A Black Flower
Part II
I
-o-
After bidding our families goodbye, Severus, Lily and I stepped onto the Hogwarts Express, hauling our trunks behind us. We headed through the train cars in search of an empty compartment. We arrived fairly early, so we were lucky enough to find one without traversing the whole train.
The compartment we settled in was in a train car half ways down. As Lily and Severus got comfortable in their seats, I levitated our trunks to the overhead storage and joined my companions once they were secured.
Lily frowned at me. "Where did you learn how to do that?"
"Oh, well. I've been doing it for years without a wand, so it was easy." I answered. It was that or tell her Auntie had me and Severus studying ahead and practising most of the first year spells over the last year, and I felt like that wouldn't go over well with her.
"You have? Why didn't you ever tell me?" she asked, her eyes wide. She sounded hurt that I kept it a secret from her.
I bit my lip and shrugged helplessly. "I mean..." I looked at Severus for help, but he shook his head minutely and pulled out a book. I was on my own. "At first I didn't want anyone to know, because I was worried you would think I was... a freak, or touched by the devil or something." I said, thanking the books for the excuse. "And then I met Severus and found out it had to be kept a secret. I didn't know you were a witch too, or I would have told you."
I didn't even feel guilty about my lie.
"Whatever." Lily huffed, not placated in the least. She crossed her arms and stared out the window. We hadn't left the station yet and the platform was on the other side of the train so there wasn't much to see. I shrugged at Severus and copied his earlier action, pulling a book out of my backpack to read. The three of us sat in a somewhat awkward silence until the train started moving.
As if startled out of her thoughts by the train car jerking into motion, Lily stood up.
"Well," she announced. "You two are being boring, so I'm going to go make friends."
"Kay," I acknowledged, not even looking up from my charms book.
Severus meanwhile, didn't seem to notice anything until the compartment door slammed shut behind her. "Where did your sister go?"
"To make her own friends." I answered, setting my book aside. "Apparently we're not cool enough for her. Or something."
"Oh, good." he smirked, closing his own book. "So she won't be coming back, then."
"Sev!" I admonished, swatting at him with my book. "That's my sister you're talking about, here!"
"So?" he shrugged. "It's not like she likes me, either."
I sighed and let it go. Even after all these years, it blew my mind that he and Lily didn't get along.
Before our conversation could continue onto new topics, the compartment door slammed open again, revealing two boys. Their robes were lined with white, just like our own.
"Mind if we sit here?" The short, bespectacled one asked.
I exchanged a glance with Severus, and we nodded. There was no harm in trying to make more friends.
"Great," the short one said, striding into the compartment. He and the other boy struggled to get their trunks stowed, but I didn't offer any help.
"What's your names?" the other boy asked after they settled.
I raised my eyebrows, unamused. "Perhaps you should introduce yourself first."
"Oh, right. The name's Sirius Black. How do you do?" he said with a grin.
It took everything I had in me not to recoil.
"Blimey, you never said your last name was Black!" the short one exclaimed.
Black puffed up. "That a problem?"
"Nah, mate. Just surprised. You seem alright, even for a Black. My name's James Potter, by the way."
Of course it was.
"Pansy Evans, and this is Severus Snape."
"Haven't heard the names Evans or Snape before," Black commented. "You muggleborns?"
"That a problem?" Potter demanded, echoing Black's earlier words.
"Course not. Doesn't matter, I was just wondering."
"I'm a half-blood." Severus interjected, then changed the topic. "What house do you want to be sorted into?"
Potter grinned and mimed holding up a sword. "Gryffindor! Where dwell the brave of heart! Just like my dad!"
"I'm hoping to break the family tradition and make it into Gryffindor myself." Black said.
"Guess you're okay after all, mate." Potter grinned and patted Black on the back. "What about you two?"
I knew Severus well enough to tell he was holding back a sneer. "I'm hoping for Slytherin, like my mum was."
Potter wrinkled his nose. "Why would you want to be a Slytherin?"
Black nodded in agreement.
"What's wrong with Slytherin?" I asked defensively.
"Nothing, if you're a blood purist." Black snorted. "Any decent folk know to stay away. You might want to rethink your acquaintance with that one, Evans. Sounds like he's up to no good. I would know, my family has been in that house for generations, and they're all complete wankers."
"Excuse me? Severus and I have been friends for years. I won't tolerate you speaking about him like that."
"Merlin's beard, calm down. Just trying to give some friendly advice."
"Well you can take your friendly advice and shove it, Black." I growled. "In fact, you can take your trunks and shove off, yourselves."
"I think we will!" Potter raised his head defiantly. "We don't want to be stuck in a compartment with a pair of Slytherins. Come on, Sirius."
I pulled my wand from my sleeve and levitated their trunks down none too gently. They landed on the floor with a heavy thud. "Hurry up then."
With one last sneer at us, they grabbed their trunks and left, slamming the compartment door once more.
"The next time someone asks to come in we say no." Severus said.
I nodded in agreement.
-x-
It was another few hours before we were interrupted again, this time by the trolley witch selling sweets. Severus and I both politely declined, as we had brought plenty of snacks of our own and wanted to save plenty of room for the feast.
We passed the time reading and speculating about Hogwarts.
"What house do you think you'll be in, Pansy?" Severus asked. "You never got the chance to say, earlier."
Despite the years of our acquaintance, it had never really come up. It was a bit surprising, since I could vaguely recall he and Lily discussing it in the books before they were sorted. Or perhaps that was also done on the express? The exact details escaped me.
"Not sure," I shrugged. "Not Gryffindor, though."
Severus snorted. "Definitely not. I hope you're in Slytherin with me, but I could easily see you in Ravenclaw, too."
"I guess we'll see. But we'll stay friends no matter which houses we end up in, right?"
"Of course!" Severus said, wide-eyed. "Why wouldn't we? You're my best friend."
I smiled at him, pleased, then changed the subject. "How do you think they sort us?"
According to Auntie it was a tradition of sorts to keep the method of sorting secret from children. Even most history books didn't go into detail about just how it was done.
"I don't know. Mum said there's a ceremony, but she didn't say anything else."
I smirked. "It's probably something stupid, like putting on a ratty old hat."
Severus raised an eyebrow. "Don't be ridiculous." he broke into an excited grin. "I bet it's something cool, like there's a circle we step into and then it glows the colour of the house we belong in."
"How much do you want to bet?"
Severus recoiled. "I didn't mean that seriously! I'm not betting on it!"
I pouted. "Oh well. What house do you think Lily will be in?"
"Gryffindor," he answered easily.
"You're just saying that because you don't like Gryffindors." I accused.
"Maybe. Am I wrong, though?"
"You're terrible—"
Our conversation was interrupted by the compartment door opening yet again. This time it was Lily with two other girls.
"Hi Pansy, Severus. I'm just grabbing my bag." she said, stepping into the compartment. "I forgot it earlier."
"Kay. Who are your friends?" I asked.
"I'm Mary MacDonald." The tall brunette said.
"Alice Blishwick." The stout blonde smiled kindly.
"I'm Lily's twin, Pansy, and this is my friend, Severus Snape. It's nice to meet you."
"You too." the girls mumbled.
Lily grabbed her bag from where it had fallen to floor. It was probably knocked down by Potter and Black. "Well, I'll see you later." she said to Severus and me, then turned to her new friends. "Let's go back to our compartment."
With their departure, Severus and I returned to our conversation.
-x-
It was dark by the time the train pulled into Hogsmeade station. An announcement played throughout the train instructing us to leave our trunks and pets on the train and disembark in an orderly fashion.
Most students seemed to rush out of their compartments, but Severus and I waited until the crowd in the corridors thinned and then made our way onto the platform. There was a man standing on a bench holding a lantern.
"First years! First years over here!" he called.
We crowded around him with all the other first years. I couldn't help but wonder who he was. In the books this was Hagrid's job, but this man was much too small to be a half-giant.
We waited around until the train was empty of students and the upper years had already left the station. The man beckoned us to form a line and follow him. He led us out of the station onto a well beaten path and walked down hill towards the edge of a river, where dozens of boats rested on the docks. The man jumped into the boat at the furthest end of the dock.
"Climb in, everyone! No more than four to a boat!" he yelled.
Severus and I wasted no time in claiming a boat for ourselves. We sat in silence as the other boats filled up until a small blonde girl came up to us.
"May I join you?" she asked with a tilt of her head.
"Sure." I agreed.
"Thank you. My name is Pandora Croaker. Please, call me Pandora. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Severus and I introduced ourselves, but before we could continue making conversation the boats started moving. Thrown off by the sudden movement, I grabbed the edges of the boat to steady myself.
"Onward!" the man yelled. His boat had taken point, leading us down the tree-lined river.
We followed the river as it flowed into what must have been the Black Lake. I had a feeling the river was man, or rather, magic-made for the purpose of taking first years from Hogsmeade station to Hogwarts. We all sat in silent awe as the imposing castle came into view.
It was gorgeous against the clear night sky. Light escaped the many windows, illuminating the castle from within. It almost seemed to glow.
"It's gorgeous..." I whispered.
"Isn't it?" Pandora agreed. She sounded equally awed.
Severus just nodded dumbly.
My awe at the castle left me in a daze. I could hardly tell you what happened from then until we were led to a chamber to wait for the sorting to begin. I vaguely recalled docking and climbing a wide stone staircase until we came to a set of huge wooden doors.
The chamber was large, but plain. There were no portraits, and the only decor were the candles floating overhead, providing light. Across from the doors we entered through there was another set of doors which likely led to the great hall.
There were more first years than I had imagined. According to JKR, there were only forty students in Harry's year, but there must have been over a hundred here. The sorting would be taking much longer than I anticipated.
We spent a good thirty minutes waiting. During this time Severus and I learned Pandora was hoping for Ravenclaw, as her family had been sorted there for generations.
Other students broke off into groups and had quiet conversations, some excited, some more nervous. About half the students stood around awkwardly. They probably hadn't made any friends yet.
A witch in emerald robes joined us, and called us to attention.
"My name is Professor Minerva McGonagall," she said, and I did a double take. "I am the deputy headmistress of Hogwarts. The sorting will begin shortly, but first, I will call your name and you will form a single line in alphabetical order..."
It was hard to believe this witch was Professor McGonagall. Not only did she look nothing like Maggie Smith, but she was young. She looked to be in her early thirties. Sure, this was twenty years before canon, but still...
She called my name, and I fell in line behind Lily, my thoughts racing.
From what I remembered of canon, she was younger than Voldemort by several years. They weren't at Hogwarts at the same time. So since Voldemort died when he was like, seventy, that put McGonagall in her fifties and sixties over the course of the books... so she was in her mid-to-late thirties right now. According to Auntie, witches and wizards aged on par with muggles until they were about twenty-five, and then their aging slowed dramatically. She wasn't sure why besides "magic," but wizards and witches could live twice as long as muggles, so it made sense that they would age differently...
So McGonagall's appearance made perfect sense once I thought about it. It was just shocking. My mental image of her was of a stern, aging woman. She still had a stern demeanour, but she was certainly far from aging.
By the time my thoughts returned to present events, everyone was in line and she was explaining how the sorting would proceed.
"...we enter you will stay in place until your name is called to be sorted. Once you have been sorted you will join your house table and..."
I tuned her out again, not particularly interested. I wasn't first in line, I could watch the others and figure it out.
She concluded her speech shortly thereafter. She turned on her heel and opened the large wooden doors with a gentle tap of her wand. They opened slowly, revealing the great hall.
We appeared to be entering from the side, near the dais the staff table sat on. There was a slightly lower platform directly in front of it, where the Sorting Hat stood on a stool. McGonagall briskly walked to the lower platform, the list of students rolled up in her hand, and stood to the side of the stool.
The first student in line stopped just before the steps to the lower platform.
With everyone in place, the Sorting Hat opened it's brim and began to sing.
I wasn't particularly interested in the song, so I ignored it and admired the Great Hall. The ceiling overhead was indeed enchanted to show the night sky, and the room was illuminated by what had to be hundreds of floating candles and torches. The tables in the room were longer and wider than I'd imagined, with room for the hundreds of students at each table without being crowded. The Slytherin table was on the far right, the Gryffindor table was on the far left, with the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables between them.
The staff table was comparatively smaller, but there were far more people sitting at it than I'd been prepared for. A man with a long, greying beard and half-moon glasses who must have been Dumbledore sat in the centre, an empty chair to his side. The rest of the table was filled out with faces I did not recognize. The exceptions were a small man who must have been Professor Flitwick and the man who brought me my letter, Professor Rosier.
The Hat finished its song to a round of applause, and McGonagall unrolled the parchment in her hands and began calling names.
The first student stumbled nervously up to the stool, and the hat called out "Hufflepuff!" after a moment on his head. The white accents on his robe burst into colour, turning a bright yellow to match his house while the colour of the crest drained from all but the bottom left quadrant.
I watched as a dozen and some students were sorted ahead of me. The only names of note were Black, who went to Gryffindor as expected, and Lily, who joined him. Oh, and Pandora, who made it into Ravenclaw like she hoped.
"Evans, Pansy!" McGonagall called after my sister joined the table decorated in red and gold.
I walked to the stool with my head held high, refusing to betray just how anxious I felt. As soon as I was seated, McGonagall dropped the Hat on my head.
This was perfectly sanitary, I reassured myself as it fell over my eyes. Magic was involved. I didn't need to worry about getting lice or anything...
"Oh-ho! Another one of you, hm? How interesting!" A little voice said in my ear. I rolled my eyes. You would think the hat had never seen twins before.
The hat chuckled, as if it heard my thoughts.
"I certainly did! Now, where to put you... You're not particularly brave, and hold no respect for the quality... you've got a bit of loyalty in you, but not particularly hardworking unless you enjoy what you're doing... A great mind, indeed, with a passion for learning, so Ravenclaw is certainly a possibility.
"But more than that, you're a liar, aren't you?" It crooned in my ear, its voice full of glee. I shifted on the stool. The Hat wasn't wrong. "You manipulate people and situations to your own end. You study because you enjoy it, yes, but you want to be the best. You have things you want to accomplish, dreams, ambitions... Yes, I think Salazar would make an exception for you... Good luck in...
"SLYTHERIN!" the Hat bellowed. My robes adopted green accents the moment the word was out of its brim, and the crest on my breast changed to match my sorting. "Oh, and don't worry, I won't share your secrets." It assured me.
I looked up at McGonagall as she removed the Hat. Her eyebrows were raised, but she quickly schooled her expression.
I took a seat at the end of the Slytherin table. A few of the older students nodded to me, but no one said anything, just returned their attention to the sorting. I followed suit.
Lupin, Pettigrew, and Potter joined my sister in Gryffindor as expected, and Severus joined me at the Slytherin table. We exchanged a quiet smile, and watched the last of the students be sorted.
Overall, Gryffindor seemed to receive the most students by a large margin, with either Hufflepuff or Slytherin coming in second, and Ravenclaw getting the fewest.
McGonagall replaced the hat on the stool and then took her place at the head table beside Dumbledore.
He gave a short speech, and then dinner appeared before us on the table.
Without a word, I helped myself to a serving each of potatoes, carrots, and roast chicken.
"We made it," Severus said as he loaded his own plate. "We're in Slytherin together."
I smiled at him. "Yes, this is going to be great."
-x-
It was not great, I later learned.
After dinner we were led down to the Slytherin common room in the dungeons by the prefects. They took us out to the entrance hall and then through a small door and down winding stone steps that led deep into a dungeon corridor.
The entrance itself wasn't marked by a portrait or anything. It was just a blank space of wall, exactly half ways between two tapestries several metres away on either side.
The prefects gave a quick overview of how the entrance worked and the rules and expectations. Don't tell non-Slytherins where the common room is because no one else has been there in centuries (what about professors, I wondered?), the password changes every fortnight, passwords are on the noticeboard, etc.
With that out of the way, they ordered us to gather in the common room in the morning before breakfast, and then led us to our dorms.
The common room was much as it was described in the books, dark wood, leather sofas, a large fireplace and elaborate mantle, greenish lighting. Decorations included skulls, tapestries depicting famous Slytherins, dark green rugs, and carved stone pillars. There were windows into the Black Lake, but there wasn't much movement. It was all very gothic, and I loved the aesthetic.
At the end of the room there were two hallways off to the sides. Us girls were led down the one on the right by the female prefect. The corridor was lined with thick, arched wooden doors. Each bore a placard with a number and names on it.
Half way down the hall the prefect stopped. I checked the doors and saw the number 1 on the two nearest doors.
"These will be your dorms for the next seven years. Check for your name. There will be no room changes except under extenuating circumstances. If you aren't placed with your friends or don't like your roommates then tough, that does not count as an extenuating circumstance." she said. "My name is Alanna Foster. If you need me, my room is at the end of the hall. Don't disturb me unless it's important. I don't have time to waste on petty disputes and my roommates don't want to be disturbed by homesick firsties, either."
With her speech finished, Foster turned and left us to our own devices.
There were two rooms marked for first years, the first had four names listed and the other had five. I had the misfortune of finding my name on the latter. My roommates would be Anastasia Malfoy, Julianne Burke, Beatrice Gamp, and Morgana Wilkes.
I was the first to enter the dorm. It was larger than I expected, more wide than long. On the far right side there was a door that presumably led to a bathroom. There was a curtained bed in each corner of the room and a fifth in the middle of the far wall. By each bed was a dark wooden desk and chair. Above the desk there was a small stone bookshelf built into the wall. Next to the desk was an empty laundry bin and a small matching wardrobe. Our trunks were laid out at the ends of the beds. Mine appeared to be the one in the middle.
I approached my bed and pushed back the curtain. The bed was covered with a soft, dark green quilt over layers of blankets. There were two pillows, one fluffy and one firm. Above the bed there was a little nook to place odds and ends, like our wands or glasses while we slept. The only item that already occupied the space was an old fashioned looking alarm clock—or perhaps not so old fashioned, it was only 1971.
I wasn't too happy to have to share space with four other girls for the entire school year, but it was better than sharing with all eight of the other Slytherin girls. The space itself was nice at least, and once I unpacked it could feel like home.
Unpacking could wait though. The alarm clock said it was already past nine in the evening. It had been a long day and I was ready for bed, so I opened my trunk and pulled out my nightgown and toiletries to get ready to sleep.
Around me, my roommates started settling in.
The door to the right didn't lead directly to the bathroom as I assumed, instead it led to another small corridor which branched off into a longer one. Like the one leading to the dorm, there were doors with names and numbers. Fortunately, the door corresponding to my dorm wasn't far.
The bathroom was larger than I expected. One wall was lined with a mirror and five sinks, the back had cubicles with toilets, and a third wall was lined with rather spacious shower stalls. There was a cubby next to each stall, full of dark green towels in various sizes, with room remaining for students to fill in ourselves.
Unlike the dorm and common room, which had an old, gothic vibe, the bathroom was more modern. The floor was tiled and the vanity around the sinks was plain. The walls and shower stalls matched the flooring.
I decided to shower in the morning, and settled for washing my face and brushing my teeth for the night. When I exited the bathroom, the other girls were all sitting together in one corner.
"So," The blonde girl, probably Malfoy, said. She was sitting on the desk and swung her crossed ankles back and forth. "I haven't heard the name Evans before. It's not a very magical name, is it?"
I rolled my eyes, seeing where this was going. "Sure it is." I replied.
"Oh?" She said. "Tell me about it."
"Well I'm a witch and my name is Evans, so it's a magical name." I smiled sweetly at her.
The two girls on the bed sneered, and the one sitting on the chair looked like she wanted to laugh but didn't dare. Malfoy crossed her arms. "Don't be smart with me, Evans."
"Oh, my apologies, I'll try to keep it down to your level."
"I suppose with how evasive you're being it's pretty obvious. You are a half-blood." she sniffed. "I can't believe they'd force me, a Malfoy, to share a room with such filth."
Briefly I considered agreeing with her, saying I was a half-blood. If Lily weren't around I would have. It would make things easier—not easy, as my roommates obviously extended their bigotry to half-bloods, but not as bad as being a muggleborn. Except Lily was here and so it was pointless. I could say I was a half-blood now, but it would inevitably come out as a lie because of my sister. She would never play along, and she had undoubtedly already told plenty of people she was a muggleborn. Lying about my blood status now would get me nowhere in the long run and would just make me look ashamed of my heritage. It would seem like a weak point.
So I squared my shoulders and pasted on a wide, unfriendly smile.
"Don't be silly," I said, getting up in Malfoy's personal space. "I'm not a half-blood. I'm a muggleborn."
Malfoy reared back as if I'd spit at her, and the other girls scrambled away as well, like they thought my blood status was contagious. "You're a mudblood?" she hissed. "How did filth like you end up in Slytherin?"
I shrugged. "Well I put on this talking hat and it yelled 'Slytherin!' to the whole room..."
Malfoy looked at me in disgust, like I was dung on the bottom of her boots. I didn't care.
I leaned in further and bared my teeth at her in a mockery of a smile one last time. She recoiled further, and I smirked as I walked away from her, to my own bed.
I closed my curtains, changed into my pyjamas, and snuggled in for the night.
I didn't let the whispers of my roommates keep me awake.
-x-
The next morning I woke up early. The alarm clock said it was just after six in the morning. I had a little under two hours until I needed to be in the common room for the morning meeting. That gave me plenty of time to take a nice, long shower and relax before starting the day properly.
I collected my clothes for the day from my trunk and noticed that all my uniforms were now accented with green instead of white.
The other girls must have unpacked while I slept last night because where before the bathroom had been empty of personal belongings, now four of the sinks were lined personal care items, as were four of the cubbies.
The first cubby was unclaimed, so that was where I stowed my belongings.
The shower stall was larger than I expected, and there was plenty of room to stretch out. I'd brought my own soap and shampoo, but there were dispensers on the wall, so I didn't need to use them.
The water pressure was divine, and the temperature just right. I cleaned myself quickly, and then just settled in to relax and enjoy the hot water.
I couldn't say how long I stayed in there, but it must have been at least forty-five minutes, yet the water temperature never changed. I had a feeling it would never run cold. The wonders of magic. Eventually I knew I had to get out and get ready for the day, so I turned off the water and reached for a towel and my clothes.
I groped around fruitlessly for a bit before I decided to risk coming out of the stall completely to search for my stuff. I must have pushed it back further into the cubby than I thought.
But my cubby was empty. The towels that had been in it previously were gone and so were my clothes. Panicked, I checked the other cubbies, but they were empty of towels as well.
I took a deep breath and retreated back into the shower stall, trying to keep calm. I lowered myself to the floor and curled up to try and get some sense of modesty.
It seems I had underestimated my roommates.
It wasn't hard to figure out what happened, they must have planned it the night before while I slept. I tried to think back to my shower and if I had heard anyone come in, but the water was loud, so if they were quiet I wouldn't have.
I left my wand in the nook above my bed, not that it would do me much good. I didn't know how to transfigure something to cover up with. I suppose it was best, those little brats would have stolen it with my uniform if I left it laying out.
I contemplated making a run back to my dorm, but I wasn't comfortable running through the hall so exposed. If the bathroom were directly attached to the dorm I would have sucked it up and risked my roommates seeing me, but... if I ran out now it would be more than just my roommates. It would be every girl in Slytherin.
Maybe I could just wait it out until someone came looking for me. Surely someone would notice I was missing eventually. Or just until the hall cleared out and I could run back to my room... But it was possible that wouldn't happen for awhile. From what I remembered of the books there were free periods, so it was possible students who didn't have classes would be coming through the hallway. No, running back to my room was out. I didn't want to risk it at all.
With the water off, I could hear movement outside of the bathroom, probably other students going back and forth as they got ready for the first day of classes. I considered sticking my head out and asking for help, but who was to say they would help? I was a mudblood, my roommates had probably made sure everyone knew that, so who would stop to help? At best they would laugh, but it was likely they would make things worse.
So I waited. I waited, and I got angry.
How dare they? Sure, I was a bit aggressive with them last night, but to go this far? This was... this was just cruel. My eyes burned with furious tears, and I tried to blink them away.
I felt humiliated, exposed.
I would get back at them for this.
There was no clock, so I had no way of knowing how much time passed as I waited. I started to shiver, so I turned on the shower to let the hot water warm me. I had to do that several times.
Finally, someone knocked on the door. "Pansy Evans? Are you in here?"
I recognized the voice of the female prefect from last night. Foster, I thought her name was. Hopefully she was here to help.
"Yes. In here."
"It's time for lunch, what are you doing in there? You've missed your morning classes." she said.
I took a deep, shuddering breath and let it out slowly before replying. "Someone stole my clothes. And all the towels."
I heard her draw in a sharp breath. "Can I come in?"
"I guess."
The door opened and shut tight behind her. "Which stall are you in? I'll give you my over robe to cover up with and we can go back to your dorm together."
"The first one," I said, opening it up just enough to stick my hand out.
I took the robe from her and wrapped it around myself, tightening the strings to close it. It was much too large, but it would do until I got back to my dorm.
Once I was decent, I came out of the stall. The prefect's expression was tight. She seemed angry, whether at what happened to me or because she had to help a mudblood I wasn't sure.
Unfortunately, the ordeal wasn't over. When we entered my dorm we were greeted with the scent of smoke and a burnt trunk. If I thought Foster looked angry before, she was downright mutinous now.
We checked, but nothing in my trunk of was salvageable except my cauldron, but even that was charred.
"Wait here. I'll bring you something proper to wear, then talk to our head of house." she said in an eerily calm voice, then left.
While I waited for her to return I checked my bed, and fortunately my wand was right where I left it.
Small mercies.
-x-
An hour later I was wearing resized robes and sitting in the headmaster's office. Joining me were my roommates, Foster, Professors Dumbledore and Slughorn.
I'd already shared my side of the story with my head of house and the headmaster, and now my roommates were sharing theirs. They seemed unrepentant in their actions, and seemed to think it was just a harmless prank.
It infuriated me. They didn't just humiliate me, they destroyed everything I had! My books, my clothes, my supplies... It was lucky that I hadn't packed anything of sentimental value! And they thought it was a joke? They thought it was funny?
The professors at least, did not.
"I am very disappointed in you girls," Dumbledore said. "I will be flooing your parents shortly, and we'll discuss your punishment once they arrive. I want you to understand that this is very serious, and you won't be getting off lightly. There will be consequences to your actions." Dumbledore turned his attention to me. "Miss Evans, I am sorry this happened to you. Please make a list of everything you lost, and we will make arrangements to get it replaced. For now, please follow Professor Slughorn to his office, and he will sort you out from here."
I nodded. "Yes, headmaster."
"If we may use the floo, Albus?" Slughorn inquired. Dumbledore nodded.
"Have you used the floo before, Pansy?" Foster asked me. I shook my head. "Alright, I'll demonstrate for you..."
-x-
Once in Slughorn's office, he sat me down, ordered up a plate of sandwiches and a pitcher of water for me, and handed me my class schedule.
Slughorn was a large man, but he had a jovial air about him. Based on the books I worried that he wouldn't take this seriously since I was basically no one, but it appeared he did.
"Don't worry about what you've missed, Miss Evans, we'll make sure the other professors are aware of the situation," he assured me. "As Albus said, we'll get your belongings replaced, but for now I'll have some house elves put some of the school's extra robes in your wardrobe, we keep a stock of them for emergencies..." He started digging around in his desk. "You'll need some parchment, ink and quills for now, I think I have enough around here to last you a couple days. Aha! Here we go."
He pulled out an unopened sheaf of parchment from the bottom drawer of his desk and grabbed an opened bottle of black ink and a used quill sitting on top. "This should do! If you run out before your things are replaced let me know, but there's plenty there, my dear girl, I doubt it will be a problem.
"As for your books, your professors will excuse you from any work that requires the textbook or lend you a copy... I will be your potions professor, so don't worry about needing anything there, I'll make arrangements... Is there anything I'm forgetting Miss Evans, Miss Foster?"
I stared at him helplessly, feeling overwhelmed. How would I know? I was still processing, I didn't know what I needed or what he had the power to do.
"Her sleeping arrangements," Foster said. "It isn't appropriate to keep her in a dorm with those girls after what they did. She should be moved to the other first year dorm."
"Quite right!" Slughorn nodded agreeably. "I'll have the house elves move you into the other dorm, if that's alright with you?"
"Thank you, Professor. I appreciate it." I really did. I doubt I would ever be able to sleep in the same room as those other girls again, at least not without absolutely exhausting myself first.
"Not a problem, not a problem." He smiled. "If there's nothing else, you're dismissed after you finish eating. You should still have time to make it to most of your defence lesson, which should be starting shortly—you have a double block today. Miss Foster, I trust you can show Miss Evans the way and pass this on to the professor?" he held out a folded up bit a parchment.
"Of course, sir." The prefect agreed, taking the parchment.
I hurriedly finished my sandwich—egg salad on white bread—and followed Foster out of the office.
"I'll show you to the defence corridor. Once classes are done you'll be escorted to the common room by another prefect, and then dinner, okay?" I nodded. "You missed orientation this morning, so I'll go over it with you tonight."
"Thank you."
"Look Evans—Pansy. I want you to know that you can come to me for help if anyone in Slytherin gives you trouble, okay? I'm a half-blood. My mom's a muggle and she's amazing. I don't buy into blood purity like most of the house."
"Thank you." I repeated. It was good to know I had an ally if things got bad, but I had no intentions of running to her for every little thing.
"Alright, let's get you to class. Don't want to make you even later, yeah?"
Foster led me out of the dungeons, narrating about landmarks to help me find my way. We climbed up to the third floor of the Turris Magnus and walked down the Serpentine Corridor, also known as the defence corridor. We stopped outside of room 3A.
Foster knocked on the door and opened it when prompted. "Excuse me, Professor Rosier? I have a message for you, and a late student."
Rosier walked over to us, took the missive from Foster, and read it. His expression grew cold as he read, but he schooled it into a neutral mask when he looked up.
"Thank you Miss Foster. You're dismissed." He turned to me. "Please take a seat Miss Evans, fortunately you're only a few minutes late."
I scanned the classroom for an open spot. Judging by the uniforms it was a Slytherin/Hufflepuff class. Movement at the back of the classroom caught my attention, it was Severus, waving at me. He had an open seat beside him.
I quickly made my way over and slid in next to him.
"What happened? Where have you been?" he hissed at me. "I've been worried about you!"
"Shh, I'll explain after class," I whispered back. "I don't want to get in trouble for not paying attention."
Severus nodded.
Throughout the period he kept sending me concerned glances, but I ignored him and dutifully took notes as Professor Rosier went over the rules for the class and expectations.
With that out of the way, he began to lecture.
"Before I can start teaching you to defend yourselves from the dark arts, we must first define them," he began. "Does anyone know what exactly the dark arts are?"
A few students raised their hands, including me and Severus. He pointed to a boy in the third row.
"Well, it's bad magic, right? Magic that's used to hurt people." the boy answered.
Rosier dipped his head in acknowledgement. "A fairly typical answer, though not technically correct. After all, I can use the levitation charm to drop a weight on someone's head, crushing their skull, but no one in their right might would consider the levitation charm a dark spell."
The boy, a Hufflepuff, blushed.
"Does anyone else have any ideas?" Rosier asked again.
Fewer hands rose this time, only two others besides Severus' and mine.
"In the back there, with the dark hair, Mr...?"
"Snape, sir." Severus answered. "The theoretical definition of dark magic is magic which requires intent to harm to be cast. The legal definition expands on this to include spells which don't require intent, but exclusively cause harm."
"Excellent answer, take a point for Slytherin, Mr. Snape." Rosier praised. Severus preened a bit in response.
"To expand on Mr. Snape's answer, dark magic is magic that requires a certain mindset to cast. This mindset is essentially the intent to cause others harm, though it can be more or less specific." Rosier began to pace at the front of the class. "What it boils down to is that you can try to cast a dark spell all you want, but unless you have the correct mindset it won't work. For example the knockback jinx—yes, that is technically a dark spell, I will get into that more later on—won't work unless you want to actually knock back your target. It is a very mild example, and most people don't truly think they have the intent to harm when they cast it, but their intent when they cast it is technically to harm, if mildly.
"A more extreme example would be the Cruciatus Curse, one of the Unforgivables. To cast the curse you must not just intend to cause the target extreme pain, you must truly desire it, you must find the suffering of your target pleasing."
Professor Rosier stopped in front of the blackboard at the front of the class and picked up a piece of chalk and began writing.
'Unit 1: Defining the Dark Arts'
From there, he wrote down the formal definition of the dark arts, and then moved onto defining jinxes, hexes, and curses. He gave plenty of examples for each category, and clearly explained why each spell was categorized as it was.
Once we had grasped the differences, Rosier listed some spells without specifying which category they fell in, and then had us categorize them as a class.
Before I knew it, the double period was over and he was telling us to pack up.
"I'll see you all next Tuesday," he said. "Please finish reading section one point one in the textbook before then. Miss Evans, please stay after class."
"Of course, professor." I said and turned to Severus. "Can you put my stuff in your bag? I'll meet you in the common room and explain."
"Sure, Pans," he agreed and dutifully packed away my supplies with his. "I'll see you later."
Once the classroom had emptied of the other students the professor led me to his office.
It was larger than I expected, larger than Slughorn's. The back wall was hidden behind massive bookshelves. They seemed to be full of books from all sorts of subjects, not just defence. In the centre was a large desk covered with loose papers—and it was paper, not parchment, to my surprise.
"First of all Miss Evans, let me find you a copy of the textbook to borrow for now," he said, shifting through the papers on his desk until he uncovered a dog eared copy of the required text. "It's a bit marked up with my notes, but it's the only copy I have right now, so I apologize for that."
"That's fine, Professor. Thank you very much." I said, accepting the book from him. "Is that everything?"
Rosier leaned back against his desk and crossed his arms. "It's not actually. Just one more thing..."
"What is it?"
"Does the name 'Hermione Granger' mean anything to you?"
-o-
Notes: Please note Pansy is biased. She didn't like the marauders in the books, so it transferred over to interactions with them. I'm not trying to arbitrarily bash the marauders. That said, they aren't going to get along with Pansy for obvious reasons, so if you're a fan of them prepare yourself for that.
In canon JKR said there were 40 students in Harry's year, but 1000 students at Hogwarts. Mathematically it doesn't add up. Even assuming a low number of students because of the war, there are still far too few in his year for more than 500 students total to be feasible. So I decided classes must be a lot larger.
This also brings in the issue of how, canonically, there are about 12 teachers at Hogwarts. So I decided to add some more. Basically there are 2-3 per subject, one is the head of the department and teaches 1-2 classes, the others teach 2-3. Since Harry had the same teachers every year, it's not a matter of Prof A teaches 1-3 years, Prof B teaches 4-5, Prof C teaches 6-7. It must be that each professor STAYS with a certain cohort. So one year they teach years 1,2,3, next they teach 2,3,4, etc. I'll probably post a side work on AO3 with notes and shit about this sort of thing.
Another issue I'm working on figuring out is how astronomy classes work. There are too many students for all houses to be together, so they can't have one class per year group. But there are only 7 nights a week and having classes go too late is ridiculous, and there is only a single astronomy tower. JKR, bless her soul, did not consider logistics and stuff. I can't help but consider it.
Differences in Hogwarts architecture can be explained, but I won't do it yet. Remember that in canon JKR has made mistakes about it, saying the headmaster's office was on the 2nd floor at one point, then later on the 7th... Official explanation is the castle keeps changing, but dude. How would anyone find anything in that case? A jump of 5 floors is a big deal. I don't buy it.
Pandora's last name is a reference to Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin, which is an amazing fanfic you should read if you haven't. And yes, she is Luna's mom.
Where is Hagrid? Tom Riddle's premature death means he never got Hagrid expelled. Hagrid graduated Hogwarts and went on to live his best life working on a creature reserve.
"Salazar would make an exception." A lot of people go with Slytherin as a blood purist being some horrible historical inaccuracy. But the Sorting Hat, who would know Slytherin first hand, confirmed it. My take is that Slytherin was a sort of exceptional bigot. He would make exceptions for muggleborns who he felt embodied the other qualities he valued and had potential and talent. Thus, there are muggleborns sorted into Slytherin, but it is rare. Many hide it and pretend to be half-bloods.
Did the girls go overboard with what they did to Pansy? Yes. Is it unrealistic? I don't think so. Pansy antagonized them that first night. She had every right to stand up for herself, but obviously it just angered the other girls. These are also (mostly) spoiled, racist, rich little girls. They've been taught muggleborns are garbage and unworthy of respect. They've never met a muggleborn before. They haven't quite got the memo of what's going to far and what's not. I've drawn on my own experiences of bullying and the experiences of women I know. Little girls are vicious.
To be clear, the girls asked about Pansy's name to determine if she was a "muggle parent" half-blood (ew), a "muggle great grandparent" half-blood (tolerable), or a lower class pureblood whose name they weren't familiar with.
I have been fixing up typos/errors in the AO3 version, and will continue to do so. Consider the FFN version a rough draft.
Uniform and class schedule posted in notes on AO3 version. Fic has same title, and author is under a Killing Curse Eyes pseud.
This is the longest chapter I have ever written, but it was imperative it ended exactly where it did!