home (reader at hogwarts)

twenty one

the table is quickly full, and severus tugs you to a seat beside him.

"now, before we all become befuddled by this magnificent feast," minerva began.

"i'm using that one." albus mutters so that only you hear him and you smile.

"i think it is important that we all welcome someone very near and dear to me, albus and most of all- severus,"

she gestures towards you and you smile at the faces that turn towards you. "y/n, snape."

"ooh! i say we go around the table and introduce ourselves." albus chirped up. "who wants to go first?"

"well, you've met me in the carriage already." aurora says, softly. "but just a reminder, that i'm professor sinastra and i teach astronomy here."

"nice to meet you," you smile.

the person next to her, seems to be a tiny tiny man sitting on top a pile of books that are stacked up on his chair.

fillius flitwick gives you a friendly smile, like the one he gave you outside and you smile back.

"professor flitwick, i teach charms. great to meet you, y/n."

"you too, sir."

you hear severus scoff and look down at his lap but choose to ignore him.

the woman beside him is the woman who dropped the goblet earlier. you have a feeling that she seems weary of you.

"s-sybil." she stutters. "I mean- professor sybil. no, trewlawney. i'm professor trelawney."

she extends a shaky hand and knocks another goblet over as she leans over the table.

you thank merlin that the goblet is empty.

"what do you teach?" you ask, trying to show interest even though you already know.

"divination. a most interesting subject." she says. "interesting..."

you stare at eachother for a while, and you smile awkwardly as she looks through you.

like she's looking for something.

"ahem." says another voice. "i believe it's my turn."

a smaller plump woman, wearing the most peculiar tweed hat that had a shape akin to that of a mushroom, gets your attention.

"oh, sorry." sybil says, leaning back into the back of her chair.

"professor sprout, dear." continues the plumper woman, smiling at you with big brown eyes.

"hello." you smile.

"i teach herbology and am head of hufflepuff house."

you hum in response and your eyes widen as you look at the next person. a ghost is sitting at the table, his eyes stern and his mouth down turned.

"i am professor binns, y/n. i will be teaching you history when you start classes."

you nod. "nice to meet you, sir."

you go round the table and meet each individual teacher. they are all interesting, all with their unique styles and understandings of the practice of magic that they teach.

surprisingly, not many people ask about you and severus. they don't ask where you've been all these years, who your mother is or why severus had never mentioned you before.

which is good, you think, as severus seems to be getting more and more annoyed by the amount of questions that the teachers put forward about you anyway.

"how do you think you'll like hogwarts?"

"what subjects are you most excited to learn? "

"are you looking to be sorted into slytherin like your father?"

the doors to the great hall clamber open and a man stumbles to the ground with a trunk.

"quirinus!" albus chuckles, waving his hand so that the man's trunk floats upright.

quirinus gets up and straightens up the large purple turban he had wrapped around his head and as you focus on it you gasp and drop your fork and knives onto your plate.

"what's wrong?" severus asks, and the heads at the table turn to you.

you shrink into yourself, hiding your worried face by looking at your lap and fiddling with your fingers. severus leans his face down and whispers to you.

"what is it, y/n? is it quirrel? is he dangerous?"

"n-not so much him, himself." you stutter.

you look up deciding it was probably wiser to let everything look normal than to allow voldemort to figure out that you knew he was hiding on the back of quirrel's head.

"come, sit." albus says, giving you a slight glance through the side of his eye.

as quirrel finds his way to his seat he looks at you and you smile and nod.

everything's fine. you think.

are you sure?

i'll explain later.

see me in my office. dumbledore responds. bring severus.

okay.

as quirrel takes his seat, he looks at you and then his big blue eyes look to dumbeldore.

"w-w-well, wh-who might this b-be?" he stutters, smiling innocently.

you felt like throwing up.

"this is y/n snape, she will be joining us for the day."

you cringe.

voldemort was probably listening in, wondering since when severus snape had had a child.

but severus hadn't been in contact with the dark lord for a decade now and you were sure that he wasn't a double agent yet.

"y/n." severus nudges you.

"say hello, dear." albus says gently.

"hello." you say quickly, looking him straight in the eyes.

in the books, he seemed very menacing at the end. now, he seems quite friendly, fooling even dumbledore himself.

"s-s-so sorry, profess-professor d-dumbledore, sir." quirrel apologises. "s-something c-c-came up."

you let out a soft laugh that only severus heard. a scoff, almost.

something did come up.

you became a death eater.

severus must have read your mind, for he gives you a frown.

"are you sure?" he whispers.

"absolutely." you say back.

needless to say, lunch passes by smoothly enough and it is time for you and the rest of the faculty to go to your quarters and move in.