Author's Note: Sorry for lack of updates, I'm having a terribly busy time
in school. :-S But thanks for the reviews!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
That evening, Monica lay awake in bed. She was too pensive to fall asleep. Katelyn, her new friend, was lying in the bed next to hers. Monica was beginning to like her a lot. She could hardly wait for the next day, when her lessons began and she met new people.
She thought about her mom, her dad and her sister back at home. It was a bit difficult to sleep away from them - she had been used to them since she was born, and she loved them a lot. She had a special connection with her parents... something she felt was a bit peculiar, since she trusted them completely. Most kids she had been talking to were surprised to hear this. They said their parents were nice, but their relationship with them was not that close. Monica, however, felt totally open and free with her parents, which she thought was great.
Now they were away - and it wasn't easy. She missed her father coming into her room to kiss her good night. It was their habit - he would come in every night, sit on the edge of her bed and simply talk to her. They had been doing it since Monica could remember herself. She told him everything - her thoughts, her experiences, her feelings. Monica loved this man more than anyone in the world.
Her mother and sister missed, too, but Monica couldn't help missing her father most.
She got up from her bed and went over to the dresser. She silently opened its door and gazed at herself in the mirror.
She was tall and slightly thin - not too thin, though. Her hair was long, and now that it was down, it almost reached her waist - soft, white-blond and curly. It was a like her father's her, only more curly. Her skin was also like her father's, pure-white. Her eyes, however, were identical to her mother's eyes - big, dark-chocolate-brown, with an amused, pensive expression.
Her little sister, Sapphire, was a bit different. Her hair was curly, but light-brown, and her eyes were blue instead of brown, like their father's eyes. Monica wanted blue eyes more than anything - she wanted to resemble her father.
She walked over to the window and looked out. It was dark; the sky was almost black and starry. Suddenly, in the horizon, she saw a falling star.
She immediately felt excited. Her father had told her about falling stars; he told her they had special magical powers, and that if you made a wish upon a falling star, this wish was most likely to come true.
"Unless you wish to grow an extra head or something," her father explained.
So Monica knew she had to wish for something logical - and now, before the falling star was gone. She quickly closed her eyes and mouthed her wish:
I wish I would marry a man like my Dad.
That had been her wish ever since she was a little child. When she first heard about marriage, she declared she didn't want to marry anyone at all. When she was asked why, she replied: "Because I don't want to leave my Dad."
Now she was a bit older, and saw things differently. She still couldn't imagine ever leaving her father, but she knew she would have to do it one day, so what she wished for was to find someone like her father to share the rest of her life with.
She thought this was logical...
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
**A few days later**
"Who is this boy?" Monica asked Katelyn. They were in Potions class, and they were studying it with the Slytherins. She noticed a blond, green-eyed boy, who seemed stunningly cute. She had'nt noticed him before.
"I don't know," Katelyn replied, also examining the boy with interest.
Severus Snape entered the class and everybody fell silent. He closed the door and stood by it, looking at them all, making everyone feel very uncomfortable.
"Potions," he said quietly, as if they were in a dying man's room. "The ancient, noble art of potion-making. I have been stunned over and over again to see how little do people know about it, even fully-grown wizards, from whom you'd expect minimal knowledge."
He stepped towards his table. Monica followed him with her eyes, hardly breathing.
Snape started to read the names from his list. He read the Slytherins first, and when he called "McKay, Robin", the blond boy raised his hand.
Monica stared at the boy, and hardly listened to Snape who was moving on with the list, and when he called "Malfoy, Monica" she didn't even hear it, until Katelyn had to punch her hard in the ribs in order for her to pay attention.
Monica jumped. "Oh - sorry, Professor," she apologized.
Snape glared at her, causing her to blush, then moved on.
During the lesson, Monica was trying very hard not to stare at Robin, but it was difficult, especially as Snape was talking about Potions, and she already knew she didn't like it.
She remembered what her father had told her. "I've never liked Potions, myself," he admitted, "but it's really not that difficult, Monica. All you have to do is listen very carefully to Snape's instructions, then do it. And ignore his glares," he added, "he does them all the time, to make you shiver. As long as you ignore it, you can succeed."
So Monica did her best to concentrate on Snape's instructions, but it was too boring. Somehow, gazing at Robin seemed much more interesting...
As the bell finally rang, Monica went straight to the boy. One thing she really liked about herself was - she wasn't shy. She wasn't at all nervous when she met strangers - arriving in a whole new school was something different, of course, but generally, meeting new people was actually fun in her opinion.
So she walked over to Robin and said: "Hey!"
He stopped, looking pretty surprised. "Hi."
"What's up?" she said, beaming. "I'm Monica."
He gave a smile. "I'm Robin. You're a Gryffindor?"
"Yes," she replied, "you're a Slytherin?"
"Yeah."
"Where do you live?"
"In London," he replied, "and you?"
"In Scotland, near Aberdeen. Is London really cool like they say? I've never been there."
"Yeah, it's pretty awesome."
They kept talking for a while; then they went out for a walk in the grounds and chatted some more. Monica could see he liked her too.
Later this day, however, Katelyn grabbed Monica and whispered to her: "What the hell do you think you are doing?"
"What are you talking about?" asked Monica, surprised.
"Talking like this with a Slytherin? Are you completely out of your mind?!"
"Why?"
"Don't you know anything about the Slytherins?" Katelyn demanded. "You're from a wizard family, after all! Don't you know? This house is full of hatred and slyness. Its students do anything to achieve their ends, didn't you know that? Anything! Take Lord Voldemort for example - he was a Slytherin! And what about Salazar Slytherin, this house's founder - he built the Chamber of Secrets!"
"What's the Chamber of Secrets?" asked Monica, confused and alarmed.
"I can't believe your parents never told you that! The Chamber of Secrets used to hold a vicious, huge snake - a Basilisk - and it waited in the Chamber for a thousand years, since Slytherin's death until his heir came to the school to clear it from Muggle-borns."
"What? Why?"
"Because Salazar Slytherin thought Muggle-borns were inferior," said Katelyn hotly. "He believed that only pure-bloods were allowed to learn magic. That's why you would never find a Muggle-born in Slytherin. They are not good enough."
This information filled Monica's heart with horror. She had never heard that about the Slytherins. And then a new thought hit her - her own father used to be in Slytherin...
"What happened later? Has the Heir of Slytherin come to Hogwarts yet?" she asked, trying to keep her voice calm, though her cheeks were on fire.
"Yes," Katelyn replied, "and the Heir was none other than Lord Voldemort himself. He opened the Chamber in his sixth year, but was forced to stop when he understood Dumbledore suspected him. So he left a diary, in which he put a memory of himself - Tom Riddle, a sixteen-year-old. He left the diary behind when he left school. Then the diary reached Ginny Weasley's hands."
"GINNY WEASLEY?"
"Yes, do you know her?"
"Of course I know her!" said Monica, astonished, "she's one of my mother's best friends! And she's married to Harry Potter, who is another friend of my mother's!"
"That's right," said Katelyn, "I know that. So, Ginny wrote in that diary for a whole year - her first year here in Hogwarts - and Tom Riddle's memory wrote her back. She thought he was a friend. She believed he understood her. She didn't know he had plans about her."
"What plans?" said Monica quietly. Her whole body was shaking.
"As Ginny wrote in the diary, she let Riddle know more and more about her, so he gained control. He became stronger and stronger, until he was much stronger than her. Then he could start forcing her into doing stuff, horrible stuff she couldn't remember later, like holes in her memory. He made her open the Chamber of Secrets again and release the Basilisk, so it attacked Muggle-borns."
"And what happened later?" asked Monica, her mouth dry as cotton.
"Harry Potter and his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, discovered everything in the end of that year - they were second-years. Harry Potter killed the Basilisk, destroyed the diary of Tom Riddle and set Ginny free."
Monica gazed at her.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Harry Potter. Ron Weasley. And Hermione Granger.
Her mother, and her mother's best friends.
WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS?
Monica lay in bed for long hours, unable to sleep. Why didn't Mom tell me this? Why didn't Dad tell? Even Harry, Ron and Ginny never mentioned anything in front of me!
And Dad... her dad had been a Slytherin. She knew he had. And he was the same age as her mother - which means he was a second-year when this happened. Why didn't he help Harry, Ron and Mom fighting the Basilisk away?
If he didn't help, it doesn't mean he supported this, Monica told herself sternly. So what if he didn't help? Maybe he didn't realize what was going on. Maybe he was confused or afraid. He couldn't possibly have supported this - he married her mom, didn't he? And her mom was a Muggle-born herself!
There was definitely something mysterious about this... and she had to find out what it was.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
That evening, Monica lay awake in bed. She was too pensive to fall asleep. Katelyn, her new friend, was lying in the bed next to hers. Monica was beginning to like her a lot. She could hardly wait for the next day, when her lessons began and she met new people.
She thought about her mom, her dad and her sister back at home. It was a bit difficult to sleep away from them - she had been used to them since she was born, and she loved them a lot. She had a special connection with her parents... something she felt was a bit peculiar, since she trusted them completely. Most kids she had been talking to were surprised to hear this. They said their parents were nice, but their relationship with them was not that close. Monica, however, felt totally open and free with her parents, which she thought was great.
Now they were away - and it wasn't easy. She missed her father coming into her room to kiss her good night. It was their habit - he would come in every night, sit on the edge of her bed and simply talk to her. They had been doing it since Monica could remember herself. She told him everything - her thoughts, her experiences, her feelings. Monica loved this man more than anyone in the world.
Her mother and sister missed, too, but Monica couldn't help missing her father most.
She got up from her bed and went over to the dresser. She silently opened its door and gazed at herself in the mirror.
She was tall and slightly thin - not too thin, though. Her hair was long, and now that it was down, it almost reached her waist - soft, white-blond and curly. It was a like her father's her, only more curly. Her skin was also like her father's, pure-white. Her eyes, however, were identical to her mother's eyes - big, dark-chocolate-brown, with an amused, pensive expression.
Her little sister, Sapphire, was a bit different. Her hair was curly, but light-brown, and her eyes were blue instead of brown, like their father's eyes. Monica wanted blue eyes more than anything - she wanted to resemble her father.
She walked over to the window and looked out. It was dark; the sky was almost black and starry. Suddenly, in the horizon, she saw a falling star.
She immediately felt excited. Her father had told her about falling stars; he told her they had special magical powers, and that if you made a wish upon a falling star, this wish was most likely to come true.
"Unless you wish to grow an extra head or something," her father explained.
So Monica knew she had to wish for something logical - and now, before the falling star was gone. She quickly closed her eyes and mouthed her wish:
I wish I would marry a man like my Dad.
That had been her wish ever since she was a little child. When she first heard about marriage, she declared she didn't want to marry anyone at all. When she was asked why, she replied: "Because I don't want to leave my Dad."
Now she was a bit older, and saw things differently. She still couldn't imagine ever leaving her father, but she knew she would have to do it one day, so what she wished for was to find someone like her father to share the rest of her life with.
She thought this was logical...
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
**A few days later**
"Who is this boy?" Monica asked Katelyn. They were in Potions class, and they were studying it with the Slytherins. She noticed a blond, green-eyed boy, who seemed stunningly cute. She had'nt noticed him before.
"I don't know," Katelyn replied, also examining the boy with interest.
Severus Snape entered the class and everybody fell silent. He closed the door and stood by it, looking at them all, making everyone feel very uncomfortable.
"Potions," he said quietly, as if they were in a dying man's room. "The ancient, noble art of potion-making. I have been stunned over and over again to see how little do people know about it, even fully-grown wizards, from whom you'd expect minimal knowledge."
He stepped towards his table. Monica followed him with her eyes, hardly breathing.
Snape started to read the names from his list. He read the Slytherins first, and when he called "McKay, Robin", the blond boy raised his hand.
Monica stared at the boy, and hardly listened to Snape who was moving on with the list, and when he called "Malfoy, Monica" she didn't even hear it, until Katelyn had to punch her hard in the ribs in order for her to pay attention.
Monica jumped. "Oh - sorry, Professor," she apologized.
Snape glared at her, causing her to blush, then moved on.
During the lesson, Monica was trying very hard not to stare at Robin, but it was difficult, especially as Snape was talking about Potions, and she already knew she didn't like it.
She remembered what her father had told her. "I've never liked Potions, myself," he admitted, "but it's really not that difficult, Monica. All you have to do is listen very carefully to Snape's instructions, then do it. And ignore his glares," he added, "he does them all the time, to make you shiver. As long as you ignore it, you can succeed."
So Monica did her best to concentrate on Snape's instructions, but it was too boring. Somehow, gazing at Robin seemed much more interesting...
As the bell finally rang, Monica went straight to the boy. One thing she really liked about herself was - she wasn't shy. She wasn't at all nervous when she met strangers - arriving in a whole new school was something different, of course, but generally, meeting new people was actually fun in her opinion.
So she walked over to Robin and said: "Hey!"
He stopped, looking pretty surprised. "Hi."
"What's up?" she said, beaming. "I'm Monica."
He gave a smile. "I'm Robin. You're a Gryffindor?"
"Yes," she replied, "you're a Slytherin?"
"Yeah."
"Where do you live?"
"In London," he replied, "and you?"
"In Scotland, near Aberdeen. Is London really cool like they say? I've never been there."
"Yeah, it's pretty awesome."
They kept talking for a while; then they went out for a walk in the grounds and chatted some more. Monica could see he liked her too.
Later this day, however, Katelyn grabbed Monica and whispered to her: "What the hell do you think you are doing?"
"What are you talking about?" asked Monica, surprised.
"Talking like this with a Slytherin? Are you completely out of your mind?!"
"Why?"
"Don't you know anything about the Slytherins?" Katelyn demanded. "You're from a wizard family, after all! Don't you know? This house is full of hatred and slyness. Its students do anything to achieve their ends, didn't you know that? Anything! Take Lord Voldemort for example - he was a Slytherin! And what about Salazar Slytherin, this house's founder - he built the Chamber of Secrets!"
"What's the Chamber of Secrets?" asked Monica, confused and alarmed.
"I can't believe your parents never told you that! The Chamber of Secrets used to hold a vicious, huge snake - a Basilisk - and it waited in the Chamber for a thousand years, since Slytherin's death until his heir came to the school to clear it from Muggle-borns."
"What? Why?"
"Because Salazar Slytherin thought Muggle-borns were inferior," said Katelyn hotly. "He believed that only pure-bloods were allowed to learn magic. That's why you would never find a Muggle-born in Slytherin. They are not good enough."
This information filled Monica's heart with horror. She had never heard that about the Slytherins. And then a new thought hit her - her own father used to be in Slytherin...
"What happened later? Has the Heir of Slytherin come to Hogwarts yet?" she asked, trying to keep her voice calm, though her cheeks were on fire.
"Yes," Katelyn replied, "and the Heir was none other than Lord Voldemort himself. He opened the Chamber in his sixth year, but was forced to stop when he understood Dumbledore suspected him. So he left a diary, in which he put a memory of himself - Tom Riddle, a sixteen-year-old. He left the diary behind when he left school. Then the diary reached Ginny Weasley's hands."
"GINNY WEASLEY?"
"Yes, do you know her?"
"Of course I know her!" said Monica, astonished, "she's one of my mother's best friends! And she's married to Harry Potter, who is another friend of my mother's!"
"That's right," said Katelyn, "I know that. So, Ginny wrote in that diary for a whole year - her first year here in Hogwarts - and Tom Riddle's memory wrote her back. She thought he was a friend. She believed he understood her. She didn't know he had plans about her."
"What plans?" said Monica quietly. Her whole body was shaking.
"As Ginny wrote in the diary, she let Riddle know more and more about her, so he gained control. He became stronger and stronger, until he was much stronger than her. Then he could start forcing her into doing stuff, horrible stuff she couldn't remember later, like holes in her memory. He made her open the Chamber of Secrets again and release the Basilisk, so it attacked Muggle-borns."
"And what happened later?" asked Monica, her mouth dry as cotton.
"Harry Potter and his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, discovered everything in the end of that year - they were second-years. Harry Potter killed the Basilisk, destroyed the diary of Tom Riddle and set Ginny free."
Monica gazed at her.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Harry Potter. Ron Weasley. And Hermione Granger.
Her mother, and her mother's best friends.
WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS?
Monica lay in bed for long hours, unable to sleep. Why didn't Mom tell me this? Why didn't Dad tell? Even Harry, Ron and Ginny never mentioned anything in front of me!
And Dad... her dad had been a Slytherin. She knew he had. And he was the same age as her mother - which means he was a second-year when this happened. Why didn't he help Harry, Ron and Mom fighting the Basilisk away?
If he didn't help, it doesn't mean he supported this, Monica told herself sternly. So what if he didn't help? Maybe he didn't realize what was going on. Maybe he was confused or afraid. He couldn't possibly have supported this - he married her mom, didn't he? And her mom was a Muggle-born herself!
There was definitely something mysterious about this... and she had to find out what it was.