Potter's Girl / Butterfly Effect.

90. Slytherin Escapades

CHAPTER NINETY;

SLYTHERIN ESCAPADES

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The reaction of being sorted into Slytherin during a normal year would be of an uproar: The table adorned in green would rise to their feet, clapping a thunderous applause and cheering for their new Housemate.

   But it wasn't a normal year, and nobody stood up from their seats, and Cassie did not receive any applause or cheering from the Slytherin table. In fact, once the hat was removed from her head and she looked out into the congregation of shocked faces, there was such a silence that one could hear a pin drop. She gazed to the Gryffindor table – to Neville and Ginny, hoping they could see the anguish in her unfamiliar expression – straining with all her might to keep a furious shout from erupting out of her mouth as she stood from the stool.

   Cassie shot the Sorting Hat one last contemptuous glare, to which she could have sworn it returned with a wink in its creased folds. She strode to the green table as if she had all the time in the world, ignoring the low whispers and curious glances she received on her way over, taking a seat at the end of the table and turning to face the front of the Great Hall for the annual opening speech. It was strange, watching the headmaster stand to gain the attention of the students, when there was only a third of the usual population of pupils in the crowd. Not only that, but this new angle from the Slytherin table was uncomfortable; Cassie was practically face-to-face with Snape as he cleared his throat to begin – as if he needed to quiet the students, who had not said a single word to each other since Cassie's sorting.

"Now that we are all veritably sorted," Snape began, sparing Cassie a narrow-eyed glare from behind the greasy black curtains of hair framing his face, "I hope we are all satisfied with the improved and modified changes I have made to the school. I – as you may have noticed, if you are not fully dimwitted, as I believe some of you to be – will be taking over the position of Headmaster in the... untimely absence of Albus Dumbledore.

"Amycus and Alecto Carrow," Snape continued over the disapproving shouts echoing from the Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff tables, "will be in the positions of Defense Against the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies, respectively. Again, I hope we are all satiated with these changes, and if not, I urge you to file a complaint with the Dark Lord himself."

There was a heavy lull as Snape arched a black eyebrow at the students as if wordlessly challenging them to speak against his new regime. Cassie followed his gaze; nearly everybody was avoiding meeting his strangely black eyes, except for Luna, Neville, Ginny, Seamus, and Dean, who glared at Snape with as much contempt that Cassie wished she could show through her Glamoured form.

"With that being said, I trust you will treat the Carrows with the respect you have shown to our previous Muggle Studies and Defense Against the Dark Arts professors: no more, no less.

"Now, get to your dormitories. Prefects, show your first-years into their common room. If I, or any of our staff, finds a student out of bed past curfew, the consequences will be severe."

   As Snape retook his seat at the center of the teachers' table, the students stood with a large scraping of benches against the tile floor. Cassie stayed in her seat for a moment, anxiety pooling through her entire being as she watched her fellow Slytherins pour out of the door leading toward the dungeons. Her eyes flickered to the front of the Great Hall and briefly met with Snape's, and for a moment, Cassie was unable to pull her gaze away from the headmaster, as if his glare were keeping her from moving. After a count of ten, Cassie finally ripped her eyes away and, unnerved by the odd experience, staggered over the wooden bench to follow the rest of her House.