July, 1981

"Reesa! Come for breakfast!"

At the sound of my mother's French accent, I groaned and forced my eyes open. I knew I should get up, but my whole body ached with exhaustion. It was only when my mother called me again using my full name—Cerisa Belvidera Kaiser—that I decided it was time to get up. And so I dragged myself out of the bed and put on my slippers and robe before leaving my room.

As I approached the staircase leading down to the kitchen, my brother Julien—or Jules—zoomed past me while in the process of putting on his robe.

Jules was far taller and faster than me so by the time I reached the bottom of the stairs, he was already in the kitchen, out of my line of sight. When I entered the kitchen, I immediately noticed the complete lack of house elves. Our kitchen—complete with marble counters, dark cabinets, and a vaulted ceiling—was always occupied with house elves cooking our meals. But this time I only saw my mother, Naomi, at the stove, cooking waffles with my sister beside her.

My mother was a gorgeous woman of forty years with greying blonde hair and kind green eyes. Despite having a few winkles and the flour she presently had on her face, she was always absolutely stunning, complete with poise and class. My sister, Veronique, who stood beside her was the same way. She was two years older than me at thirteen years old and she bore the same gorgeous features as my mother.

"Morning, Cerisa."

I turned to see my father, Karl Kaiser, seated at the round kitchen table. He had a mug of coffee in one hand and the new edition of the Daily Prophet in the other. Behind him was a large window, but above the window was a knockoff of the Mona Lisa, a detail that fully showed how we wanted to appear as rich as possibleFather beckoned me to sit down beside him and I obeyed after giving him a quick morning hug, like I did every morning like clockwork. I unfolded my napkin and placed it on my lap just when Mother and Veronique came to serve us their homemade waffles.

Mother sat down beaide Jules, who immediately began to dig into the waffles, while Veronique sat down beside the vacant seat where my oldest sister should be.

Frowning, I asked, "Where's Ghislaine?"

"She went for her morning run," Jules replied with his mouth filled with waffles. Like everyone in my family, Jules was good looking with sandy-blond hair, blue eyes, and handsome features. Despite have his mouth stuffed with food, making his cheeks look like they belong to a chipmunk.

"Which you should do more often, Reesa," Veronique commented with a teasing smile, taking a polite and well mannered bite of her waffle.

I returned the grin, but I didn't feel the amusement. My entire family was fit. They went on runs every day and ate relatively healthy—excluded Jules. This made them all thin, all except for me. I was short and stout, making it something like a joke in my family, when everyone else was tall and thin.

As though we had summoned her, the back door of the kitchen leading into the garden opened, revealing Ghislaine in the entrance. She was four years older than me and looked exactly like Veronique. Some have even said they were like twins. She gave Father and Mother kisses on their foreheads before anouncing that she was going to shower. But this was after she placed the mail on the kitchen counter. Normally I didn't care for the mail, but this time I scurried out of my seat and grabbed the envelopes, squealing when I saw the one I awaited for so long.

"Gosh!"Jules said, covering his ears. "You're so loud!"

"I don't care!" I said even louder, holding up my Hogwarts Acceptance Letter. "Look what I have!"

When she saw it, Mother cried with joy, running over to pull me into a large embrace. She then grabbed the letter and showed it to Father, who beamed with pride.

"See? There was nothing to worry about. You're letter was just late."

Not being able to stop smiling, I sat back down and studied my letter, even though I knew exactly what it said. When my siblings got theirs, I memorized them, barely being able to wait until I got mine.

"What House do you think you'll get in?" Father asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I hope Slytherin," I replied.

"That would be excellent!" Mother said. "We don't have a Slytherin in the family yet."

"We don't have a Ravenclaw either," Jules pointed out.

"Yes, but even though you father went to Durmstrang and I went to Beauxbatons, we've been told that we are definitely Ravenclaw," Mother told him. "But no one in this family has even been told that they would be good in Slytherin."

"People hate Slytherins," Veronique said. "I hope you don't get in there. Imagine how many friends I'll lose."

Under the table on my lap, my fists clenched in anger. I thought that Veronique of all people would be supportive, especially since how close we usually are. I didn't like the attitude in which she said that and I told her so. Well, not exactly.

"If your friends leave you because I'm in Slytherin then they weren't your friends to begin with," I said coolly.

"Now, now, girls," Father interrupted before we could say anything else. "Let's just enjoy our breakfast."

Veronique nodded. "Of course, Father."

I didn't say anything, not wanting to follow Veronique's lead. That's one thing I'll never do despite my great love for my family. I won't follow their lead everytime, because I want to be different. I want to be noticed by my parents, really noticed. In order for that to happen, I need to be something my other siblings aren't, something that isn't bad—like being over weight and short. No, being Slytherin was my chance to be different enough for my parents to notice me and praise me for something that is uniquely my own, something my siblings couldn't steal, like my ability to play piano.

Therefore, as I sat there esting my breakfast, I hoped with all my heart that the sorting hat will shout out Slytherin.

At eleven years old, I was often told I was mentally older than I appeared. This really manifested itself when I was at Kings Cross Station with my family. I saw a young witch, my age, who looked positively lost. I guessed she was muggle-born, so I walked over, hoping to be of some help.

"Excuse me," I said. "Are you looking for platform 9 3/4?l

The young girl's brown eyes widened. "Yes! Are you a Witch too??"

I laughed and nodded, holding out my hand. "My name's Cerisa. Come on, I will help you onto the platform."

The Witch shook my hand and walked with me back to my family. While doing so, she introduced herself. "I'm Lydia Lane and I'm the first Witch in my family!"

"That's excellent," I told her when I approached my family. "We'll be going onto the platform soon. Those are my siblings. Just follow their lead."

Lydia nodded in understanding and I watched her expression as Ghislaine ran towards into the wall before disappeared into it. Lydia gasped in surprise and I couldn't help but smile. It was even funnier the second time, when Jules ran into the wall, and then Veronique. Finally, it was mine turn, but I allowed Lydia to go before me.

"Go on," I told her. "It won't hurt. Trust me."

Lydia nodded, but the fear remained in her eyes. However, after another moment, she took a deep breath and ran forward, her curly black hair flying behind her. When she disappeared, I waved my parents a farewell before following after her.

I was met by the sight of a large train with dozens of Hogwarts students boardering it. I spotted my siblings with their friends, but after a moment I found myself looking for Lydia. When I saw her approach the train, I caught up with her. She gave a an appreciative smile before boarding the train. I went on it with her and we began to look for an empty compartment. Unfortunately for us, all the compartments were almost completely full, save for one.

There were four boys seated in it, joking around. I noticed that two of them seemed awfully shy, but that the other two were awfully lively. It took a full minute before one of the them noticed us in the entrance.

"Hello," one of the shy ones said.

"Hi," I responded, raising an eyebrow as I saw one of the other boys stuff a full chocolate in his mouth. "May we sit here?"

"We're kinda full," the chocolate eating boy said. "Sorry."

I looked around and saw that they had quite a lot of space left, but rather than fighting it, I merely gave the boy a glare before leading Lydia away. We were able to find another compartment with only two other girls inside. I was rather pleased by how things turned out. After all, I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to spend the entire train ride with four boys.

"Please sit," one of the girls said, she had flaming red hair. "I'm Lily and this is Marlene. You are?"

"Cerisa," I responded, taking note by how poised Lily sounded.

"I'm Lydia Lane," Lydia told the girl enthusiastically. "I'm the first wizard in my family!"

Lily gave her a kind smile, "So am I! I wonder what House I'll get into to."

From there, our train ride was filled with talk about the Hogwarts houses and how we'll eat together at every meal. As I talked with Marlene, Lily, and Lydia, I rather thought that their compan would be a pleasant relief from my usual company. Jules always had his friends over while my sisters went over to their friends' hosues, so I was usually surrounded by boys. I found myself looking forwafd to some girl company.

When we arrived at our destination, I gazed in awe at Hogwarts Castle. We all put on our robes and filed inside the main hall, where all the students gathered. I spotted my siblings in the crowd and Ghislaine gave me a thumbs up, Jules gave me a wave, while Veronique simply smiled. I returned all the gestures before placing all my attention on the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, and Professor McGonnagal. Most of all, however, I studied the sorting hat.

When the sorting began, I could hardly wait for my name to be called. But until then, I watched as the other students got sorts. When the name Black, Sirius was called, I saw the chocolate eating boy from the train get up. When the hat shouted Gryffindor, I noted the looks of disbelief and shock from the Slytherins. I immediately guessed why. He was a Black and he was just sorted into Gryffindor.

Sirius Black walked over to the Gryffindor table where Jules and Veronique were sitting. When Lily's name was called up, she was also placed into Gryffindor. More named passed before it was my turn.

"Kaiser, Cerisa!"

My hands began to sweat as I approached the stool and the hat. When I sat down, Professor McGonnagal placed the hat on my head and immediately it spoke.

Very interesting. You wish to go to Slytherin, yes?

Yes sir, I responded. Very much so.

You wished to have something, to be something your siblings cannot?

I simply nodded and as he spoke these things, I thought for sure that he would now shout Slytherin. After all, I always trained myself to have Syltherin qualities, such as cunning and determination.

However, no excitement—only dread and disbelief—filled me when the Sorting Hat made its verdict.

"Gryffindor!"

So that's the first chapter of this fanfic! This is my first fanfic ever so please rate and review!! I would love to hear your thoughts!