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It was a dark night, the moon was hiding behind the dark clouds and the persistent sound of the rain outside drowned the talking noise. Eva was sitting next to the window, starring into the darkness. She was new to Hogwarts and she had her troubles making friends here. During the ceremony, the sorting head decided that she would belong to Slytherin, just like her parents and she hated this old and stubborn hat for this decision. The other kids were cruel to her, for which she felt like she did not fit in. She didn’t talk to any of them. She wanted to be home again, even though her parents were there. They didn’t get along with each other very well, but she had her friends there as well. But she was not at home; she was trapped in this nightmare, sharing the room with lots of children who seemed to hate her. Why’s everyone so arrogant here? No kindness at all. She hated it.
As she was staring outside the window, the rain drew interesting forms on it. One drop was faster than the other, and the lines they created formed patterns. She recognized the outlines of an eagle and a badger. She always wished to get into Ravenclaw, with those bookish intelligent people she always admired, but she ended here, in the green-shining room of the house she hated the most. Whenever she told her parents about that, she earned nothing but disgust. Her parents were proud Slytherin and it disappointed them every time Eva was speaking about Ravenclaw. The raindrops kept forming images: a lion and a snake. As the four outlines started moving, Eva got curious.
They behaved as if they were alive and started interacting with each other. The badger and the eagle carefully started to befriend each other, whereas the lion and the snake were observing the situation from a distant point in the window. As they identified each other as well-disposed, they got interested into the lion and the snake. The lion understood that their approach was not a threat, so it let them, but the snake was still wary. After a while the lion befriended with the eagle and the badger, and all three of them were looking to the snake. As they approached, the snake got scared. It grew bigger and bigger, nearly filled out half of the window. Nevertheless it appeared strong, one was able to see the suspicion in its eyes. As the other animals approached, the snake interpreted it as a threat and bared its teeth, soaked with poison. The other animal understood it as an assault, so they defended themselves by attacking the giant snake. Even though the snake was much bigger than the others, it could not do anything about them. The eagle picked for its eyes, the lion poked its fangs into the snake’s flesh and the badger climbed up its back, biting it again and again. The snake fell to the ground, and it burst into drops of water.
Eva was speechless. She looked at the remaining water-animal which slowly faded into the rinsing water. She sat there for a while until she turned her head away from the window. She understood. At that point she understood everything; her parents, the other kids in Slytherin, even herself. She understood why she had problems fitting in. She was the snake, just like all the other Slytherin. The distrust in others, in her family, the other people and everyone except herself, that’s what kept her being alone. The others were not cruel, they were afraid, just like her, not to fit in, which is why they kept making themselves bigger and attacking everyone approaching them, just like the snake. She felt sorry for them. Maybe the hat had its reason to send her here, maybe it wasn’t a mistake as she assumed before. She took a heart and stood up, facing the other kids, and approached them, knowing they would be cruel to her, but she had to. She had to try it for not being alone any longer. The other kids were staring at her with disgust. She forced herself to smile as nice as she could and with a pervasive kindness she said: “I’m Eva, nice to meet you!”