The Snake and The Snowflake

Chapter One

Their was a loud tapping on my compartment door as we sped through the countryside on the Hogwarts Express. I tore my gaze away from the blurred greenery of the spacious fields and saw two boys standing on the other side of the door, making rude gestures from behind the glass at me and laughing. One of them was James Potter and the other was his friend Sirius Black. I rolled my eyes and smirked at them, holding up a nice pale middle finger for them to behold.

After a minute of exchanging obscenities with my rivals in mischief, they walked off and I was left alone once again. But not for long, as I soon heard the door slide open and then close again.

"Piss off," I mumbled, not taking my eyes off the world behind the window.

"Well, fine then," a familiar, deep voice said and I saw a figure sit across from me out of the corner of my vision. "I guess you didn't miss me?"

I gasped as I saw who it was: my best friend in the world, Angel Carter. I jumped up and plopped myself onto his lap, wrapping my arms around his muscular shoulders and giving him a big squeeze.

"Angel!" I cried. "Of course I missed you, you piece of shit!"

I felt his chest vibrate as he laughed and returned my big bear hug. He was, in fact, my only real friend in the world. I wasn't sure how he put up with me for seven years now, and I'm pretty certain he doesn't know either. We never see each other during summer holiday, since my parents were Muggles and his parents were extremely prejudiced wizards. Three months was far too long without him.

"I saw James and Sirius just come from here," he said. "Were they bothering you?" He narrowed his bright blue eyes at the door, where they had once stood. Angel was a good kid - better than me, anyway - but he did have a bad habit of beating the shit out of people. Especially if they messed with me.

"Angel," I laughed, rolling my eyes at him. "We're not even at the school yet and you already want to fight someone? You get more aggressive every year." I ruffled his soft brown hair playfully before laying beside him on the cushioned bench, setting my head on his lap and staring up at him. He grinned down at me and began playing with my hair, looking out the window. I closed my eyes and sighed happily, beginning to feel myself falling asleep. Angel soon started singing quietly to me, and I was out like a light.

I was awoken by the whistling of the train that signaled our arrival at Hogwarts. I pried open my heavy eyelids and sat up, yawning and stretching my arms. Angel retrieved our trunks and carried mine for me as we got off the train.

"Excited for our seventh year?" Angel asked, grinning cheekily at me as we walked over to where the self-pulling carriages were waiting to take students to the castle.

"Oh yeah," I said, smirking. "This is my last year to do as much damage as I can. I've gotta show Potter and Black that I'm queen of the school, haven't I?"

Angel laughed and nodded, throwing our luggage onto the carriage and climbing inside. He offered a hand down to me and pulled me up. We sat next to each other, with his arm around my shoulders. I always loved how comfortable we were with each other, even though everyone else was convinced we were dating. I mentally cringed at the thought. I could never feel that way towards him, he was like my brother.

Someone else then entered the small carriage, taking the seat across from us. It was a tall guy with pale skin and long black hair. He wore Slytherin robes, which confused me. 'Why would a Slytherin sit with two Gryffindors?' I wondered. 'He must not have many friends.'

Angel looked over at the guy, who just stared down at the carriage floor silently. "Hey, dude," he greeted, causing the stranger to look up at us. Angel gave him a friendly smile and held out his hand, "I'm Angel Carter. This is Sinon Fable," he introduced politely. He was an actual sweetheart to most people... When he didn't want to fight them. I, however, was a bit more reclusive, so I just gave the kid a half-smile and looked away.

"Hi," the guy said quietly. He tentatively reached over and shook Angel's hand. "I'm Severus Snape."

"Nice to meet - "

"Sev! I found you!" A girl cut Angel off as she entered the carriage. She was thin with long red hair and dazzling green eyes. She was extremely pretty and wore Gryffindor robes. The girl sat next to Severus, whose dark eyes were alight with happiness as soon as they saw her. A small smile rested on his lips and he never took his gaze off of her as she looked over to us with a big, cheerful smile on her face.

"Oh, pardon me," she chimed. "I'm Lily Evans, I was just looking everywhere for my friend here. I hope you don't mind if we share the carriage?"

"No, not at all," Angel said kindly and re-introduced him and myself to Lily.

As the carriage began to move, I slung my legs over Angel's lap and stared out the tiny window. I was glad to be back at Hogwarts. It was my home. Not the broken-down dirty shack with my strict Muggle parents. That would never really be my home. This castle full of magic and opportunities with my legs across my best friend's lap... It was where I was meant to be.

It wasn't long before my train of thought was broken by the abrupt halting of the carriage. We left our trunks, since they would be taken to our dorms by magic, and entered the castle. Angel kept his arm slung around my shoulders, Severus and Lily trailing close behind us. In the Great Hall, Severus muttered a goodbye to Lily and went off to the Slytherin table to sit alone. I felt kinda bad for him. Lily went to sit with her friends, but Angel and I sat far away from them.

"That Lily chick is cute," Angel said. "But way too nice. She seems popular, why do you reckon she hangs out with that Severus kid?"

"I dunno," I shrugged. "Maybe she feels sorry for him." He nodded.

After a few minutes of talking with Angel and glancing around at the familiar faces at the table, dinner appeared and we stuffed ourselves with food.

"So what classes have you got?" Angel asked through a mouthful of chicken. I cringed, as I hated when people chewed with their mouths full of food and I was a vegetarian. I sighed and looked at my schedule.

"Tomorrow I've got Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, lunch, Herbology, then Potions."

Angel grinned as he looked at his own schedule, then at me. "We've got the last three together." I smiled and high-fived him.

Soon, dinner ended and people began filing out of the Great Hall. Angel and I walked together up to the Gryffindor common room, said our good nights, then went off to bed. As I lay in bed, my stomach squirmed with nervousness and excitement for the first day of my seventh year.