Caledonia Lilia Snape

2.3: Untitled Part 13

Caledonia tugged her luggage after her father beyond the barrier of Platform 9 3/4 and stopped short as he paused in front of her. She sighed and moved around to stand by his side and asked with a hint of annoyance, "Is this necessary?"

"Yes. It will rouse their suspicions," Severus gave a curt reply and turned to face her. She knew what he had meant. They had the discussion the day before. 'Their' meant as in the other Slytherins students. He didn't want her to show up on the platform with the Weasley brood and Hermione Granger, for it would appear suspicious for a Slytherin girl to show up with a bunch of Gryffindors.

"Sit with the Slytherins. You need to watch out for who is on which sides," He reminded her. It was part of another discussion they had over the summer. She was to learn and watch out who's really on the dark side and who isn't. Now that she's working under Voldemort and she needed to watch her steps in Hogwarts. Other Death Eater children spy on one another and bring back a message to Voldemort to who is loyal or not. It was a vicious contest to get a higher spot in the circle.

He gave a short sigh and brushed her hair out of her eyes and then patted her cheek softly, "Again, I do not wish this for you."

She gave him a small smile. "I know, father," she whispered then glanced over her shoulder to see more people arriving and mingling before boarding the scarlet train. "I will see you at Hogwarts," she said and turned, tugging her trunk along. A soft pop indicated her father had apparated away, leaving her alone.

It wasn't very long before she found herself on the train, with her trunk stowed away. She walked past Luna Lovegood, giving out Quibbler and gave her a nod in greeting. Luna returned the favor and went on her business. She passed the cab where Ron and Hermione were sitting together and gave them a short nod as well. They both quickly gave her a wave and watched as she moved on.

She entered the Slytherin car, looking about to find many Slytherins above second years in the car. She found Tracey Davis and smiled as she saw the girl waved toward her. She was relieved to find a friendly face in the pit of snakes.

"How's your summer been?" Caledonia asked as she sat down next to Tracey.

"Same old; hung out with my family, visited some relatives. You?" Tracey replied.

"Boring summer, spent most of my time doing homework and mixing up potions for uncle," Caledonia said, not mentioning how crazy her summer had been, keeping up with the pretenses.

"Sucks to be you, to have Professor Snape as an uncle." Tracey giggled and pulled out her book. "Not much go on here except some gossips with the female species and boasting among the males."

Caledonia laughed as she looked around and saw Pansy Parkinson and her gangs sitting at the other end of the car, giggling and gossiping. She then slightly scowled as Pansy shot her an evil glare and then smirked, pulling Draco as he walked by down to sit next to her and flirted with him outrightly.

Tracey saw the whole act and leaned over, whispering, "I heard the rumor... I'm not one to believe it, but are you and Draco over?"

Caledonia turned back to Tracey and shrugged her shoulder, missing how Draco had shoved Pansy away and stalked off to join his friends, scowl marring his face. "It's hard to explain. We're sorta taking a break over the summer."

"Oh," Tracey replied and returned to her book.

Caledonia pulled a book out of her bag and settled to read, but she heard Malfoy's voice behind her and sank in her seat and listened, holding the book to her face.