Here's another chapter. Enjoy!
"First years, follow me." the Slytherin Prefect said.
Katrina knew her way around the castle, however, she had never seen the dorms. She had only been in her father's office where it lead to his own room and what would be her room over the breaks.
"It seems that Draco took an interest in you." Daphne commented as they walked.
"Huh? Oh, no. I barely spoke to him. He's honestly annoying, calling me Kat." Katrina replied.
Daphne chuckled. "Well that's an upgrade. Normally, he calls everyone by their surname."
"You know him?"
Daphne nodded her head. "I know most of the other first years here in Slytherin. You're the only one I hadn't heard of."
"Great, so I'm an outsider."
Daphne shook her head. "No, we just didn't know of you. We all grew up together and around one another. Myself, Draco, Pansy, Theodore, and Blaise. Crabbe and Goyle they came around later on."
"I never had friends. I wasn't ever really allowed anywhere growing up. I never understood why either."
"This is the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Take a look around you and memorize where you're at. Now pay close attention." the Prefect announced as the group came to a stop, ending any further conversation between the two.
Katrina stood on her toes to see over someone who was taller than her.
"The password will be spoken to the wall and you can not reveal this to anyone else. Be warned that the password changes every fortnight and will be posted on the noticeboard."
"Now listen and watch closely."
"Pure Blood," was spoken loudly and clearly.
The wall shook and soon it opened up with a passage appearing within.
"Wicked…" Katrina heard some people mutter.
Following after the others, led to a staircase with walls on both sides. Torches lit the passage giving it an eerie feel. Once at the bottom of the stairs, they walked into the room. The ceilings were high above several archways. Leather sofas and chairs were scattered around the room. On one side of the wall was a large fireplace, with a roaring fire. A long table with leather chairs was on the left side of the room. Dark wooden cupboards, desks, and bookcases also filled the room, lining the walls. A slight chill filled the room despite the fire, most likely because of being in the dungeons. Katrina had noticed that the lower they had gone, the colder it got. The windows were dark and black, but it was nightfall that caused it, it was the Black Lake that was at Hogwarts.
"Boys your dorms are to the left and girls your dorms are to the right. Girls are allowed to go into the boy's dorms, but boys do not try it."
"What happens if we do?" a boy asked.
"You can find that out for yourself." the male prefect said with a smirk.
Katrina followed behind Daphne up the stairs to where the first years girl's dorms were.
Upon entering the room, Katrina was impressed.
The room was a long rectangle with silver and dark green walls. Slytherin tapestries hung on the walls. The floor was dark, hardwood with dark green rugs scattered around. The right side of the room had seven alcoves, each with a window near it. Between the alcoves were dark wooden desks. The left side of the room had seven canopy beds with emerald green bedding and hanging curtains for privacy.
Daphne was beside Katrina who was at the end of the row of beds. That was fine with her, she would rather have the wall on one of her sides than be in between two others.
Katrina noticed that their luggage had been transported from the Hogwarts Express and to their respective bed. Now all that was left to do was unpack.
She moved one of the emerald rugs to the front of the foot of her bed, before she heaved her trunk onto the rug. She didn't want to damage the lovely hardwood floor, plus the dark green underneath her black trunk was appeasing to the eye or at least she thought so. She began to unpack her belongings and hang up her uniforms and robes. She placed parchment and quills in the desk drawers. She stacked her books on the desk, neatly and put her satchel that she had gotten to use for school in the seat of her desk chair.
Katrina flopped down onto her bed since she had finished unpacking. A few of the other girls were still working on unpacking.
"I didn't know that Professor Snape had a kid." Pansy said.
"Not many people do." Katrina replied, eying the direction of Pansy's voice.
"Must be because he's ashamed."
Katrina sat up and looked at Pansy who was at the front of the room.
"Excuse me?" Katrina asked, raising an eyebrow.
Katrina noticed that the other girls had stopped what they were doing, waiting to see what was going to happen. Daphne looked concerned. A bigger, bulkier girl name Millicent Bulstrode was looking towards Katrina. The others just stood waiting with anticipation.
"Well I'm sure your blood is tainted. You're Half Blood and I bet your mother was a Muggle. Nothing was ever said about Snape ever fathering a child, so it just makes sense." she said in a matter-of-fact tone.
Katrina felt her magic stirring within her as her anger flared.
"Don't say a word about my mother!"
"Oh, struck a nerve?"
Katrina hopped off her bed and left the room, the door slamming shut behind her.
"Really Pansy?" she heard Daphne say.
She had to get out of there before she lost control of her magic and got into trouble. She could already tell Pansy was going to be a pain.
She walked into the common room and saw that it was basically empty. She flopped down onto one of the couches and put her hands over her eyes. She could feel her eyes watering from her anger.
"Kat?"
Katrina jerked her head up and sat up quickly, seeing Draco Malfoy.
"It's Katrina, I told you that already."
"I prefer to call you Kat, rather than Katrina." Draco replied as he perched on the table.
"Are you okay?" he asked, eying her.
"Why do you care?"
"I don't really, but it's odd that you're here alone. You seemed to be pretty close with Greengrass."
"I just needed out of that room."
Draco glanced towards the stairs.
"Parkinson?" he questioned.
"How'd you know?"
"She likes to cause trouble. Lots of gossip. Gets it from her mother. My mother has talked about her plenty and I've seen it plenty when growing up."
"Right. Daphne mentioned you all knew one another."
"Parkinson, Greengrass, Nott, and Zambini. We grew up together and were forced to be friends."
"Nott?"
"Theodore Nott,"
"Oh…the brown haired boy."
He looked at her strangely before he spoke. "Yes, the brown haired boy."
She noticed that his eyes were looking at her, but not quite to her face. She reached up and realized her hair was pushed back. Her scar! She pulled her hair back over her shoulders and hid the scar.
"Well I'm going to go see my father." Katrina said, standing up and leaving the common room.
She had to get away before he questioned about her scar.
Once in the hallway she took a breath and headed for her father's office. She ran her hand through her hair making sure it was in place and hiding her scar. Her mind was reeling after the encounter with Pansy. She needed to ask about her mother. The fact that her mother had been insulted bothered her. She had never questioned about her mother, but now it was all she could think about. She needed to know what her mother was. What had happened?
Katrina reached her father's office and knocked.
"Come in,"
She walked into the office and closed the door. Her father was alone, thankfully.
"Daddy, I need to talk to you." she said.
He glanced up from his desk and looked at her. Something on her face must have alarmed him because he was up out of his seat quickly, his robes swooping around him.
"Come inside. No one will disturb us." he said as he opened the door to his room.
Katrina walked into the room and flopped into one of the chairs.
"What's wrong, Rina?" he asked.
"That pug-faced girl!" she cried, throwing her hands up.
"She insulted my mother! Saying my blood was tainted and that my mother was most likely a Muggle! She insulted me because I'm a Half Blood witch. She said my mother had to be a Muggle since no one knew anything of you having a child. She insulted my mother…"
"I know nothing of my mother. Could you please tell me of her? I can't stand someone insulting her…I…I know I've never asked, but Daddy, I need to know. Please?"
Her father sighed and he sat down in the other chairs.
"I can only tell you so much, Katrina."
Katrina leaned forward, intrigued. He was going to tell her about her mother!
"She was, in fact, a Muggle. She was in my year when I attended here. She was one of my closest friends even when I wasn't the kindest. You're a splitting image of her. She lives within you. She was a gifted witch, but also such a kind woman. She had a way of seeing the beauty in others even, when that person couldn't see it in themselves."
"What was her House? Were you two in the same House?"
"No, we weren't. I was Slytherin and she was, well she was in Gryffindor."
"Wow. The biggest rivalry of Houses and you two married one another and had me."
A look came across her father's face at her words.
"I loved your mother." was all he said.
"How…?" Katrina trailed.
Her father shook his head.
"I would rather not speak of that, Katrina. Just know that your mother loved you very much."
"I understand, Daddy."
Katrina knew that the death of her mother had impacted her father greatly. It was obvious it still pained him to speak of her, but he had for her sake.
She hugged her father before she left to go back to the common room.
The next morning, was the first day of classes. Katrina woke a little earlier to get ready. She chose to wear a skirt with her blouse before she tied her tie. She pulled on her robes and made her way to the bathroom to style her hair out of the eyes of others. She didn't want her scar to be seen by anyone. She parted her hair and then she pulled a small section at the top to braid and left the rest down once she connected the two braids on either side of her head.
She nearly ran into Daphne who was rushing towards the bathroom as she came out.
"I overslept!" she cried as she slammed the door closed.
Katrina giggled to herself and went over to her desk. She grabbed her books, some parchment, and a few quills and stuffed it all into her satchel.
She hoped the first day would go well. She went to sit on her bed as she waited for Daphne to finish getting ready so they could go have breakfast together before classes started.
Daphne walked out, tying her tie. Her hair was in a neat, high ponytail and she was wearing a skirt and blouse as well. She pulled on her robe and grabbed her robes.
"Ready for breakfast?" she asked, looking over to Katrina.
Katrina nodded and got up off of her bed.
They were given their class schedules at breakfast and Katrina noticed that their classes were the same as the Gryffindors.
"No wonder the rivalry is so strong between these two Houses." she muttered.
She looked at the schedule again to see what her day would consist of.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday: Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, Lunch, Free Period, Potions
Tuesday, Thursday: History of Magic, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Flying, Lunch, Free Period, Astronomy
She was excited that she would get to have Potions today and she would have it three times a week as well.
Daphne and Katrina finished breakfast before making their way towards their first class; Transfiguration. Katrina found that she liked the class. She could tell that it would be somewhat difficult, but she was excited to be able to learn how to change an object into something else or an animal into an object.
Charms was taught by Professer Flitwick, a tiny wizard who was also the Head of Ravenclaw. It seemed like it would be a fun class and they didn't take many notes on the subject, rather they did more hands on practice.
Herbology was going to be interesting judging by all the plants they would be dealing with. Professor Sprout the Head of Hufflepuff taught the class. Katrina wasn't sure how she was going to feel about the class yet. But one thing was certain they were going to be dirty most of the time and she was glad that lunch and free period followed Herbology. At least she would be able to change and clean up before class.
Finally it was time for Potions and Katrina could barely contain her excitement.
"Are you excited to see your father?" Daphne asked, as they hurried along the corridors.
"No. No. I mean yes, it'll be nice to see him. But I've always been intrigued by Potions and I've watched my dad brew for years and I've learned some. But now…Now I'll really get to learn and get to brew myself!"
Daphne laughed.
They walked into the classroom and found that quite a few seats were already taken and not a single table on the Slytherin side had two open stools.
"No. I'm not sitting there." Katrina said as she saw that one open table was where Pansy was.
"I'll sit with her."
Daphne went towards the table. It looked like she was stuck sitting with Blaise. But as she went towards the table, Goyle sat down on the open stool.
She looked over and found that now Draco Malfoy's table had the only other spot. Had he forced Goyle to move?
"Kat," he greeted as she took a seat.
She sighed. "Malfoy,"
"I hope you're smart. I told Goyle to move once I saw you walk in. I don't quite fancy a bad grade. I like to think I'm quite skilled in Potions."
"You've brewed before?"
"No, but I've done my research growing up. Mother wanted me to be well educated."
She hummed.
"Are you good at Potions? Professor Snape is your father after all."
"You won't get an easy grade if that's what you're hoping for by making Goyle move."
"You aren't smart?"
Any further conversation was stopped as her father entered the classroom, his robes billowing around him. He wrote on the chalkboard with his messy handwriting and then grabbed the class roster and began reading.
"Brown, Lavender."
A Gryffindor squeaked out a "here" and the list continued on.
"Malfoy, Draco."
"Here, Sir."
He paused for a moment and he looked at the paper with a snarl. "Ah. Yes. Harry Potter….Our new celebrity."
"Here,"
Her father and Potter locked eyes for a moment before continuing with the class roll.
"Snape, Katrina."
"Here, Professor."
Once the roster was finished he set the parchment down. He spun and faced the classroom. This was it. Katrina was finally going to see her father in his element and see how he was as a Professor.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses…I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death…if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." he said.
His eyes scanned the classroom and his eyes lowered.
"Potter!" he barked, causing quite a few Gryffindors to jump.
Katrina along with many of the other Slytherins turned to see what was going to happen. Potter had been writing something down instead of listening it seemed. He was very close to Potter and Weasley's desk.
"Tell me, Potter. What will I get if I add Powdered Root of Asphodel to an infusion of Wormwood?"
Granger's hand shot up as Potter looked terrified.
"I don't know, Sir." Potter said.
"Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
"I don't know, Sir." Potter replied.
"What's the difference between Monkshood and Wolfbane?"
"I don't know, Sir." he replied, this time sounding annoyed. "Hermione seems to know the answer though."
"Clearly fame isn't everything."
Granger's hand still remained in the air, waiting to be called on since she knew the answer. But he didn't acknowledge her hand and instead when he spoke he called on Katrina.
"Miss Snape, would you please enlighten the class of the correct answers?"
"When adding Powdered Root of Asphodel to an infusion of Wormwood you get a powerful sleeping potion known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar, which saves someone from poison, can be found in a goat's stomach. The difference between Monkshood and Wolfbane doesn't exist, although it's more commonly known as Aconite." Katrina class="Apple-converted-space"
"Well done. Ten points to Slytherin. Potter, you'd do well to actually pay attention in the class."
"Ten points because she's his daughter and in his House. That's the only reason she was called on." Katrina heard Weasley say.
But Professor Snape had heard the comment as well.
"Weasley, you'd do well to not make comments like that. I did not chose her to answer the question because of the relation she has with me. I chose her because I know that she's knowledgeable of the subject matter. Ten points from Gryffindor. It'd be wise to mind your tongue next time."
"So she's smart. We're going to make an excellent pair, Kat." Draco said, quiet enough to where her father wouldn't hear.
"Let's see if he's as smart as he says he is." Katrina muttered back, casting a smirk at him.
"Today, you will be brewing a simple potion to cure boils…"
Katrina found that Draco's words were true and it wasn't just all talk. He was quite knowledgeable in Potions and they were working well together. Their potion had just taken to turning the right shade when they heard yelps and groaning that followed a crash.
Turning to see Neville Longbottom with boils on his body, a melted cauldron, and everyone jumping onto their stools as the potion swept along the floor.
"Idiot boy!" Professor Snape cried.
With a quick wave of his wand, the potion and the melted cauldron vanished.
"Take him to the Hospital Wing. Now!"
Another Gryffindor hurried to get him up and the two left the classroom.
By the end of class, Katrina and Draco were the ones who had the best potion, which made Granger annoyed.
Hope you liked the latest chapter! Please R&R!