Into the Mouth of Hell

Into the Mouth of Hell: Chapter 2

The Heavy-Lidded Girl

On Platform 9 ¾, Severus Snape waited with his mother. They had arrived rather early, hoping to spend some time with his father before Severus would board the train that would take him to his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Hogwarts Express sat puffing on the tracks, and billows of gray smoke swirled above the crowd. Severus noticed, with quite a bit of disdain, cats of every color winding their way around the legs of the awaiting passengers; Severus not only loathed cats for their arrogance, but he was also quite allergic to them. There was nothing he disliked more than cats.

Although he kept sneezing, and was nervous and quite tired (he had been up most of the night reading one of his father's books, Unforgiven: a Compendium of Curses), Severus watched with interest as students boarded the scarlet train, some in robes, others in Muggle fashion. One girl in particular caught his attention. She had dark red hair parted down the center and wore shiny white boots that went up to her knees. Her dress was short and bright green, clashing with her hair. He watched her kiss her parents good-bye, then climb onto the train.

Severus began to mentally catalogue the people he saw on the platform: students in Muggle clothes and students in wizard robes; students bringing owls and students without pets; students already wearing their school robes and students who looked just as apprehensive as Severus felt. He watched a man and a woman help their small son onto the train; he looked a head shorter than Severus and had huge bags under his eyes. I wonder if he's been up all night reading, too, Severus thought. Sometime later, a large group of boys ran past him, laughing and knocking into people. He saw a tall boy with sleek platinum hair shake his father's hand and step onto the train carrying a large eagle owl in a golden cage. Several girls stood nearby, twirling their hair and giggling over an article in Witch Weekly magazine. He watched them all, bemused, as he sat on his trunk with his chin in his palm, his mother leaning against the wall of the station, continually checking the clock.

Finally, at a quarter to eleven, Severus spotted his father amongst the crowd, wearing black robes edged in green velvet. He was walking with a man who looked a bit like him, Severus thought: black hair, black robes, annoyed expression. When they got closer and the crowd cleared, Severus saw that three girls and a boy his age were with them.

"Ah, there's Desolas. And that must be your father's associate and his children," Severus' mother said as the men and children approached.

"Hello, Astria, son," his father said as he drew near. "This is one of my associates, Orpheus Black. (The man nodded curtly.) His daughters, Bellatrix, who is in her fourth year (he pointed to a girl with heavy-lidded eyes and thick black hair who was clutching a toad), Andromeda, who will be starting her sixth year (he pointed to a slightly taller girl who had chocolate brown hair in ringlets past her shoulders), and Narcissa, who I believe is in her seventh year." The last girl, who was as tall as her father, had waist-length, startlingly white-blond hair and cold gray eyes. Severus tried very hard not to blush as he bowed to the girls.

"Oh," his father continued as Severus straightened, "and this is their cousin, Sirius Black, who is starting this year as well. He has a brother, Regulus, who will start the year after next." The boy wasn't much taller than Severus, but he was a bit stronger, he noticed as they shook hands. He probably gets cakes at home, he thought bitterly.

Severus tore his eyes away from Bellatrix, who he thought was by far the prettiest of the girls, and addressed his father. "How have you found your travels, father?" Severus tried to sound as mature as possible. "I hope well?"

"Yes, son, thank you, they were indeed splendid," Desolas took his wife's hand and kissed it. "And I assume that you have been obeying your mother and learning your lessons without fault?"

"Yes, father," Severus replied.

His father eyed him suspiciously, and then grinned broadly. "Very fine indeed, Severus." He held out his hand and Severus shook it. "I do not want to receive any owls from your Head of House or the headmaster involving any misbehavior."

Severus returned his grin. He saw out of the corner of his eye that the girls were watching this exchange. "Yes, father. I shall do my best."

"I expect nothing less from you, Severus," his father said proudly, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Yes, father." Severus smiled, remembering that his father had forgotten to send him a birthday present. But Severus expected nothing less from his father.

His father drew his hand out from his robes, pulling out a small velvet money sack. "Here is some pocket money to hold you over." He put the bag in Severus' hand, which was, to his surprise, quite heavy. It was probably more money than he had ever had at one time before. "If you need more, just send an owl."

Severus looked up into his father's face, dumbstruck. "Thanks! Er, I mean, thank you, father!" Severus stammered, just as the train whistled, signaling all students to get aboard.

Desolas smiled. "Have a good year, son." He shook his hand again.

Severus' mother smoothed his hair, on which he had used some of his father's hair potion before leaving that morning. He had actually sneaked the entire bottle into his trunk. "Remember, son. Do well. Be strong." Her eyes were wide again, like they had been the day before upon reading a terrifying message in her tealeaves.

"Yes mother, I will remember." Severus pulled away from his mother's grindylow-like grip, heaving his heavy trunk onto the train.

* * * * *

Severus rapped on the door of the cabin where the Black children were sitting. "Excuse me," he said politely. "Do you mind if I join you? Everywhere else seems to be full." This was a lie. Severus had not bothered to even look into other compartments.

Bellatrix, the pretty sister with the dark, heavy-lidded eyes and thick black hair smiled. "Sure you can, if you'd like to buy us all treats from the sweets witch."

"There's a sweets witch?" Severus asked, taking a seat next to Andromeda, thoughts of cakes filling his head.

"Oh yeah," the girl said authoritatively, "she's got Cauldron Cakes and Chocolate Frogs, and Bertie Bott's Beans and some Pumpkin Pasties usually."

Severus felt his money sack in his robes pocket. Surely, he had plenty. "Very well, then. I'll share."

Sirius turned his head from the window, where he had been watching the landscape fly past as the train hurtled towards Hogwarts. "Well, then, we are in luck," he said, his voice heavy with sarcasm.

Severus regarded the other boy for a minute, taking in his dark hair, his tanned face, his aristocratic nose, and his twinkling eyes. He was quite handsome. Severus disliked him. "Yes, I suppose we are."

The boy rolled his eyes and turned back to the window.

"Oy! Bella!" Two boys had just appeared in the doorway, both in school robes.

"Hello Roddy, Eugene." Bella moved so that the boys could sit down. "This is my cousin Sirius," she said pointing him out. "And this boy, here, is the son of one of my father's friends. His name's Snivellus, and he's going to buy us all treats." She grinned maliciously at Severus.

Severus felt his face pale. "Actually, my name's Severus Snape." He held out his hand, but the other boys only crossed their arms and looked at him.

Sirius sniggered in the corner.

"So, are you buying your way into our House, then?" Roddy, the taller boy, asked lazily, apparently inspecting his fingernails.

"Excuse me?" Severus asked, his black eyes narrowed, insulted by the insinuation. He didn't need to buy his way into anywhere. He was not lacking his own merits.

"You know, do you think you will get into Slytherin just because you bought treats for two of their Quidditch players?" Roddy puffed out his chest a bit as he said this.

"No," Severus said evenly, careful not to let his resentment show. After all, he wanted to keep these people on his good side. "I think I will be sorted into Slytherin because I'm ambitious, clever, and therefore belong in the best House in the school."

Roddy and Eugene both raised their eyebrows. Andromeda looked from Severus to the boys and back again. Sirius scoffed.

Bella, however, broke the tension by laughing loudly. "Severus, meet Rodolphus Lestrange. Don't mind him. He thinks he's so cool because he was on the House team last year, and just can't help but bring it up about fifty times an hour." She rolled her eyes, and Roddy's chest shrank down to normal size. Bella smiled. "I like you, Severus. You're not afraid of anyone."

With these words, the two boys, Roddy and Eugene, eased. Bella's opinion seems to weigh heavily with them, Severus thought, tucking away this information.

Eugene's face broke into a grin as he held out his hand for Severus to shake. "Eugene Avery," he said pompously. "Sorry about being a bit stiff like that. Can't be too careful, mate. Lots of weirdoes on the train, you know. I see Dumbledore let a whole new crop of Muggles in again this year."

Severus didn't know what to say. He found the Muggle children fascinating, really, having never really associated with any before. He gave a small smile.

Roddy took Bella's toad and was balancing it in the palm of his hand. "Yeah, no kidding Eugene. A lot of those Muggles are just stupid. I don't really think they should be allowed. I mean, most of them don't even know Hogwarts exists until they get their stupid school letters. The whole lot of them should have to at least take some orientation training of some sort, seriously. My father thinks that they run amok like morons and befoul the tradition of the school and the Houses. But they hardly ever get into Slytherin, do they Bella?"

The heavy-lidded girl flickered her deep blue eyes to Severus. She had very long black eyelashes. "You're pureblooded, aren't you?"

"Yes," Severus replied indignantly. He had seen a family history book that delineated purebloods in both of his parent's families for centuries.

"Well, the Blacks are one of the oldest pureblood families, of course. So naturally, we all go into Slytherin. (Andromeda glared at her sister.) Or Ravenclaw. It's not too bad. But imagine being in Hufflepuff. I'd leave." Bella shuddered, as if the thought was just too much for her. "Muggles rarely get into Slytherin, though."

"And those lot from Gryffindor are just a bunch of arrogant show-offs," Eugene said grudgingly. "They fly around like they own the place -- "

"Oh, you're just mad that one of their beaters landed you in the hospital wing for two weeks last term," Bella laughed.

Eugene turned red. "Well, it was a pretty spectacular fall, you've got to give me that."

"Which part?" Roddy chuckled. "The part when you screamed when Longbottom came at you, or the part when you screamed and completely lost control of your broom?"

Eugene turned a deeper shade of red. Severus watched the exchange, amused. So this is what friends are like, he thought, wishing he had some witty or funny anecdote to share.

"Or," Bella spoke through the breaks in her laughter, holding her ribs, "or -- the part -- where -- you -- screamed -- and cried -- for -- your -- MUM!" The last word exploded from her mouth, and the rest of the compartment joined in her laughter.

"Hey, now, that could have happened to anybody," Eugene said in a small voice that went unheard by the rest of them. "And we only lost by ten points."

The sweets witch came by sometime later, and Severus bought Chocolate Frogs for the whole cabin. He also bought a half-dozen Cauldron Cakes, but shoved them into his pockets so that the others wouldn't see.

As they joked and ate their chocolate, the sun began to set, and the gaslights in the compartment flickered on. Severus and the others pulled on their school robes as they approached the castle, and Bella told Severus and Sirius what she thought of all the teachers and about the different classes they would be taking.

"Most of the classes are rather dull, really. Well, except Charms with Flitwick. He's tiny and rather excitable," Bella explained. "And then Transfiguration is pretty neat with McGonagall. She's head of Gryffindor House. My best subject is Astronomy with Sinistra. She runs Ravenclaw. Herbology is with Sprout; sort of dumpy witch, has Hufflepuff. Then Potions with Jigger; he's a rather twitchy fellow," Bella paused, contemplating, "Oh, and History of Magic with Binns." She took another bite of her frog.

Roddy groaned. "Oh, I hate History of Magic."

"Why?" Severus asked. He had always had a fondness for history. He could remember the dates well enough, even if the names sometimes got confused.

"Well, beside the fact that it's the most boring subject on the planet, the man's a ghost! They say he fell asleep in the lounge, woke up dead, and went right on his merry way to class!" Eugene took a big bite of his chocolate. "Bit creepy if you ask me," he added thickly.

"But really," Bella continued, "Dark Arts is my favorite. That's taught by Professor Meadowes. She's head of Slytherin House," she said between bites of a Chocolate Frog. "You get to learn all these wicked spells and stuff, and all about Dark creatures like vampires and werewolves. It's ever so fascinating."

Sirius, who had been mostly silent, brooded as he looked out the window and nibbled on his frog. "It's Defense Against the Dark Arts, Bellatrix."

"Well, whatever. You don't know anything, cousin," she said darkly.

Sirius snorted. "Whatever, Bellatrix."

Bella made eye contact with Severus, and then glanced at everyone else in the compartment. "Eugene, make sure that door's shut," she whispered conspiratorially.

Eugene checked the door and nodded.

She bent towards the middle of the cabin, motioning everyone else to do the same. "I learned a new curse on holiday. Do you want to see?"

Roddy and Eugene nodded eagerly. Andromeda crossed her arms and sighed, like she knew what was coming but didn't care. Sirius turned from the window to observe. Severus watched Bella intently and nodded slightly.

She took her toad out of her pocket, and set it down on the cabin floor, pulling out her wand. As her toad began to hop away, she pointed her wand at it, and whispered "Crucio!" There was a sharp intake of breath from everyone in the cabin as red sparks showered the toad and it stopped, briefly, mid-hop, and fell to the floor. In less than a minute, as the others watched, the toad began to hop away again.

Severus looked at Bella severely. Her dark eyes were flashing, looking eagerly around at all of them, waiting perhaps for praise or awe.

"That's an Unforgivable Curse," Severus said quietly. He had read all about them in one his father's books the night before. There were three Unforgivable Curses, and to use any of them on another human being was sure to land the offender a stretch in Azkaban, the prison for wizards. However, there had been no mention of penalty if the curses were used against non-sentient beings.

Bella blushed. "Yeah, I know. Auntie Elladora showed me over holiday. She uses it on cats that get into her dustbins." She seemed rather proud.

"But that's not the way it works," Severus said, remembering the black book from the library. Bella's face fell, but Severus continued. "You have to really mean it."

He cleared his throat and pointed his wand at the toad. The attention that everyone had given Bella now rested on him. He paused a moment, considering what he was about to do. He looked up at Bella, who was looking at him with such intensity that suddenly all he wanted to do was impress her. He returned his eyes to the toad.

"Crucio!" he said clearly. A flash of red light erupted from the end of his wand. The toad began to jerk and spasm near Andromeda's feet. It rolled onto its back, its legs kicking in the air, and then it's limbs contracted into the curve of its soft underbelly as it rocked back and forth.

Andromeda pulled her feet up onto her seat. "Stop it! Stop it, please!" she cried.

Severus looked at her, and then pulled his wand up. Andromeda was shaking. He looked at the others in the cabin eagerly. Bella looked awestruck, and Roddy and Eugene seemed especially amused. Sirius, however, looked as if he was going to be sick.

"This is so stupid," he said, standing up. He made to leave the compartment, but stopped at the door and turned to Severus. "You better watch out, Snivellus. They catch you doing that, and you'll be expelled," he sneered.

Severus glared back at him, his eyes narrowed into small dark slits. He couldn't think of anything to say to that, but he really, really wished he could.

After a moment of exchanging dirty looks, Sirius left, slamming the compartment door behind him.

Andromeda shivered and stood up. "I'm going to go find Selene and some of the others. Sirius is right, Bella. If you get caught doing that, you'll be in a universe of trouble." Andromeda looked judgmentally down on Bella, who only grinned.

"I'll try to keep that in mind, then," she smirked.

As soon as Andromeda left, the others turned to Severus with very hungry looks on their faces.

"I don't know about them, mate," said Eugene, his eyes wide, "but that was the coolest bit of magic I've ever seen."

Roddy nodded.

Bella slowly leaned across the cabin and took one of Severus' hands into her own. They were very warm. Severus felt the color creeping into his face. She raised her dark blue eyes to his. In that light, at that angle, they were infused with a purple glow, wide with excitement and longing. Severus thought he might fall in love right then and there. "Will you teach me?" she asked tenderly, holding his hand, as if she was proposing marriage.

A huge knot had suddenly constricted the back of his throat. Severus slowly pulled his hand from Bella's, embarrassed by the warm contact.

"And me," Roddy managed awkwardly, as if just remembering how to speak.

"Yeah, me, too, mate," Eugene said, nodding.

Severus contemplatively watched the evening streak by the compartment window for a few moments. His stomach was squirming. Really, he thought, there is nothing spectacular to what happened. It's just another spell in a book. Severus looked at the faces of his new friends as they eagerly looked on him, and for the first time in his whole life he felt like he belonged. Like he was wanted. Severus smiled, and said simply, "Yes."