EYE OF THE SERPENT — BOOK TWO OF THE OBLITERATE SERIES

❝On the difficult days, when the world's on your shoulders, remember that diamonds are made under the weight of mountains.❞
—Beau Taplin

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At the beginning of July, in the middle of the summer, I sat at the dinner table with my family, eating French onion soup that my mother had made.

It had been quite an uneventful and completely normal summer so far, but I wasn't counting on it. I hadn't seen the Marauders yet, but I'd written to them all. There was still a lot of time left before we'd have to go back to school, so I felt sure that we'd end up getting together sometime soon. Regulus had also written to me. He wanted to find a way to see me, though it was unlikely since his parents kept quite a close watch on him.

"Bianca," Mum started conversationally, pulling me back to the present, "you should be getting your O.W.L. results soon, right?"

"Yeah," I replied. "Professor McGonagall said we'd get them sometime in July. That'll give everyone time to decide what subjects to continue on with next year."

"Do you know what you'd like to do?" Dad asked. "What job would you like to have?"

I blinked at him. I was frustrated because I had told him so many times before that my ambition was to become an Auror, and I felt that he was never listening to me. It was as if he didn't believe that I could do it.

"I'm going to be an Auror," I replied calmly.

"What is that again?" he asked.

"Dad, I've already told you what it is," I said, doing well to hide my frustration. "It's a Dark wizard catcher. Someone who fights evil wizards."

"Bianca, that's dangerous," he stated firmly.

"What?" I demanded, my head snapping up to look at him. I felt like he was telling me I was forbidden to do something.

"That's doesn't sound like a good job for when you have a family," he continued. "You might not be around, and it sounds like a dangerous job. You should reconsider whatー"

"Dad, I've been wanting to be an Auror ever since I found out I was a witch!" I yelped, suddenly becoming defensive and interrupting him mid-sentence. He was questioning my entire life ambition, the only job I ever saw myself having... I had made up my mind about becoming an Auror a long time ago, and I wouldn't let him change my mind. "What does that have to do with anything? I don't care about having a family."

I felt Ainsley, who was sitting beside me, tense up. My mum was staring at me without blinking. Corey was the only person who appeared not to notice and continued to slurp on his soup.

"When you have a family," Dad repeated, seeming as though he hadn't heard me, "you won't be around much if that's what you do with your life. That isn't the ideal job if you want to be around your kids."

I released my spoon. "You're not listening to me: I don't even care about having a family! I don't care about getting married and having kids!"

The problem with society was that everyone assumed that every single girl in the world wanted to grow up to get married and have children. It was like we were expected to do so. I didn't care about that stuff; having kids wasn't my priority at all. If it happened along the way, then so be it... but it wasn't my goal in life. I was going to become an Auror and I wouldn't let anyone stand in the way.

"What are you talking about? Of course you're getting married!" said my dad. "You have to have children."

"I don't have to! What if I don't want to?" I scoffed. "That isn't my priority; my priority is to get a job and be an Auror!"

"Bianca," Ainsley squeaked quietly.

I shook with anger, my face turning red. On the other side of the table, Mum was shaking her head at me, trying to signal to me not to continue arguing with my father. I knew that she didn't agree with him—she supported my plans for the future. She had made me believe that there was nothing I couldn't do... Mum just wanted me to let it go now, so that it wouldn't become a much bigger argument, but I couldn't let go of what Dad had said... treating me like I was stupid for believing I could ever hunt Dark wizards...

"That's ridiculous," he said, like I was an idiot. "You're a little girl, you can't fight any—"

"No, it's not ridiculous! OF COURSE I CAN!" I yelled, standing up so abruptly that I knocked my chair backwards.

"HEY!" he screamed, looking furious by now. There was a wild look in his eyes that I had once feared.

I ignored the fallen chair. "You have no idea what you're talking about!" I shrieked. "I am a lot more powerful than so many other wizards—if you don't recall, I saved Ainsley from a fire that only the most powerful wizards can put out!"

"BIANCA, DON'T YOU DARE TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!"

"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY!" I screamed back, matching his volume. "YOU CAN'T TELL ME THAT I HAVE TO GET MARRIED, THAT I HAVE TO HAVE KIDS, THAT I HAVE TO BE A CERTAIN WAY, LIKE A PROPER WOMAN—I'M BECOMING AN AUROR AND I AM NOT GOING TO CHANGE MY MIND JUST BECAUSE THE JOB I WANT WOULDN'T BE CONVENIENT FOR MY FAMILY!"

I turned on my heel and ran up the stairs, leaving my soup half-eaten and my father yelling at me. "GET BACK DOWN HERE!"

I didn't listen to him, even though a part of me was scared of hearing him yelling at me. I ran into my room and locked the door so that he couldn't follow me in.

I sat on my bed, having the urge to scream. My mind was whirring... My father didn't want me to do the one thing I'd always seen myself doing in the future. I wasn't going to listen to him. This wasn't him forbidding me to go to a party or see a certain friend; he was stopping me from doing something that would benefit me.

I fell facedown onto my bed, still fuming. I wanted to talk to someone... one of my friends, or Regulus... I heard my parents arguing, and it was clearly about me. I hoped that my mum had jumped to my defence.

How dare he tell me that I couldn't be an Auror?!

I made my way to the window in my room, angry tears beginning to fall down my cheeks. I stood in front of the window, staring out at the view of the night sky. It was a clear summer night, and there were visible stars that weren't hidden by any clouds. Tears blurred my vision of the tiny lights in the sky.

I must've sat there for hours, waiting for the time to pass by quicker. I was bored beyond belief, so I just kept replaying in my mind everything my father had said that had made me so mad.

A little later on, long after my tears had dried on my face, there was a soft knock on my door. I stood shakily, hesitating before I unlocked it. I figured that it probably wasn't my dad; he would've been knocking harder and screaming for me to open the door. My shaking hand reached out, unlocked the door and grasped the knob. I pulled the door open and my mum stood in front of me.

"Where is he?" I asked. "Did he angrily fall asleep on the couch?"

She laughed a little. "Of course."

I turned away from her, exasperated, and plopped back down onto my bed. "Are you going to tell me I'm not allowed to get one of the best jobs a witch can get?"

"Bianca, come on, you know I don't agree with him," she said. She sat down next to me and looked into my eyes determinedly. "You're going to become an Auror if that's what you really want. I know you can do it. You can do anything a man can do, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

My relationship with my mother was something I was proud of... Even though she loved to tease me at times, she was also the person in the world who believed in me the most. I was strong, partly because I was just born with a fiery personality, but also because of the way she had taught me to be.

"Apparently, I'm also required to have a husband and kids."

"If you don't want them, you don't have to have them," she replied simply, shrugging.

I told her the same thing that I had always thought. "If it happens along the way, then so be it, but that's not what's most important to me. Maybe to other people, but not to me."

We were both silent for a minute. Mum took my hand.

"What am I supposed to do?" I said.

"Well," she responded, "don't bring it up with Dad again. Let him think that you're considering what he said—"

"Mum, I can't do that. I can't even look at him right now," I sighed. "I'm not just going to give in to him, or pretend to give in to him, even..."

"Let me finish. Let him think that you're taking into account whatever he says, and, when the time comes that you actually have to get a job, just do it and don't let him stop you. Wait until the time comes. Then become an Auror, and follow your dreams."

"They aren't dreams, they're plans," I mumbled.

"OK." She smiled. "So follow your plans. And don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something. I believe in you."

Her words made us both dissolve into tears.