The Mudblood Princess

Chapter I

"Slow down!" Renee laughed as I stumbled over my own feet, dousing my hand in scolding tea. I'd have to lose her before the next turn. Renee was the best of friends, but this wasn't the right time.

"Hey, give this to Professor McGonagall at supper," I handed Renee a folder of notes on transfiguration I'd been studying. "I want to know what she thinks."

"Oh okay, are you sure you don't want me to walk you out?" Renee looked disappointed, but I pushed back. "I'll be okay, I'll see you tomorrow!" As the only Hogwarts graduate continuing my studies, I lived on Hogwarts property away from the main school. Fortunate for me, I wasn't going home just yet.

After looking back to make sure she was gone, I took the stairs down to the dungeons. I hummed some sort of song as I walked. This was my favorite place to go and my favorite person to see.

"Professor...?" I peered into the classroom. Professor Snape had his back towards me. "Come in."

These walls held my most precious memories at Hogwarts. Potions was something I was skilled at, and in those moments of creation and discovery I felt like a new person, someone powerful and important, someone I wasn't. At least not yet.

Professor Snape was something else entirely. He'd been harsh on me, harsh on everyone. One particular January day when I was still a student, I'd underestimated the amount of snakeskin I was adding to my pot, and launched a flame five feet into the air. Snape had darted across the room and pulled me away. Somewhere in all of that commotion, I'd locked eyes with him and he saw me- he really saw me. He saw my insignificance, my nothingness, and my desire to be so much more. Since my return to Hogwarts, I'd found Snape to be initially difficult to corner. Potions was the area I most desired knowledge in, and Snape seemed least interested in helping. I had to chase him down after hours on Fridays when he was cleaning his classroom and preparing for the following week.

"What can I help you with today?" he asked in an even tone.

"I cast my patronus today."

"Non-corporeal?" He turned the page in the book that had his attention ensnared.

I took the deepest breath I could summon, and with the most powerful yet quiet voice I could find-"Expecto Patronum."

In the corner of the potions room, a fawn appeared, bright like a silver sun. The fawn stumbled, gained its balance, and darted away.

Professor Snape looked visably shaken, and he stood a moment staring on before he looked at me.

"I brought you down some tea," I offered, trying to break the silence. "Can we talk?"

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Snape had never invited me into his office before, but suddenly he was ushering me in quickly, as if he were afraid the words would fall out of his mouth if we didn't find privacy quickly. I sat in front of the fire and watched Severus pace.

"Who are you?" He suddenly turned towards me, placing his hands on either arm of the chair I was in. The fear in his voice scared me too. I sighed, I wish I knew.

Truth is, I didn't know who I was, or where I was from. I didn't know I was magical at all until I was fifteen years of age and whisked away to Hogwarts, away from the orphanage and all I'd known.

"There's more," I pushed Professor Snape away and stood up, recasting the patronus. This time I focused, I closed my eyes and spoke in words like whispers. Slowly the fawn grew, stretched, changed, aged. A doe sped away, and I sank exhausted back into the chair.