Note: Some of these scenes (like the entrances of the other schools) will be REALLY short simply because they are J.K. Rowling’s and not mine, so I don’t like using them much.
Chapter 2
I’d hate to have to ruin that pretty little face of yours. Those words wouldn’t stop haunting me. I stared at the reflection that glared angrily back at me. My golden-brown braid was falling out, and I had wisps of bright blond hair falling in my face, as usual. This small amount of blond on my head was by far the most annoying. My eyes- which weren’t really a color at all, just the mixture of blue, green, and brown that makes them look like muddy water- were hidden behind the scratched lenses of my beaten and bent glasses. The crookedly set teeth residing in my mouth showed no hint of a smile.
Pretty little face. It made me want to scream. A simple compliment if it had come from anyone but him. Draco Malfoy didn’t give compliments. His voice rang in my ears once again, the tone of mockery never leaving my head. I would have liked nothing better than to return the favor and punch him straight in the face. Ruin those perfect white teeth of his.
I shifted the handle of the silver mirror in my hand as I admired its beauty against my lack of it, stroking the single sapphire that rested on the end. My parents had sent it to me after they bought it off a Muggle in Cambodia. They were there on business, studying magical plants and their effects on nearby Muggle settlements. They had sent a letter along with it, but I threw it out before bothering to even open it. I could already guess what it would say.
They would ask a few things about my classes, but most of the letter would they would be bursting about all the wonderful information they were finding. They wouldn’t ask about friends, the girls in my dormitory, or anything else about my house for that matter. They meant the best, but they were ashamed of me. I knew it. My mother was a Gryffindor, my father a Ravenclaw. They thought the same things about Slytherin that I did. I just wasn’t smart enough for Ravenclaw, brave enough for Gryffindor, or loyal enough for Hufflepuff. My mom acted so excited when she found out where I had been sorted, but it was all empty words and smiles that didn’t quite reach her eyes. It’s like they thought I would grow up to be a dark wizard or something. I guess that’s how the smart ones usually were, either really good or really bad. I knew they loved me and had only the best intentions, but it just couldn’t be enough to hide their true feelings all the time. I couldn’t stand causing them so much trouble. So I never wrote back. I just let them go on with their discoveries and have a life free of their snake of a daughter.
I don’t even know how I became a Slytherin. It was a great house and all, I guess. I just didn’t belong. The Sorting Hat sang a song once about how Slytherin wanted ambitious students. I wasn’t really determined to do anything; at least not enough to push others away from an opportunity. Slytherins were known to think before they acted. I was like a Gryffindor in that my motto seemed to be “act now, think later.” I just went along with whatever was on my mind. Was I a Slytherin because I was self centered? In the end, would I save my own life even if it meant losing someone else’s? What did that torn old hat see that I couldn’t?
It was then that I realized my knuckles were white from my grip on the mirror and my brow was furrowed in thought, which was interrupted by the stern voice of Professor McGonagall. “If you’ll excuse me for interrupting whatever little daydream you were having, Miss Lindman, I would appreciate it if you would pay attention to the lesson,” she scolded.
I muttered my apologies and tried to ignore the snickering from behind me. Draco had taken to sitting behind me in most of our lessons. It made things much easier when he attempted to frighten or annoy me into doing his work. As usual, today I refused (for about the seventh time). He responded simply by stroking my braid with one finger and whispering, “You’ll learn that it’s better when you see things my way soon enough. I can promise you that.” I didn’t let him see that it sent a chill down my spine.
He had been getting worse and worse since the ferret incident with Professor Moody. It appeared that I was becoming his method for forgetting his troubles. I seemed to see a flash of silver-blond hair around every corner I turned. He invaded every place I had to hide away from the rest of the world. My secluded corners everywhere were taken over. It looked like he was finding ways to torture me that didn’t involve ruining my face. I guess since no one noticed me, I was a wonderful object on which to release all that extra tension.
When the bell tolled to release us from our final classes of the day, I was more than relieved that we had been excused early to greet the students of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had been watched the entire period. I was like an experiment. I was to be tested. They wanted to see what I could take- and what it would take to break me.
I did my best to melt into the mass of students returning to their dormitories as we went to put away our things. Everyone was chatting excitedly as we flowed slowly toward the dungeons. The entrance into our common room stood wide open due to the constant gush of students, and I got in and out as quickly as I could. People practically ran back up to the entrance hall and out the door to where teachers frantically attempted to organize the squirming masses coming from the castle.
We all stood in the formation we were placed in, eyes searching every direction for a sign of the newcomers. Suddenly, we caught sight of a massive carriage as it soared through the air. We watched in amazement as it crashed onto the front lawn with its giant, red-eyed horses guiding the way. I stared at the creatures and the colossal woman who appeared to be their owner until my eyes were drawn away by another astonishing sight- a ship rising from the depths of our lake.
The foreign students looked around nervously as they left their strange forms of transportation and filed into the castle, their headmasters chatting and shaking hands with my own. Hogwarts students followed closely to get out of the chilled fall air, and boys and girls alike stood on tiptoe, whispering elatedly to each other at something, or someone, they had seen.
I filed into the overly crowded Great Hall to see that the Durmstrang students had chosen to sit at the Slytherin table, where they shed their heavy furs and seemed to mix well with the rest of my house. I was searching for an open seat, as most of the emptier sections I liked to sit in were now taken up, when I saw it. Someone had saved one for me.