Only House Left, The
by
Rating: G
Characters: Snape, Sorting Hat
Word Count: 395
Disclaimer: All the characters are Rowling's. The situations they're in are mine. No profit was made.
Summary: The Sorting Hat has particular difficulty placing young Severus.
"What have we here? Let's have a look... oh, an excellent mind, not afraid of hard work, and exceedingly brave, I see. You would do well in any House. I'd be pleased to have you in Gryffindor."
Severus quailed. The boys who had mocked him on the train were in Gryffindor now. He didn't want to be with them.
"Hufflepuff is a fine house. You're not afraid of hard work."
He'd heard about Hufflepuff. He'd heard the students sorted there got teased. He got teased enough about his long hair and slender hands.
"Well, you've a fine mind. Ravenclaw would help you develop it."
"Mum said they picked on her in Ravenclaw and I don't want to be in Gryffindor."
"Blood will out, boy. You're not a Pureblood. That matters to the house that is left."
Severus thought this over.
"What if I show them it doesn't matter? If I'm smart, and I work hard, I can do that."
"Quite possibly, lad. Slytherin definitely would find use for you. You've a warm heart, though, and that worries me."
Severus considered this now.
He didn't know what having a warm heart meant, but he knew he was loved. His father and mother both loved him, although they were poor, and he knew they loved each other, although they were so very different. He loved them both, even if his mother seemed a bit daft at times and his father was a bit stern.
The hat interrupted his thoughts.
"Do you want to be great? Slytherin can help if that is the case."
"I want to make my mother and father proud. I want to do something that will make them really proud of me, but especially Da. Mum had to talk him into sending me here. I don't want to disappoint him."
"Slytherin!"
The hat was lifted off the sleek brown hair and Severus Snape-Lovegood blinked his rather large dark eyes at the Headmistress.
She smiled at him, a bit sadly and more than a bit fondly and waved him to his House table.
He was the spitting image of his father, except that his huge dark eyes were deeply expressive. But he would have to grow into that nose, she mused, then spared a thought to hope his sister Celestia had not inherited that unfortunate feature, although she heard the girl took after her mother.
~ FIN ~
posted 24 Dec 2006