Shadows || A Severus Snape Fanfiction

Chapter 1 - A Sinking Ship

A/N: Hellooo! Just to give you an honest heads up - this isn't a quick, fun, smutty read. It's a slow burner that attempts to stay true to Snape's (movie) character with a moderate amount of original plot to keep things interesting. But I'm sure things will get spicy eventually 😉

I hope the first chapters of OC backstory aren't too tedious. It was important to me that she was dark and interesting and actually worthy of Severus' interest.

PS - time moves relatively quickly in the beginning so don't worry, Snape doesn't start creeping on a minor!

PPS - if you're the kind of reader to get put off by a Hufflepuff OC, juuust keep reading and trust me 😏

EDIT: my writing has improved a lot since the earlier chapters of this story so don't let them put you off!! (One of these days I'll get round to rewriting them! esp ch 2 😬)

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Asha was losing her grip and she knew it. The warm, supposedly cosy air of the dorm was suffocating and the soft breathing of her blissfully sleeping peers was mocking. Every time she closed her eyes, images of those tiny blue lips, that pale face and those lifeless eyes flashed in her head. This was a nightly battle. Asha felt as though her insides were knotted. She was hyperaware of the solid walls that were enclosing her. She couldn't bear to lie here any longer.

The clock on the wall read 1:03 am. Asha slipped out of bed and pulled on her hoodie, sweatpants and sneakers, grabbed her wand and crept out into the deserted common room. She stood in front of the warm coals of the fireplace and looked into the mirror that hung above it. She was willowy and pale, with dark hair pulled into a high bun which was messy from endless tossing and turning.

With a precise flick of her wand, she whispered, "Caveatis porcina" and watched her reflection as the somewhat successful disillusionment charm made her body appear to swim with the flickering shadows behind her. The badger hanging on the wall banner behind Asha seemed to be looking at her with disapproval. Inspecting herself, she came to the conclusion that this was a slight improvement from the last time she had tried the charm.

Asha finally felt like she could breathe again as she stepped into the crisp outside air. As she jogged down the grassy hill towards the Black Lake, the smell of trees and damp filled her nose. She stopped at the water's edge and took in the view of the stars and surrounding mountains. Letting her disillusionment charm dissolve away, she used her wand to silently raise a rock off the shore and send it skimming across the water with a flick. A year ago Asha wouldn't have dared risk the sound of the splash, but since then she had been out here many times and had never once been caught. Sure, there had been a few near misses with patrolling teachers, but they didn't often come out here after midnight.

Apart from these late-night excursions, Asha didn't normally break the rules, preferring to stay on the good side of the professors. This was mostly due to the fact she couldn't be bothered with 'disciplinary measures' and liked to stay below the radar. But it was also because she was mature enough to understand that the teachers deserved her respect. However... what they didn't know couldn't hurt them. On nights like these, Asha felt the reward was well worth the risk.

Unfortunately, the serene, moonlit atmosphere of the Black Lake had not done much to subdue what Asha felt brewing inside her. No, brewing wasn't the right word. She felt like the weight she was carrying had finally become too heavy. She was cracking up. It was getting harder to act normal. Harder to put a pin in her emotions. Harder to focus on the things she was supposed to be focussed on - homework, friends, what's for lunch today... She could feel her inner strength diminishing every day. Asha was trapped on a sinking ship with nothing to do but watch.

Something within her just felt innately wrong. Though this wasn't new. Things had been twisted ever since ... Cole... Asha's chest tightened and she instantly wiped her mind clean of those thoughts. She tried instead to focus on the sound of the stones as they skitted along the water's surface and out of sight; tried to focus on the way their trail made the reflection of the moon warp and bubble. But it was no use. Though she refused to let herself get sucked into those memories, there were other things to think about that kept adding to her inner turmoil. Asha's jaw tightened as she remembered the incident that took place at Lockhart's abysmal first duelling lesson...