Everyone knows that Slytherins are brutal, cunning, and all and all a bunch of jerks, but what if one of them actually had a heart? This is where the story sprung from.
Disclaimer: I do not own hp or any of its characters
The children's orphanage in London England was an ordinary place, or as ordinary as you could get for an orphanage. The walls were a dreary beige grey, and the children inside were all desperate for attention. Each and everyone one of them hoping that their next interview would be their last, that someone would finally say "I want to adopt you." Children of course were adopted, but there were always some children who stayed in that orphanage for as long as they could remember.
Children ended up in that orphanage for many different reasons. Some were there because their parents weren't able to take care of them properly, from financial issues or they just weren't ready to have a child. Some because their parents had died and there were no relatives to take them in, or no relatives wanted to take them. And some, sadly, were there because their parents did not want them. Whether it was because they had never wanted children, or the child had some problems, for there were quite a few children like that in the orphanage, there parents left them on the doorstep of the orphanage or, if they had the courtesy, told the person in charge of the orphanage that they were giving them up for adoption. Every child in that orphanage was there for one of those reasons.
The person in charge of the hotel was a stout man named Theodore Hemming. It was said that his hair used to be blonde at some point, but it had grayed over the years so much that you would never be able to tell. It was always combed so that not a hair was out of place; he believed that you should always look your best no matter the occasion. His eyes were the colour of a murky lake, but they were always alert, ready for the first hint of trouble. He did not have a round belly, no one in the orphanage did, but you could tell that he was better fed then the children in the orphanage. He was a clean shaven man who did not believe in any nonsense that involved anyone getting hurt, but would allow the occasional prank to be played on someone in the orphanage. It's said that the reason that he opened the orphanage was because; he himself had been an orphan. No one adopted him though and he had to grow up on his own, without the help of anyone. He didn't want that to happen to anyone else so he did his best to get every child in his orphanage adopted, however, it did not always happen.
It was April thirteenth of 1998 when someone knocked on the door. Theodore stayed up through the nights until twelve o'clock midnight in case any parents were putting their kids on the doorstep of his orphanage. He quickly rushed to the door and unlocked it because he knew that there was a child most likely freezing in the chilling rain that had been falling all night. When he finished opening the door, sure enough there was a baby girl quivering in the cold. Whoever left the child was more thoughtful then some others, they had wrapped the child in blankets and placed them inside of a box that offered some protection. Theodore rushed to get the child inside and warm, and when the child had settled down in a spare crib that they had he noticed a small package in the box that had held the small baby girl.
It read, This child's name is Ebony. When she is older, tell her that we love her, and had no choice but to give her away. That was all that the note said, but it was speckled with what looked like tear drops. Theodore knew that whoever had given her away was sincere about loving her and not being able to keep her. He tucked it into his jacket pocket and went to check on the baby girl who was the newest edition to his orphanage.
Eleven years later
"Darren! Give me back Harold!" A girl with auburn hair was jumping with her arms out stretched, trying to get her pet snake back. "Give him back Darren!" Desperation was clear in her voice.
The boy Darren was monstrous. He towered over the girl by at least a foot and a half. His hair was black as midnight and he had eyes that were blue as ice, and just as cold. He was a larger boy, not as in fat, but muscular. No one at the orphanage went against what he said in fear that they would get hurt. He was sneering scornfully at the girl who was trying so desperately to get her snake back. "Worried so much for your snake? Are you scared that I'm going to end up killing your only friend?" The girl flinched and the boy smiled deviously. "Come and get him you freak! No wonder no one has adopted you. No one wants to have a freak with only a snake for a friend as their daughter." He spat the last words at her.
The girl was close to tears as the orphanage bully taunted her. She had been at the orphanage for eleven years, and not one person had even considered adopting her. She wasn't pretty like all of the other girls that had been adopted, her hair was a pretty auburn colour, but it wasn't glossy like all of the other girls. It refused to grow straight, or curly, or wavy. It grew in an odd way of loose curls, but would straighten out whenever it was humid or it got wet. Her eyes were an unusual colour that looked like sludge. They seemed to have every eye colour in them, but blended together they looked horrible. She was thin, unhealthily and freakishly thin, you could touch you index finger and your thumb together at her elbow. Her front teeth were large, giving her the impression of a beaver at times. Darren the orphanage menace always bullied her about this, and no one would be her friend. Her only friend was Harold, her pet snake.
They all called her a freak because strange things happened at times. Once when she was seven Darren had been making fun of her hair. It was a hot humid day in July and her hair went flat and became straw like. Darren came over and was making fun of her again, she had wished with all her might her hair would be like the pretty girls, she was fearful of the taunts that Darren always made. Suddenly Darren was staring at her head; she looked at her locks to discover that they were blonde and perfectly straight. She had been so happy because Darren could no longer make fun of her hair, the next day it went back to boring auburn. That was the day when Darren marked her as a freak.
Strange things continued to happen and they could never be explained. During an interview with a couple who were considering adopting her, the couple had a hushed conversation that Ebony was still able to hear.
"We don't want to adopt someone like her Emily." The husband shot Ebony furtive looks that he didn't think that she could see.
"I agree Connor that snake that she has with her…it, it's just unnerving." Her voice was quivery.
Ebony was especially hurt at this. Harold was the only one who understood her, true he couldn't talk back, but he certainly didn't think that she was a freak. He also seemed unlike any other snake that she had ever seen. He was black, but had white scales that looked silver in the moonlight. He was always curled around her arm. His head rested on the back of her hand, and then his body wound close to her shoulder. He was also extremely tame. He wasn't poisonous, and never hissed at anyone, he seemed to understand that the best thing to do is for him to be quiet. The only reason that Mr. Hemming really allowed Ebony to keep Harold was because he showed no signs of aggression. Ever.
Rage bubbled up inside of her; almost everyone who interviewed her didn't adopt her because of that reason. She remembered thinking about freaking them out by setting Harold on them, and then the four windows in the room suddenly shattered and sent glass everywhere!
The couple screamed and Ebony just stared in wonder. Did I do that? That was the question going through her head. The couple had left without another word from the orphanage and Mr. Hemming gave Ebony the look that said what did you do?
News of Ebony's interview spread like a wildfire and people avoided her even more. Darren, of course, marked her as an even bigger freak than before. He brought up her disastrous interview whenever her could, saying that was evidence of how much of a freak she was and that no one would ever adopt her.
The most bizarre, strange, crazy, insane, and scary thing to happen to Ebony though is that whenever she got extremely angry her eyes would become red. Day in and day out she would chant in her head Calm down calm down. You don't want to look like more of a freak than you really are. At times she just couldn't control her temper though, and in the end she would always end up regretting it.
Ebony hated how all of these memories would flood into her mind whenever Darren would call her a freak. She was determined to not let it show how much it bothered her; she would not let Darren have the satisfaction of seeing that this bothered her as well.
"What is going on here?" Mr. Hemming's voice had a hint of anger in it. He didn't like how everyone in the orphanage ostracized Ebony. That was partially the reason that he let her keep Harold that was she would for sure have someone to keep her company.
"Nothing Mr. Hemming. Ebony here was just allowing me to look at Harold." The sneer was gone from Darren's face and it was replaced with an expression of innocence. Ebony hoped that wouldn't fool Mr. Hemming.
It was clear that it didn't fool Mr. Hemming. "Give Harold back to Ebony Daren, otherwise you'll have bathroom duty for the month." Grumbling Darren gave Harold back to me. Harold took his usual place curled around my arm, I felt so much more at ease when he was with me. "There is someone here to see you Ebony."
"Probably another interview where they won't adopt a freak like you." Darren hissed into Ebony's ear quietly so that Mr. Hemming couldn't hear. She flinched instinctively at the comment.
She doubted it though; she didn't have an interview scheduled until next week. She didn't tell this to Darren or Mr. Hemming though; she rushed out of the hallway desperate to get away from Darren before he could torment her anymore.
And so ends my first chapter. Review to tell me what you think because I absolutely love reviews.
Fudgemonkey87