Snape's Daughter (Book Two)

Chapter Twelve : The Return of the Lost Gryffindor

Wearing a skirt with her white shirt and Gryffindor tie, Ellia pulled her cloak over her body and she stepped out of the train on to the platform, clutching her trunk. Ginny had rushed off with Luna somewhere, and Ellia was left walking to the Gates of Hogwarts with Neville.

"Do you think much will be different?" Neville asked Ellia as staff checked their trunks. Taking her bag from Professor Flitwick, Ellia continued walking on with Neville towards the castle.

"Yes," she said, "I think everything will be different." The castle already looked more gloomier than beforehand, and a dark sense of intimidation covered the castle, as well as the surrounding Death Eaters. Ellia braced herself for what Hogwarts would be now without Albus.

"I'll sit with you," Neville said as they arrived at the castle.

"When?" Ellia asked him, puzzled by what he meant.

"The feast," Neville said.

"Oh, oh okay," Ellia smiled politely, before handing an unfamiliar professor her trunk.

"Please enter the Great Hall in silence," The voice boomed as Ellia stepped inside the Great Hall where she had once met her father and Draco face to face, their guiltiness lurking behind them like an old smell. The candles were still lit however there seemed to be something missing in the Great Hall, a piece of hope that Albus had represented. Instead, a bitter, cold shadow stood at the end of the four rows, his black cloak touching the ground. Ellia didn't even have to look up, she could tell by the whispers her father was there. She couldn't dare face him again. Taking her place at Gryffindor's table beside Neville and now Ginny, Ellia made sure she couldn't make direct contact with both Pansy Parkinson and her father. She could hear the footsteps of students gathering into the Great Hall, more and more students took their places on the different tables. Ellia still wondered if her father had noticed her as she came in, if he was stood there staring at her back wondering what she was thinking. Although he's probably already know, him and his nosey Occulemncy.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts," His voice echoed throughout the Great Hall, nobody daring to speak," We have some new ... staffing changed this year." Ellia finally looked up to see that Professor Burbage was not present at the table, and the glorified throne that Albus once used to sit in was empty, with an unfamiliar woman and man sat beside it. Her father stood like a centre piece in front of the staff table, catching everybody's unwanted attention. Ellia noticed that both Professor Slughorn and Hagrid couldn't even look up to watch her father present his speech. "Professor Charity Burbage has ... resigned from her place as the Muggle Studies Professor. So from now forward Professor Alecto Carrow shall be taking her space," Her father announced, pointing to the crippled woman sat next to the Golden Throne.

"I've heard of her, her and Amycus, the one on the chairs left, they're the Carrow twins. Death Eaters of course," Neville whispered into Ellia's ear, breaking the silence between the pair of them.

"Professor Amycus Carrow has been reinstated to teach Dark Arts. The two new Professors shall also be in charge of punishment," His voice was loud, sharp but slow, and the effect it had on Ellia made her want to curl up and hide away from him. His obsidian eyes haunted her as he looked over to her, and get his eyes on her. "That is all. The Sorting Ceremony may begin." The doors of the Great Hall flew open as Professor McGonagall marched into the hall, a swarm of first years following behind her. Ellia's head shot over to her direction as McGonagall sent her a sweet but forced smile, her eyes withered and worn out. Her whole facial expressions represented her extreme exhaustion, her grey hair tied back in a tight bun.

"Come along," She sighed, reaching the end of the tables before taking hold of the sheet with the first years names on. She begun calling out names in different orders, each young eleven year old sitting on the chair with the sorting hat on, each being placed into a new house. Ellia couldn't concentrate though, there was so much on her mind. She didn't even look up until ....

"Grace, Echo," Grace. Aurora Grace. Ellia's head snapped around to see a young brunette girl step forward. She looked nothing like Aurora, so it could be likely that they were just distant cousins. Ellia knew of Aurora's blood status, much did the rest of Hogwarts, which is why they might have judged Echo with the same scowls they gave Aurora. However Echo was different, her tinted brown hair and piercing brown eyes shocked Ellia in different ways, and she found herself more and more intrigued.

"Slytherin," The Slytherin table hardly burst out with joy with the exception of a few people, which made Ellia feel for the poor girl, but there would've been a reason for her to be in Slytherin. The Sorting Hat doesn't lie. As Echo bounced off of the seat, a small smile stuck on her face, Ellia suddenly found herself in direct eye contact with her father. The split second that they were both looking at each other, for some reason all she could see was coldness but guiltiness in his eyes, yet she was quick to turn away. Echo interested her more as she skipped down beside the Slytherin table, sitting down with a couple other first years. She was nothing like Aurora at all, different mannerism and different facial expressions. Maybe they weren't related at all? Ellia waited until the Sorting was over and the feast had properly begun to start talking to Neville.

"Snape can't seem to keep his eyes off of you Ellia, he keeps on glancing over and sighing," Neville whispered to Ellia, pointing at the scowling headmaster.

"I'd ignore it, I don't see why he's watching me. He doesn't want to know me and he abandoned me," Ellia sighed, continuing to eat her meal.

"Maybe a good night sleep would do the job Ellia," Ginny suggested, finishing her own meal ,"You seem a bit stressed by it all."

"Stressed and feeling a bit strange to be honest. Everybody I went to school with isn't here, and I've been put down a year even though I'm supposed to be down a couple of years because of my age. And I feel like except you, Luna and Neville, I don't know anybody," Ellia sighed, half finishing her meal.

"Fair enough, but it's fine. You'll meet some new people, it'll be fine," Ginny said, briefly giving Ellia a warm smile.

"Yeah, I suppose so. I think I'm going to head off to bed though, you know. Take your advice and get a good nights sleep," Ellia sighed, standing up as several other students in the hall did. She was dismissing herself regardless to anybody's wishes.

"Sure, that's fine," Neville said.

"G'night," Ginny said, taking a sip of water.

"Night," Ellia waved, walking away from the table and out the hall. Even in the empty corridors, you knew that Albus was no longer present. Even when Ellia reached the Fat Lady, she looked a bit more glum than useful.

"Password?" She sighed.

"New year, I wouldn't know," Ellia said, before the Fat Lady toon a glimpse of the teenage girl.

"Mmh, don't let your father destroy this school," The Fat Lady said, before swinging open. Ellia stepped into the Gryffindor Common, and everything was still intact. Luckily for Ellia, she beaten the first years and was able to reach her dorm first. The suitcase stood at the end of her bed, next to the windows of course. She sighed before tucking herself into bed, afraid of what would happen the next day when lessons began.

Severus paced his new office, unable to sleep. 2am. And yet he found himself wide awake in the office whilst everybody else was asleep. Even the portraits. The breeze from the open window was chilling yet at the precise moment in time, Severus didn't care. He knew that the school would have to change, but it was the only way to sustain safety. His own daughter hated him, it was clear in her eyes. Black. Emotionless. Anger. They all filled her eyes as he stared at them, her blood boiling. He'd lost his daughter, his only remaining family except from Eileen. And even Eileen failed to protect her or see her son. He'd sacrificed his daughter, his own flesh and blood, for Harry Potter. For Voldemort. For Albus Dumbledore. For the whole world. And no matter how many times he told himself he was doing a good thing, he just couldn't justify it against the rage in her eyes. The same rage Elisin had when she discovered he used to be a Death Eater.