So here we have Chapter two.
The grounds of Hogwarts were silent. The night was dark and the stars reflected in the shimmering surface of the Black Lake. The giant squid lifted a shadowed tentacle from the water, creating ripples, before dropping back below the blackened depths once more. Small lights were emitted from the school windows, most of them coming from within a tower jutting off slightly from the rest of the castle. A small wind ruffled the leaves on the Whomping Willow and the tree gave an involuntary shudder, dropping some of the leaves from its branches. It seemed that everything at Hogwarts was resting, the animals buried sleepily in the bracken or high up in the trees. The students were curled up in their beds, small snores escaping their tired bodies, but one person was not in bed.
A small pop emitted from the edge of the Hogwarts grounds. The shadows hid the girls face, her silvery blonde hair dropping over her face like a veil. Her clothes, although relatively new, were burnt and charred, soot stains trailed up her left sleeve and across her delicately stitched jumper. The girl paused a moment, drinking in the castle and grounds before moving forwards swiftly, her boots making dull crunches on the path in front of her. The girl carried no luggage, nothing to show her intent on staying at Hogwarts. After all she couldn't go back to her previous school, they wouldn't accept her back after what she did. She moved quickly, not hesitating until she reached the great oak doors that cut her away from Hogwarts. She glanced up, then pushed on the door. It wouldn't budge. She whispered a curse, shattering the silence and produced her wand from up her sleeve. She pointed the oak wand at the great doors and muttered a quiet incantation. The doors opened silently letting her eyes grace the inside of Hogwarts for the first time. The entrance hall was the largest she had ever seen. Four enormous hour glasses stood at the top of the entrance hall, each filled with a different jewel for the respected house. The blazing torches, hung on the wall by brackets, caused the emeralds in the closest hour glass to throw glimmers across the floor. The girl stepped in and the doors closed silently behind her. She had come to see someone, however, she didn't know where this someone would be. She could end up wandering the castle aimlessly all night and from her travels her legs were already threatening to give out on her. Still, she pressed on. She wandered up the stairs, not expecting them to jolt and move causing her to be thrown backwards a few steps. She landed on her backside, cursing she stood up and griped onto the marble barrier to keep herself from falling again. She glanced at the pictures that lined every inch of the castle walls, they were all snoozing in their frames, dull snores filling the otherwise silent staircase. Never had she seen so many portraits, at her old school she only ever saw a few and they were in her headmistress's office. She resumed climbing once the staircase had come to a halt, her legs took her right to the top of the staircase. She stopped abruptly when she realised she could go no further. Instead of another staircase, she found herself in front of a very large gold framed portrait of a rather large woman wearing pink. She was lazily snoozing in her frame. The girl sighed and this seemed to arouse the Fat Lady.
"Password." The woman said. "Honestly, do you have any idea what time it is. You couldn't have arrived with the rest of the Gryffindors, could you? There's always one, always one. What were you doing this time? Sneaking off to the kitchens I suspect, just like those silly W-"
"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to disturb you." Said the girl in a quiet whisper. She looked down at the floor and she shuffled on the spot uneasily. All she wanted to do was sleep, she couldn't take anything else today. The Fat Lady's gaze softened as she surveyed the strange girl. Come to think of it, the Fat Lady had never seen this girl before, she looked at the soot marks on the girl and her brows furrowed.
"It's quite alright, dear. Might I enquire, what happened to you?" The girl looked up. Nobody had ever been so kind as to ask what had happened. Normally people would just shout at her or ignore her completely.
"You wouldn't understand." She said. "Do you know where I can find Professor Snape?"
"You won't find him up here, dear. He'll be down in the dungeons." The girl nodded, tears springing to her eyes. She wasn't sure why, she guessed that it was because of the day. She slid down onto the floor, tears pouring from her eyes as she sobbed. The Fat Lady's heart wrenched as she saw the poor girl cry. The people in the frames next to the Fat Lady began to stir at the girls sobs. They weren't loud sobs but in the silence of the castle they seemed magnified.
"What's the problem?" One said angrily.
"Yeah, we're trying to sleep here." Said another.
"I-I-I'm sorry." The girl cried. She tried to stifle her sobs but her body wasn't having it. She hurt so much and she couldn't control the pain she felt throbbing through every single one of her joints. The Fat Lady glared harshly at the other portraits surrounding her.
"You should be ashamed." She said to them harshly. "Can't you see the poor girls had a bad day? One of you go and fetch Professor Dumbledore. Immediately." There was a groan as a wizard furthest from the Fat Lady removed himself from his portrait in search of the Headmaster. The girl sniffed and wiped her eyes on her already tarnished woollen jumper. The portraits began to chatter around her, she couldn't make out what they were saying most of the time, their words seemed to jumble together in her mind. She closed her eyes trying to concentrate on the burning pain in the back of her skull. It hadn't stopped hurting since the incident earlier that day. She brought her hands to her temple, not noticing the advancing footsteps towards her crumpled form. In fact she didn't notice the man in front of her until he laid a very bony hand on her shoulder causing her to jump.
"Sophie." He said. Sophie looked up, her eyes finding the beady ones of the old Professor. He smiled, his half-moon spectacles almost falling from his crooked nose as he did so.
"Hello, Professor." Sophie had seen Professor Dumbledore before. He and her Uncle were well acquainted, when she was young she had been accepted to Hogwarts but her Uncle had wished for her to be sent somewhere different. She had spent three years at Durmstrang, hating almost every minute of it and another two and a bit years at Beauxbattons, also hating it. At least she had managed to get through her third year at Durmstrang, she never even made it a month into her third year at Beauxbattons. Then again, that prissy school would make any persons skin crawl. Hogwarts was her last chance. She had nowhere else to go and she was not going to blow her last chance, not if she could help it, and most of the times she couldn't help it.
"You better come with me." He helped Sophie to her feet and the two of them walked silently down the corridors. They soon reached a statue of a golden eagle with its wings spread wide, as if it was welcoming them. "Lemon Drops" Said Dumbledore.
There was a great scraping sound as the bird moved aside revealing a stone winding staircase. The Professor ascended them first, Sophie following sluggishly behind. The Professors office was huge, a great cluttered desk stood in the middle of the room with a chair on each side. Professor Dumbledore took the one behind the desk gesturing for Sophie to sit in the other. Once seated the Professor placed his hands together on the desk, his spider like fingers linked together through thought. He wasted no time in getting exactly to the point.
"It happened again, didn't it?" He asked. The Professor was quite familiar with the happenings at Sophie's previous schools. He had always wanted her to come to Hogwarts, believing that it would be the best chance for her. Sophie's Uncle on the other hand was having none of it, believing Sophie would be alright at other schools. Oh, how wrong he was. Sophie looked ashamed, the word again cut through her. She blamed herself for what happened, in fact she blamed herself for everything. She blamed herself for her mom leaving, she blamed herself for the things she did and just knowing they could happen again pained her.
"Yes, Professor. It happened again." She sat in silence for a moment, her gaze anywhere but on the Professor. Dumbledore pushed his spectacles back up onto his nose, pondering what he could do. He thought that Sophie was marvellous, the powers that she possessed were absolutely splendid, well in his eyes they were anyway. Sophie hated her powers with every fibre of her being. Most people saw her powers a gift, but she never asked for the powers, she never asked for any of this. That's why she saw them as a burden.
There was a light rap on the door at that moment. Sophie sat still and didn't move, that is until a very greasy haired, hook nosed man entered the room.
"You summoned me, Headmaster." He said dryly, clearly not impressed that he had been awoke at this dreadful hour. Sophie turned, her eyes coming to rest upon the man who had yet to acknowledge her presence. Sophie stood then and rushed at the man, throwing her arms around him and sobbing into his robes. The man was shocked to say the least. He had never been hugged like this before, in fact he couldn't remember the last time he was hugged.
"Sophie." He said. The picture of shock was still reminiscent on his gaunt features.
"I'm so sorry, Uncle!" She wept. The man wrapped his arms around the girl, showing the one sign of affection that he had never brought himself to give anyone else. "I didn't mean to! I swear! I tried to make it stop!" He shushed her kindly stroking her hair mindlessly. He knew how badly the powers affected his niece, and he found himself feeling entirely responsible for it.
"Have you been taking your potions?" He asked. He removed her form from him and held her at arm's length, surveying her for any damage from her latest episode.
"They don't work anymore." She said, wiping tears from her face. He moved her back to the chair and sat her down again. Sophie was glad for this because her exhaustion was slowly creeping further and further into her system.
"What can we do?" He asked. Projecting his question at Dumbledore, he had been watching the exchange silently.
"We keep her here. Keep her calm, control her outbursts. It's the only thing we can do, Severus." The Professor said plainly. His eyes glanced over at Sophie who was in danger of falling asleep in her chair. Severus conjured a chair and sank down into it cupping his chin in his spindly, pale fingers.
"I tried to keep her safe." He murmured. He glanced over at his niece, her head had lolled onto her shoulder and soft snores were now coming into the room. Although Severus would never admit it, he truly loved Sophie, more so than any other living person. Ever since Narcissa had come to his door almost seventeen years ago he had felt a definite connection to this girl. The way she was unable to make friends because of who she was reminded him of his younger self who only really had one good friend in his life. "Albus, what can I do?"
The headmaster surveyed Severus for a moment. He was slightly aghast at Severus' ability to love another person. He had only ever seen Severus express true love for one person and this love carried on even though she was gone. Dumbledore never thought that he would ever see the day when Severus Snape would ever experience a father like love towards a child.
"She needs to get settled. Find some friends, find a way to calm her and maybe increase the potions. Maybe this would help her." Said Dumbledore, he untangled his fingers and plucked a quill from his table.
"What are you doing?" Asked Severus as Dumbledore began to jot down things on a piece of parchment. Dumbledore looked up at Sophie then back down at the parchment before circling a single word.
"Gryffindor qualities, don't you think?" He asked.
"Yes, yes. Wait. What?"
"Her house. She needs a home while she is here, Severus. I'm sure you don't want her sleeping in the Great Hall." Dumbledore chuckled at the preposterous thought. Severus looked slightly shocked. Every student that entered Hogwarts had been sorted by the Sorting Hat, so why was his niece any different.
"Wouldn't she be better in Slytherin?" Dumbledore chuckled again.
"Now, come, come, Severus. You and I both know that house wouldn't be good for her." He adjusted his spectacles again. Severus nodded. Of course Dumbledore was right, he was right about everything.
"But why Gryffindor?" Severus looked over at his niece, he would much rather her be in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff than Gryffindor. All of the people in that house were rule-braking, prank-pulling, know-it-all baboons. He didn't quite like the thought of his niece mixing with that lot.
"Let's just say I have a good feeling about this one." Dumbledore's eyes sparkled with a forgotten mischievousness. He smiled and rolled the parchment and with a pop it vanished. He clapped his bony hands together, but it still didn't wake the sleeping girl. "Right then, better get her off to bed. Classes start tomorrow."
I liked this chapter :3 But i guess its up to you guys to decide whether it is up to par ;)
Disclaimer: I am not J.K Rowling, therefor (UNFORTUNATELY) i do not own the Harry Potter series. (DARN)