Belonging in Slytherin

Chapter 2: Settling in

Fed up of waiting to hear from her brother, who she could quite clearly visualise laughing with a multitude of friends, making his teachers laugh and generally having a very good time without her, Ethelina decided to send him a nice, blunt letter.

Dear Byrtnoth,

Where's my letter, you git?

Ethelina

Three days later, a very bizarre-looking note turned up in reply, carried by an owl but written on a strange sort of parchment, with a very odd envelope that appeared to require no sealing wax.

Dear Eth,

Mum tells me you're a Slitherin. (Is that right?) For once, you're letting the family down, ha ha.

St Jude's is great, but I hate cleaning classes. I'm going to live at home when I leave school so Flurry can do all the cleaning for me. My roommate is called Cassius de Lacey. His brother's in your house. Cass doesn't like him very much. Atchually, Cass doesn't like anyone very much. Honey (a girl) says Cass is just hurting. But she would say that, she likes everyone. She's like Cass's good twin!

My letter is longer than yours, ner.

Your GOOD TWIN

Bert

Ethelina read the letter with interest, folded it up and meticulously finished her bacon and eggs. It was Saturday, and she was the first Slytherin down to breakfast. Of course, plenty of Gryffindors were up and about, and many hardworking Hufflepuffs had been and gone. Cleaning classes, eh? Of course, she knew families without house elves - the Hawleys only had one house elf, and as her father was the eldest son he'd inherited the big house, elf and so on and his brothers had to do things the hard way. Still... cleaning without cleaning charms? She'd seen Hogwarts' young caretaker doing it, and it didn't look pleasant at all.

However, cleaning wasn't the interesting part of Bert's letter...

She returned to the dungeon and went to her dormitory. People expected Slytherin to be a comfortless place; that wasn't the case. Oh, it was hard, but it could also be sumptuous. Many of the wizards in Slytherin weren't the sort of people who'd go without luxuries, and the higher your status within the house, the more able you were to commandeer the best things for yourself. When the common room was busy, first-years had little chance of getting a space near the fire or a padded chair. 'Character-building' Bellatrix, who always had her pick of everything, called it.

This was a dungeon, but a palatial one. The floor was stone, but the rugs were thick and foreign; one was even reputed to fly if you knew the right words to control it - which no-one did. In the dormitories heavy silk velvet curtains kept the beds free from draughts. The manacles on the walls were a novel touch, admittedly, but they made convenient places to hang scarves and cloaks.

In the first-year dormitory Kelly O'Donnell was brushing her fox-red bob; she pretended to be so absorbed in her hairdressing that she didn't notice Ethelina. It suited both girls. Kelly currently had enough on her plate; she didn't need to take on Ethelina's battles too. And Ethelina knew that if she didn't fight her own corner in her first few weeks, when people were prepared to go easy on her, she'd never cope at Hogwarts. No matter how hard a time you were having, the Sorting Hat could not be contradicted and you could never be moved to another house.

Ethelina rooted around in her trunk and dug out her broken fountain pen. She had a pretty good idea who'd stamped on it; Jessica Montague hadn't worn her ridiculous fluffy white bedroom slippers for two days, and not just because greasy Severus Snape had told her they were cute. (Ethelina suspected he was been being sarcastic; Severus was only ever genuinely pleasant to Evan Rosier and some of the older students.) No, the slippers were hidden for an entirely different reason. Hooray for Grandma Hawley's indelible ink, which she'd sent to Ethelina in case of 'accidents' to her essays. It'd take more than an average cleaning spell to remove it from those slippers.

Ethelina returned to the common room and waited. Bellatrix Black was now lounging elegantly in the armchair nearest the fire, still wearing silk pyjamas and matching dressing gown. Emerald green, of course. Bellatrix looked good in all strong colours, although she'd been heard to declare that the only way she'd be caught in Gryffindor scarlet was if she were soaked in the blood of the Gryffindors themselves. It was hard to tell where exaggeration began and truth ended with Bellatrix. She was quite the heroine to many Slytherin girls.

"You look determined, little bug,"she drawled. Bellatrix was bored. She had a fast brain, and could easily outperform most Ravenclaws. Weekends irritated her. While her housemates studied, which she had no need to do, Bellatrix loafed around and chafed at being locked away in school.

"I have something to do."

Bellatrix smiled. "Found out who smashed your muggle quill yet?" Ethelina had the impression that Bellatrix had know the pen would be smashed before Jessica's foot even touched it. For all she knew, she might even have suggested it.

"I worked that out pretty quickly," Ethelina replied.

"You can have one of my quills," Bellatrix volunteered. "It's a bit chewed, mind."

She doesn't like me, Ethelina thought, she likes to play with me. She enjoys playing with everyone. "That would be lovely," Ethelina replied, "but it's MY pen, I won't let it stay broken. And I'm not going to replace it, someone's going to repair it for me."

Bellatrix laughed. "You'll find it hard to find someone who'll repair a muggle artefact for you. In this house, anyway. Cry to cousin Ed and you might have more luck..." The unspoken comment, that stepping outside the house would be less forgiveable than having a squib for a twin or that one-eighth muggle bloodline. To be selected for Slytherin and turn your back on it was the ultimate crime. Ethelina was grateful for her quick brain; she'd learned the unwritten rule within 24 hours of sorting. Kelly was still being tormented for saying she wanted to be in Ravenclaw.

"Wait," Ethelina said.

Other students came and went, many talking to Bellatrix, most boys blushing at the very sight of her, and almost all ignoring Ethelina. Evan Rosier stopped to chat to Bellatrix about his father, but acted as though Ethelina didn't even exist. Lucy Whitby walked though on her way to breakfast, and was airily ordered by Bellatrix to bring her back some food as she didn't feel like sitting in the Great Hall with the muggleborns. Then the person Ethelina was waiting for came down from the boys' dormitory. "Crispin!" she said brightly.

Tall and good looking in a slick-haired 1930s-aristocrat sort of way, Crispin de Lacey looked at her as though she'd just crawled out from under a rock. He'd been avoiding Ethelina as much as possible. "What?" he asked, not bothering to be polite.

"Your little brother Cassius, he goes to..."

"Durmstrang."

"Yes, Durmstrang. Funny how that slipped my mind. Anyway, I've had a letter from someone at your brother's school."Crispin went white, and Ethelina was secretly rather pleased to see alarm in his eyes. "And I'd like to carry on writing to them, but someone stamped on my pen." She held out the fountain pen fragments. "Please would you fix it for me?"

Crispin tapped it with his wand and said "Reparo!" then uttered something else. "I've put a strengthening charm on it too. It shouldn't get broken again. Remember that when you're writing to Durmstrang."

"Thank you, Crispin," Ethelina said as the larger boy hurriedly left the room. He was lying, she thought, and we both know it. But he'll help me now - as long as I keep his secret.

Bellatrix clapped appreciatively. "Bravo Ethelina!" She laughed heartily. "The noble de Laceys, pureblood stalwarts, never around when there's trouble to be found. Do you know, they've wriggled out of every Goblin War and wizarding conflict in five hundred years? So, who do you know who'll torture little Cassius for you? I presume that was the threat?"

Turning her pen over in her hands, Ethelina smiled. "I couldn't possibly share that information. What if I need Crispin to help me in future?"

Lucy returned to the common room, bearing a gold plate loaded with toast and a goblet of pumpkin juice that she'd somehow managed to smuggle out of the Great Hall without setting off any charms or spells. Getting food out was easy, but Ethelina had never seen anyone make off with the tableware before. Lucy waved her prizes at Bellatrix. "Breakfast is served, ma'am. And in return, I'd like a sqizz at your Potions homework.

Bellatrix stood up to return to her dormitory, then reached into the bag she always carried and pulled out a brand-new eagle-feather quill without a single toothmark. She gave it to Ethelina. "For you, little bug. I doubt anyone else will entertain me as much today."

Ethelina watched her leave, then went back to her room to write to Bert. She lay on her bed, parchment crackling.

"I thought that got broken," Kelly said, looking at the fountain pen. Jessica, awake by now, looked over and scowled.

"It was," Ethelina said. "But Crispin fixed it for me. Crispin de Lacey... of course, if it breaks again, Bellatrix has given me an eagle-feather quill."

"Liar. Bellatrix wouldn't give that to you," Jessica said. "Anyway, she chews hers."

"This was a new one," Ethelina said patiently. "You can ask her if you don't believe me." And she'll play on your jealousy like a maestro, she added in her thoughts. Ethelina looked over at Jessica's nightstand, where a slightly mangled ordinary quill lay proudly among Jessica's things. She smiled, and began writing her letter to Bert. In pen.

Dear Bert

Thanks for your letter - it's SLYTHERIN with a y. As in, why am I here. I'm settling in to my house. I met Cassius's brother. He's not very nice. In fact, most of them aren't very nice. I think I'd rather be at St Jude's. Make sure you write to me lots or I'll go mad.

My favourite lessons are Herbology and Potions. You do Herbology, don't you? What plants are you looking at? You'll probably be better than me at it, you're good with your hands. Although I like it, if I'm not careful I'm going to come bottom of the year. I just can't keep things alive!

Love your EVIL TWIN,

Eth

PS What are those weird sticky square things on your envelopes?