Lotus Lestrange and The Power of Memory

Sleepy Snake

"WAKE UP, SLEEPY SNAKE!"
Lotus threw her arm forward holding her stuffed wolf and smacked her noisy cousin in the face. "Shut up," she groaned, not opening her eyes.
"You have to get up. Mum says so."
Lotus yawned and stretched, her whole body trembling. She blinked her big grey eyes sleepily at Draco. "And why is that?"
"Because Slytherins don't sleep in."
Lotus closed her eyes again. "Stupid reason. I bet Hufflepuffs can sleep in."
"I bet Hufflepuffs are also the only house who gets upset when someone takes their stuffed animal away."
Lotus glared at him through slitted eyes. "You better be nice."
Draco smirked and ran out her bedroom door.
Lotus was up in a flash, chasing him through the corridor. She knew Draco's favorite shortcuts, so she spun around and whipped through a door across from her room. Through a short hall, and stopped behind a tapestry depicting a late Malfoy family. As she heard Draco's panting, she lunged, and tackled him to the ground. She yanked the stuffed animal from Draco's arms and stuck out her tongue.
"Lotus!"
Drat. They were right by a staircase to the third floor, where Uncle Lucius and Aunt Cissa slept. Uncle Lucius was currently glaring at her.
"Put your tongue back in your mouth, you look like a lizard," he snapped.
"Why, that's exactly what I am," she replied innocently, "just a happy little snake off to get changed for breakfast." She hugged her wolf to her chest. Uncle Lucius narrowed his eyes at it. "You weren't thinking of taking that thing, were you?" He asked in disgust.
"Of course not, I wasn't." She looked pointedly at Draco. He wrinkled his nose back.
"Go get dressed," her uncle said dismissively.
Lotus turned to scamper away, while Uncle Lucius added "nicely" to her back.
She hated dressing nicely.
...

Lotus gloomily th-thumped down the stairs, wearing her purple dress that buttoned down the front. When Uncle Lucius said "dress nicely," he really meant, "dress as befits our station as wealthy and influential purebloods." So the dress was silk with a collar, and she had fastened her nice purple robes over them. To be clear, purple was not her favorite color. Lotus didn't have a favorite color. She did have a least favorite though. Yellow. Yellow was disgusting. She wasn't a huge fan of red either, and pink was too girly, but both were better than yellow.

She figured it was a predisposition of all purebloods to ensure they never ended up in hufflepuff. Hufflepuffs are lazy, and Gryffindors are stuck up jerks with no sense. Ravenclaws were fine, but Draco said most of them were boring. As much as Lotus hated the idea of being lazy, being boring might actually be worse.

Fortunately, today was NOT going to be boring! They were going to Diagon Alley! Finally! She had spent all summer listening to Draco complain about favoritism and Saint Potter, how Gryffindor's thought they were perfect and could do no wrong. But he also told her who the best teachers were and how awesome the quidditch pitch was and how secretive and cool the Slytherin Common Room was. He assured her that the food there was perfectly adequate, and spent ages talking about duels and secret passageways. Lotus COULDN'T WAIT. THIS WAS GOING TO BE THE BEST YEAR EVER.

They had to get school supplies first, like her VERY OWN WAND. She had practiced with Aunt Cissa's of course, but that wasn't the same. She would look the part too, in her Hogwarts uniform, Draco looked dashing in his, which he was wearing today to show off. He grinned at her as she entered the dining room.

Lotus grinned back. She could barely contain her excitement. Sitting calmy through breakfast was going to be torture.

Lotus did her very best not to squirm in her seat as their house elf Dobby served each of them their breakfast. She usually adored french toast, but right now was far too excited to eat more than a bite or two.

Lotus ate quickly, and sat fidgeting in her seat while Lucius sipped his morning tea and read the Daily Prophet. Finally, he conscended to stand up, and Lotus sprang to her feet.