at?" he answered.
"Oh, no, I'm terrible at Potions, too, but I still made it into the N.E.W.T. class," she replied honestly.
Harry saw a ghost of a grin flicker across Snape's face. "Well, I suppose you can go a bit easy on yourself with Divination," he relented.
Silver was studying the Hogwarts crest on the envelope intently. "Tell me about the Houses," she requested.
Snape glanced over at the crest for a moment. "Well," he began, "Each of the four houses has a different founder, and each takes in students that possess its most prized qualities."
("I can't believe it," Ron whispered from behind Harry, "Snape the storyteller.")
"In Gryffindor," Snape said, for once without distaste in his voice, "The daring and bold are prized. In Ravenclaw, those of great wit will find their kind. Slytherins prize power and cunning. Hufflepuffs are perhaps a bit of everything. Many say the Hufflepuffs are a bunch of dunderheads, but I had a Hufflepuff that went on to be a Potions Master."
Silver listened intently, staring at the Hogwarts crest the whole time.
She raised her eyes to Snape's. "What house do you think I'll be in?" she asked tentatively.
Snape looked down at her calculatingly. "You, Silver, are a Gryffindor," he replied after a short moment.
"But I'm not daring or bold!" she protested.
"You are both," he replied, "When you're not on guard protecting yourself from others. And you know it."
"But how will the Sorting Hat know that?" she asked.
Harry wondered how she knew about the Sorting Hat. He figured either Dumbledore or Snape must have told her.
"The Sorting Hat sees us for what we truly are," Snape replied, then, looking down at her questioning eyes, "And it can see through years of abuse."
Silver looked down for a moment, contemplating. Then concern flashed in her eyes.
"But Ron said you hated Gryffindors!" she exclaimed, putting a hand on his arm and sitting up in urgency.
"Well, you'll just have to be an exception to that rule," Snape replied.
Silver settled back down next to him, her hand still on his arm. Snape's eyes flickered briefly over the letter, and then he looked over at Harry, who had been watching intently and quickly pretended not to be.
"Why aren't you over there?" he heard Snape ask her.
"Hermione doesn't like me," she replied fearfully, "Don't make me go."
Harry was surprised to hear the urgency in her voice. He looked up to see that she looked utterly terrified of being near Hermione.
"Miss Granger would never physically hurt you," Snape answered her quickly, "Even if she does have an unfounded dislike for you."
"Are you sure?" Silver asked.
"Very sure," Snape replied.
Harry wondered at the fact that Silver thought Hermione would hurt her. Hermione had been cold, but she hadn't exactly threatened her.
"I suppose she's just used to being hurt," Ginny said from beside him.
"Must be," Ron agreed, "I mean, Hermione's scary, but not that scary."
That night Harry found he wasn't tired at all when he and Ron trudged up to bed. They sat up late eating candy and discussing Snape's change of character when around Silver, until finally they forced themselves to go to bed. Harry was oddly eager to get out of the house and go shopping the next day.