~The Beginning~
Smoke whirled around me and my father's voice was nearly drowned in the blowing of the scarlet engine's whistle as I stood on Platform 9 ¾ staring intensely into an identical pair of emerald eyes. My father was trying to comfort me, reassure me that things were different now, but I remained entirely unconvinced.
You see, I knew better.
My father may have been famous, but it seemed he was also delusional. No matter what he said, being placed in Slytherin would clearly be the end of the world. You didn't have to be a genius to come to that conclusion, and while I may not be a genius, I knew what I was talking about.
Mom always said that I got my brains from her. If you happened to catch a glimpse of my dad while she was saying this, you would see him rolling his eyes and holding back laughter.
Personally, I'm not quite sure where I think my intelligence came from. I like to join in the debate jokingly, sometimes on Mom's side, sometimes on Dad's. But secretly, I like to think that maybe my intelligence is my own; that's it's my own gift and I didn't inherit it from anybody.
I'm not trying to be selfish or anything, not trying to hold back credit where some is due; it's just that, when you're a Potter, nothing is your own, really. Not even your personal life. Honestly, the Daily Prophet could write an entire story about my Dad's newest hair style and the public would eat it up. I've lived my entire life center stage, and that's why I'm worried about being sorted into Slytherin.
I have nothing against Slytherin. Honest. I think Dad is right and all the house prejudice is stupid. If I was anyone else, if my family was anyone but who they are, I would let the cards fall where they may and be sorted into whatever house the Sorting Hat saw fit.
But...I'm not somebody else. And it will be hard enough starting school with my father's legacy hanging over my head without being put in Slytherin to top it all off.
The whistle blew again, jolting me back to reality. Dad was just finishing up his speech, something about how if it came down to it, the Sorting Hat would take my choice into account, as it had for him.
I wasn't sure if I found this comforting or not. I mean, just because the Hat did that for my father doesn't mean it would do it for anybody; but then Mom was hugging me good bye, and Lily was crying, and I decided to store that bit of information away and think about it later.
As I went to climb onto the train, Lily pulled me into a desperate embrace. I hugged her back tightly, in what I hoped was a reassuring sort of way. I understood how she felt. I remembered seeing James off to Hogwarts last year.
"Don't worry Lils, I smiled down at her, you know your turn will come before you know it". I'm not sure if I was sufficiently comforting, but there wasn't time to wait around and find out because Dad pulled her arms off me gently and pushed me onto the train just in time. Within seconds the train was speeding away from the platform and I waved out the window until they were out of sight.
For better or worse, I was on my way.