September 12th, 1971

There was a boy across the room doing something curious to another person's shoes, and it seemed to Aurora as though he knew what he was doing was wrong. The Slytherin common rooms were cooler than the rest of the castle, even in September, and the eleven year old girl had seen fit to excuse herself early from dinner in the Great Hall and retreat to a place by the fire in the dungeons. She had curled into a ball in a great arm chair, buried herself in blankets and stuck her nose into her copy of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them'. Dragon lore was being catalogued in her mind when there was a slight shuffling noise from across the room, and the girl poked her head up to see what was amiss. That was when she saw him; a boy her own age, kneeling by shoes and struggling to get something into them. He had shoes on his own two feet, she realized, she it wasn't as though he could've been tampering with his own. Briefly she attempted to remember his name. He had been sorted with her, of that much she was certain, but since then she had seen nor heard little from him. Most of her other housemates, male and female, were slightly boastful. From proud families like her own, they often thought themselves better than others. Aurora had stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the girls of her house, but this boy had managed to blend into the background.

He grunted once, and her eyes widened. He must not have known she was there, she decided, or else he wouldn't be misbehaving as he was. Before she could stop herself, she reprimanded him, "Whatever you're doing isn't very nice, is it?" Her words made the both of them jump, the boy spun around, wide-eyed and angry looking. He was clutching a wriggling fish in his hand. "That's gross," Aurora set her book to the side and tilted her head, a look of disgust written on her face, "Why are you doing that?"

"S'none of your business!" He shouted back, surprised by the force with which he said it to her. He found it odd that she seemed almost hurt, so he did the only thing he could think of, "Who the bloody hell are you anyway?" Aggression never hurt, he thought, especially in getting annoying girls to go away. It occurred to him, though, that this girl hadn't treated him the other Slytherin girls had. In fact he didn't think she'd ever said two words to him before, unlike that Carrow girl that kept telling him if she broke his nose it would look better on his face.

"You shouldn't talk like that to a girl," Aurora returned, her brow creasing, "I'm Aurora Sinistra." In one great sweep of a movement she threw off her blanket and strode across the room, putting out all of the confidence she had in her, and extending her hand to him. Even at eleven he was half a head taller than she was. Nervously, the boy wiped a slimy, fish covered hand on his pants and took hers.

"Snape. Severus Snape."

"Whose shoes are those, Severus?" He studied her carefully as she peered around him at the boys shoes on the floor, apparently done being so accusatory for the moment.

"Evan Rosier's," his voice was quiet now, as though he had just been caught by a teacher.

"What did he do to you?"

"Pushed me in a mud puddle and called me a greasy git."

"Well your hair is a little greasy isn't it?"

"No!" Severus' eyes grew wide and he stepped away from the girl, hanging onto the near dead fish for dear life, "I wash it all the time, for your information! It just always turns out this way!"

Aurora simply shrugged, "Then I guess that's not your fault and he shouldn't tease you about it."

"Right."

For a few minutes the pair just stood there and looked at one another. The young girl wrapped her arms around to her back and clutched one wrist in her other hand. Silence filled the room, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Not for either of them.

Oddly, it was Aurora finding herself willing to break the silence. There was something about this boy that seemed different than anyone else she had ever met. For the first time since the death of her sister, she felt herself willing to connect to another person. To this boy with greasy hair and a fish in his hands, "We should find some water for that fish. You can study with me after, if you like?"

Severus was stunned. No one had ever offered to help him with much of anything before, and no one had ever offered to study with him. For a moment he suspected she might be playing him, but then he nodded, "Yeah, okay."

Neither of them could have known what had just begun, but somehow they both knew that for at least some small part of them, things would be different. From then on.