sister of the wolf | s. snape

three | bullies

Elise considered herself pretty lucky that the Slytherins had left her alone so far in the first few days of this year. Every year prior, the Carrows, Bellatrix, and Dolohov liked to make her life a living hell when they got the chance. Of course, never when the Marauders were around to see. And she'd never tell them, either. The Slytherins already thought she was a weak little push-over Hufflepuff, why make it worse by tattling?

But, of course, Elise's luck had run out.

"What's up, Half-blood?" She heard Dolohov's voice from behind her and his hard hand grasp her shoulder tightly, spinning her around to face him. She'd been on her way to dinner and found herself alone with them in the corridor now.

Elise looked up into his menacing dark eyes, and tried to make herself look unafraid. She squared her shoulders and stood up straight, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I- I'm going to dinner, you bloody idiot," she retorted, but her voice wavered pathetically.

Dolohov laughed loudly, and now Bellatrix was beside him.

"I think you should watch your pretty little mouth when speaking to us, you dirty-blooded bitch!" Bellatrix shrieked, pressing her wand to Elise's throat. She was backed into a wall now; no escape.

"Please," Elise whispered, screwing her eyes shut. "Let me go.."

Both Slytherins chuckled humorlessly, Bellatrix's hot breath hitting Elise in the face.

"You and my traitor cousin are so pathetic," Bellatrix sighed, a manic smile still on her face. "And you just follow him and his annoying friends around like a stupid puppy!" She cackled.

Suddenly, Bellatrix's cold hand struck Elise's cheekbone. She yelped, earning more cackles from the Slytherins.

Her eyes were still shut, but she felt Bellatrix's presence move away from her, and soon the two's laughter had walked away. Elise felt her body move down to the floor where she sat, rubbing her cheek with her hand tenderly.

She felt tears burn her eyes, but she blinked them away. It's bad enough how much of a pansy she is, she doesn't need to cry about it as well. With a sigh, she pulled herself up and walked into the Great Hall.

Willow looked at her with wide eyes as Elise sat down next to her.

"Are you okay?" She asked urgently, pointing to her cheek which was bright red.

Elise just smiled and nodded. "Oh yeah, totally fine," she lied. "Just had a little spell backfire in Charms."

Willow narrowed her chocolate eyes at her suspiciously. "You're good at Charms, El," she said firmly.

"Just leave it, okay?" Elise tried not to sound mean, but she really didn't want to talk about it. "I'm fine."

As she was piling food onto her plate, she looked up to see Bellatrix and Dolohov glancing over to her, seemingly pointing her out to Lestrange, Rosier, and Snape. She could see them mimicking her earlier terrified expressions and laughing manically. Well, except for one.

Snape just sat there quietly, his face void of any emotion. But those hard eyes of his met with hers and, for a second, Elise thought they had softened ever so slightly.

"El!" Willow said loudly in her ear, breaking her out of her somewhat trance. "Are you listening to me?"

"Oh, shit," Elise mumbled, looking to her friend with a sympathetic face. "Sorry, Will. Was zoned out thinking about homework, I suppose.."

Then Willow went on to talk about how the year's first Quidditch game was this weekend, between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Elise agreed that they should go, to show support for James on Gryffindor's team and Evelyn on Ravenclaw's.

-

Severus' POV

It was the day after Severus had heard his friends talking about harassing the Lupin girl. He still felt rather annoyed about it, so kept distanced from his fellow Slytherins at breakfast this morning. But it wasn't unusual for him, he was usually quiet.

After all, what had the Lupin girl done to any of them? She had even been polite to him during Potions. However, she did associate with Potter and Black, who were the biggest nuisances to walk these grounds. Not to mention they were blood-traitors.

Severus hoped today would go by quickly. He and Lily had made plans to study together by the Black Lake after classes today. He felt his stomach flutter.

And then he felt a force hit his stomach.. hard. He looked up from the corridor's cold stone floor to see Potter and Black laughing hysterically above him, a wand in Potter's hand. Pettigrew was behind them, clapping.

"Oops," Potter sneered. "Sorry, Snivellus, the spell was meant to wash your hair for ya, but guess I cast the wrong one!"

Sirius wiped a year from his eye, patting his friend in the back as they turned and walked away. "Nice one, James!" He jeered and Pettigrew scurried along behind them.

Severus huffed and scrambled to his knees, beginning to pick up his books.

"Hey," he heard a sweet, soft voice approaching him now. He looked up to see Elise, who had now crouched down to help him pick up his things.

"What happened?" She looked at him with worry deep in those big, hazel eyes of hers. "Are you okay?"

Suddenly, Severus was angry. He swatted her hands away and grabbed his belongings swiftly. "Why don't you go ask Potter and your boyfriend Black?!" He hissed, narrowing his eyes at her as they both stood from the floor.

Elise looked wounded, her brows furrowing. Severus had to look away from her.

"Wait, are they bothering you again?" She asked quietly.

"Don't act like you care!" He snapped, scoffing. "You're just as bad as them if you consider them your friends."

Elise narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms at him. "And what about you?"

"What about me?"

"You hang around those Slytherins who everyone knows are practicing Dark Magic," she retorted. "They make people's lives miserable all the time, too. Yet, you tolerate that."

Severus glanced briefly at her. Her pale skin was reddened a little from anger and she frustratedly pushed her thick locks of brown hair out of her face. He noticed a tiny yellowing bruise on her cheekbone. Guilt tugged at his heart.

He sighed deeply and walked away, leaving her there in the hall, fuming.