Chapter Two- Another boring sorting…
Kadina and Bellatrix left the others as soon as the train stopped. They hopped off and began some of their favourite duties. Bossing around the scared first years and younger grades, it was power- that was all that mattered. After they had all left, Bella and Kaddy climbed into a carriage together and rode it to the castle. Kadina watched the thestrals pull the carriages with slight boredom as the two good friends sat in silence. "What will I do next year?" Kadina asked, still not looking to her best friend. Bellatrix frowned,
"What do you mean Kaddy?" The pair had met in Knockturn Alley many years ago. Bellatrix's mother had been shopping in Borgin and Burke's when Kadina had raced into the shop with her mother. The two girls both eyeing of the same dolls- a porcelain one with black hair and pale skin and what seemed to be a rotting wedding gown. Much to Kadina's disgust, Bellatrix was given the doll. She had glared so hard at the young Black that she almost fainted; Bellatrix had merely laughed at her and wandered off to look around the shop. From that day henceforth- they had shared a strong friendship.
"You will not be here next year. You're graduating. What will I do? Who am I going to hang around with?" She tried to hide the anger in her voice- how un-thoughtful that her friend should be a year older than her. Bellatrix shook her head,
"What do you do in your classes, hmm Kaddy? You will be fine. The year will go so fast, you know it will. I've no doubt you'll be Head Girl, and Captain of the Quiditch Team, you will have so much on that you will not even notice that I'm no longer here." Kadina nodded and flicked her short hair off of her face.
"So Bella, tell me about this man of yours. Is it more serious than the previous few?" Bellatrix noted the change of subject but said nothing.
"Yes Kadina, it is. Don't go all crazy on me or anything, and do not dare tell Cissa this. But I think that I will marry him… Yes, I am quiet certain of it." Kadina looked up in shock at her friend,
"Wow. That's… weird." Bellatrix frowned at her friend and shook her head.
"What about you Kadina, anything interesting in your love-life yet or are you still set on being 99 and never been kissed?" Kadina shrugged at her beautiful friends jibes.
"I am not going to say that it will never happen Bella, I just… I do not see the point in dating some stupid seventeen year old boy purely so I can go and have him stick his tongue down my throat." Bellatrix laughed,
"Oh trust me there are many better things he can do that stick his tongue down your throat." Kadina laughed and shook her head,
"I do not want to know what disgusting, whorish things you have been up to Bella dearest. Honestly, I don't." Bellatrix shrugged,
"All I am saying is that perhaps you should consider giving one of the countless love struck young men that fall over you some thought or time. You never know, they may not be as bad as you think them to be." Kadina glared and said nothing in response. "Fine Kaddy, have it your way. I give up!" Bellatrix announced sitting back resolutely in the carriage. The pair sat in silence the entire way to the Castle, and all the way to the table.
The Headmaster brought out the old, battered sorting hat and placed it on it's stool-
"Welcome, welcome, newest Hogwartians!
To the place where you'll learn all that you can,
To use your inner magic and prove you are no mortal man!
Into which house will you be sorted?
If you are smart like an owl,
Perhaps to Ravenclaw you shall fall.
If you are loyal like a hound,
To Hufflepuff you are bound.
If you are brave like bear,
Gryffindor is your lair.
If you are cunning like a fox,
Slytherin is your box.
Come forth younglings,
And discover yourself,
The truth of your heart,
Before I'm back on my shelf."
Kadina smiled at the comment of the fox, since that was what she was known by to all bar Bellatrix, she was indeed the purest and best Slytherin in the school. The hat had said so itself.
The numerous first years were sorted and the lack of interesting names placed in Slytherin meant that Kadina had drifted of into her own little world where she tried to figure out what she would do when she finally graduated from the hell hole that was Hogwarts.
She knew what was expected of her. As the only child she had to keep her last name and never marry. She had to become the runner and owner of the family store and ensure that its name continued to be infamous. A child had to be born of her, preferably a son, out of marriage and taken away from its father and raised a Burke through and through, so that the store in Knockturn Alley continued to stay in the direct family. It was not something that Kadina was looking forward to; it was not a life that she wanted to live.
Kadina glanced sideways at Bella and frowned, her friends' path was not so different. As a female Black she was required to marry, preferably an arranged, husband from a famous, notable pureblood family. Lestrange was one such family, luckily for Bella. Then she would become a housewife, fit to produce numerous children that would do the bloodlines proud. Kadina shook her head in disgust, there were few notable, pureblood families left, and marriage between distant cousins was all to frequent for her liking.
Kadina then turned her head and looked to Lucius, again a person stuck with the constraints of his family name. He, like every eldest male before him, would become a minister of some sort. He had accepted long ago his arranged marriage to Narcissa, and the pair now had convinced themselves into liking the other.
Kadina closed her eyes and took a deep breath to try and wash away the horrible shackles that put such constraints on the lives of her friends and herself. Unfortunately, they would not go away, and she was instead forced to ignore them and occupied herself with Quiditch strategies. Though this made the heartache more real, Kadina could dream of nothing more satisfying than becoming an international Quiditch player, she had the skills, she knew that. But long ago her father had molded her to become the
Burke that she was required to become. She sighed and resigned herself resentfully to her future and decided to make the most of her final two years of schooling.
She knew that she would never forget or underestimate the power that the blood that ran through a persons veins had over a situation. Blood held so much, a name, a race, magical abilities… Mudblood, muggle, half-blood, squib, pureblood. They were all determined by blood alone… She herself discounted many of the first-years purely because she could not recognize the name of their blood. Yes, she thought to herself, the price of blood was high.