Arrivals and Departures

Author's Note: This chapter and the next are really like two parts of the same chapter, but most of the archives get a little glitchy when you go over 10,000 words in a chapter, so I've split them up. (Plus, I, uh . . . haven't written the other half yet . . . >_> )

And I'm terribly sorry about the delay but I completely fail at commas.

Severus Snape yelped and fell backward over his trunk, slamming the back of his head into the hard train platform. He lay there for a moment, dazed, before shaking his head to clear it and scrambling unsteadily to his feet. Taking aim at his attacker, he let loose a vicious Blasting Hex which hit true, but his attacker's friend let loose a Jelly-Legs Jinx that caused him to trip again. He fell forward over the trunk this time and slammed his face into the platform, managing to break his nose, give him a fantastic black eye, knock two of his teeth loose and split his lip for the trouble. His eyes watered from the repeated blows to his head. His nose and mouth dripping blood and tears streaming down his face, Severus leapt up fired off two Jelly-Fingers Jinxes followed by two Sponge-Knee Jinxes and was just about to bind the hapless miscreants to the rail when he heard a surprised voice shout, "I say! Did that first year just cast that spell?"

His head reeling, he spun around, glaring from between his puffy and watering eyes to face the new threat. He held his wand at the ready, spitting blood out of his mouth and sniffing in a vain attempt to reduce the blood flow from his streaming nose.

"What . . . is going on here?" drawled a much older boy in shiny and flowing black robes with very detailed green and silver embroidery on them. He was tall, with blond hair and a very pointed face, and spoke with the authority of one who is used to being obeyed. He had a green and silver badge pinned to his chest which bore a large "H".

Severus turned his head to the side to spit out another mouthful of blood and sniffed fruitlessly again.

"Lookit 'im, James, the pathetic crybaby!" laughed a dark-haired boy lying on the platform, who was pawing uselessly at his wand. Severus whirled around to scowl at him again, his own wand still raised.

"There will be no dueling on the station platform; put down your wand," the older boy ordered. "And five points from all of your houses for each of you once you get Sorted."

"Sirius!" snapped a beautiful blonde girl to the immediate right of the older boy. "Get off the floor! And stop starting trouble. You've already lost points for Slytherin house, and you're not even IN it yet!"

"He started it?" the older boy demanded. "You are certain, Narcissa?"

"Yes...I saw the whole thing. And who is this one, Lucius?" the girl called Narcissa asked, indicating Snape. "He is quite talented, but he doesn't look familiar."

Snape spat again; his mouth kept filling with blood. He didn't speak, figuring that saying such a sibilant name with a mouth full of blood would probably be considered rude.

The boy called Lucius, no longer distracted by the dialogue, aimed his own wand at the bleeding boy in front of him. Alarmed, Severus stepped back (mindful of the trunk this time) and, with a precipitous glower, raised his own wand and conjured a shield. "I am going to heal your face, silly boy," the older boy said, lowering his wand all the same.

Snape looked at him for a few moments, eyes darting across the blond boy's face. Turning to spit out yet another mouthful of blood, he lowered his wand and his shield. Taking that as assent, Lucius raised his wand again and cast a double-strength Episkey at the younger boy. Shaking his head and spitting a final time, Severus looked at him and mumbled a thanks.

"Since you did not start this, you will lose no points for your house. My name is Lucius Malfoy, and I am Head Boy. This is my girlfriend Narcissa Black. Narcissa, take him to our carriage while I deal with these other miscreants," he said, wheeling off with fire in his eyes.

"Come on," Narcissa said kindly.

"I do not wish to intrude," Snape said, feeling incredibly uncomfortable.

"Nonsense," she said, smiling broadly at him. "Besides, I have to help you clean your face. I'm sure Lucius would like to speak with you, as well, as soon as he's done with his duties."

Severus saw no alternative and certainly none that was attractive. Shrugging, he followed the blonde and dragged his trunk behind him.

"Hang on," she said, chanting "Locomotor Trunk!" The trunk levitated into the train and onto the luggage rack which hovered above the upholstered seats.

They took seats in the car. "Will you let me clean your face?" Narcissa asked, and Severus just nodded. He watched silently and not a little apprehensively as she raised her wand, softly casting Tergeo on his soiled skin. It was warm and soothing, and he closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation.

"Thank you very much," he said, speaking slowly and carefully around his loose teeth.

"Is there something else wrong?" she asked, frowning at him. He shook his head no, truly not wanting to draw any more attention to himself.

"Why are you holding your mouth like that, then?" she frowned.

"My teeth are loose," he mumbled.

She made an angry clucking noise with her tongue but raised her wand again, and he felt his teeth firmly cement themselves back into his jaw. He prodded them a bit with his tongue and then gave her a small smile. "Thanks."

"I apologise for my cousin. His parents were far too lenient with him, I believe," she replied.

"Your cousin?" he asked, confused, but grateful for the conversation because it gave him something besides his relatively opulent surroundings to focus on.

"The boy who attacked you. Sirius Black," she said with an eye-roll, "is my first cousin." She sighed. "So much for superior breeding," she said with a grin.

Snape smirked slightly.

"I didn't get your name?"

"Severus Snape, miss," he replied formally.

She laughed, a beautiful trill. "You don't have to be all that formal, silly. Just call me Narcissa." Snape nodded, not really wanting to speak. He'd seen more people in the past hour than he'd seen in the past two months and was feeling a bit overwhelmed.

At that moment the refreshments cart came by, pushed by an elderly witch sporting a pointed hat. Severus thought she looked ridiculous. His wizard relatives never wore those hats. "Anything from the trolley, dears?" she asked in a tone that made want to him grind his teeth.

"Yes, please. Pumpkin Juice, Pumpkin Pasties and Cauldron Cakes, please," Narcissa replied.

"Two?"

"No, three . . . Lucius will be joining us soon."

"No, no, I am fine, thank you," Severus protested. He was unwilling to be in the debt of people he didn't know any more than he already was, and he didn't have money to squander.

"No, it's all right, this is a tradition for us," Narcissa said, turning to him in obvious alarm. "Please . . . ?"

"No, I'm fine. Thank you, though," he insisted.

Narcissa turned back to the witch pushing the trolley. "Two, then, I guess," she shrugged, paid the witch a whole Galleon. It was far more than the quoted price, yet Narcissa waved off the change. Severus looked on, trying to suppress his jealousy.

Not a minute later, Lucius Malfoy walked in. "This is Severus Snape, Lucius," Narcissa said, delighted at his appearance. Snape rose to greet him, but Lucius indicated he should be seated even before he started to rise, giving Severus the impression people frequently leapt to their feet when he entered a room. The older boy's cold grey eyes took in the scene in the compartment, and he turned to level a demanding glare at Narcissa. "He didn't want anything, Lucius...I DID offer. I'm not completely unmannered, you know," she admonished.

Lucius turned to him and fixed him with a quelling look. "Ridiculous. You'll eat with us," he insised and swept from the cabin after the trolley, returning shortly with another round of refreshments. As they were already paid for, Severus could hardly protest.

"So," Lucius began as they sat to eat, "Do you know which house you'll be Sorted into?"

"My family tradition is Ravenclaw," Severus hedged, hoping that would not offend his two new friends. He'd guessed by the older boy's attire that he was in Slytherin, and the girl had intimated that she was as well. "My cousin Broderick Bode was Head Boy," he offered, trying to distract them from his half-Muggle parentage. He remembered little of his mother, but that she had married a Muggle was obviously not well-thought of in some circles, and he daren't jeopardise his standing so soon.

"Ah, I remember him," Lucius replied with a pleasant look on his face. "That was my first year at Hogwarts. They always give us a run for our money, the Ravenclaws. In fact, this year the Head Girl is a Ravenclaw. It's a good House to be Sorted into. You certainly appear to have the intellect for it, although I obviously prefer Slytherin, and we'd be delighted to have you," Lucius replied with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Severus smiled politely back.

"The classes are set for the first three years, right?" he asked, knowing the answer but desperate not to fall into an awkward silence.

"Two," Narcissa offered. "Then you can start taking electives, or drop classes you don't like, at least to a certain extent. Although, dropping classes that early on means you have to have a fairly good idea what you want to do after you leave school. It's better to take more classes; that way you have more options."

"I'm taking almost all of them," Lucius said. "Except," he said with a sneer, "Muggle Studies."

"Are there any classes that I shouldn't take?" Severus ventured cautiously.

"That depends entirely upon your interests. Divination can be pretty stupid, but it's usually an easy grade, at least up until the OWL and NEWT testings," Narcissa replied. "By that point, you have to have actual talent, but in the beginning, just being able to recite the basics will work. History is a complete bore. It's taught by a ghost, the excitement of which you will get over in the first ten seconds of his opening lecture." Lucius snickered appreciatively. "Nobody but the most devoted take that after fifth year. Honestly, a number of us make it a habit to skive off the class because we learn more when we teach each other than we do in the lectures. Astronomy is all right if you're into that sort of thing. It has some interesting practicals even if it does mess up your sleep and study timetable. Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology can be very interesting, but," she said with a frown, "they can also be very messy. I don't like Potions, because they are noxious," she said with a wrinkled nose. "Defence is a joke." Severus raised his eyebrows at this. This pronouncement went completely contrary to his own opinions of the topic. "Well, there's a new teacher every year, each less competent than the last. To make matters worse, there's absolutely no continuity to the curriculum. Merlin only knows how any of us pass our OWLs," Narcissa explained.

"Dumbledore should learn to accept qualified teachers when they offer for the position," Lucius muttered derisively. Snape's eyes flickered to him . . . This sounded like an interesting story.

"Charms and Transfiguration are required courses till the end of fifth year and are fairly interesting and very useful. I'm not taking Arithmancy or Ancient Runes, but Lucius is," Narcissa concluded, ignoring the interruption.

"And how do you find them?" Severus enquired of Lucius politely.

"Interesting, but very challenging. I'll show you my textbooks if you like."

Severus shook his head. "Thank you, but there will be no need...my mother took both of those classes, and I have seen her books." The couple exchanged an impressed look.

"Are you planning on taking them, then?"

"Hm." Severus thought about how to respond to that for a moment while he sipped at his pumpkin juice. He wasn't used to drinking anything so cold. It hurt his teeth, and he wasn't sure he liked the flavour all that much. "I haven't decided yet. I don't want to make decisions about a curriculum I'm unfamiliar with."

"Are you sure your family are Ravenclaws, Severus? That was a very Slytherin answer," Lucius laughed in appreciation as the countryside raced by outside the window. Severus merely shrugged, wishing neither to commit himself nor to offend.

"You must tell me," Lucius said engagingly. "Where did you learn to duel? Did Bode teach you? I remember him being more the academic than exceptionally athletically gifted, and you have good reflexes."

"Ah, no . . . We are not close. My father taught me the spells, but I taught myself to duel," he hedged.

Lucius' eyes widened in appreciation. "We'll make a Slytherin of you, yet!"

"I was wondering if you could explain something to me, please?" Severus asked, his casual tone belying his nerves. Lucius nodded. "If Slytherin is the house of the pure-bloods, then why wasn't Broderick sorted there?"

"Slytherin is the house of ambition. There are pure-bloods amongst all the houses, and not every Slytherin is a pure-blood . . ."

"Don't tell my sister that!" Narcissa interrupted with an eye roll.

" . . . although I am fairly certain Mud...ahem, excuse me, 'Muggle-borns' are precluded from being sorted into Slytherin, " Lucius concluded with an eye-roll, ignoring Narcissa's interruption.

"You have a sister that goes to Hogwarts?" Severus asked her politely.

"Well, my sister Andromeda is in Lucius' year, and my sister Bellatrix graduated two years ago. But I was talking about Bellatrix...she's a zealot."'

"Now, now, Narcissa . . . It is not nice to talk about . . . your sister . . . in that way . . . " Lucius admonished, although it appeared from his expression that he really wished to say something else.

"Well. She IS! She won't even speak to Andromeda, Lucius, her OWN blood!" Narcissa insisted, a flush climbing her pale cheeks.

"Andromeda is disgracing herself...and her family...by consorting with that Mudblood...and a Hufflepuff to boot! And since when has the Noble and Ancient House of Black approved of such behaviour within its ranks?" Lucius demanded. The couple seemed to have forgotten Severus utterly in their argument.

Narcissa rolled her eyes again. "We played together when we were children, Lucius. When Mother and Father went on holiday and left Bella in charge, Bella got sick, and Andi nursed her back to health AND took care of me and never bothered Mother or Father about it. I just think that should count for something! Let her use the Mudblood for fun...it's not as if she's going to marry him!" she said defiantly and turned to look out the window with a derisive sniff.

"So," Lucius continued, turning back to Severus as if nothing were amiss. "Sirius Black tells me that the altercation on the platform started because you were defending the honor of that Mudblood."

"Mudblood?" Severus asked in abject confusion, wondering how on earth Andromeda's boyfriend got dragged into the conversation. He wouldn't even recognize the boy on sight. Nor, for that matter, would he recognize Narcissa's sister. Either of them.

Lucius affixed him with a severe glare. "The redheaded girl, with the green eyes?"

Oh. Lily. "Yes?"

"She's a Mudblood. Born to Muggles. No wizarding blood whatsoever," Lucius explained with a scowl on his face as if every word were a disgrace.

Snape blinked. "Oh. I, ah, I didn't know. I met her on Diagon Alley, and she was quite nice to me, unlike those two boys. Although I confess, I only spoke to her for a minute or so. Her ancestry didn't come up at all."

"Was she with the Deputy Headmistress?" Lucius demanded.

Snape thought about it, forcing his mind to remember walking into Ollivander's and the subsequent introductions. "Come to that, I believe she was. Why?"

Lucius made a noise of disgust. "For future reference, only the Mudbloods are escorted to Diagon Alley by the Deputy," he sneered with a derisive look.

Snape thought fast. "Ah. I did not know that. I was there with the Headmaster and so thought nothing of it."

Narcissa's head whipped back to him, belying her assumed indifference in the conversation. "Dumbledore went to Diagon Alley with a student?!"

Snape nodded and sipped his juice again with an air of assumed casualness. "Yes. My great-great-grandfather was Headmaster of Hogwarts early in Dumbledore's career, and, apparently, it was a personal favour," he said, shrugging and leaving the part about the Prince trust out of it entirely.

"A completely understandable oversight, in that case," Lucius conceded with a new look of respect for the younger boy. "She is, at least, easy to look at."

If looks alone could kill, Lucius would have been a smoking hole in upholstery of the seat after the glare Narcissa turned on him. "Narcissa, darling," Lucius drawled with an amused but condescending smirk. "The girl is eleven. So is he. I simply am approving of his visual taste in women. She IS pretty," Lucius consoled charmingly.

Barely mollified, Narcissa turned back to the window with a snort, her long hair swaying slightly with the rocking motion of the train.

* * *

Under the protective eyes of Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black, Severus Snape stepped confidently off the train once the bright red Hogwarts Express arrived at Hogsmeade station, following Lucius' detailed instructions to do so given to him inside the compartment as he changed into his robes. Narcissa and Lucius had glanced questioningly at his second-hand robes but kept silent, and Severus had offered no information, not wanting to damn himself. A fog so thick Severus couldn't see more than a hundred feet ahead of him blanketed the area.

Severus hovered near Lucius until he saw his pair of tormentors clamber into a boat with a sickly looking boy with light brown hair clad in robes even shabbier than the ones Severus was wearing. That boy was followed by an uneasy looking, chubby boy with a pointed yet snub nose, mousy hair and buck teeth. Satisfied that he'd be able to choose a seat unmolested, he settled himself in at the back of a boat at the rear of the haphazard formation and was surprised and not a little alarmed when the red-haired girl he'd met on Diagon Alley joined him. "I looked for you on the train," she said, gazing at him with a mixture of concern and admiration. "Thank you for sticking up for me. You clean up well," she said, smiling at him.

He snorted. "Of all the spells I know, household spells are not among them. The Head Boy's girlfriend used magic to clean my face."

"Did you see that man?" Lily whispered in a scandalised voice, pointing to the boat in the lead. "He's HUGE!"

Severus nodded. "He's the groundskeeper and part giant, my mother said," he replied then flinched when an enormous tentacle lazily broke the surface of the lake and uncurled, resembling nothing so much as an enormous, stretching octopus.

At that point, there was a gasp from the boats ahead. They turned to look and gasped themselves. The castle loomed into view: dark, majestic and mysterious. With all of the new students lost in their own reverie, the rest of the trip to the castle was silent.

The severe-looking Deputy Headmistress awaited them on the other side of the heavy oak doors and gave them a brief introduction then bid them all to wait quietly. Severus made a point to keep to the back and close to the stone walls lest he be surrounded by his tormentors, who he could tell, were actively searching for him. For the second time in his life, he found himself thanking the powers that be that he was relatively small, making it was fairly easy for him to hide behind the other students.

Thankfully, at that moment Professor McGonagall returned and summoned them all into the Great Hall which was even more breathtaking than the descriptions and pictures in Hogwarts: A History had indicated. And nothing could have prepared him for the sheer length of the tables lining the Hall.

Severus listened carefully to the song from the Sorting Hat, not at all alarmed that an old, ratty, wizarding cap proceeded to sing. Once the Sorting began, he observed his surroundings carefully. Someone named Avery was sorted into Slytherin house, to the raucous cheers of the table on the far left, at the head of which Lucius Malfoy sat with his girlfriend to his right.

"Black, Sirius . . . " called Professor McGonagall, and in response there was a resounding hiss in the Hall. Severus noticed that Lucius waved his hand in a way that indicated that Avery should make room for company. Black's Sorting is a foregone conclusion, then, Snape observed, suddenly quite glad that his family tradition was for Ravenclaw. He didn't want to deal with the . . .

Suddenly, the entire Great Hall suddenly rang out with a scandalised gasp that seemed to come from everywhere at once. It was followed immediately by a silence so loud it hurt the ears. Snape blinked and looked around, trying to figure out what happened, and ran through the last few moments of what he'd heard but not been paying close attention to. Hm . . . Avery had been sorted into Slytherin, then Black had been called to be Sorted, then the Hat had called out . . . Oh wait, that was it, wasn't it? "Gryffindor," the Hat had said. Yet Narcissa had thought her cousin would go to Slytherin house. Snape raised his eyebrows and watched as Black sauntered off the chair haughtily to the table on the far right with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. Turning his gaze to the Slytherin table, he casually observed Narcissa's ashen face and Lucius' angry glare of shock. Another girl, who looked a great deal like Narcissa, but with dark hair, also looked very nearly ill. Well, well, well.

It wasn't long before Lily Evans was called. Snape noted a hissing coming from the Slytherin table as her name was announced. She, too, was sorted into Gryffindor, as were the three boys that were in the boat with Black. Snape felt bad for her, but there was little he could do about it himself.

A smirking boy with deep blue eyes, dark brown hair and an angelic face by the name of Evan Rosier made his way to the stool next, making Snape's blood run cold. Grinning knowingly at Snape, he placed the hat on his head as if it were a crown. Announced for Slytherin, he grinned triumphantly.

Then McGonagall called his own name, and the response from the table on the far right mortified him. "More like 'Snivellus!'" Black cackled to his new friends, who had all joined him around the table and guffawed appreciatively at the joke. Casting him a hateful glare, Severus sat upon the rickety stool and adjusted the flimsy hat so he could see. The two tables in the middle looked supremely unconcerned, but he knew the one with the blue and bronze was the Ravenclaw table. He was a slightly miffed that they had so little apparent interest in him, even if they were unlikely to know his entire family had been Ravenclaws from his surname which was, of course, his Muggle father's name. The table on what was now his far left held Black and his cronies, and the table on what was now his far right held Lucius Malfoy and the other Slytherins, who were alternately looking at him with great interest and looking at the Gryffindor table with great disgust.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes, sat up straight, placed his hands stoically over his thighs, and exhaled slowly, the very picture of reserved calm. He almost twitched when he heard a voice in his ear. "My, my, my, what have we here? Old tradition of Ravenclaw, yes, and certainly the intellect for it." Severus couldn't help but smirk slightly at this. "An almost blinding loyalty, how interesting. And bravery, my goodness, nearly unsurpassed."

He flinched, probably visibly at this and found he didn't care. "NO!" he thought, insistently. "NOT GRYFFINDOR. ANYTHING but Gryffindor! I'd rather Slytherin before Gryffindor!" he declared mentally, thinking fervently of Black and company.

"Not Gryffindor, eh? Slytherin, you think? That might not be wise, you know. It will put you right into the nest of snakes . . ."

"I don't care. Besides, it will be easier for me to learn about them that way."

"Hm, well, if you're sure, then you might do very well in SLYTHERIN!"

He opened his eyes slowly and allowed a sneer to cross his face. He rose from the stool carefully and turned his attention to the Slytherin table. Lucius Malfoy was eyeing him with a satisfied look and motioned him over. No fool he, Severus accepted the invitation and sat with his chosen group, taking note of those who scowled at the state of his attire. "Severus here has quite the proficiency of the Dark Arts," Lucius announced as the last boy, Wilkes, made his way over to the table. "I do believe he could teach most of you a thing or two. We shall have to ask him for a demonstration when we get to the common room."

He cast a shrewd look at Lucius and thanked him politely for the compliment. Quite aware that he was on display and that his very life might depend on his behaviour over the next several hours, he was on his absolute best manners, careful to not make a faux pas. He also observed everything vigilantly, carefully, but slowly, absorbing the behaviour of others.

By the end of the meal, his nerves were on absolute edge, and he had begun to second-guess his choice. He'd eaten very little, as a result, despite the delicious offerings at the table. He didn't know if he'd last seven more hours like this, much less seven more years. But his decision had already been made. By the time they arrived in the Slytherin common room, he was so agitated that he was desperate to curse or hex anything just to blow off some steam. For all the irony, he was at once thankful to Lucius for arranging the demonstration, as he was apprehensive about his performance. He'd had little opportunity to test his skills in combat and was worried about how he'd perform.

He was right to worry. The Slytherins were a ruthless bunch, and they surrounded him in the green-hued common room with predatory looks on their faces. Lucius declared that none of his own classmates could compete against him, and a boy named Yaxley who was much older than Severus argued this point so vociferously that Lucius finally instructed them to duel each other. Severus held his own, barely, up until the point where the older boy Summoned a statuette from the mantle over the fireplace, cracking him in the back of his head and making him fall to the floor. Yaxley laughed, dropping his guard, which provided Severus the opportunity to cast a string around his feet and yank on it, bringing the boy down next to him, to the sincere amusement of everyone around them.

Snickering, Lucius then dispatched the Carrow twins at him. By this point, Severus was feeling greatly beyond his depth. His expertise was almost entirely in combat and defensive spells; the older students were far more capable in Transfiguration and non-combat charms which could be modified. By the time he was done with the twins, his exhaustion was taking its toll. His responses were slower, and he was getting hit more frequently than not. When a few seventh-years joined in, he was in serious trouble. He was running out of curses, hexes and jinxes to throw, and he'd already exposed his strengths. He was beginning to feel distinctly singled out for ridicule. His oaths to his family, taken in silence, were the only thing that kept him standing. In another circumstance, he would have allowed himself to feel proud for getting in even a few jabs against the seventh years, much less for remaining in a posture that might have passed for upright.

When the ordeal was finished, he was entirely too exhausted to see the looks of renewed respect the sixth and seventh years were casting upon him. The fourth and fifth years were sneering at him with cold indifference, and the first, second, and third years with outright hostility. Trying to quell his shaking, he excused himself to the lavatory and promptly threw up the entire contents of his stomach. He dry-heaved for ten minutes more before he finally collapsed on the cold and damp tile. The exhaustion, energy expenditure, adrenaline overload, and fear had taken their toll on him, and he lay there shivering for an hour before he could summon the energy to haul himself off the floor.

He made it to his dormitory and into his bed by sheer willpower alone.

* * *

Severus Snape woke the next morning very slowly. In fact, once he realized he was partially conscious, he had a great deal of difficulty rising to full consciousness. Panic set in early, preventing him from drifting off again although it took a great deal of effort not to.

Once he woke up, he wished he hadn't. He felt absolutely horrible. His head felt as if it were going to split open, even his own breathing hurt his ears, and with his eyes closed and the curtains pulled round his bed, the dim light felt like it would liquefy his eyes. He also felt horribly nauseated...he panted shallowly since he knew he hadn't anything in his stomach. He couldn't begin to imagine the sheer agony dry-heaving would cause, and he didn't want to find out.

He inadvertently groaned in agony and began shaking again. Although he was under several warm wool blankets and a down-filled duvet, he felt like he was freezing. He had no idea what was wrong with him, and there was no way he could get out of bed. He suddenly realised he was going to die there and wished he knew a spell to hurry it along.

"Snape, you all right?" he heard one of his new classmates call. Which one it was, he couldn't tell. The noise was deafening, and he whimpered.

His dorm-mates murmured amongst themselves before one of them spoke loud enough for him to hear. "I'm coming over there, Snape, so get decent or whatever."

The curtains were yanked back, and the sudden invasion of light and sound were excruciating. Snape screamed and recoiled, but the rapid motion upset the delicate balance he was trying to maintain over his stomach and he retched. "Merlin's beard, Snape, you're looking peaky! What the devil's wrong with you?" Rosier gasped, dodging out of the way of Snape's heaving.

"I'm going to get Malfoy," Avery chimed in before scuttling out the door.

Snape collapsed back onto the mattress and waved his hand weakly. He desperately wanted the curtains closed, but lying there panting, he couldn't convey that to Rosier. Desperate, he flailed weakly about until he managed to grasp the pillow which he promptly dropped over his face. Maybe I'll suffocate, he thought to himself. Good. I hope it's quick.

At that moment Avery returned, with Lucius Malfoy in tow. Snape groaned again at this new invasion of noise.

"Take the torches out of here," Malfoy commanded in a harsh whisper. "All of them but one. And for Merlin's sake be silent about it!"

Snape felt the side of his bed buckle, bringing forth a fresh wave of nausea. Taking the path of least resistance...he hadn't the energy to fight it anyway...he rolled towards whoever had sat on his bed. His head dropped over the edge of the bed which was fortuitous because at that moment he could no longer prevent his stomach from heaving in protest once again. Something in the back of his mind wondered vaguely if his retching would disgust his companion enough to jump away which would likely result in Snape's falling to the floor. He reasoned that at the very least this would likely knock him unconscious, and if he landed just so, it might even kill him. The fact that he'd die with his face in a puddle of vomit only marginally concerned him.

At least the pain will stop that way.

He lay there gasping helplessly. Some of the acid in his stomach had found its way into his sinuses, and the pain was excruciating.

"Go get Narcissa or Andromeda," he heard Lucius whisper commandingly.

"Black?" he heard a voice, which he recognized as belong to Rosier, ask. Some consensus was apparently reached in silence because Severus heard the door slide shut as loudly as if it had been slammed on his head. His eyes were clenched shut, and angry tears of pain leaked out of the corners of them, hot and unbidden.

Strong arms embraced him and pulled him to something resembling a vertical position, leaning him against the frightfully damp and frigid stone wall against which his bed was pushed. "No . . . " he rasped weakly.

"You need to sit up, Snape," Lucius commanded.

" . . . No . . . " he protested, forgetting for the moment what he was protesting and panting shallowly again to stave off his rapidly coalescing nausea. He started sliding weakly down the wall, unable to support his own weight.

"Snape, listen to me. You need to eat, and you need to drink."

His eyes flashed open in astonishment as he waved his hand weakly dismissing this pronouncement, cringing at the stabbing pain of the single low torch that barely illuminated them from clear across the room. Food was the last thing he wanted. He yelped in agony at both the rapid movement and the pain and recoiled...slamming his head into the wall once again.

"You put up a good fight last night, but you have no resources left," Lucius insisted as the door scraped open again. "Andromeda, do you have a Headache Potion and a Rejuvenation Draught?"

"Of course. What happened to him?" asked a feminine voice that Severus presumed belonged to Andromeda and realised vaguely that might well be Narcissa's sister.

"Go get them. Hurry!" Lucius ordered, ignoring her question. After a few seconds, there was some very slight movement of the bed. Lucius spoke again. "He must have completely depleted himself last night. Thank you."

Snape recoiled vigorously as something was touched to his lips. "DRINK THIS, Severus, it will help. My word, that's the fourth blow to the head I've seen him take in eighteen hours," Lucius commented. Snape shook his head weakly, refusing the potion. "Listen, you foolish boy! We aren't allowed to duel in the common room, and you are not going to make it to class today if you don't buck up. Now take this potion, or I will make you!" Lucius commanded threateningly.

"Lucius, you mustn't!" protested the voice Severus thought belonged to Andromeda.

"I can...and I WILL...if he doesn't drink this! After all, I am only trying to help him!"

Snape simply had no more ability to refuse, and when the bottle was pushed back to his lips, he didn't recoil. Nor, however, did he any longer possess the ability to help himself, and the potion sat, unswallowed, on his tongue.

"Out," commanded Lucius after observing this for a few moments. "Everybody out."

"Lucius! You CAN NOT! Take him to Madam Pomfrey!" Andromeda gasped.

"Get. Out." Lucius insisted in a tone that left no room for argument. "And shut the door behind you."

Dimly, Severus realized the door had clicked. The last thing he heard before being overcome by a feeling of bliss and contentment was the word "Imperio!"

"Swallow!" Lucius commanded, and Severus did. "Take this," Lucius ordered, offering a second bottle. Severus took that one, too, completely ignoring the wand pointed in his face. "Swallow the contents of that bottle." He did. The wand was lowered, and the feeling of bliss left him.

Snape blinked...his headache was gone, and while he still felt weak, he had enough energy to move. And he was very, very hungry.

He frowned. As grateful as he was to be feeling better, he realized he'd completely lost control of himself. He blinked at the Head Boy. "Get ready for your classes, and meet me in the common room. Tell no one what happened here. NO ONE," he said, waving his wand to clear the evidence of Snape's upset stomach before sweeping from the room.

Snape pondered what had just happened as he slowly got dressed and gathered his books. Perhaps the Hat was right, perhaps being in Slytherin house was a bad idea. He'd have to avoid the common room for a while if this was how things were going to be. He had high hopes, however, that the school library had a great deal to offer in the way of academic knowledge and thought he'd spend his time there.

He ascended the stairs slowly, leaning carefully on the walls, still feeling weak and unsteady. Lucius Malfoy was waiting at the top of the steps for him, surveying the empty room regally. He had apparently already shooed everyone from the room.

"What did you do to me?" Snape asked quietly, his quickly escalating apprehension nearly making the nausea return.

"You mean to get you to take that potion?" Lucius asked in a voice of supreme unconcern. Snape just nodded. "I put you under the Imperius Curse, and as it is one of the Unforgivables, I would rather you not allow that information to circulate. I'll Obliviate you if I must." Snape nodded again...he had no desire to have his memory erased. He hadn't come across "Unforgivable Curses" in his private research yet, so he wasn't entirely sure what they were. But the name was a good enough hint. At least now he had something to go on.

They made their way to the Great Hall, and Lucius indicated Snape should sit near him again. Narcissa gave him a weak smile, but Andromeda looked at Lucius with angrily pursed lips. His roommates still looked pale and frightened. "You need to eat," Lucius drawled, "or you will get sick again. That potion will only last a little while."

Snape found no problem with this declaration now as once his headache and nausea had subsided, he found he was ravenous. Of course, everything he'd eaten the day before, he'd thrown up. He put away twice the food he would normally eat in a day, relieved that nobody thought this odd.

The bell rang, signalling the end of the meal, and as politely as he could, Severus stuffed the last quarter of a roll in his mouth and chased it with half a cup of pumpkin juice before dashing to the door.

One of the Slytherin prefects was standing at the door, handing out a parchment to all the first years. Confused, Severus regarded the hand-out with a scowl, then raised his eyebrows in surprise. It contained directions to each of his classes. Although it didn't include a map the instructions were helpful, and he was able to make it to his first class of the day with little difficulty.

He frowned as he entered the Charms classroom. The tables were arranged in pairs, and his dorm-mates were already paired up together, leaving no room for him. He sighed and sat down at the empty table closest to them; eventually one of the Hufflepuffs joined him and happily introduced himself as Tilden Toots.

For the first half of class, an unbelievably tiny Professor Flitwick droned on endlessly about a levitation spell. Severus propped his head in his chin and looked intently at him, at least trying to feign interest...his classmates looked alternately enthralled and confused. Don't these idiots ever read?

The last half of class, Professor Flitwick bade them to attempt the levitation. Severus didn't bother, having mastered the spell when he was six, although he did spare his partner an alarmed glance when the boy was wildly waving his wand about.

"You're so smart, you do it then!" the boy challenged in frustration. Severus scowled but levitated his feather with a look of bored indifference as he made the feather do a loop-de-loop.

"WOW!" exclaimed his wide-eyed partner. "Who taught you to do that?"

Severus noticed that his dorm-mates were glaring at him as he took in Toots' admiration with a speculative glance. "My father," he said after a few moments.

"But we're not supposed to do magic outside of school! It's one of the school rules!" the boy protested, using his wand to prod his feather as if so doing would make it float.

"My father didn't go to Hogwarts," Severus said with a dismissive shrug and changed the topic. "Look," he said. "You're moving your wand wrong."

At the end of class, Severus and one of the Hufflepuff females were the only ones who had managed to consistently levitate their feathers, earning Severus effusive praise and five points from his professor and yet another round of hateful looks from the Slytherins, most of whom hadn't managed to do it at all.

There was a short break before the next class which was History of Magic, a class which was about as exciting as watching paint dry. Severus had originally thought Narcissa was joking with her declaration that most of the Slytherins had a self-study group...less than ten minutes into the class, he realised she was...no pun intended...dead serious. The novelty of having the class conducted by a ghost lasted no longer than it took for the ghostly Professor Binns to start droning on in his nasal, weedy voice. By the time lunch rolled around, Severus had never been so glad to see a break in his life. He was thoroughly grateful the class was a single session.

However, this offered little solace for him. His dorm-mates were still HIGHLY put out at him outperforming them in both Dark Arts and Charms, and despite his selected seating at the right hand of Lucius Malfoy, he felt isolated. By the time his first afternoon class of Potions rolled around, he was feeling distinctly disliked, which was not eased by the fact that once he arrived in the classroom, he discovered he was once again the only Slytherin without a partner.

This, of course, presented the perfect opportunity for Lily Evans to plop next to him with a delighted look on her face. He suppressed a mental groan and ignored the girl next to him utterly.

At least until she scribbled a note on her paper, and "slipped" and nudged his right elbow.

Are you ignoring me on purpose? read the note meant for his eyes alone.

He propped his chin in his left elbow and gazed unseeingly at the Potions instructor, nodding blankly at some nonsensical and worthless thing the idiot said when the girl was glancing toward him.

Why? she scribbled, frowning at Professor Slughorn as if taking notes.

He scowled likewise at some completely false thing the man was spouting and, with a shake of his head, scribbled "It's complicated. I'll tell you later."

At this point, the girl's hand shot up. "Professor, I'm not sure I understand. I know that nettles have an anti-inflammatory property and porcupine quills an antiseptic quality, but why snake fangs?"

"An excellent question Miss...uh..." the corpulent man said, consulting his register, "Evans! Yes! Miss Evans! Evans...ah, was your father a Muggle?" he asked abruptly, obviously at a loss for how to place her.

"Yes, sir, and my mother as well," Lily said unapologetically.

"Ah. Yes. Well, ah . . . yes!" sputtered Slughorn, in an obvious bid to cover up his mistake. "Yes, well...magically," he said, with unnatural emphasis on the word, "snake fangs are known to lance boils and the like, leaving an opening for the infection to escape," he said in an utterly patronising voice. "Since snake fangs are crystalline, even when finely ground they have a puncturing quality, leading to boils being microscopically lanced and enabling expulsion of the infection."

Severus held his head in his hands and shook it nearly imperceptibly, resolving to send the girl an owl at the nearest opportunity.

Later that evening in the Slytherin dorm, Severus tried to extend the hand of friendship to his roommates. "Who was that idiot teaching Potions?" he asked.

"Professor Slughorn," Wilkes snarled at him. "And if your father had gone to Hogwarts, you'd have known that."

Severus crooked an eyebrow at them. "Oh really?"

"He's Head of Slytherin house and taught our fathers," Avery ventured with a sneer. "You should show proper respect."

"Did your father go to Durmstrang or something?" Rosier demanded, obviously having overheard the conversation Snape had had with the Hufflepuff in Charms.

"Something like that," Severus said haughtily, turning his attention to his homework and blocking out the scowls and muttered undertones of his dorm-mates.

* * *

Author's Notes:

z0mg!THANKS to AzureLunatic, who, despite having eleventythree gabillion things going on in her own REAL life, at two in the bloody morning bailed me out of a 'z0mg plot hole!' problem, with good cheer, and even better reason. (A plot hole which honestly probably wasn't worth one tenth of the energy I devoted to panicking hysterically about it *rolls eyes at self* but she came up with an EXCELLENT reason for me not to have it, because yes, people with common sense!=me. >_> )

Of course, Jean is perpetually picking me out of stupid plot corners I back myself into.

Shanae is nearly the sole reason this chapter passed commas. You must all go glomp her for getting to see the chapter at all!

Claire is my Brit-picker extraordinaire in this chapter. She's also a real canon stickler. Yay for both!

Dace seriously deserves a medal for putting up with my sheer inability to comprehend the proper use of commas.

Just so you know, when you leave those lovely reviews for my betas and Brit-pickers and canon sticklers and plot angels and comma comquerors, I do pass them on!