◤ ❝If you want to win, you must make the others chase you.❞ ― Alastiare Erebus◢

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CHAPTER THREE:    NEMISIS

September 1st, 1996

                    The look on Draco's face was not comforting when Andromeda saw him again. She, Theodore, Daphne, and Tracey had left the others in the compartment to get dressed into their school uniform and robe, but she hadn't caught a hold of Draco until they were already exiting the train and on their way to Hogwarts. His jaw was tight and shoulders stiff, defining the sharpness of his features and hollowing out his cheeks. Something was wrong. That was fairly obvious. Even though he got frustrated often, and he had little chance of containing his anger once it was released, it was never anything like this. This look was restricted to one person, and she knew only because the same expression was often worn on her own face around the culprit, as well. Draco's eyes settled in apparent relief once he found her in the crowd of students waiting at the carriages, not even noticing that Pansy was calling for him to come over to her.

"Mia." 

Theo's voice drew her out of the small inspection that she was giving Draco—much like the one he was giving her—unbeknownst that her friends were waiting for her ahead of the trail. She turned around, glancing up slightly to see that Theodore was looking the same way as her, but for an entirely different reason. 

Rather than curiosity, he watched Draco with a distrust that had never been there before. "The carriages will be leaving soon."

Mia's brows raised in confusion; Theo had never acted like this around anyone that she associated with. Not even when he found out that she would be staying with the Malfoy's all summer. He'd always been quiet of his opinions on her companions, mainly because he knew that she wouldn't follow in his beliefs regardless of what he said about them. Even when she caught the way he looked a bit longer at Daphne than all of the others. The subtle hint that she didn't have much time to talk to anyone was not missed, better yet that it was directed to a specific boy. 

"Just a moment... I need to speak with someone."

Theodore looked down at her cautiously, blue eyes clashing with dark brown, before going back to staring over her head at Draco. It was not an exchange between friends. Had Andromeda been looking at the other Slytherin instead of her cousin, she would have noticed that Draco was just as guarded as Theo. It seemed that he was right—Theodore would become a problem. Mia was the only family that he had left to depend on, and the only thing Draco was doing was encouraging her to play with the very thing that got his father locked away and her father killed. Draco knew that it wouldn't be long before Theodore caught onto what they had been recruited to do—that the Dark Lord had put the children of two failed Death Eaters together to test them on their loyalty to him verses their loyalty to their compassion. Andromeda's life was in Draco's hands. And his was in her own.

"Andromeda," Theodore called out, just as she went to walk away from him. Immediately, she knew that his words weren't going to be lighthearted. He only ever called her by her full name when he needed her to listen to what he was saying. So, when she turned around and saw the look in his eye, she listened. "Be careful."

Theodore received nothing more than a small nod from Mia before she was turning on her heels and walking towards her own enemy and only ally. Draco was still staring Theo's way, his grey eyes molding into the dark shade of a ravage storm cloud, washing away any hint of relief that he had once expressed Mia's way. All that was left was caution, and the teenage boy had a strong feeling that Theodore Nott would not be the first person to alarm him. Hell, Potter had already begun weaseling his way into their business and they hadn't even reached Hogwarts yet. There was no telling who else would try to get in the way of the mission. 

Andromeda was grabbing Draco's elbow the second he was in reach, tugging him closer to her by his black robe. "What did you do?"

"Potter won't be a problem anymore," Draco said, keeping his eyes on her cousin over her shoulder. He didn't say it as smugly as he might have if Parkinson were in front of him, but that may have had something to do with how Theodore was still eyeing them. "I'd expect him to be halfway to London before we even finish our meal. It would have been a pity to look up and have his disgusting face ruin my appetite."

"What did you do, Draco?" Mia repeated impatiently, shifting and completely blocking his view of Theodore and Theodore's view of him. Both boys' faces dropped immediately in displeasure.

That left him to peer down at her instead, noticing that she was eagerly awaiting an answer. He took the time to make her even more frustrated by glancing down at her attire, lazily noticing that she had changed from her dress to her uniform. The green tie was hanging loosely on her neck, and he had a feeling that it wouldn't be done correctly until class the next day. Her robe was barely on her shoulders, the Slytherin emblem sticking out as a sore thumb of pride to all. 

It wasn't until he got passed the white shirt that he noticed something different, and his lip twitched into a guiltless smirk as his grey eyes flickered back to her brown. "Look, Romy. You've finally grown into a pair of legs. I was beginning to get worried you would never replace the twigs."

Mia could have sworn that her eye twitched, instinctively tugging at the skirt with a lack of confidence. "I loathe you."

"What? I'm congratulating you! Honestly, do you take no compliments?" he remarked, shrugging his shoulders and shoving his hands into his pockets. His lips stretched a bit further when he saw that she was on the verge of strangling him right then and there. Most of it was due to how easily he was avoiding the subject of Potter, but his personality would always be a major factor in every death wish she concocted in her twisted, little mind. "Fine...I'll tell you about Potter. Later. Right now, you and I better split up before Parkinson puts a boggart in your book bag and Nott sends a bludger to my face... it's too perfect to be disfigured in such a brutal way."

As if only just remembering that they were still surrounded by their classmates, Mia turned hastily to see who was staring at them. It was a decision she regretted immediately. Pansy Parkinson was a few feet away, standing beside the awaiting carriages with a seething sneer on her face. Bulstrode had come to her side in that time, and the two were speaking in harsh whispers while glancing back at she and Draco like they'd been snogging right then and there. In other words, she had tickled the sleeping dragon, and that dragon had a wrath when it came to Draco that Mia was fortunate enough to have never seen until now. If it even slightly looked like there was something between them, Parkinson would raise hell and send it to the wrong person.

"She doesn't seem to approve of your... companionship," Draco quipped, still standing behind her to watch as Pansy mentally murdered Mia a thousand times over with her glares. His comment wasn't as amusing to her as it was to him, and the brunette didn't even have to turn around to elbow the blonde boy in the gut. "Ow! What the hell, Romy? You actually think Parkinson can do anything to you? Have you forgotten all about this summer?"

"What happened this summer?" 

It was the voice of a new arrival that made them tense up immediately, Draco standing to his full height behind a shorter Mia. It was frightening how quickly the lighthearted expressions dripped from their lips, turning their expressions cold and calculating. So, maybe they hadn't discovered the best methods of fitting in after joining the Dark Lord. In fact, the way that Draco's hand went to his wand said a lot about how apprehensive they were on walking into a building filled with wizards and witches who could discover their secret and send them in the direction of their fathers because of it. Their poison of the minute, however, was only Tracey. The curly-haired girl was waiting for an answer, arms crossed over her chest and thick brows arched higher than her grades.

Mia caught on before Draco did that her question was completely harmless. Actually, harmless was probably the wrong word to describe her insinuation. If that question ever got back to Parkinson and it was spoken the way that Tracey said it, someone was going to be dead. In order to keep Draco from retaliating and her friend from taking the silence as an answer of its own, she did what she did best. She bent the truth. 

"Mother left a few of my father's books at the Malfoy's, and Draco and I have been reading them this summer...I've gotten very skilled at remembering the spells in them. Suppose if I can't have him with me anymore, I can have what he left behind." 

She questioned if using her father's death in such an ill way—not once, but twice—made her a terrible person; if defining Alastiare as an advantage instead of a loss turned her into a monster masked with fallacies. Had a half-blood or muggleborn lost their father, their lives would tilt in half because of their death. Not because of what their death left behind. She should still be devastated like her mother, unable to get out of bed because there was a wound between her rib and her heart that couldn't be patched by time. Like Theodore with his mother. That should be her life. 

It wasn't, though. That may have been the reason why her friends were expecting a different reaction from her on the train. She knew that if her father was alive he would be expecting her to do everything in her power to complete the Dark Lord's mission. If harming his name by using it as a resource made her a bad daughter, at least it made her a spectacular Slytherin. She would just have to accept being okay with that and ignore the subtle hum in the back of her skull that told her, yet again, that her father wasn't expecting her to do such a thing... because, if she did this, that meant that she was rapidly losing what he died fighting for. The person that Sirius Black knew him to be, not the Dark Lord.

Draco saw the detached look on Mia's face after she lied to Tracey, and he was quick to step forward before the girl realized that there was something else going on. His method of denial was more cynical. "She and her mother lost a family member this summer, Davis. I don't see how you have friends if all you do is eavesdrop on things that don't concern you. You may want to run to your blood-traitor father and tell him that his daughter doesn't mind her business."

The problem that Draco had was the small blockade between the area of his brain that processed his words for him and the area of his heart that processed his beliefs. Mia sighed the moment that she heard him spit out Tracey's blood status, closing her eyes and wishing more than anything that the conversation could be forgotten before it got even messier. Even if she did agree with a lot of the same things as Draco, there was a certain difference between them when it came to treatment of the lesser class. He believed that, because they were in elite, pureblood families, they had reign over everything. Mia believed that, because they were in elite, pureblood families, they had reign over certain things. But what they didn't have was much greater than anything they were given.

"I'm impressed, Malfoy," Tracey drawled out, sarcasm spilling out every sentence. She never let her expression fall off her face throughout Draco's abuse, but chose to smile wider to annoy him. "Six years later, and still, you manage to have no heart. I'll tell my blood-traitor father that he was right when I see him next—the Malfoy's truly deserve nothing. Your father's learned that, hasn't he? How is he, by the way? Ministry still not budging for his release?"

Had Mia not stepped in between the two of them, Tracey would be dead. That was not an exaggeration. With the expression that washed over Draco's face, draining him of any emotion besides wrath and revenge, she wouldn't have been surprised if he used the Killing Curse just to keep Davis from speaking so rudely of his father. Had there not been the small chime of "Time to go!" in the background of the discussion, Tracey would have also been very, very correct about Draco's lack of heart. Draco would have earned a place in a cell alongside his father, unsaved by his family's ties to the Ministry just like Lucius. What scared Mia most was not how closely he looked to his father in that moment, but that she was more concerned with where he would be because of it than what he was doing. How much better did that make her?

Tracey, now staring face-to-face with Mia instead of Draco, scowled at her friend. "Are you riding with us or staying to continue your conversation with him?" 

Mia was the one to raise her brow this time. No matter how much she may care for Tracey, she didn't appreciate the tone in which the girl spoke to her. It wouldn't have mattered if she were a pureblood, mudblood, or even Theodore. That wasn't something that she would ever accept; she had enough knowledge of her worth to know that she shouldn't be talked down upon based on another's actions. 

Rather than replying to the girl, Andromeda just moved past her shoulder and dismissed the situation as a whole. She didn't even bother looking back at Draco, who was just as wrong in his reaction as Tracey. If they wanted to get into a scuffle because they were triggered so easily by jabs at their reputations, then they very well could do as they pleased. She had more to worry about. 

When she made her way over to the carriages, taking note that half of them had already left and the rest were preparing to leave, she saw that Theodore was waiting to the side of one for her to finish speaking to Draco. By the way he was looking from her to where she previously was, Mia couldn't help but scoff under her breath. 

Reaching him, she shook her head as she passed him to get into the carriage. "You really trust me that little that you send Davis to make sure I'm being babysat around Malfoy?" 

"You really believe I wouldn't watch over you around him?" Theodore retaliated, quick in his wit as he got into the carriage behind her. 

The cousins barely noticed how Daphne kept her head down to avoid listening in on their conversation, and how Blaise was messing with his tie to pretend than it was more interesting that what they were saying. They were even too invested to notice that Tracey had silently taken a seat at the edge of the carriage, farthest away from Mia and closest to Blaise.

Mia narrowed her eyes on Theodore, but said nothing more that would put them at odds. He knew about the pressure that had been placed on her that summer, and he could easily put together the things that she had been forced to juggle if he tried. She had babbled like a child to him about how terrified she was of what would happen after her father's death. Even without knowing her involvement with the Death Eaters, that he would even step out and act as if she were at fault for being acquaintances with Malfoy made him just as wrong in her book as Davis. 

She loved Theodore—he was the only person she loved enough to kill for—but he also knew little about the person she had become recently. To him, she was still the same as she had been at her father's funeral. Weak, uncertain, light; the small girl that he always stood over at the parties when they were younger. His younger cousin, his responsibility.

Theodore was the one to burn the tension within the carriage of Slytherins by gently sighing. Mia watched as he leaned back in his seat, rubbing his eyes to get rid of the way she was looking at him. The brunette never let up from her stiff posture, knowing fully well that she was the one everyone was watching. It was like they thought she was going to explode, and they would be the ones harmed from it—which, thinking about it, was true. 

There was something volatile within her now, but that didn't mean that Theodore was going to stop trying to contain what he knew Draco was willing to let detonate. It was ironic, truly, that Andromeda was now being pulled to both sides just as heavily as Harry Potter was. One part of her wanted to follow the darkest inside of her, the part that Draco encouraged, and the other wanted to do well by her family's wishes and be better than what was expected of her, the part that Theodore was trying to protect. 

However, she could not have both... and, at the moment, the darker side was winning. It had been for quite some time. It was only just now that Theodore started to see that he was losing. He hadn't been so concerned about it before. The letters exchanged between him and Mia gave away no indication that there was an underlying issue at hand. She acted the same through written word. Short, and to the point. He made his assumptions that the Dark Lord may have threatened her and Celicia, but it wasn't until he saw her enter the compartments did he realize that it was much more than that. She had done exactly what he asked of her that day in her bedroom—she gave them what she needed to stay alive. He didn't know if that was loyalty, a promise to stay out of the way, or silence in exchange for a exonerated death sentence, but it had done the job. 

Andromeda was different, contrary to covering up that she wasn't. Watching the way that she and Draco interacted with one another, he began to understand that he may never stand the chance of winning. Not if his cousin had developed a connection with the competition that he could never begin to understand or replicate. There was something going on between her and Malfoy that stitched further than a single summer spent together coping, and Theodore was determined to know what it was. Even if they didn't want him to. Even if it meant putting him in danger for his family.

――――――――――  

Arriving at Hogwarts, Andromeda could not have felt more disgruntled. Although, that was much better than the fear that was currently being dosed by all of the irritation that she had for her classmates. Thinking about going back to school with a mark of support for the Dark Lord and actually being at school with a mark of support for the Dark Lord were very different things, and she just kept her mind vacant to remind herself not to think of anything until she was sure that she was safe to do so. She couldn't even think about how little she liked the people at Hogwarts, as she was too busy ignoring all of the stares while she walked toward the building. Even being frustrated with each other, Theodore made sure to stand next to her and bear the weight of the staring when she couldn't. 

One person who made sure to avoid her gaze was Marietta Edgecombe. She was a few feet in front of their small group of Slytherins, clinging desperately onto Chang's arm while looking around cautiously for any more unexpected surprises. They were both shaking like they'd just seen a Dementor on the trail to the school. Their hair was frizzy and damp, making them look madder than they assumed her mother to be, giving Mia a satisfaction that defused any nerves she may have had about those around her. If she could make two classmates terrified of her presence, she could make them all if needed be.

"What did you do to her?" Theodore muttered her way, his eyes still on Edgecombe as she scurried quickly into the larger crowd of students. She and Chang were lost in the uniforms within a matter of seconds. The shadow of a scold was still in the stitching of Theo's words, but he tried hard to contain it.

Mia, with a bit of a deflated humor, frowned deeply at his disapproval of her actions. "I showed her what it would be like if the glass in our common room mysteriously shattered—and that Potter's little Army aren't the only one capable of shutting up her loud mouth."

"I thought we were going to try to attract as little attention as possible this year, Andromeda," Theodore reprimanded quietly, his head bending to divert attention from his words. They had already spoken about keeping a low status due to the school's knowledge of their family's affiliations. If they pulled any more stunts like that one, they were surely going to be the social pariahs of the year. Mia would have snorted if she didn't think it would make him even angrier, only because Draco had said something about her lack of subtlety not too long ago in Diagon Alley. 

"I'm not running around trying to cause chaos this year, Theodore," Mia defended, quite a bit louder than Theodore, might she add. "It comes after me."

It was enough for those around to look up from their own small talk with one another, the whispers defusing to silence on the walk to Hogwarts. Daphne and Tracey were the first ones to glance over at them, Tracey's face falling momentarily for a reason that Andromeda would only understand at the end of the war. Daphne was more concerned with Theo, her eyes staying on him for a while before flickering back to Mia, then finally down to the ground. It was a discussion that none of them had a part in. Draco and Blaise, who had chosen to walk next to one another but hold no conversation, shot their heads up the moment that they heard the force in Mia's words. Almost immediately, Draco was biting down on his tongue to keep from killing the girl for doing exactly what she was defending herself against—and she thought that he was the one with the short fuse when she was just as bad as him.

Blaise was the only one to notice Draco's rush of annoyance with the brunette, and he found himself taking the chance of fate by speaking about it. "Has she been like this all summer?"

"Unfortunately," Draco said bluntly.

"I can't say I blame her," Blaise mumbled, watching as Mia ended the conversation with Theodore and the two walked in silence next to each other. "I mean, Potter practically destroyed her family. I know Mother spends days in her bedroom when one of her husbands passes away... I can't imagine how her mother feels considering she actually loved the man. Do you reckon she'll get worse? If she's already angry at Nott, I'd hate to see her upset with someone she hates." 

Although knowing that Blaise was no one to be concerned about, Draco didn't enjoy how interested the boy was. Interest meant curiosity, and he didn't need any more towards either of them. "Her worst will be more than just a bit of shouting, Zabini, and you should hope that you aren't around to witness it. I know that I won't be."

He knew that was probably a lie, and he knew because there was a bitterness that crept up on his tongue at knowing that he wasn't telling the truth. If he were being honest with himself, he probably would be next to Romy when the world saw her at her worst; he would either be the one encouraging her or preventing her from doing any more damage, but nevertheless, he would be there. He hated knowing that, but it was the one thing he was certain of. However, he could see when turning to look at Blaise that his words were enough to make him distant from Romy. Not enough to ignore her, but enough to realize that being close to her was like creating a potion with Seamus Finnigan.

It seemed that would be the last of the conversations between the sixth years, who had walked the rest of the distance soundless. The only time there was even the slightest hint of interaction was when Draco passed by Edgecombe on his way up the stairs in the castle, and a snigger escaped beneath his throat at her disheveled sight. Mia's eyes traveled to the sound, noticing that the blonde boy was amused at the way that she left the Ravenclaws, and a crooked smile of her own was struggling to be covered. She wasn't sure if she was more surprised that Draco showed emotion or that it was at something she thought he would have called foolish like Theodore. Nonetheless, it was the most "talking" that the two of them would be having until they met up to figure out how they were going to proceed with the mission.

On the way to the Great Hall, the students started noticing that the school looked different than last year. Most of what Dolores Umbridge destroyed in her reign was fixed, but the atmosphere of a dark cloud looming over them was not. The pictures on the wall were not screaming of enthusiasm at seeing them arrive, but rather attempting to cover up their disheartened personalities by pretending to do something that occupied their time. 

Mia tried not to notice how one of the paintings scrambled to hide once they met eyes, all but jumping out of their frame to avoid contact with her. Well. Now, the entire school knew of her situation. Others did the same at the whole group of Slytherins, mainly all of the children of convicted Death Eaters, but that was something they were used to. Ever since The Quibbler's article last year, to be exact, they'd started treating them differently.

Professor McGonagall was standing outside the doors of the Great Hall when the students started to pile around it, some eagerly bouncing with glee and others still trying to get the wrinkles out of their robes. Mia's throat got tight the second that she saw her Transfiguration professor; Theo was the only to notice that her steps faltered a bit, and he did his best to urge her forward with a push on her back. The older woman looked just as different as the school did to Mia, and she was beginning to think that it would be a common thought after all of the things that were seeded into her brain. McGonagall didn't focus on any student's face for too long, her stern appearance preventing the younger children from holding her gaze for longer than a second.

"Well, go on," McGonagall urged, tilting her head in the direction of the doors. "We don't have all night." 

The first-years were the ones to burst open the doors, each enthusiastic to see the most famous room of Hogwarts and find out which house they would be in for the next seven years. Meanwhile, the older years were just desperate to get to their seats so they could begin eating. As soon as they swung free, the Great Hall was glistening in all of its elaborate glory. The sky was crackling with controversial colors and candles, taking the breaths away of many people before they moved onto the golden plate and the grand table of the staff. Even if a lot had changed the past few months, the decoration that they filled the place with at the start-of-term feast did not. A small squeal came out of Daphne's throat, not even she able to deny that there was something beautiful about stepping back into the room that gave them a place in the Wizarding World to begin with.

Like clockwork, everyone began to faction out among their houses. Mia never took her eyes off the Slytherin's long dining table, decorated with the dark green that was the only thing she missed about Hogwarts. She may be standing in the start of her end, but nothing could take Slytherin away from her. Her house was her home. Her housemates, above all others, knew why that was so important. Dominated by purebloods, most of them never knew what it felt like to come to a place where they felt protected and cared for. They'd spent their lives coming back to an extravagant building that exploited their wealth to other wealthy wizards, and never thought twice about how they had never considered it home. Mia hadn't, at least. She was never welcomed with warmth when she walked into her manor, nor did she get sensation of comfort locked within the dark walls of a place way too large for three people. She only ever got that feeling when she walked into Hogwarts and saw Slytherin—saw her real home.

She was overwhelmed to see that that was not taken from her like everything else. Everyone started to take seats in a haphazard organization, where the table slowly congregated itself by year so that the first-years would be seated at the very end. The lowest rank. While grabbing the seat between Theodore and Blaise, Mia caught the attention of a certain boy from a ways down. Andrew Vaisey was another person who looked different to Andromeda. She wasn't sure why he didn't look the same, just that he didn't. His high cheekbones kept him up to par as a pureblood, and the dark hair that contrasted his green eyes was one of the main reasons why so many Hufflepuffs swooned over him. It was also ironic that Vaisey happened to be opposite in every way from Malfoy. 

His different look didn't stop either one of them from giving a nod in greeting, Vaisey even sending her a small smile before he was dropping down to talk to some of his friends on the Quidditch team. She didn't think too deeply on Vaisey, knowing very well that if she did, she would be stirring up something that she promised herself she wouldn't. 

"What was that?" Daphne asked with enthusiasm, the first to talk since they entered Hogwarts. She was seated across from Theodore, which meant that she saw everything that went on between Mia and Vaisey. Even better, she saw that the 'small smile' was a bit more than just a friendly exchange.

Mia's attention went to the blonde, and she raised her eyebrows in question. "What was what?"

"You and Andrew Vaisey," Daphne explained, raising her own eyebrows as if she was seriously asking that question. She was very bold to do so, especially with how Mia had been acting previously. "The same Andrew Vaisey that just so happened to be asking about you on the train. The same Andrew Vaisey that I remember you talking about all first year...and second, and third, and fourth..."

While everyone was happy to see that they were back to their everyday interactions, Mia was about as annoyed to be having the conversation as Daphne was happy to talk about it again. Theodore and Blaise shared a look from around Mia, both knowing that the conversation was going to be interesting, if anything. Spread across the table was a group of students, all pretending to be invested in other conversations but feeding on the possible rumors they could spread about Andromeda and Vaisey tomorrow. Slytherins were also incredibly nosy and pompous beings. A bit to the left of them was Pansy in particular, who was clearly eavesdropping even if she was trying to distract herself by hanging all over Draco's shoulder.

"Yet I'm not talking about him now," Mia said, her displeasure cutting like knives in the air. However, she did try to keep the discussion lighter than before. After earlier, she needed to try to keep up as much normalcy as possible. "We already had this conversation, Greengrass. I don't have the time to be in a relationship with anyone, nor do I want to be." 

Daphne's eyes softened a bit, frowning as she leaned back in her seat. "I just think it might be good for you to find someone... you know, to distract you a bit." 

"Since you clearly did nothing this summer by how dreadful you look." 

Mia and Daphne both looked up to see who had invaded into their privacy, neither truly comprehending what was said at first. Parkinson was leaning on the table with a smug smirk, messing with Draco's tie in a manner that screamed possessive, unaware of how her words sounded given the situation that Andromeda was in over the summer. The lightheartedness disappeared after that, sucked from the room as if a Dementor showed up at Hogwarts and took away their open gateway to a new year. To Mia's side, she could sense that Theodore straightened up in his seat. Although he didn't want to bring attention to himself, he would. Especially with what Parkinson said.

Daphne, who was much closer to Pansy than Mia or Tracey, couldn't have been more defeated at her friend. Even that was low for the girl, who was usually more kind to Andromeda and never resorted to talking so rudely of her housemates. "Pansy..."

"What?" Pansy asked, glancing at the others at the table with high brows. They were all looking at her like she had just admitted to being in cahoots with the Dark Lord himself (what a joke of a situation, that would soon become). Draco even moved away from the girl, subtle enough that it went unnoticed by everyone but Pansy herself. She didn't let down from the fight, though. "I only said what you lot were thinking. Don't make me out to be the villain just because all of you are wimps and won't tell her the truth."

Mia wanted to laugh at how hilarious she found it all to be. She wasn't hurt by it—actually, far from it, contrary to what her friends thought she should be feeling. If she actually cared at all about what the girl said (or, even in the slightest, concerned herself with how she looked), maybe she would have been upset. But she wasn't. Not when she could finally see what exactly had triggered Parkinson's sudden interest in Mia. It wasn't clear at first since Mia and Pansy never had any problems in the past, but adding up how she was alternating her glares between two specific people uncovered the truth. Jealously was written along her forehead just as clearly as 'SNEAK' was written along Edgecombe's, and she was absolutely loving that she got under Parkinson's skin. Especially since it was for such a ludicrous reason.

"I appreciate your concern for my well-being, Parkinson... though, I can assure you, I was plenty distracted this summer," Mia taunted, her lips lifting to give the girl a smile so sweet it may have rotten someone's teeth.

Just like that, Parkinson's facade dropped and her lips straightened to a thin, thin line. If a fire had been nearby, she may have gone and burst into flames with how volatile she looked. Good. That meant that the insinuation behind her words hadn't been lost. Mia, eyes still on Pansy in satisfaction, leaned back in her seat to get ready for Albus Dumbledore's famous speech. Everyone around her was still struggling to process what she said, letting their minds believe that she meant she was distracted by her father's death rather than anything else. The only person who knew better was a certain blonde-haired boy, his grey eyes waiting to attract Andromeda's attention. When he finally got it, his eyebrow raised at her. What the hell was she doing? 

How desperately Mia wanted to tell him 'later'. Instead of doing so, though, she kept away from her using her Legilimency and opted on something that she knew would annoy both Draco and Parkinson. She not-so-subtly winked at him, before rotating her body so that she could turn to the front of the Hall. Doing so, she realized that she missed the Sorting Hat's song. Pity. She would have loved to hear how it covered up the cynicism everyone knew Slytherin had. Half of the first years that eagerly entered through the Hall were already sorted, and the first thing Mia noticed was the lack of new Slytherins thus-far. Many of the students had taken seats in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, leaving the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs to stare at the kids to determine who would be joining them.

Blaise was the first one to begin the tradition that they started their second year. "Tall boy, far right... he'll be winning tournaments on our team in no time."

"No way! Blonde girl on the right," Tracey protested, her head bobbing in the direction of the young girl looking at those around like she wanted to strike them right then and there. Even more than that, her straight posture depicted confidence; whether it was false or not, it was clear what table she would be sitting at by the end of the night. "Mia and I are the only ones still holding onto our record, Zabini... I refuse to let it fall apart now."

Andromeda, although not as enthusiastic as she'd been the past years, still inspected all of the children awaiting their sorting. She never noticed how terrified some of them looked, and how a vast majority of that fear was sent in her table's direction. Her lip pulled inward, and she bit down on it as she tried to veer in on one specific student that was guaranteed a place in their house. Tracey always went for the obvious choice. It was always the one that looked like a Slytherin, but never the one that acted like one. A true one, at least. One that wasn't just confident or cunning, but was also shrewd and bold. It made it a challenge for her, and she'd always loved a challenge. Even more now that detecting the integrity of a person was more than a hobby to her.

Then, she laid eyes on a raven-haired girl that was standing in between two students that were clearly Hufflepuffs. Andromeda's mouth turned to a smug smile in accomplishment, watching as the girl jutted out her jaw while the two next her spoke loudly. It could have had something to do with how similar she looked to Mia at that age, but when she turned back to look at her friends across the table, they were all awaiting her answer. 

She picked up the small goblet that was filled with pumpkin juice, sloshing it around as she looked at Tracey. She was patient, hoping that Mia's involvement would mean that the events from earlier were forgotten. "Small girl in the back. Dark hair."

"There's no way she's Slytherin," Daphne dismissed, shaking her head in disbelief as she glanced in between Mia and her choice. "She looks like a bloody Gryffindor!" 

Mia wasn't going to argue about the girl that she knew would undoubtedly be in their house. Blaise's choice was called up next, and the tall boy took a seat on the stool next to McGonagall. Ravenclaw. A grumble to her left was heard, and she could only roll her eyes that Zabini didn't bother noticing the handwriting that was scrawled on the kid's hand. Spells, no doubt, that he had been studying since he bought his books for school. Easy choice. She lazily watched as Tracey's choice went up, and the snooty, little blonde was directed to Slytherin within seconds. A cheer was heard from across the table. Mia noticed from the corner of her eye how Theo's chin raised at the first-year's sorting. He'd always hated conceited people. Especially when he would be living with them. It's a wonder he hadn't murdered Draco yet. 

"Natalie Elias!" McGonagall called forth. 

Andromeda's brows furrowed, watching as her girl walked forward with curled shoulders. That wasn't the cause of her confusion, though. She'd heard the last name before. Leaning into Theodore, she kept her voice low. "Where have I heard that name?" 

"Her father works in the Ministry," Theodore said, shifting around in his seat as he watched the young girl seat herself on the stool. The cousins couldn't put their fingers on why they were both suddenly so invested in the girl, but Natalie Elias looked like someone whose world was going to crash down in a few seconds. "He was a source in an article written about your father's death. He worked in the Department of Mysteries." 

Andromeda physically paled when he finished speaking, sitting up straighter in her seat. Theo turned to look at her, knowing that she was trying to recount all of the articles that had been written over the summer about her father. He could have saved her the time—better yet, he could have told her that Tomas Elias was an wretched man who had nothing kind to say about Alastiare's passing—but he kept silent, watching as the man's daughter was served on a silver platter to the house he blamed everything for. From the fear that was coating the girl's eyes, she knew it just as much as he and Mia did.

"Ah! A conflicted mind, I see," the Sorting Hat began, his face molding into concentration as he started the sentence to the girl's hell. 

Andromeda felt ill. Her own attentiveness to the sorting was giving her a headache, and her stomach was beginning to churn for a reason that she hadn't fully discovered yet. In a twisted pull of fate, Natalie Elias looked back at her. Brown eyes met their twin, and something happened that Mia hadn't meant to do. She invaded, and the world around her spun in confusing intervals until she was existing in the mind of another. Using Legilimency felt like a band was being pulled back, and once it snapped, whomever was the victim relinquished their guard. She hadn't meant to, but when a bitter frost hit her skin, she realized that it was not she who was feeling the cold, but the memories of the young girl.

"Father, it's my first year! I have to go!"  Natalie exclaimed, her brown irises filling with tears of frustration as she glared at the man in front of her. Her father didn't look much like she did, and he looked even less like a man who cared about his daughter's tears. 

Tomas Elias peered up from the top of his glasses, keeping his composure as he stayed seated at his desk. His work, it seemed, was much more interesting than his family. "We've already had this discussion, Natalie. After everything that's happened, your mother and I don't feel comfortable sending you to a school where students He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has specifically targeted." 

"That's doesn't mean he will target me! You know how careful I am. I just want the opportunity to learn more, Father. Harry Potter won't even know I exist, no less You-Know-Who. Please. It's Hogwarts. I've dreamed of getting a letter from the moment I could speak. I can... I can reason with Mother. She'll listen if you agree."  

Her persistence wasn't awarded with acceptance. Instead, he stood up with an ferocity that even Mia found concerning. "You believe Harry Potter is my only concern in that school? There are traitors walking around the halls of Hogwarts, Natalie... darkness we have been trying to protect you from since the moment you were born. Children of You-Know-Who's followers. What would you do if you were cornered by someone in Slytherin? You've read about the consequences that come from that school. I know you've been sneaking the articles into your bedroom at night. What happens if you run into the Erebus girl? Draco Malfoy? Crabbe's son? Their fathers have caused this chaos, Natalie. It's not much sooner that they'll follow in their parents' footsteps, and I will not have you there when they poison the school with their disease. I can't protect you there." 

Natalie, even at the young age of eleven, took his words with a fervor that would have made the people she was meant to fear—the Slytherins—proud. She stood tall, even with the water that was threatening to pool from her eyes. "Father, please." 

"My decision is final. You will not attend Hogwarts this year." 

The memory blurred from Natalie's mind, just as it disappeared from Mia's eyes. That was not the last of it, though. She was pulled back into seeing the world from the girl's perspective, every little thing that she had thought from the moment she opened the doors to the Great Hall. Every emotion that she expressed—all of the nerves, the excitement, and the sickening amount of fear that bottomed out Mia's own—it was all there, present in her subconsciousness as they kept their eyes on each other. She knew who Mia was. Natalie just didn't know if staring at Andromeda Erebus was a way to defy her father, or if it showed her exactly who she was meant to be in the future. 

That was the thought that told Mia she'd had enough of invading someone's privacy, and she was closing her eyes to break the link just as a word shattered the connection between them. "Slytherin!"

Two things happened at once: Natalie slid off the stool with a sluggish acceptance, her brown eyes trained on the table that ruined her relationship with her father beyond just attending Hogwarts; Andromeda slid off the bench with tightened lungs, her brown eyes hazy and unfocused as she pushed herself away from the table that Natalie was moving towards. She'd missed Tracey's huff in disappointment. She didn't hear Daphne's statement of surprise. She didn't see the way Theodore reached out to grab her. She didn't know that Draco set his eyes on her the second she used Legilimency. All she could see was the path to the doors of the Great Hall, her legs working to get her out of the place that was beginning to close in on her. Someone may have called out her name—Vaisey, she thinks, but she never set away from straight ahead. 

Just as she got ready to make her escape, acutely aware that people were watching her, she ran head-on into another body that was moving just as quickly as she. The world held its breath. The students who knew what happened to Andromeda that summer held their breaths. Draco Malfoy, who would have laughed loudly at the sight of Harry Potter's disastrous state, held his breath. The only two who didn't were Andromeda and Harry, as ironically as that sounded. Her eyes flickered down to his nose, which was bleeding profusely as it covered skin all the way down to his neck. His eyes moved to her white complexion, looking like she had just seen Bloody Baron murder someone before her very eyes. Together, they were messes. 

"Your house spirit towards the color red has taken an extreme leap, Potter," Andromeda said, containing the level of her voice so that only he could hear. The bitter conviction in her tone when speaking to him still surprised her. She'd never heard herself hate in such a way. "I suggest finding a different method of showing it so explicitly before your courage gets you killed." 

Potter didn't bow down this time, nor did he cower in guilt like the last time they spoke. "Tell your boyfriend that I know he's hiding something, and I'm going to find out what it is." 

Andromeda narrowed her eyes on him, but said nothing more as he passed by her to scurry his way to his friends. It was only when he was not in her vicinity, and she was passed the doors of the Great Hall, that she let out the breath of air she'd been holding. A series of deep inhales and exhales escaped her lips, and when she ran her hands through her hair, she was faintly aware that her hands began shaking. Although, she didn't know if that was because of Potter or the previous events leading up to their interaction. If she had to place a bet on it, she would say it was the dread that shot up her spine, knowing that Potter was suspicious of Draco. Now, she knew what he did. She knew why he looked so angry before.

"Miss Erebus, I assume you have a good reason for not being inside with the rest of your classmates," Professor Snape's voice pulled her from her growing panic, and she straightened up to see that he had stopped a few feet in front of her. He must have been the reason Potter was rushing so quickly to get inside. 

Mia stared at him blankly, beginning to feel bombarded by every monster in her wardrobe. The last time he acknowledged her was when he was telling the Dark Lord how strong of a witch she was, and going back from that conversation was impossible. "I was going to go to the bathroom, sir."

"And you will be returning?" Snape asked, his brows arched to suggest that he knew she may ditch the rest of the feast. 

"Of course." 

He didn't take her promise immediately. In fact, there were a few, short seconds in between where he just scowled at her with his impressionable personality. Even if neither of them were willing to speak about it, it was obvious that the understanding they'd had for five years was lost as soon as she sat at the table that summer. Professor Snape moved his attention down to her left arm for a moment, inspecting it to be sure that there was nothing to see beyond her school robe, before frowning back up at her. "On your way, Miss Erebus."

Andromeda didn't waste the opportunity to leave, walking past him just as quickly as Potter walked past her. She could feel his glower on her back all the way to the next turn she made, already receiving the feeling that Snape would have a chain wrapped around she and Draco until the end of the year. They knew that he was still involved with the Dark Lord, which meant that they had just as much leverage hanging over his head as he had above theirs. Ultimately, they were stuck in a predicament that forced the three of them to be civil with one another until they could be open about their allegiances. 

Until then, Andromeda settled with calming herself of her racing heartbeat before the rest of the world began to attack her once again. The first day of school was always horrible. Even for a witch. 

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NEMISIS: GODDESS OF RETRIBUTION