The color drained from Moirah’s face as the house announced her place. [i][b]”SLYTHERIN!”[/b][/i]

[i]”Just like dad…”[/i] The girl whispered to the hat. [i]”Thank you.”[/i] The hat did not respond, it’s business with Moriah was finished.

She felt like she was made of wood, her back stiff as a board as she walked. The only body part that seemed to be working properly, was working in overdrive. This was her heart, it pounded in her chest at a million miles per hour. 

Somehow she managed to waddle to the Slytherin table, and fall into a seat.

The other students nodded at her, but turned their attention toward the rest of the sorting, then Minerva’s speech, then the food as it appeared.

She twisted her fingers together under the table. The whole train ride over she had practiced various ways to introduce herself. She would be sure to make the impression that she was noble, clever, and worthy! However, now that her moment of glory had arrived, she couldn’t find use of her tongue!

“Hi, I’m M-M-mmmm--” She almost spoke to a dark haired upperclassmen, but he turned away from her for the attention of a biscuit.  “Can you pass me the--” she almost spoke to a girl in pigtails, but she turned away as her friend told a joke, they erupting in laughter over some private joke.

[i]’Go ahead! Just ask someone to pass you the pepper already![/i] but couldn’t find the courage to interrupt her house mates, so instead, she ate quietly and without additional spices.

She would be content, for now, to be surrounded by [i]them.[/i] The house of the [i]pure[/i] magicians. The pure blood houses held the strongest wizards and witches as thei blood carried the highest concentration of magical genetics. 

To be clear, Moirah did not really know what ‘genetics’ were. She had not been schooled in science. She knew it was a popular muggle term for talking about blood-status, which, for them was only about what your hair color might be. That’s as much as Moirah knew about that. The rest was assumptions based on second and third hand information.

She yearned to be accepted by her peers in Slytherin. She had been an only child and seen her cousins only sporadically. There were more children in this hall than all the others she had seen in her whole life added together! The potential, and the pressure, was overwhelming.

She began to eavesdrop on a couple of first years sitting next to her. A girl from Ravenclaw had struck up conversation with a first year Slytherin. 

[i]’I wonder why she is talking to the Slytherin before her own housemates.[/i]

Her name was Skylar, and his was Aedan. 

When she couldn’t hold back any longer she launched into the conversation as if she had been involved the whole time. All her clever and well practiced introductions forgotten...
“Yes, I had a lot of cousins in Slytherin, but now they are all graduated! I’m a Myeong-sook!” The name would be known to other pure bloods, even if it had only been heard in passing.

She felt her stomach drop as she suddenly wondered [i]how[/i] her name would be received. Several of the Myeong-sook clan were serving in Azkaban for joining the Death Eaters. They were imprisoned for, among other things, shedding blood on these very grounds at the battle of Hogwarts.

On the other hand, some might know her father was cut off from the rest of the Myeong-sook family over... political disagreements. 


How united was the house of Slytherin? They were all blood-worthy but, like her own family, perhaps they did not share a common vision. Most of the older student had been present for the Battle of Hogwarts. They had been locked up in the dungeons and treated as criminals. How did that make them feel? What would they have done if they had been released back then? Would the Battle of Hogwarts ended quite differently?

“I’m sorry to interrupt.” She said looking back down at her plate. “This is WAY harder than I thought it would be!”