The first quidditch match was approaching, it was talked about all over Hogwarts because it was Gryffindor vs Slytherin, seeing Harry at the dome of the training session made me feel like he was born for this, now I don't understand quidditch that much, so I don't know if he's any good, but he seemed really happy doing it, it wasn't any of my interests though. Don't get me wrong, I love flying, I had my time taking Harry's Nimbus 2000 out after training, it feels great, with the wind flying in my hair and I can go as fast as I can, one of my childhood dreams was to ride a bicycle, they looked so cool with all the kids riding their colourful bicycles around, having little races and paddling so fast that their legs feel like they're coming off. Dudley had like three of them, every time his parents gets him one he tries it once and then through it in the garage, I obviously wasn't allowed in the garage or anywhere near his bicycles, one time I sneaked out and tried to ride one, but all three of them were too high for me, I didn't dare ask for one but I always wished for it. That's part of the reason I liked flying, it felt similar to riding a bike, but the competition in quidditch felt like too much stress, I was never a fan of group sports anyway. That didn't stop me from rooting for Gryffindor as my life depended on it, if Slytherin won, Diaz wouldn't let me hear the end of it, he'd say it was a clear sign that our bet was his to win. So, the morning of the match, I woke up early, and so did Sarah, even though she's usually the last one to wake up, but the excitement had apparently gone to her too. After breakfast, we made our way to the quidditch stadium, the match was just starting, but Slytherins was already in the lead by sixty points, Draco's father had bought the whole team fancy fast brooms and now they were too fast for the Gryffindor team to keep up with them, I was starting to get hopeless about rubbing our win in Diaz's face when it all became the least of my worries. One of the bludgers was unusually tailing Harry, I don't assume to know quidditch, but I know that bludgers are not supposed to act like that, even Fred and George looked like they were getting exasperated with it, the team took a timeout, I thought they were going to stop the rouge bludger, but when they flew back up, the bludger was still targeting Harry, even worse, the Weasley twins left him alone now and were defending the rest of the team, oh, I was going to kill wood I thought, I admired wood competition, but now he was being really thick, I put my head in my hands, every time I glanced up Harry was in worse conditions when the bludger broke his arm, I've had enough, I got out of my seat and started making my way out, I didn't even notice the score and I didn't care, I wanted to stop the madness, that didn't matter because before I got there Harry caught the snitch, my stupid brother caught the snitch with a bludger on his tail and a broken arm. When I finally got down there was a crowd around Harry, amongst the crowd unfortunately was Gilroy Lockhart.
"So that's how it's going to be now? You play a quidditch match and lose all the bones in your arm?" I said still not believing how terrible our defence against the dark arts teacher is, "pretty much" said Harry, still drinking the potion Madam Pomfry gave him, "I want to know how Malfoy fixed the bludger though" said Hermione, Ron looked like he was going to say something but thought better of it. "Okay that's enough, you three are up to something stupid aren't you?" I said accusingly, "we're not up to anything," said Ron in an unconvincing tone, I raised my eyebrows, "it's not stupid," said Hermione, also unconvincing, I kept staring at them, "Stay out of it, Emma," said Harry dismissing it, "does your secret have anything to do with the bludger today?" I asked, "no, we know nothing about that, I promise," said Harry, "fine, it might be stupid, but it's not dangerous I swear," said Harry giving up, " okay, but if it is dangerous and you die, can I have your broom?" I asked, smiling a little, "No you can't, I called his broom, you can have the invisibility cloak" said Ron, "deal" I said, "I feel so loved" said Harry sarcastically. I left them alone to plan whatever plan they had in mind.
The next morning, I found out about Colin Creavy being petrified, I felt so bad for him, he was a Gryffindor in my year, and he used to ask me a million questions about Harry, whenever he bothered me too much I told him Harry's schedule, so he can just follow him and leave me alone, now I felt guilty, whoever us behind the attack must be seriously dangerous, I mean a cat is one thing, but a human being petrified, that even someone like Dumbeldoor can't instantly wake him, that's something else, I was leaning to believe that it's Malfoy, but I felt like he couldn't perform such advanced magic, not that he wouldn't want to, I heard him, "you're next mudbloods" I don't understand how could anyone suspect Harry after Malfoy openly said that, I just hope they find a solution before more attacks happen.
A few weeks later, I was leaving transformation with a cocky smile on my face, I had passed Diaz in most lesson activities, not to mention I haven't let him live Slytherin's loss in quidditch yet, I was almost sorry for him fumbling for words (emphasis on almost), "you can be so mean sometimes, remind me not to get on your bad side" said Sarah while we walked to dinner, "he started it though" I said smirking, before Sarah could answer me Harry showed up out of nowhere, "Emma, .. I was looking for you" he said out of breath, "why? What's wrong?" I asked worried, "I want to ask you about something," he said and looked at Sarah, "go ahead, Sarah I'll catch up with you," I said and Sarah left for dinner alone, "what is it, you're worrying me?" I asked, "Remember that day when we went to the zoo on Dudley's birthday because Mrs.Figgs was sick?" He asked
"Uhh...Yes, I do why is that important?" I asked, unsure
"Well remember there was a snake that escaped"
" You mean the one you broke out?"
"Well, yes that one, you heard it talk, right?"
"I heard it hiss back as she understood you," I said, still confused
"No not hissing, it was talking"
"Harry, snakes don't talk," I said, concerned
"What about me then I was speaking English, right?"
"No, you weren't, you were hissing too, first I thought you were missing around but then the snake seemed to understand," I said, remembering what happened that day.
"Why have you never said that" said Harry exasperated
"I am sorry that I didn't tell you that snakes don't talk," I said sarcastically, he didn't laugh, he seemed stressed, "calm down and tell me what happened," I said, he told me what happened in the duelling club while we walked to dinner, "well if being parseltongue is something you can inherit then I should be too, so it doesn't make sense for that to have anything to do with Salazar Slytherin," I said, in deep thought " besides, don't you think if you're the descendent of Slytherin you would be sorted in, umm I don't know maybe Slytherin?" He sighed, "I don't know, Emma, I don't understand it either, but everyone is going to be suspecting me now," he said, I hated how miserable he looked, " it doesn't matter what they think, Harry, let's just hope they find the one that actually did it soon".
The next day people stopped suspecting Harry of being the heir of Slytherin because now they were sure he was, Harry was again found amid another attack, this time it was a Hufflepuff in Harry's year and nearly headless Nick, it was scary the fact that even a ghost was petrified, it sent a ripple of panic through the school, of course the moment I start feeling comfortable and having friends something like that happens, mostly everyone stayed clear of me like if they get too close I might get angry and follow in my brother's footsteps, they would call me "the other heir" loud enough for me to hear, to be honest, what really annoyed me is "the other" part, it felt like I'm living in someone else's shadow, I mean call me the Slytherin heir people I'm my own person. Still, it hurt me that people were acting a little like my old school although I kept making jokes about it which Sarah found funny (thank God for her), I expected Ginny to exploit the chance and make some mean comments about it but she didn't say anything, I figured she kept her mouth shut for Harry's sake, I dreaded astronomy because the Hufflepuffs believed it the most and sure enough they all eyed me the moment I walked into class, Conan sat next to me, "don't pay them any attention, Emma, they're just mad about Justin, but I know you have nothing to do with it" he whispered to me while Professor Sinistra started the lesson, I felt so grateful for him, all through class whenever a Hufflepuff whispered something like "you're just as guilty" or "how do you sleep at night" Conan just squeezed my hand and I ignored them, I was so glad that the holidays were almost here and people would go home and get off my back for a while.
When the holidays finally came, I said goodbye to Sarah and Conan, Sarah stopped me before making her way to the carriages, "listen, you and Ginny are almost all alone during the holidays, please try and make nice with her" she said pleading, "I'm sick of being an awkward third wheel when I don't even understand why you two can't get along"
"I won't start any fights, that's all I can promise," I said
"I'll take it," she said, but she looked disappointed.
The night of Christmas Eve was actually pretty nice, we had the Christmas feast in the great hall, and it was only me, Harry and the Weasleys remaining in Gryffindor, I stayed up playing chess with Ron (he was annoyingly good at it) while the others played exploding snaps and watched Fred and George sing misspelt Christmas songs to annoy Percy, when I finally went to bed I was so tired I fell asleep instantly. When the morning came I woke up to a small pile of presents beside my bed, I was honestly shocked that I had that many, I got up excited and started opening them, noticing Ginny doing the same across the dorm, Harry had got me a little broom that flies in a pattern, (still trying to convince me how awesome quidditch is even after I saw his arm being emptied of bones) Sarah had sent me a box of chocolate frogs and Conan sent me a muggle book we had talked about reading before, the last package was a cake and a hand knitted sweater, I raised the sweater to properly inspect it, "it's from mom, she knits one for each of us" said Ginny coldly noticing my confusion, "tell her thanks" I said quietly, she ignored me, put her sweater on and strolled out of the dorm. I tried hanging out with Harry, Ron and Hermione but they were nowhere to find, I went back to the common room where Fred, George and Ginny where taking turns casting spells on Percy's sweater to put different curse words on it, Ginny was having too much fun that I couldn't bare stay with them, I took the book Conan got me, found cosey place in the library and stayed there till it was lunch time, Harry, Ron and Hermione where still nowhere to find, what kind of stupid thing they're planning, I wondered, after lunch I went back to the library with the intention of studying this time, if I'm not going to do anything in the holidays I might as well get a little bit ahead of Diaz, but I was too distracted, I don't know why was I so sad, I never had a proper Christmas anyway, I should be glad I got food and presents this time besides, it's not the first time I was lonely, so why was I sulking like that, I finally decided to just go to bed early, I started towards the common room, passing by the great hall, "oi, you over there" some one called, I turned around and it was Malfoy, "have you seen Crab and Go-" he stopped when I turned around, "oh, you're Potter's sister aren't you?" He said with a little smirk on his face, so not your time, Malfoy, I thought exasperated, "yes, I am do you have a problem with that?" I said, "Of course, I don't, you look like someone with no proper family, so it fits" he said, for some reason, I felt like picking a fight with someone would make me feel way better, "what's that supposed to mean" I said taking my wand out of my robes, "I thought I was very clear, but maybe you're too thick to understand it, you know it might run in the family".
I was getting more furious than I had all year, I walked up to him my wand ready, he looked a little shaken but stayed his ground, "if you say one more thing-" I was cut off, "Stop that, what's happening here" said a girl, coming between us, she was a Ravenclaw and had a badge that said "prefect" on her chest, I lowered my wand still glaring at Malfoy, "I didn't do anything and she was just about to attack me" said Malfoy calmly, the girl looked at him suspiciously and crossed her arm, "I'm warning both of you don't let me catch you again" she said and Malfoy walked away, I imagined hitting him with a heavy thing on his head which calmed me a little, I walked to the common room feeling like my day couldn't get any worse, I tried to stop thinking about Malfoy and his stupid smirk. When I walked into the common room, Ginny, Fred and George were playing exploding snaps, "come to join in, Emma" said George, I didn't want to but I did anyway as I wanted something to drive my anger with Malfoy out of my mind, I played a couple of rounds with them, not meeting Ginny's eyes, "any of you saw Harry, Ron and Hermione all day?"I asked, "not since the morning" said Fred, " I bet the three troublemakers are up to something" said George, after a couple more rounds I decided not to bother Ginny with my existence anymore and go to bed, I went to bed but couldn't sleep, I remembered Sarah's words, "I don't even understand why you two can't get along" to be honest, I think it's mostly my problem not hers, I kept saying that Ginny is the one who started it by picking a fight on the train but really I'm the one who had been acting hostile towards her from the moment we met, I didn't realize it until now, but a sound in my brain whispered you don't hate her, I really don't, so why, don't you see it?, the sound came again, see what, I don't get it, also why am I talking to myself, am I going mad? You're jealous said the sound, I felt like laughing, of course, that's why , of course I was jealous, I mean why wouldn't I, I slowly recalled everything, the fact is Ginny Weasley has a family, I don't, she has two parents who care about her, I don't, she grew up safe and happy, I didn't, she had a room of her own, and good girly clothes even if they were hand me downs from other family members, I didn't, I was stuck with the very large Dudley clothes, Ginny was pretty, like really pretty, her hair was long and beautiful, I always looked unsorted, my hair was not as bad as Harry's but it was damaged and almost always tangled, Ginny Weasley had everything I had ever dreamed of at the palm of her hands while I just wished for them, it wasn't fair, it was never fair with me, the envy was swallowing my heart like darkness swallow light, the feeling was familiar, I had been envious of every happy kid I've ever met, the kids with parents and happy Christmases, but this feeling was too much, I hated it, I hated how people's pleasure brings me pain, but I couldn't do anything about it, my eyes were wet, I wiped them and closed my eyes, forcing myself not to think.