Shadows || A Severus Snape Fanfiction

Chapter 5 - The Restricted Section

A/N: If you find yourself enjoying the story then it would mean so much to me if you would leave a vote! A little press of a button for you = great excitement from the irrational part of myself that loves appreciation from strangers on the internet haha

But more importantly, the comments section is one of my favourite parts of the internet, so please leave one! All jokes and roasts are welcome. Plus this is a work in progress so I would love feedback! Even things like "This is getting boring", "That seems out of character", "Cringe!", "The Bloody Baron doesn't speak!", "What about Spinners End!" and "YOU CAN'T APARATE INSIDE THE HOGWARTS GROUNDS!!"

[TW: mention of sexual assault]

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Christmas Eve had finally come. Asha sat cross-legged on her bed in the deserted dorm; all of her roommates had gone home for Christmas. The clock hands seemed to be moving slower than usual as Asha tried to pass the time by shooting various hexes into the fireplace, making it smoke and spit. Finally, the clock struck midnight. Merry Christmas to me, she thought excitedly as she jumped up and cast a disillusionment charm on herself. She headed out into the common room and checked the mirror. Man, she was getting good at this charm! All that could be seen was a shimmery haze in front of the back wall where her reflection should have been.

Even though Asha was sure no staff would be patrolling the castle tonight, she still walked the corridors carefully and quietly, though this was partially due to the fact it was pitch black as she had decided not to risk using wand light. When Asha had done this a year ago, she hadn't been so careful.

She entered the library, ears pricked for any signs of movement. As she had expected, she was totally alone. She silently lit her wand and moved through the rows of books, walking all the way to the back shelves. It was so easy to get into the restricted section that Asha began to worry she had set off some kind of silent alarm set by Filtch. But when, after ten minutes of standing in the darkness, ears pricked, no one had come to detain her, Asha lit her wand again and began sifting through the shelves. All I want for Christmas is some answers, she thought to herself, hoping the generous spirits of the holiday season might hear her prayers. She knew exactly what she was looking for:  a record of the Slytherin lineage; something that would help her identify Parselmouth males born in the last 70 years or so.

Asha was sure it was her father she had inherited the trait from. She only knew a limited number of things about her parents. Number one: in order for the Parselmouth gene to have been passed to her, one of her parents had to have been a witch or wizard. Number two: her mother was a Muggle. Since arriving at Hogwarts Asha had discovered that wizarding orphanages do exist, sprinkled across Europe. If her mother had been a witch she would not have abandoned her children on the doorstep of a Muggle orphanage, in the middle of a country with no wizarding community what so ever. Number three: her father raped her mother.

Back at the orphanage, Asha and Cole tended to cause trouble wherever they went. Strange things, which Asha now realised must've been accidental magic. St Andrews, being an Anglican Orphanage, was staffed by many religious matrons, none more devout than Madam Pions. She was always highly sensitive to the strange happenings that often occurred around Asha and Cole. For example, more than once, when it was the twins' turn to clean the bathrooms, the water stopped running. A visit from a local plumber revealed that all the water in the main pipes had frozen. But only in the orphanage, and in the middle of July.

One day Asha and her brother overheard a rather loud, rather one-sided conversation between Madam Pions and the orphanage headmaster...

"DO NOT MAKE EXCUSES FOR THEIR WICKED POWERS! I HAVE BEEN TELLING YOU FOR YEARS, THEY ARE THE SPAWN OF SATAN! IT IS ALL THAT ONE CAN EXPECT FROM THE PRODUCT OF RAPE!"