Slytherin. The house of evil masterminds, destined to receive the Dark Mark. Slytherin. The obvious villain in every circumstance. Slytherin. Always suspected, pitted and undermined to the other houses.
At just eleven, the Sorting Hat determines our worth. Whether we're brave, smart, kind... or whether we're evil. But my time at Hogwarts, has been nothing if not eventful. I had a particular eye for the hidden secrets of the ancient School.
Those ones that no one liked to admit. That not all Hufflepuffs are weak. Not all Ravenclaws are smart. Not all Gryffindor are brave.
And not all Slytherins are evil.
I am Mallory Salem Rowle. I am fifteen years old. I am a Pureblood Witch, attending my 5th year in Hogwarts.
And I was unfortunate enough to be placed in Slytherin. As much as this pleased my Noble pureblood family, I was forced into a life of being constantly undermined, being constantly referred to as 'the enemy'.
Slytherin. The house for the cunning and sly.
I hated that stereotype.
I was Slytherin. I was ambitious, hard-working. A leader. But they never believed it.
I walked down the halls, knowing of the dark that lies beneath. With Voldemort's return inevitable, everyone at Hogwarts was extremely tense. Harry, Hermione and Ron had taken it upon themselves to create their own Defence Against the Dark Arts group, they're calling it Dumbledore's Army.
Some legacy.
Professor Umbridge had refused to teach us any D.A.D.A spells, which was completely ridiculous. With his return drawing closer, I refused to believe that a Professor was turning a blind eye.
Following her rules and sticking to curriculum. She was a fool.
"Wonder why she's even in this class, she'd probably never use it." A boy behind me whispered to a friend. I chose to ignore them, as the chuckled quietly behind me.
"Shh, Umbridge might hear ya'," the other student giggled.
"Oi, mudblood's!" A familiar voice said. "I suggest you shut it, before I sew your mouths together."
I turned to where the voice had come from. Behind me to my left, Draco sat next to Blaise. He raised his eyebrows and smirked at me.
I smiled, half-heartedly. It was troublesome knowing that people were whispering about me in every corridor of school. If anything, it was overwhelming rather than upsetting. I had never cared what people thought about me, but since Cedric died, it troubles me. Despite being a Hufflepuff, Cedric was never afraid of me, he saw me. He saw the good parts.
Cedric Diggory was the Hufflepuff who proved that these age-old stereotypes are nothing but that. They weren't based on fact, rather fiction, making it more of a novel.
This wasn't a novel. It was our lives. Yet, we suffered for years. Everyone one of us. Believing that our future was based on a millennium old hat, that thinks he can read us. Cedric proved that Hufflepuffs could be brave and strong. If he could do it, anyone could.
"Where is your head, Rowle?" An elegantly blunt voice asked me. I was startled. I looked up, sharply.
"Pansy?!" I stuttered. The girl stood at the edge of my desk, looking down on me. Just her demeanour exerted power onto everyone she encountered. Her dark brown hair sat on her shoulder. With her hazel eyes, and bewitched smile, Slytherin suited her.
She was mean. I never liked to be her friend, but friends are hard to find as a Slytherin. Her tongue was just as sharp as her temper, meaning if anyone ever came for me, she'd tear them up.
Pansy was in all ways a Slytherin, all the good and all the bad. Though Pansy was always terrified of the Dark Lord. "You scared me." I added.
"Class is over." She replied. I scrunched my eyebrows together, in confusion.
"What-?" I immediately looked around the room. The classroom was deserted, not even Umbridge had stayed to tell me to leave. "Witch." I muttered under my breath, referring to the 'professor'.
"Well come on then, witchy." She snapped, as started to walk to the door. I quickly gathered my books and everything off my desk, before chasing after her. After D.A.D.A class, we tended to meet up with a group of her female Slytherin friends. She liked to meet up with them to tease other houses and especially other girls.
It drove me insane. I always stayed behind after every interrogation to make sure the person they had just insulted were okay. Yet, I was Slytherin. Most of them had ran before I had a chance.
Pansy and her friends had already started to torment a small Ravenclaw boy who was laughing alongside a Hufflepuff girl. Both of which had immediately frowned when the Fifth-year girls had appeared.
They were children. They must have been first years they were so tiny and admittedly defenceless.
And I had got tired of being her friend. I shook my head. Looked around. And took a breath.
"Pansy." I said, standing about 6 feet away. But she hadn't heard, instead she was too busy picking on the two first years. "Pans!" I said a little louder. But she still didn't hear me, even her friends were to busy poking and prodding the two first years.
I took a breath. "shit," I whispered.
"Oi, Pug face!" I shouted. Then Pansy stopped. Releasing her hold on the two eleven year old's. The girls all stopped too. They started whispering, they were shocked to know I even had a voice. Pansy turned slowly, with a look if disgust plastered on her face.
"What did you call me?" She asked.
"You heard me you, you disgusting Snake." I replied. I looked up to her, she was a few inches taller than me, but I ignored it. She was a typical bully.
"Oh, look at this girls." She said, walking slowly towards me. "Looks like the Pureblood Princess finally found her voice." Pansy mocked me. I hated that nickname. I was no Princess.
"I always had a voice, Pansy. I just knew if I spoke up to you, I'd say something that you wouldn't like." I answered.
"Oh please, we have an audience, enlighten me. Princess." Pansy took a step forward. As I looked around I realised that she was right, a large group of other student had gathered around from all sides, sealing us in a circle.
I know what they expected.
I laughed. "You're the girl who everyone fears, the typical Slytherin filth. But without Draco, or Blaise, or any of these foolish followers, you're nothing but a scared little girl." I said.
"Me? A scared little girl? This coming from the girl who's still running from her families honour." Pansy fought back. The audience was obviously spurring her on, not literally but she liked to imagine that all eyes were on her, when really they weren't.
I looked around as I noticed more and more people pouring into the courtyard. I also noticed as a large group of Gryffindor's walked through the doors.
"You think you're going to find other friends, who'll take you. You're the Pureblood Princess, everybody fears you." Pansy chuckled. "I'm the only friend you'll ever have, too bad you choose not to have me." She continued.
I smirked. "I didn't lose a friend, Pansy. I just realised that you never were one." I replied, before walking away.
"Flipendo!" A female shouted out. Pansy!
"Rowle! Look out!" A male voice shouted out, I quickly spun around. Trying to draw my wand to defend myself. But I knew I would be too late.
"Protego!" The same male voice said. But I couldn't see where the spell had come from, as the Shield charm was an invisible charm. Only when it reached me did, it illuminated a bright blue colour from the Flipendo spell.
I, instinctively, threw my arms up to shield myself from the spell. Whoever threw that Shield charm just saved my dignity.
"Miss Parkinson. Miss Rowle. I'm sure you are aware than unauthorised duelling is prohibited." A monotonous voice slurred.
"P-professor Snape." Pansy stuttered, as she hid he wand behind her back. Coward!
At this time all of the surrounding students had disbanded, running from Snape. Except from the Gryffindor's who had joined later on.
"Miss Parkinson, Miss Rowle. Detention. Now!" Snape said.
"But, Professor, I didn't cast a spell." I replied. He looked at me, with a stern expression.
"Miss Parkinson, is this true?" He asked.
"Of course not, Professor Snape. I had only used the Flipendo spell after she had tried to cast Rictusempra." Pansy lied, putting on a formal voice to look innocent.
"That's not true." I replied.
"Enough. Detention!" He said.
"But professor..." The same male voice said. We all turned to the Gryffindor's.
"What do you want?" Snape asked.
Five Gyffindor students stood in the courtyard, watching it all. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and both Weasley twins were stood watching the scene unfold. Fred Weasley, the older twin, stepped forward. "Rowle is telling the truth. Parkinson attacked her, Rowle didn't initiate it." He was helping me.
A Gryffindor, helping a Slytherin. Helping me.
"Did you all see the same?" He asked. Everyone nodded, confirming my story.
"Very well, 10 points from Slytherin. And Miss Parkinson, detention. Now." He growled.
As the two walked away, I took a sigh of relief. That could have gone very bad. One of the Weasley twins was the first to walk forward, followed by his twin. The most hesitant was Hermione, she stayed back for a long while, but the boys didn't seem to mind.
"Hey, you okay?" One of the twins asked.
I was so surprised they were willing to talk to me. "Uhm, yeah. I'm fine, thank you." I replied.
"Lucky that I managed to get that Protego spell to save ya', huh?" The twin said.
"If he hadn't, who knows what'd happen?" The other said. It was like an optical illusion. Both of them looked identical, with only a few differences.
One had a scar on his left eyebrow and another circular scar on his nose, which looked like it could have been from Dragon Pox. Whereas the other had two moles on his neck.
There were other notable differences but at that moment I was more bothered about who had cast the spell.
"You cast the Protego spell?" I asked, looking at the twin with the scar on his eyebrow.
"Yeah, that's right." He replied.
"He's Fred."
"And he's George."
"So, Fred you cast the spell?" I asked. Everyone laughed.
"You'll get used to it, took me years to tell 'em apart, but it gets easier." Ron chuckled. "Anyway, I'm Ron Weasley." He added.
"Yeah, I know. And you're Harry Potter." I smiled.
"Yup." He replied.
"And you're Hermione Granger, pleasure to meet you," I smiled. She was weary of me. I outstretched my hand, hoping she would shake it. She did after a few careful moments of hesitation.
"I know I'm just a Slytherin to you, but thanks the lot of you." I smiled.
"No problem, Rowle. See you around some time, maybe?" Fred asked.
"Yes, I'd like that." I replied. They all started to walk away, Hermione was definitely hesitant. She had a right to be, after all I was just a Slytherin. We loathe Gryffindor's, right?
Wrong.
I was a Slytherin, and they were Gryffindors. But that conversation was one of the nicest I'd had in my entire time at Hogwarts, even before that.
At that point, stood solitary in the courtyard, I thought that my luck had changed.