For as long as they can remember, Ginny Weasley and Juliet Delaney have been best friends. However, something about Juliet is unknown to the Wizarding World. Though she was raised by the Weasley family, she is Sorted into Slytherin House, which puts...
I couldn't believe it when I was sorted into Slytherin. That was just the beginning of my life starting to unravel. Later that same year, I discovered that I was able to speak Parseltongue, the language of serpents. I was soon accused of being the Heir of Slytherin, as Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts, was also a Parselmouth. Now, in my fourth year, I was greatly saddened by the death of Cedric Diggory at the hands of You-Know-Who the previous school year, but I had my best friend Ginny Weasley with me, so I felt like I could take on the world. She's been my best friend for as long as I can remember, and I was adopted by her family shortly after I was born, so we literally grew up together. Her older brother Ron can be kind of annoying, but I still love him and look up to him, even if he infuriates me sometimes. Even though we're not biologically related (to my knowledge), we still think of each other as siblings and best friends. I found out in the summer between my first and second years at Hogwarts that the reason that one of my other friends, Harry Potter, can speak Parseltongue is because You-Know-Who could speak Parseltongue, a trait that Harry recieved when a little bit of You-Know-Who latched on to him, the nearest living thing it could find, but it doesn't explain why I can speak Parseltongue as well.
One day, the summer after Cedric's death, I came across a picture of a teenage boy who looked a lot like me, and when I flipped the picture over, it said that his name was Tom Marvolo Riddle. I didn't know why, but I felt like there was a message that could be revealed by rearranging the letters, so I set to doing that. It took me a while, but once Hermione came to 12 Grimmauld Place, she was able to help me figure it out. The first thing I did was show her the picture and ask her if the man in the picture looked like me, and she said that he looked just like me. At the time, I had only managed to piece together the words "I am Lo". With Hermione's help, I came up with the message "I am Lord Voldemort". That was when I realized that my last name never was Delaney, and that my last name was actually Riddle. That was all I needed to figure out why I could speak Parseltongue. I was descended from Salazar Slytherin himself, making me the Heiress of Slytherin.
When I boarded the Hogwarts Express with Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Harry, I planned to tell them who my father was as soon as we were alone in a compartment together, until I remembered that Ron and Hermione were Prefects. I quickly whispered to Hermione that she could tell Ron what we'd discovered as soon as they were alone before we had to go our separate ways for the time being. I found a compartment for Harry, Ginny, and myself to sit. I was the last one in, so I closed the door behind me before I sat down. "Harry, Ginny, there's something that I need to tell you, and I will completely understand if you don't want to be friends with me anymore once I tell you," I said, avoiding looking at either of them. "What is it, Jules?" Ginny asked me. "My father is You-Know-Who," I said, going against my better judgment and looking at them to see how they would react. "You are nothing like him, okay? We'll still be friends with you, no matter who your father is," Ginny said, with Harry nodding in agreement. "Does anyone else know?" Harry asked me. "Only Ron and Hermione. She actually helped me out with rearranging the letters on the back of this picture," I said, showing them the picture I had found over the summer. "He was pretty good-looking," Ginny said. "Yeah, he was. I wish he wasn't my father, though. Most people can say stuff like 'My dad works at Flourish and Blotts,' or 'My dad works for the Ministry of Magic.' And then there's me. I'd have to say 'My dad is the most dangerous Dark Wizard in history,'" I said. "You don't have to be so honest about it if you don't want to, Jules," Ginny said, and I felt heat starting to creep into my cheeks, which really confused me.
"Juliet, are you... blushing?" Ginny asked me. I didn't respond out of the fear of embarrassing myself in front of her. Where is this coming from?! I've never worried about embarrassing myself in front of Ginny! I thought. I recalled a time when we were younger when I tried to do a trick for her on one of our brothers' broomsticks and wound up falling to the ground from about twenty feet up. She told me that my face was bright red, and we both laughed about it later. Ever since that happened, I had never touched another broomstick outside of flying lessons. This year, I had decided that it was time for me to face my fear and try out for the Slytherin Quidditch team. I planned on surprising her by making the team, and I was excited for tryouts in a few days.
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"Now then, I'm sure that all of you are hoping to make the team, but as we all know, there are only seven players on a Quidditch team, so good luck to you all," the captain of the Slytherin team said. I didn't know his name, but I knew enough to know that he was pretty popular among the Slytherins. Chaser tryouts were up first, which was the position that I was trying out for. My turn was towards the end of the Chaser tryouts, so I had a feeling that the expectations by the time it was my turn would be pretty high. I watched the other students tryout before me, and the expectations were pretty high, just as I had predicted. I took off a little bit unsteadily, but I quickly became comfortable, and I made every goal that I attempted. "Wow. That was very impressive, Delaney," the team captain said. "Thanks," I said sheepishly. "I'm Caleb Rowle, by the way," he said, offering his hand for me to shake, which I do. We talked for a little bit before I left for the common room, where I got comfortable and continued reading a book that I had started over the summer.
When dinnertime came, I sat with Ginny at the Gryffindor table so we could spend time together and talk about how our school year has been so far. "I can't stand Umbridge. She treats us like we're five years old," Ginny said. "I know. I mean, how are we supposed to pass our Defense Against the Dark Arts exams when we can't practice the spells that we're learning?" I asked. "I dunno. I heard that the reason why we can't practice what we learn is because Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, is paranoid that Dumbledore's going to try to organize some sort of army to get him out of office," Ginny said. "Ugh, give me a break!" I said with a loud sigh. "By the way, where were you this afternoon? I was looking all over for you," she said. "I had to talk to Professor Grubbly-Plank about something," I improvised. "Oh. Well, see you tomorrow," she said. "Yeah, see you," I said as we parted ways for the night.
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Okay, new Harry Potter story. The idea for this one just sort of came to me, so... yeah. Anyway, I picture Juliet Delaney (or Riddle, whichever you prefer) being portrayed by Jenna Coleman (pictured below). Until next time!
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