sister of the wolf | s. snape

one | hufflepuff

"Remus!" Elise yelled out the window to her older brother, who was still standing around talking to their parents. "Get on the damn train already! Your goons are in here with me!"

She huffed and sat down on her seat in the compartment. Sirius was on her left, with James on his other side and Peter directly in front of her.

"You excited for your fifth year, Elise?" Sirius smirked and nudged her. with his elbow.

She nodded eagerly. "Hell yeah I am," she said with a giggle, and his arm draped over her shoulders. "I can't wait to see what kinda shit you lot get into this year." She winked at him and James.

At that moment, Remus clambered into the compartment and lugged his trunk into the shelf above. He sighed and sat down next to Peter, giving a tired, but content grin at his friends.

"Look, James," Elise pointed to the window of the door, out into the little hall on the other side. The beautiful red-haired, green-eyed Gryffindor she knew was walking past with Alice Fortescue. Elise gave them both a little wave and they returned it with a smile before walking out of sight. "Can Lily get any prettier?" She sighed. James mimed it wistfully.

He turned his attention back to them, putting his hands behind his head and grinning. "Oh, I definitely have a chance this year."

"Are you joking?" Elise laughed, rolling her eyes. "She's way out of your league." As she said this, she heard Lily's voice call 'Severus, in here!' from the compartment beside theirs, and she saw Snape awkwardly scurry past the window. Elise met his black irises for a split second before he rushed to where Lily was.

The train lurched, beginning to take off from the station and begin their journey to Hogwarts.

"Why does she hang around that weird arse --" Sirius began, but Elise smacked his arm.

"Hey, leave him alone," she said. "It's good he has her around, especially considering his other 'friends'."

"She's right," Remus spoke up, leaning against the window and subconsciously touching the scars across his face. "He needs a good influence, not Malfoy or the Carrows hanging around him constantly."

"I grew up with a house full of Slytherins and I turned out just fine!" Sirius exclaimed, crossing his arms. "It isn't about who you're hanging out with, it's about who you want to be. And Snivellus clearly wants to be an evil bastard!"

Elise shook her head. "Well, bullying him isn't exactly helping him be a good person, now is it?" She defended. "Plus, we keep Peter around, and he's pretty weird."

"Hey!" Peter pouted. "I'm right here, y'know!"

"Yeah," James replied. "We can sure smell ya."

They all laughed at his response, even Pettigrew (after he gave a sniff to his own pits).

The whole ride to Hogwarts was, as usual, full of teasing and laughter. There never was truly a dull moment around those boys, Elise always thought.

Once they were almost there, she changed into her Hufflepuff robes, the boys into their Gryffindor ones. As they stepped off the train, Sirius and James were still bickering about who would win in a fight: Merlin or eighty-two giants, when they boarded their horseless carriages and made the short trip up to the castle.

As always, the sight of the structure took Elise's breath away. The light of a half-moon shone off its walls, the warm golden light glowing from inside the windows smattered all over. She truly loved this school and always looked forward to her time spent inside its corridors.

They made their way to the Great Hall and took their seats, Elise shooting a wave and giant grin over to the Ravenclaw table where one of her best friends, Evelyn, sat. At the Hufflepuff table, she was greeted warmly by her other best friend, Willow, in a bone-crushing hug. They giggled and gave each other briefings of the last summer, even though they had sent frequent letters back and forth. Dumbledore gave one of his famous, lengthy pep-talk speeches before Elise's favorite part of the school - the food - appeared before her.

Elise looked around in between bites of food, absorbing the sights of all the students packed into tables in the hall. Evelyn was arguing with Gilderoy Lockhart - something that happened frequently. At the Gryffindor table, James and Sirius were excitedly laughing and goofing off, with Remus looking exhausted next to them and occasionally snapping at them to 'calm down' or 'knock it off,' but they clearly didn't take it seriously considering the small, amused smile on his lips when he said it.

James turned to Lily across from him and Elise saw him waggle her eyebrows at her while saying something. She giggled to herself as she could practically feel him being rejected from over here. Though, it was obvious that Lily was blushing when she turned to talk to Molly Prewett next to her.

And at the Slytherin table, sat some of the very few people who Elise truly didn't get along with. The Carrow siblings - Amycus and Alecto - along with Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Black, and Evan Rosier. Narcissa and Andromeda Black were there, too, though Elise didn't find those two nearly as awful.

Then she found herself looking straight into the onyx eyes of Severus Snape. He was surrounded by those he called his friends, but she couldn't help but feel like he looked so... Sad. She felt the corners of her lips tug into a tiny smile at him, trying to be friendly, but he just stared blankly back before turning his attention back towards his dinner.

Elise sighed. He just needs better people around him, she thought, reminding herself of the conversation about Snape on the train. After a second, Willow grabbed her attention again.

"Hey! Don't look so bummed," she teased with a smile, twirling one of her dark curls around her finger. "This year's gonna be awesome."

Elise grinned at her friend and nodded, before stuffing a roll in her mouth.