[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.

But as Gian exhibited the behaviours of an innocent child, Éponine couldn't bring herself to look at him as she would look at the Muggle-borns she had heard stories of. She knew what muggles had done in the past, she knew what he was capable of, but she couldn't bring herself to act cruelly towards him. And if she ignored him or ridiculed him at that point, she would be no better than those that had done it to her for different reasons. Gian couldn't control the fact that his parents were muggles, just like she didn't have control over her acne.

An internal conflict was rising in her mind as she tried to decide what would be the best thing to do. For the next seven years, Gian would be in Hogwarts like many other Muggle-borns before him, she couldn't stop that. But perhaps she could stop him from becoming one that could cause problems for the wizarding world.

"Yes?" Gian prompted her as she had yet to say anything for a couple of minutes.

However, before she could say anything else, she saw Mulciber coming in. Immediately, she invited Gian to walk with her, leaving him puzzled by her sudden invitation, but he agreed to go with the pretty girl. As Mulciber cast a look in her direction before heading towards the boy's dorm, Éponine led Gian outside of the common room and led him until they were outside on the castle grounds.

Bringing him to the edge of the lake, Gian seemed to be growing worried as he looked over in the girl's direction, wondering why she had brought him so far from the castle and other students.

"Am I in trouble?" He asked her.

"You might be if you don't listen to me," Éponine spoke in a low voice, " you were sorted into the wrong House."

Her statement seemed to catch him off guard as it didn't sound malicious, but it didn't sound very welcoming either. "Wh-what do y-you mean?" the boy questioned in such a tiny voice. "The Sorting Hat put me in Slytherin."

"I know it did, but it also sorted you into some trouble because of what you are."

With next to nothing knowledge of the wizarding world, Gian stood there, looking as if she saw him as if he were an animal or something. "Because I'm a boy?"

His tone was so innocent, leaving Éponine to look away. Her focus came to rest on the water, the serene scene was the only way she could muster up the strength to smile to reassure him that it was not because he was a boy that he could possibly face discrimination.

"No, it's not because you're a boy. There are plenty of boys in Slytherin if you haven't noticed. But you are the only Muggle-born that I'm aware of and that's not a good thing. The house of Slytherin was built on the foundation of purity being one of Salazar's most valued traits. He didn't believe that Muggle-borns should be at Hogwarts, he didn't allow them into his house when he was alive."

"But why?"

"Because muggles killed wizard and witches, they killed so many, including some of Salazar's oldest friends. It forced the wizarding world to keep hiding further and further. Look where we are at now, the entire wizarding community is completely separate from the muggle world. There is no knowledge of us existing with the exception of folklore and legends. We are the root of evil within some of their religions and that places us in danger. The only open-ended link between the wizarding world and the muggle world is-"

"Muggle-borns?"

Éponine nodded her head. "I'm not accusing you of doing anything to harm people, but you have to understand that your kind is not very welcomed in Slytherin. For centuries, families have warned their children about people like you, my family included."

"So why is it that you're talking to me? If you think I'm so bad if Muggle-borns are so bad-"

"I don't know,"Éponine admitted. "It's going against everything I've been taught and everything I believe. I-I-I do fear your kind, I'll admit because I don't wish to see my family and those I care about to be hurt."

"I wouldn't hurt anyone!" Gian protested. "What do I have to do to let people know that in the house? I can tell them all that I'm not going to hurt them-"

"No!"

Her voice was strong and abrupt, cutting him off completely as her hands reached out and grabbed him by the shoulders. Her grip was firm but not enough to hurt him.

"No, you can't do that, " she warned him, " you can't tell anyone that you're a muggle-born, do you understand? There are people within the house...they don't agree with you being in the house to the point where they will hurt you. They believe in the mentality to hurt others before they are harmed. You will only be seen as an enemy or a new target within their eyes. You cannot let them know that your parents are muggles."

His eyes widened with fear, the fear that there were those within his house that wished to hurt him over something he didn't have control over. The fact that they saw him as an enemy when he had done nothing except exist.

"So what am I supposed to do? What if someone asks me? What do I say?"

With a frown, Éponine released her hold on him and took a step back. "You're going to have to lie, Gian. To protect yourself, you're going to have to lie about yourself and your parents. You wouldn't be the first, a lot of other Slytherin's do it. Most of them half-bloods lie about their lineage and such to be accepted. You're going to have to do it for your protection. All you have to say is something like your parents are half-bloods or something."

"Is this some kind of trick?" Gian's voice quivered. "If it is, I don't think it's very funny! I don't understand why you're trying to help me. You're not a Muggle-born, are you a half-blood lying too?"

"No," Éponine answered, " I am a pure-blood and I'll be honest, I don't agree with Muggle-borns being accepted into the school but as I've stated before to others, I don't agree with violence and I don't wish to see anyone hurt. With your status, there is the potential of you getting hurt for something you can't control. I sort of know what that feels like and I would never wish that upon someone...so...you may wish to take my advice or you may choose not to. I only inform you with what I know and how I could help."

"So what?" Gian scoffed with a wounded expression. "You want me to thank you or something? You just claimed that you don't want me here, so should I say thank you for wanting to protect me?"

"I don't need any sort of thanks because I haven't done anything for you that you seem grateful for," she swallowed, " I only thought to offer advice because even as a pureblood, I face my own discrimination, I can't imagine what would fall on your shoulders. I have my reasons for not wanting your kind here and I will leave it at that."

It sounded harsh as the conversation came to an end between the two, but Gian didn't understand the service that the girl had done for him when she didn't have to. Hardly anyone else would provide him with such advice and by the time he learned of the prejudice against him, it would probably be too late. In her own odd way, Éponine had protected him and that went against everything she knew. It left her feeling guilty, imagining what the reaction would be if anyone found out what she had done.

Yet, when she thought of the reactions, she no longer thought of her parents' first like she had done so many times before. Instead, she thought of Regulus' reaction, even Orion's and Walburga's. The thought of her parents didn't even enter her mind, probably because she knew she wasn't their first thoughts anymore. She had been making her way towards the castle, unsure of how she was going to spend the rest of her day when something fell in front of her.

Looking down, Éponine caught a glimpse of something gold in the grass causing her to reach down and pick it up. The girl was more than puzzled when she realised that it was an inactive snitch that she held in the palm of her hand.

"What in the-"

"AND ÉPONINE HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! A HUNDRED AND FIFTY POINTS TO SLYTHERIN!"

Immediately looking up, Éponine saw Regulus making his way over with a grin on his face. As she held the snitch up with a confused face, she noted the three initials of R.A.B. that were carved into the side of the small golden orb.

"Do you just randomly carry golden snitches on your person?" She asked him with a small smile.

"Just the one," Regulus answered as he came to stand before her. "That's the first snitch I ever caught. You know, once they are caught a snitch can no longer be used. I guess I see it as more of a good luck charm."

"I remember your first match," she admitted as they just started walking with no destination in mind. "No offence to you, but I didn't see us winning simply because the records were not in our favour. But when you took to the air, I heard everyone around me gasping. When you went snuck between those two Chasers, you made it look so effortless."

Regulus turned a bright red as Éponine praised him for his skill as Seeker, but he could only think if she knew the truth. He remembered his first match as well, how nervous he had been as he took the air. Everyone had thought he was so skilled zooming into the air, but his first match had been full of mistakes and total accidents that made him look good. Like when he launched from the ground, his nerves had gotten the best of him and he ended up going too fast that he felt like he was going to fall off before the match officially began.

The moment that Éponine brought up of him zooming between the two Chasers had been a complete accident as he hadn't been paying attention to where he was going until the last second. So, sure, it had looked effortless to those in the stand but it had been one of the worst matches of his life. He had been so panicked about screwing up and yet, by the end of it all, he had somehow managed the snitch over the Ravenclaw captain's head.

It had been a proud moment and he had been promised the snitch to keep if he caught it, so he treasured the first one above all the others he caught after that.

"Well, you think that's impressive, but what about you?" Regulus said, trying to steer the conversation away from him so that his face could return to normal colour.

"What about me?"

"You talk about me managing a broom but you're the one who can ride horses. I think that's more impressive than a Quidditch match."

Éponine shook her head. "But I'm not in the air-"

"No, you're not, but you're controlling a beast that at any point could easily overpower you and trample you. I think that's incredibly impressive."

"The horses are trained, broomsticks are not-"

"Épi, if you don't learn how to take a compliment," Regulus said in a playfully threatening tone, " I will stand here for the rest of the day to find something that you can't counter. I'm trying to tell you all the reasons as to why you're amazing and you're trying to convince me otherwise."

"Sorry," she whispered, " but I don't really feel amazing after today. I mean, Herbology was great, but it all went downhill from there and I don't understand how. I thought I was doing well, I've been trying to read up on everything over the summer and-"

"Reading is only half the battle, Éponine," Regulus told her. "The moment you doubt yourself that's when it starts to go downhill. You need to have confidence in yourself but in your magic as well. I saw what you're capable of today, everyone caught a glimpse of it today. Problem is, you know you're good in Herbology so it didn't affect you, but you've had your trouble in the other classes...as soon as you walked into the other classes, you set yourself up for failure because you already assumed you couldn't do it. It's the same thing with flying if you go in with the mindset that you can't do it, then you won't be able to do it."

Éponine didn't respond as she just stared down at the snitch in her hand for a few moments. Eventually, she reached out to give it back to him, however, Regulus pushed her hand back. She watched as his fingers closed around hers so that her hand closed over the snitch.

"You hold onto it for now," he said, " it's brought me good luck, maybe it could offer you some."

"Oh, no, I couldn't. "She forcibly tried to shove it back in his hand. "If anything were to happen to it-"

"I know nothing will happen to it, I've seen how you treat your books, Épi," he chuckled. "Just pretend that it's one of your books, alright? It'll be fine."

She nodded her head, still feeling nervous that something bad would happen, but she had every good intention to keep the snitch safe. They continued to walk along again as she slipped it into the pocket of her robes, next to her wand.

"So, did anything eventful happen after class?" Regulus asked as they walked the edge of the lake.

For a moment, Éponine looked over her shoulder, in the direction where she had left Gian earlier, only to see that the boy was gone. She thought about it for a moment but decided to keep the discovery of the muggle-born to herself.

"Er...not really, I just went back to the common room for a little bit but I didn't see my favourite mermaid, so I came outside here to see if she was perhaps sun-bathing at the surface. But I haven't seen her, for all I know she's probably asleep, she is quite the night owl. But they get like that when the full moon is near, they're quite restless at night when they have the moonlight."