Prologue: The Road to Hufflepuff House

"See ya, Snivellus!" - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 33: The Prince's Tale

Eleven-year-old Lily Evans let the compartment door slam shut behind her, pulling her best friend along beside her as she marched angrily down the length of the Hogwarts Express.

"Of all the horrible things to say! Why should they care what House we want to be in, anyway? I know I'd rather be in Slytherin than get stuck in the same House as those stuck up jerks, can you imagine having to share a room with them?!"

To say that the redhead was unimpressed with the boys they had left behind in the compartment would have been a serious understatement, and she had no qualms about making her feelings clear. Severus Snape, hurrying along beside her, found his own anger and embarrassment at the wannabe Gryffindors' teasing begin to fade slightly as he watched her. In all his excitement over finally going off to Hogwarts, and his excitement at finally being able to openly be friends with Lily instead of hiding from their parents and the other kids at school, he hadn't realized just how great it would feel to have a friend on his side. Having someone who would stand by him, who would get angry enough at someone insulting him and the House he wanted to be in, the House his mom had been in, that she would storm out of the compartment like that for him...it was enough to make him almost forget about being called "Snivellus" for a little while.

"You know you wouldn't have to share a room with them anyway, boys and girls have different dormitories. Though I suppose you'd still have to see them in the common room," Severus looked over at Lily as he said it, hoping to prompt a smile by pretending to take her rhetorical question seriously.

"Ugh," Lily made a face, though she did seem to be calming down. "Do you think we'll have classes with them even when we're in Slytherin?"

Severus tried and failed to hold back his smile at her apparent certainty about their Sorting. He had been hoping to be placed into Slytherin ever since his mother, on one of the rare occasions when she agreed to talk about magic, had revealed that she had been a member of Slytherin House while she was at Hogwarts. She had described it as the House for clever people, for people who knew what they wanted and weren't afraid to work for it. Severus had thought that sounded wonderful, and Lily had agreed when he had told her about it the next time they had managed to slip away to meet by the river after school. The fact that Eileen Prince Snape had described the Gryffindors as headstrong brutes who were always looking for a fight, the Ravenclaws as nerds who thought they were smarter than everyone else, and the Hufflepuffs as such nonentities that no one really paid any attention to them had certainly factored into the children's thought process as well. Now, with new firsthand evidence for Gryffindors (or at least wannabe Gryffindors) being bullies, and neither Severus nor Lily aware of the unlikelihood of a muggleborn being Sorted into Slytherin House, the pair was more sure than ever that Slytherin was the place to be.

"We're still not Sorted yet, and neither are they," he cautioned, enough of a pessimist (or perhaps a realist, based on his past experiences) to suspect that nothing could ever go perfectly right for him. It would be just his luck to be placed in the House of his dreams, only to find that the rude train boy from the Slytherin family was there as well. "But I think most of the classes are divided by House."

"Oh good," Lily smiled a little, then grinned even wider as she looked through the door they were passing. "And look, an empty compartment!"

The pair quickly claimed the compartment, and spent the rest of the train ride in contented speculation about what Hogwarts would be like. Severus had already shared all of the information that he had coaxed from his mother over the years, but that didn't stop them from wondering about everything else, or from going over the information that they had already collected. Both Lily and Severus had already started reading through some of their textbooks as soon as they had gotten their hands on them, and soon they were discussing random things that they had seen there as well. Severus, who would be using his mother's old school books, was curious (and more than a little nervous) about whether there was really anything added in the fancy new editions that Lily had bought in Diagon Alley only weeks before. Neither had read all the way through their books, so they couldn't be certain yet, but by the time the train arrived Severus had been reassured that his books were not missing large quantities of information the way he had feared. And besides, as she reminded him yet again, Lily would obviously let him borrow her books if he needed them. Even to Severus, with little experience in the conventions of friendship, the idea that someone would "obviously" do anything to help their friend wasn't exactly a new one, but the idea that such a concept applied to him was odd, though far from unpleasant.

As the Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade Station, the corridor filled with students in black robes pushing and shoving as they made their way to the exits. Severus and Lily waited in their compartment as long as they could to avoid getting trampled, and soon found themselves shepherded towards a fleet of little boats along with the other first years. The crowd of students scrambled to find places in the boats, Lily and Severus ending up with two girls who giggled and whispered to each other, all four children staring with wide eyes as the castle came into view. Soon enough they made it across the lake and made their way into the castle itself, ushered along by an imposing teacher who introduced herself as Professor McGonagall. The first years, Lily and Severus among them, entered the Great Hall, lining up at the front of the room and doing their best not to look too overwhelmed by the wonder of it all. The Sorting Hat was brought forward to sing its welcoming song, and then the hall fell silent as Professor McGonagall began to call the first years forward one by one for their Sorting. One of the first to step forward was Sirius Black, who Severus and Lily recognized as the boy on the train with the Slytherin family. The Hat barely touched his head before declaring him a Gryffindor, and Severus let out a sigh of relief as Lily grinned at him.

A few more names were called, and then it was Lily's turn. Severus gave her an encouraging smile, and she made her way up to the front and sat down on the stool. Before she even put the hat on, she was already repeating her wish over and over in her head: Put me in Slytherin, I want to be in Slytherin. Slytherin, Slytherin, Slytherin.

The Hat, which had opened its mouth to sort her into Gryffindor as soon as she sat down, paused and closed it again as it registered her thoughts.

"You want to be in Slytherin? A muggleborn? There is no place for you in Slytherin, it is Gryffindor where you belong..."

No! Not Gryffindor, they're a bunch of bullies. I want to stay with Severus! Sirius Black and his friend passed through her thoughts, along with Severus and her longing for the two of them to be placed together.

"Ah, I see, it is for your friend that you hope for Slytherin," the Hat seemed to consider the odd request, "Such loyalty, to wish for an unsuitable house out of love for your friend. Yes, I think you will do very well in HUFFLEPUFF!"

For a moment Lily just sat there, stunned by the Hat's sudden declaration to the hall. Hufflepuff? She had asked for Slytherin! But Professor McGonagall was taking the Hat off her head and shooing her towards the yellow-trimmed table that cheered and clapped loudly to welcome her as she approached. Lily shot a disappointed look back at Severus, still standing among the other first years, then found a seat among her new housemates. For his part, Severus was in shock, and had no idea what to do. He watched the older Hufflepuffs smile and welcome Lily to their table, watched the Slytherins sitting coolly at their own table on the other side of the room, barely clapping for the other students and welcoming even their own new first years with significantly less enthusiasm than their yellow-clad peers. He watched James Potter join Sirius Black at the Gryffindor table, the two clearly already well on their way to being best friends, and came to his decision. He had spent years dreaming of going off to Hogwarts, learning magic, following his mother's path to Slytherin House, but what was the point of any of that if he couldn't do it with Lily? Severus made his way to the front when his name was called, and the Sorting Hat got its second surprise of the night: Hufflepuff. I want to be in Hufflepuff. You put Lily there, so you'd better put me there too.

The Hat thought for a moment, looking through Severus's thoughts. "Hmm. To cast aside your own ambitions for the sake of another, yes, you treasure loyalty above all else, do you not? I see it now, it is clear that you belong in HUFFLEPUFF!"

The boy did not even try to contain his excitement as he tore off the Hat and rushed towards the Hufflepuff table, where a beaming Lily made room on the bench for him. He slid into the seat beside her, smiling as his best friend threw her arms around him as the rest of the table clapped and cheered for their newest members. It wasn't what either child had expected when they boarded the train that morning, or even when they entered the Great Hall earlier in the evening, but as the Sorting finished and the feast began, the two friends were still grinning at each other. They may not have entirely understood or agreed with the Sorting Hat's logic, but they were together, and that was all that mattered. Little did they know just how much it truly would matter, their choice to place each other and their friendship above everything else. In this world, Lily Evans and Severus Snape ended their Sorting Feast together, happy and seated at the Hufflepuff table, and that would make all the difference in the world.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading!
This long-anticipated story (at least by me, who thought I would start posting almost 6 months ago) will be a longer one, structured into three sections of 3-4 chapters each (all of which will be longer than this prologue). The entire story is plotted out, and the first section (prologue + 3 chapters) is fully written, so it felt like time to start making it public. My goal is to post a new chapter every week, though that may have to slow down later if Real Life continues to interrupt my writing time and slow my progress on writing section two.
If you are enjoying this story, please leave a comment to let me know what you think! I love hearing people's thoughts and theories.

Edit (1/8/24) to avoid confusion for future readers: I restructured this story about halfway through writing it (after posting this chapter). It is now two sections of 6 chapters each, plus prologue, interlude, and epilogue.