Secret Daughter (A Harry Potter FanFic)

Chapter 7

Most of the Slytherin students quickly dispersed around the room, with some disappearing behind doorways that Elliana assumed led to the dorms. She asked one of the older girls where the first year dorm was and the girl pointed it out to her, asking "Is it true? You're related to Snape?"

Elliana knew this would happen- being the kid at school whose parent works there. "Yeah. He's my father." It still felt weird to say the word aloud, seeing as it had only been true for a little over a week.

She followed where the girl pointed and entered into a small room with five four-poster beds hung with beautiful emerald green and silver linens. She was surprised to see her trunk at the end of one of the beds. She noted that it was only the trunk that contained her school robes and supplies. Everything that she had put away in her father's apartment was missing, apparently still where she left it. She had never discussed with her father if she would be living in the dorms or with him. She assumed that he wanted her to live in the dorms and not with him seeing as her belongings had been delivered here.

The other four Slytherin girls that she would be sharing her room with entered over the course of the next hour. They spent several hours talking and getting to know each other. Elliana found that all of them were either Pureblood or Halfblood wizards, and most had a family legacy of Slytherins. Luckily, she fit in with this group. For the first time since she left her old life, she felt like she had started to belong. Her powers, her family; these were normal to these girls, and revered among other students. 

After hours of talking, she finally drifted off to sleep, happy in her new home and eager to start school in the morning. 

*         *          *

At breakfast, Snape came round the Slytherin table and handed out schedules to the students. After handing Elliana her schedule, Severus Snape allowed his hand to rest gently on her shoulder for the briefest of moments before continuing to coldly hand out the pieces of parchment. Ellie could have almost missed the small show of affection if she didn't know any better. She thought he was saying that he was proud of her for being in Slytherin. 

She looked at her schedule and her first class was Charms with Professor Flitwick which was a class that she was particularly excited for. The idea of spells to complete all the mundane tasks in her life was the thought that immediately came to mind when she learned she was a witch. Luckily, she knew where Flitwick's classroom was, so she was able to show her new classmates where the room was and seem more knowledgeable than them.

Together they entered the classroom and sat on the left side, noting that there were several Ravenclaw students already sitting on the left side of the room. 

Professor Flitwick entered and moved to stand on a makeshift podium of a stack of books at the head of the room and addressed the students. "Welcome to charms. To begins today, we will be practicing a simple levitation charm. You will notice feathers in front of each of you," He waved his wand and white feathers flew out of a box on the table and landed neatly in front of each student. "You will be levitating these feathers. Now the spell is Wingardium Leviosa. And you will swish and flick your wands like so." He demonstrated with a flourish of his wand, and the students watched, some impressed, still new to the idea of magic. "Now you" and he gestured out to the students stepping off of his podium to circulate throughout the room.

Elliana had already learned this spell in the previous week as she had taken her books to bed every night to practice basic spells. She had found it very easy to replicate many of the spells that appeared in her books, and she wondered off-handedly why a single spell required an entire class period of practice when she was able to replicate most of them in a matter of minutes. She smiled smugly at the students around her waving their wands and shouting at their feathers as she waved her wand, said the spell and watched her feather lightly lift off the table. As her feather continued to float upwards, the other students took notice and stopped what they were doing to look at her.

"Bloody hell," one of the Ravenclaws said, mouth agape, "that girl's done it already!"

Taking the opportunity of having the class' attention, Elliana decided to show off a bit, directing her feather in twisting and twirling patterns through the air. 

"That will be enough Miss Snape." Professor Flitwick stated curtly, suddenly appearing at her side. 

"Did I do something wrong professor?" She asked innocently.

"There's no need to show off Miss Snape. It's very unbecoming."

"I was just practicing the spell Sir." She smiled sweetly and some of the other Slytherin students snickered. "You can't possibly be mad at me for doing the spell right."

Professor Flitwick muttered to himself as he turned away. "Everyone else, back to work!"

Elliana spent the rest of the class lazily repeating the spell, making a point to only move her feather straight up and down while waiting for the other students to figure it out. 

After Charms, the Slytherin students had Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. From first impressions, Elliana like Professor McGonagall. She seemed smart and talented and kind, but also strict and more thana little scary. Overall, she respected McGonagall and wanted to make a good impression beyond their brief conversations before the term. When she came in for the lesson, she sat at the front of the room despite there being several HUfflepuff students already situated at the front of the room. 

Elliana knew that Professor McGonagall was an animagus, so she wasn't surprised when the cat on the front desk leapt down and straightened to become the familiar form of their professor. She explained the philosophy of Transfiguration to the class and briefly went over the prescribed syllabus for the class before launching into the lesson. Their task was to turn the matchsticks on their desks into needles.

Elliana, having never practiced this particular spell was eager to try it. She tapped the stick with the tip of her wand and immediately it transformed and became a needle. She beamed immediately, impressed with her own abilities.

Professor McGonagall had been watching her and came over to her table where she now sat holding the needle between her fingers. "Very well done Miss Snape." She smiled warmly at the girl. "Have you attempted that spell before?"

"No ma'am!" She answered excitedly.

"Well then why don't you try the reversing spell." She said as she flipped the page in Ellie's book to display the instructions for reversing the transfiguration. She stood and watched patiently as Elliana read the instructions and attempted the spell. To her surprise, Elliana was able to return the match to its original form after only two tries; the first resulting in a match shape, but still made out of metal, and the second in a full transformation. "Astounding. Five points to Slytherin." She looked around at the other desks with matches in various stages of transformation. One student had even managed to set a small fire on his desk with his. McGonagall looked at Elliana appraisingly and thought for a moment. "Hmmm..." She strode over to the cabinet behind her desk and retrieved a live rat before returning to where Elliana sat. "Would you attempt to turn this rodent into a goblet?" Ellie nodded eagerly. "To do so, you will tap it thrice with your wand and use the incantation 'Fera Verto.' Focus on the goal, and give it a try."

Elliana took a deep breathe, acutely aware that the eyes of all of her classmates were on her. She tapped the rat lightly and recited "Fera Verto" and then watched as the rat became an intricate silver goblet right before her eyes.

Several students gasped.

"Woah..."

Even Elliana was surprised that she was able to do it. This seemed like a much more complicated transfiguration than the matchstick she had originally been assigned.

"Very good Miss Snape..." The professor said offhandedly, consumed in her thoughts about the strange talent of the girl.  "That will be all for today" she said speaking now to the whole class. 

The students got up and filed out of the classroom whispering amongst themselves. None of the students talked to Elliana as most were talking about her. She now realized that there was something different about her, it wasn't normal to be able to do these things as a first year. 

Just when she started to feel like she was fitting into this life, she realized she was a freak.