Our Secret Marriage: First Year

Chapter 5: My Parents?

Coming from Slytherin and Harry and Ron from Gryffindor, our rather 'strange' friendship is shunned by most from our houses. Every day we would meet up after breakfast or we'd meet in between classes just to talk.

For the first week of school, I'm surprised at how many of my seniors have warned me against befriending the Griffindors. The number of mean things I've heard about the house, in general, did nothing to change my opinion on being friends with Harry and Ron, after all, we just joined the school and our opinions on each other shouldn't change just because of peer influence.

Today is a special day, every Friday is a half day for all first and second-years. Harry and I have been invited to tea with Hagrid when lessons end today. With a feeling of exuberance, I was just about to tuck into a bowl of cereal when the mail arrived. It was a shock to us, first years, the first time we saw owls swooping in on the breakfast goers but we soon became more or less used to it by now.

I never get mail, mostly because I don't have an owl but I don't mind, I can always ask Harry if he can lend me Hedwig if he doesn't mind and he never does as long as I let Augusta be with him for the day. I believe he likes my cat more than me!

Continuing to eat my cereal when an old barn owl plops in front of me holding out its leg which has a letter attached to it. Seeing as it held out its leg to me I assume it must be for me although I have no idea from whom I take it anyways.

Owls never make a mistake of sending the letters to the wrong person.

Opening the envelope, I nearly drop my apple juice when I saw the sender's name. My mother.

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Dearest Victoria,

If you have received this letter, it means we have long since passed on and you are now eleven years old, starting your first year at Hogwarts. You're Father and I would give anything to see you now. You are probably in Slytherin or maybe Gryffindor. Don't worry, Mummy was a pureblood but I did have more courage than the snarky attitude like every other Slytherin and your Father.

Anyway, the purpose of this letter is to tell you about your other half. He should be the Professor of Potions now if I'm not wrong. A wonderful man he is Severus. Yes, Professor Snape is your other half.

Dear daughter of mine, I am sure you are puzzled to as why we are dead and you are not. Here is your answer. Severus married you the day you were born to save a certain headmaster from a curse that was placed on him long ago with no cure we had to do something to give him a temporary cure. And there was one but the spell was a complex and ancient one, needing the bonding of a pureblood witch and half-blood wizard. You were just a baby at the time and with Severus being the only half-blood wizard who knew about the curse that was eating the headmaster inside, we allowed the two of you to be bonded in matrimony for not only the headmaster's benefit but for Severus's as well.

By doing so, Severus' magic is connected to yours and therefore protects you from getting killed. Your magic and his together are very powerful be careful when doing any magic or it may backfire due to the amount of power you two have.

My dear baby girl, this is all very hard for you to take in but please take some time to think about it before you do anything like confronting Severus or Albus himself. I hope your marriage will be as fulfilling as mine.

Love,

Mummy.

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Tears run down my cheeks as I read and reread the letter over and over. This is impossible. It has to be some sort of joke. I need to tell someone, keeping the letter in my pocket, I get up from my seat and make my way to the Gryffindor table to wait for Harry and Ron earning dirty glares from Draco and his cronies. Ignoring them, I sit in between the two boys, Hermione opposite me reading a rather thick book on Herbology.

"What have we got today?" Harry asks Ron as he sprinkles some sugar over his oats. 

"Double Potions with the Slytherins," Ron replies, smiling slightly. "Snape didn't seem to like us all that much, I can't believe we got away with the points thing the last time."

"Yeah, if it weren't for Victoria standing up for us we wouldn't have had a chance," Harry adds, biting into a piece of toast. " I wonder why he didn't give her a detention, though...she did answer back to him."

"Maybe he also has developed a crush on her. For all, I know mate even some of the seventh years have crushes on her. Even George has fallen for her."

"Please, I'm not that pretty," I chip in, not liking the direction of the conversation, grabbing an apple from the fruit plate. "He didn't give me a detention because I had a point. Now will you two eat faster or we will be late."

As we climbed the steps out of the dungeon an hour later, my mind was racing and my spirits were low. Harry looks as though he would do nothing better than crawl under a rock and die. In that one lesson alone, he had made Gryffindor lose nearly twenty points and I couldn't stand up for him too not because I didn't want to but because that great dummy of a Draco kept on bothering me.

"Cheer up," said Ron, "Snape's always taking points off Fred and George. Can I come and meet Hagrid with you and Vic?"

At five to three we left the castle and made our way across the grounds. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the forbidden forest. A crossbow and a pair of goloshes were outside the front door. When Harry knocked we heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks.

Then Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, "Back, Fang -- back." Hagrid's big, hairy face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open. "Hang on," he said. "Back, Fang." He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boarhound. There was only one room inside. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.

"Make yerselves at home," said Hagrid, letting go of Fang, who bounded straight at me and started licking my ears. Like Hagrid, Fang was not as fierce as he looked.

"This is Ron," Harry tells Hagrid, who begins pouring boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes onto a plate.

"Another Weasley, eh?" said Hagrid, glancing at Ron's freckles. I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest."

The rock cakes were shapeless lumps with raisins that almost broke our teeth, but Harry, Ron and I pretended to enjoy them as we told Hagrid all about our first -lessons. Fang rests his head on Harry's knee and drools all over his robes. Harry and Ron were delighted to hear Hagrid call Fitch 'that old git' whereas I felt offended for the poor caretaker.

"An' as fer that cat, Mrs Norris, I'd like ter introduce her to Fang sometime. D'yeh know, every time I go up ter the school, she follows me everywhere? Can't get rid of her -- Fitch puts her up to it."

"Maybe she has a thing for you?" I tease, wriggling my eyebrows at Hagrid suggestively, earning a disgusted look from the three of them.

Harry tells Hagrid about Snape's lesson. Hagrid, like Ron, told Harry not to worry about it, that Snape liked hardly any of the students. "But he seemed to hate me and he didn't even scold Vic for answering back to him the other day."

"Snape tends t'favor those in Slytherin o'er the other students, it goes without sayin' that 'Oria would get away with most things o'er you, 'Arry," laughs Hagrid. 

"It's a known fact?" I huff, looking at Hagird dubiously. "And no one has done anything about it?"