A/N: I was reading an amazing story called And They Thought We Were Wicked, AKA the most amazing Slytherin-centric story EVER (insert plug here), and I was thinking about Daphne and Astoria/Asteria Greengrass and I decided to write a fic about them! Plus, I need to write a fic about a Slytherin! (Okay, so The Long and Winding Road, Pure Blood, and Going Under were about Slytherins…oh well!) And then...after letting it sit around gethering dust for weeks after it was beta-ed, I read a fic called the Greengrass Girls (insert next plug here) which was amazing, so I was inspired to post this! Angsty, very short, kind of a drabble. Enjoy!
This is therefore dedicated to Painted Inkblot, Kore-of-Myth, and Time Vortex, my beta, who came up with the title!!
Disclaimer: I do not own. "Two sisters, both alike in dignity" is Shakespeare's. The end.
Daphne is the stupid one. She sits in class, daydreaming. The professor calls on her, and she looks at him. She gets the answer wrong. Every time. She can't help but think, Astoria would get this right.
They all turn and look at her. All of them, from every House. They blink at her. She's Astoria's sister! Astoria the genius! I guess one sister got all the brains, eh? they say, laughing and elbowing each other.
She answers a question wrong. What did you do wrong? the teacher says. Everyone around her leans over her desk, explaining.
Well? the teacher says.
The students crack grins, thinking, She's no Astoria. They go on to tell the professor what she did wrong. And then they giggle behind their hands.
Hate bubbles inside of her as they sit upright again in their seats. She's no Astoria. She's no Astoria.
Well, then again, she's a Slytherin.
She hears that, sometimes. She's a Slytherin. Slytherins are cunning, but…
They forget in their bigotry. They think, Slytherins are the evil ones. The ones who don't go on to be Aurors and Healers and normal people. They go on to be Death Eaters, because their parents are, because their peers are, because that is what is expected.
Oh, if only they knew. Theo Nott, for example—a Death Eater? I beg to differ!
But Daphne's begging is unheard. Astoria is the one who gets what she wants—who never has to beg. But then, she's no Astoria.
Astoria is the genius girl. The one who is expected to do things. The Ravenclaw.
She knows her sister wishes she were her. She's not a genius for nothing. She sees the hate in her eyes, her rigid posture, her jealousy. And she sees how her sister is faced with the Slytherin prejudice every day. But she can't do anything about it.
She must live up to expectations. She must solve everything that comes at her, answer questions, give advice. Daphne is the one that gets the fun, not you, she thinks to herself. Daphne the Slytherin, Daphne he privileged, Daphne the bad girl.
It's not supposed to be hard to be the Good Girl. It's supposed to come naturally. But then again, she's no Gryffindor, and she's no Hufflepuff. But she is so very Ravenclaw, and even so very Slytherin. She is too ambitious for her own good.
But Slytherin is bad. Slytherin is for Death Eaters. Slytherin is for You-Know-Who lovers, and cowards, and people with only half a brain-cell.
She's heard these things. She's never spoken up, defending the House. She's no Gryffindor—but no one ever says that.
She's such a Ravenclaw. She's a genius. She's a nerd. What a geek!
Daphne didn't understand.
But she's a Slytherin.
She's bad.
Astoria finds herself snorting. Daphne is not bad.
Daphne is under-privileged—or so she thinks.
Two sisters, both alike in dignity.
Both wishing they were each other.
Both unaware that the other's life was harder than they imagined.
Both facing stereotypes and idiocy.
Such is being a Ravenclaw.
Such is being a Slytherin.
And such is being sisters.