Chapter Three: Hogwarts Year One
"Lestrange, Calligenia." Professor McGonagall called.
Calli walked through the whispering clumps of First Years toward the rickety chair old stool holding the worn hat. She ignored the whispering that spread through the Great Hall at the mention of her name, ignored the curious looks shot her way. Let them think what they will, she thought as she sat down on the stool and placed the hat over her head.
"Hmmm," the hat murmured in her ear. "Interesting, very interesting." Calli couldn't hold back a scowl. Olivander, the wandmaker, had said the same thing while fitting her with a wand. As though yew wands with a dragon heartstring core were so rare. If one more person, or thing she considered the hat, called her interesting, she just might be forced to curse them into next week. "I hadn't believed I'd ever see a child from your parents. Far too ambitious with their," it paused, considering options, "causes. You should be easy to place. Both parents in Slytherin, but what is this? There's a cleverness here that Ravenclaw would appreciate. No, not Ravenclaw. I hardly think that Hufflepuff would understand your," again it paused as though considering possibilities, "abilities. Hmmm..." Calli wished the hat would just bellow out 'Slytherin' and be done with it. All this conjecture really wasn't necessary. "Perhaps Gryfindor," the thought froze Calli. Surely not, she thought. "You're far braver than anyone near you would imagine, hiding what you believe as you do." She started thinking it MUST choose Slytherin. There could be no noble Gryfindors in her family. Not while she played Bellatrix's perfect daughter. Not while she was tethered to the Malfoys. "See there it is, bravery, but you refuse Gryfindor? Must be...SLYTHERIN."
Calli smirked. So you could bend it to give you what you want. She lifted the hat and made her way to polite clapping from the Slytherin table. Already feared, she thought, already respected. She sat down at the first open place, clearly making the girl next to her uncomfortable and glanced up at the teacher's table above. She could tell immediately who her head of house was, with all those buttons and yards of black. Her smirk remained as she noticed him staring into her dark eyes with his own before tearing his eyes away as though burned.
Severus Snape watched as the young Lestrange girl made her way to the stool. She held her head high, disregarding the whispers and looks she was getting from students and teachers alike. There was a haughty, almost regale look on her face as she sat primly on the stool and pulled the hat onto her head. He watched, certain the hat would barely touch her head before shouting "SLYTHERIN", but it took rather longer than expected before the shout was heard. So she wasn't merely a copy of Bellatrix, he thought, knowing if the hat got within a foot of Bella it would be screaming his house's name.
She was pretty, he thought, watching her rise from the stool and walk to the Slytherin table. Her long, dark hair hung in a braid down her back. Her dark eyes where practically hidden by the heavy lids, so very like her mother's. She wasn't a large girl, rather petite and tiny, actually. Her skin was pale, as though she feared the sun and preferred the dark. She'll love the dungeon rooms of Slytherin, he thought. He caught himself staring into those heavy lidded dark eyes, falling into their depths, then starting as though stunned. Usually he'd been able to perform simple Legilimency on the First Years with ease. Not so with this child, he'd seen nothing in her dark eyes. Nothing whatsoever, no fear, no wonder, no excitement. It was though she were an empty vessel. Internally he shuddered. Bloody hell, could she be worse than Bellatrix?
The first week of her first year at Hogwarts proved that Calli wasn't like the other children. She kept to herself, preferring her own company to that of the vapid girls in her dorm. She could still hear the whispers, still feel the looks as she walked through the castle and during classes. She kept her temper, kept her head held high. Regardless of what the others thought, regardless of what they assumed to be true of her due to her parentage, she wouldn't let them see a reaction from her. Let them have their petty gossiping.
Her classes, that's where the rumors really grew. During Charms, while practicing Wingardium Leviosa, she'd drawn attention to herself. Not only by performing the charm before any of her classmates, but because she did it without speaking. Professor Flitwich fell from his stack of books and the glass buzzed with this new knowledge. To counteract the damage, she'd picked up her wand and said loudly and clearly the incantation, causing her feather to blow up by concentrating on wanting it in flames. The professor and students stopped looking at her as though she'd been born with three heads, considering the first nonverbal attempt a fluke, and the second verbal one more in tune with the abilities of a First Year.
Potions, with her Head of House, was the most calming class she had. For once, being able to use nonverbal and wandless magic worked to her advantage. Professor Snape paid little mind to the fact that her herbs were chopped alarmingly fast or that her fire seemed perfect level every time. She wasn't perfect, however, merely using her power to her advantage. She was better than Harry Potter, she noticed, and the Longbottom chap. Definitely better than Longbottom, she thought, as Professor Snape broke into a diatribe about how large of a dunderhead the boy was.
She knew, without having to listen to the murmured conversations about her, that her presence didn't help Neville's confidence. He equated her with her parents, and considering what her parents did to his own, she could understand how difficult her being near him would be. Harry Potter, and the two that were always with him, steered clear of her as well. They acted as though she were tainted, but she expected that. Realistically, she was the daughter of convicted criminals. Criminals who tortured people into madness. She thought her uncle must be mad to think that anyone would go out of their way to befriend her. Well, anyone not in Slytherin, anyone not interested in using a connection to her to their advantage.
Sighing she bent back to the potion she was working on and vowed to keep her head up and her mind on the task at hand. She would work hard. She would finish school. She would prove them all wrong.