My Brother's Keeper
by ChatterChick
Summary: Sophie Potter is the younger sister of the infamous Harry Potter. Her life at Hogwarts should be set, but things take an unexpected turn when she is sorted into Slytherin. Being green is never easy, especially when those cunning folk will befriend you just as fast as they would cut your throat.
A/N Officially a quarter of the way through the story! Here's to the next forty-five chapters. Reviews are a wonderful form of encourage. Enjoy!
Chapter 15: Princess Pansy
The last week of summer holidays had been chaotic. James had gone absolutely mental over the events at the World Cup, although Sophie couldn't blame him. The Death Eaters reforming was James' worst nightmare, as it was clear the Potters would be a prime target. He and Sirius spent the better part of one evening rechecking the protective enchantments around the house, and then had Bill Weasley come over to try to get past them.
Sirius and Tonks worked long hours trying to fix the mess after the Quidditch Cup. To Sirius' annoyance, they weren't able to find the person who had cast the Dark Mark or any of the people running around in the masks. He darkly muttered he had a good guess who some of them were, but couldn't actually prove it.
As it turned out, Harry, Ron and Hermione were found just under the location that the Dark Mark had been cast. It really shouldn't have surprised Sophie that her brother had been present. He did have a knack for finding trouble, but each time he managed to out-do himself.
When the ministry officials showed up, they had only been able to find a house-elf named Winky holding a wand she had found left on the ground. The wand belonged to an eleven-year-old girl who had been running with her family into the forest and dropped it along the way. She was quickly ruled out as the possible suspect as she hadn't even attended her first year of school yet. The house-elf happened to belong to Mr Crouch, the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and he was livid at the implication that it was his servant who had cast the mark. Harry insisted that it wasn't the house-elf, and that the voice had been male. Still, the house-elf had been sacked over it.
To say Hermione had been upset at the treatment of Winky was an understatement.
Hermione had rounded on all of them at the table the afternoon after the World Cup. She and Nephele had received permission to stay with the Potters the last week of the holidays.
"You don't keep house-elves, do you?" She asked over breakfast the next morning. She glanced around the kitchen, as if expecting the Potters had kept one hidden from her all this time.
James shook his head. "Lily gave ours away to one of our neighbours, Bathilda, to help take care of her."
"We had Kreacher growing up, nasty little bugger. Narcissa inherited him when Mum died. Probably for the best, we didn't get along much, Kreacher and I. Cissy and I too for that matter."
"Chipper died a few years ago and it's been difficult to get a replacement," Nephele admitted. She looked pleased as she added, "Mother had to learn to cook."
The answers hadn't impressed Hermione, as no one else seemed to think it was that big of a deal. House-elves were quite common in old pure-blood families, and the Potters, Blacks and Rosiers were among the oldest. Hermione didn't ease up on the topic, and managed to exhaust the entire house. Sophie and Nephele managed to escape her most of the time, leaving Harry to listen to Hermione's rants about slavery and cruelty. Ron had gotten an earful when he made the mistake of saying his mum wanted one to help around the house. James and Sirius' smiles were a little strained whenever they answered Hermione's persistent questions.
Nephele flat-out refused to engage Hermione on the topic, especially once Hermione started badgering about how the Rosiers didn't need to replace their last house-elf and they could be leaders in a new way of life without one.
"Are they always like this?" Nephele quietly asked Sophie as they were getting ready for bed. Nephele and Hermione had been put in Sophie's room for the rest of the holidays.
"What?"
"Muggle-borns," Nephele clarified. "I thought she was supposed to be smart. She's just going to alienate everyone like that. No pure-blood wants to hear that they're barbaric from someone raised by muggles."
Sophie noticed that Nephele used the same tone to say 'barbaric' and 'muggle'. She wasn't the only one who noticed that. Hermione had just walked in the bedroom.
"And just what do you know about muggles?" Hermione demanded. "Have you ever talked to one?"
"About as much as you know about house-elves then," Nephele challenged. Her grey eyes got very narrow and she thrust her chin out, looking eerily like Draco Malfoy.
"Maybe we should go to bed," Sophie ventured. The silence that had fallen over her room made her feel awkward and she wanted whatever tension between Hermione and Nephele gone. She wasn't sure how that was going to be repaired. Hermione wasn't backing down on her house-elf issue and Sophie wasn't sure she wanted to know what Nephele's thoughts on muggles were. "We'll have a long day tomorrow."
The topic of muggles was something Sophie had managed to avoid with her friends. She knew she was the only half-blood among them and that didn't seem to be an issue. From the sounds of things, the Greengrasses weren't really bothered by muggles or muggle-borns. Astoria's parents were good friends with Andromeda and Ted Tonks after all.
Kitty and the Penroses seemed to view it more as a class thing. In the magical world, the pure-bloods often controlled the wealth and power and it was kept within a small group of families. Muggle-borns were often at a huge disadvantage, as they entered a new world at eleven and made to make their way through it with no family connections at best, and blood prejudice at worst. While Kitty wouldn't insult someone for their blood, she seemed to think some people were better than others.
It hadn't escaped Sophie's mind that Nephele's father had been a Death Eater though. Sirius had explained to her what they were the next day and what they had done. It chilled Sophie that Nephele's father was one of the people who thought muggle-borns like her mother were dirty and deserved to die. Sirius also made sure she remembered that Nephele had no control over what her father thought several years ago. She only controlled what she thought today.
Whatever her thoughts on muggles and muggle-borns were, Nephele seemed clever enough not to mention them out loud.
xXxXx
As usual, Hermione got up before Sophie and Nephele. By the time they made their way downstairs, she had already eaten and was sitting at the table, reading the Daily Prophet and waiting for the rest of them. Regina Rosier was also waiting for them in the kitchen, having come over to say goodbye to Nephele before they went back to school.
"I would have seen her off at the platform, but Ellen Goyle owled me last night saying we simply must meet for tea and how can I say no?" She prattled on. "Her boys are going back today, and I'm sure she's relieved to have them gone. It's so cramped having all the children home for the summer hols, you know?"
"I always find it too quiet when they're back," replied James.
"Don't get me wrong, I love having Nephie home!" She gave her daughter air kisses on the cheeks. "I'm going to miss you so much darling."
Sirius had arranged for a portkey to take the six of them to the platform at ten-thirty. He and James shrunk the trunks and placed them in their pockets, enlarging them once they were at the portkey gate. Harry and Sophie were given plenty of warnings to try and stay out of trouble before they boarded the Hogwarts Express. While a year ago, James had been certain that Sophie would give him no headaches, now he seemed to have re-evaluated that thought after her first year.
"Look after your sister Harry, and I don't want either of you to go looking for any murderous creatures or people this year, or investigate anything that looks suspicious – "
Sirius gave a soft snort. Harry had an amused smirk on his face. Sophie sighed in exasperation. It wasn't like she did that on purpose. She had been kidnapped after studying for a Herbology exam.
"Be safe, and I'll see you at Christmas."
James gave her a hug goodbye, but Harry dodged his with a protest. Apparently her fourteen-year-old brother was too old to be hugged by his dad at the platform. Nephele and Hermione both thanked James for taking them to the World Cup and having them for the past week.
They separated on the platform, as Harry and Hermione were going to find whatever compartment Ron had saved for them, and Sophie and Nephele spotted Astoria with her cousin, Laelia Farley. They were soon joined by Kitty, and the five girls searched for a compartment on the train together. As usual, most were full and it was difficult to find seating. Astoria knocked on one door, and slid it open when there was no response.
"Oh honestly, that's just tacky," Astoria said, her cheeks flushed. "You could at least lock the door!"
Sophie peered inside the compartment, and immediately wished she hadn't. Cassius Warrington was sitting on top of Jason Greengrass, the two of them locked in a very intense tongue-duel. With a flick of his wand, Jason immediately closed the compartment door and the curtains, leaving the five girls giggling out in the corridor.
Kitty giggled. "I think they're rather sweet together. Much better than that cow, Parkinson."
If there was one thing the Parkinson girls were good at, it was forcing themselves into relationships with rich, pure-blooded wizards. Their eldest daughter, Violet Parkinson, had announced her engagement during the summer to Preston Burke. Sophie remembered Sappho's comments that Violet had dug her claws in as soon as she could.
"Mark my words; that girl will be pregnant before her honeymoon is over."
Sappho disproved heavily of the Parkinson girls, especially since Rosie Parkinson marked Jason Greengrass as hers. It seemed that wasn't going to happen, especially with the way Jason was enthusiastically snogging Cassius.
Of course, it wasn't a total loss for the Parkinson family. While Rosie had failed to catch Jason's attention, Pansy had planted herself firmly by Draco's side.
"Daphne said Pansy's been impossible ever since she stayed with the Malfoys for a week." Astoria informed them once they settled into a compartment of their own. Now that they were out of the corridors, they could gossip freely about the rest of their house. "She thinks dating Draco makes her something of a princess."
As much as Sophie hated to admit it, it seemed that Slytherin really did revolve around Draco Malfoy.
"Well, the Malfoys are practically wizarding royalty," Kitty informed them. "If Pansy's trying to be the Narcissa Malfoy of our generation, it helps to date her son and have the Malfoy name behind her."
Astoria looked unimpressed. "She's just going to get worse if she thinks she's untouchable."
A few hours later, they arrived at the train station in Hogsmeade village. They parted ways with Laelia, who had to go with Hagrid and the rest of the first years by the boats, and made their way over to the horseless carriages with the upper years. Sophie, Astoria, Kitty and Nephele climbed into one of the carriages and were joined by two Slytherin boys from their year, Blaine Manderly and Jasper Peasegood.
The sorting ceremony was rather dull and long if you weren't one of the people being sorted. The most interesting part was when the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Alastor Moody, showed up half-way through the feast. Sophie had heard of him, he had been an auror with Sirius until he had been forced into retirement. From the angry murmuring around her, it seemed like he wasn't well-liked among her housemates.
Astoria had been a bit disappointed when her cousin had been sorted into Ravenclaw instead of Slytherin. Selfishly, Sophie was a little glad as that meant she didn't have to compete with Laelia for Astoria's attention. The cousins were close whenever they were together, and Sophie had worried that her 'best friend' status might be threatened with the younger girl around.
"I can't say I'm not surprise," Astoria mused on their way back to the dorm. "Laelia's always been very clever. I suppose we can sneak her into our dormitory."
"Maybe we can trade with Ravenclaw," Kitty giggled as they made their way to the dungeons. "Lyssa for Laelia."
Things remained strained with their fifth dormmate. Lyssa had sat with them during the sorting as it was one of those few times people were expected to sit with their houses, but didn't say much to any of them. Only a passing comment that she wondered aloud what Professor Lupin was doing this year. Sophie had pointedly ignored her. She hadn't seen Remus over the summer anyway. She wasn't sure if he was avoiding the Potters or if James hadn't wanted him to come around. Either way, she was relieved that she hadn't seen him since June. She still wasn't sure how she felt about nearly being eaten by a werewolf and still woke up with nightmares over it.
"Knotgrass," Nephele said to the stone wall. The entrance way to Slytherin appeared and the girls walked into the common room. Jason and Fiona had given out the new password to everyone during the feast.
A voice called out the moment they walked into the common room. "Potter, come here."
Pansy Parkinson sat in front of the fourth year fireplace, looking every bit a princess in her throne. The other Slytherin fourth year girls were gathered around her, like her loyal ladies-in-waiting. Daphne Greengrass, Millicent Bulstrode and Portia Dolohov sat on the armchairs in a circle around her. Missing from their ranks was Tracey Davies, who had transferred schools after a year at the hands of Pansy.
Sophie shared a look with her friends. Astoria shrugged her shoulders as if to leave the decision up to her.
"I'll catch up with you after," she said. It was probably not a good idea to ignore Pansy and get on her bad side.
She felt ill as she made her way to the group of older girls. She sat on the tip of the offered armchair, her back rigid and her entire body alert. Until now, Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson had ignored the younger Potter. Draco's feud against her brother, oddly enough, didn't extend to tormenting his younger sister. Pansy seemed to have forgotten she existed, which suited Sophie fine.
"Why haven't I had the pleasure of your acquaintance before now?" Pansy asked. "Daphne is such a dear friend of mine, and you get on with her sister so well."
Daphne's smile was strained, and Sophie knew this wasn't her idea. She was always under the impression Daphne just tolerated Pansy because it was better to fit in than to be an outcast in Slytherin.
Unsure of what to say, Sophie stuck mostly to the truth. "I just keep with my year."
"I think you've heard some nasty little rumours about me," Pansy corrected her. "People think I'm mean."
"No, I haven't heard, er, anything like that."
"You mean your brother and Granger have had nothing but nice words? I didn't realize they spoke so highly of me."
"Well, no – "
"That's what I thought. You know, what has happened between your brother and his friends and my friends and I shouldn't affect what happens between you and I. There's no reason to have any bad blood between us," Pansy said. She spoke slowly, as if enjoying taking her time and stretching out this conversation. "It's a shame about your mother."
Daphne paled, horrified at what her friend just said. "Pans-"
Pansy's face was the picture of innocent as she continued, "That she's dead, of course."
"Of course," Sophie bit the inside of her lip. She knew it was a thinly veiled jab at the fact that her mother had been a muggle-born. Pansy would just never openly say it, and would just claim a misunderstanding if Sophie ever brought it up again.
"I hope we can become friends, Little Potter," Pansy smiled at her. It wasn't a kind smile either, and gave Sophie a sense of dread.
"Er, sure?" Sophie returned. "I'm going to go to bed, it's been a long day. Good night."
With Pansy's nod of dismissal, Sophie quickly made her way to the second year dorm. Her heart was racing as she went over the conversation in her mind, trying to think of how she could have handled that better, wondering why Pansy suddenly wanted them to be 'friends'. Whatever the reason was, Sophie doubted it was a sincere desire to be besties. Maybe Pansy and Draco had something up their sleeve for Harry and they wanted to use her? It seemed like something they'd do, befriend the little sister to piss off Harry.
It was something she had threatened to do whenever she was mad at him. Something about Draco Malfoy set him off every time, and it was sort of funny to see how riled up he'd get over the thought of his sister befriending Malfoy. Or even worse, dating Malfoy. Definitely a worthwhile revenge if Harry ever annoyed her enough, and she sort of thought Malfoy might even agree to it.
"What was that about?" Astoria immediately asked the moment Sophie entered their room.
Sophie scowled, "Pansy says she wants to be friends. I don't know why, she ignored me all last year."
"It's not that surprising. Sure there's some history between Draco and Harry, but you're a Potter. It's favourable to be a Potter right now," said Kitty. "Your family doesn't use it, but you've got all this popularity and political power because your brother defeated You-Know-Who. She was probably told to be nice to you."
It was a chilling moment, and Sophie wondered what would happen if it ever stopped being favourable to 'be a Potter'.