Apples and Snakes

Competing With Legends

I ran down the halls, not wanting to be seen by anyone else. I finally stood at a parapet at a tall window without glass, and leaned against the wall, beginning to break down and cry. Why is it so hard for people to see me as heroic, when I saved Harry in the Chamber of Secrets, saved him from Peter Pettigrew, helped him find the Philisopher's Stone?

"Are you okay?" It was my least favorite Hufflepuff, Wesley Diggory.

"Buzz off, Diggory," I said miserably. I tried to swipe away all tears, before I revealed my face.

"I will not 'buzz off'," he said firmly. "I want to help."

I whipped around. "You can't help me, Diggory! You can't help erase that my parents hate me because I'm the unnecessary twin! Because I'm a Slytherin! Because I exhibit dark powers! And when I finally do do something right, they hate me even more, because I make Harry look bad! I don't expect a Hufflepuff to understand, though!"

He clenched his hands into fists, and scowled. "You think that because I'm in Hufflepuff, that I've never struggled with the dark arts?"

I held my ground. I remained silent, though, because that was exactly what I thought.

"You think that because I'm in Hufflepuff, that I don't approve of the dark arts?" He continued. "Do you think that the dark arts are just a Slytherin thing, because us Hufflepuffs are all the same, that we don't have somewhat questionable practices?"

"Yes," I sneered.

"News flash, Alice, not all Hufflepuffs are the exact same, plastering rainbows everywhere and sparkling left and right and playing Hopscotch on the way to class or other playground games!" Wesley shouted. "Some of us use the dark arts, or at least practice it in secret! We believe in the greater good, and balance, so we learn how to use them correctly, because we believe they can be used for good!"

"You've never had to be the devil!" I screamed. "You have never, never had to be the scapegoat, who always gets damned, over and over again, no matter what you say or do! You've never had to live off of your brother's fame! You've never had to deal with your twin being credited with some of your accomplishments! That's what I don't expect you to understand at all!"

He took deep breaths, still eying me with those strangely golden eyes. "Maybe you're right about that. Alice, I'd be more careful in the future with stereotypes. They can get you into a lot of trouble. But you knew that, didn't you?" He then turned and walked away.

A part of me felt guilty, but I held fast. I wasn't going to get soft for that stupid Hufflepuff, Cedric Diggory's little brother.

IS ALICE POTTER THE NEXT DARK LADY?

Pansy passed me the paper bearing this headline in the morning. "Curse Rita Skeeter, curse her and all her unlikely offspring for all eternity," I muttered, as I read.

Alice Potter is the older twin sister of Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. Unlike her brother, however, she is a student in the Slytherin House. But is this good for the young Miss Potter?

In an interview that this Daily Prophet reporter had with her, she willingly confessed to being a Parselmouth. Readers must be reminded that Parseltongue, the language of snakes, has a heavy association with the dark arts. Wendelin Fawley, head of the Magical Trauma Ward at St. Mungo's, who is a renown expert on magical psychology, says, "No good has ever come from a witch or a wizard who could talk to snakes."

Also, during the Weighing of the Wands ceremony, where a wand expert checks over all of the competitors' wands to make sure they are in good, working order, Britain's own Garrick Ollivander, owner of the most successful wand shop in all of the United Kingdom, said that a residual darkness was imbibed in the wand, and channeled it to create a wave of shadow. Shadow manipulation is also an extreme dark art.

It should also be noted that Miss Potter, a rebel with purple hair and punk clothes, is reportedly never listening to her own parents. "We just don't know what to do with her anymore," Lily Potter said. "She's becoming a stranger in my daughter's body."

Well, you heard it here first. Harry Potter should beware his own twin, for she is going down a dark path.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for my reaction. I looked down to see my mom storming down from the staff table in fury. I clenched my fists, and got up from the table. I had a few words to say with my dear mother.

"What were you thinking," she demanded. "Telling them that you're a Parselmouth?"

I stood there for a second, staring defiantly at her, before my fist connected with the button nose I inherited. "YOU WITCH!" I yelled.

Everyone in the Great Hall was staring at me. "What the hell was that, 'We just don't know what to do with her anymore'? Are you kidding me?" I regarded her angrily.

"Apologize, right now," she barked. "It's true. I don't know what to do with you anymore! You never listen to us, Alice!"

"I once did," I snarled. "I remember how I used to listen, obey, like a little spaniel, until my second-year, after you told me I would grow up to murder my twin for Voldemort, just because I could talk to snakes, something I didn't even know I could do! I tried so hard to please you, for you to be proud of me, but what did you do? Tell me that I was trying to make Harry look bad! Now that I try to take my own path, and I'm hailed as evil!"

"Detention, and twenty points from Slytherin should shut you up," Mum growled.

I stood my ground. "Sometimes, I wish that Voldemort had killed me in the attack, because right now, death feels a lot more merciful than competing with a legend," I said in a low voice.

Gasps rang all throughout the Great Hall. Mom looked like she was at a loss for words. I turned, grabbed my schoolbag, glared at her one last time, and exited the Great Hall.