The Mudblood

Chapter 6 : Year 1

Ever since Mrs. Norris was petrified and the school discovered that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened, I became the center of harassment for the Slytherins. Apparently, the Chamber was created by Salazar Slytherin to house a monster that would eliminate all Muggle-borns from the school. For this reason, all of the Slytherins—and the entire school, actually—assumed that I would be the Heir's main target, being the only Muggle-born in Slytherin.  

The only thing I'd really gained from this whole ordeal was the knowledge that "Mudblood" was basically a nasty term for Muggle-born. Everything made a bit more sense when I knew that the Slytherins all hated me because of my Muggle background. What didn't make sense was why Slytherins hated Muggles so much.

"Slytherins think that Muggles are worthless," Hermione told me one day in the library. "Most of them believe that wizards are superior to Muggles, and not in a good way. They also think that Muggle-born witches and wizards are not real witches and wizards. That's why they say we're 'Mudbloods', because we have dirty blood."

Draco Malfoy was quite relentless with his harassment toward me. Every time I walked into the common room he would make a comment like, "Oh, Heir of Slytherin, here comes the Mudblood" or "You're still alive? Heir of Slytherin, please hurry up." The rest of the Slytherins would laugh endlessly at these little jokes. At first I'd come up with a few witty comments to send back at him, but after a while it just got old, and I would simply just walk by and pretend that it wasn't happening.

Ashley was completely clueless on the matter, but Astoria had insisted on doing my hair every morning now. She claimed it would be a disgrace to Slytherin House if I died with my hair looking so hideous. Melody, as usual, didn't have too many comments and resorted to just reading most of the time. She did seem surprised to see me every time I walked into a room, though, like surely I'd been killed by the Heir of Slytherin on the way to class.

The first Saturday of November was the first Quidditch match of the year: Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. I walked over to the match with Hermione, Ron and Ginny, although I surely wouldn't be allowed to sit in the Gryffindor section with them. Instead I'd be sitting with Ashley and Astoria, who just couldn't wait for this match.

"Wouldn't be surprised if Malfoy petrified Harry to win the match," Ron muttered bitterly as we walked out of the castle.

"Petrify?" I questioned. "What, you think Malfoy is the Heir of Slytherin?"

"You don't?" Ron questioned. "Just look at him: he hates Muggle-borns, his family's been in Slytherin for centuries, and he was a bit too happy when Mrs. Norris was petrified. Besides, he's been bullying you about being killed this entire week."

"You do have a point," I replied, pondering. Could Malfoy really be the Heir of Slytherin? I surely wouldn't be surprised... "Well, how would we find out? If he's the Heir, I mean."

"We're working on it," Hermione said slowly. "It may take some time, though."

"You'd probably know better than us," Ron said. "Would expect him to gloat about it in the common room."  

"I haven't heard anything, but then again, all conversation becomes harassment when I enter the room," I replied bitterly. "Maybe I'll ask Astoria and Ashley if they know anything."

"Can we talk about something else?" Ginny asked, nearly trembling. "I don't like to think about that cat hanging on the wall."

"Fine, let's talk about how Slytherin's going to eat dirt during this match. Malfoy doesn't stand a chance against Harry," Ron said.