For the Colours Challenge. 701 words.
"Slytherin!" At the sound of the expected yell from the hat, Cissy rose gracefully, laid the hat disdainfully on the stool and swept down the Great Hall to join her older sisters.
"Congratulations, Cissy. I knew you'd make it." Bella, conscious of the eyes of the Slytherin table on them and of her rank as a Prefect, not to mention her reputation as the most scornful girl at Hogwarts, didn't rise to embrace Cissy, instead merely laying a hand on her shoulder and hissing at the nearest girl to "Shift! This seat is now taken by someone who deserves it!", but the twinkle of approval in her eye as she did it was enough to make Cissy's heart swell with pride. She'd done it. She'd proved once and for all that, despite her looks, she was a Black. She was a member of Slytherin, the House of Silver and Green.
"Were you ever in any doubt? I am a member of the House of Black." she replied, sliding into the seat beside her eldest sister.
"For all you look like a Rosier." Bella retorted, before flashing Cissy a wild beam of a smile. "Of course not."
"Your Slytherin robes are in your trunk upstairs, but Mother told me to give this to you tonight." Andromeda, Cissy's other sister, rose from her seat on Bella's other side and came around behind Cissy to slip a gently curving necklace of silver and jade around her throat.
Her hands lingered on Cissy's shoulders a moment longer than necessary and she pressed a feather light kiss on the crown of her head. "Well done, little sister."
"Thank you." Cissy ducked her head to examine the necklace, delighting in how her reflection gleamed back at her from the silver and green; fingering the mother of pearl narcissi that hung from it, before she raised her head proudly to watch the rest of the Sorting.
Six other girls joined Slytherin that night; Calla Selwyn, Emmeline McNair, Octavia Bole, Pippa Prince, Accalia Crouch and Delphine Rosier, a distant cousin of Cissy's who'd been sent to England to do her schooling. Cissy knew them all slightly, apart from Delphine, but she knew none of them had the bloodline she did. None of them had worn silver and green for as long as her family had. None of them could boast that every generation of their family contained least one Hogwarts Prefect, going as far back as the school itself. None of them were worthy of being her confidantes the way her sisters were.
But they were worthy enough to allow them to admire her, so, when Bella rose from the table and collected them all in her wake with one of her icy sweeping glares, Cissy was only too happy to fall into step beside her elder sister, head held high. She heard them whisper to one another as they followed "Isn't that the youngest Black? Narcissa? Isn't she beautiful? I wish I was as pretty as her!" and smiled slightly at the obvious awe in their voices, but she didn't offer any remarks of her own or even accept their praise verbally. She was a Black; she belonged here, in the House of Silver and Green, at the head of their line. It was only natural that they should admire her.
Upon reaching the dormitories, Cissy went straight to her trunk to check that everything was in order for the morning. It was – her new robes of finest French watered silk were immaculately pressed and within easy reach, their silver and green braided trim neatly perfect. Her favourite hair band of silver ribbon was lying on top and Cissy knew her spring green socks would be just underneath. With her new necklace adorning her throat, she would look every inch the perfect Slytherin student. And she would be every inch the perfect Slytherin student as well. Academically brilliant, brilliantly proud and brilliantly beautiful. How could she ever be anything less? She was a Black.
With that thought in mind, Cissy tidied her hair with a few skilled touches and glided downstairs to take her rightful place in the greatest House in Hogwarts, the House of Silver and Green.