Secret Daughter (A Harry Potter FanFic)

Chapter 8

The rest of Elliana's day passed rather uneventfully, with classes in History of Magic and Herbology in the afternoon. She stayed under the radar in these classes, listening quietly and only participating as much as necessary. There was a fine line between showing off and looking cool and showing off and looking like a total nerd. It helped that she wasn't necessarily as interested in these subjects as she didn't get to actually perform any magic. 

The history of her new world was infinitely more interesting than the history lessons that she had had in her muggle schooling in terms of subject matter.  History of Magic might have been more exciting if Professor Binns' voice didn't put her to sleep.

In terms of Herbology, Elliana had always had a 'black thumb of death' when it came to plants. She imagined that magical plants would be much harder to take care of- and she was right. She could already tell that she was going to struggle in that class, which almost felt like a relief. It seemed like most of her other courses would be really easy so struggling once in a while might feel nice.

At dinner that night, while the students were eating dinner, Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall sat at the head table discussing Elliana. 

"The girl is quite talented Albus," She said nodding towards Elliana sitting at the Slytherin table talking to some of the other first years, "She performed a second-year transfiguration on her first try today."

"Did she really?" He chuckled, "I'm not entirely surprised. We knew she was going to be something special. She reminds me a lot of Lily."

Minerva smiled sadly. "She does... But what I was meaning to ask you about Albus, was the possibility of placing her in my second year transfiguration class. I think that she will be bored in the first year class and, well, I'm sure some advanced studies wouldn't hurt in her circumstances..."

"An intriguing idea Minerva, but let's wait out the week- see how she performs in her other courses. I have a feeling that transfiguration may not be her only talent."

*         *        *

The next morning, Elliana had potions class with her father. She was incredibly nervous for this class. What if she was terrible at it? Her father didn't seem to care too much for her, and she felt that she would lose what little favor with him that she had gained by being sorted into Slytherin if she tanked his class. She walked into his classroom with the other Slytherin students. They were more confident walking into the room as Snape was their head of house and the rumor was that he favored his own students above the other houses. All of the Slytherins took the tables at the front of the room, not seeing the professor yet in the class.

When he strode briskly into the room, the whispers stopped immediately and every student turned to stare at Professor Snape. Elliana could see why many of the students at Hogwarts were afraid of him- he had an incredibly intimidating presence. The black robes billowing as he walked only helped to reinforce the imagery of darkness that surrounded the professor. She had never seen him smile in public, and even in the private of his own apartment, she had only seen what she described as the smallest hint of a smile humanly possible. 

As he stalked slowly towards the front of the room, he began to drawl on about the artistry of potions. Ellie was enraptured by his words. His low, gravelly voice seeming to cast a spell all it's own. She was no longer thinking about her nerves, but was listening raptly to the lesson.

When it came time to make their potions, Elliana opened her book to find the instructions and began brewing the Drowsiness Draught. At the end of the hour, she felt confident that she had brewed the potion correctly and was eager for her father to reach her as he moved around the room criticizing the other potions. He reached her potion and stirred it slowly by hovering his wand over it, uncharacteristically not criticizing her work.

"Well done Elliana. 10 points to Slytherin." And he moved to examine the next potion when one of the Gryffindor students shouted out.

"That's not fair! That's favoritism! She's his kid!"

Snape moved swiftly to tower over the student who had spoken out. "Really? You accuse me of favoritism? With a potion that looks like that?" He sneered, gesturing towards his potion that was an ugly puce color rather than the pinkish-purple that it was supposed to be. "It isn't favoritism when it is clearly a superior concoction to the others in the classroom. Just the mere fumes of her potion could render you unconscious, while yours-" he smirked, "may induce severe vomiting." 

The Slytherin students all laughed as the student was decimated by Professor Snape. It was clear that Elliana's potion was the best in the class, and they were amused that the Gryffindor student had been humiliated. 

Snape then instructed to the students to clean up their work stations and dismissed them. "Elliana, please stay back." He said as she was headed out the doors with the other students.

She hung back until all of the other students had left and looked expectantly at her father who had been straightening up around the room. He said, "Impressive work on your potion."

Elliana beamed. "Thank you. I was nervous, but once I started it kind of came naturally."

"Mhm. Now move along. Don't be late for your next class." 

Ellie frowned slightly, but was glad for the small praise that she had received. In comparison to the feedback that the other students had gotten, it was a glowing commendation. "Well, I'll see you later..." She trailed off as she left the potions classroom.