A Daughter of Snape, a Son of Malfoy

30 August 1996

The halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry stood empty on the night before the first day of school. As the caretaker Argus Filch made sure everything was in proper working order before those ingrate brats returned, teachers busied themselves with lesson plans for the term. The school was utterly free of children, save for one, and it was this student who occupied the subject of conversation in Headmaster Albus Dumbledore's office.

"I had thought this subject was closed, Severus," Dumbledore said, a bit testily.

"It was, Albus, but I still must question the wisdom of bringing her to Hogwarts," Snape responded in clipped English. "She'll be noticed, you know, by students whose parents might find it tempting to...harm her, especially once they learn her identity."

"Where else would you have us take her? Hogwarts is the safest place for her, for the time being. And why shouldn't she complete her education?" Dumbledore noted. "At least we can keep a close watch on her here."

"But her name, Albus," Snape continued.

"Very well, Severus, we shall give her a new surname," Dumbledore assented, glancing out his window. "How does 'Hawthorne' suit you?"

Snape stifled the urge to argue further.

"Well enough," he said at last. "But does she have to go through the sorting ceremony? She is the equivalent of a fifth year in age, and if I do say so, much advanced even beyond that in skill and intelligence. Can't she just be placed in a house?"

"No, Severus, she must go through the sorting ceremony like everyone else."

Snape felt the anger welling up inside him. He opened his mouth to object yet again, but thought better of it and started for the door.

"Very well, Albus. I just think it might be prudent for her to be placed in Slytherin, where I might be able to keep a closer watch on her. She is my daughter, after all."

* * * * * *

The first night's festivities went on as usual, with the crowd of frightened-looking first years being led into the Great Hall by Professor McGonagall. It was the sixth such evening for Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who sat at the Gryffindor table, anxiously awaiting the feast to follow. They weren't paying much attention to the sorting ceremony, save offering up the occasional cheer when someone was sorted into their house. That is, until Ron piped up, quite loudly.

"Who is that?" he exclaimed, tremendously interested, and pointed to a tall, slender student lingering near the back of the group of first years. She had to be an older student, there was no other way of explaining it.

"Perhaps she's come here from another wizarding school," Hermione offered as she stared enviously at the girl's smooth, dark hair that hung nearly to her hips. "Beauxbatons or Durmstrang, maybe."

The girl's jet-black hair stood in stark contrast to her alabaster skin, which was smooth and lovely, if a bit pale. Her dark eyes made her appear moody and standoffish, even if this was only to mask her shyness.

"Ron!" Hermione hissed. "Close your mouth. You're staring!"

Indeed, Ron was not the only one interested. Harry glanced across the room and noticed Draco Malfoy watching the new girl intently, as was Professor Snape. With her slightly snobbish-looking countenance, she certainly seemed as though she belonged in Slytherin.

But Professor McGonagall put all speculation to an end when she read the final name on the list.

"Hawthorne...Nerissa!" she hesitated before the last name, and murmurs echoed throughout the hall. No one seemed to know of any wizarding families named Hawthorne. Harry swore he saw Draco's lips curl as he sneered the word, "Mudblood."

Nerissa acted as though she heard or saw none of this, and with great composure, stepped forward to have the Sorting Hat placed upon her head.

"Ahhh, yes," the Sorting Hat began. "Let's see here. Many secrets, many secrets. Any house, it seems, would do for you, for you have loyalty, courage, intelligence, and, ah yes, ambition to spare. A strong mind...good character...I know where to put you...Gryffindor!"

The Gryffindor tables erupted in pride as the newcomer took her seat amongst them. They were positively buzzing over her, excited that they would be the first to learn about her. But through all the commotion, Harry saw Professor Snape's eyes narrow in disgust. Did he really hate Gryffindor that much?

Harry, Ron, and Hermione wanted to talk to this new girl as soon as possible, but they weren't the only ones. Gryffindors swarmed Nerissa throughout dinner, launching so many questions that she barely had the chance to eat her dinner. The curiosity continued all the way up the stairs to Gryffindor castle. Nerissa fielded them all with grace and kindness, though she was not used to this much attention. She seemed relieved when they at last arrived in the Gryffindor Common Room, and the other students dispersed toward their dormitories. She sighed and headed toward one of the couches near the fire for a well-deserved break.

But she didn't get that far.

"Nerissa! Nerissa Hawthorne!" Professor McGonagall called, careful to single this girl out. "You are a fifth year, and one of your roommates will be Ginny Weasley. Ginny! Come here!"

Ginny left the group of girls she was eagerly chatting with and approached the new girl.

"Doubtless you have already heard of our new student, Miss Nerissa Hawthorne," Professor McGonagall continued. "She'll be in your year, and I want you to help her get acclimated and find her place in the dormitory!"

"Hello, I'm Ginny," she said affably, and Nerissa blushed, as if she wasn't used to such kindness. "Right then, I'll show you where to go."

Ginny led Nerissa up the winding staircase from the Common Room to a circular dormitory room.

"Pretty easy to find, actually," Ginny laughed, hoping to loosen the girl up a bit. "I see some of the girls have already chosen their beds. I guess you'll just have to find your trunk and take one of these three left."

"All right," Nerissa said. Those were the first words Ginny ever heard her utter. She hopped onto her bed and watched as the girl approached one of the three remaining trunks in the middle of the room.

"My trunk," Nerissa breathed, as if she were shocked to find it there.

"Yeah, they bring those up from the platform for us," Ginny said non-chalantly. "Kind of nice, actually."

"Yeah," Nerissa agreed, though her mind was clearly elsewhere.

"That's a nice one!" Ginny exclaimed, hopping off her bed and pointing at the trunk, made of a deep green leather edged in silver. "Me, I've got my brother Charlie's old one. That's why it's got his initials on it. Never anything new for us Weasleys!" Nerissa could tell this was something that rankled Ginny. "But yours is grand. Who's NLS?"

"NLS?" Nerissa repeated.

"Yeah, NLS," Ginny continued, pointing to the filigreed letters near the trunk's latch. "Who's that?"

The question came like a shot out of the blue, and it took Nerissa a moment to remember that Ginny and the rest of Hogwarts knew her as Nerissa Hawthorne.

"Oh, this trunk, uh, belonged to my mother," she said quickly. "Those are her initials. Nora...Lily Steele. That was her name. Before she married my father of course."

Nerissa hoped Ginny wouldn't be able to see through that lie. Her mother's name had in fact been Alexia, her middle name Revelle, her last name Steele. No, the initials on the trunk belonged to Nerissa alone, but she could never let anyone here know that.

"Really? It doesn't look like it could be that old. Must have some sort of charm on it, right?" Ginny asked.

"Right," Nerissa echoed. "Er, yes, it does. So it will never show any wear, no matter what happens to it, it will always look new." That last bit was true. Nerissa had received the trunk as a birthday gift from her father, during one of the years when he actually remembered her birthday.

"Great charm," Ginny marveled. "Wish I knew one of those."

Nerissa did not respond, and Ginny sensed she wanted to be left alone.

"Well, I'll let you start your unpacking," she said in a friendly tone. "I'll be down in the Common Room if you need to know where anything else is. You should come down and meet the rest of us. I mean, the ones who haven't introduced themselves already!"

"Thanks, I will," Nerissa said weakly, and Ginny began to doubt if she really would.

Once Ginny had left, Nerissa nearly pounced on her trunk, inspecting every inch of it, as if she couldn't quite believe it was still spotless. The last time Nerissa had seen this trunk, it lay at the foot of her bed in her grandparents' home in London. She had to share the room with her little cousins Rhiannon and Fiona, who were twelve and eight. They were fine for the most part, perhaps more curious than their own good, and Nerissa took to stashing anything of value in that trunk. Her collection of Muggle clothes, Muggle music, and every gift her father ever gave her were housed there. She couldn't imagine what she would do if she lost it.

15 August 1996

It was nearing dinnertime, and Nerissa thought it best to return home. Her grandparents didn't like it when she was out by herself much later than six. It wouldn't get dark till nearly eight o'clock, but they didn't want to take any chances. That was the reason her aunt Portia and uncle Lysander had come to live with her and her grandparents in London. One couldn't take any chances in times like these.

She said goodbye to her best friend Amelia Middleton and started down the street. Fortunately, Amelia lived only two streets away from her grandparents' home at 32 Walton Way. It had been a grand day. Nerissa and Amelia had ridden the tube into the city and gone shopping at Carnaby Street and then gorged themselves on sweets and soda at Piccadilly Circus. Amelia was heading back to her fancy boarding school somewhere in Hampshire soon, and it would be their last chance to enjoy the summer together. It had been a brilliant day.

But as Nerissa rounded the corner onto her street, she smelled the distinct scent of something burning, and as she continued down the way, saw flames shooting up toward the sky in the place where her house was supposed to be. Fire crews rushed to douse the flames with water, but Nerissa could already sense disaster. She began running toward the house, calling for her grandparents. But before she a fireman caught her around the middle, holding her back.

"You must stand back, miss, we're doing all we can!" he said, gruffly at first, but softened when he saw the panic in her eyes.

"But that's my family in there!" Nerissa protested.

"You live here?" a concerned look crossed the man's face. He put his arms on her shoulder. "Your address is 32 Walton Way?"

"Yes!" Nerissa insisted, growing ever more anxious. "You've got to let me in!"

"Can't allow that, miss," he shook his head, leading her over to an ambulance. "Wait here, miss. We're doing everything we can for them."

As the black smoke poured into the sky, Nerissa knew that "everything" wasn't good enough. She fought back tears as she imagined her family trapped inside that inferno.

"Miss Nerissa Snape," a voice came from behind her. She had grown so used to the name Nerissa Steele, as she was known, to avoid confusion, that she almost did not answer.

"Yes?" she said warily, turning about to find a man and a woman, both in large-brimmed hats that hid their faces. One figure approached her, lifting the hat to reveal a woman her grandmother's age.

"Hello, Miss Snape. I am sorry to meet you under such tragic circumstances. My name is Professor Minerva McGonagall. And no doubt you are already acquainted with..." The woman trailed off as the man lifted his head and locked eyes with Nerissa.

"Hello, father," Nerissa said, eyes downcast.

* * * * * *

"Cor! Look at all the Muggle clothes you've got!" a giggly girl exclaimed, startling Nerissa as she tried to organize all the different parts of the school uniform she'd been issued earlier that day. Ginny had returned to the dormitory with three other girls trailing her, all of whom were anxious to see this new girl up close.

"Nerissa, this is Lavender Brown," Ginny said. But Lavender completely ignored the introduction.

"How come you've got so much Muggle stuff?" Lavender inquired.

"My family and I lived in a Muggle neighborhood, and my grandparents encouraged us to make friends with Muggles and learn more about them," Nerissa explained. "I had loads more Muggle clothes, but they were lost in the fire."

Lavender was so fixated on Nerissa's clothes, she hadn't even heard her mention the fire. She sat herself down on Nerissa's bed and began eyeing her trunk.

"You don't mind if I look, do you?" she asked.

"Um, no, not really," Nerissa said as Lavender took a black-and-white striped t-shirt from the trunk. As she did, Nerissa's portable CD player and stack of CD's crashed to the floor.

"What's that?" An Indian girl, who Nerissa would later learn was called Parvati, asked, enthralled.

"It's, uh, a thing that plays music. Muggle music. That's recorded on these things, which are called compact discs," Nerissa tried to put it in plain words.

"Muggles have their own ways to play music?" Lavender asked, mesmerized.

"Yes, we Muggles have our own ways to play music," a haughty voice sounded from the doorway. The bushy-haired girl Nerissa had seen briefly before stood there, apparently perturbed. "Didn't you pay any attention in Muggle Studies, Lavender?"

Lavender muttered something sheepishly and set the CD player on the bed. Hermione crossed the room and extended her hand toward Nerissa.

"Hello, I'm Hermione Granger," she said confidently. "We have something in common, you see, I'm Muggle-born."

"Oh," Nerissa noted, trying to sound enthused. In reality, all of these introductions had made her tired, and she was certain she wouldn't remember anyone's name tomorrow. "Nice to meet you."

"There's loads of people who want to meet you in person downstairs, so if you're not too tired, maybe you'd like to come down to the Common Room for a bit," Hermione suggested. "And if you need anything, let me know. I am prefect."

"Okay, thanks," Nerissa smiled, the first time she'd done so since she was brought to Hogwarts. As Hermione left, she could have sworn she saw Lavender roll her eyes. "Well, I think I'm going to take up that offer to go downstairs and meet some more people."

When she got there, Hermione bounded up to her, a huge smile on her face.

"Nerissa, this is Ronald Weasley," Hermione explained.

"Please to meet you, and it's Ron," the tall redhead extended his hand, glancing back at Hermione. "I'm Ginny's brother. Seems you've met her already.

"Hello, Ron," Nerissa said.

"And this is Harry Potter," Hermione continued.

"Hello, Nerissa," a green-eyed boy with a shock of unruly black hair smiled and held out his hand. But of course, he needed no introduction, really. Oh, imagine what her little cousins would have said if they knew she had met Harry Potter.

"Pleased to meet you," Nerissa said and noticed that he blushed ever so slightly. Then she blushed, thinking she'd been a bit too forward. Surely the famous Harry Potter should be used to girls introducing themselves to him.

"H-how do you find Gryffindor so far?" Harry asked.

"So far, so good," Nerissa replied. "Everyone's been very kind."

"Right, good," Harry said quickly. "Well, cheers."

"Moving along, moving along," Hermione said briskly, introducing her fellow Gryffindors with such familiar ease. "This is Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan, and...Colin Creevey," she indicated an enthusiastic-looking blonde boy who seemed far younger than his years. "And of course, you'll meet the Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and...Slytherins in class tomorrow."

Hermione spoke the name of Nerissa's father's house with such contempt, Nerissa nearly raised her voice to object. True, she wasn't sure how she'd defend them, but certainly, the Slytherins weren't given an even chance, at least in the minds of most Gryffindors.

Nerissa stayed in the Common Room, chatting with her new housemates until yawns began spreading amongst them. At last, she found the right moment to say her goodnights and then slipped upstairs to her dormitory.

So many names to remember. Lavender was the chatty girl who liked her Muggle clothes, and Ron, that was that red-haired boy who was obviously in love with Hermione. And of course she'd remember who Harry Potter was.

It was daunting, and a bit scary, to be in school, in earnest, for the first time. But they all were really quite kind. So far. "Well, I suppose this is home now," she thought as her head hit the pillow and she drifted off to sleep.