slither - dm

Erotica & Dueling.

Laurel

"Everyone, I want you all to help me in welcoming Laurel Nott. She was in the dueling club at her old school, so I figured she'd have some knowledge to share with us." Harry introduced. The room went silent and was suddenly filled with blank stares. Stares insinuating that I shouldn't be there.

It didn't take long for the word about Theo and I being siblings to get out seeing as most Slytherin's are hot gossips. Once the word was out, students from other houses who once wouldn't mind lending me a book, or their jar of ink suddenly began snubbing me and would whisper in the distance when I'd enter a room.

And they say Slytherin's are bad? Please, I often heard Ravenclaws mutter things about me in hushed tones whenever I'd stride by like: "she's just like every other Slytherin" and "we can't trust her no more than we can trust her family."

What did that even mean? I knew very little about my family, so how am I to know they've done bad or maybe even unforgivable things? I still had yet to meet my biological dad. I debated on asking Theo about him seeing as he had the privilege of being raised by the man, but decided that I should wait until our relationship progresses more. I don't know how comfortable he'd be with sharing things with me. Especially anything he may know about our mother. She died when he was a baby too.

"Really Harry?" One girl spat in disgust. "You invited her to join us? How're you sure we can trust her? How do we know she won't just go running back to her brother and rat us out?" She continued.

"Cho, look. I know it seems a little er, strange—"

"Strange is an understatement. It's a disgrace. Her family fought under you-know-who. We're all at risk now."

"What did you say?" I snap to her. "Her family fought under you know who." lingering on my mind.

"Why? Do you need me to repeat it word for word so you can run back and tell your Slytherin friends?" I scoffed.

"For starters, I have no Slytherin friends. I have a brother who I just found out I had a couple of months ago. We barely even speak. I know nothing about my family. As far as I'm concerned, I'm not even a Nott."

Laughter filled the air. Why do I feel the need to prove myself to these strangers? It seems as if they've already made up their minds about me the moment I was declared a Slytherin.

"Look, I have no reason to be here. It doesn't really benefit me. I was asked to come because of my extensive knowledge of dueling, and defensive spells. So I can help all of you who know little to nothing about the matter. If you don't want my help, fine, but don't think that just because you're refusing me because I'm a Slytherin, doesn't mean I'm going to go tattle on you. I've got better things to do with my time."

They all went silent. You could hear a pin drop or a drop of water drip from a leaky pipe. It was quiet.

"How do you suppose we trust you then?" The girl, Cho, asked. I stood there for a moment, trying to figure out the proper way to answer it, but I didn't have a convincing enough answer.

"I guess you'll just have to trust me on a whim because nothing I can say will guarantee your trust in me. You'll just have to seek it out for yourself." I replied. "So, do you want my help or not?"

Cho didn't respond, she stood there kind of upset that I stood up to her. Was she expecting me to just blurt out that I was going to rat them all out? I wasn't. I had no intentions of doing that. What would that do for me? Especially if I'm a part of their group.

"Look, she may be a Slytherin, but she certainly doesn't identify as one. If you'd just get to know her, then you'd see she possesses more Gryffindor traits than anything. The sorting hat probably sorted her into Slytherin because of her bloodline." Everyone still stayed silent, accepting the fact that Harry was right. I had absolutely nothing in common with anyone in Slytherin.