Reaper's Heir (Book 1)

Chapter 5

I awoke to Tracy and Millicent sitting on their beds still in their nightclothes, while Pansy got ready in the bathroom. Daphne was sitting on her bed as well, already in her uniform and getting her things for class together. I slowly got up and changed into my robes, only noticing after trying and failing to fix my hair that I'd forgotten to take the necklace I'd gotten from my vault off before sleeping last night. My hair had become tangled in the delicate metalwork. I cleared my throat, hoping not to draw too much attention to myself. "Daphne?"

The blonde looked up from her things, eyes immediately catching on the silvery metal causing my predicament. She snickered and grabbed her wand. "Hold still, Maeve." She waved her wand and the necklace became untangled almost instantly, before also unclasping itself and floating off my neck entirely.

I reached out and grabbed the jewelry before it could fall. "Thank you. How did you do that?"

Daphne replaced her wand with a flourish. "It's a simple spell. My mother taught it to me. Pureblood witches can't be seen struggling with jewelry at events, you know."

Before I could remind her that I didn't know, in fact, a harsh cackle interrupted us from across the room. Pansy sneered at us from the bathroom doorway. "If you don't know how to take care of nice jewelry, perhaps you shouldn't have it."

Daphne rolled her eyes. "Sod off, Pansy. You're just jealous that Maeve has nicer jewelry than you." Pansy huffed and stormed out of the dorm, Tracy and Millicent trailing nervously along behind her. Daphne shook her head as the trio disappeared, before turning back to her bed and grabbing her things. "We should get going too. We wouldn't want to be late on the first day."

I gathered up my things and quickly followed her to the Great Hall, where she guided me to the Slytherin table and we sat down to eat. "Daphne, what's Pansy's problem anyway?" I reached for my fork and took a bite while waiting for her answer.

The blonde rolled her eyes again. "Pansy thinks that just because her family is a part of the Sacred 28, she's better than everyone else."

"That's like what Malfoy said before the sorting."

Daphne looked at me curiously. "Draco? What did he say?"

"He introduced himself to Harry and made a comment about Ron's appearance. He told Harry that some wizarding families are better than others."

Daphne chuckled. "Well, that makes sense. His family is a prominent member of the Sacred 28."

"And I still don't know what that means," I said exasperatedly, crossing my arms. My breakfast lay momentarily forgotten.

"We should get to class. I'll tell you about it on the way." We walked over to our class, with Daphne explaining along the way that the Sacred 28 were a group of wizard families that were considered completely pure-blooded. Some, like the Malfoys, were very proud of this fact, while others, like the Weasleys -and here her nose wrinkled with disgust as it had at dinner the night before- were considered blood traitors because they objected to their addition and saw no issue with marrying muggles or half-bloods. "And this is why Pansy thinks she's so much better than the rest of us, even though her family isn't the only one to be a part of the Sacred 28."

I walked into the classroom and sat in an unoccupied seat, mulling the information over. "Well, it can't be that big of a deal if the Malfoys and the Weasleys are a part of it too. How do they keep their bloodlines pure if they don't marry muggle-borns or half-bloods? Do they just intermarry?"

"Some families do. Some, like the Malfoys, are willing to marry half-bloods though."

"But then they wouldn't be pure, would they? That's so hypocritical!"