home (reader at hogwarts)

thirty six

"he did not!" you laugh, half forgetting about the spoonful of porridge about to make it's way to your mouth.

serena points the fork at you as she speaks. "you haven't heard the best part!"

"hamza told mother to shove the royal protocol up her royal behind." serena could barely say a few words without laughing. "and then- i skidded in, way too late to stop him, and crashed straight into lord benyamin."

"he must have been fuming." you grin, putting the spoon full back in the bowl. serena was much more interesting.

"there was a huge kerfuffle afterwards, lord benyamin ranted on for ages to father saying that a duke's children should be much more behaved. i can't believe we weren't disowned-" serena laughed before her smile begin to falter. "father was ever so defensive of us- before he left."

"do you know where he is now?" you ask her and she shakes her head.

"mother says that he left us. that he wanted nothing more to do with egypt." serena didn't look so convinced. "he never seemed the type but i assume he mustn't have loved it in egypt as much as it seemed."

"he was in a book i read back home." you say, remembering one of the books severus had read to you when you had been more unwell- in the midst of your withdrawal. "wandless magic and it's roots in the sand- it was called. your dad, he was royalty, wasn't he?"

"not really." serena shrugged, sitting back. "father was born in a family that would have been royalty, had egypt not become a republic in 52'."

"that's so cool, though." you gasp. "you're like a princess."

"would be lovely, wouldn't it?" serena smiled, gazing dreamily. "princess serena of egypt."

"you'd be a great princess." you tell her. serena picks up an empty plate and puts it on her head, her crown.

"from this day forth- all peasants shall bow to me!" she giggled.

"and y/n, your highly esteemed best friend!" you add before the pair of you burst into a fit of laughter.

someone tuts very loudly from the other end of the almost empty slytherin table and the pair of you look in the direction.

a boy with blonde hair and a stern look glares at you through his rectangular glasses. he wasn't in the crowd of first years and so is probably in his second or third year.

"he has a nice ponytail." serena whispers to you.

"and is definitely not a morning person." you whisper back.

he looks up again and the pair of you look away.

"he's pretty." serena grins.

"he's blonde." you say, scrunching up your nose.

you watch someone walk in to the main hall, with a head full of bushier hair than you had ever seen before.

hermione granger.

she catches your eye as she enters the hall way, already with her bag slung over her shoulder and you smile, surprised to get a confused smile back.

"who's that?" serena asks, turning back to catch a glimpse of the gryffindor before she buries her face into a transfiguration textbook.

"can't remember her name." you lie straight through your teeth.

"she took long-" serena says, turning back to her bowl of rice krispies. "to get sorted, i mean."

"nearly a hat stall." you comment, watching her drizzle honey over it.

"can you imagine being that complex?"

you bite your cheek to stop a smirk. "not really, no."

i can feel my head getting larger.

"you aren't blind are you?" you hear a voice, walking toward the ravenclaw table.

"shut up." another voice snaps.

"that's him." serena mutters to you before slurping down her orange juice.

so much for being royalty.

"flint."

the tall boy that gemma was talking to.

"i have friends in ravenclaw house, marcus." the first voice came from a boy with dark red hair, who wore a pin just like gemma's.

that must be jacob.

"you're mingling with the lesser of us." flint snarls. "you're a traitor."

"oh come on, flint. grow up." jacob looks as though he's beginning to get physically angry, his hands balling up to fists at his sides.

"gentlemen!" professor sinastra strides into the great hall, pushing forcefully past jacob.

"it is half seven in the morning and i do not think i need to remind you that i am very much a night owl." aurora grumbles, before using wandless magic to have flint seated right beside you.

her eyebrows are crossed in tired frustration as she walks up to the teachers table. "in your seats and eating- big day ahead of you."

you shuffle to the right a little and serena watches with wide eyes as flint registers the pair of you.

"firsties! oh and snape's little pet." he grins.

"his daughter." you snap. "and who are you? his constant reminder for the importance of dental hygiene?"

the few students around you laugh and flint's face turns sickly yellow instead of red. he's angry at you, you've humiliated him.

you look away from his gaze and let out a relieved breath as you see severus walk in to the room- his cape flowing behind him rather ominously.

you don't need to say anything for him to know as he catches your stare.

"y/n." he says, his voice turning the hall silent. whoever's awake now, can hear you. "everything okay, darling?"

"it's fine. flint here was just saying hello." you grin as flint nods immediately, his jaw clenching.

severus glares at him. "behave."

"yes sir." marcus breathes.

severus then turns and marches up to the teacher's table and the murmuring in the great hall continues. more and more people are flooding in and you see crabbe and goyle wander in squabbling about who should go back and retrieve the book malfoy accidentally misplaced in the common room.

"see you around, snape." flint says, tapping you on the head before walking off.

"he wasn't exactly as bad as i thought he'd be." serena shrugs.

"and you'd settle would you? be friends with someone like that?" you ask and she only looks up at you and answers like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"if it got me where i wanted, the easy way- then yes. a thousand times yes."