The start of term didn't used to excite me. My first and second years didn't begin with making new friends or catching up with old ones. I was just there. But this day I found myself anxious to get to the train. I'd missed Pucey, even if I would never admit it to him. He'd never admit it to me either. Our friendship was a bit odd, but it worked. And he had friends besides me, but at the moment he was quite literally my only friend. I wasn't sure what I'd find myself doing on the train, I just hoped I'd spend it in the same compartment as him.
My father did the same with me as he had the year before, apparating me to just outside of King's Cross Station and helping me load my trunk onto a trolley. He wouldn't follow me to the platform anymore, but I didn't mind. We said our farewells before he left to the apparition point and I made my way in the direction of Platform 9¾. I was happy to ignore everyone around me until I noticed a bespectacled boy staring hopelessly at platforms 9 and 10, and a fairly round man grinning smugly at him. Harry was easy enough to recognize, and I supposed the man who had just turned and left Harry by himself was Vernon Dursley – Lily Potter's brother-in-law. The anger that filled me at the sight was quite potent. Who would just abandon a child in the middle of train station like that?
Luckily, I was able to pull myself together and go talk to him "Potter?" He stopped and turned to look at me "You seem lost."
He nodded "I don't know how to get to Platform 9¾ from here."
I grinned at him "Well lucky I found you then." I kneeled next to him and pointed at the column between platforms 9 and 10 "You just walk straight through that column there."
"What?"
A small snicker escaped me "It can be a little terrifying at first, but I promise, you'll go straight through it. If you're nervous it might be better to run."
He was still hesitant, and I didn't want to leave him in case he got too scared to go through without someone here. I wasn't sure what to do to help, until an annoyingly familiar voice came from behind me "Didn't know you had a brother Snape."
"Yeah, we thought you were a fluke."
The sound of flesh hitting a skull made me smile as they were scolded "Don't be rude Fred, George. You should know better."
I gave Harry an apologetic look before turning to look at the family of redheads "Ah the weasel twins, the banes of my existence." I couldn't help the sneer on my face for a moment, but it left as quickly as it came "He's not my brother."
Harry prodded me a bit "It might help if I could see someone go through."
I looked over at him briefly so he knew I'd heard before I looked over at the Weasley matriarch "Mrs. Weasley, would you mind if some of your family went first?" I patted Harry's shoulder "He's never seen someone go through and he's a bit nervous."
She nodded her agreement "Of course dearie. It's Ron's first time too. Percy, why don't you go through?"
I watched as Harry's eyes widened at the sight of someone going through a wall, a small, amused smile playing at my lips "Think you can do it?"
He nodded "I think so."
I ruffled his hair a bit and gave him a little nudge "Go on then." I threw Mrs. Weasley one last grateful smile before following closely behind him. Once I made it through I caught his attention "Come on, follow me."
I was surprised how willingly he came, although I hadn't given him any reason not to trust me. I helped him get his trunk and owl up the stairs of the train, and once he found a compartment I helped him lift it so it wasn't in the way.
During that, it seemed Pucey managed to find me "Pick up a little duckling along the way Snape?"
I whirled around at his voice, grinning and hugging him tightly "Pucey! You will not believe the summer I've had! The old codger himself decided to ruin it in the first week, and then my dad got some weird mystery project to work on – oh! And I found this book, it's just a bunch of spells, really, but-"
His laughter cut me off "Blimey, if I'd known you'd be this excited I would have owled you more." I gave him a sheepish grin as he peered around me "So, who's the kid?"
I perked up "Sorry, I forgot." I turned to Harry "You don't mind, do you?" He shook his head, so I turned back to Pucey "This is Harry Potter, Harry Potter meet Adrian Pucey."
Pucey raised an eyebrow at me "Only you could forget that you've been helping Harry Potter out. Now, is this our compartment or are we finding our own?"
"I don't mind if you sit here with me."
I gave him a smile before pulling Pucey in with me. I went to put my trunk up but he took it from me "You know I can lift it myself, right?"
He grunted "Maybe when you learn a featherlight charm that doesn't wear off. How many potions ingredients did you bring this year?"
I couldn't help the small pout, though it disappeared when I heard Harry laughing at me "I ran out before the holidays last year, I wanted to be sure I don't this time."
"Only you would, Snape. Besides, we get to go to Hogsmeade this year. I'm sure they have an apothecary."
I was about to shout in glee when the compartment door opened, I felt the train moving shortly after. The smallest redheaded boy of the Weasleys stood in the doorway "Do you mind? Everywhere else is full."
I shrugged, and Pucey moved to sit next to me instead of across from me "Go ahead."
It got awkwardly silent until the Weasley boy introduced himself "I'm Ron Weasley."
"Adrian Pucey."
I gave him an inquisitive look "Vanessa Snape."
Harry visibly tensed, clearly bracing for the attention he was about to get "Harry Potter."
Ron's eyes widened "No way! Have you really got the – " He leaned forward as if his next word was taboo "- scar?"
Harry nodded, brushing his hair back "Yeah."
"Wicked!"
Pucey simply shook his head and turned to me. They were going to have their own conversation, so he took the cue for us "You were saying something about a book?"
My face lit up as I practically bounced from my seat, opening my trunk to dig through it "I almost forgot! This thing has taken me ages to figure out. I didn't think I'd ever seen this language before, but then I went digging through Li – my mum's old things and found another book just as old and with the same language!" It took a minute of digging, and I'm sure the boys went silent as I babbled along. I grinned when I finally grabbed them "There they are! I swear, Pucey, they're almost impossible to translate. Do you think maybe Professor Babbling might recognize it?"
It took an effort to ignore the comment from Ron "She must be a Ravenclaw."
Harry's response was lost as I watched Pucey flip through them, the furrow in his brow growing deeper as he got further through them "What is this?"
I shrugged "I've no idea. The one from my mum's stuff doesn't even have a title, or it did and it's been worn off the cover. But look at the title of the one I found."
His eyebrows shot into the air as he read it "Does that have anything to do with what we were studying last year?"
"Couldn't tell you, but they were ancient weren't they?" His head bobbed in confirmation "I guarantee that language is too. It's something, even if they're not related."
Pucey grinned at me, but the both of us froze with a deep frown etching itself on our faces when we heard "There wasn't a wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin."
My eyes narrowed on the little redhead "You want to say that again Weasley?"
He frowned at me "Why? It's true! What do you care anyway?"
"Oh you've done it now kid."
I waved my hand between me and Pucey "First of all, we're Slytherins. Second of all, my last name is Snape. As in, I'm the daughter of Severus Snape, the head of Slytherin house. Third, there are plenty of bad wizards and witches who came from other houses. Fourth, what house do you think Merlin was in? I'll tell you; it was Slytherin. So when you swear in his name, you're swearing in a Slytherin's name."
He protested "Yeah but You-Know-Who was in Slytherin!"
I rolled my eyes "What a wonderful argument, really, you've got me. One man gone bad and that means every Slytherin is a monster."
Harry seemed fairly confused by my anger "I'm not sure I really get the difference between the houses. What's the point of them?"
I sighed, leaning back as Pucey ran a hand through my hair to calm me down "Whatever house you're placed in effects a lot of your time at Hogwarts. You sleep in the same dorm as your housemates, eat at the same table, and go to the same classes together. You share a common room, and most of your friends are likely to come out of the house you're place in. You're sorted based on what you value most, the traits you have, and where you're likely to succeed. The most well-known traits of a Slytherin are cunning and ambition, but there's also resourcefulness, determination, self-preservation, and more. We are extremely protective of our own. Attack one Slytherin and you're likely to have the entire house on your back. Gryffindors are most known for courage and bravery, but they are also chivalrous – mostly – and daring, among others. Hufflepuffs are fiercely loyal and fair, their kindness goes above and beyond most anyone you might meet, and really you couldn't find a friend more willing to go to Azkaban for you than a Hufflepuff. Ravenclaws value intelligence and wisdom, in fact their need for it makes them extremely competitive, but if you want to meet a unique person you're more likely to find them in Ravenclaw."
Harry's face had only turned more attentive as I went on, and once I was done he didn't seem sure of what to say. Ron didn't even give him the chance "But dark wizards always come out of Slytherin."
Even Pucey snapped in the face of that "Would you happen to be a seer or something? Because if you're not, I highly suggest you shut up. You know nothing about the houses except for what your family's told you, and by the looks of it they're quite prejudiced."
"Coming from the house that only cares about blood purity."
I stood abruptly as the windows of our compartment rattled, turning to grab my robes from my trunk. Pucey did the same "Sorry Harry, but we're going to have to leave before we hex the Weasel into oblivion. Please, don't let someone decide anything for you." Once we'd got our robes we headed in the direction of the car that mostly Slytherins sat in. The little bobbing head of Draco Malfoy and his friends were stopped at the sight of me and Pucey. I quickly turned them around "Back into whatever compartment you've come out of."
He peered around me "I only want to talk to Potter."
I shook my head at him "Not now, he's sitting with a Weasley brat. Just leave it for tomorrow. Come on."
"You know all the first years, Snape?"
My eyes rolled "No, just the two. Remind me to make sure Flint hears about the Weasel brat's comments. The twins are going to have to watch him closely if they don't want him hurt."
We made sure he heard the moment we saw him. Every Slytherin on the train knew within an hour. Protective of our own house was an understatement. Pucey and I found a corner to sit in and started going through the books I had. We tried not to think much about the little red head who'd ruined our afternoon, which didn't work much until we were finally out of the carriages and walking into the Great Hall. I smiled up at my father once we entered, making my way over to the Slytherin table and sliding into a seat where I could see the Sorting hat easily. I had to admit to my curiosity of my little brother. I'd grown up without him in my life, so it didn't feel like that was what he is. But every time I saw him I felt the urge to know him. He'd grown up in the muggle world, and by the looks of how his uncle left him, he didn't grow up loved. His time now, in the wizarding world, was going to be filled with people gawking at him like he was a unicorn, and that was bound to give him a complex.
The sorting felt as boring as always. We gave the obligatory claps where they were necessary. A bushy haired girl by the name Hermione Granger went to Ravenclaw, Neville Longbottom went to Gryffindor, and Ernie Macmillan went to Hufflepuff. Draco Malfoy unsurprisingly came to Slytherin. And then it was Harry's turn. The hat swallowed him, given his size, it wasn't surprising. He was sat there for what felt like hours, but surely wasn't that long. It wasn't long enough for him to be called hat-stall, not yet. But he was getting close. We all sucked in a breath as the hat spoke "Better be – SLYTHERIN!"
I almost choked on my own tongue as the table around me exploded in cheers. Pucey seemed just as surprised as I was, but he managed to join the applause around us. The rest of the hall was silent. Harry came over to me and Pucey, haphazardly climbing into his seat and giving me a smile "Hello again."
I couldn't help an amused shake of my head as the sorting continued "Harry Potter, who would have thought? You know your family is known as a Gryffindor family?"
He blinked at me "Really? But you said the hat sorts you based off of what you value."
I nodded at him "It does. Families have tendencies for particular houses though, since most people share values with their parents. Still," I gave him a once over "Welcome to the snake pit."
There wasn't much chance for us to continue speaking after that. The first years flocked around him, but not in a way that made him look uncomfortable. He seemed to be enjoying the conversation around him, so I simply minded my own dinner. A glance up at my father told me he'd want to speak to me in the morning, likely to ask when I'd gotten the chance to influence my little brother. The headmaster, however, looked less than pleased with Harry's sorting. I couldn't imagine why, but perhaps his own prejudice against our house was what did it. I didn't dwell on it.
The feast had me exhausted by the time we made it down to the dormitories, so I crawled into my bed as soon as I had changed and taken a Dreamless Sleep Potion. I didn't need nightmares on the first night back at school, especially if they could result in me screaming awake. I'd done that in first year, and it got me hexed by one of the girls in the first week. By now they'd gotten used to it happening every so often, but it wouldn't due to wake anyone up before we had our time tables. Especially now that we were in third year. New classes meant more nerves. I fell asleep once my head hit the pillow.
