A Queen Will Rise

Chapter 39- The Article and a little more tom

WIZARDING WORLD FAILS IT'S HERO by Rita Skeeter

My fellow readers, the following story is something that will shake your beliefs to their very core. I was doing a bit of wizard watching to see if a story would present itself to me as they tend to when a particular person caught my eye. You see, i spotted our young saviour Miss Calliope Potter, i only recognised it to be her when i heard someone call her by her name and as she had never given an interview before, i thought i would push my luck and see if she would agree to sit down with me. You have no idea how shocked i am with the things i found out after she agreed. Below is the young witches very first interview and i am filled with mixed emotions after speaking with the young lady.

RS- Thank you for taking the time to speak with me Miss Potter.

CP- Its no trouble at all Ms Skeeter, please call me Callie or Calliope, Miss Potter makes me feel like im in trouble for something.

RS- Of course Callie. I understand you live with your muggle relatives, how has that been for you?

CP- Im not sure where you acquired your information ms Skeeter. Its true i live with muggles but i can assure you that they are not my relatives. I grew up in an orphanage.

RS- (im quite surprised dear readers that i managed to speak without choking) an orphanage?

CP- indeed, from what i learnt, it used to be an orphanage for boys but has since changed its ways and now it only takes in females. I'm not sure what caused it to change but in some ways i suppose im grateful as it gave me a home for 10 years of my life, even if it wasn't a very good home. The matron told me id been there since November 5th of 1981.

RS- How was life there? you mentioned that it wasn't a very good home.

CP- See most people would have ignored that statement but you didnt. A few families attempted to adopt me but it always ended the same way. i was shipped back to the orphanage within a week, occasionally it would take two weeks but my return was always expected. The orphanage itself is small and very under funded, i guess other children saw me as a threat to their adoption chances, so they would attempt to ruin my clothes, attack me to leave bruises and things like that. I used to have a lot of outbursts where strange things happened if i got too emotional. i now know these instances as accidental magic but at the time no one had any idea. They just thought i was strange. The matrons did nothing to the other children as there was never any proof of who did what. No one wanted to admit to touching the 'freak' or her 'freakish' things. Its one of the reasons i was so happy when Mr Dumbledore and Mr Snape visited me to tell me i was a witch. i thought i could finally go to a place full of other people just like me but i was disappointed to find out that even in Hogwarts i was considered a freak. It was just a different kind from the orphanage.

RS- (my heart was breaking for this young girl sat in front of me) What do you mean by nothing changed when you got to Hogwarts?

CP- i was sorted into Slytherin ms Skeeter. surely you know of the opinions towards those in said house. They called me evil, a death eater in training and the most common one would be a future dark lady. These people hadnt even spoken a single word to me, they just called me these things based on the colours that went on to my robes. At least the children at the orphanage had a reason to be mean, they didnt understand the accidental magic and people always fear what they dont understand. However the students of Hogwarts decided to judge me because of where i sleep and eat. In my opinion acting that way is the same as pureblood supremacy. They discriminate against anyone who isnt considered pure and the students of Hogwarts discriminate against anyone who wears green and silver. From what i understand, Slytherin is the house for the cunning, the proud and the ambitious. I never realised these things were synonyms for evil. Did you ms Skeeter?

RS- (at this point i could only shake my head, i was left speechless)

CP- My greatest ambition is to be the best young witch i can be and hope that my parents would be proud of me. They gave their lives so that i could live mine and i feel that i should be the best i can be to try and show they didnt die for nothing. Does wishing that my parents could be proud of me make me such an evil person?

RS- (im not ashamed to admit that i teared up slightly) No Callie, it does not. Id like to thank you for taking the time to sit and talk with me.

CP- Thank you ms Skeeter for actually wanting to talk to me instead of judging me as everyone else seems to do.

and with that final statement my interview was over. i will admit that i am fully ashamed of the actions of the wizarding world. a girl who lost everything when we gained just as much is being treated as if shes worth nothing. a girl who we claim to call the hero of our world. so i ask you now dear readers, does it seem like Calliope deserves this? She lives in an orphanage whilst a lot of us have homes and families we can go back to because she stopped the war. She gets bullied because of the colours on her robes. Now i will admit that there is a lot of bias towards slytherin house but to see those statements being used against a child... I for one will be rethinking everything i was taught and im really going to look into how slytherins have been treated over the years, maybe we as a community are part of the problem and in order to be a part of the solution we need to take a step back and actually form opinions of our own. Not things that are spewed from generation to generation just because of a dislike for a few members of a house. We failed that young witch and i only hope that we can change things to give her a better life.

Tom had finished reading the article and he had to admit that he was thoroughly impressed by this young witch. He had not seen this coming, then again i doubt anyone would expect an article like this. Especially written by Rita Skeeter. Tom wondered what Callie had had to do in order for Rita to write like that. Her articles werent known for being sympathetic towards a person or anything like that. She usually likes to tear people down and turn the public against them, not try to get sympathy for someone.

The article was truly a brilliant move, its not something that anyone would see coming. He believed that it wouldnt change everyones opinions but it would potentially make those who dont feel accepted by their houses more comfortable with approaching the young Potter and Tom was almost certain that that was the aim of the young witch.

Calliope was nothing like he expected. She was like him in so many ways yet so different at the same time.

He was taken by surprise when he saw that Calliope had an established court, it wasnt something that was so easily done. In fact the last person to do it was Tom himself. Although he thought that if Calliope was to become a dark lady then she would need another name after all, Dark Lady Callie doesnt sound very intimidating or powerful. Maybe she would use her last name or something similar. Only time will tell what this incredible young lady will do.