Arielle sighed as the room became silent once again. That was getting a habit it seemed. Every time she said something about her Uncle, the silence fell.

What was wrong with the people?

The headmaster spoke, this time without the twinkling in his eyes.

“Your Uncle told you that there is no such thing as magic? May I presume that you didn't get the letter I left on the Dursley's doorstep when I left you there?”

Arielle raised her eyes and glared at the man. She didn't care if he was older than her nor did she care that he was the headmaster. He was the one that condemned her to the hell she had to live in for the last ten years.

A candle flicked a little and some potion vials burst from the anger she felt. She didn’t know it was her that did that until professor Snape grabbed her shoulders and hissed,

“Calm down, you idiot child!”

Arielle was far too angry to hear or listen to the advice. She shrieked,

“Calm down! Calm down! Why should I calm down if that man made me live in hell!”

The windows of the hospital room broke at that.

“You made me live there! They hate me! They always hated me!”

She was getting hysterical and she knew it, but she didn’t care. Her body started trembling and her breath hitched. She wasn’t going to cry.

She wasn’t going to cry…

The Snape man suddenly picked her up, sat on the bed and put her on his lap. His strong hands encircled her little form and one hand pushed her head on his shoulder.

She wasn’t going to cry.

The man started rocking and that was all it took.

She was crying.

The two people in the room exchanged glances at the completely out of character Snape who was comforting the little girl. Pomfrey shrugged. She didn’t know what was happening either. Dumbledore gestured to the doors and the nurse complied wordlessly. The two of them left the hospital. The man and the girl were left alone.

Arielle calmed down a while later and only sniffed now and then. The Snape Man as she dubbed him, said,

“I hope that you feel better now.”

Because her throat was still a little tight, she didn’t answer. She only nodded and leaned back so that she could look the Snape Man in the eyes. For the first time she noticed that they weren’t the normal black colour as she had seen people have. They remembered her of obsidian stones.

While there was no twinkle present, the eyes also looked like dark tunnels, emotionless and cold. They stared at each other for a few minutes, neither saying a word. It also wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. Finally the Potions Professor said,

“Madam Pomfrey healed everything that she could and said that you are free to go. Seeing as you will not be returning to your relatives, I will add some more rooms to my chambers in the dungeons. Tomorrow tough, we will talk.”

Arielle nodded and gave the older man a small smile. He was nice. Well, not exactly nice, but nicer than Uncle Vernon. She moved down from the man’s lap and jumped on the floor of the hospital room.

The walk to the Snape Man’s rooms was very eventful. Arielle couldn’t believe that this was a castle full of magic. Even if she had fifty pairs of eyes she couldn’t see everything.

The Snape Man walked slowly as to accommodate himself to Arielle’s speed and explained things that Arielle knew nothing about. She learned quite a lot in that twenty minutes walk.

For example, that Muggles were non-magic folk, like her Uncle, Aunt and cousin. That squibs were from magical families but had no magic powers which made them almost Muggle, that there were also ghosts, which was after they had a run-in with the Bloody Baron, the Slytherin ghost. Snape also explained her about the four Houses. After Arielle asked him about them, he said,

“There are four houses at Hogwarts, named after the four founders. Gryffindor is a house that was named after Godric Gryffindor. Its colours are scarlet and gold. The house mostly has reckless and stupid people in it.”

“Why stupid?” Arielle couldn’t help herself but ask. Snape sneered and confessed,

“Well, I cannot tell you about that house without being prejudiced. So, do not ask me of it anymore. I’ll lend you Hogwarts: a History after you get settled in and you can read about Gryffindor more.”

Arielle nodded and waited for The Snape Man to continue.

“Hufflepuff is named after Helga Hufflepuff. The house colours are black and yellow and hard workers, honest and loyal students go in there. It’s also the least popular house at Hogwarts. They say that the students who don’t fit in the rest of the houses end up there.

“Then there is Ravenclaw, the house of Rowena Ravenclaw and home to intelligent, studious and students that have a great mind. The colours are blue and bronze.”

He stopped there for a moment and with a proud voice continued,

“And then Slytherin. I was in Slytherin. The colours are green and silver and the house founder was named Salazar Slytherin. He was a Parselmouth, which means he could speak to snakes. He appreciated the cunning, sly and intelligent students. It’s also the most prejudiced house of all. It wouldn’t be good to be on the bad side of them, that I can advise you.”

Arielle listened to him and almost ran straight in a portrait. It was only Snape’s hand on her shoulder that prevented her from hitting it. She blushed furiously and looked up at The Snape Man through her hair bangs.

He wasn’t looking at her. She turned her eyes at the portrait that he was looking at. After a moment she squeaked and hid herself behind the black-robed man.

Snape looked at her in curiosity and she looked at the portrait where she saw a man moving. The man in the portrait chuckled and said,

“Ah, Severus… I think I frightened the young lady. My apologies.”

Arielle peeked from behind Snape and blinked up at the portrait.

“You can talk?” she asked curiously. The man chuckled again and answered,

“Why of course I can, I am a magical portrait after all. We, magical portraits are able to talk, move and jump to other portraits at will.”

He would have gone on, but Snape interrupted him and said,

“Well, it’s nice seeing you again, but I am afraid that our little friend here is tired and should go to sleep. It is rather early.”

He turned to Arielle and added,

“I will tell the portrait the password to my quarters. You would do well to remember it.”

Turning to the portrait he said,

“Gillyweed.”

Arielle gasped as the portrait moved and revealed a dark corridor. Snape tugged Arielle’s hand and pulled her behind him to the corridor. She looked around, when they came to a circular room.

It was decorated in dark browns and beige colours. There was a fireplace on her left and a big comfy beige couch before it. The shelves on the walls were filled with books and other personal things. The rug on the floor was also beige. A small cough brought Arielle back to her surroundings and Snape said,

“Your room should be over there.”

He pointed to a dark brown door across from the fireplace. Arielle looked up at the Snape Man and asked with a shaking voice,

“What do you mean with ‘your room’?”

Snape kneeled on one knee so that he was on the same level as Arielle. He took her shoulders and said,

“Your room. As in you live in there and can decorate it as you please.”

Arielle nodded, a little overwhelmed. Snape stood up again and took her hand. He walked to the door and opened it. Inside was a definitively girlish room.

Arielle had to giggle at Snape’s expression and swore she could hear him murmur, “I’ll kill the old coot,” before rolling his eyes. The room walls were pink and the bed was a fluffy white. There was also a fluffy white carpet on the floor and cherry wood furniture. As she looked at the ceiling she saw stars on the night sky. She gasped at the view and heard the Snape Man say,

“It’s enchanted so that it looks like the sky outside. Dumbledore must have thought you’d like it.”

Arielle could only nod. Snape seemed to feel her being overwhelmed and brought her to the bed on which a pair of pyjamas and some pink slippers lay. He took them off and said,

“Change in these pyjamas and go to sleep. I’ll wake you for breakfast and then we’ll talk about other arrangements.”

Arielle nodded and took the pyjamas from the older man. She looked at them and couldn’t help but smile. The pyjamas were of Disney’s Little Mermaid that had the same name as she had.

She felt a pang of guilt as she remembered how she blew up at the old Headmaster. She decided to apologize the first time she’ll see the old man.