when lights go down | severus snape

chapter i - back to hogwarts

september 1st, 1995 - 5:30pm

the train has come to a stop at the platform. here we are, i think to myself as i peer out of the window and towards hagrid, who i can see ushering everyone off the train. i smile. home sweet home. i wait for the initial crowd of giddy first years (and the rest) to surpass my compartment door before taking my own leave. i always preferred the quiet to the chaos that befell the bulk of students who enthusiastically made their way to the castle at the start of term. it was cloudy, the platform a darker grey in anticipation of the rain to come. i look towards the castle, which stands there proudly, its beauty completely unaffected by the weather. this is the last time i will ever arrive here via the hogwarts express. in fact, after this year, it's unlikely that i will ever see this castle again. it's quite a bittersweet feeling, really.
after taking one final deep breath in, i make my way inside.

this year is going to be different than the ones before. i turned 17 just before term ended, which means that i can begin apparition classes this year to earn my license. apparently, the course is led by professor snape, which would put me off if i wasn't so insistent on learning. i let my thoughts wander for a while, as the cool breeze caresses my face. eventually, and much later than the rest, i find myself at the entrance of the castle. i check my phone (muggle technology rules!) - it is 6pm, meaning the sorting ceremony has finished (hopefully - it gets rather boring after having seen it six times already), and dinner is well underway. just in time, i think to myself.

as i enter the hall, it is bustling with students talking, laughing. i smile again. how i miss this place over the summer. despite being in ravenclaw, i usually sat at the gryffindor table at meal times. fred and george weasley were my best friends, and they had been ever since my second year at Hogwarts - five years ago! thirteen-year-old me had fancied trying out quidditch, and so i went to one of the practises. i sprained my neck pretty badly when i was flung off my broomstick by the opposing team. fred and george both took me to madam pomfrey that day and made sure i was doing okay afterwards. we began to speak regularly after that. they invited me to loads of secret parties, and we bonded massively. i have never been so thankful for an injury.
i start walking briskly to the table. fred and george are stood up - they had been awaiting my arrival since i entered the hall. i grin and open my arms out before doing a little jog towards fred, who hugs me tightly.

facing the teacher's table in fred's hug, i spot professor snape, who is looking at me... in an almost disgusted manner. my smile falters slightly... before i snap out of it and break from the hug.

"i have missed you so much!" fred exclaims.
"let the woman breathe!" george stands beside fred, a smile creeping up on his face.
"it's so good to see you, chlo." george's hug is softer, more considerate.
"you have no idea how happy i am to finally be back with you guys. it has been hell at home!"
we all sit down.
"give us the run down," fred said in anticipation.

i think it's prudent to mention that my father is the current deputy minister of magic - matthias swanboro. ever since cedric diggory got killed last year, the ministry has frantically been trying to contain the news that voldemort is back. i, of course, know it is all bullshit. he is back. harry wouldn't lie, and cedric wouldn't have just dropped dead of his own accord. as a result, me and my father have been at eachother's necks, arguing constantly as i berate him for his denial. it got to such an unbearable point where he shipped me away from london and off to my grandma's house in the countryside, and that is where i had spent the last half of summer break. of course, i caught fred and george up on all of this.

"fucking hell. doesn't your grandma live in that big estate in cheshire?" fred inquired.

"yes, it is in the middle of nowhere! there isn't even a reliable postal service, hence why i didn't write," i explain.

"we had begun to wonder why we weren't hearing from you. we thought erroll must have kept dropping the post. we had that owl in circles all summer!"

"oh, poor thing!" i say sympathetically.

"hey up," fred said, looking towards the entrance. i look too, and i see harry, ron, hermione, neville, luna and ginny walking towards the table.

quickly turning back to the twins, i say, "why are they all in a big group?"
the twins looked and eachother and smirked.
"well, they finished dinner as soon as it started pretty much. we had a feeling you'd be later coming in, so we stayed. they told us to let them know when you'd arrived."

george held up his own phone. it seems i wasn't the only one sneaking muggle technology into hogwarts.

"who else?" i ask, shocked. someone would have to also have one to receive his message.

"luna." fred smirked, as did i. nobody would suspect someone as well-behaved as luna to be breaching possession guidelines.

i turn back to the group, who were all almost at the table. i stood up, and ran towards everyone.
i lipsynced a "HARRY!!", and he did the same but with "CHLOE!!" before hugging him.

"ronald!!" i hug him, and he smiles. "hi chlo."
you turn to hermione, who is grinning.
"mione," i smiled again before hugging her.
"luna," i smile, hugging her too.
"i am so happy to see you, chlo."
i then hug ginny and neville, who are both equally happy to see me, and we all sit down.

despite me, fred and george being two years above them all, they were practically like family. we all always spent holidays and special occasions together at the burrow.

"you're quite the crowd pleaser!" george commented, laughingly.

"i am just ecstatic that we're all back together for another year!" i grin.

we all eat more food, drink more butterbeer (as it was served on the first day of term), and catch up on eachother's antics over summer.

life is good.