Anthea Lestrange is so unlike the rest of her family - a kind Hufflepuff and diligent student of Muggle Studies - and is constantly trying to prove that she is her own person.
{Philosopher's Stone - Deathly Hallows}
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Professor Sprout started handing out timetables at breakfast the next morning, just as the Slytherin Quidditch team arrived from their first practice of the season, the six boys of the team sliding into seats at their house table. The emblem of the snake was proudly emblazoned on their cloaks and they wore their green ties striped with silver like a badge of honour.
Matilda Avery, however, walked right past them. Instead, she seated herself next to her best friends, Fred and George, at the Gryffindor table and reached for a piece of toast. With her ginger hair blazing, she looked almost like their triplet, save for the fact that her tie was emerald not crimson.
She was a Beater for the Serpents, a fierce opponent on the pitch and the younger sister of Jemima Avery, the Keeper for the Holyhead Harpies. Matilda shared her house's competitive nature, but she was the only person on their Quidditch team who had never cheated - she was extremely talented, but also fair.
For that reason, she was spared the usual hostilities that were afforded to the rest of her team.
"I tell you, that girl is going to play professionally someday," Marlene said over a bowl of cereal, just as her timetable was placed in front of her by their smiling Head of House. She cast her eyes down the parchment. "It looks like you got your wish, Annie. Potions first thing."
Malcolm groaned, a small thud echoing from the table when his head lolled forwards onto it. "Great."
"On the plus side, it means that Snape can't set us a ten page essay with just the weekend to do it in," Cedric said, echoing their conversation from the previous night. "Because he's definitely done that before."
Anthea nodded in agreement across the table, adding, "And we want to keep our weekends free for Quidditch and Hogsmeade."
Fred, George and Matilda were joined moments later by another Slytherin, Ethan Rosier. Just like his fellow Serpent, he too had made it tradition to ignore his house at every available opportunity and sit instead with the twins. His dark hair hung in such faint curls that they were almost unnoticeable, skimming the shoulders of his cloak.
What had a few minutes ago been a brimming bowl of Cheeri-Owls in front of Anthea was now a few dregs of milk, still clinging to their ceramic confines. The others had also finished, the five of them rising in unison and heading back to their common room, where they had left their books as it was almost unheard of for things to go missing among the Hufflepuffs.
Shouldering their bags with great reluctance, they began the long walk across the viaduct and towards the dungeons.
Light ebbed away as they descended into the bowels of the castle, the smiles they received from the few Ravenclaws that had arrived before them were their only form of welcome to the Potions classroom. The walls were adorned with thousands of jars, cloudy liquids and murky suspensions just visible through the grimy surfaces of the glass.
