To Be a Slytherin ((Perseus Feynman))

[Samantha Driscoll]

"And power-hungry Slytherin
Loved those of great ambition"

The Sorting Hat had never spoken a truer word in Samantha's opinion. It was all she had dreamt of and wanted her whole life – complete power. She wanted to be the one who made the rules, and the one whose wrath should be feared by all people if they should break them, the one whose name every wizard and witch spoke of reverently. She wasn't going to be just another witch in the world, who would live and die without anyone noticing except her close friends and family – she was going to be someone. So far she had been lucky; she had in born in a family that had a large amount of wealth and was of the few pure families in Britain, and both her parent were famous in the magical world. She did not want to let them down, and she knew their high expectations. She also knew how severely they would punish her if she disappointed them. But she had no intention of doing that – she was going to be all they wanted and more. She was going to prove to them and to the whole magical community just who exactly Samantha Driscoll was.

Samantha was not naïve or stupid enough to think she could achieve all her goals on her own. Certainly she knew she was not the best witch and in her year but she was one of the best. She was also much more motivated than her fellow students as she had much bigger dreams than they had, dreams they would call far-fetched and unachievable. But she didn’t think so. She knew her potential, even if she suffered sometimes from low self-esteem, but she tried to keep her morale up. She had an outlet for her frustration that made her regain her confidence in herself – hurting those weaker than her. Ever since Samantha had started getting to know her fellow Slytherins better, she had realised most of them shared her dream, but not all of them had the stamina to achieve it. Samantha began noticing their actions and words without appearing to, observing their moves and judging them all the time, wondering who could help her reach what she wanted. Some had brilliant brains, some had extraordinary strength, others had a will of steel but very few had all three. Even the Queens didn’t have it all. There was one who had them all and more though – Perseus Feynman. She also knew he was an excellent Dueler and Quidditch player, from what she could see he was almost flawless. He had everything she wanted and she knew he was going to be a great success in the future. That was the sort of person she needed on her side. She had sent a letter to her mother asking about his ancestry and just received the reply a few days ago, Perseus' mother was a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin. That was astonishing news to Samantha and the last thing she needed to convince her she was going after him. She could not have him as an enemy, she must have him as an ally. But she needed a plan as she knew it would not be easy to convince him. Perseus was not your typical Slytherin, he did not believe in the pureblood beliefs and befriended those Slytherins would never be seen talking to. How was she to go about this?

Samantha continued to watch him go about his daily activities without being too obvious, and finally she had a plan. She was not too sure it was going to work, but she had to do something. Samantha knew about the long hours Perseus spent in the dungeons, making potions, she had even learnt that recently he was making concoctions of his own. She waited for an hour after he had entered, estimating that to be the average time it took one to usually finish most potions, though of course some potions took as long as a month to be completed. She then walked into the dungeon, Potions book in hand and clad in robes of emerald green, very fashionable ones as all her robes were. All her jewellery was silver; she had purposely dressed in her house colours. "I'm sorry if I interrupted you," she said as she walked in trying to sound pleasant. What are you making?" she asked conversationally, wondering if he had finished or was still in the middle of the potion. "I must compliment you on the Verity Concoction you prepared last class. You had Professor Snape quite impressed, and you know he is very seldom that. I'm sure you must make your parents very proud," she said in a flattering tone. She made sure she was standing in an area where the light could catch the golden highlights in her brown hair. She tried a little smile. Her voice she knew did not sound as dispassionate as it usually did, she was getting more practice at that know she was trying to pretend to be more friendly and sympathetic with her fellow Slytherins. Samantha knew his mother was dead, and he would probably tell her so now. That was just the way she wanted to steer the conversation. Not just for being pure was Samantha sorted in Slytherin – she could be very cunning when she wished. And today, she planned on using every ounce of her cunning.

[Perseus Feynman]

((Sorry it took so long; you write a lot ))
Perseus sat in a closed chamber in the dungeons, contemplating and meditating after finishing the potions homework that multitudinous students considered to be very arduous. However, to Perseus, the task was a quotidian portion of his life, something that took almost no effort. He definitely needed to take his mind off the melancholous subjects he had been thinking about lately. Perseus got up and began practicing a martial arts form. It required great effort, and Perseus, with prodigious skill, pulled of a jump, spinning sidekick, which promptly nailed the punching bag he had been implementing. In the wizarding world, any type of martial powress was frowned upon. During the recent weeks after their win over Ravenclaw in the Quidditch match, Perseus had been thinking about his heritage, his affinity for knowledge and intelligence, and a growing urge to disclose his true individuality. Of course, he was very much integrated into muggle society. However, he was beginning to dislike the hatred some muggles targeted at him. Over the summer, Perseus had not told anyone, but, he had taken a summertime course at Princeton, doing exceptionally well and earning a bachelors degree in Physics. He would strive for greater power this year and eventually become a Ph.D practitioner of the studies of physics. However, he felt as if the professors at the university were "holding him back". It caused him to view them contemptuously, not as a lowly person, but, as an equal adversary to him. They seemed to be impediments to his goal of recieving a Ph.D degree in a few years.

Perseus sat back down and began contemplating on the subject of his closest, most amiable friends; Nasser and Sethia. Sethia Wagner, a Hufflepuff, bloomed with personality, although she had a vigilant side. They had grown apart during the recent years. Nasser, was a different story. Perseus knew that he was a muggleborn and did not hold it against him, as he almost lived like a muggle himself. After thinking back on his ancestry, Perseus began to wonder why he had such a different view of the world from his other relatives (other than his father). His mother, being an almost-direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin was someone he had never known. Perseus's father had the eccentric love for muggle subjects, just as he did. However, Perseus sunk much deeper into the folds of magical science than his father ever did, occasionally dabbling in the Dark Arts, still very aware of their iniquitous uses.

He closed his eyes and waited a few minutes before completing a thrice modified invisibility potion at the corner of the room. Perseus dripped the substance into a vial and prudently placed it into one of his belt containers. The one thing Perseus could never comprehend was the value of history and its power. Perseus, very unaware of social tricks and manipulations said exactly what Samantha had planned on, "No, you did not interrupt me..... and my mother is dead. However, I'm sure my father would be happy. So, why are you here?" Perseus suspected that Samantha had come here to talk more than just about his best subject; potions. He looked at Samantha with a rather apathetic face. She was a Queen of Slytherin, and Perseus felt rather uncomfortable around her and every other 'Queen'. What was she planning?

[Samantha Driscoll]

Samantha looked steadily at the intelligent eyes looking back into hers, but she could see nothing there. She wondered for a moment what he thought about her. Samantha had not exactly been friendly to her fellow Slytherins or anyone else for that matter, but she was always courteous and polite to them. Only recently had she started being a bit more sociable and talkative, which was not very difficult for her given the number of parties she had attended back at home and in the houses of other wealthy purebloods. Her parents thought it very important that she meet all those of power and influence in the magical world. Samantha agreed with them on that, but she also saw that some people could do things much better than the ones she had been introduced to if they were given the push and the incentive to do them. Here was an example of them standing right in front her; a diamond in the rough.

Samantha tossed her hair behind her back, the light reflecting on the golden highlights in her light brown hair. "Oh, I'm so sorry about that," she said in what she hoped was a sympathetic voice. "It must have been hard for you without her. I suppose you must wonder about her a lot, but then you inherited a lot from her so I suppose part of you is exactly like what she must have been. I heard she's almost a direct descendant of the noble Salazar Slytherin himself. And you've got all her ambition as I can see, haven't you? Ambition is the greatest thing in the world I think. It is what makes me so proud I am a Slytherin. Because one can be brave, intelligent, or loyal, but not have the ambition to make the most of those characteristics, and so those traits will be of no use to one." Perseus than asked her why she was in the dungeons, and Samantha had already been expecting the question, so she walked to where she had been sitting in Potions the day before, where she had left a book as part of her plan. "Well, I left a book here yesterday, ah, there it is," she said taking it out of her desk. She held the book to her chest so that the title was facing Perseus. The day before she had made the font of the title wider and then changed its colour to gold so he could easily see it from the position she was holding it. The title of the book was "The Power of Slytherins". It was a collection of biographies about the Slytherins who made a change to the magical community. She was trying to pull several strings at once, playing with his emotions as he must miss his mother and wonder about her, and at the same time making him realise his worth and what he could achieve if he wanted to.

"You know, reading this book made me think of you Perseus. Some people were made to rule others; well maybe rule is a strong word, but at least if not rule them, well then, at least lead them. And if you don’t mind me saying this to you Perseus, I've always seen that you were one of those people. What is there that you can't do and do well for that matter? Even that mu -," Samantha pretended to cough as she didn’t want to say that word as she might offend him, "Sorry, Muggle-born Hermione Granger doesn’t have your brains, and only manages to get slightly higher marks than you do because she has no other interests in life outside of studying like you do. I mean you’re a great Beater, you concoct potions of your own invention, loads of thing she wouldn’t even know how to set about. You’re named after a star Perseus – and I think you are one," she said, wondering if she was laying the butter too thickly. Even if she was, she wasn't worried. All she had said was true and he should know it, if he didn’t well Samantha was right there to tell him. "You’re very quiet Mr. Feynman, this isn’t class you know. You are allowed to talk," she said with a little smile.

((Hee hee… Sam's still a relatively new charrie so I'm a bit overly enthusiastic when I post as her. And for your information, I needed a dictionary to understand some of the words in your post. Anyway, like I said before, we'll be moving on to conversation now so Samantha can try and convince Perseus to join her side, so my posts will become shorter. )

[Perseus Feynman]

Perseus had always cogitated the issues of social conduct in Hogwarts although he was not very intrigued by it. To him there were was a right wing and a left wing. The right wing students were the Slytherin Queens and what you would call a king; Draco Malfoy who only saught to bring melancholy down upon the muggleborn, half-blood, and 'muggle loving' population. Perseus resented that fact as he was completely against any type of prejudice and racism. He looked back towards Samantha and saw the light of one type of ambition. Of course, that could have multifarious implications. One, Perseus knew that she was here not to talk about his mother, but to persuade him to do something or another. Obviously his new acquantaince wanted him to believe in pureblood ideals. However, this was impossible for Perseus, as he had grown to have a profound affinity for muggle sciences and mathematics. Nothing would bring him to avoid attending Princeton University.

He continued to scrutinize Samantha watched as she tossed her hair. Perseus asked himself once again as he thought, "What is she planning?" Conjuring up a chair, he sank into it and watched as Samantha began talking to him in what seemed to be a commiserating voice. "Undoubtley another one of her tricks," Perseus thought. He listened without any expression as she talked about his heritage. Perseus, in truth, did not care for such anscestry. In verisimilitude, he only cared for one thing; to succeed and become a famed muggle physicist, having accomplished a greater good for the world. He continued to watch as Samantha meticulously retrieved a book. It was the book he had seen earlier that day. Perseus had already read it in the early, Cimmerian hours of the morning. He replied as she talked about his ambition, "Well, you see, ambition and power is nothing if you never accomplish any good for the world. My mother may have had that ambition, but I do not know. She was a famed alchemist from what I have heard from my father. However, that does not matter much, because I know that what she accomplished helped the Wizarding world greatly. But, not only that. Her helping of the Wizarding world also helped it help the muggle world. If you catch my drift.... Now about that book. I have read it. It is rather intriguing that only one or two did it without any benefit for themselves. Quiet selfish of all the others. However, what I plan to accomplish has very little to do with myself. If you have ever read of muggle physics, then you will know why it is so important to the world. What I plan to accomplish is to unify the two branches of that field."

Perseus listened as Samantha talked about how he was 'superior' to Hermione Granger and was born to 'rule' or 'lead'. In his opinion, that seemed too much like a dictatorship. He stood up and started cleaning up his cauldron before turning back towards Samantha with a small smile, "Please don't flatter me. Granger is someone that I could never match up to. If you look closer at her record, she had accomplished much more with Potter and Weasley, going on their little 'adventures'. There is much more to ambition than an easy access to power, as power also comes with responsibility and power is nothing if you do not have friends to share it with. So, what are your true intentions behind all this talk?"

[Samantha Driscoll]

Samantha watched Perseus summon the chair and sit down and then proceed to clean his cauldron. She could see how meticulously he was doing it, and she felt a mixture of sadness and fury that her words had had no effect on him. Well, she had tried. If he insisted on choosing the losing side there was not much she could do about it. He seemed stubborn and quite bent on his own opinions, and if she didn't respect his opinions she did respect him, if more than a little grudgingly. His talk of what he wanted to do was the exact opposite of what she had imagined he and the other group of brilliant people she had had in mind were going to do. She had seen them all running the world the way they wanted, the way it should be run. Perseus didn't look at matters from her own perspective at all. So much seemed to be obscuring his view – well she was going to give it a last try and then surrender. He was probably getting fed up with her talk anyway.

"Perseus, I don’t know if you got this out of what I was saying to you or not. I am looking for the good of the world – and good for the magical community does mean the same for the muggle one, for if our world should collapse so will theirs. They don’t even know how to protect themselves against the evils of our own world which they cannot even believe exists let alone might be dangerous to them. What I think is best for both worlds is that a group of the best wizards – on an intellectual level that is – be the ones to lead it. There is so much mediocrity, so many obstacles due to the stupidity of people of dimmer minds than others that prevent us from making the progress and changes we could undoubtedly achieve if they didn't exist. Look at the Ministry of Magic, fumbling around with all the matters of the magical world. Look at the muggle world, where all the organisations and leaders that are supposed to be solving problems just end up making them worse. The same problem exists in both worlds, impeding their progress and development. The wrong people are in charge. And sometimes the only methods available to stop them from further destruction are somewhat drastic. I'm not saying we always have to resort them, but sometimes people think it's the only way out. And just because people who sound like me have usually brought about their own downfall doesn't mean that always has to happen. They just couldn’t see when to stop; they cared too much about themselves, ending up drunk with their own power. I am saying we shall be a group, the elite, the better people in this world. We need the power so we can help our world improve, and having that power does not men that we have to become corrupt because of it. And that was the true intention behind my words," she finished off, now having said what she had wanted to and telling him what he wanted to know. It was now up to him, she couldn’t say anymore.

She looked at him with a final look of surrender in her eyes, one she knew he would see clearly and so she turned her head away. "I don’t think I've wasted my breath on you Perseus. I know you are worth much more than you think. I think it's a pity that you don’t see that. But I can see that I've said enough," she said, taking her book and smoothing down her robes preparing to leave the dungeons.

[Perseus Feynman]

((I'm going to start posting shorter now; I can't keep the long posts up with the amount of homework I have. ))

"Wait!" Perseus said as Samantha began leaving the room. "I know what you mean about me holding so much power. But, if you and your family already hold so much power why seek out others? I have realized the importance of my heritage. However, that does not necessarily mean that I am superior to others. That only implies that perhaps I can 'lead' better. Take you for example. I know for one that you may act a bit..... subjective when dealing with muggleborns and half-bloods. But, you are still a very good choice for a leader, as you may call it. I know of my talents and abilities and I know what career I will take in the future. What I need to know is..... How to set up a good position on both sides of the 'spectrum'.... between the old, pureblood families and the muggles." Perseus paused in the middle of his eloquent speech and folded up his cauldron before proceeding to stick his multifarious novels and volumes into his capacious bag. Perseus, with a wave of his wand de-summoned his chair and it dissapeared with a faint swooshing sound.

"Why don't we take this matter outside?" Perseus asked in as pleasant a voice as he could. "I have been wondering about this subject for a very long time.... How to establish oneself in a position of power without offending one side or the other...." Perseus extinguished the luminescent torches and fireplace before heading out the worn and scabrous door. He trudged up the eerily lit corridors, which reflected great melancholy and headed up towards the brightly lit Main Entrance. Perseus walked through the milling crowds of raucous students without looking behind him. He caught glimpses of loqacious students conversing loudly, but ignored them. Perseus made his way out the main doors and onto the rolling hills of grass of Hogwarts Grounds. He took a seat on a rather large bench in the Penumbrae of a collosal oak tree and waited patiently for Samanthat to arrive. Perseus still did not want to abandon his friends, but, he was eager to meet the other, well established Slytherins. However, he would not allow himself to be brainwashed as many had been before him.

((Let's open this post up to other Slytherin's if that's okay with you. ))

[Samantha Driscoll]

Samantha felt she had told Perseus too much about how she felt and although she had just lied to him and said she felt she had not wasted her breath she also felt she had been wrong to approach him. He seemed indifferent to all she was saying, and she kicked herself inwardly and felt disgusted with herself for not thinking more about doing this. But he had seemed such an incredible asset – he had a much better intellect and also possessed more physical prowess than a lot of people even those in her own house. Why had that damned Sorting Hat put him in her noble house if he did not seem to be the least like her and her fellow house members? She was already leaving the classroom when he asked her to wait. She turned to look at him, wondering what he had to say but not looking him in the eye as she did not want him to see any of the frustration on her face, though in truth she didn't need to worry as it was very well hidden.

Samantha sighed and then replied once more, though she thought she had already answered his questions. "Superior or not Perseus, must we use such big words and try to label everything? Can you not see the obstacles that shall inevitably be in your way if you insist on your point of view? I do not expect them to treat us with subservience; merely show us the respect and gratitude we deserve for implementing ideas they would not have the intelligence required to come up with. Perseus, if you feel you must do so much and ask for nothing in return financially, do you not think that you could use the money for more good and not for your own personal needs and comforts? I have heard that in the muggle world so many scientists and inventors are not able to work on their ideas because they are not given recognition or support. Do not tell me that that is not the case, for I'm sure you know about that if you are so intrigued by this physics you speak of. And I want you to remember the time that was not so long ago when muggles were so scared of magic that they tried to burn anybody they thought possessed the least magical talent. We try to keep our world and theirs in harmony, and that is what we are given back. Perhaps they are no longer trying to do that, but they still have the strangest opinions and thoughts about us, none of them associated with good," said Samantha, having reached the point where she didn’t care if she was getting to him or not.

She could see he was now trying to be pleasant and could she detect a little more interest on his part? She wasn't going to dare to hope she did, but instead she gave him a small nod and then followed him gracefully as he had asked her to the Hogwarts Grounds. She sat down on the bench he was sitting on, flipped back her hair and turned to talk to him once again. "You asked why I do not want to do this on my own or with just my family. That is because I am not that stupid to think a single family can lead our world. I think those who should lead it are a group of people, the elite, those who possess the qualities to do so. A few people cannot make a whole world stronger. But at the same time if the wrong people are in charge everything becomes chaotic. We need to form that group, and at the same time I must tell you that if we are sometimes harder on those lesser than us it is only because they cannot see things the way they should, the way that is best for them and not only us. I cannot help it if most of the people who happen to be the best in our world just happen to be purebloods or Slytherins," she said, then turned to look away. She heard the sound of footsteps and wondered who was wandering in the grounds right now. Whoever it was, she was going to have Persues now. It was late and still had to read a chapter out of the book her father had sent her. She felt she had done all she could anyway. maybe he needed a night to sleep on what she had told him and he would see her point of view. "Well Perseus, I'll see you around. It is late and I like to wake up early even on Saturday," she said, then gracefully made her way back into the castle and up to her dormitory.