Les Misérables | Regulus A. Black [1]

Chapter Twenty-Two

[Chapter Twenty-Two]

The discovery of a Muggle-born in Slytherin had caught Éponine off guard to the point where she didn't know what to do when it came to Gian. She noted that he was only a child, roughly eleven years old, twelve at the oldest. He seemed innocent enough, fascinated by the idea of the merfolk in the lake and climbing on his own chair in hopes to catch a glimpse of one. She sat there in her own armchair, watching him as if he were some type of special creature and in a lot of ways, he was. He was a rare species as it was completely unheard of for a Muggle-born to be sorted into Slytherin. She was trying to justify it in her mind, especially since Salazar had practically feared Muggle-borns, he wouldn't let them into his house.

But then again, Salazar was no longer around and he hadn't been around for quite some time.All that was left was the Sorting Hat, with the mind of the Four Founders. However, it wasn't truly the Founders, it was what they valued and the traits of their personalities. Salazar valued purity, but that was only one of the characteristics of the House. He also valued the cunning, the ambitious, and those that valued self-preservation. If Gian valued all of those things or showed traits that made up a Slytherin, then it made sense that he was sorted into the house, regardless of his blood-status.

But how well would that go over among the other students?

After several minutes of silence on her end, Éponine turned to face Gian once more, clearing her throat to gain his attention. With a quick glance around the Common Room, the girl made sure to note that there appeared to be no one else in the area with them.

"Have you told anyone that you're a muggle-born?" She asked him.

Gian raised a brow in confusion before shaking his head. "No one's asked me if I was."

Yet, Éponine thought to herself, reputation was nearly everything in the Slytherin household, especially among the major families that seemed to hold the most power with their surnames. There were those that followed the warp idea that muggle-borns didn't even deserve to live, Éponine wasn't one of them, but she knew they were more than a handful.

"Listen to me," Éponine began, feeling her heart racing within her chest. What she was about to do was about to go against all of her teachings from the time she was young. Muggle-borns were the perfect spies in the wizarding world. They had connections to both sides, access to both worlds and it was a fear that they would not only expose secrets, but they would be the ones to lead to another witch hunt even if that wasn't their intentions.

There was no denying it, out in the muggle world, there were many that believed that magic was evil, the work of the Devil as it had been labelled. To purge the world of the "evil" it also meant to purge those that were capable of magic. If muggle-borns were relaying information to their families, there was a chance that the information would spread.

The Ministry tried to comfort families, claiming that Muggle-borns and their families were sworn to secrecy to keep all information within their homes, but that offered little comfort.