Slytherin's Shame (or Pride?)

Owl hooting

I watched from my window as the sun reached the horizon, the light glinting on the rain-soaked asphalt of Privet Drive. This morning is also beautiful. Always the same, yet different.

I stretch out my stiff limbs. I quietly put on a pair of denim shorts and a white sleeveless t-shirt, then I walk barefoot to the kitchen. I make sure that I don't make any noise with my footsteps, because as usual, I wake up first in the family. Passing by the rooms, I hear the rhythmic snoring of my parents and brother, and the snoring of my cousin.

In the kitchen, I start preparing breakfast for five people. Last year I became interested in cooking, that's when I begged my mother to teach me how to prepare simpler meals. First I fry some bacon, then I crack some eggs and drizzle them into the pan. It doesn't take much time, and the fried egg is ready. I add cucumbers and tomatoes, grate cheese, and finally place my whole creation in the middle of the table, accompanied by a few slices of bread. I even make lemonade as a refreshment.

After laying the table, I sit down and look at the result with satisfaction.  I think I did great work today.  Now I'm just waiting for the others to arrive.  My stomach is rumbling, but I don't want to start eating without them.  I like it when the family has breakfast together.

Soon my slightly overweight brother wanders into the dining room.  He's already dressed. His blonde curls are carefully combed and lay flat against his skull, which at the moment cannot be said about my unruly shoulder-length wavy crown.

- Good morning, Dud! - I wave cheerfully.  - Did you sleep well?

- Yep - he mumbles with sleepy eyes and settles down on the kitchen chair opposite me. His bottom droops over either side of the piece of furniture. He's just about to reach for a fried egg, but I gently slap his hand.

- Hey! Let's wait for Mom, Dad and Harry!

- Come on! - whines my brother. - It's always like this. Don't be so mean, Di! I'm hungry.

- Me too, but I can stand it for a few more minutes - I look at him sternly. Out of the two of us, Dudley is more spoilt by our parents. He is the first-born little star, the apple of Dad's and Mom's eyes. Of course, I can't complain either, I get everything I need, it's just that they are stricter with me, their expectations are higher. They want me to be - according to them - an excellent child like my brother. But they are unable to understand that I will never be like that, since all people are different, even siblings. Also, they don't see that my brother is not at all the angel they think he is - in fact, he has huge flaws. Don't get me wrong, I love my parents and my brother, I just think a little differently than they do.

Perhaps my cousin is the one in the family who understands me the best. I love Harry, he's like a second brother to me. Unfortunately, my parents don't like him, and Dudley keeps teasing him, just because he's different. Harry is actually a wizard.

He showed strangeness even at an early age, but it was finally revealed last year, when he turned eleven. He received a letter that he had been admitted to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It turned out that Mom and Dad suspected he was a wizard because his mother, my mother's sister, was one too - until she and her husband were killed by an evil wizard, Lord Voldemort.

But my parents hid all this from him, they wanted to "weed out" the magic from Harry. But I think it's really cool that he got accepted to Hogwarts! When he came home for the summer, he told me a lot about the school. I could see how happy he was because he finally found a real home and friends.

- I didn't even want to come back. It's only because of you that I bear being here again. You were the only one I missed, Di - he smiles at me.

Harry introduced me to the mysteries of the wizarding world. He said that after Hagrid broke onto us in the cottage (where we fled from the rain of letters), he took him to Diagon Alley where you can get all magical supplies. Then he talked about the Hogwarts Express, the school itself, the most popular wizarding sport, Quidditch, the teachers and his friends. He told me how he, Ron and Hermione obtained the Philosopher's Stone and confronted Voldemort. I just drank in his words, and now I know his stories inside-out. Of course, all this is a secret, because if my mother or father found out that I was interested in the wizarding world, and Harry said so much about it, they would kick me out of the apartment.

A loud screech of an owl, followed by my father's cursing, broke my thoughts.

- Third time this week! - he roares across the table. So much for creating a good atmosphere for the family with the surprise breakfast.
- If you can't control that owl, it'll have to go!