Always - Welcome to the Wizarding World

Part 6

Severus stood in the doorway a moment and stared me down, his glare fixed, as though he was looking for confirmation that I was, in fact, his niece.

"Come in, Miss Snape" he ordered, signalling for me to enter. 

I walked past him into his large, curved office. Tall cabinets lined the dark walls, stacked with an abundance of colorful potions and jars, labelled in the most perfect calligraphy. He had a circular, black desk with a worn, brown armchair sat behind it and his entire office was in almost complete darkness. He whooshed past me, his cape billowing behind him and he sat behind his desk whilst I was stood in front of it with my hands clenched together behind my back, anxiously tapping my toes. I was starting to feel more like a mere student to him, rather this own blood.

"I must say, the likeness you have to your mother is astonishing, Radia. Apart from your hair. You can see your father there. Alice was a good woman, how is she?" he asked, speaking as though he was in the theater.

"I'm afraid I don't know, sir. I haven't seen or heard from my mother in three years" I replied casually. Snape remained motionless, staring blankly at me. 

"I was not aware of that. Who have you been living with?"

"The Diggorys and their son, Cedric. I traveled to Hogwarts with him this year, sir" I informed him. He nodded, recognizing both names.

"Diggory; Prefect, relatively bright, Hufflepuff. Am I correct?" he stated. I nodded and Snape nodded with me. 

"Why couldn't I live with you when my father died?" I said suddenly, before I realized what the repercussions would be. I had to know; I felt like I had a multitude of questions that had been building up over the years since I left my mum and I couldn't handle not knowing anymore. 

Snape's sunken eyes averted to his desk, his hands clasped together in front of him. He then looked up to face me, plainly. 

"When your father died, my responsibilities in and outside of Hogwarts just so happened to increase in severity and amount. I would never have had time to look after you as well. It was horrific timing. Also, I did believe you to be living with your mother, I thought you were safe and happy with your family. But think of it this way, Miss Snape, where would you be if I had taken you in?" I wouldn't have met Cedric, I wouldn't have grown up with him. My uncle was right, I was glad that I went to live with the Diggorys instead of him. "I did care about my brother, Radia" he said rather suddenly. "Ever so much. He was good to me when no one else was. Scorpius was not just a brother to me; he was one of my dearest friends. I did not attend the funeral because, to be quite frank, I did not think I could handle saying goodbye. I could not handle seeing you and Alice as distraught as I was. But I truly am sorry that I was not there for you as much as I could have been, Radia. You must know this" he told me. I smiled at him sympathetically, even though I knew he would not return it. I was not only touched, but surprised. He didn't seem like a very emotional person, so I appreciated this gesture. 

"That's quite alright, professor" I said. He still stared at his desk, not able to look me in the eye. Perhaps he felt guilty about not helping my mother and I through his brother's death. He cleared his throat loudly and stood up from his desk.

"We must hurry to the Great Hall now, Miss Snape. Professor Dumbledore will be expecting us. You will be sorted into your house soon, which you will treat like your family during your time here and then shown to your dormitory". Professor Snape opened the door and charged out, leaving me to trail quickly after him. I felt like my heart was beating out of my chest and my head was swirling. I knew what was coming and I was terrified. I was desperate to get Hufflepuff; I had to stay close to Cedric. Although, however much I wanted it, there was no guaranteeing. There were so many nagging doubts at the back of my mind that Hufflepuff would be my chosen path.

Snape led me down multiple staircases and lengthy hallways when we finally reached a great stone archway. On the other side of the archway was the Great Hall, an absolutely fitting name. It was an enormous room, containing each teacher and student in the entire school. Every student was seated at one of four tables laid out across the hall, I guessed that each table represented a house; Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin, my uncle Severus' house. A multitude of orange fires were ablaze and ugly stone gargoyles were sticking out prominently along the walls of the hall. Above the heads of the students were hundreds of floating candlesticks, lighting up the Hall with a dim, homely glow. At the far end of the Hall was a long table, along which sat each professor, including Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts. 

I'd heard magnificent things about him and his appearance didn't disprove a thing. He was a stereotypical old wizard; he wore silver robes made of velvet and he had a long grey beard, so long that it had to be tied up with a string of velvet. He had a potent presence about him: friendly but formidable. A seat on the professor's table was missing; presumably it was for Professor Snape. Behind the table were three windows stretching from the floor to the ceiling, letting in the darkness from the outside. In front of the professor's table sat a square stool with a dusty old hat on top of it. Next to the stool stood an elderly woman, presumably a professor, who was seating students on the stool and placing the hat on their heads. She stopped and looked up to see Professor Snape and I standing in the archway.

"Oh, Professor Snape, you have arrived at last" she said, her soft Scottish accent sounding serene as it echoed around the hall, all eyes on me. 

"Indeed, Professor McGonagall, and I have brought my niece with me to be sorted" he explained. Severus stormed up the hall, every single student staring at me and then whispering to each other as I followed him. I looked around as we walked up to reach Professor McGonagall. I glanced up at the ceiling, only to discover that it had been replaced by a beautiful night's sky, stars and wispy clouds shining down upon us. Professor McGonagall looked at Severus, seemingly quite unimpressed in the manner in which he had just shown up with me. I doubted that he had given any further notice that he would be late. Severus and I reached her, but he left me and walked off to take his place at the professor's table, nodding at Professor McGonagall as he did so.

"Miss Snape, I believe?" she asked me.

"Yes, professor" I replied.

"Well, up you go then. Don't dawdle" she said. I walked up to the stool and sat down upon it, trying not to fall off and embarrass myself further. I felt quite stupid, what with everyone watching and me being the only person left to be sorted and the oldest person to be sorted. Professor McGonagall placed the "Sorting Hat" on my head and I could've sworn I felt it twitch. I thought I was going mad, but then I heard it speak.

"Aah,yes. Hmm, now this one could be difficult. You have key potential qualities for each house, but there is something about you that makes one in particular stand out" it said. I gazed around the hall, trying to not show my confusion about this talking hat upon my head. I spotted Cedric at the Hufflepuff table,smiling at me. He gave me a thumbs up and I beamed back at him. My eyes averted to the Gryffindor table, where I saw Harry, Hermione and Ron, all sat together.Harry grinned at me and I did so back. All this time, the hat was contemplating its answer, then suddenly it spoke. "Hmm, right. Well, I've thought about it and I think, it better be...Slytherin!" it bellowed. My heart dropped in my chest and my face dropped too, as did Cedric's. He must have wanted to be with me too. I thought maybe if not Hufflepuff, I would be placed in Gryffindor, but Slytherin? I glanced over to the Slytherin table, all of whom were clapping, cheering, whistling. My eyes swung across the table until someone caught my eye. Draco was stood there applauding and smiling right at me, making a point to catch my gaze. Once he had done so, he bit his pink bottom lip and winked at me. I raised my eyebrows and hopped off the stool. Professor McGonagall took the hat off my head and gave me a sympathetic smile. I looked back over to Cedric, clearly still shocked. "Sorry" he mouthed. I shrugged, but I was absolutely crushed.