"Hmm... Genevieve LeStrange. This certainly is strange. A LeStrange who doesn't suit slytherin. I know... Ravenclaw!" Yelled the sorting hat. In all the confusion I heard, along with barely concealed rage from my cousins and brother, I could only think of one thing. Shit. My father will hear about this.
Present day
I sit up yawning. Even in this bleary morning half light, I can make out my father's rules. In penance for being a Ravenclaw, I must conform to these rules. Secretly, I resent them, but it is due punishment for my betrayal of my noble LeStrange family.
To remain a LeStrange
Must have a wealthy pure-blooded boyfriend
Must never get a grade below E
Must be on the house Quidditch team
Must renounce mud bloods, blood traitors and Gryffindors
Must not live in LeStrange Manor
If I do not live by these rules, I would be disowned and my allowance severed. My parents bought a small but lovely apartment in the centre of London, above Florean Fortescue's Ice cream parlour, which is far more than I deserve, as both my parents agree that I'm a useless waste of space. I count myself lucky that I was born into the house of LeStrange, as I've been told that most other families would kill their child if they did not get sorted into Slytherin. My brother, Rudolphus is naive, and questions why I get beaten so much by our parents. I suppose he is blinded by the love that he has for his Fiancée, Bellatrix Black. She is a good match for him, and will keep him toeing the line. I guess it is just an added bonus that he loves her, as it is obviously stupid to marry for love, and only once you are in a good marriage is it ok to fall for them.
All my dorm mates are asleep. Aimee Finch stirs as I pull on a loose green top, and black leggings. I don't want to wake her up, even though I hate her, as it is a Saturday, and also around 6 o'clock. All my other dorm mates are still asleep: Elexia Martinez, Emmeline Vance and Wisteria Fortescue. Of course, technically speaking, it is despicable to say their names- Elexia and Emmeline are muggle-borns, but somehow nice people. Irritatingly, however much I try to hate them for their parentage, they have seen my rules, and forgive me easily. I suppose this just proves how terrible and ungrateful I am that I want to be kind to them. On the contrary, Aimee Finch is a snobby, self righteous half-blood and obsessive fan girl of the infamous marauders, she is so vain that it is a wonder that there was enough room even in her big head for her to be brainy enough to be a Ravenclaw. The only one who really understands me is Wisteria, or Terry for short. She was adopted by the Fortescues recently, after her own parents, Marcus and Coretta Mulciber tried to kill her for having a Half-Blooded boyfriend. Her brother and my brother get along like a house on fire. Although Rudolphus is lenient towards my situation, Derek Mulciber would still try to kill Wisteria. They are all bound together by my boyfriend, who actually possesses a brain, Emmet Avery. Emmet knows of my betrayal, and takes lead from Father, beating me when I deserve it. He is set to join the Dark lord when he graduates, and I am set to be his good pureblood wife.
I crunch across the crisp grass towards the black lake. It is now 6:30 and even at the weekend, I love to get up early and watch the sun rise. I lean back against a hollow tree, muttering a few words of incantations. From inside the tree I reveal my guilty pleasure: gothic romances. I have to keep this quiet, as the author who wrote it , Charlotte Bronte, was a squib, so reading her work is shameful. It is also a perfect example of the necessity of my father's list. As I settle down to start reading, something flashes past the leak near the forbidden forest. It looks like a black, shaggy dog, but I shrug it off- after all, the Forest has seen many a stranger thing.
By the time I get to my dormitory, everyone else is finally awake. Wisteria is the only one dressed, because we both prefer eating when it's quiet, i.e. as early as possible. We link our arms and make our way to the stairs. Everyone thinks that Ravenclaws are uptight and learn for the sake of learning-they're wrong. We use it for practicalities.
"Glisseo!" Wisteria squeals as the long winding staircase flattens into a chute, "Mobilius! Aresto Monumento!" A rapid chain of events leads to the door to the common room flying open, and bringing us to a sharp halt in front of a terrified third year.
"Come on, Terry," I say, "Let's get breakfast."
Halfway through breakfast, a herd of fan girls come storming after the marauders, who are fiercely chasing Lily Evans, Gryffindor muggle-born and obsessive love interest of James Potter. Potter is yelling something like "Orchadeous" which I assume is meant to actually be the spell to conjure a bunch of flowers (Orchideous) but if he tries it much more, he will end up with a nasty case of green skin (Orcadis). She is heading our way.
"Hi, can I sit here? Potter is being unbelievably irritating." She sighs. Wisteria nods, and gestures to the seat next to her. I tense. Nobody else is here to see me sitting with Lily, so I figure it is fine to start a conversation. We are just having a nice conversation about Professor Dumbledore's transfiguration homework ( I really can't believe that she wasn't put into Ravenclaw!), when I spot Emmet walk into the hall. His eyes narrow as they fall on me. I panic, I cannot be disowned.
"I'm so so sorry, Lily," I say, before continuing, "I will not sit near Mudbloods!" before storming off. A small part of me tries to convince myself that it was the right thing anyway, but we were so similar. Even Emmet is not convinced, barely contained suspicion stares at me until I leave. The tears are about to flow out of my eyes. I would almost consider her a friend. She is just as much of a human as I am, and yet I am forbidden to talk to her. A sob escapes my lips, and just then, a large hand clamps my shoulder.
"Who do you think you are, huh? You're not in Slytherin! I guess it just shows what an idiot you are to still torment her!" Sirius. Black. His ignorance and harsh voice send me over the edge. I shake my head slowly,
"and I really thought you'd know what it was like to have a pureblood family, Black," I spit, "but it turns out you know nothing about it. You know nothing about me." I turn away and run for the lake.
Sirius POV
Whoa, did her eyes just flash red? Her comment about my family really stings, and she knows it. I didn't think I was doing anything wrong-wait, I wasn't. Why would I care what a pureblood supremacist thinks of my motives? Merlin knows-I like Lily as a friend; and a friend would try to help her when she is being attacked! A girl walks into my shoulder. I recognise her as Wisteria Fortescue, formerly Mulciber. I feel for her and her experiences with an abusive family, I would say I understand! However, I can only wonder why she is friends with such scum as LeStrange. She turns around to apologise, and her face immediately changes to that of silent anger,
"You stay away from my friend, OK? You don't know the first thing about Genevieve. Merlin knows she doesn't need another angry man!" She flings her head back toward the stairs, pulling a similarly confused as me Lily after her.
A voice I recognise comes up behind me.
"Well I don't know about you, Pads, but I'd say that bitch needs a bit of sense knocked into her! Nobody talks to my Lily in that way." he says.
"My thoughts exactly, my dear Prongsie," I reply. No real harm can be done from a little prank, and besides, we haven't done many pranks since the start of the term, and I can't lose my name as top pranker in the history of Hogwarts. I can't wait much longer for such a perfect opportunity to arised.