From a young age, Leonora Potter had discovered that she was quite different from the rest of her family. After getting sorted into Slytherin, her relationship with the Potter's crumbled, and she was forced to find family in other places. Perhaps th...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧
If you were to ask most parents, they would tell you that they didn't have a favorite child. Leonora's parents would have said the same thing. Which is strange because it had always been blatantly clear that they favored James more than her. Though in all fairness, he was their oldest. Their pride and joy. And yet she couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous, always being in his shadow. But nothing she ever did seemed to break her out of it. And over time, she had developed a horrible habit of always comparing herself to the boy.
A habit she picked up from her parents.
To start, James had always been incredibly obnoxious. Their parents seemed to pay no mind to this, however, which is what really got on her nerves. He never faced any repercussions, regardless of how unruly his behavior was. Ignoring rules, constantly talking back.
One of her worst memories was of when James had set off a dungbomb in a fancy Wizarding restaurant they were once dining in. Every single head had turned at the impact, watching her family with hard glares. She had been mortified. Her face had turned beet red, and she was sure the brightness had even shined through her hands that had covered her face in shame. All their parents did was offer light apologies, going on about how 'that's what young boys do.' They laughed about it as if it was no big deal.
James also had made it a routine to prank her whenever possible. She had come to believe that it was the boy's favorite hobby, much to her annoyance. And thank Merlin he wasn't able to use his wand outside of Hogwarts yet (he was only in his second year), but Magical Whoopee Cushions and Nose-Biting Teacups were just as bad in her opinion. She could only imagine the sort of trouble he got himself into while at Hogwarts with the use of his wand.
And when the pranking got too bad, too unbearable, she would begin to resent him. She just couldn't help it. Always being the target of something so insufferable tends to weigh on you after a while. But at the end of the day, he was her brother. Which meant that no matter how intolerable he got, she would still love him.
✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧
In contrast, Leonora was typically respectful and quiet. She threw most of her energy into studying, often found tucked away in the Manor's library with an old, heavy book in her lap. The Potters owned well over a thousand of them. And at the age of just nine, she had read through every single one of them at least twice. Some even three times.
Which unfortunately resulted in her parents questioning her quite often about why she spent so much time inside, reading alone, when she could be more like James. The boy was constantly outside playing Quidditch, another one of his favorite things. And studying was one of her favorite things. So why was it such a big deal if she spent her time doing that?
"Because I like learning." That's the answer she always gave, followed by a simple shrug. And while that was most definitely true, she did have other motives as well.
Leonora was fiercely ambitious. She had long set her sights on becoming one of the brightest and most powerful witches of her generation. The only downside at this point, though, was that she wasn't at Hogwarts yet and didn't have a wand to practice with. So in order to work on her goals before that point, she threw herself into books. Bragging wasn't something she ever did, but she couldn't help but revel in the fact that her knowledge already rivaled that of a witch twice her age. She already knew just about every charm, potion, creature, and a majority of the history of the Wizarding World.
The one thing she knew almost nothing about, however, was the Dark Arts. Her parents refused to keep such books in their library. So did many other Wizarding families, for that matter. But despite that, Leonora found herself to be quite interested in learning about them. And she could never reveal that to her family. But it wasn't as if she would ever actually use any of the deadly spells or brew any of the horrid potions. Becoming one of the best meant understanding all types of magic—the good and the bad.
✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧
Some Wizarding families might call the Potters "blood-traitors." It meant that they harbored no prejudice towards Muggles or Muggle-borns. And her family was, in fact, friends with quite a few of them that lived around the area. During school breaks she'd also have to listen to James drone on about some Muggle-born witch named Lily Evans that he was obsessed with. Leonora, however, and this was another thing she would never reveal to her family, wasn't so keen on muggles.
She had come to find out, through her extensive reading habits, the grim history surrounding their treatment of her kind. Witch trials, taking place around the world, where they hung and set women and children on fire, simply for believing they were magical. The thought had always made her mind flare with anger. How could her family hold no resentment towards them after all of the cruelty witches and wizards had endured at their hands? Ever since, she had started to question her family's beliefs.
But then again, on the other hand, she had to give them the benefit of the doubt. That was in the past. Muggles didn't do that anymore. So she couldn't truly, absolutely hate them, but that didn't mean a sour bitterness wouldn't simmer beneath her skin at the thought of them.
That was quite a dangerous belief these days. Two years ago, there was a man who had declared himself the Dark Lord. Voldemort, though most people refused to speak that name. Everyone knew his stance on Muggles and Muggle-borns. And throughout those two years, her parents had ingrained it into her mind that every witch and wizard who held a similar ideology was some sort of fanatic supporter of his. Death Eaters, they called them.
The closer Leonora got to attending Hogwarts, the more her nerves began to grow. Mostly due to her opinions and ambitions. As a Pure-blooded witch, she knew plenty about the four houses and the sorting ceremony. Enough to know that she didn't quite align with the traits a typical Gryffindor would harbor. Under normal circumstances, that wouldn't have been such a big deal. But her entire family, as far back as she could recall, had always been in Gryffindor. And not following in their footsteps began to feel less like a possibility, and more of an impending problem.
One particular thought had crossed her mind numerous times. Would her family hate her if she weren't sorted into Gryffindor? The question felt ridiculous, because why would they? She doubted she'd end up in Hufflepuff. She did find herself to be a loyal and hard-working person, but it just wasn't calling her name. And although she was quite clever and studious, she wasn't sure if that outweighed her ambitiousness enough to be a Ravenclaw. And that's where the problem began. Recently, she'd begun to think that Slytherin would be her home there.
The house was filled with evil stereotypes. She knew James believed every horrible thing spewed about them. Her parents, she wasn't so sure, but picking up on the tone in their voices whenever something related to the Slytherins came up in conversation, led her to suspect that their opinions weren't far off from James's.
A majority of Slytherins had pledged their loyalty to the Dark Lord, that was no secret. But so had witches and wizards from other houses as well. Most people didn't seem to focus on them, though.
And now, their children would be attending Hogwarts. They'd be getting sorted into Slytherin, and many assumed that they would follow in their parents footsteps in joining them as a supporter. If she ended up among them, Leonora feared that her family would begin to question her. On everything. Her house, loyalties, values, and even who she was to become.
But perhaps she was worried over nothing. If all of her ancestors had been in Gryffindor, then surely she would be too. And then she'd think back to before Hogwarts, about how ridiculous her thoughts were.
