Into the Mouth of Hell

Into the Mouth of Hell: Chapter 3

The Toad-Lover

When the train finally stopped, Severus followed Bellatrix, Roddy, and Eugene out of their carriage onto the small dark platform. A breeze rippled through the crowd of students, and the cool night air gave Severus the chills. A lamp bobbed up ahead, and a strange, rough voice hollered above the chattering students.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" The voice was loud and otherworldly.

Severus looked at Bella for an explanation. She shrugged her shoulders, and made to follow Roddy and Eugene to the other end of the platform. "That's just Hagrid. He's a big oaf -- the keeper of grounds." When she saw that this information had done nothing to relieve the anxiety on Severus' face, she added, "Don't worry. We'll see you inside." After she turned, she was lost in the sea of black robes.

Severus turned to follow the crowd of first years toward the lamp. A large hairy head was visible towering above the students. "C'mon, follow me -- is that the lot of ye? Mind yer step, firs' years, follow me!"

Severus followed in the mass of small black-robed children down a steep and narrow path. He was in the very back, and it was very dark. The ground was slippery beneath the slick soles of his dress shoes, and he could hardly see what sort of slime he was walking on. Severus was beginning to feel anxious again. Was this some sort of trick? he thought. Where is this man -- thing -- leading us? He moved closer to the person in front of him, just in case.

"Now pay attention," boomed the voice of Hagrid, "and jus' round this bend yeh'll get yer firs' sight of Hogwarts."

Ahead of him, Severus saw light reflecting, and then a loud "Ooooooh!" as some of the other first years caught their first sight of the castle.

When he finally came around the bend, Severus stopped. A black lake stretched in front of him, and across it, perched atop a mountain, glittered the many windows of the castle of Hogwarts. Dark clouds swirled around the towers, not unlike the picture he had seen in Hogwarts, A History. Beyond the clouds, there were many stars out and the golden sliver of a moon hovered as if tethered to the farthest tower.

The moment was ruined almost instantly by the thundering voice of Hagrid, telling all of the students to divide four to a boat. Severus was the last into the boats, joining the red-haired girl he had seen on the platform, another girl with a round face and whispy brown hair, and the small boy with the bags under his eyes that Severus had seen boarding the Hogwarts Express.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid. After a moment when no one answered, Hagrid shouted again, pointing his umbrella at the castle. "Right then -- FORWARD!"

And the fleet of little boats, each carrying four small, bewildered students, began to move across the black lake to the castle.

Severus sat silently, breathing in the crisp air as it mingled with the smell of the black water and listening to the soft hissing of their boat cutting across the lake. There was a ruckus in a boat ahead as one small boy made to lean over the edge of the boat, and just when he seemed ready to fall in, the small boy sitting beside him pulled him back with such force that the boat almost tipped the other way. In the widening wake of their rocking boat, Severus studied the reflection of the stars in the perfectly black water, trying to read the mirror-imaged, waving constellations.

"It's cool, isn't it?" the small boy beside Severus said. "I'm Remus, by the way. Remus Lupin." The boy stuck out his hand and Severus shook it.

"My name's Severus Snape." Severus looked up at the castle. "Yes, it's pretty cool." Severus rolled the last word off of his tongue, tasting its foreignness. In his mother's house, things weren't cool: they were interesting or fashionable. He liked the way this new language felt in his mouth.

"I wasn't sure I'd be able to come," the boy told Severus in a whisper, "but I'm really happy that I did."

Severus wondered why this was, but before he could ask the boy about it, the girl with the red hair screamed.

"I saw something move!" She was pointing down at the water, and was making like she wanted to stand up.

Several of the people in the boats ahead of them turned to stare.

"There's a squid," Severus explained quickly. "I read about it in Hogwarts, A History. It's perfectly benign." Severus winced, knowing how uncool he sounded.

"Cool!" everyone in the boat said, bending to look into the lake.

As they approached the castle, Hagrid told them all to put their heads down, and the boats cut through a curtain of ivy covering a small entrance in the cliff face. As he went through, Severus plucked several sprigs of the ivy and tucked them into his pocket. He wanted to remember this night.

After everyone climbed out of their boats, and Hagrid checked them for any thing left behind, they made their way up a steep stone staircase that emptied them onto the lawn in front of the castle. They climbed the wide stone steps, stopping in front of the large, oak front doors. Severus looked around him at the other students, who all looked as anxious as he felt. Well, then, I'm right on par, Severus thought, relaxing a bit, but feeling still a bit small.

Hagrid knocked and immediately a stern-looking witch in emerald-green robes opened the door. She had black hair and was very tall; Severus thought she looked like someone who was very severe indeed. Hagrid introduced her as Professor McGonagall, and they followed her into the castle.

If she's Head of Gryffindor House, I don't feel sorry for them at all, Severus thought bitterly. Eugene's words replayed in his head. Arrogant show-offs.

Inside the Entrance Hall, which was also made of stone and lined with torches, Severus was separated from Remus as the students making their way into a side room bumped against each other. They stood closer together than Severus would usually like, and everyone looked at each other rather nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall sharply. "The start-of-term banquet will begin in just a few short minutes, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be Sorted into your Houses." (Severus felt his stomach flip, and looked around anxiously at the others.) "The Sorting is a very important ceremony because your House is your family at Hogwarts. You will attend classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory, and spend free time in your House common room.

"The four Houses are, of course, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each has its own noble history, and undoubtedly each of you will be a credit to your Houses. House points will be awarded based on the merits of its members; however, any rule breaking will lose House points. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House Cup." She contracted her black eyebrows. "The Sorting Ceremony will take place shortly in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all prepare for the evaluation."

She looked around at the small anxious faces, stopping to consider the shiny white boots of the girl that was in Severus' boat, and the black messy hair of a boy that stood near her. Severus ran his hands down the sides of his face, trying to smooth his hair.

"I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly," Professor McGonagall said before swiftly leaving the room.

Severus looked around at the others, trying to judge who else might be trying to get into Slytherin. He caught the eye of Sirius Black, who smirked and elbowed the boy with the messy black hair. Severus thought for sure Sirius would try to be in Slytherin like the rest of his family. He wondered how many students Slytherin House could take this year. Was there a limit?
The boy with the messy black hair straightened up, grinning, and, with Sirius at his side, began to make his way across the crowded room toward Severus. When they finally reached him, Severus held out his hand.

The boy did not take it. "So," he said, loud enough for the whole room to hear, "you're the tosser that tortured the toad on the train?"

Severus was very aware that everyone in the chamber was watching him. The happiness that lingered from the train ride began to evaporate.

"Well, aren't you going to answer? I believe James asked you a question, Snivellus," Sirius said, his eyes twinkling malevolently.

Severus noted that despite their wholly different manners, Bella and Sirius had a lot of traits in common.

"Severus." It was all he could do to keep his voice even and his lip from trembling. His hands shook at his sides. "My name is Severus."

"Ah, right," Sirius grinned.

The boy named James grinned as well. "Well, which is it? Are you that tosser? Or some other tosser?" Several people around him laughed nervously.

Severus took a very deep breath. "I fail to see how it is any of your business. Unless you are some kind of toad-lover, of course." James's grin faltered, and Severus continued. "Or maybe toads remind you of your mummy?" Severus bared his teeth in a bland smile, his eyes glazed with anger.

Sirius looked at James, and then at Severus. "Well, I was just telling James about your bit of magic on the train, and I think he agrees with me, don't you James, that your, er, talent, might be better applied if you were to -- what was it James?"

"Focus on something more constructive, like learning a Scouring Charm for your hair," James said without missing a beat. Several more people laughed.

Severus' anger boiled over; he reached inside his robes for his wand, but too late -- Sirius and James already had their own wands aimed at Severus' chest.

"Have to be a bit quicker when you're not dueling with amphibians, Snivellus," James said, just as a door off the chamber opened.

Professor McGonagall looked over the crowd of students to where Sirius and James were quickly putting away their wands. "We are ready for you," she said, her eyebrows again contracting.

Sirius and James smiled at Severus and followed the crowd out of the chamber into the Great Hall. Severus waited until he was the last one, and then swept from the chamber, seething in anger, arms folded. I wish I was a bat, Severus thought, or a very large nasty thing.

Thousands of candles floated above the tables in the Great Hall where the rest of the students were sitting. Severus kept his arms folded as he looked up at the ceiling. It was bewitched to look like the night sky, just as he had read in Hogwarts, A History. However, he had a lot less interest in astronomy now than when he was on the lake. He looked away from the bright stars and tried to find Bellatrix and the two boys from the train. He spotted them at a far table; they waved at him. He nodded in return. Their greeting helped dissipate the anger he felt from his exchange with Sirius and James. He hoped that Sirius was sorted into Hufflepuff -- he certainly didn't want him in Slytherin.

On top of the four-legged stool that was in the center of the hall, Professor McGonagall had placed a faded and torn black hat. The students in line were quiet as a rip near the brim opened, forming a mouth, and it began to sing.

Severus heard its song: these are the four Houses, these are their qualities, each one is noble, dark times approaching, and they must all work together, blah blah blah. His eyes were focused on the back of a head belonging to a boy named James. He stared at the hair sticking up there, and recited in his head some of the curses he remembered reading in his father's books. He wanted to set that tuft of black hair on fire. I'll have the chance to use those curses soon enough, he thought, as the song ended and Professor McGonagall began to read her list of names.

"Abbott, Zelda!"

A small girl with blond pigtails made her way to the front of the Great Hall. She nervously picked up the hat, sat down on the stool, and then dropped the brim of the hat over her eyes. It waited for a moment, and then yelled, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Zelda took the hat off, looking very relieved, and hurried over to the Hufflepuff table, which had just broken out in applause.

Just after her, Link Aldwick joined the ranks of Hufflepuff as well.

"Black, Sirius!" Professor McGonagall called, and Severus felt his stomach flip as he made his way to the front.

Sirius walked languidly up to the hat and placed it on his head, his mouth contorted in a beguiling smirk before the brim dropped over his eyes. The hat waited an awfully long time, then the tear at the brim opened, and it called out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table erupted into broken and unsure cheers. Severus looked over at the Slytherin table, where Bella looked perfectly shocked. Roddy was leaning toward her, whispering.

Next, Elizabeth Bacon went to Ravenclaw. Then, Otto Bagman became the first Slytherin. Bloom, Bodger and Catchford all became Hufflepuffs. Cunningham became a Ravenclaw with Diggle. Elspeth Eliot became the second Slytherin, and Lily Evans, the girl with the white shiny boots, became a Gryffindor. Florence Fawcett, with blue ribbons in her hair, went into Ravenclaw. Glinda Goodwitch became a Hufflepuff, and David Gudgeon, one of the laughing boys from Platform 9 ¾, went to Gryffindor.

Several others made their way to the different Houses as Severus waited for his name to be called. The next Slytherin was Talula Higgs, who was quite square, and fourth into Slytherin was a boy named Geoffrey Jugson, who had black hair and a face as chubby as a baby's. A blonde boy named Cyril Knightleigh went into Hufflepuff, and then Violet Kyteler, a very pretty blonde witch, went to Slytherin.

Severus was unhappily shocked when Remus Lupin became a Gryffindor. Marjorie Mockridge became a Slytherin, and so did the next student, Natalia Nott. Peter Pettigrew, a stumbling boy with watery eyes and mousy-brown hair, became a Gryffindor with James Potter, the toad-lover.

Severus watched with narrowed eyes as James wrung the hands of half the students at the Gryffindor table as he sat down.

A girl named Doris Purkiswent up to the Sorting Hat with an idiotic smile on her face and became a Hufflepuff. A very small girl named Daphne Rimmell tripped on her over-sized robes and then became a Gryffindor, much to the amusement of the Slytherin table.

The line continued to shorten as Professor McGonagall called names.

"Rosier, Evan!"

A very good-looking boy with sandy brown hair approached the stool and was sorted into Slytherin. The Slytherin table hooted and hollered as he sat down.

George Shockney, a rather timid, twitchy kid, went to Hufflepuff, and Simon Smethwyk went to Ravenclaw to much applause.

There aren't that many of us left, Severus thought, looking around at the handful of first years still waiting to be Sorted.

"Snape, Severus!" Professor McGonagall's voice seemed to cut through the din of the hall. He heard a few snickers from the direction of the Gryffindor table.

After the Sorting Hat went over his head, Severus was consumed in darkness. He wondered what the strange smell was. A small voice suddenly sounded in his ear, and he had to grab the edge of the stool so that he didn't fall off. "Yes... oh, my... I see then," the voice ruminated. "Very interesting. A lot of spunk in this one: a desire to please, plenty of intellect, and oh, yes, then," the voice paused, "ample ambition."

Severus sneered under the hat. Anything but Gryffindor, he thought. A vision of Bella and the group over at the Slytherin table came to him, and he wished the Sorting Hat would get on with it already.

"Have your mind set, then?" said the Sorting Hat. "Well, if that's what you want, better be SLYTHERIN!" The voice shouted the last word for the entire hall to hear.

Severus walked deliberately to the Slytherin table, where he shook the hands of Bella, Roddy, and Eugene, and sat down next to the sandy-haired boy named Evan.

Alice Waterhouse, the girl with the round face that had been in the boat with Severus, became a Gryffindor. Robert Wilkes, a blonde, somewhat gangly boy, sat down beside Evan at the Slytherin table, and the last to be sorted was a tiny boy named Cecil Zands who fell on his way to join Ravenclaw.

With the Sorting over, Professor McGonagall rolled up the scroll with the list of names and took the Sorting Hat out of the hall.

Bella leaned across the table. "I can't believe my cousin! Going to Gryffindor! My aunt and uncle will be so upset! I'm mortified!" Bella said dramatically, raising a hand to her throat. "My own flesh and blood, and to think -- "

But Severus didn't hear what Bella thought, for Albus Dumbledore was now standing, and the entire hall had gone silent. He stood very straight at the middle of the Head Table, his long white beard just gracing his waistline. He had a very long, very crooked nose, and looked to Severus rather benign and ineffectual, especially when he compared him to the imposing stature of his father, the authoritarian by whom he judged all men.

"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our feast, I shall like to remind our older students to help the first years feel at home, and please be sure to catch them if they fall through a missing step! Thank you!"

Dumbledore sat down, and the hall erupted with cheers and applause. Severus didn't really see what the big fuss was about. Sure, he knew from reading history books that Dumbledore was a great wizard, having defeated the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, and that he had discovered the twelve uses of dragon's blood. But as far as a great headmaster, well, the vote was still out for Severus.

Eugene leaned across Bella. "He's a bit off if you ask me," he said and rolled his eyes.

Severus chuckled, then gasped in pleasant surprise as the plates filled with every kind of food imaginable. Severus joked with his new friends as they ate and ate, until they were all so full they thought they would burst.

Then Dumbledore stood again, and the hall fell silent, Bella again getting caught mid-sentence.

"I have some start-of-term notices that I must deliver before we all trudge merrily off to bed.

"First years please note that the forest is out of bounds to all students. Some of our older students may do well to remember that also." Dumbledore's eyes flickered to the Gryffindor table momentarily before he continued.

"Also, I'm afraid to tell you that Mr. Pringle, the caretaker, is no longer at Hogwarts -- "

Several students cheered.

Dumbledore smiled, then continued, "As he has seen fit to entrust the school to his apprentice, Mr. Filch."

The cheers turned to groans.

"Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that no magic is allowed in the corridors between classes, and prohibited also are several items which can be checked on the extensive list on his office door.

"Quidditch trials will be held during the second week of term. Heads of Houses will be keeping you informed as the schedules are posted."

Eugene nudged Roddy.

"Also this year, Professor Sprout has come by a very handsome Whomping Willow tree, and I have to ask that everyone give it generous room. It can become a bit belligerent when provoked, as I'm sure some of you will note." Dumbledore's eyes again flickered toward the Gryffindor table.

"And lastly, students will please note that the curfews set out last term are still in effect, and I ask that all abide by them." Dumbledore's face darkened momentarily.

"And that, I believe, is all! Goodnight!"

There was a great scraping commotion as everyone pushed away from the tables to exit the Great Hall. Severus followed Bella, Eugene, and Roddy down a flight of stone steps into what appeared to be the dungeons. Up ahead of them, Severus saw two white-blond heads leading the group around countless corners and down several corridors.

"That's Lucius Malfoy," Eugene said, sneering. "Looks like they made him Head Boy this year. Suspect he'll be Quidditch Captain again, too. Right pain in the arse, if you ask me. Spent most of last year throwing Quaffles at us in our sleep so that we would beat Gryffindor."

"Didn't work though, did it?" Bella cut in with a smile.

Severus was so full from all the food (he had tried some of everything) and all the desserts (he had fourth helpings of treacle tart) that he could hardly stand to carry himself down the dungeon hall. When the group reached a blank stretch of rough stone wall, Lucius Malfoy stopped, looked in both directions, and turned to face the large group that had been following him.

"The password," he said in a chill voice, "is draco dormiens." As he said it, the stone opened behind him, revealing the spacious Slytherin common room. A fire was roaring in the massive fireplace, and in front of it, several of the older students were playing Exploding Snap in high-backed chairs. Bella, Eugene, and Roddy joined them.

Lucius eyed them wearily, and continued with the first years. "You will find your dormitories down these dungeon halls." He pointed one hand past the fireplace to a tapestry, and the other hand over their heads. "Boys to my left, girls to my right."

The students looked in the directions that Lucius was pointing.

"Now, there are several rules that we all must follow." Lucius lowered his arms to cross them over his chest. "All first years must return to the common room no later than six thirty." There were several groans, but Lucius ignored them. "Prefects will take students to the library at seven o'clock and will return by nine o'clock. I suggest," he paused, eyes flickering, "that you make use of these outings so as not to waste my time."

As Lucius glared at them from beneath his white hair, Severus made a mental note to never cross him.

"That is all," he said, turning to the dormitories.

The first year boys followed him.

There were five beds in the first years' large stone room, Severus was surprised to see, and instead of windows, large tapestries hung on the walls. There were torches hanging in brackets beside each bed.

"Cool," Evan said, examining one of the old tapestries depicting a man holding a wand, a village aflame behind him.

Severus quickly changed out of his robes, his back turned to the other boys. He was rather uncomfortable with the whole bit, but he didn't think it was possible to send an owl to his father asking for a private room. He was quite sure that his father's influence did not stretch that far.

* * * * *

As he lay securely enclosed behind the green velvet curtains of his four-poster, Severus thought about what an exciting day it had been. He had made friends with the most beautiful girl in the House, he had been Sorted into the best House in the school, and he still had six Cauldron Cakes from the train that he could eat whenever he pleased. Severus smiled, rolled over beneath the warm bedclothes, and drifted to sleep. His dreams were full of girls laughing as he pushed James the Toad-Lover Potter and Sirius the Traitor Black through one of those missing stairs.