The Female Snape

[leenielou]

Do not fear: this is a story about Severus Snape's little sister, Serendipity Snape, and her years at Hogwarts. This story is not finished, and a sequel is currently on the go, which should be floating somewhere around the first or second page in Flourish and Blotts. Please read and enjoy, and remember that Serendipity may be of my own creation, but all other stuff belongs solely to JK Rowling




Serendipity Snape remembered the first day she arrived at Hogwarts all of her life. Cold, grey and rainy, it seemed to sum up her life until then. Of course, she had heard her brother's rave reviews of the place; its food, its fascinating creatures and secrets and the comfort of the Slytherin common room, but, to be truthful, she could see right through her slimy brother. She knew that he didn't have half as good a time there as he made out at home. Unfortunately, she understood all too well why he did this.

She couldn't wait for a reason to escape her mother and father either. Severus couldn't possibly know how awful it had been for her, these last three years; her stuck at home without even a brother to complain to, or, if she was in a bad mood, beat up. They had never been particularly close. Instead it seemed as if he had resented her from the day she was born; resented that she had gained the best looks and the best brains. In the regular curse lessons that were inflicted upon them by their father, she had always been the quickest, and because of this she would always catch Severus looking at her as if he wished to try out some of the harsher upon her.

But finally, at last she was free!

And so here she was, sitting on the Hogwarts Express, feeling so excited that she thought she might cry. At last she was going somewhere where she might be accepted, be loved, have friends.

She had thought that she might start with the people she was sharing a carriage with. Severus had, naturally, abandoned her as soon as they boarded, going off to share a carriage with his 'gang', who all looked so mean and scary that Serendipity seriously doubted whether she wanted to be in Slytherin. She knew it was her birthright, as every member of her family had belonged to Slytherin, but for some reason she wanted to be different. She didn't want to be just another Snape in Slytherin.

Serendipity focused on the girl sat opposite her. She was, she noted, extremely pretty, with long red hair and sparkling green eyes. Definitely not a first year though; her aura held the quiet confidence of someone who had belonged at Hogwarts for a while. Next to her was a dark haired girl who was clearly a friend of hers, as the two chatted away continuously.

The girl had felt Serendipity's gaze, and she turned to her and smiled.

'Hi!' she said warmly. 'Are you a first year?'

Serendipity nodded.

'You're going to love it here,' he girl continued. 'What's your name?'

'Serendipity,' Serendipity began. 'Serendipity Snape.'

The girl gave her a very odd look.

'Are you related to Severus by any chance?' she asked, and then off Serendipity's nod carried on, 'Well you don't look that much like him. Sister, I suppose? You'll probably be in Slytherin as well then. Well, anyway, I'm Lily Evans, and this is my friend Selina White. We're third years.'

[leenielou]

Serendipity nodded again, and opened her mouth to ask which house they were in, but as she did their compartment door was slid open. Three boys stood in the doorway.

'Evans, White,' the one in front said casually. Serendipity looked curiously at his mussed-up black hair, as though he had stuck his head purposefully out of the window. 'We heard a rumour that Snivelly's ickle sissy has come to Hogwarts. Know if it's true?'

'Yes, James, Severus's younger sister is here,' Lily replied coolly, gesturing to Serendipity. The boy called James looked shocked.

'I thought you Snapes never washed?' sneered a voice cruelly from behind him. A face appeared over James's shoulder of someone considerably smaller than him.

'Now, now, Peter, don't be cruel to the poor new kid. It isn't her fault she's got Snivellus as a brother,' said the other boy, the handsome one. He grinned at Serendipity. She felt herself blush, and turned her gaze to the floor.

'God, I feel so sorry for you,' the boy called James said. 'Tell me, does Snivelly have to work hard to get his hair that greasy?'

Serendipity giggled. Her earlier theories about her brother were confirmed; people did think he was disgusting.

'Just leave it James. Stop insulting her brother,' Lily snapped, and James's eyes narrowed.

'Come on, James mate. Let's go find the greasy haired git himself,� the good looking one muttered. The three boys left and the girls were alone again.

'I'm so sorry about them,' Lily said. 'Potter and his gang are the biggest prats imaginable. You didn't have to just sit there and take what they said, you know.'

'But it's true!' Serendipity exclaimed. 'Severus is a snivelling git. Always picking on me, mooching moodily around. He hates me, and personally, I think he deserves what he gets.'

'Oh,' Lily said.

From that point onward Lily said nothing more to Serendipity, and as the train stopped for Hogwarts she walked out of the carriage without a second glance. Serendipity made her own way to the platform, and followed the huge monster of a man bellowing, 'Firs' years!'

When the crowd she was in reached the boats, she hung back to see who she could share with. A small girl with blond hair approached her.

'Hi!' she twinkled. 'Shall we get a boat? My name's Polly Straun. I'm so excited! How about you?'

Why is it, thought Serendipity, that everyone I am meeting seems to be on happy drugs.

'Serendipity Snape,' she replied, climbing into a boat.

'Oh. These are Meghna, Jackie and Hannah,' Polly twittered on, introducing her three, equally pretty friends. 'We're all hoping to be in Gryffindor of course. How about you?'

On reflex, Serendipity opened her mouth to say Slytherin, as her father had beaten into her, but then she shut it again.

'Me too,' she replied instead, instantly realising that it was the truth. Who wanted to be in the same house as Snivelly Snape?

Serendipity listened to the girls chatter on all the way into the Great Hall, occasionally being forced to join in. Not an exceptionally outgoing person by nature anyway, she was beginning to notice them grating on her. However, by merely being in their presence she was noticing new things. People introducing themselves, smiling at her. She looked like their friend, and therefore people were accepting her.

As the first years gathered at the front for the Sorting, Serendipity saw the dark eyes of her brother across the Hall. He nodded once, slowly, at her, and that was the final straw. She knew what that nod meant 'make sure you're in Slytherin' and so now she made up her mind to do her darndest not to be.

Naturally, Polly, Meghna, Jackie and Hannah were all sorted into Gryffindor to great applause. At the Gryffindor table, Serendipity noticed the boys from the train as well as Lily and her friend.

And then it was her turn. As the hat was lowered over her head, she heard a voice begin to speak to her.

'Ah, another Snape. Cunning, exceptionally clever, powerful, great skill with the Dark Arts...and yet an inner core...now this is different...oh, I can feel your desire to be in Gryffindor, to be accepted, but this goes much deeper...an iron fist of strength lies in you, girl...the ability to love, but also a darkness...Now this just could be the hardest decision I've ever had to make.'

Serendipity locked eyes with her brother, who was staring intensely at and didn't let go until he looked away in disgust as the hat announced,

'Gryffindor!'

[leenielou]

There was a silence across the Hall, which was then broken by the sound of male laughter. Serendipity looked across and saw that it was James and his friends laughing, who then began to cheer with the rest of the table as she joined them. Polly squeezed her arm as she sat down, and, high on the euphoria of being accepted and going where she wanted, she looked at her brother and grinned. He shot her a glance of the deepest contempt, and appeared to reach inside his robes for his wand.

Serendipity allowed herself to once again be sucked into the conversation of Polly et al., and was just hesitantly giving them her opinion of whether magical hair dye should be permitted, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Looking around she saw James Potter.

“Just wanted to say well done, Snape. Better in this house than that one over there. You must have something different to the rest.”

“Uh…thanks,” she replied. Standing next to James was his attractive friend.

“Yeah, how annoyed is Snivellus going to be?” he said, with amusement in his voice. “Evans told us what you said on the train. Trust me, if you’re any different to him, you’ll be fine here.” He smiled kindly, but then his eyes hardened and he leaned down towards her. “And if I find you’re not different, well…” His voice trailed off and he glared at her unpleasantly. She gulped.

“I-in what way?” she asked in a small voice.

“Well, for instance, if you seem to be as fascinated with the Dark Arts as him,” James volunteered this time, also bending close. “We don’t take kindly to filth like Severus Snape.”

“We really don’t,” his friend continued. “So if we see one hint, just one hint of it from you, you can be assured that you’ll wish you’d joined Slytherin with your slimy brother.”

“At least we can’t get him when he’s in his common room,” James said, straightening up and looking wistfully over at the Slytherin table. “Which is a pity; because there are so many things we could do to his bed…”

He strolled off towards the doors, and his friend, after one final warning glance, followed him. Polly, Meghna, Jackie and Hannah sat there with their mouths open.

“What was that about?” Polly asked, sounding scandalised. “You know the Dark Arts?” The girls visibly withdrew from her.

“No! No!” Serendipity cried, feeling the warm glow of acceptance slip away and a cold chill steal through her body. “It’s just…my brother, he’s in Slytherin, and he rather likes them…but not me! They – they scare me,” she admitted shyly, but the girls were all still reeling from her other admission.

“Your brother is in Slytherin?” Jackie said in disgust. “You have family members in Slytherin?”

Serendipity looked around the table at the apprehensive and disgusted faces, and felt like she was going to cry. She had not realised the strength of the reaction she would get when it was discovered that perhaps she should be in Slytherin.

“Y-yes, but, I-I’m not,” she tried, speaking slowly and nervously. “I-I want to be in Gryffindor.”

Tears welled up in her eyes as she saw Hannah and Meghna begin to whisper. Jackie simply turned her body away from her. Only Polly was still gazing at her.

“Well…I suppose you do look kind of…evil,” she said, then also turned away. Serendipity sat stunned for the rest of the meal, until the first years were sent to follow their prefect to their common room. All along the way she could see the girls shooting glances back at her, and laughing, and whispering. And she thought to herself,

How could I ever have thought I would be accepted here? I fought my way into Gryffindor but now I am shown that it is clearly Slytherin where I belong. With my outcast brother. With my evil, slimy brother. How could I have been so stupid to think that Gryffindor would be a way to have friends finally?

She entered the common room and went straight up to bed without even looking around. She wanted someone to comfort her, but the girls in her year now hated her, her brother was in some other part of the castle and there was no chance that he would anyway, and her parents never had.

Lying in her dark dormitory, she realised that she was always going to be hated, feared and suspected, simply because of who she was. And with this thought she rolled over and cried herself to sleep.

[leenielou]

In the weeks that followed, Serendipity’s life at Hogwarts did not improve. Polly and her friends wanted nothing to do with her, even pretended to be scared of her, and she could hear them whispering about her to the rest of the Gryffindors. She was so miserable that she began to wish she had never even come to the school. The only thing that kept her mind off her loneliness was the work they were set and the lessons that she excelled in. It was just another reason for Polly and her gang to be suspicious of her. Occasionally Serendipity would see James and his friends in the common room, and they would always give her some sort of greeting, usually along the line of ;

‘Hey Snape, we’re watching you!”

Serendipity had even taken, in her desperation, to wandering the corridors to search for her brother. She desperately wished that she hadn’t been so stupid as to have not realised that Slytherin was where she actually belonged, and not wanted to be in Gryffindor.

One Wednesday close to Halloween, Serendipity awoke and went down to breakfast by herself as usual. As she sat, half-heartedly eating scrambled eggs on toast, Meghna and Hannah brushed past her and sat on the bench right next to her. She sneaked a glance at them, and then decided to just ignore them. This became quite hard as they began to talk in very loud voices about her.

‘Did you hear that Snape muttering in her sleep last night?” Meghna began, grinning slyly. ‘I heard her saying these strange words…sounded like some kind of curse to me.’

‘Yeh well, you know what her family’s like, don’t you,’ Hannah replied. ‘My dad told me that they’re all bad dark wizards.’

‘I don’t trust her. She could curse us in our sleep’.

Other people around the table began to take notice of what the two girls were saying, and Serendipity could see them casting furtive glances at her. She held her head lower so that her black hair shielded her from their stares.

‘Well, not only is she evil, but she’s a complete freak!’ Hannah shrieked, and the two girls began to laugh. ‘She…she picks her spots and builds a model out of them!”

The other people at the table began to laugh as well, as Hannah and Meghna burst into giggles. Serendipity flushed a bright red and got to her feet. She cast a glance at the two girls, now openly mocking her as she stood up.

‘Aww, look at little Pity-poo! Is she upset?’

Serendipity glanced around and caught the eye of James Potter’s handsome friend. He was one of the only ones not laughing at her. His dark eyes actually looked to be harbouring some pity for her, but as she turned to run out of the Hall, she saw James thump him on the back and say something, and his expression changed to the one she recognised as contempt.

She ran all the way out of the Hall and up to the Transfiguration classroom where her first lesson of the day was. She sat on the floor outside the room and clutched her head. She felt so sad that she didn’t think she would be able to contain the huge dam of tears that seemed to be building up inside her. Shaking, she attempted to control them, until she heard the distant sound of voices that meant the rest of the class was on their way. Slowly she stood up and looked at the ground. As the class approached, she could hear them laughing and knew it was at her.

‘Serendipity,’ she heard a voice hiss. She looked up into the furious eyes of her brother. ‘What the hell was all that about at breakfast? Are you trying to drag our name through the mud?’

‘Like you can talk, Snivellus,’ she shot back, and watched with some satisfaction the look of hate and fear that came into his eyes.

‘Get lost, you little cow,’ he replied. ‘If you’d been put where you belonged, none of this would have happened.’ He turned and stalked off.

‘T****r,’ she hissed at his back.

‘An excellently timed use of the word, Miss Snape, but unfortunately I do not tolerate abusive language. Ten points from Gryffindor,’ Professor McGonagall said, having appeared to begin the lesson. Another reason for her classmates to hate her.

Professor McGonagall announced that the purpose of the lesson today would be to turn a fork into a worm.

‘The hardest bit is to really manage to make the prongs disappear,’ McGonagall said loudly, as she demonstrated. ‘The incantation we shall be using is ferrevertebra!’

The class set to work, but Serendipity could still hear the whispers and giggles from where she was sat at the front. She sat with her head bowed and tried to concentrate on the task, but it was rather difficult, as the whole class was now abuzz. Eventually the noise became so much that Professor McGonagall snapped,

‘Why is everyone so restless today? All of you will be in detention unless you can give me a valid reason why you are not getting on with your work and are sitting chatting!’

Most of the room went silent, and then Serendipity heard Polly’s voice ring out,

‘Please miss, we’re all just talking because we’re so afraid of Serendipity Snape.’

‘Oh?’ McGonagall answered, shooting a look at Serendipity. ‘And why is that?’

‘Because she keeps trying to curse us when we’re asleep, Professor,’ Hannah piped up. ‘And the rest of the school is getting worried as well. Who knows what she might do?’

Professor McGonagall slowly got to her feet, all of the while glancing curiously from Hannah to Serendipity.

‘Miss Patil, that is a very serious accusation to make, and not one you should be flaunting around a classroom where there is work supposed to be being done. However, if you would like to follow this through, I suggest that you wait behind at the end of the lesson.’ She crossed the room to Serendipity. ‘What do you have to say about this, Miss Snape?’ she asked quietly. ‘Everyone get on with your work!’

For a moment Serendipity couldn’t speak. She couldn’t believe what the girls had just done. As if it wasn’t bad enough having the school whispering about her, not being able to walk down corridors without at least one conversation stopping, now they had really spoken out about it. To a teacher. As if it was true.

But then she began to wonder if maybe she was doing all these things that Polly and her friends were saying. If they seemed so convinced about it enough to tell a teacher, surely there must be some truth in it?

‘Miss Snape?’ Professor McGonagall chided gently. ‘Do you know anything about this?’

[leenielou]

Serendipity could feel twenty pairs of eyes upon her, waiting for her answer. She looked helplessly into Professor McGonagall’s eyes, and willed her not to ask. McGonagall looked as though she understood, and she straightened up.

‘Miss Patil, Miss Straun, you shall wait behind after the lesson. And you, Miss Snape.’

Serendipity sat through the rest of the lesson unable to do anything. She just sat and stared at her fork as though it was the only thing keeping her alive. She knew that if she looked at anything else she would start to cry.

After the lesson, everyone else seemed reluctant to leave, obviously hoping to see what would happen. McGonagall shooed them all out and then turned to the three girls.

‘So, Miss Patil, what is this accusation that you are making?’

‘Well, Professor,’ Hannah began. ‘Every night now I’ve woken up to hear Serendipity muttering curses. And one night I saw her pacing the dormitory with her wand in her hand. It’s really scaring all of us, especially since her family is…well…her family.’

McGonagall stared at her for a few seconds, then said,

‘And you, Miss Straun? You have seen and heard this as well?’

Polly risked a glance at Serendipity. ‘Yes, miss. Every night. Not only does it keep us awake and afraid, but I also looked up some of the things she’s been saying and it’s all curses such as the Fire-flame curse and the Blood-stiller.’

McGonagall looked shocked, and then turned to Serendipity.

‘And what do you have to say for yourself?’

Serendipity looked around at the three faces, two of them smug and hateful, and one fearful yet still suspicious.

‘I…I don’t remember saying anything…’ she said, trailing off.

‘But do you know the incantations for those particular curses?’

Serendipity felt uncomfortable. She didn’t want to lie, and at that moment she hated her father so much for teaching her things that obviously looked suspiciously evil.

‘Yes,’ she said quietly. ‘But I haven’t done that! I wouldn’t hurt anyone! I don’t know if I’ve been talking in my sleep or what…my dad taught me those curses…’

McGonagall looked sympathetic; she had clearly already heard this from Severus. ‘Well, sleep-talking is a logical, and nicer conclusion to draw,’ she conceded. ‘But what this two girls say is very serious, Miss Snape. Very serious indeed. We shall be keeping an eye on you.’ She eyed them all beadily. ‘You may go now.’

Serendipity reluctantly followed the other two. Once out of the room, they immediately rounded on her, and dragged her, protesting, into an alcove off the main corridor.

‘You’re making out that we’re lying, Spits?’ Polly hissed.

‘She made us look so stupid,’ Hannah said, her voice flat and mean.

Polly nodded. ‘Look, Spitty, we don’t like you. Well, actually, we don’t trust you. All you Snapes are bad. And I’ve seen the way you look at my sister’s boyfriend.’

‘What?!’ Serendipity exclaimed, managing to get a word out at last.

‘Sirius Black,’ Polly spat. ‘He’s got your number though. My sister told me. He doesn’t trust you either. But then he knows your snivelly brother, so that’s okay I suppose. It runs in the family. We’ve heard all about your brother.’

All of a sudden Serendipity understood why exactly they were so unnecessarily afraid of her. Severus.

Thanks, bro, she thought.

Polly released her grip on Serendipity as a shadow loomed behind them.

‘Hey, what are you lot doing? Shouldn’t you be in class?’ It was the Gryffindor prefect, Alice Neville. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. ‘What were you doing?’

‘Swapping chocolate frog cards,’ Hannah said innocently. ‘Serendipity dropped hers all over the floor.’

‘Well, get to class,’ Alice replied, believing her. ‘Oh, and you Sirius.’

She turned to walk away, and Polly and Hannah looked around in surprise to see James Potter’s handsome friend standing a little way away.

‘Hi, Sirius,’ Polly chirped, a big grin spreading over her face. ‘Just laying down a bit of the law with Spitty Snape here.’

Sirius moved closer and took a good look at Serendipity, her face flushed, robes all messed up and eyes brimming with tears. She looked completely and utterly defeated and very vulnerable.

‘Mmm…yeh,’ he said, not smiling. Once again Serendipity thought he looked a tiny bit sympathetic. ‘We’d better get to our classes.’ The two girls immediately trotted off without a backward glance, leaving Serendipity to attempt to make herself acceptable again. Sirius gave her an odd look.

‘Let me guess, you’re still watching me?’ she said bitterly, a stray tear streaking down her cheek. She brushed it away hastily.

‘No,’ he said. ‘Just –‘

‘Save it,’ she said quietly and ran off up the corridor. She wasn’t going to go to Charms…she was going to go and sit somewhere and cry and cry and cry…

[leenielou]

She raced down staircases, through the Entrance Hall, down the steps and out across the lawn. Blindly running, she didn’t see the huge mound of brown fur until she ran smack bang into it.

‘Aargh!’ it yelled as she rebounded off it and fell to the floor. It turned around to reveal the huge man who had escorted all of the first years to the castle on the first night. ‘Bloody hell, girl, yeh want ter watch where yer goin!’ he yelled. ‘Nearly gev me a hear’ attack, yeh did!’

‘Sorry, I’m sorry,’ she stammered, picking herself up and looking around for where to run to.

‘Wai’ a minute! Yer tha’ Snape kid, ain’ yer?’ he said, smiling. ‘Bin hearin’ yeh quite good, girl. At yer magic, like.’ He looked closely at her face. ‘Hey, wha’s up? You bin cryin’?’

‘No, I’m fine, I’m fine,’ she said, wiping her face. ‘I’ve got to go, um…’ She realised she didn’t know his name.

‘Hagrid,’ he said. ‘Me name’s Hagrid.’

Serendipity nodded. ‘Okay then Hagrid. Bye.’ She turned and walked away, towards the lake this time. Hagrid watched her go, a puzzled expression on his face.

Serendipity reached the lake edge and sat down, bringing her knees up to her chin and wrapping her arms around them. She began to rock back and forth, not crying any more, but still devastated.

She couldn’t believe everything that had happened. She was sure now that the whole school would be buzzing with awful rumours about her by now, and knew that Severus would not only be mad at her himself, but that he would probably tell her parents. That thought terrified her more than the threat of ostracision for the rest of her school years.

The wind blew her hair away from her face slightly and cooled the tracks of her tears. All she had ever wanted was to be a normal witch, from a loving family, to be accepted and loved, and had thought that she might find this at Hogwarts. But it was still denied her. Polly and her friends had made sure of that.

As she began to dwell on the girls, something stirred deep inside. Her pain and sadness was becoming hotter, more potent, and it ached like a burning fire. It was only when she saw the marks her nails had left in her hands from gripping them so tight that she realised how angry she was. How could they just pick on her with no proof; ruin her life? How could they get away with that? Serendipity began to shake with the injustice of it, that they were the popular ones; they were the loved ones, while she, the one being mercilessly bullied, was truthful. She had wanted to make a difference.

She didn’t realise how late it was until she heard the students moving around the castle again, some filing out and onto the grounds. Those braving the chilly October air were clever enough to bring scarves; she had brought nothing, and only just began to realise how cold she was.

Suddenly from behind her she heard a huge commotion.

‘Watch out! Ev’ryone down! Mind it now, it ain’ a toy!’ came the booming voice she had just spoken to, but ten times louder, followed by several roars and screeches. She lazily turned her head, too wrapped up in her own world to really care…but what she saw snapped her out of her trance.

In the middle of the grounds was the most awesome beast she had ever laid eyes on. With the back legs of some huge lizard and a head shaped like an eagles, yet with huge dripping fangs and lethal claws. It was currently running rampage, breathing fire into the air and kicking out for something to destroy, while Hagrid attempted to subdue it.

‘Someone fetch Dumbledore! He’s got magic! It’s the only thing to stop it!’ he yelled, and ten students ran for the castle.
Serendipity squinted at the ground by the creature and saw to her horror that it held a student in one of its clawed feet. The student was being tossed around as the creature roared with delight, breathing occasional puffs of fire at the hidden onlookers.

Dumbledore won’t be here in time, she thought, as the creature lowered its head and took a great sniff of its prey. Without realising what she was doing, she had pulled her wand out and was running towards it. It was only as she drew nearer that she realised the student the beast held was none other than Hannah Patil.

She slowed her run to a walk as conflicting emotions ran through her. It was clear that by the time Dumbledore arrived Hannah would be dead; the beast already had its mouth poised over her screaming body. Time seemed to slow down, and Serendipity thought;

She would deserve it. It’s not as if they know that I could stop it. It wouldn’t be my fault. And maybe the torment would be over. She would get what was coming to her.

But it’s another human being. And yeh, she might have been a bit of a b***h, but in the end she’s your housemate. You could save her.

Serendipity didn’t have to think any longer. She raised her wand and yelled,

‘Emperuvae relashio!’

The creature swayed slightly as the spell hit it, and then fell to the ground releasing Hannah on the way.

[leenielou]

Serendipity sank to her knees, panting from the exertion of the run and the intensity of the spell. She saw Dumbledore and the other teachers racing across the grounds to where Hannah was curled up in a ball crying, with the huge animal collapsed beside her. The students who had witnessed the attack were now glancing uneasily at Serendipity. She heard footsteps pounding over to her, and then felt a hand under her arm.

‘Come on, Serendipity, up you get,’ came a voice, and she was helped to her feet. She looked up into the dark eyes of Sirius Black.

‘That was some spell,’ he said, as he helped her over to the assembled group around Hannah. ‘How the hell do you have that much power?’

Serendipity groaned inwardly.

Just great, she thought. I save a girls life, and yet everyone will only focus on the fact that I have more power than I ought. She could see the bullying and fear of her getting much worse because of this, and was about to yank her arm away and stalk off before the abuse began, when Sirius surprised her by saying,

‘It was amazing. Even though that girl and her friends have been bullying you, I mean, she made you cry, and yet you still saved her. I saw you; you did it without even thinking!’

Serendipity was about to protest the contrary when she changed her mind.

‘And you knocked out that massive thing! Hagrid only keeps that for his NEWT groups!’ Sirius suddenly stopped walking and looked at her. Serendipity took her arm away and looked back at him suspiciously. Was he setting her up for just another knock-down? She braced herself for the poisonous words she was sure would come next.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said.

‘Wha-‘ she began, now completely confused.

‘I shouldn’t have judged you just because your brother’s an absolute t**t. You obviously don’t deserve to be related to him. So, yeh, I guess I’m sorry for being…well…such an utter…you know.’

Serendipity stared at him.

He grinned. ‘You’re alright really, aren’t you? Should’ve known really after you laughed at James ragging Snivelly that day.’

Dumbledore was now approaching them as Professor McGonagall took Hannah off to the hospital wing, and Hagrid and Professor Flitwick sorted out the dormant creature.

Sirius patted her awkwardly on the shoulder. ‘Nice one. Ehm…anyway, shouldn’t think you’ll get much trouble from your…erm…friends now.’

‘Miss Snape, will you please come with me,’ Dumbledore said as he stopped beside them. His voice was extremely friendly, yet Serendipity still felt nervous. ‘And you, Mr Black.’

Dumbledore led them in silence through the Entrance Hall and up two flights of stairs to the door of his office.

‘Sugar quill!’ he said, and the staircase behind the door was revealed. ‘Up we go then!’ he announced.

Once they were all sat in his office, he removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes wearily.

‘Now, Mr Black, will you please tell me your version of events from what has just happened’.

Sirius told Dumbledore about how he had been going down to the lake with James when he had heard the shouting and turned to see Hannah being knocked down and grabbed by the Akavernis. ‘It was really sudden, really, really quick. And then everyone was screaming and James ran to get you, and the next minute, I just saw Serendipity running out of nowhere and then it just fell down. It was amazing.

‘Amazing it certainly is,’ Dumbledore said, nodding. ‘I must say, Miss Snape, that your ability exceeds even some sixth year students. Not many of students would have enough power to successfully send a fully grown Akavernis into the deep sleep that only comes to it once every century (and even then when it is submerged in water) let alone even know about this!’ He replaced his glasses and squinted at her. ‘I assume of course, that you do know what the creature was.’

‘Yes, Professor,’ she replied.

‘Sirius, I would like to thank you for your and James’s quick thinking, even though it turned out to not be necessary. Now if you will take your leave, I would like to speak to Miss Snape alone.’

‘Of course, sir,’ Sirius said, and left the office.

‘Well, Miss Snape,’ Dumbledore began. ‘Well done for your achievements today, but a matter has been brought to my attention concerning this young girl whose life you have saved today.’

Serendipity knew what was coming now. And as she had just readily proved her ability in spell casting, she knew that everyone would believe the worst about the rumours.

‘Professor McGonagall informs me that you have been accused of attempting to curse the girls in your dormitory at night. Is this true?’

‘No, no it isn’t! It isn’t at all!’ Serendipity said, seizing her chance. ‘I don’t know why they’re saying it, except they found out that my family is…well…not the purest and that Severus is in Slytherin and…’

‘Fear and apprehension of the unknown are two acceptable traits of adolescence,’ Dumbledore said calmly, silencing her. ‘And I am willing to believe that you have been sleep talking, and that the two girls may be mistaken. However, I want you to tell me now if it is more than mistaken. Miss Snape, are these girls deliberately lying about you?’

There was a silence while Serendipity weighed up what to say.

‘We try to extinguish bullying wherever we find it,’ Dumbledore continued. ‘And if this is the case, then the girls will be dealt with accordingly. But of course, it all rests upon you.’

Serendipity thought quickly. It would be such a relief to tell someone, especially Dumbledore, that she wasn’t any of the things that Polly and everyone had been saying. But then, if she did, and Dumbledore really did ‘deal’ with them, she knew her life wouldn’t be worth living. If anything, they would get worse. At the moment she had a good chance of them maybe stopping their b***hiness as she had just saved Hannah’s life, but if she told…well…

She could just picture it.

‘No, Professor Dumbledore, they haven’t been bullying me. I do sleep talk sometimes, and as I’m used to several lessons a day at home with my father, I guess I’m just going over them in my head at night.’

Dumbledore looked at her intensely, and then shrugged. ‘Whatever you say, Miss Snape. You may go, then, if there is no cause for concern.’

Serendipity got to her feet.

‘But remember – there is always help here if you need it.’

She nodded, walked to the door and pushed it open.

‘And Miss Snape?’

She turned in the doorway.

‘You have just earned fifty points to Gryffindor.’

[leenielou]

Serendipity practically floated down the stairs and into the common room. Fifty points for her house! Surely they couldn’t hate her now!

‘Raspberry puddle,’ she gasped at the Fat Lady as she arrived at the common room, and stumbled inside. The room was full; everyone was clearly gossiping about what had just happened down in the grounds. It fell silent as she walked in.

Whatever Serendipity had been expecting, it was not this. Complete silence. A lack of any reaction. Some people were openly staring at her, some were looking away. But no one was saying anything or showing anything.

She stood awkwardly and looked around, one hand fiddling with the hanging thread on her robe sleeve. She became well aware of her messy black hair falling all over her face, and the redness of her usually pale face.

‘Um…’ she said, then, looking around once more dashed for the stairway to the dormitory and ran upstairs. Behind her she heard the room erupt with conversation again, but this time it was a sound she was used to; whispers. She flung herself down upon her bed and clenched her fists. She could feel the blood pumping heavily around her body, pooling in her temples and making her head pound.

There was a sound to the left of her, and she looked around. Polly was sat watching her, looking very pale.

‘Oh…um…hi,’ Serendipity said, sitting up. ‘I didn’t see you there.’

‘Don’t speak to me,’ Polly squeaked, her eyes widening with fear. A cold chill coursed through Serendipity’s body.

‘What? Why?’ she asked, getting up.

‘Stay away from me!’ Polly cried, moving backwards on her bed until she had her back to the wall. ‘Don’t you dare ever, ever talk, look or come near me or my friends again!’

A little of the anger Serendipity had felt by the lake suddenly erupted. ‘What?!’ she yelled. ‘What the hell have I done this time?! I just saved your friend’s life, even though the two of you have done your best to make mine a misery! Shouldn’t you be thanking me?!’

Polly also leapt to her feet.

‘We don’t have to thank you for anything you little freak!’ she shouted. ‘You just proved it down there, proved what we were all saying about you was true! You do want to hurt us all, and you can okay, and we get the point! So stay away from us, you disgusting little FREAK!’

‘Hannah wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for me knowing what to do! So, fine, hate me because I have power, but if I hadn’t had it, Hannah would be DEAD! DEAD!’

Polly looked at her with a kind of triumph.
‘You can stop threatening us, as well,’ she said in a normal voice. ‘Just give it up, Serendipity.’

‘This ISN’T FAIR!’ Serendipity raged, grabbing a random book and throwing it as far as she could. She heard a smash, but it couldn’t bring her back down now. ‘I HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING! WHAT IS THIS, A STUPID, B***HY LITTLE GAME? YOU’RE ALL CRAZY! WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?! WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO JUST GET YOUR APPROVAL?”

In her temper she didn’t notice the sparks flying from her dormant wand on the bed. Polly eyed it cautiously, but stood her ground.

‘You’re pathetic,’ she sneered. ‘Creepy little snob girl, thinking you’re better than us…’

‘WHEN THE HELL DID I SAY THAT?! NEVER! ALL I WANTED WAS YOUR ACCEPTANCE! INSTEAD YOU TURN THE WHOLE SCHOOL AGAINST ME!’ She reached for another book and threw it at Polly, who shrieked and ducked. It hit the wall behind where her head had been and fell to the ground with a thud. ‘AND SO WHAT IF I’M CLEVERER THAN YOU?! IT DOESN’T MATTER! IT DOESN’T MEAN I’M EVIL! IT JUST MEANS I’M CLEVER!!’

‘You crazy freak,’ Polly gasped in disbelief, now inching towards the door. The windows had blown open and the curtains were now billowing into the room. Outside the sky had suddenly turned a slate grey, and rain began to pour down and into the room. A lightning bolt lit up the sky.

‘DON’T…CALL…ME…THAT!’ Serendipity screamed, feeling the most anger and hatred she had ever felt in her life. She looked at Polly through a haze of red and just knew that she wanted to hurt her…to hurt her as bad as she had hurt her…

On the bed, a ball of fire exploded from her wand, igniting the whole of her bed and blowing flames up to the ceiling. Polly screamed and ran for the door, wrenched it open and disappeared.

Serendipity looked around, seemingly surprised at the column of fire that the room now housed. She couldn’t reach her wand, but as she watched the bed burn she suddenly felt completely calm. She’d finally let some of the anger out, and it had felt so good to see Polly afraid.

‘Exisignis,’ she whispered to herself, and, to her amazement, the fire went out. The bed was a charred mess. The rain abruptly stopped and the clouds faded. The sudden silence rang in her ears as Serendipity approached the bed and lightly ran her finger along the wooden edge. She reached out and tenderly picked up her wand, and turned to examine it just as Polly, Professor McGonagall and half of the population of Gryffindor appeared in the doorway.

Only Serendipity noticed, in the furore that followed, that her wand had remained completely unscathed.

[leenielou]

Two months had passed since that Wednesday. Snow was falling upon Hogwarts, covering the grounds in a thick white blanket. Fires were kept lit all day now in the common rooms by the house elves, and the food provided at meal times had become the thick, stodgy and filling stews, pies and crumbles seen at every winter dinner table. Students took every spare opportunity to play in the snow, flinging snowballs at each other, or, more often, bewitching them to become icy cold bludgers. Afterwards they would all huddle around the fires in the common rooms, warming their hands and drying their wet scarves.

But Serendipity Snape watched all of this from her dormitory window when she was not in lessons or at meals. Her breath would frost up the window until she couldn’t see anymore, and then she was glad.

Since Halloween the change in her had been remarkable, and even she could feel it. It was as if twelve years of anger and hatred packed into her by her father had finally been released and now most days she felt as if she was burning up from the inside out. After the whole setting her bed on fire incident, Professor McGonagall had deducted the fifty points that she had just won for saving Hannah Patil’s life, and then sentenced her to three weeks of detentions. This had been worse than anything, as they had mainly been sitting with Hagrid as he watched over the Akavernis waiting for it to awake. The only thing worse than the crushing boredom of this in Serendipity’s opinion was Hagrid’s conversation. He mainly focused on trying to get her to reveal what she was actually feeling, and why, and although Serendipity appreciated the effort, she was never going to tell him.

And now she was reduced to being completely alone at all times. Not that she minded anymore. She would rather spend the rest of her life alone than have to hang around with those who clearly showed no like or mercy for her, when she was just itching to hurt them. Polly and her friends had kicked up such a fuss about still having to share a dormitory with her, that she had been removed to a special room in one of the towers where she was all by herself. It suited her perfectly. She could take large numbers of books out of the library and research magic to the higher levels of the school, so that she would be assured the highest grades and highest knowledge.

People had stopped whispering now. Instead they just plain ignored her, apart from those cows she used to share a room with, who, whenever they got a chance, still tried to torment her. Serendipity didn’t mind though; she had found a charm in the library to block out your enemy’s insults, and she used this frequently. It was quite funny for her to see them getting more and more worked up as to why they were having no effect upon her at all, as she sat blank faced, doing work.

Today was the last day of term. The castle had been decorated in celebration of Christmas, with the suits of armour singing carols, magical baubles hanging from every staircase that flashed and changed colour as you walked past them, and a huge Christmas tree in the Entrance Hall, decorated with every delicate, impressive and beautiful thing that Serendipity had ever seen. Not that any of it made an impact upon her. It was only Christmas. A season of goodwill to all men? No one felt like supplying it to her, and so she wouldn’t to them.

Serendipity was bored. It was the lunch hour, and as she wasn’t hungry she had nothing to do. She decided to go for a wander and see how many people she could spot that she would like to jinx.

She descended the stairs from her tower and took a left turn, along the Charms corridor. Up some stairs, around a corner, and down a long twisted flight of stairs to near the dungeons. She eventually came to a halt in front of a large dry stone wall that looked suspiciously clear from pictures and decoration. She ran her hands over it, then, not finding anything, turned to go.

Suddenly she let out a yelp of surprise as a door concealed in the wall suddenly swung open.
‘Yargghh!’ she cried, jumping backwards, and her cry was echoed by the person in the doorway.

‘Serendipity! What do you think you’re doing down here?’

Serendipity relaxed. It was only Severus. This meant….that this was the door to the Slytherin common room!

‘Just out on a walk,’ she muttered and turned to go.

‘Were you trying to get in there?’ he asked, his voice cold and hard as he followed her.

‘No,’ she replied, hurrying up a staircase and re-emerging near the dungeons.

He reached out and grabbed her arm. She spun around defiantly, preparing to attack. Instead his face was the most gentle she had ever seen it. This temporarily confused her.

‘Look, Ren,’ he said, using his pet name for her from a period when they didn’t use to display as much hate for each other. ‘I know you’re having to live all by yourself. And I know that you don’t really have any friends.’

Anger flared up inside Serendipity. ‘So what?!’ she said, stepping towards him. ‘Neither do you!’

Severus sighed. ‘I do, Ren, but that’s not the point. I’m just saying…’ He seemed to be struggling to get his words out, as if he weren’t used to them. ‘If you ever feel…you know…really bad…well…I am your brother…and…um…well, if you need a friend, I’m…um…here.’

Serendipity stared at him incredulously. ‘And just why would I want you as my friend?’ she snarled. ‘You’ve hated me ever since I was born!’

‘Look, I’m just trying to be nice, okay!’ Severus snapped, back to his usual form. ‘But if you’re too selfish and stupid to accept it then just b****r off back to your friends.’ He turned on his heel and stalked off.

‘Loser,’ Serendipity muttered, and she too turned and stalked off.

[leenielou]

Christmas passed as a blur to Serendipity, who, forced to stay at school, spent the whole time trying to avoid her brother. There were only a couple of them staying on this holiday time, including, to Serendipity’s delight, Hannah Patil and Meghna Raven. They were the only two first years staying apart from herself, and she was finding it highly enjoyable to scurry along the many secret passages and hidden corridors she had found in her wanders alone and reappear right where they were walking to scare them. However, one time when she tried this, she was dismayed to see that Hannah and Meghna were walking along the same corridor as none other than Sirius Black, James Potter and their two other friends.

Hannah and Meghna lifted their noses to her as they walked past, and she followed them with her eyes, watching them look around with small panicky glances, eventually breaking into a run. This made her laugh, and it wasn’t until she had straightened up that she saw the four boys.

‘Hi, Serendipity,’ Sirius said, lifting his hand in greeting. It seemed he was the only person in the school who would still speak to her. James nudged him furiously, and as they rounded the corner she could hear him say,

‘Don’t you know about her?’

Serendipity felt her amusement slip away. Sirius may have been the only person who would speak to her, but she knew that that wouldn’t last. Not with his three friends to convince him otherwise.

She turned to go back into the passage she had just come from, but got her foot tangled up in the tapestry and fell with a thud. Her wand rolled away from her to the opposite side of the corridor. Without thinking, she outstretched her hand and said,

‘Accio wand,’ and her wand shot into her hand. She got to her feet, and then stopped, realising something. She looked down at the wand in her hand. Without another wand, she shouldn’t have been able to perform the Summoning Charm.

Puzzled, Serendipity threw the wand from her and tried it again. Once again, it zoomed back into her hand straight away.

‘Okayyy…’ she said to herself. She tucked the wand deep inside her robes and looked at the picture on the wall opposite.

‘Tomberavus,’ she said loudly, her hand pointing at it. It fell with a crash to the ground. She tried again, and again, and each time a picture or an ornament fell to the ground.

Serendipity looked down at her hand and smiled. Now here was something special!

[leenielou]

In the months that followed, Serendipity drew even more into herself than before, if this was possible. She spent every waking hour that wasn’t taken up by lessons reading and researching jinxes, spells, charms and curses, and practising most of them. She had also explored further the magic that she could perform without the use of her wand, an ability that surprised her more and more the further she got into it. She also researched this phenomenon, hoping to find someone else in history who had been able to do this, so that she would at least have an indication of how best to use it. Finally, in Great Wizards and Witches of Now and Past, she found what she was looking for.

‘In 1458, according to local legend, the great wizard Alberto Tonitrus revealed himself to the wizarding community to possess the power of casting spells without the use of a wand,’ she read to herself one night. ‘Given the name, Manus de Gloria (Hand of Glory) he became a legend throughout the world, with many begging him to know the source of his power. This never became known, and Tonitrus died after a spell to kill a hated enemy failed, and his hand was struck by lightning. It has been said by many that the hand he used to cast his magic without a wand contained his life essence. After his death, his hand was severed and passed down through many pure-blood families as a relic of his power. However, apart from this hand there appears to be no solid evidence to prove the existence of this man, and the hand disappeared many years ago.’

Serendipity closed the book, disappointed. She had learnt nothing about the power that she had possessed, and this legend was possibly just that, a legend. She lay back on her bed and stared at the ceiling.

‘Perspicuus,’ she said lazily, and the ceiling turned transparent, the night sky and stars visible. It was very relaxing to just lie and watch the clouds drifting across the black sky, the twinkling lights of planets and stars shining down at her. She began to mentally draft her Astronomy essay, letting her eyes go unfocused and every muscle in her body relax…

[leenielou]

There was a sudden loud and insistent banging upon her dormitory door.

‘Serendipity!’ someone yelled, still banging. ‘Let me in!’

Then she heard voices echoing up the staircase;

‘Aww, think little sissy’s gonna protect you, Snivelly?’

She crossed to the door and pulled it open. Severus was stood there, panting heavily, his wand withdrawn and eyes looking wild. He pushed past her into the room.

‘Close the door!’ he yelled, and she did, turning the key in the lock and whispering,

‘Colloportus.’

‘What’s going on, Severus?’ she demanded, her hands on her hips.

He sneered. ‘Those losers from your stupid house have been following me all over school,’ he said, attempting to sound not bothered, but Serendipity could hear the desperation and exhaustion in his voice. ‘Kept trying to curse me.’

‘And did you curse them first?’

‘No,’ Severus said, but he was looking away as he did so. ‘I just…need to hide here for a bit.’ He looked upwards. ‘What the – Did you do that?’ he asked sharply as he noticed the lack of ceiling.

There were more bangs on the door. ‘Open up, Snapeys! We haven’t got all day!’

Serendipity rolled her eyes and sat back down on the bed. Severus eyed her suspiciously.

‘What’s happened to you?’ he asked.

‘What do you mean?’ she snapped back.

‘You’re…different. You used to be a little wimp. You wanted to be in Gryffindor. But now you’re all…’ She waited. ‘Hard,’ he finished. He turned towards the window and Serendipity had to cover her mouth up to stop her laughing.

‘What?’ he demanded, turning back round. The bangs on the door suddenly ceased.

‘You…um…you have a tail!’ Serendipity replied, going off into reels of laughter.

Severus scowled and turned around in a full circle trying to see the tail that was now protruding from his bottom. He grabbed it with both hands and yanked it hard, then roared with pain and fell backwards. Serendipity fell off the bed she was laughing so much.

‘It’s not funny!’ he yelled at her, then turned on his side to face the door and yelled, ‘The same to you idiots as well!’ There was an outburst of male laughter from the other side of the door.

Severus grabbed his wand and tried to point it at his bottom to get rid of the tail, but he was shaking so much with rage that he couldn’t manage it.

‘Finite incantatem!’ he shouted. But instead of the tail disappearing, it grew by four feet so that it pooled on the floor around him.

‘Trick charm!’ yelled someone from behind the door. ‘Won’t end unless you’ve got the password!’

Serendipity was almost hysterical by now, as Severus got to his feet and began to stamp up and down with rage, his hair flying up and around his furious face.

‘Do something!’ he screamed, picking up the furry end and pulling it as hard as he could. She didn’t want to do anything though, it was too funny. Severus roared and began to trash her bedroom, pulling books onto the floor and kicking at her desk.

‘Stop it!’ she cried, sitting up on the floor.

‘Well help me then, you little witch!’ he shouted back. Serendipity got to her feet and opened the door, to find James, Sirius and their two friends crouched outside, in fits of laughter.

[leenielou]

‘Hi, Serendipity,’ Sirius managed, before collapsing into giggles again.

‘Oh…my…’ James gasped, pointing at Severus and his handsome tail.

Serendipity smiled. ‘Just undo it so I can get him out of my room, please,’ she said firmly. James looked up at her.

‘You ordering me about, Spitty?’ he said, meanly.

‘Think you should do something about it, James,’ said the one Serendipity remembered as Peter. She took a step backward.

‘Oh go on, Serendipity, let him keep his tail for a day or two…it’s just hilarious…’ Sirius gasped between giggles.

Severus took his chance while Sirius wasn’t looking and yelled,

‘Vulpes auris!’

Serendipity looked down at Sirius, and saw that he had sprouted large, red, furry ears from either side of his head. He stopped laughing, and put his hands up to his head.

‘You…’ he began, and, as one, the four boys got to their feet and charged into the room. James and Sirius grabbed Severus and tackled him to the floor, and Peter grabbed Serendipity, while the other boy looked down the stairs and closed the door behind them.

James and Sirius wrestled Severus into the desk chair, and magically conjured thin ropes to tie him to it and a scarf to gag him. Peter pushed Serendipity down onto the bed and held her there by her wrists while she kicked at him and yelled until her throat was hoarse.

‘Right, you two,’ James said. ‘We really don’t appreciate Snapes, especially you, and so we’re just going to leave you tied up for a bit.’

Serendipity began to moan with pain. Peter was gripping her wrists really tightly, and he was such a heavy weight to have sitting on top of her.

‘Get off me!’ she shrieked. ‘Get off, you idiot! Leave us alone!’

She saw Sirius look across. ‘Let go of her, Peter, you’re hurting her,’ he said.

‘Good,’ Peter said. ‘She deserves it. She’s a dangerous little cow.’

‘GET OFF!’ she yelled, and raised her knee sharply. Peter’s eyes widened in pain and he half fell off the bed, but he still did not let go. She was dragged down with him and got quickly to her feet, tugging to be away.

‘Peter, let go!’ Sirius yelled, but Peter simply wrapped his arms around her to keep her in his grip as she struggled. Even James asked him to let her go.

Severus however began to get worried. At the moment his little sister was looking very like his mother…and the expression on her face was not a good one…

‘LET GO OF ME!’ she screamed, kicking out at thin air.

‘Ha! Yeah, when you promise to not be such a little freak,’ he said, looking around at his friends for approval.

‘Peter, just let go of her! She’s getting hurt!’ the other boy cried, closely looking at Serendipity’s face.

Inside her she felt her anger rising, bubbling over like a boiling pan of water…

‘GET OFF! EXPELLIARMUS! ’ she screamed, and Peter shot away from her like a cannon ball, hitting the wall heavily and slumping down it, a trickle of blood falling from his nose.

There was a silence. For once Severus was linked with the boys who were his enemies in wondering what the hell had just happened. Then Sirius began to laugh.

‘Well, you can’t say no-one warned you, Peter,’ he said, and stretched down a hand to help him up.

‘You…you can perform magic without a wand?’ James stuttered. ‘That’s…scary.’ He began to back towards the door. ‘Come on boys, let’s go,’ he mumbled. Severus struggled with his binds.

‘Snivelly wants his tail undone,’ Sirius said casually, then cast his eyes upward. ‘And I don’t really fancy looking like a bloody fox for the rest of my life.’

‘Stinky,’ James said, pointing his wand at Severus. His eyes momentarily showed great anger, but then relief as he realised that it wasn’t actually an insult, but the password, and that his tail was gone. Sirius undid his furry ear spell, and then the four boys disappeared down the stairs. Serendipity went to remove her brother’s binds. As she ripped the gag from his mouth he snarled,

‘And you wanted to be in Gryffindor.’

[sacrebleu22]

this is so good! please continue!

[leenielou]

For her birthday in June Serendipity’s parents sent her a Pensieve.

‘To help you study,’ was the attached note. Serendipity took one look at it and stashed it in a cupboard.

She was still living alone, both in the dormitory sense and the companion sense. Every now and then she would come across Severus and the Fab Four (as she named them) beating the c**p out of each other in the corridors, but apart from that she never really spoke to anyone. It was a greater temptation every day to jinx one of the girls in her house, but as she knew she would be facing a big expulsion if she did, she had to control it. She contented herself with being top in all of her classes, and gaining 100+% on all of her summer exams. The jealous looks from everyone in her year gave her some comfort.

Her isolation didn’t bother her anymore. No one else was worth bothering with. With every month that passed she changed more and more from the open and needy girl who had arrived at Hogwarts. All she had wanted was to be accepted, but now…

Now all she wanted was to get revenge.

[leenielou]

One day before the exams, she accidentally used her wand-free magic in front of a visitor to the school. Mrs Lestrange, she had heard announced at breakfast that morning, was in school to observe how it was run, in order to prepare a report for the Ministry of Magic. She was to be shown the due respect, Dumbledore announced.

Serendipity took one glance at the pretty woman with sharply tied back hair and forgot all about her.

As she sat in her History of Magic class, bored to tears, the woman was escorted into the room and sat on a desk at the back to observe a first year lesson. Serendipity had been delegated to the next to last desk anyway, not deemed to be worthy enough to own any other seat, and so she heard the woman’s low, smooth voice thanking the prefect who had escorted her.

She looked out of the window, and yawned. As she yawned, her elbow knocked her quill onto the floor. Without thinking, too used to not having anyone sitting behind her, she waved her hand and whispered,

‘Accio quill.’

As the quill flew up into her hand she heard a sharp intake of breath and suddenly realised her mistake.

After the lesson, as she attempted to run out quickly, her arm was grabbed and she was led down the corridor and into a deserted classroom.

‘What do you think you’re playing at?!’ Serendipity demanded angrily, rubbing her sore arm. The dark haired Bellatrix Lestrange smiled at her.

‘What is your name, child?’ she asked smoothly. Serendipity eyed her defiantly.

‘Serendipity Snape.’

‘Ah, a Snape!’ Mrs Lestrange said, and Serendipity prepared herself for the usual abuse. ‘How charming. And fitting! Now, you could possibly tell me how you managed to perform a spell that most sixteen year olds have difficulty with without the use of your wand?’

Serendipity looked at the floor and sighed.

‘I don’t know,’ she grunted. ‘I just can, okay?’

She looked up, and to her surprise Mrs Lestrange was smiling down at her. ‘You just can,’ she replied. ‘That is incredible, my girl. I know someone who would be very, very pleased to meet you.’ She turned away. ‘But that is for another day.’ She turned back to face Serendipity, this time with a book in her hand. ‘Read this, child. I assure you that you will like it. You won’t find any book like this in your…library. And not even in the Restricted Section…’

[leenielou]

Serendipity took the book unsurely, and held it loosely.

‘Go on girl, take it. Read it. You will love it.’ Mrs Lestrange was now positively beaming down at her. ‘And maybe one day we’ll come and ask you to work for us.’

‘For the Ministry?’ Serendipity asked, lowering her arm.

Mrs Lestrange laughed. ‘Yes…for the…Ministry. Or rather, for the Ministry’s own good.’

She suddenly bent down so that her face was level with Serendipity’s and uncomfortably close.

‘There’s an iron fist of power inside you, girl,’ she said, her voice suddenly sharp and quick. ‘Use it well.’ She straightened up and walked out of the door.

Serendipity was transported back to her Sorting. What was it that the hat had said? ‘an iron fist of strength lies in you, girl…the ability to love, but also a darkness’?

She hopped onto a desk, and rested the book on her knees. Slowly, she opened the cover, and then turned the brittle pages until she came to the first one with writing on.

‘Curses and Hexes that wyll cause paine and sufferyng’ was written in old cursive at the top of the page.

Why would a Ministry of Magic official give this to me? Serendipity wondered. She flicked quickly through the rest of the book, reading about spells darker than any she had been taught by her father, and curses that inflicted more pain than she could have ever dreamt of. The book was so engrossing, despite its dark and evil nature, that she began to wonder if there was some kind of charm on it.

Eventually she realised that she could no longer read the words on the page. The sun was setting, and she had been there for practically most of the day. She closed the book and walked to the door of the classroom. As she did she recalled Mrs Lestrange’s words;

‘Read it. You will love it…Use it well.’

She was going to use it well alright.

[leenielou]

That had been before the exams, and now they had passed, Serendipity was reading the book in all of her spare time. Sometimes the curses were described in such graphic detail that she became really afraid of them, and would close the book and make a promise to herself that she would never read it again. But come the next day, she would get it out again.

At least my father will be proud of me for learning all of this, was the thought that she used to justify her desire for wanting to. Maybe she would be able to escape so many torturous ‘lessons’ this summer if she really showed the initiative now. And so she sat up, night after night, committing to memory the spells listed on the dry pages, promising herself that she would never try them out – she just wanted to learn them.

One night during just such a session, she went to cross-reference one of the spells with what she thought was a much milder version in her Charms textbook. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find the book. After tearing her room apart for twenty minutes she remembered that she had left the book on her desk that day after the lesson. Cursing, she reached for her robes and opened the door.

She had been out many times after dark before. There was no special password to get to her room, and the part of the castle where she lived was usually deserted, so it wasn’t as difficult as it would have been if she had still lived in a House dormitory. She went down the stairs, holding her hand out in front of her in case she needed light. That was another thing; on her excursions from her tower she had started to leave her wand behind, confident in her own abilities.

Serendipity reached the bottom and headed off for the Charms classroom. The door was locked, but that was no problem;

‘Alohamora,’ she whispered and she was in. She grabbed her book and made her way up to the tower again.

And found that she could not open her door.

‘What the?’ she said to herself, and tried the opening charm again. It did not work.

‘Who’s in there?!’ she yelled, and tried slamming her body up against the door. She could see the light flooding under the crack at the bottom of the door, and so she stood back. There were shadows moving across it.

‘Who’s there? What the hell are you doing in my room?!’ she shouted, banging on the door. All she could hear was a high pitched giggle, followed by another, and another as more voices joined in. Her eyes widened in disbelief. She recognised those laughs…

[leenielou]

'Polly,’ she said.

‘Just having a look around, Spitty!’ a voice shouted from the room. ‘Hope you don’t mind!’

Serendipity gritted her teeth and tried to ram into the door one more time, but it was no use. Instead she’d hurt her shoulder.

‘Right,’ she muttered, and raced back down the stairs. She ran as fast as she could through the corridors to the Entrance Hall, and then paused to look around for Filch. There was no one to be seen and so she scuttled across to the doors and out into the grounds. She didn’t even contemplate going to McGonagall or another teacher – if they found that book she knew that it would all be over.

Instead, she ran around the side of the castle until she was directly below her bedroom window. It was raining heavily outside, and she was soaked through in a mere matter of seconds, but it still did not put her off.

‘Vox escendere!’ she cried, using a useful little charm she had found a couple of weeks ago. Her voice was magically projected the one place she wanted it to be; her bedroom window.

‘Excuse me, but this is my room. Notice I don’t come in yours,’ she said, knowing that they would all probably be petrified from hearing her disembodied voice. A head poked out of her window.

‘Ha! She’s down there!’ she heard a voice say.

‘Yeh, and if you don’t get out of there now, I’ll come up to make you get out,’ she said boldly, hoping they’d believe her. There was no way she’d be able to fly; she was only a first year for goodness sake (!)

Serendipity looked upwards, waiting for an answer. Instead, she saw something soaring down to meet her. A couple of her books landed at her feet.

‘Get out of our castle!’ yelled a voice, followed by all of her clothes also falling at her feet.

Serendipity looked at her belongings and recognised the feeling of rage that stole over her.

‘Stop that!’ she said, menacingly. In reply, a few more books and her duvet flew down. The books were fast becoming unreadable from having fallen open on the muddy ground. ‘Stop it!’ she shouted loudly this time, but the girls took no notice. Objects were being thrown out of the window so fast that Serendipity had to hold her hands over her head to stop herself from being knocked out.

‘And here’s the final!’ someone yelled. ‘Stop you from hurting anyone ever again! We heard what happened to Peter Pettigrew!’

Something fell towards her and landed at her feet. She bent down and wiped her eyes in order to see it.

It was her wand. Snapped in two, only held together by a single thread of wood.

The hate and anger that filled Serendipity was stronger than any she had ever felt before, even when she had set the bed on fire and disarmed Peter. It felt as if she was made out of white hot, bubbling liquid, that travelled up and out of her mouth, her head a spinning confusion of red and black spiky smoke, her hands and feet itching to cause pain and her eyes like boiling diamonds in the middle of her head, casting out such brilliant pain and anger that it was blinding. Without even having to think about it, recalling the curse that she was satisfied would cause the most pain, pain more than even she had experienced, she raised her hand and looked up at the face poking out of the window, drew in a breath that felt as hot and sour as if she were standing on mines of sulphur, and let it out again as she screamed,

‘CRUCIO!’

[leenielou]

dun dun DUUUNNNN....

************************************************** **

She heard the screeches of pain, the wails and screams that punctuated the rain and spoke of aeons of torment, and she delighted in it. Finally, they were getting what they deserved. She remained where she stood, hand held high above head, red light streaming from her palm, grinning, giggling and throwing back her head as the laughter overtook her. The power in her she could feel shifting around to accommodate the curse; it was such a heady feeling that she never wanted to let it go. The screams were all fading into one ringing noise now, behind which all she could hear was her breathing and the beat of her heart – she couldn’t hear her eerie laughter that was still being projected into her room above.

A figure hurtled towards Serendipity in the dark, and slammed into her side. She was hurled to the ground a couple of metres away, and landed on her side, slamming all of the air out of her. The screams had stopped, and the curse had been broken off. Breathing painfully, she looked at her hand, which was red and raw as if it had been burnt. She raised her eyes from where she lay and groaned as she saw who it was.

‘Are you spying on me?’ she hissed, and climbed painfully to her feet. Sirius simply stood looking at her in disbelief, not saying anything. Behind him Peter was whimpering and trying to hide behind James, who was just as stunned. Their other friend stood off to one side, hiding his face in his hands.

‘Well? Answer me! What business of yours is it how I pay them back for everything they’ve done to me?’

She looked at the four boys, all looking petrified. She didn’t realise that the rain had drenched her long hair, causing it to stick to the sides of her face like a sheet; that her face was completely deathly pale; that her eyes were glinting with a dark light that none of them had ever seen before. At that moment, little Serendipity looked truly evil.

‘Miss Snape!’

Serendipity whirled around and saw Professor Dumbledore approaching the assembled group under the window. Up above, Professor McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey were gently picking up Polly in order to take her to the hospital wing.

Dumbledore looked truly intimidating, his eyes boring into her. ‘Come with me. And you four,’ he said grimly, nodding towards the boys. They all followed meekly as he turned on his heel and walked back into the castle. Serendipity limped off after him, walking slightly behind Sirius.

‘Playing Boy Scout, are we now?’ she whispered so that only he could hear her. He turned his head towards her, and she saw that his eyes were filled with anguish. He opened his mouth but no words came out.

‘Aww…are you scared?’ she mocked, and grinned. ‘They were.’ She giggled to herself at the thought of the girls screaming as Polly writhed on the floor with pain.

Sirius shook his head slowly. ‘I was wrong,’ she heard him mutter, and then he turned away. The group walked through the castle and up to Dumbledore’s office.