"There is no evil in sorcery. Only in the hearts of men."
- Merlin
Almost everyone in the wizard community know who the Weasley Family is; an old line of purebloods with red hair, freckles and enough children to start their own Quidditch team. But S...
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While Madam Pomfrey easily had managed to fix Seraphina's ribs, the sting from her fight with her friends still hurt. For years she had endured their snide remarks about her house and while she knew they hadn't been directed towards her, it did hurt. Because Seraphina was a Slytherin. She had not asked the Sorting Hat to put her there, he just had.
Which meant that if her friends thought all Slytherins were inherently bad, that must apply to her as well. The way they spoke made it seem like cruelty and being evil was a trait all Slytherins shared, they must somewhere deep inside think she shared those traits. And them telling her that she wasn't like the other Slytherins made everything worse. Clearly, she wasn't a Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. So claiming that she wasn't a Slytherin either was like saying that she didn't belong anywhere.
Seraphina spent her entire Sunday coped up in the Slytherin Common Room and instead of attending any of the meals in the Great Hall, she snuck into the kitchen. It was a cowardly move, but to be honest she was too angry and hurt to see her former Gryffindor friends. The last thing she needed was them ganging up on her again.
But then Monday arrived and the first class she had was Transfiguration with the Gryffindors. And not wanting to face them would not affect her grades or attendance. Therefore, she had plans to skip breakfast and stop by the kitchens later that day. She had expected the Common Room to be completely empty by the time she walked down the stairs.
So she was a bit surprised to find Regulus waiting in one of the couches, a bored expression on his face. "Finally," he drawled, standing up to brush off his immaculate robes. "Could you be any slower?"
"Slower for what?" Seraphina frowned, adjusting her bag on her shoulder. "Shouldn't you be on your way to class or eating breakfast?"
"I should be. But instead I am here," Regulus said before holding out a folded napkin to her. "Here."
Seraphina narrowed her eyes in suspicion as she took it from him. Then she unfolded it to reveal a chicken sandwich. "You brought me food?" she asked with a gasp, holding a hand over her heart.
"Only because you skipped breakfast, lunch and dinner yesterday and if possible you become even more insufferable to be around when you are hungry," Regulus shrugged, avoiding eye contact like he was uncomfortable to show anything close to friendliness. "If you think about it, I was doing myself a favour, not you."
"This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done to me," Seraphina told him, taking a bite from the sandwich. "You didn't have to."
"Like I said, Sera, I was doing this for me. Not you. Get over yourself," Regulus scoffed before he turned to walk out of the Common Room. When he got to the door he turned to say, "Are you coming or not? You are going to make us both late."
Seraphina smiled sheepishly and continued to eat her sandwich as she and Regulus walked through Hogwarts until they were forced to part so that he could rush to his Charms class. By the time Seraphina had reached Professor McGonagall's classroom, she had eaten her breakfast. Before entering, she stopped outside after hearing loud voices inside.
But then she shook the feeling of dread off. She had not done anything wrong so she should not feel like it was her responsibility to stay out of their way. Therefore, she took a deep breath and stepped into the classroom.
It did not escape her notice how a few eyes turned in her direction but she did not let it stop her. For a moment, her eyes connected with a pair of stormy grey ones. Knowing that she had a tendency to get lost in them, she didn't let her gaze stay there as she walked towards her destination.
When she saw an empty chair between Remus and James, she almost hesitated for a moment. And when Remus sent a small smile in her direction her heart squeezed because he really hadn't done anything actively - not the way James and Sirius had accused her of cheating. But she also knew that he wouldn't choose her side over his best friends, and she didn't want him to.
Remus already had a difficult life and the last thing she wanted to do was separate him from his best friends that truly held him together. Remus Lupin was a Marauder and a Gryffindor, so it was not fair for her to make it awkward and difficult for him by forcing him to choose her. It was better to just take herself out of the equation.
So instead of taking her normal seat by the Marauders, Seraphina sat down on the empty seat next to Avery. She tried her best to ignore the way the Gryffindors were looking at her and instead she looked over at Avery who cocked an eyebrow in her direction.
"Oh, shut up, Avery," Seraphina told him, leaning back in her chair.
"No, truly, I am honoured," Avery told her. "It warms my heart to know that I am your first option. Does this mean I am your second favourite Slytherin?"
"Second favourite?" Seraphina asked.
"I am not delusional. Black is clearly your favourite," Avery deadpanned. "But I am your second favourite, right?"
"You don't even make it into the top hundred list," Seraphina snorted. "But it was you or sitting by Mulciber and he is actually even further down the list than you are."
"Small victories," Avery shrugged, before leaning over to whisper, "which I need because it looks like your little kittens want to kill me. Trouble in paradise?"
"You could say that," Seraphina smiled forcefully. "Turns out that I was never meant to be in paradise in the first place. I belong in hell with the rest of you."
