Chapter Text
Viorel: (pronounce Vio-elle). JK Rowling owns all other characters.
Severus Snape sat at the high table as the new students were sorted in to their houses. Students still sat with their houses during meals just so a headcount could be easily done at meals but the houses easily intermingled with each other now that the war was over. He sat and watched as one by one students were evenly dispersed.
Then came one young woman who was completely covered save for her hands and head. She talked to no one and stared down at the floor. Her hair was brought back in to a long French braid. She was African decent but obviously mixed. Her skin was a chocolate brown and her eyes were a bright cobalt blue. “Viorel Hakan” walked up to the bench and sat down. Severus could see that her eyes were still cast down, as if in embarrassment of having all eyes on her. She was placed in Ravenclaw. Quickly and gracefully she stood and walked over to the table and sat. The other Ravenclaws could instantly tell she was very nervous and did not want to be bothered.
The rest of the first years were sorted out and Minerva gave a welcome speech. The speech did not last too long and all were allowed to eat. Once dinner was over the Ravenclaws were taken to their tower and all stayed there. Viorel sat on her bed with the curtains drawn reading as her black cat curled itself around her feet. The breed of her familiar was unknown to her but the cat was rather large and did not look like the common house cat or a kneezle. It was sleek with blue eyes just like Viorel. Its tail was almost twice as long as its body and its paws were large. It resembled an all black snow leopard.
In the coming months the students left Viorel alone. She made no friends and didn’t seem to want any. But she was not teased. It was noticed by Severus early on however that something was wrong. She was extremely smart and had high marks in all her classes, including potions (and that was a feet in and of itself). Though, for all her smarts and good grades she kept it to herself for fear that if she reveled in the compliments given to her the other students would lash out on her, which they never did.
Severus knew of Viorel’s past. She was a special case. She had no family to speak of. The only family she ever had was her mother, a very adept potions mistress who was killed by a roving death eater five years after the war. Viorel was only six at the time. She had no other family and was thus placed in an orphanage until she received her letter of acceptance to Hogwarts.
Viorel would be a special case though. Because of her lack of parents, home, or a guardian, the adults of Hogwarts became her guardians. During holidays and breaks she would stay on the Hogwarts grounds.
Severus did notice that she seemed afraid of those around her and he wondered what happened to her to be so jumpy and nervous around others. There were times he noticed when a student would ask her a question and she would quickly move away never answering them or looking at them. There were also times when the sleeves of her shirt would ride up a little and he would see a discoloration of her skin. But he wasn’t sure if they were scars or it was just how her skin was. She never spoke. No teacher could say they’d heard her speak. They even wondered if it were possible. To find out Severus set her up in one of the potions classes during a lecture.
“What are the effects of nightshade, Ms. Hakan?” the class went silent and all eyes were on her. Viorel shrunk in to herself and looked ready to cry as all attention was on her. Severus could see the sudden discomfort. “Ms. Hakan, well? I’m waiting for your answer.” He snapped.
“I-I don’t know she answered.”
“What was that? Speak louder.” He ordered.
“I don’t know professor.” She said louder. It was the first time in three months of her being at Hogwarts that anyone heard her speak. He voice, even though she had not hit puberty yet, was not high but rather deep for a girl but still feminine.
“Pity.” He commented as he went on with the lecture. So she can speak. He thought to himself as he went on with the lecture. For the rest of class he left her alone and so did the students.
One cold December night when all the students left with the exception of a handful, Severus was doing rounds. It was then that he heard a soft shuffling ahead of him. Silencing his steps Severus crept on and found that the sound was coming from one of the ladies rooms near the Ravenclaw rooms. Severus hid himself from view of anyone passing by or leaving the restroom. Softly the door swung open and Viorel stepped out, never looking out to see if anyone was coming. It was then that Severus saw why she was covered.
The discolorations were not scars but rather tattoos. They were a primitive tribal design. They covered her arms to just above her wrist to her shoulders. Because she wore a camisole he could see that the tattoos continued on to the back of her shoulders. Looking down at her legs he could see what looked like wings tattooed on her ankles.
Quickly she put on her robes and shrunk her bath things and placed them in her pocket and made her way up the stairs. Severus would have said something to her for being out late but at the moment his brain was processing her. How was it that an eleven-year-old child had such intricate tattoos on her body already? Something to file away for a later time.
The next day Severus saw Viorel. She wore a pair of skinny jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt with a navy blue button up vest that had black lace on it. Once again her hair was in a French braid but he noticed a slight difference. In her hair were thin streaks of white. She was greying. Quickly finishing his breakfast Severus went up to Headmistress Minerva’s office.
“Good morning Severus, how may I help you?”
“A student we have here is worrying me.”
“Ah, Ms. Hakan.” Minerva had taken up the all-knowing position that Albus had. Severus still could not figure out how but he and Minerva had a better relationship now that the war was long over.
“Yes. She does not socialize and I noticed her last night. Her body is covered in tattoos and I noticed at breakfast that her hair is greying. Do you know what is going on?”
“Ms. Hakan is the descendant from a group of people in the Caribbean. They tattoo themselves as the years go on. They cannot be removed magically. Her hair is also a factor of this. As the women approach puberty their hair color changes to white gradually.” She answered as she continued on with her paperwork. Then looking up, “Does that answer satisfy you Severus?”
“Yes.” Severus then bowed his head, turned and left Minerva to her work and returned to his quarters. His quarters had taken on a drastic change since the end of the war. Gone were the cold dark slightly damp rooms. The walls were painted white. There were candle fixtures around his rooms making the rooms brighter when he wanted. The dark furniture remained and he changed the stone floors to a dark hardwood. Severus had also spelled the rooms so they were always warm and dry and had spelled windows in to the walls.
Though he was in the dungeons and therefore underground the windows were not real windows but simply mimicked what was going on outside of the walls. The windows shown the forbidden forest and the great lake as they were at that exact moment. Severus no longer felt closed in, but free. Sure there were that few who knew what he had done in the war effort but still hated him and wanted him thrown in Azkaban, but he was free to do as he pleased now. His only boss was Headmistress McGonagall and she gave him free reign.
So Severus returned to his quarters and sat on his sofa pondering Viorel until he fell asleep.