As I sat down Dumbledore stood back up to do his welcome speech. He introduced the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, or should I say idiot. Soon after we were all enjoying our feast. I grabbed a little bit of food but I've found that in general I don't have the biggest appetite. I had always just assumed it was from not having eaten properly for so long but I have been eating more just not as much as most others. I'm pulled out of my thoughts when Draco leans over and whispers in my ear "Did you see their faces, it was freaking hilarious" I let out a soft giggle because honestly there faces were priceless. I do however plan on trying to befriend them. Slytherin has a bad reputation but people never look at all the great witches and wizard that came from Slytherin. I mean for merlin's sake Merlin was a freaking Slytherin. But I think in general it's stupid to have such intense feuds between houses. It should be friendly rivalries not thinly veiled hate.
The prefects stand and tell us to follow them shortly after all of us have finished and tell us all to follow them so that they can show the firsties the common rooms and the rest of us the password. We descend into the dungeons and eventually reach the Silver Snake torch holder that is in front of our common rooms. "Serpent" is all the prefect says before ushering everyone in. The common room is beautiful and we have a stunning view of the bottom of the lake. Our common room is circular with a single fire place with plush chairs all around it. There are circular tables of various sizes scattered about and plush bean bags just thrown around the edges of the room. Our common room also has a large bulletin board just like the one in the teachers common room. Last but not least there are two stair cases leading down that the prefects inform us the girls are to the left and the boys are to the right. Then just as if it was rehearsed Father comes into the room with his signature billowing of the robes.
He looks down at all of us gathered around before starting in on his little speech "All first years will be given a copy of our house rules. You will be expected to have them read in full by the end of the day tomorrow. For those of you just sorted you need to understand that Slytherin has a reputation for being bad. It is also not uncommon for some teachers to hold prejudice against our house. Points tend to be taken for little reasons. This is why our first and most important rule is that you stick together. If you are having issues with a fellow Slytherin you take it up in here. We must show a unified front. We protect our own. I will never take points from our house but if you do something wrong you will be punished. Once you have detention with me once or twice you won't want to repeat the experience. Lastly before I go all first years you will be given your study schedules along with you normal schedule tomorrow. I expect all of you to be passing and as such there are mandatory study groups during the week and every sunday you must spend at least two hours in our house study session where all years will be and you can ask myself or older students to help you. That is all."
As soon as he exits the older years disperse while the first years just kind of stare around. Draco pulls me over to the rest of our year before introducing me to them all. The two that seem to be following him are introduced as Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle but they go by their last name. Next is Blaise Zabini who can only be described as a wannabe playboy. The last boy was Theodore Nott, he was rather quiet but seemed to be very intelligent. As for girls the first introduced was Pansy Parkinson who was basicly all over Blaise. She seemed ok despite being kind of possessive over Blaise as If I would try and steal him from her. I'll have to talk to her about it latter. Next up was Millicent Bulstrode who just seems to follow Pansy. Last but not least was Daphne Greengrass. She has a bubbly personality that I would expect from a hufflepuff but she quickly explained she may not be very cunning but she is resourceful and ambitious, the other two main traits of a Slytherin. After a few hours we all say our goodbyes and head to our dorms. We follow the stairs down and it leads us to a room about half the size of the common room. Daphne looks over and quickly explained the boys and girls both have their own mini room for all years to hang out in. "Some Conversations aren't really appropriate for all genders if you catch my drift." I nod before following her to the door that has a two carved on it. The first thing we see is a bathroom to the left with two separate showers and then another door to the rest of the bathroom. We enter to see four plush beds and we all find the one with our trunk at the bottom. Father must have sent some of my clothes and my school stuff to my room as any materials I need for class are in my trunk along with a bag with the Slytherin Crest on it. He must have been hoping I would be Slytherin.
I Grab out the bag and put all my school stuff into it. Since we don't get schedules until tomorrow I don't know what I will or will not need. I figure I want to get to my first class early so I have no intention of coming back for things. Once everything's in it I lift it realizing just how heavy everything is. I'll just have to suffer through it. I know I read about the feather light charm but I have no clue how to actually do it. I suppose If father has free time tomorrow I could go see if he could teach me how to do it. I set the bag back down before getting ready to go to bed. Once everyone's already in our dorm they start catching up on their summers as I mostly listen to them converse. When they get onto the topic of boys Pansy says in a loud voice aimed at me that her and Blaise are an item. I raise my eyebrow slightly before saying "I'm not really interested in anyone right now" when she only scowls more I decide that she likely responds a lot better to flattery so I add "besides have you seen the way Blaise looks at you, It's like you're the only girl in the world. You guys are such a cute couple." Pansy is blushing like mad now and it seems she gets it now. We aren't likely to ever be best friends or anything but she doesn't seem like she'll be that hard to deal with. Millicent or Millie doesn't seem too bad but she blindly follows Pansy. Daphne and I however seem to get along great and her upbeatness will make up for my rather sarcastically rude personality. Shortly after we all close the drapes of our plush four poster beds and as they head to sleep I pull out the rulebook first years are expected to read. Father had left one in my trunk on top of my school books so I can only assume he expects me to have it read like all the first years. I open the book and realize their are only five rules.
Rule 1: We stick together. Anyone going against this rule will have detention with Professor Snape until he believes they have learned this rule.
Rule 2: Study groups are not optional and must be attended at least three fourths of the the time.
Rule 3: First years are to be within the Common Rooms or Dorms an hour earlier than curfew.
Rule 4: If you are doing something against school rules don't get caught.
Rule 5: Never allow entry into the Slytherin common room to other students.
After I finish reading I grin at Rule 4. Cunning is one of the most prized traits in our house and it's basically telling us to just not get caught. I put the rule book away before falling asleep.
I wake up at about four in the morning before realizing there isn't a chance of me falling back to sleep. I get up and decide to shower and get ready for the day. I shower, change and everything before grabbing my bag and walking throught the girls common room up to the main common room. I look at the clock and notice it's only 5:15 and curfew doesn't let up till six. None of the other girls in the dorm where even close to waking up yet and I can only assume no one else is an early riser and will be down anytime soon. I mean breakfast doesn't even appear till seven thirty. People can arrive and eat anytime between seven thirty and nine. At nine everything disappeared as the bell chimes to head to the first class. Wow I really had read to much of Hogwarts a History. I open up my bag and pull out my second year potions book. I had already read all my textbooks with my last few days and I wanted to re read the steps to the potions. Any of the first year potions I can make from memory and I want to try and be able to do that for all the second year potions as well. I mean it would be a pain if every time I want to brew a simple potion I had to have the recipe on hand. I spend the next forty minutes memorizing one of the potion before closing my book with it's bookmark and closing my bag so I can head out at exactly six. As soon as the clock hits six I walk out the entrance to the common room and head to the great hall. I walk in and sit in the same spot as yesterday and place my bag beneath my seat.
A few minutes later father walks into the hall and comes over next to me. "I have charms on the slytherin common room to tell me when the first student leaves it. Imagine my surprise when one of my little snake's left the common room at exactly six." I smile up at him before saying "Early riser, and you?" He looks down at me and responds "I also rise early in the morning, As you know if you ever wish to sleep in your room in the faculty rooms you are welcome to." I nod my head and decide to ask "Could we perhaps set up a night or two every week where I stay in my room in the faculty rooms?" He nods down at me before pulling out an envelope with my name and handing it to me. I look down in question. "It's your schedule and I also included one of my own. When you don't have classes you are welcome to sit in on mine." I pull out my schedule first to check it out.
Schedules are set up with three possible class times starting at nine. Each being forty five minutes with fifteen minute breaks in between each class. Then lunch starts at noon and ends at one with classes resuming. Then there are four different possible slots for classes in the afternoon. All classes are over by five unless it's astronomy that's time's vary by class and year. A plan blank Schedule with the fifteen minute breaks in it would look like this:
6:00 Curfew lets up
7:30- 9:00 Breakfast
9:15- 10:00 Class one
10:15- 11:00 Class two
11:15- 12:00 Class three
12:00- 1:00 Lunch
1:15- 2:00 Class four
2:15- 3:00 Class five
3:15- 4:00 Class six
4:15- 5:00 Class seven
5:00- 6:30 Supper
9:00 Curfew
Any classes that are double are just two periods put together without the break making those classes an hour and forty five minutes rather than just 45 minutes. Astronomy can also be placed almost anytime at night. Each day however has it's own schedules and not all time slots are always filled. For a first or second year it's guaranteed to never be full. I pull out my schedule to see what I have. The first thing I notice is the scrawl on the side from father that says all second years have study groups on Tuesdays and Thursdays along with it saying to meet up in the common room from eight till curfew.
Monday
7:30- 9:00 Breakfast
9:15- 10:00 Potions
10:15- 12:00 Double History of Magic
12:00- 1:00 Lunch
1:15- 2:00 DADA
2:15- 3:00 Free Period
3:15- 4:00 Herbology
4:15- 5:00 Charms
5:00- 6:30 Supper
9:00 Curfew
Tuesday
7:30- 9:00 Breakfast
9:15- 11:00 Double Transfiguration
11:15- 12:00 Herbology
12:00- 1:00 Lunch
1:15- 2:00 Astronomy(studying)
2:15- 3:00 Free Period
3:15- 5:00 Double DADA
5:00- 6:30 Supper
9:00 Curfew
Midnight- 2:00am Astronomy(Gazing)
Wednesday
7:30- 9:00 Breakfast
9:15- 12:00 Free Periods
12:00- 1:00 Lunch
1:15- 2:00 Potions
2:15- 3:00 Transfiguration
3:15- 4:00 Charms
4:15- 5:00 Astronomy(studying)
5:00- 6:30 Supper
9:00 Curfew
Thursday
7:30- 9:00 Breakfast
9:15- 10:00 History of Magic
10:15- 12:00 Double Charms
12:00- 1:00 Lunch
1:15- 2:00 Herbology
2:15- 3:00 Transfiguration
3:15- 5:00 Free Periods
5:00- 6:30 Supper
9:00 Curfew
Friday
7:30- 9:00 Breakfast
9:15- 11:00 Double Potions
11:15- 12:00 DADA
12:00- 1:00 Lunch
1:15- 5:00 Free Periods
5:00- 6:30 Supper
9:00 Curfew
I can't help but smile at the fact that I have Wednesday morning's completely free as well as Friday nights free. Monday's and Tuesday's are a little cramped but having two day's where we get half of it to ourselves are worth it. I look over father's schedule and notice he also has Wednesday morning's off and that on Friday afternoons he has his sixth and seventh year double classes. I make a note to myself on my schedule that I want to sit in on his classes whenever I can. I smile up at father and I can tell he's trying to pretend he didn't purposely get the second year slytherin Schedule planned according to his schedule for me. "How about I spend the night in my room on Tuesdays and Friday's? Tuesday's because we both have free morning's and Friday's so I can bug you with questions about Potions." He nods down at me with a half smile "It would be nice to have someone actually ask meaningful questions for once." He then turned and headed up to the staff table. He's still a little distant but I feel like we're going to become closer over the next few months.I look up at the clock and am surprised to see we had talked for over an hour. Breakfast begins in five minutes. I look at the door and notice some people shuffling in and a few Hufflepuffs excitedly talking about what they think their schedules will look like.. I put my schedule away and as soon as food appears on the table I grab a pear and slowly eat it.
Slowly the great hall fills and soon Breakfast is over and Schedules are being passed out. Draco is looking over at me excitedly "We have Friday afternoon off!" I smile over at him and point out we also have a free morning on Wednesday. Daphne then joins in the conversation with a quiet cheer "We get to sleep in!" The bell rings and the rest of my year starts rushing off to the dungeons to get some more sleep since we have no classes till after lunch. I get up and instead head to the teachers common room. I head into my room and set my bag down. I grab out the book father had given me on occlumency and begin reading on his living room couch. I got through a chapter before I hear father open the door and walk in. "Morning father." He hopes down next to me and responds "Morning Lotus" I hold up my book and ask "So what it feel like having someone in your head? Is it like with the sorting hat or…?" He looks over at me "Depends on the person doing it but normally it's subtle and hard to notice or forceful and not caring that the person knows you in their head." I nod and go back to reading. It's a nice silence and I finish up the second chapter before asking "Can you show me both of the ways so I know what they feel like?" He looks over at me with no warning says "Legilimens" I quickly pull my hands up to my head as I feel an excruciating pain and I can feel my memories being forcefully pulled to the front of my mind and I'm watching myself boarding the plane to leave America. Suddenly it just stops and I can feel the pressure leaving me as father speaks up. "That is the intensity the Dark lord will use if he ever believes you are lying or omitting any details." I'm breathing heavy and I realize I had rolled off the couch to the floor. All of a sudden I feel arms encircle me as I'm lifted onto the couch leaning slightly against father. He starts stroking my hair as he continues "I didn't mean to hurt you so bad but the headache should be gone in a few hours. I just needed you to see how far it can go. Had I been the Dark Lord that could have lasted hours. Once you learn Occlumency though you will be able to lessen the pain." As he continues to stroke my hair I start thinking back to when I first met him and learned I was a witch. I then start thinking about all the memories with him. "Are you in my head again?" he nods and pulls out of my head telling me he wordlessly cast the spell to show me how subtle it could be. I nod and realize that I'm sleepy from having him intrude my thoughts and fall asleep with him stroking my hair.
Severus Snape
Getting out of bed I start to get prepared for the day At exactly six I am surprised when my ward notifies me the first Slytherin has left already. None of the older Snakes leave that early and the only other option is first years. Or perhaps Lotus is an early riser? It must be her, I doubt a first year would feel comfortable enough to just leave the common room in the morning. I finish getting ready and head down to the great hall and sure enough there she was. I walk up and as we speak I give her her schedule and a copy of my own. I watch as her face lights up at seeing we both have the same morning free and I surprisingly find I have to hold back my own smile. Is this what it's like to have a kid. Being happy just because you made them smile. I head up to ste staff table shortly after. Breakfast is as boring as normal and I pass out schedules. As it's the first full day no mail is coming in or out so I don't have to listen to the annoying chatter of first years when they see the owls. As the students file out I notice Lotus doesn't head down to the common rooms, she must be headed to our quarters. I get up and head down to my classroom to set it up for the first class. I smile when I realize it will be with Lotus and the Slytherin with Gryffindor. Dumbledore almost always likes putting the two together for potions but for once I won't mind the having to supervise extra bit because I look forward to seeing her antics. Not to mention she basically told me she wishes to use her new last name to her advantage when it comes to her fellow classmates. Once I reach my classroom it only takes a few minutes to set up before I head off to my quarters. Upon arriving I find her curled up with the book on Occlumency that I had gotten her. "Morning father." She says in a soft voice. I sit down next to her while responding "Mourning Lotus" She holds up her book and asks "So what it feel like having someone in your head? Is it like with the sorting hat or…?" "Depends on the person doing it but normally it's subtle and hard to notice or forceful and not caring that the person knows you in their head." She continues to read before asking me to show her both ways. I immediately whisper "Legilimens" and tear through her brain not unlike how the Dark Lord would do it. I watch as she falls to the floor with her hands over her head and I feel a pang in my heart at having to hurt her. I stop shortly after and pick her up setting her next to me as I explain while casting it silently and delving into her thoughts. Shortly after she surprises me by whispering "Are you in my head again?" I simply nod before leaving her thoughts. She looks exhausted and as I slowly stroke her hair she falls asleep. I let her sleep until we only have a half hour of lunch left. She smiles at that before hopping up and grabbing her bag and to my surprise hugging me goodbye before running out the room. I can't believe she actually hugged me but I push the thought to the edge of my mind.
Lotus Lapis Snape
I'm gently awoken by father and he tells me it's lunch time. I smile and grab my bag before quickly hugging him goodbye and running out the room before he can react. As I make my way to the lunchroom I think about what I had learned from today. It hurt like a son of a but it's mostly gone now. I slip into the great hall and take my seat next to Daphne and Draco. Daphne looks over at me before blurting out "Where were you all morning?" I simply say "I was at father's." Drac then joins the conversation "Our first class is with him right?" I nod before grabbing some food and listening to the conversations around me. Theodore is sitting across from me and asks "So, Lotus, are you good at potions?" I nod over at him before adding "I would think so anyway. I can make any of the first year potions from memory." He looks a little surprised before continuing with the conversation. I almost instantly like him. He knows just how much he can ask without crossing boundaries and he's really smart and doesn't need everything dumbed down for him. The bell rings for the afternoon classes and all of my classes head to the common room to get there stuff. I on the other hand just pick up my bag and lazily walk to our first potions class of the year. I was planning on entering all my classes early but the chance to walk in last minute with my robes billowing is just before father will. People's faces will be priceless. I slowly walk down and arrive at the door just a minute before class and it looks like everyone is already in there except father. I open the door and walk in doing my best impression of my father and have to hold in a snicker when I see a boy from Gryffindor jump at my presence and can only assume he must be scared of father. I look at the room quickly and notice it's basicly a line splitting Gryffindor and Slytherin. I calmly walk over to the split and notice there is one an odd number of both Gryffindor and Slytherin so one group will have to be one of both. I honestly don't care so I walk over and take the seat next to the Gryffindor towards the center. I smirk at the boy slightly when I realize it's the one that jumped. He goes a shade paler the second he realizes I'm sitting next to him. I look over and say in a whisper just loud enough for the whole class to hear "What wrong? You like like you've seen a ghost." Most of Slytherin starts laughing but they are quickly silenced when Snape walks in robes billowing and looking absolutely menacing. The boy next to me is practically shaking when he walks in and I lean over and whisper this time low enough so that he will be the only one to hear me "Don't worry, you're my partner today so nothing too bad will happen." I don't know why I bothered to reassure him but I know that if I want to try and get the houses to go from the hate to friendly rivalness I need to do it one act at a time. Start of small and then get bigger.
Father then starts by telling us we will be reviewing first year potions before going around assigning potions to groups. I notice he gives all the Slytherins the easiest potions and the more difficult potions. My group is last and I finally learn the boy's name when father walks up with a sneer "Mr. Longbottom and Ms. Snape I do hope you have studied." He then goes on to assign us the hardest first year potion. I simply smile at him before responding "Of course Professor." I look over at Longbottom before asking with a sneer "What's your name?, Mine is Lotus." He looks over at me nervously before barely choking out "N-neville" I look at him with a mocking tone "Was that supposed to be an answer or a question?" He then responds in a slightly less nervous tone "Answer" I then smile at him when he's not looking as he flips through his potion book looking for our potion. I simply take out all the ingredients as he's looking for the recipe. I then look over and tell him not to worry about finding the recipe and tell him I have it memorised. He looks over at me with a look as though to ask if I'm serious or not. I ignore it as I start instructing him on what to do. After I tell him to chop one of the ingredients it looks like he's butchering them. I sigh and am grateful that I had taken out double everything and put half in front of him and half in front of me. I look over at him and in a neutral tone tell him "You're going to ruin the potion if you cut like that watch me." I try not to put any sarcasm in as I say it because I don't want him to think he's a complete failure, from what I've seen he already has confidence issues. After watching me he gets decently cut roots and I half smile at him "Much better" I end up putting my prepared ingredients in but after I demonstrated how to prepare all the ingredients he had them all prepared decently. If they were used it would at least make a safe potion and not toxic. After all the ingredients are in I set it to simmer for three minutes before bottling it. I then look over at the boy "Neville would you please take our potion up to Professor Snape" He looks scared but picked it up and walks it over to his desk placing it down. He then walks as quickly as he can back to our seats and sighs in relief. "I was expecting him to tell me how bad my potion was." I look over at him in mock surprise "Are you saying you thought a potion that I was helping to make could ever be anything less than perfect." He looks over at me flustered and I quickly add "It was a joke." and he visibly relaxes." We have about five more minutes before the end of class so I scribble out a note for Fred and George that simply says Your biggest fan would like to know when you will be admitting her to your tutelage in the art of pranking. I then seal the envelope and hand it to Neville. "Could you give this to the Weasley Twins for me. He looks at me questioningly before nodding and putting it in his ball rings before he can ask me any questions and I get up and head of to Transfiguration.
I arrive ten minutes early. I already have all my books so I don't need to stop in the common rooms before every class. I look around and see Professor McGonagall as she brought out review as well. Must be the teachers like to see how much we remember after all summer. I smile at her and greet her "Morning Professor" She looks a little startled at first before greeting me back. Soon the class begins and we start to go over the review. First she takes out matchsticks and tells us we have five minutes to turn it into a needle. I quickly change it to a needle and look around the room. This class is combined with ravenclaw and I notice all of us Slytherin and Ravenclaw have finished early. Next up is review on the Avifors spell. It turns the targit into a bird, bat or a flock of birds or bats. It's not very common for it to be bats though. Professor Mcgonagall places an egg in front of each of us to practice on. I watch as many appear to be struggling before lazily pointing at my egg and turning it into a bat. I watch as it flies off and notice several of the raven claws muttering to each other "Of course the bat of the dungeons daughter would make a bat rather that a bird." I smile over at them before asking in a deathly sweet tone. "I do believe it is rude to talk about other students let alone Professors." I watch as they quickly turn around at the idea of me telling my father anything. I smirk to myself, I had wanted to "accidently" lose control of the spell and turn them into a flock of bats but I Instead decided it's better to make them worry and wait for a revenge that will never come. Besides if I openly hex anyone it will only make people see Slytherin as as bad as they believe it to be. I want the houses to come together so I have to be as nice as I can to not ruin my chances. After about fifteen minutes everyone has succeeded and we move on to the final thing they had done as first years. Learning to turn a small animal into a matchbox. She then proceeds to inform us "Take your birds, erm and bat, and turn it into a matchbox. Just like the final last year." People all around me are struggling as I look at my bat and change it into a matchbox. It's plain but practical so I decide to change the pattern on the box. I focus as hard as I can as I put the Hogwarts crest on the front with all four houses logos on the corners surrounding the school crest. When I'm done I raise my hand and professor McGonagall comes over and say "Five points to Slytherin for not only succeeding in making your matchbox on your first try but for having the Hogwarts Crest on it in perfect detail." I smile as I look around the room and watch others trying. By the time there's only five minutes left the only people to have succeeded completely are me, Draco, Theodore and two Ravenclaws. I walk up behind the two that were muttering about my bat earlier and ask them if they would like any help. They jump at my offer because they hadn't seen or heard me approaching. I smile down when they don't respond and I tell them and say loud enough for the rest of the class to hear "Form the matchbox in your minds before trying to cast anything. Imagine every last detail and don't try to over complicate it. Once you have a plain version that's successful worry about making it unique." I watch as they follow my instructions and they both get decent if not plain matchboxes. I smile and head back to my own seat and see that people are following my advice and before the bell rings everyone had succeeded in making matchboxes. I get up and just before I walk out the door Professor McGonagall calls me aside and asks me to stay behind for a few minutes. I step aside and let the other students pass by as I walk back over and stand next to her desk. As the last student leaves she points her wand to the door and it closes. "Lotus, seems as how you just helped over half a struggling class I was wondering if you would do a study session with some of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students that were struggling this morning. A lot of the second years were having a hard time and I would offer you extra credit for doing it of course." I smile slightly as I realize the last part was added to make me more likely to say yes. Most Slytherins won't do something if there's nothing in it for them. "I greatly appreciate your offer for extra credit but I'm afraid I must decline it." I watch her face fall for a second before adding "I will however agree to doing a study session, I just don't feel it would be fair for me to accept extra credit for helping others in something that's a first year material." She looks at me slightly shocked, I mean Slytherins don't do something for nothing. But then again I am getting something, I'm getting to try and spread some school unity even if only in a small case. Not to mention as the Head of Gryffindor if McGonagall likes me the Gryffindors will notice and hopefully it can get rid of some of the divide. She looks at me suspiciously before outright asking "And what do you get out of this?" I simply look her in the eye and tell her the truth "I think the house rivalries are a little more than just a friendly rivalry. I think there should be School unity as well as house unity. By agreeing to helping Gryffindors, my houses biggest rivals and Hufflepuffs It will begin to spread the idea that Slytherin aren't as bad as we are portrayed or at least we aren't all that bad." This seems to satisfy her as she tells me that it will be about seven students and that after dinner tonight I should go to the library and that they will meet me from six forty five to whenever we finish. You have five minutes to make it to your next class, Would you like a pass just in case?" I nod and she hands me the pass.
I just barely make it to Charms on time and I sit down next to Daphne. I look around the room and notice that Charms is also with Ravenclaws. Daphne Whispers over to me "What did the old lion want?" I ignore the jab at the teacher before responding "For me to do a study session for the second year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs that were struggling." Out of all the Slytherin second years she is by far the most understanding towards other houses so she doesn't question it when I tell her I agreed to it. Professor Flitwick stand behind the podium and hands out a class syllabus. It has all of the dates of when Homeworks will be assigned and when they are due. It appears he won't be doing review in class but instead has our first homework assignment to be practicing each spell from first year and righting out the steps to performing them along with what spells we are good at and which ones we struggle then takes out a book filled with ectoplasm and then drops it onto each students desk. "Today we will be learning the Skurge spell, It cleans ectoplasm and scares spirits." He then demonstrates it by moving his wand in the shape of a three leaf clover and saying Skurge Shortly after we all set to work. Nobody manages to get it perfect but I was able to get all but a few drops off. Professor Flitwick then tells us at the end of class that this will be the charm we work on for the next two weeks. "If anyone completes it perfectly before then they may work on the review that is also due in two weeks." As he finishes speaking the bell rings and we head out to our last class for the day.
I walk in pace with Daphnee to Astronomy and as we sit waiting for class she asks me if she can come along to the study session. I nod at her kind of relieved that a more upbeat slytherin would join us. Astronomy just ends up being review and I sit quietly as kids point out all the stars from last year. It's easy for most of us and one of the Hufflepuff girls seems just as bored as I am. I pass her a note asking if she already knows all of this as well. She looks back at me surprised that I would send her a note before responding "I'm muggle born and my father is an astronomer. I could do this class in my sleep." I now understand why she's surprised, Slytherins generally don't get along with muggle borns. I ignore the nagging feeling that I shouldn't talk to her in case I do have to spy but I decide if I ever do have to I can say I was only trying to ensure the school in whole trusts me. I send back a note "That's cool, I bet it really helps to have a class that's really easy." The class went on with me and her passing notes. I learned that her name was Cynthia Waybright and that she is an only child. At the end of class she nods at me before leaving the room. I walked out a few minutes later with Daphnee talking excitedly about me teaching a study session. At dinner we eat quickly and head to the library early.
Once arriving I take out a bunch of parchment and crumple up ten balls. At place them around the table. Soon people begin arriving and the table fills with some Gryffindors and hufflepuffs. I introduce myself "My name is Lotus Snape and I'll be helping you at this study session. If you have any questions feel free to ask." I look around and am not surprised to see Neville longbottom sitting there. I also recognized Cynthia from Hufflepuff and I send her a smile. I point at my own crumpled up parchment and demonstrate as I turn it into a bat. I then instruct everyone to try. One by one they all got it before I moved on and told them to change it to a match box and notice that this is where they are struggling. I instruct them to imagine it first just like I did in my own class and watch as they all eventually get it. I look up at the clock and see it's only seven. I then tell everyone they can all leave once they can put a hogwarts crest on their boxes. A few get it easily after having been able to change it into a matchbox and I let them leave. One of the Gryffindor's however smirks at me before putting down the hogwarts crest with only the three houses excluding Slytherin. He calls me over and is obviously trying to upset me. I simply point my wand at his matchbox and turn it back to a crumpled ball of parchment and tell him to start over. His smirk falls. No one else tries to mess with me and soon everyone is done except for the one Gryffindor. As Neville left he handed me an envelope that I assume is from the Weasley twins and I place it in my bag. I tell Daphne that I'll be done in a few minutes and that she can head off to the common rooms and that I'll meet her latter. She nods understanding I want to talk to the boy alone.
As soon as she leaves I sit across from the Gryffindor boy. "So what's your name?" "Dean Thomas" he mutters at me. Right now he's re making his matchbox. "Look I think we got off on the wrong foot, I don't know what I did to upset you but when I'm taking my own time to help others it's just plain rude to purposely try to irritate me while I'm helping." He looks up at me before spitting out "First of all you're a Slytherin, not to mention you were rude to Neville in potions, don't you think your Professor Snape is mean enough to the poor boy as it is." I look at him and calmly listen before responding "My house is not who I am, it's simply some of traits I possess. I'm cunning, resourceful and ambitious, none of those traits make me a bad person. Stigmas associated with houses benefit no one. Besides how many Slytherins have to be mean to others to make up for the prejudiced remarks and bullying solely because of their house. And ad for Neville Longbottom I simply said what I had to during the class. I made a single comment on how pale he went. Besides that is what my peers would expect of me, I will not ostracize myself from my own house. And you probably also failed to notice that I showed him how to properly do all of the steps. You only noticed what you wanted to in order to fit me into the all Slytherin are bad stigma." I pause before adding "I told people to put the Hogwarts crest on their matchboxes rather than instructing everyone to put their houses crest because I wanted to promote school unity. When you purposely didn't put Slytherin on your matchbox I was hurt because for once I was doing something that I thought could make us all get along even if only for little while and it was thrown in my face." I look down and see he had finished making the matchbox and just needs to add the crest. I look down at it and inform him "You can add whatever you want to it." and with that I got up and began to leave. I hear him call out my name and I turn around to see him holding up his finished matchbox and it had the School crest on it. "Look, I'm sorry, I guess not all Slytherins are that bad." We both then leave and head out to our own dormitories.
As I enter my common room Daphne skips over to me and asks how it went. I smile at her and notice that she kept he matchbox from the study session and had it on a necklace chain. I smile slightly at her. "Not bad, he was kind of upset over what I said in potions but I think we're ok now." She smiles at me before dragging me to our dorm. Pansy and Millie are out so we have the room to ourselves for now. Daphne bites her lip before blurting out "I know you're not as mean as you let on, you can be cruel with your words and you like to mess with people but I know you want all the houses to get along." I simply quirk an eyebrow at her "To the Slytherin you act more like what's expected but in the little things you do you force the houses to get along more. I mean you made us make the School Crest." I look over at the girl and realize that she truly is resourceful and very perceptive. "You're right in a lot of ways, but you can't tell anyone from our house" She nods at me before dropping her voice. "My parents support the Dark Lord and I know that we can't openly do a lot but I want to help." I look at the girl and go over and sit with her on her bed so if anyone comes in they won't hear our conversation. "We both know he's coming back, sooner or latter. He normally won't put the dark mark on children but if that happens you must act the follower, you can't let anyone know you don't truly support him. If anyone asks you need to act like you fully believe in the cause." I try to put as much seriousness into my voice as possible. She nods at me before whispering back "I know, and that's why I want to help you get the houses to support each other more. I know some of us don't believe what our parents believe. If we weren't so separated from other houses they wouldn't only hear their parents praise of You-Know-Who." I look at her before correcting her "Dark Lord, you must always refer to him as the Dark Lord when talking to Slytherins. Even me if you ever let it slip people will notice. Supporters always refer to him as the Dark Lord." She nods at me one last time. I quickly add "I'm going to try and set up a tutoring group for all houses and I can find people with strengths in certain subjects to teach study groups. I'm planning it out in secret and we can talk about it tomorrow. Don't tell anyone yet though." With that I head back over to my bed and shortly after I sit down Pansy and Millie walk in. I tell everyone good night and hop into bed. Today was exhausting.