Flames of Eternity // George Weasley

1. Escape From Azkaban

Song for this chapter ~ Fast Car by Tracy Chapman

One more week, I thought to myself. One more week until I'd be home—well technically.

For the past four years, Hogwarts had been where I'd felt most at home. Although at times I felt slightly alienated from the rest of the Slytherins, it was far better than living with Jamie, my adoptive father.

     It's not that Jamie was a horrible person, but a rather boring one at best. He couldn't have expressed his misery any better for having to house a child he never wanted in the first place, especially after the passing of his wife—my adoptive mother, Claire, not long after my adoption.

     Although the man would barely say a word to me when I was around, he did still pay for my basic necessities and school costs, which I really couldn't complain about.

     Either way, I couldn't be more happy about leaving the dreadful city of London—its streets filled with nothing but Muggle business folk going to and from work, living their—quite honestly, boring lives. Jamie fit right in.

     Although there was still a week left of summer holiday, I hadn't done my shopping for school yet, the Headmaster having only sent out our book lists two weeks before the start of term. Most likely due to the fact that there would be a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher—again, which meant last minute textbooks being added to our list.

     I wonder what lunatic will be filling the position this year.

     The previous two years' positions had been filled with anything but normal wizards. First, it was the stuttering fool who somehow managed to hide Lord Voldemort in his turban without anyone knowing. Then the cocky, flamboyant, fraud whose own memory charm backfired, permanently landing himself a spot at St. Mungo's.

     Just like I had been doing the past two years, I'd be heading down to The Leaky Cauldron, where I'd be spending my last week of summer holiday, browsing the cobblestone streets of Diagon Alley for my school supplies. Besides Hogwarts itself, Diagon Alley had truly been the most surreal place I knew of. It was the best of both worlds for me —a place filled with magic, yet a place void of Slytherins constantly talking about either their blood status, or their old family wealth. That, and the Gryffindors, who constantly put on display their arrogance, thinking they were better than all the other houses, especially my own house of Slytherin.

     Unlike every Slytherin I knew, I was a Muggleborn. Not only were Jamie and Claire Muggles, but my biological parents who had given me up when I was just a newborn had been as well. Although the idea of being a Muggleborn never really bothered me, it wasn't until my first introduction to the Slytherins, where it did in fact linger in my mind, not so pleasantly. That's why whenever I was asked about my blood status, I would simply tell them I was half-blood—both parents magical of course. If I had gone too far in saying I was pure-blood, everyone would have caught my lie instantly, considering there remained only twenty-eight pure-blood families.

     Despite my dissimilarities with the rest of the Slytherins, I couldn't picture myself in any other house, especially having spent the last four years in it.

     I still remembered my sorting like it was yesterday. After barely being able to take in everything I had just seen upon first arriving at Hogwarts, including the enchanted candles that floated from the ceiling of the Great Hall, us first years were told to form around a three-legged stool that held a tattered old hat.

     This hat, to my shock, began to speak, giving a long explanation of the four noble Houses of Hogwarts—Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Being a Muggleborn, I had no prior knowledge of the different houses upon entering Hogwarts. It was only until a rather stern looking witch—who I'd soon know to be Professor Mcgonagall, held up the hat, and began to call each first year up, individually placing the hat upon our heads.