Wonderful

Chapter I: Lonely Ride

A young boy no older than 11 stood in front of the barrier between platforms nine and ten. He was thin and wasn't either too tall or too short for his age. Long, dark greasy hair hid his sallow cheek, untouched by sunlight. The jumper he was wearing was bit small. He stared at the barrier, considering if he should smash into it or not. On one hand he would be away from his house, on the other he could be going to a place were he was not sure whether many people would like him. It should be told that this boy was not a normal boy. He was a wizard and on his way to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He continued on this train of thought when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around expecting to see someone ready to bug the hell out of him, but was surprised when he saw it was a girl his age. A very pretty girl in his opinion. She had bright green eyes and short wavy red hair. She smiled as he turned around.

"Excuse me; do you know how to get to platform 9¾?"

"How did you know I was going there?"

"I saw your trunk and it has a Hogwats insignia on the side."

"Oh. It's right through that wall. All you have to do is walk straight at it."

"You sure?" she asked, eyeing the wall. It seemed very solid to her.

"Yeah."

"Well, I'll try."

With this she smiled and turned around. Severus saw here walk over to a man and a woman, whom he guessed to be her parents, standing a bit behind and say goodbye to them. She also went to a young woman standing next to her parents, her sister perhaps, but the older girl didn't say anything. After some pestering from her parents she hugged Lily. Serverus moved away when she walked back to give her space to cross the barrier.

"See you in school...uh."

"Severus. And you are?"

"Lily."

Severus watched as Lily crossed the barrier, a small smirk appearing in his mouth.

"Well what do you know? He does come out in sunlight!"

Te smirk disappeared from his mouth. He turned around and was faced by two boys his age. Both had black hair and dark eyes. One boy, with messy hair and thin round glasses, held his hands in front of him in the form of the cross while the other, the one who had talked to Severus, wore a wide smile.

"Guess you could have left the stake back in your house, James," he said, trying to hold back his laughter.

"I don't know, Sirius, he still looks like he can bite." With this, both boys' began to laugh out loud. When they finally got over their fit, Sirius put his arm around Severus, walking the rest of the way to the barrier.

"Hey Snape, have you ever heard of an invention called shampoo? It can really do miracles on that hair."

"Get off me, Black!" said Snape, pushing Sirius's arm off his shoulder.

"Oh my, Snape, we haven't even gotten to school and you are already hostile toward us," said James with a smirk. With this both James and Sirius walked off and through the barrier, leaving Severus behind. Snape sighed and dropped his head on the handle of the trolley. He looked at his clothes. He was dressed like a muggle, and he could board another train and just leave from both his house and school altogether. But then he remembered something he hadn't considered before; his older brother, Mordred. He would tell his father the instant Severus didn't show up.

Mordred and Severus had never had a good relationship. Severus had never had a good relationship with anyone in his family, for that manner. His family was prominent Death Eaters, a group formed by the wizard called Voldemort. His relatives referred to him as "the Dark Lord" or "my Lord" but he didn't another reason why he and his family were at odds. For some time now, the Death Eaters had been growing in power and in number. They believed in cleaning the wizarding world by removing the muggle-born, the unwanted filth. He did not believe in killing muggle-born witches and wizards, an act he considered to be a monstrosity.

Finally Severus decided to give Hogwarts a try. At least there were people who didn't know him there, which meant a chance to make some friends. Also, he remembered Lily.

Severus stepped through the barrier, landing in front of a big scarlet engine. He looked up the Hogwarts Express, thinking that maybe in school things would be different than at home. Suddenly, someone pushed him aside. He looked up and saw one of the last persons he wanted to see in his first day at Hogwarts, Mordred.

Mordred looked a lot like Severus with some minor differences. Taller and leaner, he had neither Severus' sallow skin nor his long greasy locks. Mordred ran to a small group of people. One was a guy about his age, with long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, a smug look of superiority in his face. The other two were girls, one was blonde with a rather bitchy face, and the other had short curly hair and had a face like she owned the place. They were also the same age as Mordred. Like Mordred, they were all dressed in fine clothes that, according to his brother, made them seem more mature. Except for the curly haired one, who was wearing Jeans and t-shirt, something he would never see any of the other three do. Like his family, Severus didn't like his brothers' friends except for the last one. She was different from the rest, he could tell. She was never very happy with the people she called friends. Serverus always had a feeling the only reason she spent her summer with this group was because someone had told her or asked her to.

"Looks like someone had a nice night," said the blonde girl, flipping her hair.

"Just what are you smoking, Mordred? Seems nice," said the other girl with a smirk that to the trained eye seemed forced.

"How can you think that of our dear friend, Jennifer? You know he is not that type of guy," said the blonde guy before putting his arm on Mordred's shoulders. "So tell me, what's her name? Was she good?"

"Better than all those things you guys have said, Lucius." Mordred motioned them to move closer. Severus walked closer so he could hear what his brother was going to say. He stopped a few inches away from them.

"When did you get it?"

"Just this morning Lucius, just before I Apparated here."

"So you're one of us now?"

"Yep Jennifer, I'm officially a Death Eater."

Severus took a deep breath, something he shouldn't have done since it made his brother and his friends look at him. Mordred smiled and walked to him. He grabbed him tightly by the shoulders. Severus could feel his fingers digging in his skin. Mordred crouched until he was looking at him face to face, his expression menacing.

"Mention one line of your ridiculous ideals and I swear I will make your life in school so miserable you will wish you had never been born," he told him in a low voice so no one could hear.

"I already do."

Mordred chuckled at his younger brother's remark. Pulling on Severus by the shoulders he walked to where his friends were.

"I almost forgot to introduce him, guys, this is my little brother, Severus. Severus, you know Lucius-"

"Yes we know each other"

"Narcissa."

"Hello," said the blond girl looking at him from feet to head.

"And Jennifer."

"Hi," said the other girl. For the first time her smile was authentic.

"Hello," said Severus slowly. They didn't have time to talk because the conductor gave the signal to board. The others instantly left, leaving Severus to search for a seat by himself. He kept walking, since every compartment was full. He finally arrived at the last compartment, which was empty except for a boy about his age who was sleeping on one of seats, his head on the window. Severus tried not to make a sound as he entered but, unfortunately for him, his trunk had other ideas, making sure to make as much noise as he tried to put it on the rack on top of his seat (He closed his eyes in frustration, unable to stop the incessant bumps). He was sure he wouldn't be able to do it when suddenly he felt someone help him. Severus opened his eyes to find the once sleeping boy.

"Hi, I'm Remus Lupin," he said, stretching his hand at Severus, after they had battled the trunk up the rack. The boy seemed worried that Severus wouldn't like him.

"I'm Severus Snape." He took his hand and shook it. Remus smiled.

"Snape? You're one of the biggest families out there, right?"

"Not really, people just say that because we are all purebloods."

"Oh, I'm half and half, my father is a wizard and my mum is a Muggle."

"Oh, my mum was half."

"Was?"

"She left us a few months ago, a bit before I got accepted in Hogwarts...a bit before I received my letter."

"Oh, sorry."

"You don't sleep much, do you?" said Severus, hoping to drive the conversation away from his mum.

"You could say that."

None of them spoke much after that since both seemed eager to avoid getting into much detail about their lives. Severus tried to keep it away from his family and their activities while Remus kept it away from anything that had to do with him. Their short conversations were a series of dead-end questions. Remus fell asleep after the lady with the trolley passed by. Severus let his mind wander about what will happen when he was in Hogwarts. Maybe he would be less quiet, maybe he would join a team, maybe he would take up a sport; but his mind always came back to that young girl's smile.

After some time the train stopped. The conductor instructed them all to get off. He looked around, waiting to see someone he knew. He saw the older kids walk toward the exit of the station, catching a glimpse of his brother. He noted that Milady was not with them and saw her a bit in front with another group of people. This time her laughs were real. His theory of her being a spy or something got almost certainly confirmed. He heard a voice yell over the crowd "Fir's years! Fir's years over here! This way!". Severus turned and saw a man about twice as tall as a normal man.

"C'mon, follow me- any more fir's years? Mind yer step now! Fir's years follow me!"

Severus joined the bunch of kids following the man. He caught a small glimpse of Lily's face but he doubted she had noticed since she was chatting with another girl. He also noticed that James and Sirius have already befriended Remus. For a moment he felt like trying to get close to them, but Potter and Black signaled to another boy to join them. Suddenly they stopped and several people's "Ooooooh!'s" got Severus' attention. They were standing on the edge of a lake, and right across them stood Hogwarts.

"No more'n four to a boat!" yelled the man that had taken them there. Everyone instantly sat on the boats and when Severus finally got to then, noticed that there was only one left. Noticing that he was the only student left, he settled in for a solitary boat ride.

"Everyone in?" shouted the man. "Right then, forward!"

Severus slumped down in his seat. Being alone in the boat was not a good thing. Maybe it will get better when I make some friends, he thought to himself. Little did he know that this new, lonely part of his life had just begun.