Friday, May 11, 2012
Harry Potter Fanfiction Part 2
Rachel had bad dreams that night.
She was running through a dungeon, then noticed she was headed towards the Slytherin girl's dorm room. But when she came to the snake door nob and shouted VIPERA the door didn't budge.
She whirled around to face a huge blonde snake. It was about to strike, and the whole time it was hissing "Mudblood, mudblood, mudblood...."
Then she woke up, palms sweating and hands shaking.
The morning was spent rushing to and from classes. Half of them Rachel arrived late because a staircase had moved or a passage had closed. When lunch finally came she was already worn out. And that was only morning classes!
She sat at the end of the Slytherin table, playing with her food and only nibbling at some banana bread. She looked longingly to the other tables and saw the first years she talked with on the train yesterday. They were talking and laughing, having a great time. The exact opposite of Rachel.
After lunch there were more classes. She got lost at least a dozen times. By the end of the day, she had a two page list of homework due by next week.
Once classes were over, Rachel searched for Headmaster McGonagall's office. First she started in the tranfiguration room and then explored the surrounding corridors. She then saw Professor McGonagall discussing something with a ghost and decided to follow her, staying out of sight. She wanted to wait until she found the Headmaster's office. This was not a conversation to be had in a hallway.
There was a passage that opened up to a staircase for McGonagall. After the Headmaster had gone up Rachel quickly followed. The staircase closed right as she slipped inside.
following the winding path up, Rachel emerged into a larger room. Portraits of past headmasters hung on the wall. An old man winked at her as she came in. The name under the picture read Albus Dumbledore.
"Professor McGonagall?" Rachel looked past the empty desk to a curtain beyond.
"What is this?" A witch snapped from behind the curtain.
"I'm sorry," Rachel said automatically, "I mean, I need to speak to you professor."
"How did you get in here?" She demanded, popping her head out from behind the curtain.
"I followed you."
"Aren't you one of the first years?" McGonagall came out to her desk and looked Rachel over suspiciously.
"Yes," Rachel gulped.
"Well what is it then? This had better be important. First years aren't allowed to run around the school willy-nilly speaking to whoever they want, whenever they want."
"Minverva," Dumbledore called from the wall. "Patience, it's only a first year."
"Albus, I am perfectly capable of handling a first year, thank you." Professor McGonagall sat at her desk, straightening some books. "Sit," she commanded.
Rachel sat.
"What did you want?" The Headmaster asked.
Rachel fiddled her fingers and said shakily, "It's about the sorting Professor."
"What about it?"
"Well Professor," Rachel's heart was beating fast. "I think I was sorted...wrong."
McGonagall paused, then repeated, "You think you were sorted wrong?"
"Yes."
"You believe the sorting hat placed you in the wrong house?" McGonagall leaned forward.
"Yes."
"The same sorting hat that has sorted every student who has come through Hogwarts for centuries?"
"Yes." Rachel bit her lip.
"Nonsense," McGonagall sat back in her chair and began pulling out student papers from her desk. " The sorting hat sorts everyone into the house they belong in. You may go now," she looked down at her work, dismissing Rachel.
"But professor!" Rachel stood up quickly. "I don't belong in Slytherin! The hat must have made a mistake!"
"You were sorted into Slytherin?" Her voice softened and McGonagall's eyes flitted up to Rachel's face with pity.
"Yes!" Rachel continued heartily. "Wizards who get sorted there are all pureblood bullies! I'm only a muggle born."
"Bullying is not tolerated at Hogwarts," McGonagall said, but Rachel could see understanding in her eyes.
"Please Professor, I'm sure I would do much better as a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw. Even a Gryffindor!"
"You certainly show bravery. You called on a headmaster of Hogwarts on your first day of school!" Professor McGonagall shook her head thoughtfully, "But I'm afraid that students are not allowed to switch houses."
"But Professor I-"
"I'm sorry Rachel," McGonagall put up her hand. "But the sorting hat always has a reason. I understand your dilemma, but there is nothing I can do to help."
Rachel's stomach turned. The weight in her chest rose to her throat so that she couldn't speak. She was a Slytherin. Living down in the dungeons like a serpent. Picking on the younger ones in a few years. She imagined herself like Anna, with a scar across her face from a fight. Forever Slytherin.
Willing herself to breathe steadily, she turned towards the door. She tried to keep them back, but her eyes filled with tears. She furiously fought the knot in her throat. Swallowing over and over. But it remained, along with the threat of a sob burning in her chest.
"Dear child," the portrait said softly. "One of the bravest men I knew was a Slytherin. And he wasn't the cold hearted person you think. He loved deeper than I had ever witnessed before."
"Oh?" Rachel clenched her jaw and stood as straight as she could. She would not appear weak even if she was on the verge of a meltdown.
"Yes," Dumbledore continued. "You have many of the same qualities he did. Like your pride. And your cunning. It took some brains to find this office."
Rachel remembered following the Headmaster there. She had always been good at following people quietly.
"Slytherins are known for their self preservation abilities," Dumbledore continued. "Being here proves your Slytherin traits. Not only did you arrive without getting caught, but you risked getting expelled by coming here to ask for a new house. Slytherins will do anything to achieve their goals."
Slytherin, Slytherin, Slytherin. If Rachel thought that coming here would help, she was wrong. These people wanted her in Slytherin!
"But I'm also brave! And smart! Couldn't I fit into another house?"
"No!" said Headmaster McGonagall. "It's about time you went back to your dorm room. And believe me when I say this, Rachel. If I catch you sneaking around following professors you will be expelled!"
"Yes Professor." Rachel lowered her eyes and sniffed.
"Just think," the portrait of Dumbledore added. "Perhaps the sorting hat placed you in Slytherin for a reason. I'd say you're destined for greatness. And Slytherin needs more people like you."
"Now please leave," McGonagall said, turning back to her ungraded papers.
Harry Potter Fanfiction Part 1
Rachel looked around the Slytherin commons room. The cold stone walls were covered with green hangings. There were submarine-like windows opening out to murky water, giving the room a shipwrecked feel. Snakes were carved on all the furniture and silver accents were everywhere. It smelled like a dungeon and she felt a cold draft sink into her robes.
I don't belong here, Rachel thought.
Out of all the houses at Hogwarts, Slytherin was the last place she expected to be sorted into. Not only was she muggle born, but she also considered herself a very nice person. Everything she had read about Slytherin in her history books had something to do with the Dark Arts. And the Dark Arts did not sound very nice.
"This is it! The commons room," said Gemma Farley, the prefect who had lead them there from the Great Hall. "Founded by Salazar Slytherin," She beamed.
"The girls dorms are down this hallway and to the right. The boys are back around that door and down," Anna Carrow, a fourth year who was lounging on a green sofa, said. She smirked at the first years, but a scar across her cheek distorted the smirk to a grimace.
"Take the girls to their dorms Anna, while I'll show the boys their's." Gemma motioned to the dark hallway.
"Don't tell me what to do prefect," Anna said. She shoved her roughly towards the boys door.
"Watch it Carrow, or else your toad will be coughing up jelly beans for another week."
"I'm so afraid!" Anna's hand flew up to her forehead in mock horror. Then she turned back to the first year girls. "Come on."
"What about our luggage?" Said a first year standing next to Rachel.
"Taken care of," Anna said. "Now move it!"
Rachel followed Anna along with the rest of the girls down a narrow stone hallway. They stopped at an archway to the right that had a snake twisted into an S shape above it. The silver door handle also had a snake's head with it's body coiled around the nob. Rachel shivered.
"Vipera," Anna whispered.
The doornob clicked and creaked open. Inside were six beds, each covered with silken sheets and pillowcases. The silk curtains that hung from the tall bed posts were a deep green. Rachel's trunk and cat cage were sitting at the foot of a bed next to the only window in the room. The tabby cat in the wire cage meowed sorrowfully at the sight of it's masters return.
"This is it. Remember the password and keep it a secret unless you want spiders in your sheets or frogs in your shoes," said Anna. "I will leave you to unpack your things. See you later, runts." The door slammed shut.
A few of the girls made a huddle and began to giggle on one blonde girl's bed. She was the shortest first year, but she already seemed to have plenty of friends. Her sharp features set her apart from the other girl's chubby faces. The girl glared at Rachel as Rachel crossed the room to her trunk.
"I can't understand how a Mudblood got sorted into Slytherin," the blonde girl said. "My father says that almost never happens." a fit of giggling and hushed whispers insued.
Rachel's face felt hot as she unbuckled her trunk.
"But," the girl continued loudly. "I suppose even the sorting hat makes mistakes."
"Layoff it Malfoy," a girl with curly black hair said from the bed next to Rachel.
"I don't need you telling me what to do Lestrange!" The Malfoy girl spit back. Then she turned back to the other girls and began whispering things Rachel couldn't here.
"Thanks," Rachel said to the dark haired girl.
"Don't mention it," she said. "Seriously, don't. If my parents knew I was defending muggle borns, they'd pull me right out of Hogwarts." She rolled her trunk underneath the bed and crawled between the blankets facing away from Rachel.
Rachel gulped and began undoing the cat's cage. The tabby purred and rubbed against her hands as she fought with the lock. Once free the cat sniffed at the silver pillow then curled up on top.
Everything had been perfect up until the sorting. Rachel had found her acceptance letter to Hogwarts at her window that summer. When she went to Diagon Ally with her parents The streets were full of witches and wizards and everything magical. She couldn't believe she was going to be a part of this secret world.
Her wand was also perfect. Rowan, twelve and a quarter inches, unicorn hair, slightly yielding. Olivander had marveled at how quickly the wand choose her. It had fit perfectly in her hand and she had imagined herself waving it confidently at Hogwarts as a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff.
Then after buying her cat and books, she read as much as she could about Hogwarts and the magical world. She studied the four houses and teachers like Professor McGonagall, the head of Hogwarts. She read about the Boy Who Lived and the Dark Arts. Of great wizards in history like Godric Griffindor.
When she went to the train station the hidden platform was barely visible. Her parents kissed her goodbye as she disappeared into the brick wall and onto platform 9 3/4.
On the train she had met some friendly muggle borns who later ended up being in Ravenclaw. They bought every flavour jelly beans and chocolate frogs off the candy trolly. And they had excitedly shared their thoughts on this years book assignments.
There were also rumors that Harry Potter's daughter and Ron Weasley's son were coming to Hogwarts that year. They even peeked into the traincar where the Potters and Weasleys were sitting.
Of course, they had ended up in Gryffindor at the sorting.
Rachel dressed into her sleeping robes and crawled into bed. The excitement and humility of the day was weighing heavily on her. Slytherin. Just the name made her shudder.
She didn't know anyone in Slytherin. They were already making fun of her. And there was was hardly any warmth in the room at all. There were reasons muggle borns almost never got sorted into this house. Most kids came from long lines of wizarding families. How could the sorting hat ever think she could fit in here?
She would have to talk to Professor McGonagall tomorrow. She couldn't stay here.
-by Rachel Conn
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Pages in my Head
It seems with every book I've read,
The pages get inside my head.
The latest book that I checked out,
Came with pirates strewn about.
I turned the page to chapter four,
Where I was handed down an ore,
And rowed until my hands were raw,
Then the rocky coast I saw.
It loomed against the darkening sky;
A castle bold was standing high!
See how with the books I've read,
The pages get inside my head?
-Unknown
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