The Slytherin Sister

Chapter 4

As soon as practice ended, I was off. I was in no mood to talk to Draco, I needed to see Hermione, Harry and Ron. And I needed to know what that word meant, mudblood. It sounded rather dreadful, all I needed to know was exactly how dreadful.

I changed as fast as I could, refusing to speak with Draco at all, despite his multiple efforts to start a conversation. Once I was finished, I set off for Hagrid's little hut, hoping beyond hope that my brother and his friends were still there.

Much to my luck, they were. I could see them through the tiny window, as I walked. I knocked lightly on the door and Hagrid came to open it.

"Ah, Emma!" He said brightly, offering me a smile, "Good to see you, come in, come in."

I took his invitation and entered the small house, Fang barked at me, but his tail was thumping against the floor. I went to the table and immediately asked, "Ron, are you alright?"

He gave me a grave nod and said, "Good as new, no more slugs coming up anyway."

"Good, that's good," I turned my attention to Hermione, "And you, Hermione? What did he call you, what did it mean?"

"It's an insult against her birth, mudblood means impure blood, because she's muggleborn." Harry explained.

I gasped, I couldn't believe Draco had said something so nasty to her!

"But don't you mind that," Hermione said, "Tell us how you got onto the Quidditch team!"

"Yeah," Ron said, "You're even younger than Harry was, how'd you do it?"

"And how come you've been going to second year classes?" Added Hermione.

"D- Malfoy taught me how to play Quidditch, right before tryouts. Then he decided to tryout for chaser instead of seeker, because he wanted us both to be on the team. We tried out, we made it, and then D- Malfoy's dad bought everyone Nimbus 2001's, except for me of course, since I already have one. And for the classes, well, Professor Dumbledore felt that I could move up to the next year. He thought I was ready for this level of magic."

"Why didn't I get bumped up?" Hermione exclaimed, suddenly outraged.

"I don't know, ask Professor Dumbledore." I said, slightly exasperated.

She shook her head, clearly at a loss.

"Maybe Dumbledore knew that you needed to stay where you are to keep Harry and I from dying." Ron suggested.

"Honestly Ron, I don't know what he really expected me to do, I didn't stop you from flying that car here." Hermione scolded, but she was looking at him fondly.

***

September was gone before I knew it, and then it was my birthday. I had long since forgiven Draco for what he had said to Hermione. We had grown closer and I had started to just ignore the things he said that dripped in pureblooded arrogance. The two of us had begun to partner up in everything, potions, charms, defense against the dark arts, the whole lot of it. We were both pretty skilled in everything, except he struggled a bit with astronomy and I was poor at best when it came to herbology, so we served to balance each other.

I was surprised to enter the common rooms on my birthday to a large pile of gifts waiting for me. Everyone on the Quidditch team had gotten me various Quidditch related things. A broom cleaning kit, books with tips and history and even three golden snitches to practice with and snitch earrings. Crabbe and Goyle had gotten me sweets from the kitchens (they were friends with the house elves down there). Pansy had given me a Sneakoscope, along with some new ink and quills that clearly were meant to mock Lockheart's hideous peacock one. I had to smile at that. One gift remained, I picked up the last one. It was very small and light. I shook it, nothing, not a sound. I read the little tag, it read;