Hogwart's system

by System Elysion

As far as they can remember, they have always been part of a system, never really alone. When they go to sleep that night, they did not expect to wake up as someone else, younger and much less in another world, that of one of their favorite books. A chaotic story written by three bored alters with the consent and help of their system.

2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"You know they always described Spinner's end as a small, dark house, I didn't think you'd live in such a nice place."

"Why thank you." answered Severus drily.

Angela flushed "Sorry, it's just that the books always painted you in a certain way and that's all I know about you, discovering that there is more to it… it makes you more human, more real. I don't know if I really realize that you're not just a character… "

"And how much do you know about me? What kind of way was I pictured?" he asked with his signature raised eyebrow.

Angela lowered her gaze, looking at her feet. "Tall, greasy, menacing dungeon bat? At least until the last book! In the last book… your true allegiance was revealed and it put a lot in perspective." She sighed, considering what to reveal without upsetting him. "As for what I know about you… A lot and nothing at the same time. I know about your parents and what your homelife was like, I know about the Marauders and their bullying and how it led to you insulting Lily and losing her friendship. I also know that you joined Moldyshorts but betrayed him when you realized that the prophecy you gave him would lead him to attack Lily. You are probably the best Occlumens and Potion Master as far as I know, well versed in Defense as well and very knowledgeable in the Dark Arts. I know you even created some of your own spells while still a Hogwart student!"

"So you know more than I would like you to but not so much at the same time. Was my time as a death eater elaborated?"

She shook her head "No don't worry, it was only mentioned that you used to be one but they never went into detail as to what that entailed even if I can imagine."

"I would rather you refrain from imagining such things. Now you must understand why I was reluctant about becoming your guardian…" He started but only for her to cut him off.

"Cousin Severus, is that the I'm a bad guy speech? Because I know you're not a saint but you are a good person, fair and loyal to a fault to those who have earned it. I meant it when I said I trusted you to take care of us. We admire you because you are such a strong and brave man."

He was looking into her eyes and could only see honesty and that made him unsure about what to feel. Severus was not a man used to being praised and admired in such a way.

"Will you teach me occlumency?"

"Excuse me?"

"Will you teach me occlumency, please?" she reiterated calmly. "Think about it, if I don't know how to occlude anyone could find out about me not being a seer or they could discover what I know. Plus occlumency could help me with my emotional issues and the identity test said that I had aptitude for it."

Her logic being foolproof, Severus simply sighed. "You are aware that there needs to be a level of trust between a student and teacher when it comes to the mind arts. I will need to enter your mind."

Angela nodded "We know and part of us is curious as well. Will you entering our mind result in you entering our innerworld? Or are you just entering the alter's mind? Does our innerworld work as a mindscape?"

Severus held out his hand to stop her questions and she had the decency to blush when she realized she had started to ramble. The girl sat beside him on the couch when he motioned for her to do so.

"Do you want to make a first attempt now?" A nod. "Are you familiar with clearing your mind or meditation?" A second nod. "Good. I want you to clear your mind, tell me when you are ready for me to try and enter your mind."

"We can start." she said and at that moment Severus drew his wand and whispered "Legilimens." his onyx eyes looking straight into her amber ones.

oOoOo

Severus soon found himself in a strange forest, surrounded by trees with black bark and silver leaves, the dim lighting telling him it must be either sunset or dawn. He walked for a moment between the trees before a voice behind him made him stop.

"You do not belong here, mister."

Severus turned to end up face to face with a girl who looked no older than twenty. She had long straight black hair, pale skin, green eyes shining like emeralds and a petite frame with a flat chest adorned by a simple black sundress. She took a step forward, ending up mere inches from him before she put a finger to his chest.

The mysterious teen opened her mouth with a pout "I won't let you go any further."

"Who are you?" he asked, causing the girl to take a step back and laugh before looking at him with her hands on her hips.

"You come into our world and then proceed to ask who I am? Really? Shouldn't you introduce yourself first, trespasser?"

"I am Severus Snape, potion professor at Hogwarts and Angela is the one who invited me to enter her mind. Are you one of the alters?"

"Bingoooo! Ja-jan we have a winner! I'm Mistletoe but you may call me Mist. I'm our inner guardian although some may call me a gatekeeper. I'm the one deciding who has access to what memories and to what part of our innerworld in the system."

"You can control who has access to memories? Would that apply to people outside of the system entering your mind like I am doing?" he asked, curiosity taking over as it was his first time encountering an alter.

"Of course! But our memories are not for you mister Sevie so you should go back from where you came from, shoo~ !" And with that Mist gave him a push, sending him back to the real world.

oOoOo

"Cousin Severus! Are you okay?"

Coming back to his senses he realized that it was as if he had been pushed physically as well as mentally.

"I am fine but it seems there is no reason for me to teach you occlumency. Mistletoe is capable of keeping unwanted visitors out of your innerworld and hinted to be in control of it."

"WAIT! You met Mist? How was he, he wasn't too rude was he? Oh lord I'm sorry for that, Mist means well but he is a bit special…" her hair turned blue-green with anxiety and she frowned when she noticed it. Her metamorphmagus power was another thing she needed to master sooner rather than later.

"He was fine, I mean he was not really rude so do not worry Angela." Her sudden gasp made him pause.

"I completely forgot to introduce myself to you. I know you and madam Pomfrey and the Headmaster met one of our protectors but I never said who I was." Angela looked sheepish for a moment. "I'm Shei, Shei Lin, host of our system, meaning that most of the time I'm the one in control! Oh and there are roughly 10 of us but we're not quite sure about the number since there could be non-discovered alters!"

"How would the "being in control" part work exactly?" asked Severus while getting up to fetch them a cup of tea, Angela following him to the kitchen where she sat at the table.

"Hm, are you familiar with cars?"

"Muggle cars? Yes."

"Good, it will make explaining easier! We have four states of consciousness : fronting, co-fronting, co-conscious and in the innerworld.

Fronting is like being a driver alone in a car, you are the one controlling what the car does.

Co-fronting would be having two, or more, steering wheels and as many drivers inside one car so both control what the car does at the same time.

Co-conscious would be having one or more drivers but having someone else on the backseat and once again it doesn't have to be only one person backseating. The person backseating can see what the car does and can communicate with the driver to influence them but they can't control the car.

And lastly, being in the innerworld is pretty self-explanatory."

He put a cup of hot tea in front of her and hummed. "I see, thank you for the insight. I must admit that I find your condition and the fact that it grants you a natural form of occlumency quite fascinating."

Angela made a face at that. "As long as you don't start calling it cool or a power I suppose I can accept it being fascinating, the mind tends to be a fascinating thing after all." At the raised eyebrow she elaborated. "A lot of people describe DID with those words and it's quite insulting when it's literally a disability, a disorder provoked by abuse when not by a severe trauma. Now that we have good communication the amnesia is not as bad as it used to be but between amnesia and dissociation not counting the numerous triggers we possess… " She sighed and drank a bit. "As much as we accept how we are, we don't like people trying to put a pink lens on our disorder."

"I understand, I will do my best to be mindful of that fact."

"In a way it's a bit of a shame that we can't really study the effect of DID on Occlumency." she sighed, twirling her tea with her spoon.

"Why is that?"

"Because even if we used me to do it there is no way we could compare it with anyone else. DID is a muggle disorder. Wix children become obscurials, not systems. I'm the odd case because I retained my mind as it was before being sent here. Else Harry Potter could have made a proper test subject…"

"Angela."

"Hum?" she jumped, startled out of her train of thoughts.

"Are you telling me that Harry Potter is being abused as we speak?" he asked her, suddenly dead serious.

"Petunia." was her only reply with a disgusted expression on her face.

"No."

"Yes."

"Albus sent Harry Potter, a magical child, to live with magic hating Tuney."

"Yep'. It is not really my place to tell but Harry is currently no better than a house-elf from what I know. It will get slightly better once Hagrid gives him his Hogwarts letter." Her eyes glazed for a moment before she resumed. "We intend to take Harry under our wings once I Hogwarts. We are not letting another abused child on their own."

"Of course." Inside, Severus was seething, how could Dumbledore place Harry with Petunia of all people, he wouldn't have inflicted that to anyone, not even his worst enemy. That also put things in perspective for him who expected to see a mini-James enter Hogwarts there were more chances that the boy would be as far as possible from the spoiled bully that James had been. He felt a pang in his heart as well as a bit of hope at the thought that maybe, just maybe, there would be a bit of his Lily in the boy.

Angela let the potion master to his thoughts, going to the bathroom to try and train her metamorphmagus power in front of the mirror focusing on her hair at first.

oOoOo

"Cousin Sev, cousin Sev look what I can do!" came a high pitched voice as the child barrelled into the living room.

"There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class." she started

"As such, I don't expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is potion-making. However, for those select few… who possess the predisposition… I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death."

For once Severus Snape had been stunned into silence by a perfect rendition of his start of term speech made by a child sporting his own face and draped in a black blanket to mimic his robes. Torn between being amused, impressed or insulted, he pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. 'So this is Luna' he thought, the 6 years old child alter of his young charge who proceeded to attach herself to his midsection, hugging the living daylight out of him as her face returned to normal.

He awkwardly petted her head with a sigh. "Luna you cannot go around imitating people, it is quite rude to do so."

"Are you angry cousin Sev?" asked the little girl, teary eyed.

"No Luna, I am not angry."

Her eyes lit up and she took his hand, dragging him toward his potion lab. "Good then let's make potions, please please please please please." and he relented with a fond expression, sending her blanket back into her room.

"Fine brat, I will teach you how to brew a boil cure potion but you must follow all the instructions to the letter!"

She bounced beside him. "Yes yes yes yes! I promise I'll be good, cousin Sev!"

They set themselves in the lab and Severus began instructing her while he prepared her cauldron. "Luna, I want you to take in the cabinet snake fangs, pungous onions, dried nettles, Flobberworm mucus, powdered ginger root, pickled Shrake spines, stewed horned slugs and porcupine quills."

The girl nodded, reciting the list in her head as she brought each ingredient to the worktable very carefully.

"Good, now take your snake fangs and crush them in the mortar."

She obeyed, Severus correcting her grip on the pestle so that she could crush the fangs properly. He eyed her work and nodded. "Good now put 4 measures of the crushed fangs in the cauldron and then stir clockwise three times." Once again he corrected her grip on the stirrer and then gave her the next instruction.

"I want you to slice the onions finely, like so." He demonstrated two slices before handing her the knife and letting her do it herself with a satisfied smile.

"Good girl, put the slices in the cauldron and then we'll heat it up until the potion turns red"

Then they added the dried nettles and the potions turned green, earning a delighted squeal from the child who then proceeded to pour Flobberworm mucus until the potion turned a lovely shade of pink that matched her current hair color.

"Add a sprinkle of powdered ginger root and then stir vigorously. Yes, like that."

"Now add the pickled Shrake spines. Good girl, now stir but gently, Shrake spines are quite sensitive and we don't want to agitate them too much." At that stage the potion took a blue color to which they added a glug of stewed horned slugs before removing it from the heat in order to add the porcupine quills making the potion turn red.

"And now Luna, we are going to let the potion heat up until it turns pink so that the cure will be more effective. What do we do during that time?"

"Clean up?" she asked in a candid voice and when the potion master nodded she started cleaning the work station with a happy smile while he bottled the finished potion and labeled it.

"For a first time you did great, I am proud of you." he said and the child beamed at him and hugged him once more, taking him by surprise.

Potions had been a sore subject with the other alters over the past few weeks as Luna was the first one to show excitement for the art of brewing, the others too squeamish for the use of some of the ingredients, Shei dry heaving just at the idea of some of them. 'At least one of them will be a competent brewer' he thought drily.

oOoOo

Her summer was uneventful, falling quickly in a routine of devouring book after book or practicing either potions when Luna was fronting or spellcasting for the rest of them. Severus had tried to teach her wizarding chess to no avail as she seemed to lack interest in the game and was absolutely terrible at it. The highlights of the holidays were their trips to Diagon Alley to get clothes and other necessities, especially her school supplies.

Angela was now the proud owner of a familiar, a magical raven called Morte who had taken the habit to mimic her or Severus, leading to funny situations.

One time Morte stole Severus's wand and wouldn't give it back no matter how much he tried to bribe the bird only for him to reply with a resounding 'No' in Severus's own voice. When the potion master had drily asked Morte if 'no' was the only thing he knew how to say, the insolent bird answered 'yes' before dropping the wand in his mistress's hand. Angela had been way too amused by the disheveled potion professor arguing with her familiar to give him back his wand to not laugh openly at his face when giving him back the stolen object.

There had been a few instances when Severus ended up with a crying Angela in his arms. One of them had been after a shopping trip for clothes. Having a wardrobe full of clothes that fitted her with styles that matched every alter's taste made her very emotional as no one had ever done that for them until that day.

Another time had been when Severus had opened the bathroom door after hearing muffled cries through the walls. He found her looking a few years older with long hair in a shade somewhere between dark blue and purple, her only remaining features being the amber eyes. When he asked what was wrong she had answered that this was as close as she would ever be to having her own body and that it had overwhelmed her to see her own face in a mirror and not that just of a body that was hers but not hers.

During that time Severus got more familiar with the system, learning about each alter, what they liked or the differences between them. It didn't mean he would always recognize who was fronting but he was better at it. The only alter he had real issues with was poor Ashelia, a trauma holder and persecutor alter who seemed stuck in flashbacks so violent for her that he had no idea how to help her. The fact that Ash was mute didn't help for communication the few times she had been triggered into fronting.

oOoOo

"Do I really have to take the Hogwarts Express?"

"Yes Angela, we already discussed this. Now get ready to floo to the platform." sighed Severus, not willing to start another debate on the subject.

The girl grumbled, putting her shrunken trunk in her pocket and grabbing Morte's cage. After verifying one last time that her wand was securely strapped to her forearm she gave a brief hug to the man, another thing he had to get used to during the summer before taking a handful of floo powder that she threw in the fire as she stepped in, calling the destination in a clear voice.

Angela had gotten slightly better at flooing, using the momentum to come out walking, the only way she found to not end up face first on the ground. She looked at her surroundings with curious eyes, grateful for the early hour so that there weren't many people on the platform yet and so she decided to board the train, claiming a compartment for herself. Since she had already put on her school robes before leaving Severus's house she didn't have much to do while waiting and decided to use her waiting time for reading a defense spell book.

"Excuse-me, can I sit here?" A boy's voice interrupted her and she nodded without raising her eyes from her book.

After hearing him struggle to put his trunk on the rack above them she took pity on him and drew her wand out, pointing it at the trunk. "Wingardium Leviosa." she said clearly and the trunk started floating smoothly up to the rack.

"Uh.. thank you! Have you been doing magic for a long time? I'm Harry by the way, you?"

Her eyes snapped away from her book and for the first time she took in the boy sitting in front of her, her eyes widening slightly for a second before she smiled and extended her hand to him. "Angela, Angela Schiffer but you can call me Eli or Ange!"

The boy shook her hand and she marveled at how green his eyes were. No matter how well Daniel Radcliffe had played the role of Harry he never had the signature green eyes that Harry was described to have in the book and Angela thought it was really a shame.

"As for your question, I only practiced a bit with my cousin during the summer, I don't know much yet. Oh well, I might know a bit in theory but I have yet to cast the spells." she chuckled, a bit embarrassed as she did not know how to react when people showed interest in her or her knowledge.

"That's wicked! I wish my aunt and uncle would let me practice at home…" he sighed wishfully to which she smiled reassuringly. "At least at school we'll be able to practice to our heart's content."

She opened her mouth to say more but another boy interrupted her, asking to sit with them and introducing himself as Ron Weasley.

"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry to both of them, earning a nod from Angela.

"My cousin is also a professor at Hogwarts."

"I have five brothers and a sister, all wizards. I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."

Lulled by Ron and Harry's chatter, the girl fell asleep and stayed out until the Trolley witch came by. "Anything from the trolley, dears?"

Ron shook his head while Harry bought a bit of everything, Angela buying some chocolate frogs and cauldron cakes, both of them offering to share them with Ron.

"I wish they had some muggle sweets as well…" sighed Angela while biting off the head of a chocolate frog.

Harry nodded "I would have liked a Mars bar." he added, making Ron look between the two of them with a confused expression.

"Take a frog Ry' it's not a Mars but they're still yummy." chuckled the girl, finishing her own as Ron took one as well.

"What are these? They're not really frogs, are they?" asked the muggle-raised boy while holding a pack of the chocolate treat, earning him a laugh from the girl.

"No, it's just a charm! What you really want is the card tho." Explained Ron while showing him his own card of Morgana. "I'm collecting them but I still miss some like Agrippa and Ptolemy."

"Well you're only missing Ptolemy now." declared the girl while her hair turned yellow, handing him the Agrippa card.

"Thanks mate! That's wicked! I've been looking for his card forever, and I have over five hundred cards, what did you get Harry?"

"Dumbledore.." He said, showing the card before gasping at Angela's hair. "What happened to your hair Eli?"

She took a strand of hair and looked at its yellow color before shrugging and willing it to go back to black. "I'm a metamorphmagus, I can change my appearance at will but sometimes my hair changes color on its own. Usually it's following my emotion, yellow means I'm happy or amused."

"Isn't that a Black family trait?" Asked Ron, a half-eaten sweet in his hand.

"Maybe, I don't know if it comes from my father's side or if we married with the Blacks at some point. All purebloods are related one way or another after all."

"Pureblood?" asked Harry, visible confusion on his face.

"Oh, it's true you don't really know yet, do you? You can find three types of magical people who are not creatures. Pureblood, Half-blood and Muggleborn. Pureblood comes from a fully magical family, muggleborns have two muggle parents and half-blood like you have at least one muggle grandparent. And there are also people who come from magical families but don't have magic, we call them Squibs, like Hogwarts' caretaker, Filch." explained the girl calmly, Ron nodding along.

"So both of you are purebloods?" Twin 'yep' echoed in return to his question.

"Although if I were you I wouldn't pay too much attention to blood status. A lot of purebloods do and they can be bigoted idiots because of it. Some even claim that muggleborns are the reason squibs appear, that they steal our magic as if inbreeding did not play a part in that." she snorted.

"Not all purebloods are like that but a lot of them are, especially when they come from old families…" added Ron before being interrupted by the door of their compartment opening.

"Did you see a toad?" The three of them shook their heads no and the boy seemed to be about to cry. "I lost him, he keeps running away…" he lamented.

"I'm sure you'll find him and if we see him, we'll bring him back to you." said Harry, the other two nodding along.

The boy thanked them and left and Ron spoke. "I don't know why he's so worried, if I had a toad I would do everything in my power to lose it. I guess I don't have much to say about pets considering I have Scabbers… " The rat was sleeping on his master's lap just like Morte on his mistress's shoulder.

"He could be dead that you wouldn't even notice…" he sighed. "Yesterday I tried to turn him yellow to make him more fun but I failed. Wait, I'm going to show you!" At that he rummaged in his trunk to find his wand.

At the same moment he brandished the old wand with the unicorn hair peaking at the end, the door of their compartment opened again, revealing the same boy but accompanied by a bushy haired girl this time around. "Did you see a toad? Neville lost his." said the girl in an authoritative manner.

"No we didn't see anything." said Ron but the girl's eyes were on his wand, not listening to what he was saying.

"Oh you were doing magic, let's see if it'll work." she said as she sat beside Angela.

Ron took a deep breath before reciting "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

Nothing happened and Angela chuckled "May I?" she asked, looking at Ron who nodded.

She drew her wand and focused on the image of Scabbers turning a bright yellow and chanted "Flavo." waving her wand at the rat who changed to the color of urine making Harry and Ron clap.

"Not quite the color I pictured but at least it's yellow."

"It's not even a first year spell." sniffed Hermione. "I didn't read anything about such a spell."

"Well I read about it in my cousin's library so if you stuck to school books you wouldn't have read about it, yes." replied Angela, curling up a bit on herself, afraid that the girl would blow off on her.

"Well I'm the first witch of my family so we don't have books on magic already. I read all of our class books so I hope it'll be enough. Oh and I'm Hermione Granger, you?"

The three of them introduced themselves, Ron nearly spitting the sweet he was eating when he heard Harry's last name. "Wait, you're Harry Potter? Do you have the… " Ron motioned for his forehead and Harry showed them the scar as Hermione told them that she had read everything about him.

"He's not some sort of exotic animal in a zoo, you know." said Angela, shaking her head and mouthing an apology to Harry who smiled at her.

"Do you know in what house you'll be sorted? I hope I'll be in Gryffindor like Dumbledore, but I wouldn't mind Ravenclaw I suppose. Oh well, we have to look for Neville's toad and you should change boys, we'll be here soon." said Hermione before leaving with Neville in tow.

"Well I hope I won't be in the same house as her." muttered Ron while Angela turned his rat back to its original color.

"Could you tell me more about the houses?" asked Harry shily and Angela smiled.

"There are four houses and students are sorted based on their personality, the houses are Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw."

"All my family went to Gryffindor so I think I will be sorted here, Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad but Slytherin…" Ron shuddered "That's where You-know-who went."

"You mean V… You-know-who went to Hogwarts?"

"Of course." replied Angela before elaborating "But there have been dark mages from all the houses you know. And good wizards went to Slytherin too, like Merlin. Gryffindor is for the brave and chivalrous, Slytherin for the cunning and ambitious, Hufflepuff are the loyal and hardworking and finally Ravenclaw are those who value knowledge the most. My cousin was a Slytherin so I might end up there but I can't really be sure. I just hope that we'll stay friends even if we're in different houses…"

Harry nodded earnestly "I promise that no matter our houses we'll stay friends!" making Angela smile and thank him before Ron started talking their ears off about Quidditch.

"So it's true, Harry Potter is here." said a drawling voice as three boys stood at the door of their compartment, the one who spoke acting as some sort of leader, introducing his friends. "Those are Crabbe and Goyle and I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

His pompous tone made Ron snigger and Draco turned to him, eyes narrowing "My name makes you laugh, uh? Red hair, second hand clothing, you must be a Weasley." He turned back to Harry. "You should be more careful with who you associate with, you'll learn that some people are worth more than others. Your parents made the mistake to associate with the wrong people and look where it led them…"

"Shut up boy." croaked Morte from Angela's shoulder making her chuckle.

"You should listen to Morte, insulting someone's friends and parents is not the way to make a good first impression."

Draco turned red and spat at her "And who are you, another mudblood or blood traitor?"

Her hair turned a dark-red shade as she put on a polite smile "Angela Schiffer."

The boy paled slightly, recognizing her name as a pureblood before taking his acolytes and dragging them away from the compartment.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Harry, completely puzzled.

"Remember how we said some purebloods are bigoted idiots? The Malfoys are an old family that values blood purity a lot. They don't even realize that muggleborns are just squib lines being revived." Angela replied, petting Morte who hopped on Harry's shoulder, preening his hair. "Oh, he likes you."

"Must be the fact that my hair looks like a bird's nest." joked Harry, making the three of them laugh heartily.

"You should really change boys, we'll be there soon and I should take my potion… ugh"

"Potion?"

"Yes, we're going to cross the black lake and I'm sea-sick so my cousin gave me an anti-nausea potion."

The boys nodded at that and she stood out of the compartment the time they needed to change in their school uniforms.