XIV: Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor

Thanks go to JKR, for creating the HP universe, to my beta Apple Blossom and all you lovely readers.

Chapter XIV: Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor

Severus and Eydis were just about to finish their breakfast in the garden when a somewhat ruffled barn owl dropped a letter onto the girl's plate. There was no mistaking the seal. It was her Hogwarts letter.

Dear Miss Snape,

Deputy Headmaster

Eydis looked up from her letter and grinned. 'Daddy, are you seriously telling me that I am supposed to write a reply, go down to the post office, pick an owl, pay it, and then send the poor animal for a two minutes' flight to Hogwarts, when you are the Deputy Headmaster and sitting about one and a half feet away from me?'

'Yes, Eydis, this is exactly what you are supposed to do.'

'You're kidding, right?'

Severus cocked an eyebrow at his daughter, and she rolled her eyes – if only inwardly. Of course he was not kidding. Severus Snape did not kid, on principle. And Eydis knew that very well.

'And when you have sent off the owl with your reply,' Severus went on, 'we are going to discuss your living arrangements and lay down rules on how you and I are going to interact while you are a student at Hogwarts.'

'My living arrangements and rules on how you and I are going to interact while I am a student at Hogwarts?' Eydis repeated. 'What do you m...'

Once more, Severus' left eyebrow shot up, and that was enough to silence his daughter. 'When did I say that we are going to discuss this?' he asked.

'When I have sent off the owl, sir,' Eydis replied in a low tone, scowling slightly.

And Severus smirked. 'Precisely, Miss Snape. Now off you go.'

~ ~ ~

When Eydis returned from the post office, Severus was still sitting in the garden. But the breakfast table had been cleaned, and he was reading a book. And Eydis took her seat opposite him, looking at her father in anticipation.

Severus did not seem to be in a hurry, though. When he had finished his chapter, he paused for a few moments to contemplate what he had just read, and then he closed the book and carefully laid it down. Then he put his elbows on the edge of the table, clasped his hands in front of him and leant slightly forwards, his beetle black eyes on his daughter.

'At Hogwarts,' he started in a grave tone, 'I am not your father, Eydis. I am your teacher, your Deputy Headmaster and – possibly – your Head of House. You will address me as Professor Snape or sir, and I will address you as Miss Snape and treat you as I treat any other student. Is that understood?'

Eydis nodded and grinned. 'Yes, Professor Snape, sir.'

That cheeky little witch! Severus tried to scowl at his daughter but failed miserably. Instead an amused sparkle appeared in his eyes.

'We still have seven weeks, little one,' he said, his tone suddenly not so grave anymore. 'And until the first of September, I would very much like you to call me Daddy.'

~ ~ ~

Severus knocked at the half-open door and peeked into his daughter's room.

'Dinner is ready, little one,' he announced. 'Are you coming?'

Eydis was sitting on her bed with her back against the wall, hunched over something Severus could not see. She did not seem to have heard him.

He took a step over the threshold. 'Eydis?'

This time, she did hear him. Slowly, she turned around to look at her father, a slight frown on her face.

Severus raised his left eyebrow. 'Is something the matter?' he enquired.

'No,' Eydis replied in a tone that suggested that her thoughts were far, far away. 'I've been reading.'

Severus stepped closer and saw that Eydis was holding onto Cassandra's album. It was getting thicker by the week: new pictures appeared almost every time Eydis opened it, new writing materialised on hitherto empty pages, and new pages filled out the cover. The older Eydis got, the more questions she had. And she found the answer to most of them in her mother's work.

When had Cassandra written down all these things, Severus wondered. And how had she been able to foresee all the questions her daughter would have? It was almost uncanny at times, and Severus had seriously started to consider the possibility that Cassandra was still there, that it was her ghost who was filling the pages in the album.

'And what have you been reading about?' he asked.

Eydis moved closer towards the foot end of her bed, beckoning him to sit down and join her.

'I am wondering which House I will be Sorted into,' she explained.

Severus nodded. In less than a week, Eydis would start her education at Hogwarts. And despite her having grown up in the castle, everything would change now. Everything would be new. It was only natural for her to be getting nervous.

'Has your mother been able to answer your question?' he asked.

Eydis' frown grew deeper. 'Actually, she said it would not matter. She wrote that all the Houses are equal, and that I should follow my heart when the Sorting Hat asked me where I wanted to belong.'

'I see. Then which House have you chosen for yourself?'

Eydis shrugged. 'I don't know. I feel like I don't fit in anywhere. What does that make me, a Hufflepuff?'

Severus snorted. Just how wrong did the words Snape and Hufflepuff sound in one sentence?

'No, little one,' he said, shaking his head. 'I do not think Hufflepuff House is where you belong.'

'Where would you put me, Daddy? If you were to Sort me?'

Severus pondered her question for a moment. 'You are an intelligent girl,' he started. 'You study hard and enjoy learning new things. You would make a fine Ravenclaw. But you are also ambitious and stubborn enough to fit in Slytherin House.'

'Not Gryffindor then?'

'Over my dead body!' The sentence had escaped Severus before he had been able to stop himself, and he bit his tongue when he saw the grin on his daughter's face.

'Mummy really knew you well,' she said. 'She anticipated a reaction like that.'

Severus cocked an eyebrow as Eydis shoved the album into his hands. Sure enough, there is was, Cassandra's handwriting in blue ink on white parchment: Gryffindor House values courage and daring. And although I am convinced that you will grow up to be a brave and courageous girl, I advise you to take off the Sorting Hat quickly should it put you into Gryffindor. Your father might just incinerate it.

'What's wrong with Gryffindor House?' Eydis enquired.

'There is nothing wrong with Gryffindor House per se, little one. And many great witches and wizards have been Gryffindors,' Severus started, not really sure how much he was supposed to say – or rather, how much he was supposed to omit. 'But, unfortunately, Gryffindors have the tendency to be somewhat full of themselves.'

Eydis' grin grew broader. 'Then that's why James Potter has been Sorted into Gryffindor.'

Severus barely managed to hold back a sour comment. Yes, Harry Potter's oldest son had certainly been Sorted into Gryffindor for good reasons: his head was just as inflated as his father's and grandfather's had been. And he had inherited their talent for trouble and mischief as well. And Severus had to admit that he'd rather see his daughter be Sorted into Hufflepuff than the same house as James Sirius Potter.

~ ~ ~

Severus had been pacing the Entrance Hall for almost half an hour. He knew very well that the Hogwarts Express did not arrive at Hogsmeade Station before six o'clock and that it would take Hagrid at least twenty minutes to take the first-years over the lake. But still he was already there in the Entrance Hall, waiting anxiously.

Two years earlier, when he had welcomed new students to Hogwarts for the first time, he had taken a different approach. He had let Hagrid guide the children into the Entrance Hall, and then he had swooped down on them, striding down the stairs, his black robes billowing behind him. They had paled and huddled closer together, and even the ever so cocky James Potter had taken a step backwards. And Scorpius Malfoy had casually disappeared behind the backs of his two gorilla-like friends. Severus, however, had not even blinked, but had welcomed the first-years to their new home in a low and drawling tone, had seen the children recoil and had enjoyed himself immensely.

But this year, he lacked the peace of mind for that kind of power game.

He had started to feel uneasy the moment he and Eydis had arrived on Platform nine and three-quarters. The girl had flung herself into James Potter's arms the moment she had caught sight of the boy. Yes, the two had been best friends since they both had been toddlers, and they had not seen each other the whole summer, but that did not justify Eydis throwing herself at Potter in such a way. And in addition to that, Potter had held onto her for a little too long. At least, that was Severus' opinion. And heavens only knew what they had been up to on the train.

He crossed the Entrance Hall once more, trying to shake off the uncanny pictures that were creeping into his mind: Eydis wearing a beautiful white wedding dress, Eydis smiling at him from the end of the aisle, Eydis promising her everlasting love to James Sirius Potter!

'Get yourself together, man,' Severus muttered under his breath, silently wondering if all fathers felt that way about their daughters. Did they all want to throw Crucios at any potential boyfriends? Or was it just him? Or was it just because that potential boyfriend was a Potter?

Potential boyfriend. If he thought about it, Severus had to admit that the idea was rather ridiculous. Eydis was eleven, just a little child. Surely, she was not thinking of James Potter as a potential boyfriend. Or was she? Merlin's beard, the girl had threatened with marrying Potter already at the age of three!

Severus would have crossed the Entrance Hall yet once more and would probably have thrown a hex at any random object, had not the heavy oak door swung open, and Hagrid had waltzed in, followed by the first-years. And so Severus shook off his qualms and stood tall, glaring down his nose at the nervous-looking children, his best scowl on his face.

'Welcome to Hogwarts,' he began in a low tone. The silence among the children was so absolute that there was no need to raise his voice. One could have heard a pin drop onto the flagged stone floor, and one could certainly hear the nervous rumbling of certain bellies.

'Before you are allowed to sit down and enjoy your first meal here at Hogwarts, you will have to be Sorted into your Houses. These are Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. I am certain that each and every one of you has already pondered the question of where you belong, and many of you will already have come to a conclusion. But let me assure you that the Sorting Hat's decisions are often unfathomable to say the least. You might be in for a surprise.

'Your House will be like your family for the next seven years. Everything you do will reflect on your House: achievements will earn you House points, rule breaking will make you lose them. Those of you who happen to be Sorted into Slytherin House will do well to think twice about losing points. I rather enjoy having the House Cup on the mantelpiece in my quarters, and I would hate to give it up. And you will hate to be the one to be responsible for it.'

Then he turned on his heel and led the first-years into the Great Hall. And although he had not once looked directly at Eydis, Severus knew that his daughter was smirking.

~ ~ ~

Why could Eydis not have her mother's last name, Severus wondered. If her last name were Black, she would already have been Sorted, and he would be able to relax. But her last name was Snape. S-n-a-p-e. There were only six other first-years whose last names were even further down on the alphabetical list, and that meant that Severus had to put the Sorting Hat on thirty-four students before it was Eydis' turn.

Sanders, Sellers, Sikes, Smith, Smythe. Severus smirked at the little Smythe girl. Why had he ever agreed to carry such a ridiculous last name when he had been living on Iceland? Smythe! For Merlin's sake!

'Snape, Eydis.'

Several people craned their necks to get a better view. Of course, the Sorting of the daughter of Severus Snape was an interesting matter. Would she follow in her father's footsteps? Or her mother's?

The little one was smiling as she stepped forward. She did not seem half as nervous as her peers did. But then she was the only one who knew that the scowl on the Deputy Headmaster's face was just for show.

Severus did not smile back at his daughter. It wouldn't have been professional. But when she sat down on the four-legged stool, he saw her small hands shake. And after he had put the Sorting Hat on her head, he could not resist letting his hand brush against her shoulder. Swiftly, furtively, hoping that no one had noticed.

The Sorting Hat seemed to take ages to come to its decision. Surely everyone else had noticed that, too. And Severus absentmindedly wiped his hands at his robe just to quickly clasp them behind his back seconds later. Since when did he get sweaty hands? That was totally unheard of.

Finally, the Sorting Hat announced its decision: 'Slytherin.'

Severus felt his lips curl into a smile, but he never let it happen. Instead, he nodded almost unnoticeably at his daughter as he removed the Sorting Hat from her head. She would do well in Slytherin House. She was certainly ambitious and stubborn enough to make Salazar proud. And her father as well.

It wasn't until Eydis had arrived at the Slytherin table and he saw her shake hands with Scorpius Malfoy that Severus started to think that maybe – just maybe – there might be trouble ahead.