~A lonely flame~ HOGWARTS X READER

~9~

                                                                    Written: May 12, 2021

                                                                                1074 words

                                                                                   463 reads

"What were you thinking? What if a professor caught you? You could've been expelled!"

Hermione angrily reprimanded me whilst pacing back and forth in front of the sofa.

"Relax, Mione; she was just sticking up for herself."

Ron watched as her angry pacing got faster. She paused and turned to Ron before continuing to yell.

"The teachers would've believed Daphne! She was the one on the receiving end of the physical fight!"

I felt Fred shaking with laughter next to me before George spoke up, a grin on his face.

"It was really funny, though. Relax, Hermione, we got her in time, and Daphne got what was coming to her."

I nodded along with George and met Hermione's eyes.

"Look, I'm sorry, Hermione, but I got worked up."

She softened slightly, and she searched my face before sitting down on the armchair adjacent to the couch, tucking her face into her hands. I glanced towards Ron and Harry, both of which looked anxiously at me. I sighed and rolled my eyes at them before getting up and sitting next to Hermione on the arm of the armchair.

"I'm sorry... I've just been on the receiving end of their torment for so long, and I know so many of the teachers would side with the Slytherins."

She said, her voice cracking as tears slid out from between the fingers covering her face. I waved the boys away, and they jumped up and left the common room, each of them throwing me a grateful look before leaving. I rolled my eyes at their cluelessness before placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder and holding her close. She clutched my robes and began to sob into my chest.

"Hermione, they won't learn unless we teach them a lesson."

She sniffled and answered; her voice muffled in my now damp button-up.

"Those Slytherins are what's wrong with Hogwarts. If they weren't here, we'd all be alright."

I was glad she couldn't see my face at that moment. I was glad she couldn't see my face drop as I remembered my first day here.

"Y/N. This means that you may choose any house you like, but I must remind you that houses are spoken in order from most to least fitting from how the hat spoke. This means you're most like Slytherin and least like Hufflepuff. But because you were placed in each one, that means you have an outstanding amount of each of the characteristics so that you would fit into any house just fine."

I let out a shaky breath before replying.

"Not all Slytherins are the problem."

She shot up to face me, her face red and sticky with tears.

"They're the ones that you've had issues with the entire year. They're the ones with blood supremacy."

"Hermione, we can't be prejudice towards an entire house because of a few bullies."

"Now you're siding with them?!"

She jumped out of my lap, wiping her face with her hands roughly and straightening her back proudly. 

"I'm not siding with blood supremacy, but I don't think we should judge them all because of a couple of bad eggs."

She looked at me with a dirty look on her face.

"I suppose that's your opinion. Mine is that they're all bad and don't deserve my sympathy."

She whirled around and stomped up the stairs to our dorm. I rubbed my temples and stared into the fireplace, wondering how our conversation shifted so rapidly. 

                                                                                         ~ 

I wandered into the great hall, still a little embarrassed about my outburst from earlier. My eyes scanned the Gryffindor table and caught Hermione's eye. Her face changed from a smile towards Ron to a scowl when she saw me. Ron and Harry turned and met my eye, both of which looked anxious and awkward but not angry like Hermione. I sighed, they weren't mad, but they were going to side with her. It was understandable considering how much longer they had been friends, but it still stung.

"Y/N!"

My attention was called towards the Slytherin table, where I met the eyes of a Slytherin in my year, which I remembered from Divination. I had helped her when she was having trouble with understanding her tea leaves.

"Adagio!"

I called with a smile and walked over to her. We looked quite similar, both with long curly hair and freckles covering our faces. Her hair, however, was bright red and her eyes green in contrast to my blue ones.

"Would you like to sit with us?"

She asked, gesturing to her friends sitting across the table. I smiled before looking back up at  Hermione who's scowl had grown. I let out a shaky breath.

"I'd love to!"

I sat down on the wooden bench next to my friend, and she introduced me to her other friends. Clover, as they introduced themself, was a spunky brunette with deep, chocolate brown eyes and tanned skin who shook my hand enthusiastically and complimented my necklace with a big smile. I returned the compliment with a comment on their handmade mushroom earings before being introduced to Adagio's other friend. She had sleek, long black hair and sharp facial features and was introduced as 'Rowan'. 

Throughout dinner, they all chatted pleasantly and took extra care to make me feel included. I was quite quiet but comfortable sitting amongst their conversation. While Adagio and Clover were making a bet about what hair product they suspected Dumbledore used (Clover insisted he used conditioner in his beard while Addy was adamant about the possibility of a perm), Rowan leaned over the table to me.

"We heard your friend bitching about you to Potter and the ginger. So we thought you could use a cheering up."

She gave me a sincere smile.

"Thank you. She can just be a bit closed off to opinions, and I think my outburst earlier set her off."

"That's understandable, especially with Slytherin's reputation. A lot of our house are old families, but that makes people overlook the percentage of us that are ambitious but not in a way that hurts others."

I smiled at her as she turned her attention over to the perm vs conditioner argument that was getting more and more heated with peas being thrown from each side and shrieks of laughter as peas ended up their hair and shirts. I relaxed a little and realized that having those Slytherin traits didn't make me a bad person; the only thing that is bad about the house is prejudice. I looked towards Hermione, who was laughing at something Harry said. That's when I realized prejudice could come from any house and can be aimed at anyone.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey you guys! So I had a little inspiration and decided to write a chapter. I'm back on online school and I should definitely be studying for a chem test right now but I'd rather not. I hope everyone is enjoying the story and I would love it if you could give this chapter a vote and a comment! I wanted to write a chapter about people being prejudiced towards Slytherins because even though it's getting better (dracotok) we should still talk about it. I, myself am a slytherclaw but wanted to remind people to be kind no matter what. I also wanted to write a short chapter with Hermione as I perceived her when reading the books and watching the movies. I found her to be a bit judgy and have never read a fic where ppl don't make her to be 'perfect' so I wanted to point out her flaws. Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful day/night!

PEACE