Hello! This is my second fanfic (ever) so please be nice! This is actually a revision of the first chapter that I originally posted. Please read and review!
I do not own Harry Potter. JKR does. I only own Kate.
When I was a kid, my mum always told me that being a pureblood was close to godliness. Whatever that meant. To tell the truth, my family isn't even entirely pureblood. We've got a few uncles who are half-bloods, and I think my cousin on my dad's side married a Mudblood (I'm not sure, we don't talk to her anymore), but true pureblood families are seriously rare these days. But I guess everyone likes to pretend.
Anyway, my mother would always drill me as a child, making me memorize phrases such as, "Muggles are a lower race," or "Mudbloods are scum," and whatnot. I had never actually met a Muggle, but mum always made them sound like the devil come to the Earth. She used to read me stories about the Salem Witch Trials in America for bedtime stories, and described in detail of witch hunts, complete with bloodhounds and villagers with pitchforks and helpless witches and wizards struggling within the flames, screaming for the mercy that never came.
She has quite an imagination.
My older sister, Liana, of course, drank up this knowledge and put it into use her first year at Hogwarts. Obviously, she was put into Slytherin, being my family's 'pride and joy'. Liana is talented, has real knack for spells, especially curses. I don't really believe it was a coincidence that in her third year a kid had to be sent to the infirmary with his eyebrows cursed off and his tongue glued to the roof of his mouth (but of course, being a 'cunning' Slytherin, she managed to weasel her way out of punishment). Liana is also a teacher's pet, despite her habitual hexes. The other day, when I received my Hogwarts acceptant letter to study at the school of witchcraft and wizardry, it was quickly overshadowed by the shiny prefect's badge Liana received.
Of course, Liana is a kind sister when she isn't cursing people's buttocks off.
Since this is my first year going to Hogwarts, she's decided to take me to Diagon Alley, despite having gone to the Alley several times before on errands with my mum. But of course, she has to here on this 'monumental occasion.' I'm grateful for the company, but at the same time…
"I have to watch you get your wand, it'll be magnificent Katey-Kat, I swear."
"Hush up! It's no big deal, really, and please stop calling me Katey-Kat. It's embarrassing!"
Liana just smiles and tugs on a strand of my stick-brown hair. I have a theory that when she was a baby, she sucked up all of the good-looking genes from our parents (my mum's green eyes and my father's blond hair) while I was stuck with what was left (my mum's brown hair and dad's brown eyes). My attempts at improving my average looks always end in disaster.
"What, you don't like the nickname Katey-Kat? I think it's cute!" She drawls, navigating through the hordes of people that occupy Diagon Alley, crowding around shops and peering into brightly colored windows.
She pulls me by the hand towards Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions to buy my school uniform. "Come on slow-poke, let's get you some dress robes! I think green will be a rather smart color on you, won't it? Being Slytherin and all."
I shift uncomfortably, looking into the window of the shop, before tugging my arm away from Liana's grasp and pushing on the door to go inside. "C'mon, let's not stand outside here all day," I say, and Liana follows, a pleasant smile on her face.
Madam Malkin is a short, cheerful woman who fitted my sister for her uniform five years ago. She wears these really pretty mauve robes, which is why I'm disappointed when I hear the Hogwarts uniform is simply black work robes, but also rather relieved. This means Liana can't pressure me into buying green ones for Slytherin.
Of all of the four houses of Hogwarts (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin), my family and other 'pureblood' families hold Slytherin in the highest regard, considering it for the best and the brightest. And of course, full of the most 'noble and ancient' wizard families.
Er…yeah. Sure.
See, the thing is, the whole, "Wizards good, Muggles bad!" spiel gets a little tedious after a while. I mean, my parents have been practically forcing it down my throat ever since I was child, and as lessons go, it's one that just seemed to repeat itself over and over, short on facts and long on gory details. I mean, I want to be someone my parents can be proud of, like Liana, but still, sometimes I wonder.
So while Madam Malkin bustles around me, pinning and hemming with muttering to herself, I try to remind myself of who I am. Kate Progers, eleven years old, 'pureblood' about to attend her first year at Hogwarts…
Of course. That's why I'm nervous, not because of the stupid houses.
Even since I watched from Platform Nine and Three Quarters as Liana boarded the Hogwarts Express towards the rest of her life (to be utterly dramatic) I was spellbound by her tales of the gigantic castle, moving staircases, sprawling grounds and magical classes. It was there she learned how to make my teddy bear float up towards the ceiling and then back up and down for me to catch. It was there she learned how to change her bed into a frog and back again. And soon, in less than a month, I'm going to be following in her footsteps.
I'm so busy trying to imagine myself exploring the humongous castle of Hogwarts that I barely notice when Madam Malkin smiles at me and says, "Alright dear, you're done for now."
Liana helps me off the stool I was standing on just as the door to the shop opens and in enters a boy about my age with blond hair and a pale, narrow face. Madam Malkin pauses in straightening her pins and fabric to smile at him and say, "One minute dearie, let me just finish up here."
Liana approaches the boy and smiles. "Hello Draco, how are you?"
Draco Malfoy, the son of friends of my parents', just replies cooly, "Fine," and looks at me. "Well, I suppose I'll be seeing you at school as well, Kate?"
I don't answer, just clutch my robes closer to my chest, returning the gaze. I have known Draco since we were little, and my mum is always constantly hinting how beneficial it would be to match up with a Malfoy, since their blood is about as 'pure' as ours is. Personally, Draco makes me a little sick. His obnoxious nature just rubs me the wrong way, to be blunt. I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual.
"What are you doing here alone?" Liana asks pleasantly. Draco turns to her to answer.
"Father is getting my books and my mother is looking at wands. We thought we would be able to get more work done if we split up."
"Ah. I see. That's rather smart, then."
Draco continues to smirk at me. "And what about you? You still need your big sister to babysit you?"
"Shut your mouth, Draco," I hiss just as Madam Malkin walks over to us, gesturing Draco to step onto the stool that I had vacated just moments before. Liana has conveniently turned a deaf ear to examine a pretty silk cloak, and I use this to my advantage. "I swear, once I'm at Hogwarts, I am going to hex it shut."
He just sneers and begins ordering Madam Malkin around as we leave, complaining about the hem, the length of the arms, color of the robes, pretty much everything.
"Such a nice boy," Liana murmurs as we exit. I scoff, looking up just in time to avoid crashing into a rather large man with a tangled beard, looking rather green in the face.
"Sorry 'bout that," He mutters, carefully maneuvering around my sister and I, a boy about my age with black hair in tow. "Wasn' lookin' where I was goin'."
"It's alright," I begin to say, just as Liana hurriedly grabs my hand and pulls me away before I can properly introduce myself. The man and the boy soon disappear within the crowds of people, but it isn't until we have reached the towering white building that is Gringotts that Liana lets go of me.
I shoot my sister a puzzled look. "That was rather rude, what was that for?"
"We don't associate with people like that," Liana's eyes are narrowing at me, and I can feel a lecture coming on, directed at me. "We're better than that."
The crowds of people talking and laughing are making it very hard to hear. As Liana turns on her heels and strides through the mass of people, her shoes making a soft tapping sound against the cobblestone street that I can barely hear, and I use that to follow her, struggling against the tides of people.
"But, wait, Lia!"
Liana turns back at the sound of her nickname, the one I used back when I was two and couldn't pronounce the whole word. I walk as fast as possible in order to catch up. "What do you mean by 'people like that'? They didn't look that bad."
Liana sighs and runs her fingers through her long blonde hair. I wish mine was that long. I've been trying to grow it out since I was seven, but it has never reached the length of my sister's.
"That's Hagrid, the groundskeeper at Hogwarts," She spits out the words like they are something dirty, unclean and unfit to be spoken by her pureblood mouth. "He's a savage that lives in a hut near the Forbidden Forest, and proper people stay as far away from there as possible."
I bite my lip nervously, and peer back the way we came, a million thoughts rushing through my mind at once. The first one to reach my lips is, "He didn't look that dangerous. Maybe a little wild, but isn't 'savage' a strong wor-"
"That's enough, Katelyn," Liana snaps, and I instinctively back off. Liana only snaps at me when she's stressed or when I push a matter too far. The use of my real name, the one I hate, is apparent, and I lower my eyes to the ground.
Her voice softens as she touches my arm and gently pulls me down the street. "Come on, let's just forget about the whole thing. Why don't we go get your wand?"
"Oak and phoenix feather, eight inches. Rather bendy."
I flick the thin piece of wood at a box near Mr. Ollivander's desk, but nothing happens for the tenth time. Liana's look of hope fades, and Mr. Ollivander snatches the wand out of my hand.
"No, not the right one."
"Sorry," I apologize, rather embarrassed. But Mr. Ollivander, an old man with eyes the color of pearls, shakes his head.
"No, it's quite alright. It was only your eighth – excuse me, tenth – try, and in order for you to measure up to your potential, we must find the right wand." He scans the boxes of thousands of wands left lying around the small shop and quickly grabs one, handing it to me. "The wand chooses the wizard or witch, Miss Progers."
In the ten minutes we have been in the store, I have heard that line three times. I wonder if all wandmakers agree with that philosophy, when I suddenly feel a warmth flowing, from my hand up my arm to the rest of my body. Looking down at the wand, I flick it in a direction, and the box moves.
Liana lets out a cry, and Mr. Ollivander smiles, which makes his pale eyes stand out even more, and yet makes them more tolerable.
"Well done, Miss Progers. Cherry wood and dragon heartstring, nine and a half inches, unyielding, very good," He chortles to himself, and proceeds to wrapping my wand in brown paper. Liana grins at me, and I flush with pride as I walk over to Mr. Ollivander to pay for my wand.
"The wand chooses the wizard, Miss Progers, never the other way around," He murmurs as he hands the package to me. I ignore the urge to roll my eyes; it's just the ravings of an old man, but as he turns away chuckling, I can't help but hear his next words.
"And the wands choose very oddly indeed."
After buying the wand, Liana and I visit the Apothecary, Flourish and Botts, and finally we go home using the Floo Powder at the Leaky Cauldron (Mum would never allow her daughters to use the Muggle transportation, no matter how curious I may be).
When the flames of green part, I step out of the fireplace, back home, finding my mum waiting for me with a 'pleasant' smile on her face; or at least, that's how Liana describes it. I would call it more 'forced'.
"How was your excursion, Katelyn?" Mum asks, and I try not to wince at the use of my name. My sister calls me Katey-Kat, my friends Kate. My mother is the only one who uses the name 'Katelyn', insisting that it is fitting to a pureblood witch to use her proper name. Rather hypocritical, really, because her name is Lucinda, but father calls her Lucy.
"It was fine, Mum," I say just as Liana appears in the fireplace behind me, and I use this as a chance to peel off my cloak and hang it over a chair. This doesn't go unnoticed by Mum, however, and she frowns pointedly at me.
"You know where that goes."
I sigh, and grab my cloak again, shuffling off towards the stairs and chucking it into a basket for our house-elf, an old piece of leather named Wanda. She's useful, I guess. I mean, I never have to clean my room. But she's dead faithful to my Mum, and always seems to watch me out of the corner of her eye whenever she's cleaning, doing laundry, or cooking. I suppose she'll expect to actually have something to report to Mum once I go to Hogwarts, like I've been making friends out of Mudbloods or hanging around 'half-breeds'.
Tempting, but unlikely.
I throw my purchases from Diagon Alley onto my bed once I reach my room and sit down. I've been counting the days till September first, and it's barely a month away. The first time I'll be really, truly free without my mum or dad following me around. Sure, there's Liana, but I'm sure I can easily avoid her in such a big castle, even if we're in the same house.
I'd better be in Slytherin, I think nervously for the first time. I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be so bad, but I mean, my mum's been egging me onto Slytherin since I was a little kid reading about Salem Witch Trials. I think the world might end if I'm not in Slytherin.
Okay, maybe that's being a little overdramatic.
…Nah, the world's definitely gonna end.
Alright, please tell me what you think! Reviews and constructive critisicm would be much appreciated!
Mischief Managed!