One Day They'll Know Your Name

The Names of Others - Severus Snape

Severus didn't know what to expect from Harry Potter. According to all the books written about him that Severus couldn't help but see every time he went anywhere in Diagon Alley, he looked exactly like his father with his mother's eyes. The one time he'd asked after the boy, Albus had told Severus only that he was safe in the Muggle world and that his caretakers would tell the boy about the Wizarding world when the time was right.

Now that the time had come for the first years to come and be Sorted, Severus was a little worried. Pomona had returned from taking the boy for his school supplies nearly spitting venom like one of her plants, but all she could say about Harry Potter was that he was a sweet, polite child who looked remarkably like Lily, but the messy hair and glasses hid it and made him look quite a bit like James.

The doors finally opened and the new first years came in in a relatively orderly fashion. Severus quickly caught sight of the white blond hair of Draco Malfoy, easily distinguishable in the crowd. Next to him was a head of messy black hair that seemed to have hints of red in it in the torchlight. Severus also caught sight of Weasley orange hair nearby, and he was shocked to see that the Weasley boy and young Malfoy hadn't gotten into a fight. He remembered all too well the rants Lucius Malfoy went on about Arthur Weasley. To see their sons not bickering was almost a miracle, and Severus just hoped that they wouldn't start fighting in Potions.

The Sorting went relatively quickly, and finally "Potter, Harry!" was called up. Severus instantly noticed how small the boy was for his age, and how thin, even if the well-tailored robes hid it well. The boy sat under the Hat for several minutes before "Slytherin!" was finally called, and Severus clapped politely. He would reserve judgement for now and treat him like one of his snakes.

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Potter was surprisingly adept in Potions. He would probably never be the best at the art, but his potions would work perfectly well. He wasn't queasy, which was often a problem in the younger students before they learned that they would have to suck it up and cut the flobberworms, Greengrass. Potter and Thomas had both read at least a little bit ahead in either their Potions or Herbology books, which was always a good sign. While Weasley had clearly not read ahead, his comment about the bezoar being found in his cupboards was actually somewhat witty, but Severus had not laughed because if he let his students think he was a lax teacher they would blow up his classroom and probably kill themselves in the process. Slughorn had been extremely lucky that none of his students had died during his years of teaching.

Severus swept through the halls, lost in thought, when one of the Weasley twins hollered for "Penopscott". There was no student named Penopscott, but Potter turned around and grinned at them, so there must be some joke with that. Severus would continue to watch, as he always did.

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Severus sat in his rooms, nursing a glass of firewhiskey. He couldn't believe a troll had gotten in. Well, actually, he could believe a troll had gotten in, it was mostly that the children were in danger because of it that horrified him. Five first years had been in the path of the troll, and they were extremely lucky to have gotten out only having been traumatized for a while and seeing their professor and Head of House actually appearing to be human. And now this. Poppy's note had reached him quite easily, and the amount of information on it for two years was ridiculous, even for an extremely clumsy child. What made it worse was that Potter was decidedly not clumsy. This many entries in a diagnostic scan pointed towards neglectful guardians at best, and outright abusive at worse.

Severus sighed and drained his glass. He cast a quick Tempus spell and groaned. He was going to regret having stayed up this late in the morning.

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