An American At Hogwarts: Book Three

Chapter Three

My mouth dropped open in shock, and my trunk slipped straight out of my hands. My mind went blank, and I honestly didn't know what to do. The heavy trunk fell before I could come back to my senses enough to tighten my grip.

As soon as it hit the floor, the curtains on the largest painting down the hall flew open, and a horrible, screeching voice filled the house.

"HALF-BREEDS! MUGGLE FILTH! IN MY HOME!"

Snape sneered at me and whirled on his heel towards the portrait. I just kept staring as he started wrestling the drapes along with Mad Eye Moody and Bill Weasley, who I noticed for the first time. As they fought to close the curtains, I turned to the twins, my face still a mask of shock. They both gave me grim nods that told me they'd had similar experiences with Snape this summer.

"A DISGRACE! A DISGRACE TO THE NAME OF THE MOST NOBLE AND ANCIENT HOUSE OF BLACK-"

"OH, SHUT UP," roared Sirius, appearing from the stairs and going to help wrestle the portrait back into submission. I just stared at the wrestling match before me, not sure whether to laugh or be horrified or both.

Finally, the Order members managed to shut the portrait up. Bill, Mad Eye, and Sirius all paused to breathe a sigh of relief and let some of the adrenaline drain away. Snape, on the other hand, didn't pause for a second before turning back in my direction and sweeping past into the basement, shooting me another dirty look as he went.

"C'mon!" hissed George, gesturing to my trunk. "Let's get upstairs!"

I nodded, then picked up my end of the trunk. We started moving again, and Bill and I exchanged a whispered hello as we passed. Moody nodded to me, and it was an effort not to stare. It was bizarre to see him, the real him, after a full year with the fake Moody.

The twins and I crept up the stairs with my trunk to the second floor as the Order members disappeared into the basement. I was sharing a room at the top of the stairs with Hermione and Ginny, although neither of them were in there when we arrived.

"They're off doing cleaning duty with mum," whispered Fred, nodding his head back out the door towards one of the other rooms on the floor. "If we're quiet, we should be able to get upstairs without them noticing us."

I nodded, and the twins turned to start sneaking, but I reached out and pulled them both back. I held out a hand and quickly conjured a sling portal up two floors. Might as well take the easy way.

I followed the twins to their room and carefully shut the door behind us, then breathed a sigh of relief once we'd officially made it without being dragged into cleaning.

"Alright, now that we're far, far away from that portrait and your mom, I have to ask," I said, turning to face the twins with my hands on my hips. "What the fuck is Snape doing here?"

I couldn't help shouting the words, and the twins just gave me grim, understanding looks.

"He's part of the Order," sighed Fred, flopping down on his bed.

"He's been in and out all summer," George added. "We've been doing our best to avoid him, but sometimes it's impossible."

"That's absolutely horrible," I decided, flopping down on George's bed and taking up the whole space. George was kind enough to just sit next to Fred instead of shoving me off of his bed to make room, which I could tell he almost did.

"No kidding," George snorted. If I'd thought about it, I probably could've guessed Snape would be here, since he was in that meeting in the hospital wing at the end of the last school year. Still, out of all the teachers I would've been willing to see outside of school, he was at the bottom of the list.