The Slytherins have always been the outcasts in Hogwarts. Nothing has changed, has it?

The Outcasts

It was a massacre, not a Quidditch match. It had started normally enough with the usual boos and cheers. The first game after the rebuilding of Hogwarts – Slytherin playing against Hufflepuff. By half time, the headmistress had deducted what was likely the highest number of points to be deducted in a single seating for centuries and the year's Quidditch Cup was suspended. The damage was already done. The Slytherin team, already weakened by the loss of experienced players who did not return for the school year, was in bloody shambles.

The new Seeker, Astoria Greengrass had been hit early on by a Conjunctivitis Curse. They had to pull her off to be de-cursed, all the while mewing piteously from the pain. There was no backup Seeker. Shortly after, her sister, a Beater, was hit with a Boils Hex. She was also taken off.

A fourth-year Chaser had a Bludger batted into him, breaking two ribs. A third-year Beater was bucked off her broom and had to be rescued by a Cushioning Charm by the referee. There were stinging hexes and jinxes tossed unobtrusively without use of wand or words. Some were later suspected to be inflicted from the stands. Zabini stoically endured the match with his back in ribbons from a Thorny-Whip Curse, valiantly trying to rally the team. By this time the referee was shouting and waving for the players to stop. Then someone transfigured Goyle into a pumpkin. He would have ended up smashed on the pitch if Zabini had been slower in his dive.

The tally was horrendous. Everyone in the team had taken at least one curse. Some needed to spend the night in the infirmary, courtesy of the surprisingly vicious Hufflepuffs. Madam Pomfrey was rushed off her feet even with the aid of the house elves and professors. Professor Sprout was horrified and issued detentions to all the Hufflepuff players involved in the debacle. Sensing the emotionally charged atmosphere, Flitwick had the foresight to raise a shield between the pitch and the stands, but not before some in audience had already tossed their own jinxes onto the pitch. The few Slytherin supporters were eventually forced to run for cover when jinxes started flying behind Flitwick's shield.

"Damn, those badgers have sharp teeth and claws…" Zabini groaned as he took in the infirmary while a house elf picked thorns from his flesh. Their new Transfiguration Professor was trying unsuccessfully to turn Goyle back. They might have to let the Jinx wear out on its own if the headmistress could not fix it. Nott was vomiting snails and at risk of choking on the shells. He had been in the stands when someone jinxed him amidst the chaos. The Greengrass sisters' curses recurred every half hour, stubbornly resisting efforts at curse removal.

"I think they'd make surprisingly good Dark Wizards… Notice half the curses are some variation of those in Professor Carrow's recommended textbook?" Millicent managed a weak grin. She had been hit with an Engorging Charm. She was resting on a large gurney waiting as the matron calculated the necessary degree of reduction needed to return her legs to their normal size.

"Draco's the smart one, not showing his face this year."

"I suppose he might be Crucio-ed on sight… or turned into a ferret," Pansy sidled in past an Engorged Millicent. Madam Pomfrey had rushed off to tend to Nott, who was turning blue in the face. "The headmistress wanted to speak with me about the Carrow twins - what happened to them over the weekend…"

"Did you tell?"

"Never. It's their reputation at stake. Stupid cat hasn't the faintest idea what happens to pureblood girls who had that happen to them. We Slytherins must look out for each other," Pansy folded her arms.

The worst thing Voldemort did to their House was killing Professor Snape. The Slytherins have lost their only ally against the sheer unfairness of it all. Slughorn was a self-serving prick and right now none of the Slytherins had the glory of fighting on the right side. If there were Slug Club dinners, no Slytherin was on the guest list. Was it not a younger Voldemort who corrupted an entire generation of Slytherins when he chose to recruit his Death Eaters from there?

Young Hestia and Flora Carrow had been assaulted during their Hogsmeade weekend. They had become separated from the group in the Three Broomsticks. The hapless witches were stunned, stripped, photographed and possibly worse by unknown assailants. The sisters were not talking, fearing retaliation from their assailants. Millicent and Pansy found them crying and bloodied near the Shrieking Shack. Zabini had wisely kept his distance when they realized they were nude. He did brew a contraceptive potion for the pair and have Pansy pass it to the girls. Visiting the infirmary was out of the question.

"Your Occulmency is rubbish. We're lucky it is now illegal to give veritaserum or use legilmency on students," Blaise murmured. The pain relief potion was making him drowsy. Pansy waved her wand to cast a privacy ward once the house elf finished bandaging Blaise's back and left.

"Any leads who did it?"

"We have loads of students out that weekend. We also had the alumni about helping to rebuild the owlery and greenhouses. Even Flint, Montague and Warrington made an appearance. The older Weasleys too, except Ronald. No Potter too. Auror training. The twin minus one was selling his wares in the Three Broomsticks – skiving snack boxes and such," Pansy related with a shudder. Nosebleed Nougats. "Then there's the local riffraff like the weird barkeep at the Hog's Head. Anyone could have done it."

"If this gets out, the twins could be turning tricks in Knockturn Alley… Their folks are old school," Blaise growled. "All because of our dear Professors Carrow… what's the talk?"

"The Professors Carrow are incestuously involved with each other. The twins are their nieces by another brother who married a Selwyn cousin," Pansy had a prodigious memory of the complex family ties tying the wizarding elite and a nose for gossip. "However, they are currently living with their grandfather Selwyn. Their parents are under investigation for their part in the Muggleborn Registry and some odd business involving Muggleborn minors. The Aurors are still trying to work out if they were Imperius-ed and you know, missing children…"

Nott's father was in Azkaban, just like Goyle's. Too many in their House had close relatives in the Death Eater ranks. The few who did not like the Greengrasses had no combat skills. Daphne Greengrass was a healer by inclination. No one thought to extend an invitation to the Slytherins to join Potter's little ragtag army. They all survived the War save for poor Vincent -the fool. All the other Houses suffered at least one death in the War. The Hufflepuffs were said to be especially sore Cedric Diggory was not recorded on the Second Wizarding War memorial even though he was likely among the first casualties. Potter had announced he intended to file a petition.

Many Muggleborn students simply vanished, never to grace Hogwarts again. There were too many empty seats, open wounds reminding the other Houses of their losses. There were no Muggleborns in the previous year and few new first year Muggleborns this year. One pureblood boy, a Silas Travers had wept when the Sorting Hat put him in Slytherin. They tried to make him feel welcome, but any pride attached to Slytherin was in tatters. A re-Sort was out of the question. After two weeks, and several runaway attempts, his parents had him transferred to Durmstrang, which could not be an improvement.

"Warrington and friends are helping with the rebuilding of Hogwarts as part of their community service. Morons landed a job as Snatchers in the Ministry and spent six months watching the Thames River taxi to stop any magical fugitives from fleeing the country."

"That ferry sails only on the river…"

"They cannot navigate their way through Muggle London with a roadmap. Did not stop someone from lobbing a brick at Pucey's head during the rebuilding. Or their tent from catching fire…"

"We snakes gotta stick together… We are not all that bad a House. There are good Slytherins too, right?"

"Merlin, Professor Snape…" Pansy gave Blaise's hand a squeeze. "Nott's leaving at Christmas. His aunt wants to pull him out. He's not going to stick out for his NEWTs, not even as a private candidate. No heart too. How can we possibly last this year?"

"We will manage… Maybe we need allies outside. Perhaps Granger… I know she is a mud- Muggleborn, but she did manage to stop that Nosebleed and Puking incident." Someone had slipped Puking Pastilles and Nosebleed Nougat into their House's breakfast pumpkin juice. The results were messy. They could not stop the nosebleeds, until Hermione spotted a Nosebleed Nougat bit in a glass of juice and had everyone who possessed a Nosebleed Nougats surrender the half of the sweet that stopped the nosebleeds.

"Or Looney Luna. She helped save Astoria from some older Ravenclaw bullies in the library… We really must warn the little ones not to go about alone." Blaise grumbled.

"Seriously? We have five first years only now Travers is gone. Marie Rosier is the only third year in Divinations and we hope Trelawney is sober enough to stop anyone from pushing Marie off her tower. Being together did not help the Carrows… Go get some rest, Blaise…"

"Good of you to visit, Pansy. You fine going back alone?" Blaise frowned as Pansy yawned and dropped their Privacy Ward. He should walk her back to the dorms, but it was likely he would spend the night in the infirmary.

"I'll manage," Pansy threw on her Invisibility Cloak, purchased that summer.

Minerva sighed as she tapped her wand on the portrait of her predecessor. Her little chat with Miss Parkinson had not yielded results. Pansy was lying. Something had happened to the Carrow twins, but they were not speaking. None of the Slytherins were.

There were whispers of bullying or teasing in the halls. Too many held grudges and Snape's House was always secretive and proud of their self-sufficiency. There were a surprising number of accidents and acts of mischief directed at them. Detentions were served and points deducted. She had ordered the house elves to check the students' meals for tampering after the Nosebleed incident. There had been whispers about physical assault involving the Carrow girls during a Hogsmeade weekend. Neither witch was willing to talk of it or visit Poppy. Reports that Zabini had gone into the local apothecary to purchase a specific list of ingredients within hours of the alleged attack had raised eyebrows.

Poppy reported more Slytherin students turning up requesting for burn salve, dittany, or bruise paste than before the War. Slughorn promised to check in with his students' welfare. The reports he delivered downplayed the injuries as nothing more than a bit of harmless roughhousing. Any Potions class involving Slytherin tended to end up with melted cauldrons and sabotaged potions. Minerva put in an order for self-shielded potion stations that had to be imported from Germany. If they were lucky, they could be installed over the Christmas break.

Truth be told, the headmistress was overwhelmed. The Hufflepuff team ganging up on the Slytherins were probably only the tip of a large iceberg. They had all taken risks reopening the school so soon with their admission records and the very castle in tatters.

The Death Eater Ministry had used the admission records to track down the Muggleborn students and their families. Snape had hidden away the Book of Admittance before the Carrows arrived. When the house elves recovered it from his old Potions store, too many names were ominously struck out. They destroyed the admission letters for Muggleborns that past year rather than surrender them to the Snatchers, claiming Hogwarts' magic no longer recognized any Muggleborn students in line with the new education standards. Where they could, they encouraged the parents of the students to leave the country, hoping they would be mistaken as Muggles. That lasted until the Death Eaters planted Snatchers at the sea and airports to waylaid anyone with a whiff of magic.

"Severus. I want to help our students, but they are not telling me their problems. I know there's bullying going on, but unless we catch the bullies in the act, we cannot do anything."

"One does not share one's secrets when you do not have their trust to start with," Severus Snape remarked dryly from his frame.

"Many students failed to return or even show for their admission. The Houses are tearing each other to bits, Snape. Someone was transfigured into a pumpkin! The Governors are upset. Children would rather leave Hogwarts than be Sorted into Slytherin."

"Trust needs time, and it is something so very fragile. Perhaps you might wish to avail yourself of the firewhiskey you keep in the bottom drawer before we continue?"

Minerva complied and downed a swallow from her flask.

"Thing is purebloods are insufferably proud and would rather die than admit to any weakness, so I have learned. This will likely describe most of the students in my old House, no? You confront them headlong in your Gryffindor way, they will just clam up. There's also the family name. Some of them might be made pay for it by their families if certain things became known. Especially young ladies expected to make a proper marriage…"

Minerva gasped. "Severus, are you suggesting…"

The greasy-haired wizard nodded grimly. "Does Poppy have a decent stock of healing and contraceptive potions? Perhaps you might relook the privacy clauses binding her dealings with students. Does she have qualifications in mind-healing? The Patil girl is going bonkers again…"

Minerva almost dropped her flask at the bloodcurdling scream. "Apologies, Snape. I must go. Thank you… for your insights…"

"Someone must look out for the students… even from their own blood," the headmaster drawled as he slowly went back to sleep.

Author's Notes:

Okay, this darker look on post-war Hogwarts is based on revenge attacks and similar that occurred at the end of WWII. We had alleged collaborators lynched, women suspected from fraternizing with the enemy forcibly shaved and subject to public humiliation. Kids who had the misfortune of an 'enemy' parent discriminated against and picked on in school. At the same time, we have families who go WTF and accept the German or Japanese orphans into their households despite the postwar shortages and uncertainties.