A Snake's Crutch Book 1

Part 5: Sleepless Night

Y/N couldn't keep her thoughts reigned in as Slytherin House walked through the school to their dormitory. She didn't pay much attention as they walked up the shifting stair cases, which she knew she would later regret. She just couldn't bring her mind to focus. What had brought the hat to put her in Slytherin, against the rules of Salazar Slytherin himself?

Finally, her House reached a slab of stone in the wall and their Prefect said, "mud-blood." Y/n teared up when she heard the password, feeling just how alone she really was in Slytherin.

"Hey, you okay?" Sarah said, nudging her gently. Y/N just nodded as she waited for her turn to step through the passage. "I know, that's a rude password. I'll just stick with you as much as possible so you don't have to say it, okay?" Again, y/n only nodded, looking down to wipe a falling tear off her nose. 

As she looked up, she noticed Draco looking over at her with the slightest crease between his eyebrows. She gave him a small smile but had to turn to wipe another tear away, and didn't look back at him.

As she finally stepped through the passage, y/n took it all in. The common room was a long, stone room. Every stone was covered in rough edges as they encompassed the entire room up to the ceiling, from which round, green lanterns were hanging on long chains, and windows had been cut out of the ceiling to reveal the black lake above them, a strange, tentacled creature swimming behind the glass. As she looked at the creature, y/n realized it was staring back at her, as if it knew she didn't belong. 

As one of Slytherin's female Prefects led the girls to their dorms, y/n tried to real in her emotions and hide her tears. Slytherins are determined, powerful people. They had no use for crying. 

The girls' dorm was beautiful, in y/n's opinion. She has always loved the color green, and Slytherin's colors were her favorite shade. Y/N's dorm was longer than it was wide with eight four-poster beds, four on either wall. The beds were draped in velvet, emerald green curtains with matching bed sheets. 

Y/N noticed Gylfie in her cage next to the second bed on the left, walked over to open the bars. Almost immediately after she did, Gyflie flew out to land on the foot board of y/n's bed. The other girls in the room released their pets as well and, on the bed next to her leapt a black, brown, and white exotic short haired cat. On another bed sat a beautiful white Ragdoll cat with a brown face and blue eyes, and on yet another bed sat a Tabby with yellow eyes. Owls rested on the rest of the foot boards but one. 

After y/n had gotten ready for bed, she sat up talking with her new dorm mates. She had seven other girls, including Sarah, that would now share a dorm with her for the next seven years. Lillith Jammison, Millicent Bulstrode, Pansy Parkinson, Daphne Greengrass, Katherine Kitly, and Tracey Davis. All of the girls, including y/n, got along almost immediately--the girls having no reason to argue with their trunks set up at their beds. Sarah had the bed closest to the door, next to y/n's. 

Pansy, in the bed to y/n's other side, seemed to have taken a liking to her, and mostly talked to her, telling her all about her pure-blood family. Y/N thought it best not to make an immediate enemy out of her and kept it to herself that she was, in fact, a muggle born herself. 

All the girls were quite nice. Especially Lillith and Katherine, both of which were quiet and soft spoken and, once Sarah, Millicent, Tracey, Daphne, and Pansy had all started a conversation about Nifflers, whatever those were, y/n decided to go talk to them.

"Hi. I'm y/n." Both the girls looked up from their conversation and smiled shyly. 

"I'm Lillith," said the girl on the left. She had the Ragdoll cat purring happily in her lap as she stroked his ears. "And this is Fuzzy."

"I'm Katherine," said the girl on the right. 

Both girls were rather thin and incredibly pretty. Lilith had chestnut hair with red highlights and deep emerald green eyes. Katherine had rich brown hair and chocolate eyes. She reminded y/n of a prettier version of Pansy. While Katherine had rich brown features, Pansy had faded brown hair and yellow-green eyes with brown flecks, making Pansy look more severe and Katherine more soft. 

"Are you excited for start of term?" y/n asked, not knowing what else to say. Luckily for her, both the girls' smiles grew. 

"Definitely," said Katherine, scooting to make room for y/n on the bed. "I can't wait to take potions with Professor Snape!"

"And Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall!" said Lillith.

"And Charms with...wait. Who teaches charms?" asked y/n. The girls stared at each other for a long moment then burst out laughing, causing the other girls to jump, making Lillith, Katherine and y/n laugh harder, while the other girls joined in. Eventually it got so loud that the Head Girl stormed in in her night robes and told them, "Lights out!" which only made the girls laugh harder as she stomped back out again.

As the girls climbed into bed, they were all giggling, and y/n had forgotten all about her worries. But after about an hour, lying awake, her head telling her awful things, y/n sneaked out of her dormitory and into the common room, which she found empty. After claiming an armchair in front of the fireplace, and sitting there, thinking, for a good long while, y/n had decided to go talk to Professor Dumbledore. As she crept into the hall, the wall sliding back in place noisily behind her, she went in the direction that she thought looked right. 

After a few minutes of wandering, y/n came upon a door, cracked open, with a light shining through it. As she peaked in, she saw a teacher working in front of a cauldron. 

Deciding not to bother him, y/n went to pull her head back into the hallway, but was stopped when the Professor spoke. 

"What are you doing at of bed this late at night?" the teacher drawled with a deep voice. He hadn't turned toward her and was still adding ingredients to his cauldron.

"I...I'm sorry to bother you, Professor. I just...I wanted to speak to Professor Dumbledore, but I don't know my way around yet, and I got lost." Y/N stepped into the classroom and held her hands in front of her, head down. 

The teacher turned towards her and y/n looked up again, looking at the teacher. He had sallow skin, a crooked nose, and greasy black hair. Y/N thought he looked almost as intimidating as Professor McGonagall. The teacher was looking her up and down as much as y/n was him. 

"Are you a Slytherin? What's your name?" Y/N nodded, giving him her name. "Do you know who I am?"

"No, I'm sorry Professor." Her sincere apology seemed to surprise the professor. 

"I am Professor Snape, Head of Slytherin House." Professor Snape, the potions master. Now y/n remembered Katherine mentioning his class. "Come." And Snape walked out the door, without so much as checking that she was following.

"Where are we going, Professor Snape?" y/n asked, chasing after him. 

He stopped and turned to her, bending down so their eyes were level. "Did you not just say you were looking for the headmaster?" He raised one eyebrow and it almost disappeared into his hairline. 

"Y-yes, Professor." Snape turned and continued walking. "Thank you, Professor." Again, her words gave him pause, as if he were surprised by them.

Snape led y/n silently for a few minutes and, to y/n's dismay, they seemed to be going the opposite direction of the way she believed to be correct. 

After a few minutes of walking up stairs and down long corridors, past sleeping portraits and suits of armor, Professor Snape came to a stop in front a door guarded by a large...odd looking gargoyle.

"Lemon drop." the professor said, and the Gargoyle silently moved to let them through. "Go in. I will await your return out here."

Y/N swallowed. "You aren't coming in Professor?"

"Whatever it is you wish to speak to Professor Dumbledore about is between you and him. Go on, I don't have all night," Snape said, not rudely but slightly urgent. He must be thinking of the potion he left behind. 

As y/n reached for the door handle, she took a deep breathe, turned the knob, and walked into Professor Dumbledore's office.