Half an hour and seven conversations with different portraits later, Jas finally found the Great Hall. She suspected she would never be able to find the Gryffindor common room again, but that was of little matter at that point. She made it into the Great Hall only to discover that all of the tables were empty.
"Great," Jas muttered. She had no idea where her first class was; in fact, she didn't even know which class she had first. She assumed schedules had been handed out over breakfast. Jas growled lightly. What should she do? She supposed she could just wait until lunch started and find a professor then. Of course, by then she would have missed half of her classes. Jas frowned to herself, biting her lip.
She could try to find SF and ask him for help, but that thought was entirely unpleasant. He had her wand, though- when had he been planning on giving that to her? While she stood in the Great Hall, trying to decide what to do, a voice barked from behind her.
"Ha! Wandering around during class, are you? We'll see about this!"
Jas whirled around to see a haggard-looking man with long hair that was thinning on top and a stooped back. He was currently smiling unpleasantly at her, exposing his yellow, crooked teeth. "Um- excuse me- I'm lost-" Jas began.
The man narrowed his eyes at her. "Lost, eh? Why aren't you with the rest of the first-years? The prefects have been helping them."
"I'm not a first-year," Jas explained impatiently to the man, "I'm a transfer student."
The man guffawed loudly. "A transfer student? Hogwarts hasn't had one for years. You can come with me, girl, and we'll see about lying to school officials-"
"I'm not lying!" Jas exclaimed angrily. "You can ask Professor Snape! It's true! And I need to get to class, so if you could just-"
"Professor Snape, you say?" the man suddenly asked, his smile growing. "I'll take you to him, no problem. Snape doesn't hold with you students' misbehavior- yes, let's go ask Snape about you, the transfer student."
Jas rolled her eyes. "You're an idiot," she said flatly.
"Disrespect as well! Come along, miss, we will see about this!" the man roared, grabbing Jas' arm and yanking her along with him.
The man, who was surprisingly strong given his hunched appearance, dragged her through the dungeon corridors. Jas had to resist the temptation to give him a few swift kicks so she could escape and get to class.
She was sure SF would frown upon her attacking a faculty member. Though she couldn't see why Dumbledore would ever hire anyone like this man- he was terribly unpleasant.
For that matter, she couldn't see why he'd hire SF, but then, SF and Dumbledore seemed familiar with one another.
Her captor stopped outside of a door in the dungeons and knocked sharply on it. Jas frowned. This was not SF's office, it was further in the dungeons.
The door swung open a crack to reveal SF, looking annoyed. "Argus, what is it-" he stopped abruptly when he noticed Jas.
SF exhaled slowly, looking even more annoyed. He turned his back on Jas and the man he'd called Argus. "Stop brewing. I will be back momentarily. If anyone so much as touches their potions while I am gone, I will make sure that person is on the train back to King's Cross tomorrow morning."
Jas blinked, realizing he must be teaching. He was Potions Master? She hadn't known. SF strode out of the classroom, closing the door behind him.
"What is it?" he snapped at the stooped man.
"This girl here says she's a transfer student, sir," the man began eagerly, his voice oily.
"She is," SF said coldly, glaring at the other man. "Is that why you interrupted my class, Argus?"
Jas enjoyed the look of surprise on the man's face, but only briefly. "No- she was wandering around the castle during classes-"
SF rounded on Jas. "You didn't go to class?" he demanded, his lips forming a tight line. "Why?"
"It was an accident!" Jas explained hastily. SF seemed to be in a very bad mood. "I didn't have an alarm clock and I overslept. Then I couldn't find the Great Hall- I asked directions from portraits, but it still took ages- then when I got to the Great Hall, everyone was gone and I don't know my class schedule. Then Argus over there," Jas shot him a contemptuous look, "dragged me off to you because he thought I was lying about being a transfer student."
"You may call him Mr. Filch, Jasmin, and nothing else," SF snapped, "One point from Gryffindor. I will-"
"She insulted me too, Professor. Terribly cheeky, that one," Filch said plaintively, glaring at Jas. "She could use with a good stringing up by the ankles," he added smiling toothily.
Jas glared at him. What a git.
"Insulted you?" SF repeated, putting one of his fingers to his temple.
"Yes, she called me an 'idiot,' the cheeky little-"
"Enough. You can serve detention with Mr. Filch for your cheek, Jasmin. Now-"
"What?" Jas exclaimed. "He was rude to me first! And he-"
"Silence!" SF snarled, his dark eyes glinting malevolently. "You would do well to remember to respect authority figures. Now, Mr. Filch, I trust you will watch my classroom while I am gone- just make sure the dunderheads don't touch anything."
"Of course, sir," Filch said, smiling evilly at Jas. She scowled blackly at him. What a slimy git. SF was too. How could he give her detention; he didn't even know what had happened!
"Come," SF snapped, striding away down the corridor. Jas hurried after him. "Sn- er, Professor Snape, why did you give me detention? That git- Mr. Filch- was being stupid!" Jas exclaimed, annoyed with SF.
SF didn't slow down. "It doesn't matter how you, a mere child, perceives a staff member's behavior- you will respect their authority. If you believe them to be out of line, you may issue a complaint with your Head of House."
"But-"
"There is nothing to discuss!" SF snapped. "You are a child and you will obey and respect the adults around you! If you insist on rebelling, then you will find yourself in a very unpleasant situation indeed."
Jas stopped hurrying after him, her temper flaring. "Sor-ry," she said sarcastically, "But while my father was out gallivanting around England, I was busy learning that adults are never trustworthy. So you'll have to excuse me, sir, if I find it difficult to just accept orders like a bloody idiot!" Her voice rose steadily until she was very nearly shouting after him.
SF whirled around and stormed down the corridor towards her. Jas forgot the bravery she had possessed moments earlier at the sight of his furious expression. She unconsciously backed away from him until her back hit the stone wall behind her. SF stood inches from her, his lips drawn into a snarl, and he raised his hand-
Instinct took over and Jas flinched and dodged around him, feeling panicked. In her haste to escape him, she tripped over a suit of armor's protruding metal boot. She spun around on her back hastily backing away from SF, who was pursuing her.
SF abruptly stopped. Jas stopped backing away, her panic slowly ebbing away to be replaced with embarrassment. Why had she run away from him? He wasn't going to hurt her. Was he? Jas frowned, chewing her bottom lip nervously. She didn't know much about him. Then she shook herself. SF might be a lot of things, but he certainly wasn't stupid. If he was going to be violent, he wouldn't do it in a corridor of the school he taught at.
"Jasmin," SF said very calmly and slowly, as if speaking to a frightened animal, "I am not going to hurt you."
"I know," Jas mumbled, feeling her face flush. Realizing she looked ridiculous sprawled out in the corridor, she scrambled to her feet.
"Are you hurt?" SF inquired, in the same calm, level voice.
Jas shook her head, avoiding his gaze.
SF eyed her narrowly for a few moments, then slowly stepped towards her. "We're going to McGonagall's class so we can fetch your schedule from her. Then I will accompany you to whatever class you should be having at that time. Okay?"
Jas nodded mutely. She felt twitchy. No matter what SF's intentions had been, their encounter had brought back bad memories. She wished she had her wand. She sighed and hugged herself, feeling rather forlorn. The rest of their trip was spent in silence, with Jas trying to remember the series of corridors and staircases they took. Finally, they came to stop outside a door. SF entered and Jas stood awkwardly outside.
Moments later, McGonagall emerged, looking puzzled. Her expression turned into a scowl at the sight of Jas. "I had half the castle looking for you, young lady, when you didn't come to get your schedule-"
"Minerva," SF interrupted, "I would like to talk to you in your office, please."
McGonagall stared at him, looking positively baffled. "Of course, Severus," the professor said uncertainly. "I have seventh years right now. They should be fine for a few minutes. Just give me a moment." The dark-haired woman slipped back into the classroom, reemerging shortly afterwards.
The three walked towards McGonagall's office in silence. Jas wondered vaguely why SF didn't want McGonagall to say anything in front of her. Was she in trouble already? Most likely, she decided, since she'd already probably missed the entirety of her first class. And then there was SF. She was definitely in trouble with him. And Filch, for that matter. Gloom settled over Jas like a dark cloud. Her very first day and she'd managed to get into all sorts of trouble. Why hadn't she remembered an alarm clock? No wonder the Sorting hat hadn't put her in Ravenclaw. She was a prat.
"Wait out here," SF ordered Jas when they came to the door that she assumed led to McGonagall's office. She noticed he was still using the same level tone he'd been using, as if he was afraid she would bolt if he became angry again.
She just nodded, resisting the urge to tell him she wasn't afraid of him. If she was honest with herself, she wasn't even entirely sure that was true.
After a few minutes, SF and McGonagall emerged from McGonagall's office. To her annoyance, both were expressionless. "Come," SF ordered in the same level tone Jas was growing to despise very quickly.
She trailed after SF while McGonagall nodded at them both and proceeded to return to her class. Jas wondered what they had talked about. It was almost certainly about her, wasn't it?
"Your first class was Charms with Flitwick. There's about fifteen minutes left of the class, so I will take you there. Your next class, Transfiguration, will be in the classroom we just departed from. If you get lost, you should be able to ask a prefect or another Gryffindor for help. Don't ask a Slytherin if you can help it," SF informed her in his now standard, detached voice.
"Why shouldn't I ask a Slytherin?" Jas asked, puzzled.
"Slytherins and Gryffindors are house rivals; thus, it would be rather unlikely any help from them would be sincere."
Jas frowned. She was not entirely certain it made sense to make enemies out of other houses when they were sorted into said houses by an old hat. "What house were you in?" she asked curiously.
"Slytherin."
Jas smiled faintly. "So we're rivals?"
"I suppose," SF answered indifferently.
Jas suppressed a sigh. She would very nearly prefer his anger to his cold indifference. "Isn't it a bit stupid to rival someone because of the house an old hat put them in?" Jas demanded, voicing her earlier thoughts.
SF glanced at her briefly. "That old hat happens to be an ancient and extremely powerful magical object. It has never sorted anyone incorrectly. Did you listen to its song this year? It looks for those qualities prized by the various houses and sorts them accordingly."
Jas scowled. "I got that much. So my redeeming quality is bravery? Isn't that a bit lame?"
SF smirked. "I've often thought as much about Gryffindors. However, there is more to it than that. Gryffindors are valued for their bravery and chivalry; Ravenclaws for their intelligence and love of learning; Hufflepuffs for their loyalty and hard-working nature; Slytherins for their cunning and ambition. Gryffindors are considered…. Noble," SF added, sneering slightly.
"I take it you don't think being noble is a good thing?" Jas asked.
SF huffed. "In my opinion, Gryffindors are arrogant, rash, brave to the point of stupidity, and willing to sacrifice their own well-being for vague ideals of nobility. In a word, they are incredibly stupid."
Jas scowled more deeply. The hat had more or less told her she was stupid. "I'm not like that," Jas complained.
SF snorted. "Apparently you do not know yourself very well." They came to a door which SF stopped outside. He turned to Jas and handed over her wand and class schedule. "I will tell Professor Flitwick to excuse your absence."
Jas nodded. He was excusing her absence? That was oddly- kind of him. Jas was distracted from such thoughts when she was handed her wand. The twelve inch, dragon heartstring, cherry wand warmed to her touch. Jas smiled for the first time that morning. She had definitely missed having her wand.
She followed him through the door, trying to ignore the stares of the other students. Jas sat down in the back of the class on a bench next to the blonde she recognized from the Gryffindor table last night.
SF strode to the front of the room, where a man who couldn't have exceeded three feet in height stood. SF bent over to talk to him- an amusing sight, since SF looked to be over six foot and thus had to double over himself- and they had a murmured conversation. Flitwick nodded and SF swept off.
Flitwick brought a toad over to the bench Jas was sitting at. "Hello, Miss Snape," the short man greeted her jovially. Jas managed to flinch only slightly at her new surname. "We're using the end of the class to practice the Silencing Charm." Flitwick proceeded to demonstrate the correct incantation and wand work necessary to cast the charm. The professor was so intent upon teaching her, Jas refrained from telling him that she was already perfectly aware of how to cast the charm. A review wouldn't hurt, she supposed.
Flitwick finished his lecture and stood, watching her expectantly. Realizing she was expected to demonstrate, she flicked her wand at her toad and said evenly, "Silencio."
Her toad opened her mouth to give an almighty, but silent, croak. Flitwick looked positively besides himself. "Bravo! Miss Snape got it on her first try! Five points to Gryffindor. Excellent, Miss Snape, excellent."
Jas smiled faintly at the man as he wandered off to help a student who was having trouble. Jas cancelled the charm, then recast it, assuming they were supposed to practice, even if practicing the charm seemed a bit pointless in her case.
The blonde next to her, who was also performing the charm with ease, casually remarked, "I take it they already taught you that at Beauxbatons?"
"Yeah, you could say that," Jas said vaguely. Actually, they hadn't, she'd just read about it and learned it. It was a useful charm to know.
The blonde gave her a narrow look, but eventually turned back to her toad. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Camilla Westwood, but everyone calls me Millie."
"Jasmin… Snape, but I go by Jas," she answered dutifully, grimacing over her surname.
"Why were you so late to class?" Millie asked, glancing at her curiously.
"Because this castle is a bloody maze, that's why," Jas grumbled.
Millie laughed. "Yeah, I guess it would be hard for you to find your way around. You should've stuck with the first-years," the blonde said innocently.
Jas glared at her. "When hell freezes over," she retorted. "Besides, I overslept as well. Then Filch found me and dragged me off to the dungeons."
"You overslept?" Millie inquired curiously. "Didn't anyone wake you up? I know Hermione and I always leave early, but I would've thought Lavender or Parvati would've woken you."
Jas shrugged. The thought hadn't occurred to her. "I dunno," she replied, "Maybe they left early too. It would be my luck. Though I can't believe I forgot to get an alarm clock. No wonder that stupid hat put me in Gryffindor," she complained again.
Millie laughed. "You didn't want to be in Gryffindor?" she asked, somewhat disbelievingly.
Jas frowned. "Why would I? All we're known for is bravery. And everyone thinks we're stupid."
The girl laughed again. "Where would you have gone instead?" she asked curiously.
"Ravenclaw. Maybe even Slytherin," Jas answered thoughtfully.
Millie shook her head. "No! Not Slytherin. A ton of dark wizards have come out of Slytherin," she said warily.
Jas shrugged. "Well, one of their qualities is ambition, so that's not so surprising, is it?"
"It's more than that," Mille struggled to explain, "Not all Slytherins are bad, I agree. It's just they can be an unpleasant lot. Gryffindors might be a bit reckless, but I think we're generally good people."
"Hm," Jas said, not entirely convinced.
"Why did Snape bring you to class? You are related to him, aren't you?" Milled said accusingly.
Jas scowled. "I don't want to talk about it," she muttered.
Millie smirked. "You are so related to him," she said primly. "When you get annoyed, you look exactly alike."
"Don't say that!" Jas said, horrified.
Millie grinned. "It's true, you know. Though you don't have his nose and you've got a darker complexion- you look a lot alike," she said. "And it's no use trying to keep secrets around here- eventually, everyone will know everything about you."
Jas considered this. "I doubt that," she retorted.
"Eight inches on the origin and practical applications of the Silencing Charm," Profesor Flitwick announced. "Class dismissed. Have a good day, everyone!"
Jas smiled in spite of herself. "He's a cheerful one, isn't he?"
Millie nodded. "Always," she replied, "But I like him better than Snape, he's completely foul to Gryffindors…" her voice trailed off. "Though I'm sure he has his reasons," she added quickly.
It was Jas' turn to laugh at Millie's unconvincing performance. "It's all right. I'm sure he's a real charmer," Jas said, privately wondering about this vendetta SF apparently had against Gryffindors. Of course, Millie seemed to hold a similar opinion of Slytherins. Jas wondered if she would ever comprehend this odd house rivalry.
Jas followed Millie to Transfiguration, grateful to have someone to follow around the huge castle. "You know," Jas remarked as they wound their way through several narrow corridors- apparently Millie was taking a shortcut- "What I need is a map."
"A map?" Millie repeated dubiously. "I don't think that'd work out very well. Hogwarts tends to move around."
"I've noticed," Jas replied dryly, as the staircase they were on changed directions.
Transfiguration turned out to be more interesting than Charms. McGonagall taught the third-years how to transfigure a mouse into a tea cup, informing them that transfiguring inanimate objects into living objects was far more difficult and a skill they would not learn until their sixth year. Jas was the first Gryffindor to complete the transfiguration, beating even Hermione Granger, something Millie informed her was quite an accomplishment.
Next was their lunch period, something Jas was grateful for, since she had not eaten breakfast. Jas followed Millie down to the Great Hall, remarking that she might actually be getting used to where the Great Hall was, at any rate.
Here, Millie had smiled slyly. "Well, this route only works on Mondays and Wednesdays of odd-numbered years."
Jas stared at her in disbelief. "There is," she declared, "Something wrong with this castle."
"Jasmin Snape, I'm so pleased to make your acquaintance," a voice sneered from behind her.
Jas whirled around, her hand automatically hovering over her wand. She saw a boy with hair so blonde it was almost white, a pale complexion, watery blue eyes, and a pointy nose standing in the corridor, his arms crossed and wearing a faintly condescending sneer. Two thickset boys with short brown hair stood behind him, wearing rather vacant expressions.
"I'm afraid I don't know you," Jas drawled back at the boy. He narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.
"Malfoy, why are you bothering us?" Millie snapped, looking annoyed.
The boy called Malfoy glared at Millie, an unpleasant smile playing on his lips. "That's no way to talk to your superiors, Westwood. Mind your manners." He turned his attention back to Jas. "Pity you mix with all this Gryffindor riffraff. I'm sure your father is so displeased that you didn't even manage to get sorted into Slytherin," Malfoy sneered. Jas had to carefully suppress her surprise- how had he known who her father was? Or was he fishing for information?
"I shan't be rude though- I'm Draco Malfoy and these are my friends Crabbe and Goyle."
Jas glared at Malfoy. "You obviously know who I am," she snapped, "So was there something you wanted?" She fingered her wand, longing to hex this arrogant boy's smirk off his face.
Malfoy raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't think your father would be pleased with your rudeness, you know," he commented slowly, "So you might want to watch who you're rude to."
"Why does he keep talking about your father?" Millie hissed, her hand in her robes. Jas was certain she had her hand on her wand.
"Nothing," Jas muttered, hoping Malfoy hadn't heard her question.
"Oh, no, don't tell me you haven't told your little Gryffindor friends?" Malfoy asked, delight evident in his voice. By now, a few students had stopped what they were doing to watch the exchange with interest. Jas groaned inwardly. Who in the hell was this little snob?
Malfoy turned to the watching students. "What? Is it true no one knows who her father is? Of course, the Slytherins do, but we usually know what's going on, don't we?"
"Westwood, I'm afraid your new little friend's father is my Head of House- Professor Snape," Malfoy said smugly, making sure to project his voice so it carried. More than a few students watching gasped and turned to stare at Jas.
Millie spun to face Jas. "What?" she demanded, "Why didn't you say so?"
Jas felt her face heating up. "I- I- it's just-" she stuttered. She couldn't very well say she'd just found out he was her father the day before yesterday, could she? That would lead to a vast amount of questions she didn't want to answer.
"Well, I daresay this is just such a recent development that Jasmin hasn't had time to adjust," Malfoy said, his eyes glinting.
Jas spun on him. How much did the foul little git know? "Shut up," she snarled, whipping her wand out without even thinking about it.
Malfoy had his wand out in a flash. "Why?" he sneered, "You don't want everyone to know that you were nothing more than a little beggar just two days-"
"Stupefy!" Jas bellowed, her fury finally taking over. A jet of red light streaked towards Malfoy and he only narrowly dodged it. Crabbe wasn't so quick, and the red light hit him in the chest, promptly causing him to crumple to the ground. The surrounding students gasped.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Malfoy shouted back.
Jas easily blocked the curse and yelled, "Tantellagra!" Malfoy blocked the curse with a flick of his wand.
"Serpensortia!" Malfoy yelled. Jas, unfamiliar with the spell, dodged away from where the spell should have hit.
Instead of a jet of light, a large, black, angry snake erupted from the end of Malfoy's wand and landed a few feet from Jas. It rose up several feet in the air, hissing angrily. Several people screamed and Jas was momentarily struck dumb before she quickly gathered her wits, raised her wand, and yelled, "Stup-"
But she had been to slow. The snake reacted to Jas' sudden movement and struck Jas' wrist that was holding her wand. Jas screamed and blood spurted out from around the snake's jaws locked around her wrist. She dropped her wand and fell to her knees, trying to rip the snake off her to no avail.
Jas grabbed her wand with her left hand and awkwardly cast a Stunning spell on the snake, only to have it bounce off.
"Get it off me!" she yelled, looking up at Malfoy.
"Finite Incantum!" he shouted. Nothing happened to the snake. The boy looked slightly green and had a panicked expression on his face.
"You cast a spell you can't cancel?" she screamed, "YOU IDIOT!"
Jas was beginning to feel light-headed. She was sliding around in a huge pool of her own blood and she had lost track of her wand. Her panicked brain could come up with no solutions. She wavered slightly and fell to the ground. Jas could feel her own warm blood soaking the back of her robes. She was vaguely aware of the surrounding students trying to spell the snake off her, and then trying to rip it off her forcefully. Jas moaned, closing her eyes against the pain as she felt the snake's jaws tighten around her wrist, with the telltale sound of snapping bones.