☞ 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲, 1𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫, 1996

Astoria and I hopped off the train at the Hogwarts train station, now dressed in our Slytherin uniform, laughing about the time when she fell down the stairs onto her crush in third year. We walked towards the carriages, where Flitch was checking through our luggage... strange.

"Names?" I looked down to see Professor Flitwick. His small hands clutching a clipboard with an infinite list of names. His eyes remained firmly on the pages he held, his quill scribbling away.

"Professor, you've taught us since first year, you know us." Astoria stated, making Flitwick peel his eyes away from his stack of papers. Flitwick dismissed the comment and asked for our names again. "Astoria Greengrass." She rolled her eyes at the unnecessary yet compulsory identification.

"Y/n Snape," his eyes widened at me, like many before. He flicked through the pages and pages of names he had written down and checked off my name.

"I do apologise, Y/n. I didn't seem to recognise you... you may go." Flitwick turned to the group behind us, asking for their names, as he had done before with us. Confused, Astoria and I headed towards the carriage and continued to reminisce over our years at Hogwarts.

"-Yeah! Then you laughed so hard that pumpkin juice came out of your nose!" Astoria and I broke into uncontrollable laughter as we took seats opposite one another at the front of the carriage. When I didn't think I could possibly laugh any harder, Astoria started choking and coughing due to lack of air, which only sent me into a fit of laughter that had me clutching my stomach in pain.

"Greengrass, get a grip! You look like you're going to piss yourself!" Our laughter is instantly murdered by the familiar screech of the one and only Pugface Parkinson. "Oh my, who is this?" Her face instantly lit up upon noticing me. "I don't believe we've met, I'm Pansy Parkinson." She greeted me with a smile, something I didn't know she could do. "I must say, she is such an upgrade from your last friend, Y/n Snape. Speaking of, you should stay away from her." Pugface turned back to me as she spoke the last part. It took every fibre of my human being not to curse that bitch.

"Y/n Snape? Why on earth are you talking about her?" I heard Nott call out. During the short-lived conversation I had with Pugface, it seemed like the rest of her crew had boarded the carriage, and we started our long trek towards the castle. Riddle now sat next to me, with Nott and Malfoy next to him, while Astoria, Zabini, and Pugface sat opposite us. "She's a bloody waste of oxygen, if you ask me." Malfoy huffed.

"Careful she doesn't catch you saying that, she'll just run to her daddy, and then Snape will be properly pissed." Blaise chuckled, and so did the rest of the snakes.

Astoria looked at me, her eyes screaming, 'What do we do?'. I sent her a look that told her everything she needed to know, her eyes widened and her mouth pulled into a grin. Let the game begin.

"What's so awful about this Y/n girl?" I asked the group sweetly. They all turned to me, and their jaws fell.

"W-well" Malfoy stuttered out, making me cackle on the inside at how nervous he was. I can't wait to hold this against them. Although Mattheo Riddle was being oddly quiet, "She's revolting, a blood-traitor, a pathetic excuse of a Slytherin..." Malfoy stumbled out, unable to take his eyes off me.

"And she's been trying to take my Dracy away from me for years! Isn't that right, Dracy?" Parkinson cried out, and I almost scoffed at her words. Please? Draco? Please. Malfoy grimaced at the girl and turned away from her, and he turned to face me again.

"Well, I'll be sure to watch out for her." I smiled at Malfoy, whose face turned a deep shade of red. He slowly nodded as his stormy eyes flicked down to my lips. Riddle smirked at the boy, then gave me a knowing look. He knows! My eyes looked deeply into his as I smirked back at the boy. Riddle and I have always gotten along in our own way. Unlike other Slytherins, for some reason he's never been unnecessarily rude towards me, and so we've always had a tolerance for one another. Despite that he's still a prick.

The carriage came to a slow stop when suddenly someone spoke. "Y/n." A monotone voice called out. All heads snapped in the direction of the voice, where stood my father.

"Hello, Father." I replied cheerfully, and their heads snapped back towards me as realisation hit them like a bludger to the face. Astoria and I practically skipped off the carriage with a look of pure bliss radiating from ourselves.

"Are they bothering you?" Father glared into the groups' souls. Panic struck the five as their eyes danced between my father and me. I smirked at the group and sent Riddle a little wink.

"Oh no..." I replied sarcastically, "Not at all!" Astoria and I snickered at each other. "What is it that you need, Dad?" I asked him politely.

"Oh, nothing, sweetheart, I just wanted to make sure you arrived here safely." He kissed my forehead before directing Astoria and I into the Great Hall.

Giggling like lunatics, Astoria and I entered merrily into the Great Hall. We took our seats next to each other as we noticed my dad glaring at Pansy and her boyfriends as they sheepishly walked into the hall. Astoria and I snickered as we high-fived each other.

The ceremony continued as most ceremonies do, the sorting, the speeches, until something unexpected happened. "I would like to introduce you all to Professor Horace Slughorn, who has returned to Hogwarts to teach Potions." Dumbledore announced and clapped for the new professor, who proudly took a stand.

Astoria turned to me with a mouth as wide as the Amazon river in shock. "Your dad is no longer teaching us?" She stressed. I shrugged my shoulders in response, worry also overcoming me, as we cheered for the professor. Why didn't father tell me about this? He wasn't getting fired... was he?

"As for Professor Snape, he is being appointed as the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. Congratulations, Professor Snape." Dumbledore began to clap while the Slytherin house yelled in delight. It was no secret that my father had always wanted this position, and he's finally achieved his goal. This is why he didn't tell me, he wanted to surprise me!

"Woo!" Astoria and I yelled the loudest. As my dad stood there with his usual sour and unpleasant look plastered on his face, once he locked eyes with me, a slight smile flickered on his face for a millisecond. It was gone so soon that I almost missed it.

Finally, food appeared on the table. The Slytherins began to question who I was, where I came from, and so much more. After one simple explanation that I had to repeat nearly a hundred times, their eyes widened in shock and realisation. I really didn't change that much...

Suddenly, I became the talk of the Slytherin table, my name was spreading like a forest fire. Only this time, my peers were talking about me in a good light. Neither Astoria nor I could believe the attention we were getting. Not only were people treating me like royalty, but Astoria was also being treated that way. This is something new we've never experienced, and it was very thrilling.

As we both left the Great Hall and walked along the corridors towards the common room, a flock of students were asking us our opinions on certain people or different fashion items, asking us on dates, and asking us question after question after question. So... many... questions.

We pushed our way into the common room, where Pansy and her goons sat there with shocked and sour looks plastered on their faces the second they saw the mass amounts of people flocking behind us. Riddle, however, looked amused. Strange.

It took a minute or two for Astoria and I to finally reach our bedroom. "Thank Merlin that's over with." Astoria breathed as I slammed the door. Astoria collapsed on the bed as I sat on the floor with my back on the door. "We need to purchase a mask and some baggy robes for you." She joked. We both burst out in laughter after finally processing the chaotic evening we both shared.

"I can't believe what's happening." I breathed out. It's wild how quickly people can change the moment you become 'conveniently attractive' and 'relevant'. They all, not to sound too egotistical, love me. I haven't really changed personality-wise, yet the things I was saying that usually had people ignoring me or scoffing at me now had people laughing and agreeing with me like there was no tomorrow.

"Now I see why the Slytherin emblem is a snake because everyone is fake as fuck!" Astoria burst out. "Oh, sorry... Excuse my language." She exclaimed, shocked by the words that left her mouth. Contrastingly, I was rolling on the floor, clutching my stomach. As you could've presumed, Astoria isn't the type to often use vulgar language, so it was a wonderful treat to hear the girl swear once in a blue moon.

"No, don't apologise! You are so right. They are just a bunch of fucking idiots." I smirked at Astoria. Suddenly, my mind trailed back to Parkinson and the sour look she wore. "Did you see how hurt Pugface was?" I laughed with Astoria.

"That has to be the only good thing that's come out of this." Astoria cackled. Her strange laughter sent me into a deeper fit of laughter myself. Soon, the rest of the evening was spent with Astoria and I unpacking our luggage while almost dying from laughter.