Slytherin

Paige,

Well, nothing’s really changed since you’ve been away. The Triwizard Tournament is still going on. In fact, yesterday was the second task. The ‘champions’ had to swim in the Black Lake for an hour and save one of their friends. Of course, Potter had to play hero and try to save everybody. What a try-hard. And despite that he was under for over an hour, they awarded him with bloody second place! It’s a joke, honestly. Everybody just loves Potter don’t they? Even you. And don’t try to deny it because I’m not stupid.
So what did you do to Longbottom, eh? He’s a wreck! He just schlumps around the castle with this stupid frown on his face. He’s not fun to mess around with anymore. Such a shame because I get bored very easily, now that I’m not worried about you anymore.
Classes haven’t changed much……………

Dear Draco,

Beauxbatons is very different from Hogwarts. It is more like a palace than anything. Everything is so shiny and new it’s almost distracting. The food here is less satisfying than the ones at Hogwarts. It’s all healthy and less fattening. Oh what I would do for a slice of Hogwarts treacle tarts! Not to mention, while we eat, there are these annoying wood nymphs that sing to us. I have never wanted to punch a creature more than I do now. And everybody here speaks French. So I need to have a translator in every class (which is really embarrassing because it means I’m behind everybody else) and then take a French class as well. It’s needless to say that I miss Hogwarts. The students here aren’t very nice, either. None of them are willing to help me. I’ve had to keep on my ‘bitch’ façade just so that I can hold my own here. But because of that, I haven’t exactly made any friends.
In response to your letter, yes I do like Harry. There is nothing wrong with him. You just choose to hate him for reasons of your own. And I didn’t do anything to Neville. For some reason, he is very angry with me. He practically told me that I deserved to be expelled from school and taken away to Azkaban. I don’t know what his problem is, but it is very upsetting. I’m going to write to him after I’m done with this letter.
Classes here are much different than at…………..

Paige,

Things are going to change, Paige. Cedric Diggory is dead. The Dark Lord is back. Potter saw him return It’s very hard to believe, but I’m sure goody-two-shoes Potter wouldn’t lie about something like this. He won the Tournament, but nobody knows what happened. He just turned up with the trophy and Diggory’s body. Nobody seems to know what’s going on, but I am positive that You-Know-Who is back. I’ll get back to you with more details as soon as I find out.

Dear Draco,

What’s going on? You-Know-Who’s back? But how is that possible? There must be some mistake. How did Diggory die? I’m scared, Draco. I don’t know what’s happening. Everybody here at Beauxbatons is confused as well. No one’s telling us anything. My parents want to take me home.

Dear Draco,

Why haven’t you responded to my last letter? It’s summer break and I’m back at home. Neville hasn’t responded to any of my letters, either, and nobody knows what’s going on. I haven’t been receiving any news from anyone. My parents believe Harry is telling the truth, that You-Know-Who is back. They might not send me back to school, but I am trying my best to convince them. I can’t just sit at home, especially not when school is probably much safer than my own home.

Paige,

I’m sorry I couldn’t write to you this summer, but…I can’t tell you anything. Owls are being intercepted everywhere. The Ministry has sent us a new teacher, who is actually pretty cool. She hates Potter and gives him detention whenever she can. I think I’m going to suggest a new group of prefects, ones that can take away house points and give out detentions and stuff like that. I’m pretty sure she’ll agree to it.
This year is going to be considerably better than the last. Nobody believes Potter about You-Know-Who. Maybe at first they did, because Dumbledore told them at the end of last year, but not anymore. They’ve all gone home and read the Prophet and have been convinced otherwise by the media. I know he’s telling the truth, but I am so loving it. This pathetic loser deserved this, strutting around like he owns the place. But people are really dumb. They’re only on his side when he’s being the hero, but as soon as something bad happens, they’re all against him. Even some of his friends don’t believe him. He’s miserable! It’s fantastic!
It’s O.W.L. year, and classes are much harder and there are loads more homework……….

Dear Draco,

Why couldn’t you write to me? What happened? Are you in any trouble?
This new teacher doesn’t sound that great. You only like her because she hates Harry. That’s two teachers that hate him now. That’s really not fair to him, you know. And I hope that she refuses your suggestion, because, knowing you, you’ll just sit and abuse your power. Especially against Harry and the other Gryffindors. And that’s terrible! Nobody believes him? This is just like when everybody thought he put his name in the Goblet of Fire, and it turned out that some crazy Death Eater did. As soon as he was doing well in the tournament, everybody was on his side again. You are right, people are really thick. Perhaps I’ll start writing to him, in hopes of cheering him up…
Beauxbatons takes their exams in their sixth year, but since I won’t be here in my sixth year, I have to study for the O.W.L.s as well, so I am right there with you. These things are damn hard to study for………..

Paige,

The word’s out; You-Know-Who is back. Potter broke into the Ministry just because he could and You-Know-Who found him there. Everybody saw him, and now the word is out. I told you things were going to change, Paige, now more than ever. Umbridge is gone, and the O.W.L.s are all over. Things are crazier than ever.

Dear Draco,

Finally, fifth year is over! I get to return to Hogwarts! I’m so excited! Although my timing couldn’t be worse, what with You-Know-Who back and after everything that’s happened. But despite all that, I’m glad to be returning home, and being able to see you again. I hope the results of our O.W.L.s come soon. I want to know how I did. I feel as if Charms was my best…………

Dear Draco,

I got 9 O.W.L.s! Charms, DADA, Transfiguration, Potions, History of Magic, Astronomy, Herbology, Arithmancy, and COMC! The only one I failed was Divination, and let’s face it, that class is rubbish. I only got two Oustandings, but I’ve still passed the others! Now I have to start thinking about classes that I want to take in my sixth year….

Dear Draco,

Why aren’t you responding again? I know you’re getting these letters. Please, tell me what’s going on!

Dear Draco,

If you don’t respond in this instant I am going to fly over to your door and physically get a response out of your.

Dear Draco,

God damn it Draco! School is going to start soon, so I am going to be seeing and talking to you anyways. You’re really starting to piss me off.

Draco,

Please don’t do this to me. Don’t ignore me. You can’t do that, not after all that’s happened. I’d rather have you teasing me and bullying me, because it meant you knew that I existed. Something is wrong, I can tell. Whether you like it or not, I am going to find out, and I am going to help you. I’m really hurt that you don’t trust me, or care enough to tell me anything. I…I think I love you, Draco, and the moment I finally had you, I was sent away. Please don’t stay away. Please.

Dear Neville,

I know you hate me but…I don’t know where else to turn. Draco is not responding to my letters and nobody is telling me what’s going on. I miss you, Neville. I don’t understand what happened, and I want you back in my life. You were my first, and only, true friend that I had. I love you, Neville, maybe not in the way you want me to, but I really do. I care for you so much. Please write back.

I put down my quill next to the short letter that I had been writing. I hadn’t had a response from either of the boys I had been writing to, and I was starting to grow desperate. All I had to talk to around her was my parents, but that doesn’t help me much considering that they don’t trust me, and probably will never trust me again. It was like I was some freak living under their roof.

“What were you thinking?” My mother had yelled at me, looking into my eyes with disbelief. “You could have severely hurt that boy.”

“But mum!” I yelled, my voice cracking and eyes red from crying. “I told you what happened, what that boy did to me-”

“That is still no excuse,” my dad told me calmly, looking at the floor. I could hear the disappointment in his voice. “You used an Unforgivable Curse on a fellow student. Now, I could understand a hex or some other curse, but Crucio? Really? I thought that we had taught you better than that.”

“You had,” I told them, pleading with them. “I was just so angry, so upset…I didn’t know what else to do!”

“You could have told a teacher!” my mother shrieked, her eyes flashing. “You could have let the boy run away! Anything but that….that…”

She couldn’t get the words out. She was so angry with me, I could just tell.

“You are not to leave this house,” my dad said quietly, after a brief moment of silence. “You are to stay in your room and study for school. You may only leave to go to the bathroom and to eat.”

“I’ve been away in a different country, a different school!” I screamed, my anger growing with every response. “Isn’t that bloody punishment enough?”

They didn’t respond. Just looked away from me, at anything that was not their own daughter. I sniffed.

“You both think that I’m going to become a dark, evil witch now, don’t you?” I paused and waited for a response. There was none. “I was put in Slytherin. What the hell did you expect?”

I gave them one last look and stormed upstairs to my room. Every time that I had come down to eat, I would either be alone at the table, or completely ignored by my parents. Eventually, I resorted to not coming down and not eating anything at all. And now that both my respondents had given up on me, I was completely and entirely alone. Dumbledore had been right, just as I knew he would be.

I looked down at the knife that I had brought up from the kitchen, which neither of my parents had noticed. I gently brushed my fingers against the sharp tip of it all the way down to the handle, and then held the weapon in my head. I placed it against my wrist and just stared at it. It would have been so easy to press the blade into my flesh, to watch the blood pour out of it. How long would it take for anybody to notice? Would my parents even care if I had gone? Would the world be any different if I no longer existed? No, probably not. The world had enough chaos in it, it would probably be thrilled to see that it was lacking one last troublesome human.

Courage.

The word echoed through my head, through my body, through my entire being, and the knife fell out of my grasped and clanged with a loud echo on the floor. I saw Neville in my mind, him laughing and smiling at me, despite how badly he was treated. I saw Harry Potter, the remarkable boy who had done amazing things and yet was still tossed aside at the sign of trouble. So many others had been through worse than I had, and yet here I was ready to take my own life.

Tears came flowing out of my eyes again and sobs erupted from my mouth. Why was I such an idiot? What the hell was wrong with me? How on Earth was I going to fix this?

Only time will tell, I thought to myself. But for now, you’re alone.