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Second Year Slytherin Student: SaLevera Sykes



Levera slipped into her seat at the Slytherin table, hoping that her arrival would go unnoticed. She had been in the bathroom trying to avoid having another mental breakdown. Ferreus was getting to be an annoying habit and he had been chittering nonstop in some foreign sounding language in her head. It took her a while to block the sound out and now she was starved.

She looked at the food and then chose to scoop some shepherd's pie on her plate, not caring if the feast had started yet. Anyone who wanted to stop her could take it up with her fists.

~~
“Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing. Use the pain as fuel, as a reminder of your strength.”

Charon said he could help Stella find snakes. "I may have to take you up on that later," she said. "If I ever get my mother to agree to it." Then, his last name rung a bell: Gaunt - does that mean he was related to Voldemort? Was that polite, to bring that up right now?

Stella noticed that some of the students were taken aback by her announcement that she was half-blood. She rolled her eyes. Whatever. She wasn't going to put up with prejudice. Prejudice was stupid, and if there was one thing Stella could NOT stand it was any kind of stupidity. Her Italian pureblood relatives had no problem with her father being a Muggle; why couldn't Britain's purebloods get up to speed? As she thought about this, she heard Charon and Dante hissing. Stella gasped. Parseltongue! She didn't think anyone spoke it anymore - but then again, Charon was a Gaunt. She also couldn't help but wonder if they were talking about her. She knew that at her Muggle primary school, some of the Pakistani kids would speak in Urdu for that reason: gossiping about others without them knowing. It wasn't like Stella could do anything about it, though. She knew Italian, through her mum, but she didn't know anyone else outside her family who did.

Stella couldn't wait to meet some people from the other three houses, who hopefully would care less about who her parents were. (Well, other two... Stella had already picked up on the fact that Slytherin and Gryffindor were not on good terms, from someone of the conversations she overheard while waiting for the Sorting Hat.)

Roisin asked her about her Italian family. Stella actually got excited by this, even though she didn't think family connections were all that interesting. It was because her family's talent was one which really excited her. "They are all Animagi," Stella said, thinking back to all the animal-filled visits to the Marcelli estate in Venice. "My mum is an eagle herself. She said she might teach me once I've been at Hogwarts a few years; she doesn't think I know enough magic yet. I can't wait." She paused, hoping Roisin would react well to this. She seemed nice enough, even if she apparently cared so much about families and blood. "What is your family's...um...special talent?" Stella figured it was only polite to throw the question back.

Stella noticed Ariya shrinked back from the question about blood purity. She wondered if the girl, like her, was a non-pureblood. She made a mental note of it and figured that Ariya was someone worth getting to know; maybe she'd be her lifeline in this pureblood-mad house. She winked at her, knowingly.

((OOC: @Dante - no offense taken, I kind of expected that reaction from someone. Stella is going to have to learn the hard way not to be super-upfront about everything immediately. ))

Dante turned when he heard his name spoken,'yes I am Dante Prince. It is a pleasure to meet you Morvin Varren" he spoke with a small smirk on his face. Although his name spoke much of his lineage he wondered if this boy had what it took to live up to such a name. But for someone to address him by his name directly peaked his interest enough to indulge him in conversation. "It is no surprise that one such as yourself was placed in Slytherin." he smirked.

Roisin seemed really interested in Stella's family's talent. Stella was happy about this. "I don't think I'll be an eagle." she replied. "I'm not into birds. I prefer reptiles and fish." She smiled. "Maybe they were right to sort me into Slytherin rather than Ravenclaw" she finished, hoping her joke would go over well.

She listed as Roisin described her family's abilities at the Dark Arts (Stella had to admit an intellectual fascination with dark magic, even though her mother had cautioned her against that interest, so she found this intriguing) and at languages. At this, Stella perked up. "Oh, I like languages, too." she said. "I haven't studied any magical ones yet, but I speak Italian fluently - from my mum. And I know a little French, too."

However, Roisin suddenly lost interest when a boy Stella had seen before at some earlier point - Sever, she thought his name was - mentioned, alarmingly, losing some important book. He said it was Slytherin's book. "Slytherin as in Salazar?" Stella asked, immediately feeling stupid after she asked it. Who else would it be? But then her mind raced when he mentioned bumping into some girl. That's where she had seen him! And she remembered the girl, too. "I know which girl you mean. I don't know her name, but I think she had Ravenclaw robes, though I could be wrong," Stella replied. "I could point her out if you want."

((OOC: edited ))