The Alchemist Factor

Book 1, Chapter 2

The Sorting

As usual, the students returned to Hogwarts much too quickly for Severus' liking, though this year it was even worse than normal. For the entirety of the two weeks prior to the children's return, Severus hadn't been able to walk past his fellow staff members without hearing something about Harry bloody Potter.

What was he like? Would he take after his father, his mother, or be someone else entirely? What house would he be in? What classes would he like best? Would he be a Quidditch fan or a hard core academic? Who would he make friends with? What sort of food did he like best? What part of the castle would be his favorite? How did he like spending the last eleven years of his life living with muggles? How much about the magical world did he know? What kind of pet did he have? What was his wand made out of? Why was Hagrid so adamant about "keeping everything a surprise"?

It was enough to make Severus want to throw himself off the Astronomy Tower. Considering that half the staff knew his past with James Potter and that he wanted nothing to do with his second coming, one would think that they would at least be polite enough to change the subject when he came around. But no! It was the exact opposite! They all had it in their heads that they could some how make Severus warm up to the idea of the boy by talking about him even more. Undoubtedly, their behavior was directly influenced by Albus, who had the ridiculous notion in his head that he and Harry Potter could be just like family if Severus simply tried. Though, to be fair, he really shouldn't have expected any empathy from the fools. They'd given him none when he was a student, so why would that change now that he was a teacher?

Worthless gossiping hens, the lot of them!

To add insult to injury, Severus hadn't been able to find out any information about the disturbing Edalene Flamel. Albus was being characteristically enigmatic about her, and there were no records of her ever existing anywhere, even in the French Ministry's database. It was possible that the Flamels had erased all evidence of her existence after her "accident" as the girl had said, but there would still have to be something, somewhere. Children didn't just disappear in the magical world. There were life and death records that could not be erased, even with money and power. But it seemed that no matter how hard Severus looked, the girl had never existed at all.

Or, perhaps it was that Edalene Flamel didn't exist at all. The girl had no qualms about using an alias so she could watch over the stone, who was to say she wasn't using another to begin with? Perhaps she was adopted, or the child of a mistress? It was impossible to tell at the moment, but he would find out. Severus did not like unknown factors, and the girl was nothing but unknowns.

Her strange alchemy particularly bothered him. Severus was no alchemist, but he knew a bit of the theory behind it and had made a point to do some research after witnessing it first hand at the meeting. Hogwarts didn't have much in the way of books on alchemy, no one did really, as it was a mostly dead art, but what it did have was informative.

Alchemy used arrays drawn by the user to calculate how energy was gathered and applied to the materials in a transmutation to form the whatever finished product was. Even the simplest transmutation took pages of calculations that were translated into arrays to perform, and there was no way around it. At all. The books were very firm on this point. Yet, the girl had used no circles, only clapped her hands together and transmuted the table. She went against everything alchemy inherently was, and it was damned annoying to try and figure out how.

Perhaps there had been a trick. Some sight of hand somewhere. The girl had certainly been left in the staffroom long enough to have hidden an alchemical array, but would she really have done that? Her transmutation had seem like a spur of the moment decision, and he couldn't believe an eleven-year-old was so clever.

If she was really an eleven-year-old at all. Eleven or six-hundred and twenty-five, if she hadn't been lying about her accident.

Uggh. It gave Severus a headache to think about.

"Are you feeling all right, Severus?" Filius, who was seated next to him, asked.

"The school has once again been infested by snot-nosed brats who want nothing more than to drive us mad," he said.

"Ah Severus," Fillus chuckled, "You're always such a joy."

Severus scowled and glanced over to where Minerva was leading the newest batch of horrors into the Great Hall to be Sorted. They looked the same as they did every year, a gaggle of Nervous sniveling little brats who would no doubt soon lose their fear and awe to become hell raising devils. Right now they were still shuffling from foot to foot, gazing with trepidation at everyone and everything, minds no doubt realign with the horror stories of how they were to be Sorted, traditionally told by the older students on the train.

Disgusting.

Severus let his eyes wander over the faces he'd soon be expected to know and, much to his dismay, care about.

Draco Malfoy stood out instantly. He knew the boy far better than he would have liked, as it was only polite to pretend to be interested in the bratty son of his longtime friends. Draco was flanked by a large pair of gruff looking brutes who Severus assumed to be Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. He'd never met them but he'd been informed by Lucius that they'd make "good allies" for his son. Severus took that to mean dim-witted bodyguards and meat-shields who would easily be led to do the youngest Malfoy's bidding. Not that Severus particularly cared. All three boys were doing their best to hide their anxiety, but their nervous eyes darted around the hall and gave them away.

Edalene Flamel, now Eddy Eldridge was easy to find amongst the other children. Her bright golden hair and eyes gave her away instantly. Unlike the other students, she didn't appear to be nervous at all. Instead, she was gazing around the hall in with a grim sort of amusement. Given her confrontational attitude and affinity for attacking people relatively unprovoked, Severus assumed the girl most likely wanted to fight horde of zombies, or whatever rubbish the older students had come up with this year. It really was a shame the Sorting didn't involve fighting some sort of beast. If she were eaten right now Severus would most certainly have less of a headache later. Though, he supposed, that logic cold be applied to all of the students.

Finally he spotted the infamous Harry Potter sandwiched between a sandy-haired boy and what appeared to be yet another Weasley. Severus was horrified to find the boy looked like a carbon-copy of James Potter from his messy hair to his glasses. Oh, he seemed harmless now, but once he got over the pre-Sorting jitters, he would undoubtedly begin his storm of pranks and arrogance that would take over the school and bend it to his every childish whim. The only solace Severus could take in the situation was that the brat looked positively sick at the moment, as if he was about to keel over. Maybe he had some incurable disease? Severus could only hope.

As the Sorting Hat finished yet another of its boring and cringe-worthy songs, Minerva began to read off the names of the students for the hat. Severus made sure to note each student's name and what house they were in so that if any of them caused trouble later, he'd know exactly who he was reprimanding and what house was to lose points.

As usual, the children were Sorted and nothing terribly interesting happened... until the name Eldridge, Eddy was called.

The girl walked to the Sorting Hat and stared at it for a moment with a frown, then hesitantly picked it up while touching it as little as possible as if it might be some sort of abomination against life itself, before sitting on the stool reluctantly placing the hat on her head. The large Sorting Hat flopped over her face like it did for every student, and she sat there.

And sat there.

And sat there for over five minutes while whispers broke out all over the hall. Eddy Eldridge had the honor of being the first Hatstall since Filius Flitwick.

Not even Sorted and the girl was trouble! Severus could only hope that wherever she ended up, it wasn't Slytherin. He didn't want to have to deal with her in person more than was strictly necessary. Though, considering her impulsive and confrontational nature, Severus wasn't sure why the hat didn't just instantly toss her in Gryffindor with the other troublemakers. This probably meant the annoying girl had an irritatingly conflicting personality which would just make her that much harder for him to figure out. Wonderful.

After seven minutes of apparently nail-biting tension that caused everyone in the Hall but to shuffle around and gossip in whispered tones, Severus himself was merely board, the Sorting Hat yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!" just as he'd predicted.

The girl pulled off the hat as fast as she could, gave it a shockingly dirty look, and then stomped off to the Gryffindor table where she was enthusiastically greeted by her peers. She then let go of whatever issues she'd had with the hat, smiled pleasantly, and sat down to chatter with her new housemates. Likely about why she'd taken so long with the hat.

For the first time in a very long time, Severus found himself wishing he was sitting at the Gryffindor table. When he realized his thoughts he immediately crushed with a disgusted huff and looked to see who was being Sorted. Unfortunately, it was a bushy-haired buck-toothed girl named Hermione Granger who also seemed to think the hall had nothing better to do than wait around to get sorted as she took almost four minutes before hopping off to the Gryffindor table like the little mischief-maker she was.

Countless mind-numbing faces later, Minerva called out, "Potter, Harry," and the hall predictably broke out into a chorus of whispers. Severus fought the urge to "help" Filius fall out of his chair as the man squirmed with excitement. It seemed everyone wanted Potter in their house except him. Well good, they could have him, though he'd cut off his left leg if the boy didn't end up being Minerva's problem.

A minute later, lady fate saw fit to let Severus keep his leg as the boy trotted off to his repulsive and excessively boisterous housemates. The Weasely twins, he noted with abhorrence, were particularly obnoxious.

After the last few children were Sorted and Albus gave his traditional, "let's make sure everyone knows I'm an eccentric old man" speech, Severus finally got to enjoy his dinner. Though, enjoy may not have been the right word. The food was agreeable as usual, but his company was not.

No one at the staff table could shut up about the Potter brat and how much like his father he was. Of course, people tended to only remember good things about the deceased, so praises for that wretch of a human being and his offspring were sung constantly. If Severus weren't required to attend the entire dinner, he would have left after the Sorting instead of listening to the appalling filth his coworkers were spewing. His only reprieve was that Quirinus didn't actually know the Potters so he had very little to add to the conversation.

The Potter-induce hell continued after that without much of interest, except for a moment when the Potter brat looked at him and was immediately overcome with pained fear, as he should be. If the child thought he was going to coast through Hogwarts on fame and fortune like his father did, he was sorely mistaken. Severus would make sure of that.

Author's Notes: Gah, I really didn't want to put Eddy into Gryffindor because it's so cliché, but it was the only house that fit right! That's why it took the hat so long to sort her, it took ME forever to decide when I wrote this. I have this GIGANTIC explanation of Edward Elric's character vs. the different houses, so if you guys would like me to post it as an Extra in the Author's Notes for the next chapter, tell me.

Just so you guys know, I love writing Severus, even if I'm not that good at it. He amuses me with his constant negativity, dislike for life in general, and paranoid suspicion. Which, obviously, is why this story is from his Point of View. My favorite thing about him is that he really, really, really does not like Harry Potter. He knows he's being a horribly unfair bastard, but he's too damn broken to care and correct his behavior, and that makes him hate himself even more. It's terribly funny in a sad, pathetic sort of way.

Finally, thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers, followers, and those who added this story as a favorite! I only have one request: if my lovely reviewers could point out where I've made mistakes, I'd appreciate it so I can go back and fix them. Thanks again!