Okay so, hi. This is the sequel to the Brave Ambition and I know it has been ages since I finished it but I just felt and urge to start this up. I'm really nervous because I'm going in blind here and I hope this turns out okay. So, here it goes.
THE CUNNING NERVE
PROLOGUE:
What defines a person? Is it their skin colour? Is it the language they speak? The friends that they choose? Is it who they love? Is it the experiences that they have had? The choices that they make? Where they live? What clothes they choose to wear? The words they use to form a response? Their level of intelligence? Their capacity to be kind? Their generosity? The food that they eat?
Who defines a person? Is it the person themself? Is it the people around them that decide? Is it society? Your community? Your family? Is it your friends? The people you aspire to be?
When are you defined? The moment of birth? The moment of conception? At two years of age? The first time you look at your parents or the first word that you speak? Is it when you begin school? Or when you finish it? Are we ever truly and correctly defined by the time we die?
Where are we defined and how? Is it biological? Do we define ourselves based on our parents? Are we defined at school? Are the test results we achieve a definition of us? Are we defined at home? When we are alone? When are we with others?
Why are we defined?
Life is an extraneous variable. It plays with the purity of definition, so can the definition of ourselves ever be true? There are many things in life that taint, that change what could have been or what is. Like a Quidditch match. The Seeker is reaching for the Snitch, hand outstretched, fingers clawed like he can imagine the shape that the golden ball will mould into his hand. Bam! Out of nowhere a bludger comes and hits him and he falls off his broom and down below.
Stereotypes taint. Like thick, black ink seeping into a clean glass of water. A stereotype can be a conception or an opinion or an image that is fixed and widely held about a particular type of person or thing. There are many stereotypes in this world. Some are harmless, such as boys like blue while girls like pink, all Texans live on cattle ranches, people of an Asian decent are apt at mathematics, that all politicians only think of personal gain and benefit, all librarians are old women who have a grey bun and thick glasses, and that all teenagers are rebels. Some, however, are harmful, such as men should marry women, all Muslims and Arabs are terrorists, people with dark skin are not as smart as those with white skin, all women cook, any feminine man is gay, and any masculine woman is a lesbian.
Stereotypes are often based on an assumption, or in some cases, a seed of truth. Some people are born with a stereotype, because people are quick to jump to the conclusion that a child will be like their parent, or have similar traits. They aren't given the same chances as those who don't have this prewritten stereotype. They aren't encouraged to even try to defy it because it's already there, and apparently, set in stone. These people, that are born with this stereotype, this label plastered on their forehead, are not given a chance to define themselves, because in the eyes of some, they are already defined.
However, preconceived perceptions can be incorrect.
For some, stereotyping can lead to bullying or avoidance or exclusion, for others it can lead to popularity or praise or favouritism. Stereotyping encourages this behaviour, encourages something that could be false to begin with. Stereotyping can lead to a life driven by hate or fear. This could be fear of judgment, fear or not being accepted, not wanting to be confined or defined by a mould or expectation and not wanting to be generalized, especially when that isn't who you are.
No one is the same; so preconceived perceptions can be incorrect.
There once was a story about two boys who hated each other. One had blonde hair and was in Slytherin house, his name was Draco Malfoy. He was often cold towards others; he was secretly afraid and insecure. He too was born from a stereotype, a dark and evil thing that only wanted hatred and death, everything that the boy wasn't. He was assumed to be heterosexual and the fear or being judged prevented him from challenging this. The other boy had dark hair and was in Gryffindor House; he risked everything he ever had to love and to fix as much as he could. He too had a stereotype placed upon him at a young age, an enormous expectation that weighed him down and played a part in etching the path of his choices. He was also assumed to be heterosexual and the boy that he loved was afraid.
Each other their stereotypes, their traits as well, were passed down onto their sons, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy and Albus Severus Potter. These stereotypes were false. These stereotypes prevented these two boys from properly knowing each other before their fourth year.
This is the story about the blonde without a Dark Mark and the raven without a scar…