Slytherin's Shame (or Pride?)

🐍Horned Snake🐍

I stare at the letter in my hand. This could just be some mistake. I can't be a witch! After all, there was never any sign that I would be.

Still, the paper is real. At the bottom is the signature of Minerva McGonagall and the Hogwarts seal.

In the letter, they apologize for only messaging me on the first day of school, but until now they weren't sure I was actually a witch. Since I have no chance of reaching the Hogwarts Express because of the limited time, they promised to send someone to accompany me to Diagon Alley and then to school. I wonder what Harry will say when he sees me there?

I grin at the thought, but my glee quickly fades when I catch a glimpse of my father's face.

- Why are you hanging around there barefoot?  - he snaps at me. - And what is that doing in your hand? - he pokes at the letter. As the realization dawns on him, terror fills his eyes.
- No, that can't be... Petunia! - he screams desperately.

- What is it? - my mother rushes to us curiously, but immediately drops the glass of water that was in her hand, when she sees that I'm clutching my Hogwarts letter in my hand, frozen.
- Good heavens! - she gasps and presses her palm to her heart.

- I-I didn't know... I swear, I didn't want to, because I never... never dreamed that... - I run my hands through my hair nervously.

- Out! - screams my father as soon as he regains consciousness.

- But... but why? - tears come to my eyes. - I didn't do anything wrong! I didn't want this! - I wave the letter.

- Don't deny that you were interested in this abomination! - my father scolds me. - In addition, that little nobody filled your head with his silly tales! Maybe you thought we didn't know about it? You too have been infected by this filthy hocus pocus!

- How can you talk about Harry like that? He is your nephew, a member of your family! - now I'm sobbing.

- Don't you dare lecture me! - bellows my father. - You are no longer my daughter! Out! Get out of this house! I never want to see you again!

- Well, but Vernon! - says my mother, offended.

- This is my last word! - my father yells at her.

I am flooded with rage, like I've never been before. I'm fed up with my father's behavior. I'm sick of him looking down on magic like this. I'm sick of him treating people so rudely, with no exception even for his family members. Suddenly, all the pent-up anger I've accumulated over the years bursts out of me, and I start yelling at him.

- You know what? - I look into his eyes menacingly. My voice is strained, and I don't raise it at all, which makes it even creepier.
- I accept your decision. You're kicking me out? That's fine. I'm not your daughter anymore. But you're not my father anymore either. Maybe you never were. You didn't take care of me enough, it was only Mom and Dud who really loved me. But you... you are incapable of true love. You have no heart! You are a soulless monster!

My father explodes with rage.- How dare you talk to me like that? - he raises his hand to strike, but then something unexpected happens.

My father's arm stops in mid-air, because out of nowhere, a sand-colored horned snake lunges at him and sinks its teeth into his palm. While he yells and my mother screams, I rush to my room with a pounding heart. In record time, I pack my most necessary belongings into my suitcase, and I'm already going down. I run into Dudley at the bottom of the stairs.

- What happened? - he looks at me dazedly. - What are you doing, where are you going?

I answer curtly. - Out of the way, Dud.

My brother feels the tension in me, so he obeys without a word. He knows that I rarely snap, but if I put my mind to it, I can do anything.

My father was still screaming in the hall, and judging by the sounds, my mother was crying and trying to remove the horned snake from his hand.

- Will you ever come back? - I hear Dudley's soft voice behind me.

- I don't know, Dud - I look at him, struggling with tears. - I do not know...

- This is yours - he shyly hands me a package. - I didn't want to give it under these circumstances, so it might sound strange, but... happy birthday.

I smile. No matter how rude my brother can be, he loves me from the bottom of his heart. He just doesn't know how to show it sometimes.

I accept the gift with trembling hands. Inside it, I find a silver necklace with a pendant in the shape of the letter D. Impressed, I attach the jewelry around my neck.

- Thank you! I really like it - I hug Dudley. - The rest of my gifts, which Mom and Dad would have given me, can be yours. And eat cake instead of me as well!

- Ok. I will miss my idiot sister.

- And I will miss my dumb brother.

- Have fun in the school of freaks - he grins at me.

- Thanks - I slap him playfully on the shoulder. - And try to be a good boy at school.

- I can't promise anything. Will we meet again? - he asks dejectedly.

- Definitely. If nothing else, I'll visit you. In fact, I'll send you letters from school. You won't get rid of me that easily - I wink.- Just make sure the Dad doesn't notice.

- All the best, Di - he waves goodbye.

- All the best, Dud - I smile at him one last time. - I'm going to take that snake off dad - I sigh and rush into the hall.

As I suspected, my father is still fighting the horned snake. The animal had already bitten his hand to a bloody state.

- Hey, leave him alone! - I say, and it obediently lets go and crawls next to me with side-to-side movements, hissing.
- I... I'm sorry it turned out this way - I look sadly into my parents' eyes.

They just stand speechless and stare at me like I'm some criminal. Hatred shines from my father's eyes, and disappointment and terror from my mother's. I don't want her to be afraid of me.

A single tear drops from my eye and runs down my face. I decide that this will be the last one for a while. I will be stronger from now on.

- Please don't be angry, mom - I hang my head and walk out the door.

The horned snake follows. I have no idea how I managed to conjure it (since I realized in the meantime that it must have been my doing and it was the fright that brought it out of me), but I'm actually glad to have its company - even if I don't have any idea what I'm going to do with her. People would probably be scared if I walked on the streets accompanied by a half-meter long snake, but I don't want to get rid of the animal either - by the way, I don't even know how. Anyway, I've always liked reptiles.

I'm deep in thought when a female cat appears on the corner of Privet Drive. Intrigued, she investigates and ventures closer. I stare at her with my mouth open. There's something in her eyes, I can't explain it to myself, but... it almost makes her human. I feel that something is wrong here, this is definitely not an ordinary cat.

The animal looks around, as if to check and make sure that no one from the surrounding houses is watching us, then... she suddenly changes. In the place where the cat used to be, there is now a middle-aged woman. She wears jeans and a tartan shirt, with square-framed glasses that match the shape of the cat's patch around her eyes. Her black, sometimes gray hair is twisted into a tight bun. She measures me strictly with her bright green eyes.

- So you're Diana Dursley - she states. - My name is Minerva McGonagall - she introduces herself.

- You sent me the letter! - I recognize.

- That's right. I am the deputy director of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

- Very nice to meet you - I shake her hand. - How did you do this before? Can I learn it too?

- What I did is called animagia. It takes years of hard work to master it, and the operation is by no means without danger.