Theresa Blanchard
A young girl walked up the steps to the stool in front of the entire school. She had gotten her Hogwarts letter over the summer and she was anticipating this moment ever since. Her parents had told her about the houses and how they were like their second family. Her mother was in Hufflepuff and her father was in Ravenclaw.
The hat was lowered onto her head and it began to talk to her.
Ah yes. You see to put a lot of value into the houses I see. Well your certainly brave, yes very brave, but you don't want to put yourself in danger. Your certainly ambitious. What's this? You want to be an auror. Well it is certainly clear where you belong.
Slytherin!
Her tie turned silver and green and a snake emblem appeared on her robes. She ran over to the cheering table and sat down. She was grinning ear to ear as she watched the rest of the sorting. Harry Potter was in her year as well. She didn't particularly care though. All the books on him were a load of codswallop. She didn't think badly of him, she just didn't admire him for something he did as a baby.
Dumbledore welcomed them all to Hogwarts and the feast began. All her favorite foods were available and she made great conversation with her housemates.
She loved what she had seen of Hogwarts so far and she couldn't wait to see more.
1st year
"All right first years listen up!" yelled the prefect once they had made it to their dormitories in the dungeon.
"There are a few things you need to know about being in Slytherin House." he stared at all of us to make sure we were listening.
"Number one! No visitors in the common room. The only people allowed in the Slytherin Common room are Slytherins. Number two! First through third years lights out by ten. Lights out by twelve for the upper years. Number three! Stick together. Slytherins have been given a reputation for being dark and the other houses tend to act on that assumption. When you are outside of the common room you are to never travel alone. I find that it's best for you to travel with and older student, but that is a suggestion."
I was shocked by the last one. I mean surely he was just exaggerating. Right?
"Alright! Well it has been a long night and I thinks it's time for us to be off to bed. Girls dormitories are to the right, boys are to the left. Don't oversleep, we have classes in the morning."
2nd year
I was on my way to the common room when someone shoved me from behind. My bag split open and my books went everywhere. I was in the middle of the hallway and it wasn't too crowded.
People were sneering down at me and walking over and kicking my books.
"Get out of here you slimy snake!"
I felt tears welling up in my eyes and I quickly retrieved my books and ran to the nearest bathroom.
There wasn't anyone in there so I was free to cry in peace. I dropped my books on the ground and sunk to my knees under the sink. My sobs echoed through the bathroom. My eyes were burning, my throat hurt, and my nose was dripping. I felt pathetic just sitting there underneath the sink on the bathroom floor.
All of the other houses hated me, but I'm pretty sure that they didn't even know my name. I was just another 'slimy snake'. The bullying and taunting was relentless. I have bruises in the shapes of handprints on my back. Once a Ravenclaw girl came up to me and slapped me in the potions cupboard.
Another sob tore through my chest and I laid down and rested my cheek on the cold floor. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know, I'm being shaken awake by a Slytherin prefect.
He didn't comment on my tearstained cheeks or my red eyes. He just picked me up and carried my back to the dorms.
3rd year
We were in Defense class with Remus Lupin. We were learning about boggarts and today we were actually going to face one. To say I was terrified was and understatement.
When it was my turn my boggart transformed into me.
I was older, maybe 16. I was wearing a high collar black lace dress and my hair was in a bun. I rolled up my sleeve to reveal a tattoo of a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth.
This was my worst fear.
"Riddikulus!"
My boggart burst into a cloud of glitter and I walked to the back of the line.
We shared the class with the Gryffindors so I had to pass them on my way to the back of the classroom. Suddenly a hand shot out and grabbed my wrist and pulled me till we were face to face. His breath smelled rancid as he said
"That's my proof. Not only are you a slimy snake, you're also a death eater."
He roughly let me go and I went to the back of the classroom.
I looked at my wrist where he grabbed my. It was already bruising.
4th year
I was walking down the hall passed a broom cupboard when someone pulled me inside. They gagged me before I had a chance to scream and then punched me in the gut. I kneeled over in pain and the grabbed my hair and yanked my head back. It felt like someone had shoved a dozen red hot needled into my scalp.
I must have been in there for half an hour. I never cried. I had learned by the end of second year that crying gets you nowhere.
When they were done they just left me there. With a hissed 'That was for Cedric' they left me there on the floor curled up in pain. They left the gag on so I couldn't call for help. I felt the blackness encroaching on my vision and I welcomed it.
I woke up two days later in the hospital wing. They said a group of students brought me in after I fell down a flight of stairs.
5th year
Everyone was on edge ever since Umbridge became headmaster. The Slytherins were given a break from the bullying, but that did nothing to lesson the glares and the suspicious looks.
We're students not criminals!
It was like they thought that every Slytherin was part of the Inquisitorial Squad. It was so frustrating and exhausting.
The saddest thing was that this year was the best I've had so far.
7th year
"Please escort the Slytherins to the dungeons"
"Please escort the Slytherins to the dungeons"
"Please escort the Slytherins to the dungeons"
No matter how many times it replayed itself in my head, I could in't believe it. How can someone justify sending an entire house to the dungeons because of the words of one terrified student?
And people cheered!
Everything came rushing back to me. The name-calling. The boggart. The beatings. The glares. The unwarranted suspicion. It all boiled up to the surface and I screamed as loud as I could in the middle of the Great Hall.
ENOUGH! WHAT HAVE WE EVER DONE TO YOU? FROM MY FIRST DAY AS A FIRST YEAR I HAVE BEEN RIDICULED, BEATEN, AND HUMILIATED JUST BECAUSE OF MY HOUSE! I AM A SLYTHERIN BECAUSE I AM CUNNING AND AMBITIOUS, NOT BECAUSE I'M A DEATHEATER OR A PUREBLOOD ELITIST! YOU ARE GOING TO GO OUT THERE AND SEE SLYTHERIN STUDENTS THAT YOU HAVE GONE TO SCHOOL WITH EVERY DAY, AND THE ONLY PERSON YOU HAVE TO BLAME FOR THAT IS YOURSELVES!
I think someone picked me up and took me to the dungeons while the entire school watched and listened horrified.
They had finally realized what they did to us because of their prejudice. They saw how far they actually went to have broken a student to that extent.
