The first-years arrived at the front doors. Hagrid left them in the Entrance Hall, still chuckling over the sodden state of the four who had been rescued from their unexpected dip in the lake by the giant squid itself.
Severus was freezing and mortified. Lily and Petula kept shooting him dirty looks as they wrung out their hair, though Lupin appeared to take it all in stride; Severus soon spotted him joking with Pettigrew, Potter and Black, flapping his soggy sleeves like a raven caught in a cloudburst.
"Good evening," called a strident, authoritative voice. The first-years turned to find a witch with a tight black chignon surveying them through square glasses. She was tall and looked to be in her mid-fifties.
"Welcome to Hogwarts. I am Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor." She paused, noticing the four dripping students. "Went for a swim?" she asked archly.
"No, er..." began Severus, feeling very embarrassed.
"The giant squid overturned our boat," said Lily, not looking at him. Severus felt his face grow hot. He didn't need anyone to help him, least of all a Mudblood—but before he could say this, Professor McGonagall sniffed, "If you say so. Come here."
They approached her cautiously. She drew her wand and muttered something, and a white mist poured from the end of it and began to dry out their wet robes. She went on talking with her wand out.
"In a few moments I shall take you into the Great Hall for the start-of-term banquet- but first, the Sorting Ceremony will take place."
She went on explaining the houses and the points system, which Severus had already gleaned from Hogwarts, A History. Rodolphus sidled up to him and elbowed his damp side.
"We'll try for Slytherin, right?" he whispered.
"Of course," Severus whispered back. Then he began rather awkwardly, "But Rodolphus, I'm not sure I, er, want to be with you and Bella anymore."
Rodolphus cocked his head. "What do you mean?"
"I'm saying I don't want to… er, be friends anymore."
"I don't understand. Look, tell me later, I'm trying to listen to-"
"Ahem," said Professor McGonagall, and Severus realized she was staring at them.
"Sorry," he and Rodolphus muttered. Professor McGonagall said, "Quite dry now? All right. This way."
She led them through the giant double doors behind her, into a vast and beautiful chamber. Hundreds of students sat at four long tables, two on either side of a long aisle leading to a fifth table on a raised platform. This was clearly the head table, where the teachers and Headmaster sat.
Severus took in the enchanted ceiling. Hogwarts, A History had said the vast dome was charmed to reflect the sky outside. The last red beams of the sunset stained crimson the few trailing clouds in the western sky; but to the east the stars were already visible, bright winking pinpricks in a blue-black wash. Between his upturned face and the enchanted dome hung thousands of candles, low but just beyond his reach.
As he advanced between the tables with the other first years, Severus began to worry. What would the Sorting be like? Maybe he would have to tame a snake, like the one in Slytherin's crest. An image jumped, unbidden, to his mind, of himself struggling with a boa constrictor and getting his viscera squeezed out his throat.
What if he couldn't get into Slytherin? His parents would be furious. They might even bring him home if he didn't get into the right house. He was fairly certain his father had been joking when he'd threatened to make Severus drive the Knight Bus as a career—but with Septimus Snape, it was hard to tell when he was speaking in earnest and when he was being sarcastic.
On the platform before the head table was a three-legged stool, on top of which sat a drab black object. The first years formed a line facing the other students and the stool. Severus' mind raced. What sort of devilry would leap from this black bag? He pictured a mountain troll lumbering out of its fabric prison, or cloven-footed demons springing from the black sack amid twenty-foot columns of flame...
Just as his anxiety was reaching fever pitch, Professor McGonagall approached the stool with a length of parchment and raised her hands to quiet the students.
Once silence had fallen over the Great Hall, the black raggedy object straightened up and Severus saw that it wasn't a bag at all, but a patched, frayed pointed hat. Then a rip near the brim opened and, to the first-years' astonishment, the hat began to sing.
[A/N: Ideally I would insert a Sorting Hat song here, but I really suck at poetry. You know the gist of it: the houses are named after the four Founders, Godric Gryffindor the brave, Helga Hufflepuff the resolute, Rowena Ravenclaw the studious, and Salazar Slytherin the ambitious. When you try on the Sorting Hat, it announces what house you belong in.]
At the end of the song the students burst into applause.
"Thank God!" whispered Petula, clutching her chest. "All we've got to do is put on a hat!"
"Perhaps we've got a prayer after all," Rodolphus said to Severus in great relief.
Professor McGonagall had unrolled her parchment. "When I call your name, you will come to the front and put on the Sorting Hat. Abbott, Gladys!"
After a few seconds on Gladys Abbott's head, the Sorting Hat proclaimed loudly to the Great Hall, "HUFFLEPUFF!"
The table on Severus' right exploded with cheers, and as Gladys Abbott went and sat down, Professor McGonagall went on with her list. "Avery, Alexis!"
"SLYTHERIN!" The table on the far right burst into applause. Severus breathed a sigh of relief. That looked easy enough.
"Black, Bellatrix!"
"Here goes nothing," murmured Bellatrix, and stepped forward to take the Sorting Hat. It had barely touched her head when it shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"
As Bellatrix hurried, grinning, to take her seat at the cheering far table, Professor McGonagall called out, "Black, Sirius!"
Black took up the Hat, but he spent more time than his cousin underneath it. Severus could see his lips moving silently. He seemed to be arguing with the Hat. Rodolphus was muttering, "Come on Sirius, don't let it put you anywhere but Slytherin-" but the rip opened and the Hat declared, "GRYFFINDOR!"
"What!" said Rodolphus in horror. "There must be some mistake."
"Well, you heard him in the train, he wanted another house," Severus said, watching Black jog towards the Gryffindor table with a smile as "Bulstrode, Fulton" was made a Slytherin. "Still, he could've asked for Ravenclaw. What is a Black doing in Gryffindor?"
"Disgracing us, that's what," Rodolphus said in disgust as he applauded for the new Hufflepuff "Catchglove, Greta". "We're better off without him."
Professor McGonagall continued down the alphabet, though Severus was too preoccupied with his own worries to pay much attention. The Mudblood Lily Evans from the train spent nearly a minute under the Sorting Hat, and she eventually became a Gryffindor, to Severus' satisfaction. What an outrage it would have been if a half-breed violated the pureblood sanctity of Slytherin!
After "Jenkins, Joey" became a Ravenclaw, Rodolphus got his wish and joined Bellatrix at the Slytherin table, while Lupin from the train got into Gryffindor and immediately sat with Black. Following the induction of "McCormack, Megan" and "O'Toole, Balthazar" into Ravenclaw, Lupin and Black were joined by Pettigrew and Potter. They both came from old wizarding families, but those had earned the disdain of other purebloods like Severus' parents by having roots in Gryffindor, a house that accepted far too many Mudbloods.
"Riley, Reed!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
As 'Q' and 'R' swept by, Severus' stomach began to flutter. What if the Hat tried to put him in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw? Would he have to argue to be put in Slytherin? The cry, "Sinque, Priya!" and the reply, "GRYFFINDOR!" registered and Severus applauded absently.
He began to quickly organize his arguments in his head: one, every Snape who had come to Hogwarts had been placed in Slytherin, and his father's sense of tradition was extreme; two, he knew he wouldn't feel comfortable in any of the other houses; three, much as he wished to avoid them, and much as he wanted to befriend new people, he was afraid of being separated from the familiar faces of Rodolphus and Bellatrix.
Besides, from what he knew of the Slytherins' traits, he felt certain he would be belong there. He was clever and he wanted to find success. He was a born Slytherin—he had to be!
"Snape, Severus!" called Professor McGonagall, and Petula nudged him forward, whispering, "Good luck!"
He sat down cautiously, the arguments ready in his head, but the Sorting Hat had barely fallen over his eyes when it bellowed, "SLYTHERIN!"
Weak with relief at having avoided the terrible wrath of his father, Severus was not above thinking a fervent "Thank you!" to which the Hat responded in his ear, "I did what you asked. I can see you're not one who's easily swayed."
Then Professor McGonagall took up the Hat to give to "Winthrop, Leonora," and Severus hurried to the Slytherin table, wondering whether the Hat's last remark had been derogatory or complimentary.
After the Sorting Hat had finished putting "Winthrop, Leonora" in Ravenclaw, Professor McGonagall rolled up her parchment and took away the Hat and stool, and the ancient smiling wizard sitting in the largest chair at the centre of the head table stood up.
"That must be the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore," Rodolphus whispered to Petula Swipe, who had also been placed in Slytherin. Severus had learned a bit about Dumbledore from books and the Famous Witches and Wizards card that came with Chocolate Frogs, and he now found the real wizard quite fascinating, with his long silver beard and golden half-moon spectacles.
The Headmaster began pleasantly, "Good evening, and welcome to Hogwarts! I haven't been this happy since Puddlemere United won the League Cup." The Quidditch fans at the tables—and there were many—cheered, and Dumbledore chuckled. "But we can chat about Quidditch later. Now let's tuck into this scrumptious feast!"
The golden plates suddenly filled with food. Severus stared. Then, realizing he had eaten nothing but a pumpkin pasty and a couple of Chocolate Frogs since breakfast, he joined the others in shovelling the delicious food into his mouth.
"Well, let's see what we've netted," drawled a familiar voice. Severus looked up and found Lucius Malfoy, a tall shrewd seventh year with light hair and pale eyes, sitting beside Evan Rosier. On Malfoy's other side was Narcissa Black, Bellatrix's older sister, daintily spearing a chipolata. Narcissa was in fifth year. She had fair hair, ghostly white skin, and a turned-up nose.
"Lucius, I heard you'd been made Head Boy," said Rodolphus. "Congratulations."
"Thank you very much," said Malfoy, whose chest was thrust out so the silver badge with the engraving 'Head Boy' could not possibly be missed. "And congratulations to you all on making Slytherin house."
"My mother will be ever so pleased," said Maud Wilkes, a slight girl with pale, almost albinic skin and flax-coloured hair cut below her ears in a straight line. Around her white neck, she wore an choker enormous encrusted with glimmering black jewels that made her look very frail by contrast. "She was afraid I'd get into Ravenclaw because I'm so clever."
"Yes, I'm sure you are," Bellatrix said, arching a discreet eyebrow at Severus, who grinned into his steak. "But we won't really know who's smartest until classes start tomorrow, will we?"
"I hope you all at least cracked your books before coming, because I found my first day of classes very trying," remarked Narcissa.
Suddenly she and Malfoy gasped and ducked, but before Severus could ask why, something ice-cold swept straight through his ears and gave him the horrible feeling his brain had frozen over. Dozens of ghosts were swooping through the walls and dropping in between students. Petula Swipe screamed and dropped a potato in Rodolphus' lap as a gaunt, pearly-white apparition settled itself between Severus and Maud Wilkes.
"Oh, Bloody Baron, good evening," said Malfoy, his voice higher than usual. Narcissa had gone pale. "En- enjoying yourself tonight? These are, ah, the n-new Slytherin first years."
The Bloody Baron, a menacing but noble-looking ghost covered in what was clearly to be silvery bloodstains, nodded silently at Malfoy, then turned to inspect the first years pensively. Severus quietly put down his fork, having lost his appetite.
"What sort of things will we do in Defence Against the Dark Arts?" he asked Malfoy.
"Nothing hard to start with, Snape, you needn't worry. Just a few very basic jinxes, possibly a defensive spell or something. It's taught by Professor Astaroth, Head of Slytherin."
He nodded towards a tall wizard who very closely resembled a skeleton. He had a sparse, tufted grey hair and violently purple eyes. He was conversing with Professor McGonagall. Both teachers had forced smiles as if they would rather be chatting up a dragon.
"Skeletal, isn't he? Probably from lack of sleep. They say he never sleeps at all—spends all the time writing treatises on Dark Arts defences and conspiracy theories. Used to be a top Auror at the Ministry. He's keen on deciphering the theory and mechanics behind magic, so he won't let you do much actual magic for a bit, not until you understand the theoretical basis of the curses. No question though, he's quite brilliant, and quite mad at the same time. I should warn you though, he's a rather unorthodox teacher—he acts like he's still at the Ministry. Loves to talk about all the Dark wizards he captured and how he bossed Aurors around. But he always favours Slytherins in class, so in return we win him the House Cup. We've won it nine years running—McGonagall and the other Heads are getting rather crabby." Malfoy smirked.
Evan Rosier was a skinny Black boy with curly hair and skin pulled tightly across his face, giving him a tough look. "What is that?" he asked Severus in disgust, pointing at the lumpy pie with mushy, oozing, grey-green filling on his plate.
"Stoat pie," said Severus, devouring his food (the Bloody Baron had floated away to hover near the ceiling). "With soft-boiled glossops. This recipe's just like our house-elves', it really is excellent."
"No it's not," Rodolphus warned Rosier as he went to take a piece. "It's an absolute quagmire of nauseating swill."
"It's a horrible old tradition in Sev's family," said Bellatrix. "He's the only one who can stand the stuff, let alone enjoy it."
"This is a delicacy," Severus laughed. "You obviously have no refinement."
"Blecchh! You obviously have no taste buds!" Rosier cried, having just sampled the stoat and glossop pie. After that no one else went near it.
"What's the hardest class, do you think?" Bellatrix asked her sister.
Narcissa frowned thoughtfully. "The hardest? Transfiguration, for me. Or Potions, you know how awful Andromeda is at that." They both glanced towards the Ravenclaw table, where the third Black sister, a pretty fourth year, was laughing with her friends.
"I'm so glad you got into Slytherin with me, Bella," said Narcissa, smiling affectionately at Bellatrix.
"We're always pleased to have more Blacks in Slytherin," Malfoy said, smiling widely and rather foolishly at Bellatrix, who glared fixedly at her plate. Severus and Rodolphus exchanged worried looks. They knew Malfoy and Narcissa were in love and would probably get married after leaving Hogwarts; they also knew how much Bellatrix hated the idea, which was why Malfoy was trying to endear himself to her.
"You were only six when it happened," Narcissa went on, not noticing her sister's displeasure, "but I'm you'll remember the fit Mum had when Andromeda got into Ravenclaw. The same'll happen with Sirius, you wait and see. Poor old Aunt Lacerta will be having kittens."
"I think I'll write my parents tonight," Severus declared as the empty dishes cleared of food and were replaced by the delectable desserts. "To show my father I'm not a total disgrace."
"Are you being sarcastic?" Rodolphus asked. "I can never tell with you. Pass the treacle tart, will you, Petula?"
After the last morsels of jelly doughnuts and chocolate éclairs had vanished, Dumbledore got to his feet again.
"Now that we've all been sated, I have a few start-of-term announcements. First years, our groundskeeper Hagrid has asked me to remind you that the Dark Forest is forbidden to all students. We received complaints more than once last year from the centaurs and the other wild creatures, that students were roaming through the forest."
Severus saw Malfoy and Narcissa exchange a conspiring smile. Bellatrix rolled her eyes.
"Mr. Filch, our caretaker, also wishes me to repeat that ancient and increasingly ignored rule, magic must not, under any circumstances, be used in the corridors. Students found breaking this rule will lose two house points, so keep your wands in your pockets!
"The Quidditch trials will take place in the second week of term. For information regarding vacant positions on the house teams, please see Madam Hooch." Again Malfoy looked smug.
"I'm captain of the Slytherin house team, in case you didn't know," he hissed loudly to the first years. Bellatrix rolled her eyes again.
"Finally, you may have noticed a brand-new addition to the flora on the grounds. Professor Sprout has planted a valuable and very rare Whomping Willow on the southeastern lawns as an experiment. I must insist that you all steer clear of the Whomping Willow. Though it may look innocent while staying still, it packs quite a wallop when anyone get within ten feet of it. Do not approach it unless you want to spend a few weeks in the hospital wing, recovering from a severe flogging."
Some students laughed, but most were looking curious. Severus, too, was wondering what the Whomping Willow was like, and whether Dumbledore was joking about the severe flogging. That tree couldn't hit harder than his father, Severus reflected wryly.
"And before we go our separate ways, let us sing the school song!" said Dumbledore. He flicked his wand again and a gold ribbon uncurled wispily from the end of it and looped in the air into large words. "Choose your favourite tune," said Dumbledore. "Ready? Begin!"
The whole school hollered,
"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy
Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something, please,
Whether we be old and bald
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we've forgot,
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot."
"Wonderful, wonderful!" cried Dumbledore at the end, looking misty-eyed. "Such a marvellous rendition. I can tell this will be a spectacular year. And now, off to bed! Good night to you all!"
"This way, first years," Malfoy commanded. They followed him out into the Entrance Hall and down a passage of stone stairs to the left of the large marble staircase leading upstairs.
"Conveniently located in the dungeons off the Entrance Hall, the Slytherin common room and dormitories are carefully hidden from foreign eyes," Malfoy recited with a yawn.
"Don't be stupid enough to give out our password or let anyone from other houses follow you to the common room. Keep up," he called to Petula and Maud, who had stopped to stare at a portrait of a perplexed fat wizard who, while mixing various brightly coloured and fizzing potions, had just had his concoction explode in his face, and was standing with a faceful of soot.
Suddenly all the portraits in the hallway began to spin round and round, and their occupants began to screech in fright and annoyance; the torches inverted themselves in their wall brackets and an unearthly shrieking laughter echoed through the corridor. "Firsties, firsties!" yelled the voice through its own cackling.
"Peeves!" Malfoy shouted angrily. "Stop that!"
"What's the magic word?" cried the voice, and a little man wearing a loud tuxedo and a bizarre top hat with bells strung round the brim appeared above their heads, floating near the ceiling. A giant orange bowtie partly obscured his face, but there was a wide, malicious grin on the man's face.
"Peeves, the poltergeist," Malfoy grumbled to the first years. "Horrible nuisance, but Dumbledore can't seem to ever get rid of him." Raising his voice, he said, "Peeves, I'm Head Boy now, and I demand that you stop this foolishness!"
"Ooh, Head Boy, I'm ever so frightened," jeered Peeves, leering at Malfoy. "What are you going to do, take away house points?"
"I like him!" Bellatrix whispered to Severus, grinning.
Whistling shrilly, Peeves stood on his head in the middle of the narrow corridor, obstructing their passage.
"Cease this nonsense at once!" Malfoy ordered.
"Shaaaan't," howled Peeves, looking odd with his upside-down sneer.
Before Malfoy could answer, Severus felt an icy wind brush past him, and the Bloody Baron came up by Malfoy and spoke to Peeves in a quiet, hoarse voice.
"Go bother the Gryffindors, Peeves," he said lazily.
Severus didn't expect Peeves to obey, but the poltergeist hurriedly doffed his top hat with a jingling of its bells and cried greasily, "Yes sir, your Bloodiness, I'm ever so sorry, Mr. Baron, I'll give those Gryffindor firsties upstairs a right scare on your behalf!"
With a noise like firecrackers he took off through the ceiling, and with a silent nod at Malfoy, the Bloody Baron glided away along the corridor. Severus shivered.
Malfoy led them down a tortuous labyrinth of dank, dark halls, through which Severus was certain he would never be able to find his way by himself, finally stopping by a blank stone wall. "The password is Lux lucida," Malfoy said, and a hidden door in the stone wall slid back, allowing them to enter the common room, a long, low room with roughly carved stone walls and dim greenish lamps hanging from chains fixed to the damp ceiling. There was a huge fireplace in which a fire blazed invitingly, warming the carved chairs and plush loveseats arranged around it.
"First years' dormitory is down that corridor, boys in the first door on the left, girls in the third door on the right," Malfoy said, pointing to a corridor to their left.
The boys' dormitory was a circular room with five four-poster beds, adorned with dark green bed hangings. Looking at the sumptuous four-posters, Severus was suddenly struck by how exhausted he was. His fretting had sapped his strength, and the banquet had made him very full and sleepy. He found his trunk at the foot of one bed and wearily undressed and crawled under the covers. He was pleased to find that the Hogwarts house-elves had already put a warming pan between the sheets.
Rodolphus had the neighbouring bed. Severus considered clarifying his earlier unfinished request to be let alone, but sleepiness prevailed. It can wait till tomorrow, he thought.
"Thought you were going to write home tonight, Se-e-everus," Rodolphus mumbled through a giant yawn. "I was going to as well, but I..."
Rodolphus was so tired he fell asleep mid-sentence. Severus did not notice; he was sound asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.