-Lily-
"And that was why Severus and I were chased by Mr. Wallace's dog" Lily takes the last two mints that she has "My dad was so mad with him that my mom needed to talk him down of going to his house to give him a word or two"
Lily can see that Severus is a little angry with her for sharing the story, but at the same time she sees how Tanya and Victoria find the story funny.
"Well It's obvious that he was righteous in being mad, the dog could have hurt you pretty bad" Victoria comments "It's nice that both of you are so close, Tanya here was pretty rowdy when were knowing each other" For the first time in the hours of travel Lily finally sees the smaller girl react with some kind of embarrassment
"Visha please don't tell them that" Tanya lighty casts down her gaze to the floor, Victoria just gives her a half hug, Lily feels a little envious of how cute she looks when blushing.
"Common Tanya it has been a long time since that, it's you and me against the world since then"
Lily continues "I was pretty lonely before I met Sev, in my neighbourhood all the kids were older than me" Lily gets a little sad when she remembers that she had someone, her sister. "But since then I have never been alone" She pauses and a brilliant idea crosses her mind "Hey, can we be friends too?"
Before Tanya can answer the question someone else speaks" Lily it's possible that we would not be in the same house" Snape the silly says bitterly, Lily turns, already a little red in the face but it is Tanya who speaks first.
"I am sorry to say this, but. Are you daft Severus?" The girl says flatly, Sev takes offence at this but before he can speak Tanya lifts her hand and her expression does not give any room for disobedience "Please let me finish, Why do you think that we can not be friends just by being in different houses? Let's see if I can convince you of the contrary"
He is taken aback with this and his anger is calmed, Lily feels envy again, she has never managed to do that with him.
Sev frowns and turns his head to the window, he sees the mountains of Scotland pass outside, after a moment he has an answer, he looks Tanya in the eye and responds "Our houses probably will not take kindly to us being close"
Tanya doesn't take time to respond "It's also probable that they will be in favour, also, if Lily ends up in another house, would you stop being her friend?" It's Lily's turn to get angry now, turning around to the girl. Lily is about to give her a piece of her mind but she is beaten to speak first again.
"Of course not, that's ridiculous!" Sev raises his voice.
"Then what is impeding you from doing the same with us? Really Severus, you should know that in the next 7 years the connections you make in hogwarts are going to vital for you in the future, don't limit yourself to your house, don't cripple your opportunities before the school even starts"
At this Sev opens his mouth, he seems to speak for some seconds but he doesn't.
Victoria gives her opinion "Even if our houses don't like us being friends with you, I honestly would not care about that, I will remain your friend".
Today she has seen Sev do a lot of faces she rarely sees, the mix of embarrassment and thoughtfulness is new for her "You say that I need to not limit my opportunities, then, What would I do if my house rejects me because of that?"
"Easy, be better than them," Tanya says at the same time she eats another chocolate.
The comment floats in the air, Lily is confused with it, Severus frowns at maximum capacity and Visha just smiles.
"What do you mean by that?" Sev asks.
"The friends and connections we made in school are our choice, even if the status quo tries to limit us or if we find someone that doesn't like what we do and tries to sabotage us, we simply crush them, the easiest way is proving that we are better, either academically or socially, getting people from our year in the same boat as us would greatly help, if someone older tries to do something to us, don't worry, I have the perfect meatshield here with Visha!" She finishes this with a hand pointing at the girl mentioned, her smile is scary, Lily expects Victoria to get angry at the comment but to her surprise she just "lightly" punches Tanya in the shoulder and laughs.
"Yes Tanya of course, like you are not going to be the first to go for blood at the first idiot that tries to do that" Tanya rubs her hurt shoulder but a candid smile is in her face.
"Right" the hitted girl gets a clock out of her trouser pocket and checks the hour "Better we put our uniforms, if I am correct we almost arrive to our destination, Severus can you go out for a moment please, we are going to change"
Sev stands up "Yes of course" and the boy leaves the cabin.
-Severus-
Outside the cabin Snape is thinking, he cannot deny that the idea of being in a different house than Lily is something that has kept him awake at night, it shames him that another person told him something he should have thought since the beginning.
Turning around the idea in his head, he can see the point Tanya is making, he still is not totally on board with it, but if this makes it possible that Lily remains his friend at school, he will be eternally grateful to the girl.
The corridor is empty, and only he is outside, another door opens a pair of metres away from him, and four boys leave the cabin loudly.
"You better change fast girls, I don't know if I can keep Peter from opening the door for long" a boy with wild hair says at the same time he holds a fat boy by the neck with his arms. Some girly laughs can be heard .
"Do-don't say that James! You know that I would not do that" The already pathetic boy for Severus doesn't even try to get out of the grip.
A long haired boy laughs like he is going to faint and a scrawny boy does the same awkwardly. "Common James, don't treat your friend like that" the last one says.
"What? Ah, don't worry mate, me and Peter go way back, our mothers were friends at Hogwarts and we have known each other since we were babies, Isn't it Peter?" The boy gives a noogie to the other. "Stop James that hurts!"
They continue to be a general annoyance, so Severus stops watching them and just stares in front of him, still thinking about what Tanya proposed and he would have kept doing that but he is talked to.
"Hey you!, what are you doing?!" The boy with long hair calls him, Severus tries to ignore him but sees that the four of them are walking towards him. At the same time more and more people are getting out in the corridor, either because of the noise or for also giving the chance to others to change clothes.
"Mate, are you trying to spy on someone?, you look shady, "the same boy again.
"No, it's even worse Sirius, look again he looks horrible, who let you on this train mate? Are you the service?" The one called James smirks. And some laughs can be heard from the spectators.
Snape can feel his anger steadily rising, but he still tries to ignore them.
"Hey mate, Are you bloody stupid? Why do you not answer us?" getting even louder and closer, Severus now can see the blue eyes of what appears to be the chief of the idiots.
"I don't need to" Snape responds flatly and turns again.
"Hey James, I think what Sirius said is correct, this pervert is trying to spy on someone" the fat one says behind the other three. Some murmurs of indignation come from the crowd.
"Yes!, that's it!, he is a pervert, what else can he be? Common boys, let's teach him a lesson to not spy on people" The one called Sirius continues
Severus now is alert, he turns around and begins to prepare for trouble but the door opens.
"What is going on here?" Tanya exits the cabin and everybody goes quiet, scowling and already in her dark robes, moving her head to observe the crowd and the group of four students, Victoria and Lily behind her.
The four of them get stunned, two of them begin to look at the girls from head to toe, Tanya's scowl deepens more.
Sirius is the first to speak "Hi cutie, don't worry, we were just going to beat this pervert, you see, he was spying on you!" He seems to try to grab Severus by his clothes but Visha takes his hand before he can, a pained look appears on the boy's face.
"Hey, hey, hey take it easy babe, what are you doing?!" The face of Visha has not been this sombre. The crowd begins to mumble again.
"If that is what you think, then you are wrong, Severus is a friend and he was just waiting for us to change" Victoria says and releases the hand.
Nursing the bruising hand Sirius persists on being a moron "Damn babe you have spunk, I like that" Victoria does not react.
"He is your friend?" James laughs "Common girls he looks awful, don't you prefer to hang out with us?, we promise you that we are so much better than him"
Lily red as a tomato then walks to the front and points a finger "And being friends with a bunch of morons? No thanks!"
Then James makes a mistake.
"Common cutie don't be like that" As he gets closer, he tries to put an arm across Lily's shoulders. Several things happened after that.
He sees how Tanya basically apparates beside James, throwing a punch to his stomach, he is smashed against the corridor wall, Sirius then tries to throw a punch at Tanya direction but Visha, replicating the speed of her friend, kicks him in the chest, sending him sprawling against the other 2.
Tanya grabs the gasping boy by the hair and makes him stare her in the eye. Some older students go for their wands and seem to be going to intervene but Victoria advances and gets in the way, wand in hand, Severus cannot see her face but hears what she says "Now, now, we don't want to be hypocrites, right?" A silver mist begins to slowly fall from her wand. He doesn't know why, but the older students freeze in fear.
"Listen here you little creep, you don't touch people without consent, I don't know where you learned to be like that but let me say one single thing, If I ever know that you do something like this again, I am going to do something much much worse that punching you" She gets closer "Got it?!" she snarls.
Without even waiting for an answer she grabs him by the shoulders, and with an amazing demonstration of strength for her size, lifts him to his feet, turns him, and kicks him in the back to the other three that were trying to get up, sending them to the floor again.
"Fucking crazy bitch!" Sirius spits, but it appears that he has some instinct of preservation and doesn't get close again, he grabs a still gasping James. "You will pay for this! Let's go boys, Remus, Peter! stop doing nothing and at least help me with james"
The one it appears is called Remus just mounts a silent apology to them and the quartet of idiots finally go away.
Tanya then addresses the crow, lifting her hands to the sides, she says "Did all of you like the show?!" Her voice sounds amplified, then she smiles, it's long and toothy, and her eyes get a crazed mist on them. For some reason Severus misses a breath.
Severus is stunned, never someone had defended him like that before, Lily was almost always on his side, but getting in a fight like this? Dumbly, walking towards the two girls, he can only say one thing. "Thank you… Why?
Tanya scoffs and her smile transforms, it's candid now "I already said it, you are a friend"
-Tanya-
After a quick dressing from Severus part, the train stopped, they finally reached Hogwarts terrains, the four of them began to follow the river of students, she sees some of them watching them and gossiping, getting out, they walk a dirt path, she sees a villa a little far away from where they are walking, midway a man that cannot be another thing but a bearded half giant is hollering in a thick accent and swaying a comically big lamp.
"First years!, first years over here" Following the instructions they walk towards the giant, after a while all the other students are gone and around 600 little boys and girls are surrounding the man.
"Common boys and girls follow me" Walking behind him he takes them in another path the other students didn't follow, the paranoiac mind of hers begins to feel fear, but before she can descend in a spiral of theories about how the man was secretly planning to kill them all, she feels a hand against hers. Looking to the right she sees a smiling Visha. She calms.
After some time they arrive at the shore of a Lake, on it, there's what appears to be enough boats for all of them.
"Three on each boat, three on each boat, common whe don't have much time"
Turning to Visha she tells her "Go with Severus and Lily, I am not sure if the idiots from before are not going to do something stupid" Visha nods and gives a light squeeze to her hand.
"Severus, Lily come on let's grab a boat for us" Moving quickly, she sits in one and the other two follow.
Tanya now searches one for her, she chooses one with two other girls. They see her and get the farthest they can be from her, ah! That's so nostalgic. After all the students are seated on the boats, the giant man goes to the bigger one and sits alone. Opening his equally gigantic coat he takes out a pink umbrella, giving three touches to the front of his boat, he begins to lead the boats.
They advance in the water, the lake is weirdly shaped, and the trees at the moment block all view of the castle, only the pale light of the waxing crescent moon and the lamp of the giant reveal some details of the terrain.
After some moments the boats begin to turn, when it's her turn she gasps at what she sees.
The deadly still water is an obsidian mirror, being so far from the cities and with not a single cloud on it, the sky is alive with stars, the castle is colossal, even with the lame light of the moon it appears to be completely illuminated, the design being a mix of styles with places that are planned for a siege , the masonry detailed and grand, the towers reach heights that she knows are not possible without modern techniques, at least in her two first lives, the stone is pearly dark and is contrasted with a myriad of windows; she sees the small port they are reaching, it connects with the castle in a direct line.
After some time she gets out of the boat and reunites with her friends, walking together, they follow the man again, they climb a thousand stairs, in the way she analyses what she can see, the castle is completely clean and the walls of stone appear to be recently made, there are some flowers growing here that she has never seen before, and her mana is feeling tingly.
The small legs of Tanya are a problem for her, she would probably struggle a lot more if not for Victoria breaking how to convert the magic strengthening formulas to this magic system some years ago. She clenches her fists and exhales slowly, it still feels weird for her to be without an orb, so she still cannot activate the spell without a somatic crouch, she feels her mana travelling in her body, making muscle and bone stronger, they are lucky that if mana doesn't leave the body of the young wizard, the trace is not activated, they were able to practise magic without casting , and Visha just did the first field test of completing a complex spell in the train.
After climbing a thousand stairs more, they arrive at a big door. She sees how Lily and especially Snape are breathing hard, but Visha and Tanya don't even sweat. The giant knocks on the door seven times, and after some moments the door opens and a professional looking witch is seen. The witch appears to be young, she has a stern beauty that is rare to see, she wears a vibrant red robe and her hair is covered with a black witch hat, the cut of the robe shows some of the fit body she has without being improper, gold trimmings with lions designs, a pair of black circular glasses in her face. A very light scar crosses her face from eye to eye.
"The first years for you Professor Mcgonagall!" rumbles the giant.
"Like always, thank you Hagrid, let me take them from here".
The door opens more without prompt or touch and Tanya feels the mana of the witch disperse in the air, even for her that's impressive, she didn't even move a finger and magic just reacted to the will of the teacher. "Follow me" she orders and begins to walk in a particular direction.
Arriving at an empty chamber hall, Tanya can hear the rest of students behind a door, and Professor Mcgonagall stops and turns to address them.
"Welcome to Hogwarts, before you can go and eat in the banquet, you will be sorted into your houses, I invite you to smart yourselves as much as you can while you wait" Her eyes roam the students and Tanya notices how she lingers a few second on her group and the quartet of idiots. "If you don't behave I will personally expel you"
"I shall come for you in a moment" The witch will open the door just enough to pass without letting them see the other room. "Wait quietly" she orders before going.
Conversation immediately starts and notes of worry can be heard. Giving some merit to the students, they try to be quiet,
"What are they going to do?" "I didn't study" "I don't even know a single spell" are some of the things Tanya can discern from the commotion.
Severus and Lily don't speak, but it is obvious that they are also nervous.
"Don't worry to much guys" Visha speaks to them "I doubt that a school that teaches magic is going to ask us to do a spell in our very first day"
This seems to placate their worries, but before they can calm totally Tanya senses them before they appear.
Pure mana without body, what before she considered an impossibility appears in front of her.
30 entities pass through the door and some of the students scream. Floating and some with their cause of death explicit a conversation can be heard.
"Like I told you my dear Friar, and as you can see, the magical population is rising again, it was not even 3 years ago when you feared that the population was getting low, but see it for yourself, half a thousand of new wizardkind!" A ghost dressed as some kind of roman nobility speaks to a fat Friar.
"Yes Augustus I can see it, and my mind is calmed with it, being honest and in retrospective it seems I was too much a pessimist, by our accord I will be in charge of Peeves for a decade" The religious man says, and she analyses his clothes, even if the ghost has a monochrome grey colour the details can be seen, she observes that this man was not of Abrahamic faith, his clothes resemble a lot more of what she saw wizardkind wear in Diagon alley and the symbol of the Diccan faith, the Heptagram, is present on his robe.
The fat ghost then addresses the students "I am looking forward on what all of you do in this castle, this generation is the first of many that will be responsible of healing our world, to any that end Hufflepuff know that it was my old house and I assure you that friendship and covenant can be found there"
Before Tanya could digest all of that, the door opens again and a sharp voice sounds.
"Move along now, the Ceremony is about to start" The Stern Professor gives a last instruction before walking to the other room. "Form a line and follow me"
Not wanting to make the Professor mad, all of the students promptly follow her orders, when Tanya crosses the door, a great hall is what she sees. Roaming her gaze she notices something beautiful, there's no roof, the night sky is in its place.
Walking in the middle of four vertical tables, she sees that the students that are sitting on them have a lot space from each other and the room has at least 4000 students from what she can count in her head, for what she remembers Albion had at least 40,000 mages in the main islands alone, if one counted the colonies the number went up to 200,000, If this is Hogwarts at a low number of students she can only guess how many where here in the golden days. In the front of all, a horizontal table with what appears to be the staff, but before she can analice her future teachers a stoll is put in front of all of them. On top is an old wizard hat. Promptly It begins to sing.
In times past, in times lost,
Where conflicts brewed and hearts wept
The world turned ablaze, the skies grey,
But hope remained, a guiding ray.
Gather round, young witches, wizards,
And live my song, my ancient whispers.
For though we are marred by strife,
We seek a future full of life.
Brave Gryffindors, with valour bright,
Have faced the dark, embraced the fight.
Their courage shines, a beacon clear,
Yet dream they do of days without it.
Oh Ravenclaws, with minds so vast,
Saw through the wars, the spells they cast.
In wisdom's light, they seek the way,
To lead us to a peaceful day.
Dear Hufflepuffs, with hearts so kind,
Through conflict stood, for all mankind.
Their loyalty, a steadfast flame,
To heal the world, their noble aim.
And Slytherins, with cunning flair,
In shadows worked, with utmost care.
They strive for greater good,
To build a world where peace has stood.
For all the houses, hear my call,
In unity, we'll stand tall.
From conflict's ash, a world reborn,
In peace and love, a bright new morn.
So let us sort, with hope in mind,
To houses where your strengths we'll find.
For Gryffindor, for Hufflepuff,
For Ravenclaw, and Slytherin tough.
The hall gave a sonorous applause and in front of her she saw Lily and Severus relax, but Tanya tensed, if what she guessed was going to happen they may be in trouble, until now they had not been in a situation to test Titania's gift to them.
Professor Mcgonagall steps forward again and holds a long parchment, she pronounces.
"When I call you name step forward and sit on the stool"
Searching Visha gaze, they meet eyes, and she can see the same thought going through her head. Taking both of Visha's hands in hers, people would think that they are a pair of friends comforting each other, instead they communicate in tactile sign language.
'Run?' Visha starts.
'No, wait, see'
"Adams Angel" A brunette boy nervously steps forward and sits on the stool, after some seconds the hat screams "RAVENCLAW"
The blue table explodes in celebration and Tanya returns to her conversation.
'We. choice?' She continues
'Question, possible' Visha responds.
"Austin Mark"
'If danger, plan 14, I first, if choice, I green' Visha ends the conversation with a squish to Tanya hands.
"HUFFLEPUFF"
And names pass, Tanya remains alert, but she only takes attention to some students, she prefers to return to analyse the teachers. From left to right she starts.
First is the giant man, it's weird, Mcgonagall did not call him Professor, but he is at the table.
"Black Sirius" … "GRYFFINDOR"
The next one is man with black hair and eyes, the clothes have the same colour scheme and she notices that he is the only wearing only black, his face is marred with scars and he is drinking from a golden cup, he is in deep conversation with a robust woman besides him, the woman has a green robe with ivy trimmins.
"Evans Lily"... "GRYFFINDOR" Tanya sees severus deflate with that.
Besides them is the tiny professor that went to their orphanage, he is politely clapping for each student.
" Lupin Remus"... "GRYFFINDOR"
A red haired teacher can be heart hollering for the gryffindors, his face is jovial
"Macdonald Mary"... "GRYFFINDOR"
An obese man is drinking from a cuppa with a blushed face, it's he drinking in a school?
"McKinnon Marlene"... "GRYFFINDOR"
An old man wearing grey robes, she can see that a lot of fingers are missing from both of his hands.
"Pettigrew Peter"..."GRYFFINDOR"
At the centre, in a wooden thorene sits what appears to be the headmaster, his nose is crooked like Severus, the hair and beard cut short and silver in colour, even if his face wrinkles when he smiles, one can see that the man keeps a muscular body, he has the weirdest robes of all, purple with mustard and a pink cape, the mana she can sense from him is deep and thick, a powerful lion ready to be unleashed.
"Potter James"."GRYFFINDOR"
"Serene Victoria" Tanya stops breathing for a few seconds.
Visha confidently strolls to the stool and the hat is dropped in her head, the seconds pass, then minutes, at the mark of 5 she searches Tanya's eyes and blinks in morse code 'choice'
"SLYTHERIN" Tanya finally breathes calmly. And Severus seems to perk up a little.
"Snape Severus"..."SLYTHERIN" he finally smiles and sits beside Visha, he doesn't notice the betrayed look Lily is giving him.
At last.
"Walker Tanya" Being called, she answers, sitting in the stool the hat is put on and she can hear a voice.
'Greeting Walker, Lady Titania sends her regards' The hat speaks in her mind.
'I thought that our accord with Tatiana specified that our minds will be forever our own and that no magic could control us, and how do you know her?' Tanya has to control herself to not show anything in her face.
'Worry not, the pact is valid, I cannot review your mind like the rest, only speak with you, I swear this in my own name, to the other inquiry, a fey I am, a deal with founders was made, a path for the young I suggest ' The hat responds.
'So now what? Why did you take so long with Visha?' She inquires.
'Speak with me she wanted, to ask for Titania she did, now, I feel that you don't want the same, quickly choose'.
'Just like that?'
'Yes'.
The hat screams "SLYTHERIN" one last time.