Friend or Foe?
I lay in the dark, looking up into the darkness that surrounds me. This is my favorite part of every day, just when everyone else is asleep. Closing the curtains over my bed and letting the darkness consume me. Just staring into that beautiful darkness.
I can see shapes above me. Sometimes they look like stars, sometimes they look like ripples in water. I like to watch them move. I like to enjoy those peaceful moments before sleep takes over.
My first week at Hogwarts was disappointingly uneventful. I didn’t much care for the classes, or the professors. My parents taught me well, if anything this was all a review.
Defense Against the Dark Arts was strange. It seemed like they were telling me to go against all of the instincts that my parents had taught me. I’d decided not to say anything.
Yesterday, I’d had my first real conversation with another student. I was walking back to my dorm, and I bumped into second year with a red and gold tie. Great, I thought, A Gryffindor.
“I’m so sorry!” she cried as she bent down to grab the books I had dropped. Hamlet was lying open on the floor, for all the world to see. I reached down to grab it, but the Gryffindor was faster than me. The revealed text had caught her attention, and I prepared myself to be ridiculed.
“Is this Hamlet?” she asked. She actually sounded excited.
“Um, yeah.” I couldn’t believe she’d recognized it. “I wasn’t sure anyone here had read it. You must be muggle born, then.”
“No, I’m a pure-blood. I stumbled across a copy of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on a trip to London with my family once. I’ve read a few more Shakespeare plays since then.” She handed the book back to me. “How many have you read?” she asked.
“Just this one.”
“Well, if you’re interested in reading others, I recommend Much Ado About Nothing.” with that she smiled and started walking away.
“My name’s Bellatrix Black,” I shouted, though I didn’t know why.
She turned around and winked at me. “I’m Molly. Molly Prewett.”
And she walked away.
I lay in the darkness, replaying that moment in my head. My parents don’t want me speaking to members of other houses, especially not Gryffindor. But Molly’s a pureblood, so it wouldn’t be bad for me to be friends with her, would it? Yes, it would. I can almost hear my parents yelling at me. And yelling is only the beginning, it gets much worse.
I push Molly out of my mind and try to forget our conversation. Tomorrow, I’ll try to find a Slytherin friend.
One last look into the darkness, and I let sleep take over.