Chapter 9: The house rules

Summary:

Gemma feels uncomfortable.

The Slytherin common room is a secret amongst Slytherins.

Salazar Slytherin and the Bloody Baron are friends.

Hermione baffles everybody.

Snape's annual speech doesn't go as smoothly as every other year.

He is sure that Hermione understood the rules perfectly...

Notes:

Hello my Darklings~

Now, now, let me remind you all that one should never kill nor maim the authors, I have in good authority that doing so, harms the story, so lets all put our weapons down...slowly.

How are y'all doing? Life has been a bit hectic, but nevertheless we persisted and we're finally here to feed the masses as zero says.

Besides, I can't wait for y'all to read the next chapter, it's not even written but it had render many laughs already.

For those who are new, welcome to our band wagon of doom, keep your hands, heads and feet inside the ride, screaming and cackling is optional but recommended.

For my returning Darklings, as per usual, happy reading!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Gemma Farley looked cautiously over her shoulder, telling herself that she was only checking if the new first years were following her and not because she was unsettled by the little witch at the end of the group staring unnervingly at the back of her head, making the hairs on the back of her neck raise causing goosebumps to run down her spine.

After the horrible tradition of singing the school song in whatever rhythm would pop into the students' heads- which the Weasleys twins made sure to drag as long as possible with an obnoxiously slow funeral march- the Headmaster dismissed everybody to go to bed, telling the prefects to lead the first years to their dormitory. Gemma asked for the new Slytherins to remain in their seats whilst the crowd of older students exited first, already knowing the way to the common room. The brunette congratulated the new batch of snakes for getting into the house after introducing herself. As a prefect, she made sure to keep tabs on the years below her, with their ever shifting leadership.

The house of Slytherin took pride in being different from the other houses, whilst the other houses' seat arrangement was a mix and match of who knew who, irrelevant of what year they were on, Slytherin had a clear hierarchy. The house of snakes usually took until the end of their fourth year to start to have some semblance of order in their positions instead of the constant battle for the leader role that happened at the beginning. Slytherin prepared them for the real world from the moment they step foot at Hogwarts, spots on the table would shift and change as they were sorted and time passed, powerful family names would always get the more powerful positions. She thought that this year it would be very competitive when she heard in the train that six of the first years that were lined up for Slytherin were from the Sacred 28.

Thankfully, Gemma was not the kind of person that delved into betting, if she was, she would have lost horribly no matter whom she bet on, because the Addams girl parked herself front and center on the leader spot and nobody was able to move her from there. Not content with it apparently, she placed the Bulstrode half blood on the seat by her side, then proceeded to stare down every single child sorted into Slytherin. The Malfoy boy, a legacy in his own right, tried to recover after they were all seated, but that just gave room for the little witch to devalue him and drag everyone else- unfortunately caught in his circle- down with him, shutting up many that had the same views of the Malfoys and effectively silencing the table as a whole.

Initially she thought that this class would be the weakest she'd seen so far, seeing how this little unknown girl was staring down so many influential noble houses, bringing them to heel without a word. However, she quickly changed her mind when the little witch turned her gaze in her direction and stared her down as easily as she did with her yearmates. It was an eerily similar feeling to when Professor Snape would hover behind her during critical moments in her brewing, silently drilling his glare into the back of her skull making her more nervous than necessary when she was trying not to ruin her potion. She did her best to not fidget under the stare of a tiny eleven year old.

As they walked down many flights of solid cold stone stairs towards the dungeons, the natural lighting from the moon quickly faded as the numbers of windows started to dwindle until they were relying exclusively on the torches hanging on the walls. Turning sharply into a hallway that closed narrowly in, where only two lines of students could comfortably stand next to each other without rubbing shoulders, they soon found themselves at the end of their trek where the foyer hall opened up on a dead end room. The ceiling was lower than the rooms and hallways they've passed before- still several feet above them- and the room was relatively empty, save for the simple pillars sculpted in gothic architecture connected to arches of the same style and a few statues of knights and mythical creatures alike that were positioned against corners and walls. Each pillar held low lit torches giving the room a cooler and darker feeling. Gemma stopped in front of a blank dark grey brick wall at the end of the room and waited patiently until the group caught up with her and spread around the room.

"Being in Slytherin is not only a privilege but an honour." She began, watching how pride bled into the children's faces and chests puffed up, she continued on whilst ignoring the black eyes watching her intently.

"This is the entrance to our common room." The witch gestured to the blank wall behind her. "Since its construction, no one but Slytherins have ever stepped through this threshold. Nor have they ever been invited in. This is the place where us snakes can relax without the judgments of others. You must never let our password slip from your lips and you must never reveal the location of our entrance. Other houses believe that our common room is located further down since there are small symbols and snake motifs leading to another location. Do yourself a favour and learn the way here as quickly as possible, the prefects won't hold your hand for too long. Now, observe."

She turned towards the wall and said 'Pureblood'. Suddenly the ground began to rumble and move. The students watched in amazement as the smooth stone on the edge of the floor that encompassed the room started to form a sculpture of a long scaled body of a snake that rose in front of the blank wall, forming a perfect archway bringing into view an ornate Verawood double door with handles made of Damascus steel, in the middle of the door sat a burnt carving of Slytherin coat of arms. The prefect made sure to inform the first years about how the password was changed every fortnight and it was posted on the notice board near the stairs leading out.

Gemma stepped up, opened the doors and walked across the threshold prompting the first years to follow her into the snake pit. Another set of spiral stairs appeared leading downwards, opening to a balcony standing over a grand heptagon like room furnished with an assort of high end furniture, ranging from oak chairs and mahogany tables to big and sturdy bookshelves made of ebony pushed against the walls from floor to ceiling, filled to the brim with leather covered tomes available to who ever fancy a spot of reading. A big antique glass chandelier hung over it all with a hundred candles illuminating the room with a warm light. At the back of the room, standed a big fireplace adorned with countless bone white real human skulls embedded into the stone work- giving off the feeling of being watched constantly- interspersed with innumerable carvings of snakes, as if the serpents kept the skulls from fleeing. By its side an archway opened for another grand room with the same attributes of the first one, but the alcoves at the back- differently from the alcoves spread around both rooms- were made of glass, giving an open view of the depths of the Black Lake.

The moon dove deep into the lake giving the room a spectacular view through the Snell's window that tinged the room in deep greenish light. Giving an eerie otherworldly feeling to the Slytherin common room. Resembling Hades' Underworld described by ancient Greeks before Christianity brought their idea of an underworld drowned in fire and brimstone that became popular with the spread of their monotheistic religion through their holy text called 'The Bible'.

A lone giant tentacle drifted by the window, disrupting the swarm of Grindylows that were diving towards the kelp forest at the bottom of the lake.

The floor of both rooms, as far as they could see, had antique Persian green rugs scattered around giving the impression of a much more sophisticated setting than just a school dorm. Gemma led the first years down into the room and let them look around curiously. Had they ventured towards the second room with a view to the Black Lake, they would have found to their left a double staircase made out of marble, leading up to two doors made of walnut wood that housed the seventh years according to the silver plaques by the side of the doors, separated by the statue of Merlin holding a staff and a tome. On the right side of the room, the double staircase was mirrored except there was a door where Merlin's statue would be, the silver plaques above each door marked the left door as the music room, the right door as the duelling room and the middle door as the library.

Between the ornate columns that sustained the ceiling and paintings littering the walls with various sceneries, the one that caught the most attention however was the big painting of a wizard in what it looks like his mid 40's, with salt-and-pepper short hair and goatee, wearing traditional dark green wizarding robes with a necklace that seemed to have two parts of some sort of leaves encased in a round purple sapphire, reading a book accompanied by a cup of tea whilst sat in this big old fashioned baroque black armchair tucked into an alcove that surveyed the common room as a whole, the frame of his portrait had dozens of tiny snakes sculpted in silver with emeralds for eyes. He was conversing in low tones with a ghost that had long curly hair and aristocratic features sporting a well trimmed beard, his torso and back covered in- now silvery- blood. He was dressed in wizarding robes with a cloak thrown over his left shoulder with a rapier sword hanging on his left hip.

"That is our founder, Salazar Slytherin." Gemma told the first years with reverence in her voice. "He only speaks with the most promising 7th years. Don't bother him, he has no interest in the lower years. If you think your family name is important enough to talk to him, then you are wrong. At best you will be ignored, at worst you will receive the tongue lashing of your life. Leave him alone until you make something of yourself and then some. Until then, you are not worthy of his time." She warned after seeing some of the children from the Sacred 28 take a deep breath to complain about their family name making them worthy.

"The ghost he's talking to is the ghost of our house, that is the Bloody Baron. He is the only one that Professor Slytherin answers consistently, even Professor Snape, our Head of House is bound to be ignored if Professor Slytherin doesn't feel like talking to him."

Whatever the Bloody Baron and Professor Slytherin were talking about, prompt them to look over the first years, surprising the prefect that in all her years at Hogwarts haven't seen the founder of their house interested in anybody, much less the first years. Professor Slytherin said something that made the Baron nod in agreement and start making his way towards them. Gemma was perplexed, usually if their House ghost didn't welcome the Slytherins during the feast, he would ignore them until the urge to greet the students would strike him fancy, whenever that was. She watched as the Bloody Baron floated unhurriedly in their direction, she turned slightly to the side- so she didn't show any disrespect to the Baron- just enough so she could keep an eye on the first years, she watched the awe on the children's faces as they stared up at the grisly sight of the ghost. His presence made the air around them much cooler than the already cold hallways of the dungeons.

Gemma looked at the Addams girl cautiously. Hermione was the only one that didn't look at the bloody mess on the Baron's clothing. Instead she made eye contact with the ghost and started making her way to the front of the group as opposed to watching from the back in silence as she has been doing since they started their trek down into the dungeons. The Bloody Baron halted his advance a few feet from the group and waited until the little witch stopped in front of him.

Severus Snape walked into the Slytherin common room expecting to be received by faces turned to his direction awaiting for his arrival and subsequent speech like every year. This time however, he was greeted by the sight of the Slytherin's House ghost floating in front of a first year with a fond smile on his face. In his 21 years of Hogwarts career- both as student and as a professor- Severus didn't remember a single day where he'd seen the Bloody Baron smiling, not even a smirk, the ghost always had a frown or a serious expression on his face. In fact, the smile made him appear even more gruesome, giving the impression that he was planning to add more blood to his already caked-on clothing. The silence that engulfed the whole common room was cut by the ghost's haunting deep baritone voice, echoing out against the stone walls.

"Good evening, Darkling."

A sharp inhale snapped Snape's attention towards the first years. Miss Bulstrode suddenly looked extremely pale with glassy eyes. Before he could assess if she was alright, he was distracted yet again by the little witch answering calmly.

"Good evening, Uncle Altair."

His thoughts screeched to a halt, and then the ghost beamed like a little kid with a chocolate frog. Most of his students were gaping, he wasn't sure if he wasn't as well, he felt like he was in a fever dream. The grin- much like the spectre himself- was completely white with a tinge of manic glee that unsettled all of those who were looking at him. Severus could feel his dinner fighting its way back up, only his immense will power kept his nausea in check. But most astonishing and boggling of all was how in Merlin's left tit, had they never known that the Bloody Baron's name was Altair? And uncle? Was the Bloody Baron an Addams? Was Miss Addams a distant relative?

"Come, Darkling. There's someone who wishes to meet you."

The ghost floated back towards Slytherin's portrait who, to Snape's continued shock, looked just as eager to meet Miss Addams. Her steps were just as silent as the floating ghost she trailed behind. As she stood in front of the portrait, Salazar smiled warmly down at her. Salazar Slytherin was the grumpiest man that Severus has ever seen- himself included-, he was always scowling and looking disapprovingly to anyone who would walk too closely to his portrait, lashing out at anybody who would dare bother him, his voice always had a grave tone of someone ready to bite the head off of the idiot that would make the mistake of pester him. And yet here he was…

"Good evening, Darkling. It's an honour to have you in my House. Welcome to Slytherin."

…Speaking to his new- and he had no doubt about it- future source of headaches, his voice was smooth and kind as if he was greeting a beloved friend. It was told that even his descendants weren't treated fairly until they proved themselves. Miss Addams, despite the privilege of talking to Salazar Slytherin, remained impassive as she nodded and responded with a 'Good evening, Great Uncle Salazar.' of her own. If Severus thought the Bloody Baron was like a kid with a chocolate frog, Professor Slytherin looked like Christmas came early and all the presents belonged to him, the man was giddy. Suddenly his mind caught up with what the little witch just said and couldn't keep the surprise off of his face, luckily for him, everybody else was too busy with their own shock to notice his.

"We have much to talk about, Darkling. How is the family?" Salazar continued smoothly, as if he was not behaving completely different from how he would normally conduct himself.

Miss Addams held her hands behind her back and casually responded with a "The world has survived us so far. I reckon it is only a matter of time though."

"I'd bet it is." Their founder chuckled. "I believe, however, that our conversation will have to wait, your Head of House looks ready to give his welcoming speech."

The bastard's eyes twinkled in mischief in his direction like Dumbledore's would often do. Only years of occlumency training helped Severus to wrestle his face back in control before all his students could turn around and witness his brief flabbergasted expression.

"Thank you, Professor Slytherin." The urge to sneer at the founder was big, especially when the portrait smiled winningly and raised his cup of tea in his direction. Severus decided to ignore him for his own mental health, apparently it was his fate to be surrounded by meddling old wizards no matter where he went.

Surveying his students, he waited until all eyes were turned in his direction as it should have been before all the theatrics from their founder and their ghost took place. He wasn't sure of the objective of it yet but he was certain it had a purpose, they were all Slytherins after all, and- even if the younger years were sometimes impulsive- everything they did had a reason. Miss Addams remained by the ghost's side in front of their founder's portrait that seemed completely unbothered that the girl decided to stay put, in fact, he seemed properly smug about it, judging by the smirk that he hid by taking a sip of his tea.

For anybody who was not Slytherin, Miss Addams was being petulant and disrespectful towards her Head of House, and above that, disdainful of her yearmates by refusing to rejoin the group. Severus, however, was Slytherin and saw clearly what she was doing, furthermore he was sure that anybody with two brain cells to rub together from his House noticed too.

After she was sorted, Miss Addams sat defiantly in the leader spot and stared down all the children from the pureblood lines into submission. When Draco- arguably the strongest candidate for leadership of their year- tried to fight back, she made sure to humiliate him and everybody inclined to agree with him. And now… now Salazar Slytherin himself landed his metaphorical hand on her head quite clearly proclaiming 'This is my favourite. None of you are worth more to me than her.' and the little witch just stood there, as stoic as ever, in front of his portrait as if she was stating 'I'll bring you all under my heel, with Salazar Slytherin's blessing. Either you like it or not.'.

Severus had noticed many of the half bloods acting much like Miss Bulstrode had, with their eyes lowered in submission, he wondered if they had had any contact with outcasts out of the magical world. He still remembers the outcasts that wandered around Knockturn Alley, hell even Spinner's End and how every once in a while he would hear them commenting about some 'crazy Addams' causing problems. He had noticed that some of the older pureblood students who had undoubtedly reached a much more advanced spot in their studies about their family's legacy- enough to learn of the existence of the Addams family and how dangerous they were- tried to position themselves behind others, not willing to attract Miss Addams attention. There were families, he knew, that had yet to suffer the wrath of being declared an enemy of the Addams and so didn't think it prudent to teach their children about them, if they ever heard about the family.

Usually those who were moronic enough to provoke an Addams until they were declared an enemy perished very quickly, and unless people tried to get in the way, only the idiot died. However when the family of said idiot tried to get in the way, they would be wiped out much like the one who brought the Addams' family anger down on them. Because of that, many lines were all but extinct, if not already gone. With enough luck there were some who got to appease the family and continue on with their pathetic lives with their line intact but forever indebted to the Addams, going as far as becoming a vassal family perpetually. Nevertheless it was obvious who had had a tangle with the Addams in the past. He hoped, for the sake of his students if nothing else, that their contempt were born from ignorance and not arrogance.

Hell hath no fury like an Addams scorned. They were dangerous beings, they lived and died by their family motto and what a motto it was. The Addams were very tolerant with fools, Severus knew, it was hard to push an Addams beyond their limit, they were taught just as much of restraint as how to inflict damage since very young. However once that limit was crossed, it was like stirring up a hornet's nest, running and hiding meant nothing, all the person could do was pray that their death was quick. The Addams descend over their enemies like a murder of crows, devouring them until nothing else is left, body and knowledge destroy. Snape previously was not sure if Salazar Slytherin knew any Addams during his lifetime, now he was certain that Slytherin's philosophy of standing together against anybody who would try to hurt one of them came from the way the Addams protected one another. Especially with Miss Addams calling him 'Great Uncle.', a headache started to form behind his eyes.

"Welcome to your home for the rest of your school career. Here you will make connections that will last you for the rest of your life and if you are a true Slytherin, those connections may continue through your descendants." He began. "In case you don't know, my name is Severus Snape, I am your Head of House and the master of potions at Hogwarts. As your Head of House, I am responsible for your general health and safety. However, not all your problems are my problems as well. If you need assistance, before coming to me, be sure to consult the prefects, if they can't resolve your issue or counselling you on how to resolve your issue, only then you should come to me. In Slytherin, nobody will hold your hand or carry you through your hurdles, you are responsible for your actions and the consequences that come with them."

He paused long enough to let his words sink in. The older students nodded respectfully, agreeing with him. Most of the first years seemed eager to have this kind of independence and freedom to do however they pleased so early in life after being under their parents' scrutiny since birth, taught how to stand, how to walk, how to sit, how to eat, how to talk and breath. Others seem to understand what he actually meant. If they get themselves in trouble, they better get themselves out of trouble as well, their Head of House won't let any of them hide behind him for frivolous reasons.

"During the first week of classes, all of you will go to the hospital wing and have Madam Pomfrey give your general health checkup. To avoid crowding the hospital wing all at once, there will be a time and date in your schedule when you receive it during breakfast tomorrow. I will know if you don't go, and if that happens I will accompany you…personally." He glared at some of the students that had previously tried to escape the health check he had put in place since he became Head of House, as usual they tried to blend more with their housemates to escape his gaze. He wished that someone had done that for him when he was a student. Since most of the students from Slytherin were purebloods, it was not possible to remove them from their families in case of abuse, for this reason, Snape decided to spend extra time teaching them how to brew healing and pain potions so they could care for themselves one way or another without having to risk more wrath from their parents for asking for help.

"First years will be called individually to my office for their first health check where Madam Pomfrey won't be obliged to add whatever is found into your personal folder in the hospital wing. Make sure to leave your nights free until the end of the week and be in the common room after dinner so I can find you easily." Looking over the first years he saw many shoulders sag in relief. He suppressed the urge to sigh in dismay, it seems every year the numbers of abused children just increased, mostly from death eaters families. It appears this year he would have to host his medical potions classes earlier.

"Slytherin House has a few rules put in place to help you stay as safe as possible outside the common room. First and foremost, outside of these walls you are an united front. Slytherin is not seen kindly by the other Houses, Gryffindors especially feel the need to humiliate us, simply because we were sorted into Slytherin. Therefore I don't care if you are mortal enemies or someone stole your sugar quill, the moment you step outside this common room you will behave as friends and support one another against those that would see you fall." The older years would never forget when they learned that their Head of House spoke the truth, the hard way. But they learned those valuable lessons and they have stayed with them to this day about the importance of unity amongst them. Severus continued.

"Your personal problems with each other can and will be solved within the confines of this House, or, if it reaches a point where dialogue can't resolve a conflict, it can be hashed out in the duelling room located at the right door on the right side of the next room. The other Houses won't be so kind to you so you WILL watch each other's backs." He made sure to drive his point into their thick skulls, glaring at every single student of his, from the first years to the seventh. Severus knew well about how harsh the other houses could be, despite Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs not being direct bullies, they chose to step back and watch. Saying that not choosing a side was better as if their inaction wasn't still a choice. They chose not to help, they chose to resign themselves to not get involved and just watch. Allowing Potter and his band of miscreants to bully him mercilessly, more often than not, four to one.

"The second rule of Slytherin is that we will not tolerate substandard grades. You will do your best to keep your grades up, you will read at least two chapters ahead of all the books before classes. Do not give any sort of ammunition to the other Houses to ridicule us. If you find yourself having difficulty following the classes, ask a classmate for assistance, if your classmate isn't able to help you satisfactorily, ask for an upper year to help. Try to avoid bothering the fifth and seventh years, they have their O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s this year and need peace so they can concentrate and study for their exams." He knew that that kind of warning put more pressure on the sixth years since the younger years would not hesitate to heed to his warning, but it was good preparation for the real world. It would help them to mature fast as well, having more responsibility suddenly being pushed on them. He'd seen the effects of how conducting that policy reflected in the seventh years, they almost always ended up as more matured and rounded people ready for facing the challenges of life.

"And last but not least." He stared down every first year, none of them couldn't sustain his gaze. None but one. He locked eyes with Miss Addams. "Since the other Houses relish in our misery, as Head of House I promise I'll try my best to protect you. But I won't be able to if you are the cause of the problem, so you better behave and not bring me trouble, am I understood?"

He thought he saw a flash of amusement in Miss Addams eyes, she clearly understood what he meant. Real rule number three of Slytherin: Do not get caught. A Slytherin must be cunning and resourceful, it's not very cunning getting caught red handed especially if it's of your own device. Glancing at the rest of the first years showed him that most of them also understood. Slytherin children were always the most difficult to guide, not because they were completely unpredictable, that title belonged to the Gryffindors thank you very much.

Slytherin children had an innate ability of reading between the lines and their conversations tended to get more ambiguous as they grew older. One could never take their words at face value, especially when they were plotting.

Where Hufflepuffs tended to be loyal to those they considered worthy of their loyalty and fiercely protected them, Slytherins were possessive and once they sank their fangs into someone, that person better be loyal to them because the consequences of betraying a Slytherin were heavy, and Slytherins had long memories.

Where Ravenclaws were incredibly intelligent and endlessly creative, even when their passion towards a subject ended up being a detriment to their well being and/or other studies, Slytherins would hoard they knowledge and use it to help them reach their objectives academically or otherwise, if they had to go over others to fulfil their ambition so be it.

Where Gryffindors were forthright and didn't hesitate to take action no matter how dangerous to themselves the situation they were diving head first could be, Slytherins were more evasive with their intentions and tended to value self preservation above walking into fire without any sort of plan or protection.

Every interaction in Slytherin could be a political move, of course, that didn't mean that genuine friendship and conversations didn't occur amongst Slytherins. Severus' friendship with Regulus Black was as genuine as it could get and he met Lucius Malfoy through Regulus' cousin Narcissa Black who was betrothed to Lucius at the time, however he couldn't deny that being friends with both the Black and Malfoy heirs helped him getting an apprenticeship in potions and he became one of the youngest masters potioneer out there.

He informed the students about the curfews for each year, the first two years still needed more sleep than their older counterparts so even though a lights out wasn't issued, they were to be in the common room at 8:30pm, third and fourth years had until 9:30pm, fifth and sixth years had to be in at 10:30pm, and the seventh years had until 11:30pm with exceptions made for prefects and Head Boy or Girl. Severus also reminded them that first years were not to be challenged to the duelling room, whilst it was true that any problem could be harsh out in the duelling room, unless it was amongst themselves or the first years challenged someone from the older years, nobody was to challenge them to a duel.

After making sure that everybody had absorbed everything he said, Snape told the prefects to show the first years the dorms and bid everybody good night, he looked over the students- who started to spread around the common room once again with some going into the dorms- and turned around, exiting Slytherin with billowing robes in his wake in the direction of his quarters. He would take advantage of all the peace he could get now, he had the feeling it wouldn't last long.

Notes:

Well, at least Snape knows he has to enjoy all the peace he can get now, hopefully his hair won't turn grey sooner than it should.

I wonder how sad Poppy felt when she was treating Severus when he was a student and not being able to do anything about his home life. Pretty sure she's proud of him though, setting up them all to be checked up, and you bet all your money that Snape makes them behave or else...

Btw Darkling is how Addams children are referred too, and I'm just giving it away because I've decided that y'all are my Darklings now, live with it.

See you next chapter, Darklings~