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I've posted a new story some few days ago, inspired by Alethea27's 'If You Needed Somebody,' please check it out.

Chapter Four

The carriages trundled through the gates and up the sweeping drive. Severus leaned across the window, and could see Hogwarts and its many lighted windows coming nearer. Those who had occupied the carriages in front were already climbing up the stone steps into the castle; Severus, Alex and Jenna jumped down from their carriage and walked up the steps too, and soon they were inside the torch-lit Entrance Hall.

They slid across the Entrance Hall and Jenna and Alex said goodbye to Severus, who went through the double doors on the right. The Great Hall looked its usual splendid self, decorated for the start-of-term feast. Golden plates and goblets gleamed by the light of hundreds and hundreds of candles, floating over the tables in mid-air. The four long house tables were packed with chattering students; at the top of the Hall, the staff sat along one side of a fifth table, facing the students. Severus sat down at a place at the end of the table, near his fifth-year friend, Regulus Black.

"Hey Sev, " said Regulus. "How was your summer?"

"Great. Yours?" replied Severus

"Not so great. Sirius was been an asshole as usual. Nice look by the way," he added with a grin.

"Thanks."

At that moment, the doors to the Great Hall swung open, and the first years, led by Professor McGonagall walked in. Hagrid came in behind them and took his place at the High Table.

By the time the sorting was done, each house had gained ten students. Dumbledore stood up and said, "Let the feast begin."

The dishes in front of them magically filled with food. Severus piled his plate with roast chicken, roast potatoes and lamb chops. When the desserts appeared, he took a slice of vanilla cake.

Once the desserts had disappeared, Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. Almost at once, the buzz of charter filling the Hall ceased.

"So!" said Dumbledore, "now that we are all fed and watered, I have some announcements to make."

"First of all, I'd like to welcome our new students and also welcome back our old students." He paused, then continued. "I'd like to introduce our new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher, Professor Vincent Creevey."

Professor Creevey stood up, then seated himself again. Everybody clapped to welcome him

"I have some beginning of term notices. Mr Filch has asked me to tell you that there is now a list of banned objects in his office and anyone wishing to know what they are can go there to see the list. Also, the Forbidden Forest is forbidden to all students, unless accompanied by a teacher or Hagrid." He paused, then continued, "Now it is time for everybody to get a good night's sleep so you can be ready for work tomorrow."

Everybody stood up, and Severus headed down the dungeons together with his housemates. After a few minutes of walking, the Slytherins paused by a stretch of bare, damp stone wall, and a seventh-year prefect said out loud the password, "serpent."

The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling, from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was cracking under an elaborately carved mantelpiece, and there were lots of carved chairs. Some headed straight to their dormitories, while others stayed in the common room.

Severus walked to a pair of empty chairs set back by the fire and sat down on one of them. At that moment, the door to the common room opened again, and in stepped Jenna. She stopped, looked around, saw Severus sitting down alone and went over to where he was.

"Hey," she said, sitting down on the empty chair.

"Hello, Jenna," replied Severus with a smile. "What about Alex?"

"Oh, he got sorted into Gryffindor, and I was hoping we'd get sorted into the same place."

"Well, at least you got into the best house."

"Yeah, and I'm glad I did. So what's our first class tomorrow."

"I don't know yet, but Professor Slughorn will give us our timetables tomorrow after breakfast."

"Ok." They sat down in silence after that, and a few minutes later, Severus got up, said goodnight and left for his dormitory.

On entering his room, he saw that Avery and Mulciber were already there.

"Hello Snapey," said Mulciber as Severus stepped into the room. "The Dark Lord sends his regards."

"As I've already told you, I don't care about your Lord," replied Severus calmly.

"Well, we're just reminding you, " said Avery. "Once He takes over, you are going to pay."

Severus said nothing after that, but changed into his nightclothes and jumped into bed. Seconds after closing his eyes, he was fast asleep.

XXXX

Waking the next morning, Severus fumbled around for his watch, and saw the time to be just half past six in the morning. He got up, opened his trunk and gathered all the books and parchment he'd need for the day, and went to shower and dress.

Severus decided he'd wait for Jenna before going to breakfast, so he settled into an armchair next to the roaring fire. He reached into his bag, pulled a random book and started reading.

"Hey," said a soft voice.

Severus looked up and saw Jenna smiling down at him.

"Morning," he said, standing up and putting his book back in his bag.

"Morning." She greeted back. "Had a good night sleep?"

"Great. Ready to go down for breakfast?"

"Yeah."

Some few minutes later, they found themselves at the Slytherin table. After they'd eaten, they remained in their places, awaiting Professor Slughorn's descent from the staff table. The distribution of timetable this year was more complicated than usual, because Slughorn needed first to confirm that they'd gotten the necessary OWL grades to continue with their chosen NEWTs.

Jenna was immediately cleared to continue with her desired subjects. After her, a few students were sorted out and then it was Severus' turn.

"So, Severus …" said Professor Slughorn consulting his notes as he turned to Severus. "All fine. I was pleased with your Potions mark. It was the highest mark achieved in a Potions OWL since 1942, and then it was a student known as Tom Riddle, who not unlike you, was a Slytherin too." After Professor Slughorn had finished with him, he and Jenna shot off to a first-period Ancient Runes class.

An hour later, the Ancient Runes class was over and they were heading to the DADA class. A number of students were already waiting outside, Alex among them.

"Hey," he greeted them.

"Hey," said Severus. "How was your night in Gryffindor."

"Awful. Those two idiots, Potter and Black, kept talking about ways they'd get you expelled."

"Gits."

"The other guy, Remus, seemed a decent bloke."

"Yeah, he's OK. His only problem is his apparent lack of backbone."

At that moment, the classroom door opened and Professor Creevey appeared. Silence fell over the queue immediately.

"Inside," he said. At that, they all went in an settled down.

"Ok class," began the professor. "Without any introductions, we'll start with our first lesson. Wordless defensive spells, starting with the shield charm, whose incantation is Protego.

Before he could continue, the door opened and four students, Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew poured through.

"Why are you late?" Professor Creevey asked.

They all kept quiet. "Why are you late?" asked the professor again.

"It's Snivellus' fault," said Potter.

"Yeah," said Black. "He cast a dark curse on us during breakfast that made us to forget we had class."

"And who, pray, is Snivellus?" asked Professor Creevey.

"There he is," said Pettigrew pointing at Severus.

"Is that true, Mr. Snape?" asked Creevey. "Did you cast any spell on them and why are they referring to you as 'Snivellus'?"

"No, sir. What they're saying is not true and Snivellus is a derogatory nickname they've given me."

"Ok, Mr. Snape, I believe you, but I'll still need to check your wand for any curses."

"There'll be no need for that," said Lupin unexpectedly. "We are late because we lost track of time, and were ready for any punishment."

"Thank you for telling me the truth," said Professor Creevey. "Please tell me to which house you belong."

"Gryffindor, sir."

"Alright, that's five points you've lost each for Gryffindor." The Gryfffindors in the class all groaned.

"And you two," he continued pointing at Potter and Black "you've lost a further twenty points each, for lying against a fellow student and use of derogatory nicknames. You'll also serve a detention with Mr. Filch tomorrow. All of you now to your seats.

The Gryffindors all glared at Potter and Black. Those two were always misbehaving and losing them points.

The rest of the class was uneventful, and an hour later, it was time for break, then Potions.

Hope you liked it. Please leave a review

A/N: In response to some reviews, I made Severus rich because I feel he deserves some happiness. In canon, he got all sorts of punishments he never deserved, while the Dursleys who deserved punishment, got no punishment

A/N: As this story is NOT canon, Remus is not a werewolf, so the Marauders are not animagi and the Marauders map does not exist