1.
Everything was ready to go at 12 Grimmauld Place. The suitcases were lined up in the hall.
"Are you sure you packed everything?" Lenny asked as she looked through the children's belongings.
"Yes, mother, sure, but you've already seen it.But if we leave something at home, you'll send it after us." Veronica reassured her mother.
"You're more excited than the kids." Sirius commented with a smile, who just sat in an armchair and looked at his sister.
"Maybe, but it's understandable, because it's a very important part of their lives."
"When are the Narcissa coming?" She asked.
"Are they coming? Is Melfoy coming here?" Harry was outraged. He grew up with Veronica and Draco, but the two boys never really got along.
"Calm down. They still have a few things to do, so you'll just meet on the train."
"Can't we just go with dust? I don't want to be in the same airspace with him."
He sat sullenly next to his godfather.
"I already said no." She looked at him firmly.
"You can handle it. You don't have to travel in a cab. You can avoid it at school." Sirius reassured him.
"Unless the hat splits into a house." Veronica noted.
"No way. He's going to be a Slytherin. We're going to be Gryffindors after our parents."
"That's not certain."
"Veronica's father was a Slytherin." Lenny said casually.
"I forgot to say goodbye to him." She shouted and suddenly jumped up and ran away. She ran upstairs and entered one of the large rooms where a picture of her father hung. There were pictures of Alan Daniel Jordan in many places, but here they could talk alone. Maybe that's what she'll miss the most.
"Hi" The man greeted cheerfully. He had slightly longer black hair and brown eyes. He was an Auror, he was killed by a Death Eater three years ago, and he hasn't gotten used to it since then.
"Hi. We'll be leaving soon." She said a little sadly.
"Are you nervous?"
"A little, but it'll be good. Right?"
"Yes. You will be the smartest and prettiest little witch there."
"I hope so. Which house do you think the hat puts you in?"
"I don't know. You are smart, brave, cunning and have a very big heart. It doesn't matter, we will be proud of you."
"Veronica, we have to go." Her mother appeared at the door.
"I'll write a letter. Bye." She ran over to the painting and gave it a kiss goodbye, then ran away. Lenny didn't move.
"Are you going to tell her?" He asked quietly so that no one would hear.
"I want to, but I don't know how yet. Thank you for everything."
__________________________________________
The army of students lined up in front of the test bottle in the great hall. Veronica was standing next to Draco, a little further away, Harry was talking to the red-haired guy he met on the train.
"Who is the man Melfoy is greeting?" He pointed to one of the teachers with long black hair.
"Snape, Draco's godfather. I met him once, but I don't remember much about him. According to Sirius, he's an asshole." He answered with a little laugh.
"Harry!" Veronica told him softly.
"What? He can't hear." He pointed to Melfoy talking to a boy named Blaise Zabini.
_____________________________
The initiation ceremony was always boring. The teachers usually tried to pay attention as befits an adult, but now they were really looking at the students curiously. Not by chance.
"Which house do you think Herry is going to?" The director asked the potion professor sitting next to him.
"Potter? Gryffindor. Just like his father." He answered defiantly.
"Don't jump to conclusions. His mother was a Gryffindor too, if you remember." He smiled knowingly at her.
Severus and Harry's mother Lily were very good friends. Her death hurt his a lot.
"Of course I remember. However, Draco talked about it a lot. We don't see each other often, but he always complains about it."
"What do you think of little Black? Did he talk about her, too?"
"She's here too? Isn't she still young?"
He met the girl twice. Once when she was very young and at her father's funeral. She was very close to his godson.
"But yes, she just turned ten. She's early. Lenny contacted me a few weeks ago. She wanted her to start the year with Harry and Draco. It's against the rules, but there are always exceptions. We put her on the roster after the fact. She'll probably be at the end."
He shouldn't have been surprised. Both Lenny and Alan were very smart.
After a few minutes, Professor McGonagall said Veronica's name and walked over to the chair. She was much shorter than the others. She turned and found herself facing the crowded hall. Suddenly all her courage vanished.
"Beautiful little girl don't you think?" Dumbledore noted.
Severus just looked at her. She looked a lot like Lenny. She had such long, black, curly hair and a cute smile. A few memories came to him.
"She looks like her mother." He finally said.
"Then we agree." The headmaster smiled, which annoyed his colleague.
______________________________________
She put the hat on her head, who suddenly spoke.
"Another Bleck. Not quite Black, are you? You're a tough case. Where should I put you? Where should I put you?"
It felt like he was seeing into her brain or soul. She really didn't like it. Minutes passed, but he didn't say anything other than a few comments. One half of the students started to get bored, the other half were waiting for the result with interest. The crowd got louder and louder.
"He's been thinking for 15 minutes. That's a record." Someone remarked out loud.
"I don't know what to do Albus." The hat finally rang.
"Let her decide."
Veronica looked at the headmaster. His encouraging gaze reassured her.
"Well little girl you heard me. Where do you want to go?"
"I do not know." It would be up to you to decide.- She thought.
"I heard." He spoke forcefully.
"Sorry." - She said quickly. He seems to be really into it. - "Mother was a Gryffindor."
"But your father is a Slytherin."
SHe thought for a few seconds. Most Blacks were Slytherins except for her mother and uncle.
"Gryffindor." He said out loud and the Gryffindor table shook.
_________________________________________
Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the roll call, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name.
"Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new -- celebrity."
You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking," he began.
He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word -- like Professor McGonagall, Snape had y caught every word -- like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort.
"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses.... I can teach
you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death -- if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Powdered root of what to an infusion of what? Harry glanced at Ron, who looked as stumped as he was; Hermione's hand shot into the air.
"I don't know, sir," said Harry.
Snape's lips curled into a sneer.
"Tut, tut -- fame clearly isn't everything."
He ignored Hermione's hand.
"Black?" He looked at the girl sitting next to him.
Veronica was just watching the events until now, but suddenly she was scared, she didn't know what to answer. Her mother worked at St Mungo's Hospital. She mainly treated injuries caused by magical creatures. She learned a lot from her.
"Would you get a powerful sleeping potion." She said uncertainly.
"That's right, it's so powerful that it's called the Draught of Living Death."
She was surprised by the answer. She blew the air out of her lungs that she didn't realize she was holding back.
"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
Hermione stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without her leaving her seat, but Harry didn't have the faintest idea what a bezoar was.
"I don't know, sir."
"Black?".
"A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat."
"What is it good against?"
She was very grateful to her mother, who insisted on helping her with her work sometimes.
"it will save you from most poisons."
"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching towards the dungeon ceiling.
"I don't know," said Harry quietly. "I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?"
A few people laughed; Harry caught Seamus's eye, and Seamus winked. Snape, however, was not pleased.
"Sit down," he snapped at Hermione.
He looked back at Veronica.
"Those two plants." Her answer sounded more like a question.
"Are you asking or telling?" His voice was soft but very powerful.
"I say."
He didn't answer for a while, Veronica forgot to breathe again.
"Could you explain why she knows the answers and you don't? You grew up together." He asked Herry to account. The girl could have sworn that she saw a small pitying smile on the orphan. When he looked at Draco, who was trying to hold back his laughter, he was sure of it.
"Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"
There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape said, "And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter."
Veronica knew that this would not be Harry's favorite class.
2.
Veronica wasn't usually afraid of new things, but that wasn't the case with school. She was excited and curious, but she knew that she would miss her family and also have to deal with Herry. Growing up with the chosen one was not easy. From the moment she was born, adults measured her knowledge against the boy. She was not surprised that Harry was accepted into the Kividics team and she was not. She was always second only to her.
Her roommates didn't make her everyday life easy either. Levander and Parvati were inseparable and gossiped all the time. Hermione was different, but no less annoying. She compulsively followed the rules and always boasted that she knew everything better than everyone else. Many people did not like this feature. She didn't really have any friends.
This is mainly why they were put in such an incomprehensible situation. She promised her mother that they would behave well at Hogwarts. Now the four of them were watching the unconscious troll in the girl's toilet on the second floor. That's probably not what Lenny meant.
Then the sound of a door slamming and footsteps hit their ears. After a few seconds, Professor McGonagall burst into the girls' bathroom, followed by Snape and Quirrell.
Quirrell took one look at the troll, whimpered, then quickly sat down on one of the toilets, pressing both hands to his heart.
While Snape examined the monster, McGonagall looked at Ron and Harry with a white mouth.
Harry had never seen the professor so angry. "What on earth were you thinking of?" said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice.
Harry looked at Ron, who was still standing with his wand in the air. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"
Snape gave Harry a pointed look. Then a thin voice sounded in a dim corner.
"Teacher, please... They came for me."
"Miss Granger!"
Hermione finally managed to get up. Snape noticed Veronica standing next to her, whose leg was dripping with blood.
"I set out to find the troll because I thought... I thought I could deal with him alone. I read many books about trolls. If they hadn't come after me, I wouldn't be alive. Harry jabbed his wand into the troll's nose, and Ron knocked it down with his own wand. They didn't have time to call for help. The troll was about to finish me off when I got here.
The others tried to make faces as if they were hearing this story for the first time.
"Is anyone hurt?" Snape asked and just looked at Veronica. McGonagall only now noticed the girl and hurried over to her. She lifted her skirt a little.
"It's gotten dirty and slimy. Trolls often spread infectious diseases. It can be dangerous, especially if you get infected." He said while examining the deep wound.
"You're coming with me."
Veronica didn't want to go. She couldn't imagine a more unpleasant situation than being alone with Severus Snape. She didn't know what to think of the man. According to Harry, Ron and Sirius, Satan himself. Draco, on the other hand, loves his godfather. There's probably a reason. She turned to his head of house for help, who nodded her head to let her go.
The two of them started down the corridor, but they didn't go for long. He turned into the first room where there was a fireplace and in a flash they found themselves at Madam Pomfrey.
"What happened?" The woman asked worriedly when she saw the beaten and dirty girl.
"The wash basin broke in the girl's toilet and cut my thigh."
"Pull up your skirt and spread your legs."
The man instructed.
Veronica suddenly got scared and froze, which the teacher saw.
"Contrary to popular belief, I don't eat small children and I'm not a pervert." He said slightly sarcastically but still softly. Madam Pomfrey smiled faintly as she prepared the disinfectants. She knew him well.
"What's on it?" She asked when she saw the wound.
"Troll saliva."
First, he wiped away the blood with a cotton ball, then applied a clear liquid to the deep wound. Veronica came to the conclusion that the anesthesia made her whole leg go limp.
"So what really happened?" He interjected.
"What Hermione said."
He looked into her eyes, raised an eyebrow and smiled sarcastically.
"So I'm to believe that the rule-following Granger found the troll and then those two idiots saved her life while you just stood there and did nothing?
She didn't answer. She didn't want to contradict Hermione's statement and she didn't want to admit that it was just luck that they weren't dead.
When she was about to open her mouth to speak, he took out a piece of ceramic from the wound and her face twitched in pain.
"Poppy, do you have any more of that powerful paralyzing spray?" He asked the woman who quickly found it and gave it to him. - "Thank you."
He covered the cut and pressed gently.
"It is better this way?"
She nodded approvingly.
A gutbes took out a thread and began to sew up the wound. She turned her head away. She never liked the sight of his own blood.
"This stitch needs to be taken out in two days. If it hurts a lot or bleeds, come back. You can go now."
"Thank you." She said and wanted to leave as fast as she could but a voice stopped her.
"Miss Black! Don't lie next time."
She was surprised that that was all he said. He didn't deduct points and wasn't nervous either.
"Yes sir."
After she was gone Poppy turned to him with a grin.
"I do not believe it."
"What do you think?" He asked as he packed away the supplies.
"You were nice to her. Why were you nice to her?"
"What?" He looked at her blankly.
"You're never nice to Gryffindors and.. Because of her mother, right?"
"I do not know what you mean." He denied it.
"I remember you two being very close even though she's a Gryffindor. Veronica looks she same."
"I have to go." He said quickly and left. She shook her head with a smile.
3.
Sirius and Lenny were sitting on the couch in the candlelit living room with a glass of wine in hand.
"You saw it two weeks ago." The man said.
"I still miss them and I know you do too." She said stubbornly.
"Are you going to tell him?" He asked seriously.
She looked at the glass and didn't move.
"I don't know, but I'll talk to him. I'll ask what he think about she
"And if he can't say anything positive about it?" He tried to look her in the eyes but she just stared straight ahead.
"She said he was nice to her." She finally looked up and saw his brother's nervous look.
"You don't think it's a good idea, do you?" She was nervous.
"It's not a good sign if you're afraid to tell him."
"I'm not afraid, it's just...it's not that simple. It's very mentally taxing for everyone." She explained.
Sirius wants to say something, but Veronica suddenly wakes up. Her head hurt and she didn't understand anything. She didn't know what her mother and uncle were talking about in the dream, but it seemed very real. She looked at the clock on the wall, it was almost 10 o'clock and everyone was asleep. She took a deep breath and went back to bed. Tomorrow is an open day, you need to rest yourself.
Lenny had talked to almost everyone he wanted to. He left one person last, the most important. He waited at the cellar door until the last parent left.
"Hello." He smiled and moved closer.
The man was sitting at his table, arranging papers.
"Hey, are you alone?" He asked and looked towards the door as if someone was there.
"Sirius said he'd rather drink hydrochloric acid than talk to you."
"I think so." He corrected, meanwhile he put the lined papers into one of the drawers and put a protective charm on it.
"You have a lot in common." He joked because he knew it upset her.
"I didn't even hear that." He raised an eyebrow in warning, but she just grinned. He stood up and leaned on the table while looking at her. They were together a long time ago.
"How do you wear it?"
"The many disgruntled parents who don't want to accept that their child is lazy or stupid? Not so bad."
His smile grew even bigger. Many people didn't like his ironic-sarcastic humor, but he did.
"That's what you came for, right?"
He suddenly didn't know what to answer. You should tell him everything now. His heart beat faster, but he couldn't say the right words.
"Partly yes, and to talk. So what can you say about them?
"Potter is like his father. He's pompous, brash, irresponsible and doesn't know how to use potions."
He wasn't surprised by the answer. Severus had always hated James. Although Lenny had a good relationship with him, he could understand why the man felt this way.
"He's not as bad as you think, he's just a kid."
"Of course." He mockingly approved.
"What do you think of Veronica?" She asked a little shyly, her tone didn't suit her. The man's gaze was burning.
"He shas a knack for potions."
"More?" She raised her eyebrows questioningly.
"Shouldn't you be asking Minerva that?"
"I already talked to her, but I'm also interested in your opinion."
They haven't spoken much since she was born. They both avoided each other. They only met at gatherings and large family events. Lenny didn't know how to behave with him, Severus didn't want him near Harry. He knew Lily's death wasn't his fault, but that's what I always thought of him. However, she always asked for his opinion when she needed it.
"What can I say? I only see her in class and in silence."
He looked into her hopeful eyes and sighed resignedly.
"Do you really care about my opinion?" She nodded. "The Sorting Hat couldn't decide, which means she's special. It could have chosen any house, but she ended up being Gryffindor."
Lenny smiled when she heard that her daughter, that is, their daughter, was special.
"Do you think she would be better off with you?"
"I think it would be better if she wasn't with Potter all day, it's a bad influence on her."
She rolled his eyes and shook her head disapprovingly before looking at her seriously.
"She said you treated her injury and were strangely nice to her."
"I was just doing my job."
"Thank you for taking care of her." She gave thanks.
He didn't know what to answer, he just nodded. Veronica was the daughter of his old crush and his godson's best friend. What else could he have done?
"Are you hungry?" He asked suddenly.
"Yes, i am."
"Come!" He touched her shoulder for a moment and invited her to the door.