{Chapter 3}
In the Middle
The Gryffindor table was cheering loudly at the announcement, but they were quickly drowned out by bellows of protest from the Slytherin table, who were obviously very displeased with the choice the Sorting Hat had made. The Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables clapped politely.
Trixi swallowed with difficulty as a hard lump formed in her throat. She looked at the teachers' table. Many of them were clapping politely too. Professor Dumbledore's right eye twitched into a tiniest bit of a wink. The giant of a man, Hagrid, his clapping was the loudest of all as his huge hands connected with each other. She didn't look at the rest of the teachers, though; she peered at her father weakly.
Weakly because she knew.
She knew he would be upset over this. Ever since she became a witch, all he did was talk about how she would be the best Slytherin he would ever know.
The lump reappeared in her throat. Professor Snape looked like he had just swallowed a dead fish that had been rotting in the hot Summer sun for two days. He was standing, frozen in place, and his mouth twisted at a funky angle. His ebony eyes glared down at her with utter disgust as they stared at each other for a few more moments. Trixi felt his heart thumping hard against his chest. His emotions ran between anger, disbelief, and shame.
Still planted on the stool, she tried swallowing the pesky lump again as bile threatened to invade her mouth from sudden sickness.
Then it hit her.
Why should she be the one feeling bad for him? He had lied to her. He'd spoken awful about Harry Potter. Her brother. Her mother's son. Lily Evans' son. The woman that Trixi knew her father thought about every day- every night before he went to sleep.
Angry tears welled up in her eyes as she hopped down from where she sat. The clapping and outbursts had died down, replaced by curiosity about her delay in reaction, but Trixi did not notice this. Her attention was solely on Severus Snape.
"How could you, Daddy!?" she found herself shrieking in a voice so high she could put a house elf to shame. The tears broke free and slipped down her face.
Professor Snape gave her a slight look of surprise from her odd behavior, but Trixi knew that her father knew exactly what she meant.
"How could you?" s he repeated more solidly. Their eyes still locked. She could feel his emotions changing. His anger being replaced with panic and concern. Trixi didn't care, though. She could not look at him any longer. She ran at full speed back out the way that Professor Flitwick had earlier led the first years into the hall.
Chaos sounded behind her back at the Great Hall, several chairs scraping across the floor, and footsteps followed. Teachers shouted, trying to call order as the students erupted into protests.
"Trixi, wait!" Severus called out, making a move to catch her.
"Calm down," the headmaster's even voice called out then, and most of the noise subsided.
Trixi found a deserted classroom to duck into. She was not much of a crier and could count on her fingers how many times she had remembered crying. Today would be one of those times though, and she didn't want anyone to see or know about it.
She swiped an arm across her wet nose, leaving a messy trail on her robes. "Scourify." She said with a sniff, pointing her wand at the thick slime.
"Trixi?" her father's footsteps passed the room she was in. He must think she'd run outside.
More footsteps ran by.
"Wait, Severus!" a woman called after him. "Severus!"
Trixi supposed it wasn't fair to have the teachers searching for her, but her feelings were hurt and she didn't need anyone to see her crying.
She didn't understand why he would do it. Why he would keep something that important from her, and why keep Harry a secret from her? She was confused and angry. She was hurt that he didn't tell her such information. Until today, she had never thought he would ever keep something from her, at least not something so important.
Perhaps that was because she could sense what he felt most of the time. No, she wasn't a Legilimens like him. She just knew somewhat of what he thought by the thud of his heartbeat, the twitch of his muscles, and many other things that informed her what her father was feeling at any given time. And, while he could hide his actual thoughts from other Legilimens, using a complicated skill called Occlumency, he couldn't completely hide his emotions from her. Professor Snape never said if that was because Occlumency couldn't hide a person's feelings, or if it was because she was that close to him. Maybe he didn't know. Nonetheless, just as she would do when she didn't want him searching through her head, all he had to do was break eye contact and half the triggers she used to read him would be broken off.
The classroom she stood in was dusty, and there was not much in the room. The only reason she knew it had been a classroom at one time was from the blackboard that still had an assignment displayed.
The doorknob to the room rattled, twisted from the other side. Trixi turned to see two identically tall boys poking their heads in, looking her over. Everything about them was the same, even the fluff of red hair that sat atop of their heads. They were much older than her.
"She alright?" one brother asked the other.
"Yeah, I would say so." the other replied quickly.
The first twin nodded in acknowledgement, then turned from the door and the second one closed her back in, leaving her alone.
It was not long before a rush of people came in. Professor Snape, the first to enter, followed by Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall (a stern older woman with black hair that Trixi had met a few times before), the red headed twins, and then that girl she met on the train - Ginny.
"I do not want to talk." Trixi told them with an unusual quietness to her voice.
"Trixi." Snape pleaded, stepping forward cautiously.
"I said no!" she said breathlessly from anger. It took a huge effort to not shout that out. After taking a deep breath, she calmly addressed her father. "If I talk to you at this moment, I will later regret what I want to say, so please don't make me."
Snape was taken aback by that, but he knew she was speaking the truth. In a dark and cruel voice, he said, "Very well." With his robes madly streaking behind him, Snape stalked out the of the room without hiding his anger.
"Do the rest of us have that same threat that you hold, Miss Snape?" the headmaster asked.
"No." she found herself saying.
"Gee, I never seen someone so ashamed to join Gryffindor." a twin said.
"Yeah, I didn't think we smelled that bad." the other twin half-joked. They, too, left the room.
"Do you really have a problem with Gryffindor!?" Ginny asked hotly.
"No." Trixi said.
"So you will accept Gryffindor as your House, Miss Snape?" Professor McGonagall asked, slightly confused.
"Yes." Trixi said after a thought.
Ginny's face softened into the same confusion Professor McGonagall's held. "Then why did you run out of The Great Hall?"
Trixi did not make a notion to answer that.
"If you have doubts about your House, we need to hear them, Miss Snape!" Professor McGonagall said harshly.
"I am fine with the Hat's choice."
"I guess you thought you were going to be a Slytherin." Ginny concluded carefully.
"That was the plan." Trixi looked down at her feet, feeling ashamed. "But, it's not just that really."
"Miss Weasley, how about you wait outside while Professor Dumbledore and I have a word with Miss. Snape."
Ginny nodded and departed.
"What has so deeply upset you?" the woman asked, her voice suddenly soft.
Trixi shifted her feet uncomfortably, not willing to give an answer. This was a problem her and her father needed to work out.
"I am going to take a stab and guess that The Sorting Hat said something it should not have." Dumbledore spoke up. He remained where he stood, just two steps into the room. "Something you should have rather heard from Severus, I am assuming?"
Trixi answered with a nod, her eyes still to the floor.
"There's a backstory to that, Miss Snape. Your father has meant you no harm. Do consider that when you eventually allow him to speak with you."
She looked up at him, with slight curiosity. "Alright." her voice quiet as she wiped a teary eye with the back of her hand.
"I doubt you will have any trouble understanding the man's reasoning. I have never seen him closer to anyone. That is not really surprising though, a bond between a child and a parent can be extremely fascinating." His twinkling eyes blinked. "Sometimes, even life saving." He added, as if he were giving her a huge hint in life. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have some very important announcements to make, and quite a few people are waiting patiently for the Year's first feast to begin." Professor Dumbledore tilted his head with departure and quickly exited the room.
"Are you alright?" McGonagall eyed her warily.
"I'm fine, Professor McGonagall." Trixi forced a reassuring smile.
"I am the Head of Gryffindor, so do not hesitate to come see me if you need anything."
"Yes, Ma'am, thank you."
"Come, you do not want to miss out on the food, it is the best of the year." Professor McGonagall gave Trixi a slight smile.
Ginny joined them as they went back to the Great Hall.
"Miss Weasley, I trust you can help Miss Snape find a place at the table." The woman addressed Ginny as soon as they stepped in.
"Of course, Professor!"
"Thank you, dear." Professor McGonagall then walked on to take her seat that had been sitting empty for most of the night.
"We sit at that table." Ginny pointed to the long table at the far left. "And next to us are the Hufflepuffs, then the Ravenclaws, and the Slytherins are at the other end." Trixi followed Ginny to the Gryffindor table. "Which is a good arrangement, because them and we don't get along."
"Not at all?" Trixi asked.
"I don't know anyone from either House that like each other."
Trixi frowned at the disturbing thought.
"Don't worry! We associate fine with the other the Houses. Slytherin just doesn't like to branch out."
"Slytherins stick together." Trixi remembered what Draco said earlier on the train.
Ginny sat down and patted an empty part of the bench. "You can sit with me."
The table was full of so much food Trixi wasn't sure where to start. Fancy meats and sides, she had never seen so much food in her life. She tried to grab a bit of everything, though, which was nearly impossible.
"These are my twin brothers, George and Fred." Ginny pointed to the twin red headed kids. "These guys are pranksters, so don't accept anything from them."
"Right, the boys who found me." Trixi observed grimly.
"We can find anyone." Fred said proudly.
"In Hogwarts." George pointedly added.
"So you changed your mind or something?" Fred asked Trixi.
"About?" Trixi busied herself with her steak and kidney pie.
"Joining Gryffindor, of course!" George said smiling.
"She can't hang out with us!" hissed a voice a few seats away.
"That's Ron, my rude brother." Ginny informed Trixi, shooting him a look.
"She'll tell Snape everything we do!"
"Ron may actually have a point." a boy agreed.
Trixi looked up. Harry Potter, who she hadn't noticed before, gave her a look of scrutiny.
Trixi stiffened in defense. "I am not a tattle tale if that's what you are implying."
"Oh, really now!" a girl sitting next to Harry with bushy brown hair huffed. "You've hardly met her, you wouldn't know a thing about her."
"And you of all people should know a thing about judging a person before you truly know them." Ginny told Harry quietly, almost like she was afraid to say it.
Harry looked down at his plate, seemingly uncomfortable.
"Why she is even sitting with us is beyond me." Ron muttered.
"I invited her, that's why!" Ginny barked.
"She's as weird as Snape." Ron eyed Trixi like she was going to bite him. "She looks like him too." He shuddered.
"Ron!" the girl with brown hair hissed.
"Well she is, Hermione!" Ron hissed back. "You weren't here when she ran out. All because she was sorted into our house." Ron grunted.
"You ran out of the Great Hall?" Hermione gasped at Trixi.
Trixi's face turned red. "Well... not because...of that, no."
"She did it right after she was sorted." Ron insisted.
"It wasn't because of being sorted into Gryffindor!" Ginny hastily told her brother.
"Then why did she do it?" Ron asked. "Why did you run out?" he directed to Trixi.
"It's not of your business really." Was Trixi's dry response. She was starting to understand her father about the Weasley thing. At least for one in particular.
"So what did we miss?" Ginny asked to change the subject.
"Those nasty dementor creatures are going to be guarding the school grounds." Fred informed.
"We're supposed to be very careful around them." George added.
"No!" Ginny gasped. "But Dumbledore wouldn't allow it!"
"I don't think it was his decision." Hermione said. "Sirius Black is a dangerous man, and he's going to be searching for Harry."
Trixi choked on her pumpkin juice. Harry looked a little pale at the mention of Sirius Black. Everyone eyed Trixi.
"Sorry." Trixi mumbled, as she and Harry's identical eyes caught each other's stare.
"We'll be sick of chocolate in no time." Ginny shivered.
Harry made a noise between a grunt and a scoff. "I'm already up to that point."
"Luna Lovegood cast a green light with her wand, "Trixi spoke up. "The dementor didn't seem to like it very much, and it left our compartment."
"Can a dementor even affect a girl like Luna?" Fred asked.
His twin shrugged. "Nasty things those are. I wouldn't put it past them."
Harry, Ron and Hermione then took off to talk with Hagrid, who they seemed to be friends with. "He's a very nice man that loves magical creatures- well, all creatures really." Ginny informed Trixi as they ate their Pumpkin tart. "I hear he's an awful cook though.
XxXxXx
"We've got a long walk ahead," Ginny said after dinner. Trixi followed Ginny and several dozen others in the direction that would take them to what was called the Gryffindor Common Room.
Ginny was not kidding. They walked for a few minutes before stopping at a flight of stairs, and there were more flights of stairs above that. Trixi gaped at the seemingly endless height; she could hardly see the ceiling.
Pointing up to the right, Ginny said. "Watch out for that staircase, it moves around." And just as if she had said the magic words, the set of stairs above them shifted to a different landing. "You'll learn its pattern in no time." Ginny added.
After climbing the shifting staircase, the crowd noisily (and puffing most of the way) went up a lot more flights before they stopped. Trixi could see the students at the beginning of the line were looking at a massive portrait with a very fat woman wearing a pink dress.
"Password?" Trixi heard a shrilly voice ask.
"That is The Fat Lady." Ginny gestured "She allows us access to our House common room and dormitories."
"Head boy coming through! Head boy! Watch out now." A teenager with red hair came past Trixi in an impatient hurry.
"That's Percy." Ginny rolled her eyes. "My annoying brother. He thinks he's all that because he's a Head Boy."
"The new password is 'Fortuna Major'!" Percy said to both the portrait and the kids.
"Correct." The portrait swung outward, exposing a large round hole in the wall.
Everyone then made a dash into the hole. Trixi followed Ginny, stepping clumsily into a circular room.
"The left staircase leads to our dorms. The boys' dorms are on the right." Trixi saw staircases on either side of the room. "Professor McGonagall has asked me to show you to your dorm. She's Gryffindor's Head of House."
"Thank you for showing me."
"I don't mind." Ginny shrugged, as she led Trixi up another case of steps. "I'll be right in this dorm if you need me." she stopped at a door. "You're there." Ginny pointed two rooms down and across from her own.
"Thanks again for your help!" Trixi said.
"It's no problem. See you tomorrow."
Trixi entered her dorm to find three other girls absorbed in a conversation together. She walked to an empty four poster bed; her trunk had been placed neatly on the floor at the bed's foot.
Sitting on the bed, she faced the other girls and greeted them, "Hi!" The girls stopped talking and stepped closer to Trixi to get a better look at her.
"You're the girl that ran out of The Great Hall." one said, her grey eyes gave Trixi a look of accusation. She had thick brunette hair that was tied back into a ponytail. She stood a head taller than the other two girls.
"I heard one of the prefects say it has never been done before." a second girl said, she was pudgy with short blond hair and blue eyes.
"Trixangela, is it?" the last girl looked much like the first, only shorter and her eyes were a golden color.
"Trixi." She corrected.
"That professor said your name is Trixangela." the pudgy girl argued.
"Would you want to be called Trixangela all the time?" the taller girl asked bluntly.
"I guess not."
"My name is Cassi, it's short for Cassidora." the short of the brunettes said. "This is my sister, Kelsa." She pointed to the taller girl.
"They're twins." the pudgy girl informed after Trixi gave a puzzled look.
"Only we're not identical like the Weasley ones." Kelsa added.
"I'm Sara. I just discovered I'm a witch this year." the pudgy girl said. "Apparently, they call people like me a muggleborn."
"It is nothing to be ashamed of." Kelsa told Sara. "Lots of wizards and witches come from the muggle world.
"I suppose you would think differently though?" Cassi attacked Trixi with this, her eyes narrowed.
Trixi gave her a confused frown. "Why would you ask that?"
"I heard the older students talking tonight; many of them seem to believe your father despises muggle borns."
"Perhaps you should get your facts straight then." Trixi's reply was dry, as she tried to keep a building annoyance under control.
"He is the head of the Slytherin House." Cassi pointed out. "And that house is all about keeping purebloods pure."
Trixi gave Cassi a threatening look. "My father is not like that!" she surprised herself by shouting. Trixi wasn't one to get angry easily, but to talk so bad about her father made her blood boil.
The girls backed away from her then, perhaps to give her space, or they may have thought she was going to hit them. Trixi wasn't sure which reason it was, but they avoided her the rest of the night.
That was fine by her.
XxXxXx
The next morning Trixi woke up to find that the room had been deserted. She gave a loud yawn before hopping out of bed and getting ready for breakfast.
In the common room, a handful of third and fourth years were just leaving to go down stairs. Trixi rushed up to follow them. They were discussing Quidditch.
"I am going to try out to be a beater this year." a boy said.
"You think you are better than Fred and George?" a girl doubtfully asked.
"Can't hurt to try." the boy shrugged.
"Don't get your hopes up, Marcus." another boy told the first.
"Trixi." A familiar voice drawled and pulled her aside." She had been so absorbed in the conversation that she had overlooked Draco, who had been standing at the entrance of The Great Hall.
"Yeah?"
"You're not really going to be a Gryffindor are you?" he scowled with a disgusted look.
"I can't be a Slytherin." she said helplessly. "The Hat said no."
"Maybe your dad can talk to the headmaster." Draco said thoughtfully, leading her to the Slytherin table.
Many of the of the Slytherins gave her ugly looks, although some, surprisingly enough, made curious glances at her and Draco as they passed the sitting students.
"Oi!" Draco shoved at a boy who was sitting down at the table. Automatically, he scooted to the left, creating a gap on the bench. "Come on!" Draco sneered to the rest down the line. "Budge up!"
Trixi was a little surprised that they obliged to the demand.
"You're not about to let her sit at our table, are you?" a boy across the table asked. "Gryffindor scum!" He spat at her.
"Shall we see if Snape agrees?" Draco sent him a threatening look. The boy said nothing more. To Trixi, Draco said, "Now, sit," as he took a seat himself.
"I don't think I am allowed." Trixi said warily.
"There's no rule about sitting at another House's table." Draco was becoming impatient. "Besides, we're going to get you transferred. Your dad will make it happen."
Trixi thought that was unlikely, but the food appeared instantly on the gold sparkling dishes. She wasn't about to argue on an empty stomach, so she sat down next to Draco and began dishing herself some breakfast.
Draco made sure to turn and shoot the Gryffindor table a triumph look.
"Oh, now, don't do that." Trixi scolded him gently. "They are really nice to me." She said. "Well...some of them anyway."
"Don't you stick up for them!" Draco demanded.
"They are probably afraid of your dad." a large dark haired boy said from across the table.
Draco snickered as he took a swig of pumpkin juice.
Trixi turned away, deciding it was better not to comment.
The boy next to her that Draco had just pushed earlier was one of the large boys she met on the train. "What you looking at?" he demanded when he caught her eyes on him.
"Probably your big head." Draco sneered. "That's Goyle. And this is Crabbe." He thumbed to the boy next to him who turned out to be the other boy that was on the train.
"Hi!" She said with a friendly smile.
They both mumbled a greeting through their mouths full of food.
"You remember Pansy Parkinson, from the train?" Draco asked, tossing his head lightly to the tall girl who sat across from Crabbe.
"Hi!" Trixi repeated.
"Hi, Trixi." Pansy greeted before stuffing a breakfast sausage in her mouth.
Draco then went into a detailed conversation of how Harry Potter had fainted from the Dementor's visit. Making sure not to leave out a dramatic fainting gesture. This seemed to greatly entertain most who sat at the table; they laughed at the cruel joke.
Trixi searched the room, hoping that Harry was not present. She saw him though, paused at the main entrance, sending Draco a dirty look. Hermione said something to him and tugged on his arm to escort him to the Gryffindor table. Ron stalked behind them, sending the Slytherin table a scowl.
Pansy then called out a tease to Harry, causing another wave of laughter throughout the table.
Trixi shamefully ducked her head and stuffed a spoonful of porridge in her mouth with a grunt.
Somebody performed a wet clearing of their throat behind her and the table went awkwardly silent at that moment.
"Miss Snape?" It was Professor McGonagall.
"Yes, ma'am?" Trixi looked up, relieved that the table hushed up.
"The Gryffindor table is right over there." She pointed behind her.
"Am I breaking a rule?!" Trixi asked in alarm, flying up from her seat. Her hand flung at the bowl of porridge, causing it to tumble and roll across the table. It rolled right into the lap of a much older girl.
"Ugh!" She shrieked. "You clumsy girl!"
"Oh! I'm sorry." Trixi cried. "I didn't mean to!"
The girl muttered curses under her breath, giving Trixi a scowl. Trixi thought that if a teacher was not present, the words would have been more audible.
"It is nothing to get upset about." Professor McGonagall waved her wand, clearing the mess completely.
The girl didn't agree though; her eyes still glared dangerously at Trixi.
"Now, come, Miss Snape, your House awaits you." Professor McGonagall said gently. "You have new friends to make."
Trixi glanced at Draco, expecting him to say something, but he remained silent. The awful look on his face told her that he disagreed with the professor.
Trixi, seeing not much of a choice in the matter, followed Professor McGonagall to the table of Gryffindors and was directed to sit with a bunch of first years.
"Much better." the professor said after Trixi took a seat between two boys. "I trust you will behave yourselves?" The woman's eyes shifted a few times, sending silent warnings to specific students.
"Got lost, didn't you? Or are we not good enough for you?" Cassi sneered when the professor was out of earshot.
"That Malfoy boy took her to the Slytherins." the boy who sat on Trixi's right said in her defence.
"She didn't look like she was protesting much." Sara noted.
"What would you do if that nasty kid came up to you?" the boy asked.
"Run, and run fast." Kelsa answered. Some of them nodded in agreement.
"I'd sock him one." the boy on Trixi's left said this.
Suddenly, Trixi realized that she was stuck between two houses: the one everyone wanted her in, and the one she was supposed to be in.
This wasn't supposed to be happening.