Slythering Along in a World of Lions

"Damn it." I breathed, my eyes welling up. I commanded myself not to cry, and shouted out the only thing that would make me feel better, "Sectumsempra!"

Scorpius Malfoy was sprawled on the ground at my feet. Blood seeped from his stomach, staining his clothes and the lush ivy coloured carpet of the Slytherin Common Room. I kicked his knee, turned around and briskly tip-toed to my dormitory. I blew a dyed purple strand of hair from my eyes and pushed it back from my face.

The stairs to the Slytherin Girl's Dorm was long and steep. The dorm was way underneath the lake. The beds were canopied with ivy coloured curtains, the bed posts a dark ebony. My friend, Lilith Dean, lay on her bed, fast asleep.

I slipped out of my grey Hogwarts skirt, and pulled on a pair of polka-dot pyjama shorts. Lying on my bed, I pondered the length of time it would take for them to tell my parents what I'd done. A day, maybe two? They'd be mad. Espeicially my dad. He had been a Gryffindor, my mum had been a Gryffindor, my brothers and my cousins – all Gryffindors. And then there was me; Lily the Slytherin.

Lily Potter the flipping Slytherin. How do I set myself apart from my family?

REBELLION.