𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 | √

⎡i; 1⎦

❖ ❖ ❖

 I was lying on my bed, with my stomach facing the ceiling holding a letter in each hand. My light brown hair was fanned out around my head. The house was quiet, a calm, peaceful quiet. One that you can only get when you're alone. My father was at his job at the Ministry of Magic. He was a highly trained Auror. My brother, James, on the other hand, was at the Burrow, the home of the brightly ginger-haired family the Weasley's. James was friends with two of the Weasley's who were in his year, the twins Fred and Geroge Weasley.

My hazel eyes dashed over the writing of one of the letters. It was an invitation to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. The elegant letter was written on parchment the color of ivory, and an envelope of pale blue, with a matching silk ribbon attached. The letter in my other hand was an invitation to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This letter came in a much more simple fashion but still had a beautiful red wax seal regardless. I groaned and brought the Hogwarts letter closer to my face.

It was nearly impossible to choose which school I wanted to attend. My Dad went to Hogwarts and my brother James was currently there. Draco was also going to go to Hogwarts and the entire Weasley family, who were my best friends, had gone or was going to Hogwarts.

My eyes slipped over to the Beauxbatons letter, watching as the ribbon flowed down from the front. Staring at the parchment written in elegant French cursive, I couldn't help but think of how my mum went to Beauxbatons. Her whole family had gone to Beauxbatons. But if I went, I wouldn't know anyone. If I went to Hogwarts, Draco and Ron would be in my year, and Fred, George, Percy, and James would already be there. But how could I ignore the fact that all the females on Mum's side have gone to Beauxbatons?

I sighed and got up from my bed, putting the letters on my desk.

"Binkey!" I shouted. Suddenly, my house-elf, Binkey, a loyal elf whose mother served my own mother well for years when she still lived in France, appeared in front of me. She was wearing her pillowcase over her tiny, frail body.

"Yes Miss. Rosewood?" Binkey asked, her big eyes staring up at me.

The way house-elves were treated in my household was unlike many pureblood families. We wanted our house elves to live without the abuse and trauma many other families put them through. It was unavoidable though, that the house-elves could avoid their nature of self-punishment. If a house-elf messed up the laundry, they would take it upon themselves to hit their heads against the nearest table. But despite the power dynamic that both my father and mother had grown up around, where the Wizard was always greater than the elf, my parents, especially my mother had actively worked towards bridging that gap to make elves seem nearer to our equals.

My mother was the kindest soul according to my father. She had a heart of gold. She didn't care nearly as much as what others thought about her beliefs. Some had called her radical for challenging them. But that's what drew my father to her. It was her ability to fight tirelessly for what she believed in that made him fall desperately in love.