Loyalties

Keeping up appearances.


Thea walked through the halls towards the dining hall ignoring the glances thrown her way. Her stride was measured, her hips swaying slightly in a confident manner. Shoulders back, she held her chin high, eyes daring anyone to stare.

When she walked through the doors of the dining hall and towards the Slytherin table, more than a few people stopped to stare up at her, their eyes registering shock and surprise.
Thea stood for a moment before she was seated. That's right, she thought almost bitterly, everyone get a look and register that I'm changed. I'm not a shadow in the hallway anymore; dark and untouchable, a whisper of threat. I'm the real thing now. I'm the enemy.

Thea flicked back her now ebony hair. It hung just to her shoulders, layers varied and choppy, giving her a sleek and yet simultaneously tousled appearance. She was dressed in tight black jeans, a green jumper clinging to her curves, the v-neck accentuating the indents of her collarbone. A long black and green (Slytherin house colours) cloak hung loosely around her, made of the finest materials. She was making a very obvious statement.

When she sat at the head of the Slytherin table next to Draco, many eyes turned to them. It seemed to many that by taking that seat Thea was announcing her latest position. No more tutoring sessions with students from other houses, no more rebellious Thea showing up Malfoy and his gang, no more late nights in the library chatting to Hermione about the complex formulae of Arithmancy wards.

Hermione turned sad, worried eyes to Thea's, and was met by the cold, hard and arrogant eyes of the worst kind of Slytherin. Pushing back her seat, Hermione rose and left the dining hall.

Snape watched Thea's entrance with hooded eyes. Clever girl, he thought as he watched her turn cold eyes on the other students. The only way to survive the situation was to appear to embrace the role assigned to her. Snape knew this well enough himself, and as he brought some bread up to his mouth, he had to concede that Thea was handling the situation remarkably well, and if she continued in this manner she might very well survive for a good while longer.

Watching her throw back her head, ebony hair falling back, a delighted and slightly sinister laugh tumbling from her lips, Snape felt a twist in his stomach. Here was an intelligent, capable and quite beautiful girl whose life would now forever be controlled. Eventually she would lose all knowledge of her previous self, and she would be torn between remembering who she felt herself to be and who she was forced to become.

Snape wished she had never been dragged into this situation, but he couldn't allow himself to feel for her too greatly. Even now that he knew her so well, Snape would readily sacrifice her if he had to. He had taken his role so long ago that now he knew nothing else.