A New Snake

Chapter 4

It wasn't long before the train stopped at the station and they were finding themselves faced with the horseless carriages. They looked at each other, still thinking about the information they almost wish they had never found out. Harry was at the back of the group when they piled into a carriage, but where they had all been able to fit the year before, there was just enough room for five of them, but not all six. Not even someone as thin as Harry was. "We can find another carriage with you, Harry." Hermione offered, already beginning to stand.

Harry put up his hands to stop her, "No, you don't have to. I'll just find somewhere else to sit."

With that, their carriage pulled away and only one carriage remained. Looking into it, Harry noticed that it only held the mysterious girl from the train. "Do you mind if I sit with you?" Harry asked as politely as he could. She looked over at him from her seat and gave a polite smile and nod. "Thank you." He got in and as soon as the door was closed and he was settled, the carriage took off with a lurch.

Feeling the silence grow more and more awkward as they sat, Harry asked, "What's your name?"

She looked up as if surprised he was talking to her, but quickly recovered and answered with a smile, "I'm Lilith, but everyone calls me Lily. What is your name, if I may ask?"

Harry smiled back, not expecting her to answer, "I'm Harry. It's nice to meet you."

"The pleasure's all mine."

With introductions out of the way, the silence was considerably less awkward than it had been and they passed the silence to the castle with more or less a comfortable feeling.

Hermione and Ron were waiting for him when they finally reached the doors. He let himself out first them, like a gentleman, offered a helping hand to his obliging companion. Obviously, she needed no help, but she was grateful for it nonetheless. Hermione gave him a suggestive look at this but he only rolled his eyes at her. The two nodded politely to each other and she left while Harry rejoined his best friends. Together they joined the other students in the Great Hall. When they had all sat down at the Gryffindor table, Harry noticed that the girl stood next to McGonagall while the first years were sorted. He'd never seen a transfer student be sorted, so he supposed they simply waited until the first years were over and through with.

After the last first year was sorted, McGonagall announced, "It was decided amoung the School Board and the professors of Hogwarts that the fourth years should participate in a resorting. It is a decision that, if it goes well this year, could very well carry on indefinitely. So, would all fourth years please line up in an orderly fashion in front of the sorting  ?" With that, chaos broke out. There were shouts from all fourth years except Malfoy, his inner circle, and five specific Gryffindors. Despite this, no one was willing to go against anything McGonagall said, so slowly, but surely, they all stood to line up before the hat, led by The Golden Trio, Malfoy and his followers, and Neville.

They were called in reverse alphabetical order, so Ron was one of the first ones to be sorted. Of course, he got back into Gryffindor. There was really no other place he could be.

It wasn't too long before a name that must have belonged to the Train Girl TM, Lilith, was called, "Snape, Lilith." McGonagall announced and the entire hall was silent. Not a whisper was heard throughout the entire hall as the young lady was sorted into Slytherin. She sat delicately at the end of the Slytherin table as her robes changed to proclaim her house. Harry couldn't help thinking that being in Slytherin wouldn't be so bad if she was there, even if she was related to Snape. Harry didn't listen as the names between S and P were called and sorted. The only thing he heard was a clear and strangely distinct, "Potter, Harry."

The hall didn't fall silent as it had during his first sorting. They were all so confident that he would be sorted in Gryffindor again. He saw Cedric Diggory shoot him an encouraging smile from the Hufflepuff table before the large hat covered his eyes and the familiar voice echoed in his mind.

"We meet again, Mr. Potter."

Harry sighed in dread and thought, "Just get this over with please."

"Very well," The hat conceded and Harry swore he felt him nod from inside his head before he shouted, "Slytherin." Now the hall was silent as the crimson in his robes changed to emerald and the lion changed to a coiled serpent. Everyone was in shock as he made the long walk to the Slytherin table. From the other three houses, even from Ron, he received hatred, from Slytherin, he received distrusting looks He was careful to place himself at one end of the table, far from anyone else, as the sorting went on. McGonagall shook herself out of a trance and continued with the sorting, obviously shaken. Harry merely sat, looking at his shaking hands, afraid to look up at the only friends he'd ever had, afraid that he would see hatred instead of understanding in their eyes. Harry barely noticed that Malfoy was sorted back into Slytherin, Neville into Hufflepuff—sitting with Cedric Diggory—and Hermione into Ravenclaw. He was willing to risk a glance at Hermione, and all he saw in her eyes was concern and sympathy. He hadn't thought she would fault him for his change of house. She'd never been prejudiced with the house. He didn't dare look at Ron, though. He didn't want to see what would obviously be there. It had been drilled too much into Ron's head that Slytherins were evil for him to still want to be friends with Harry.

As Dumbledore made his usual speech of nonsense, nobody could laugh. Everyone's minds were caught on Harry's sorting. Noticing that the students were distracted, Dumbledore made his speech and announcements short before allowing them to eat their dinner.

Harry couldn't eat. He pushed peas and chicken around on his plate as his heart raced and his stomach twisted in knots. As he sat, he noticed a presence at his side. It was Lilith, the girl from before. She flashed him a smile before saying, "Do you mind if I sit with you?" Harry only nodded in shock. He hadn't expected anyone from Slytherin to want to sit with him, much less a Snape. She set her plate on the table next to him and sat down, still very elegantly, and asked, "If you don't mind, can I ask you something?" Again, Harry only nodded, "You didn't seem surprised to be sorted into Slytherin, yet everyone else in the hall was and is. Why is that?"

Harry sighed. He figured he'd have to tell someone eventually. Why not the only person who's been nice to him since he'd resorted? "The Sorting Hat almost sorted me into Slytherin in my first year, but I'd been told by my first friend that the only people in Slytherin turned out evil. I was afraid of losing the only friend I'd ever had and I begged the hat to put me anywhere but Slytherin." He dropped his head into his hands, "If only I'd known there would have been a resorting. I would have just saved myself the trouble." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the concern in her face as she rubbed his back comfortingly with her left hand. She'd put down the fork in her right hand as she listened.

"You should eat something, Harry. It's not good for you. I know you probably have no appetite, but at least eat something. Please?"

Harry sighed and consented, grabbing a buttery roll. On any other day the smell would have made him ravenous, but today it just made him nauseous. "I wish everyone was as nice and understanding as you," Harry said out of the blue as he fought down a bite of the roll.

Her cheeks flushed slightly at his statement, "They just don't understand. Or they don't want to. I understand that there's really nothing you can do about where you're sorted. It has to do both with what traits you exemplify and what traits you wish to exemplify. That's probably why the Sorting Hat was between Slytherin and Gryffindor. Because, though you are very brave, I have a feeling that something in your childhood meant you had to be more cunning and sneaky about things than brave." Harry looked at her in shock. No one has ever guessed his home life so completely. Everyone seemed to think his life at home was carefree and happy.

"You're too intuitive for your own good. You know that right?" She only laughed and Harry found that the knots in his stomach had unraveled enough that he could eat his  .

     

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