｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
𝔱𝔢𝔞𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔯'𝔰 𝔭𝔢𝔱
six. — deus est non vigilantes!

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Mina took it all back.

It could be that bad, in fact it was worse.

The Black family estate was as daunting as she could remember. Yes, it was grand their wealth clear for all to see. But it was dark and Mina immediately felt the air thicken as she stepped closer to the place that she had not been in so many years. The house itself could not be considered sinister, the dark coloured outer layers seemingly normal, yet to Mina the house breathed darkness and despair.

One look at the house and she had the feeling akin to spiders crawling all over her pale, shaking skin. It was as though the house itself was a dementor sucking out any trace of happiness, only leaving emptiness and despair in its place. Mina thought there should have been a sign hanging above the door, warning those who were about to enter.

( DEUS EST NON VIGILANTES )

Walburga walked paces ahead of her — practically sprinting into the house without a look to her sister. Stepping over the threshold hesitantly Mina found herself bombarded by memories. The image of her sneering mothers face and the tip of a wand pointed in her direction, to this day she could still feel the sharp sting of the hexes.

'You need to stop spreading these lies you insolent child! Do you wish for people to believe you to be mad?'

'You're a freak.'

'Liar!'

'Why can't you be more like your sister?"

"I can't take this anymore!'

A door slammed, perhaps in her mind or perhaps in real life. Either way Mina found herself snapped out of her daydreams. She listened with sharp ears as her sister began complaining about her to her parents in the kitchen, not ready for the onslaught of wickedness that was bound to occur, Mina raced up to where she knew her room had resided.

Shutting the door quietly behind her Mina breathed in a sigh of relief, the feeling of being alone never tasting so sweet. Her room was the same as it had been when she was young, clearly having been regularly cleaned by the house elves. Her large bed sat in the centre of the room green covers with silver drapes matching the colour scheme of the rest of the room. Mina could tell nobody had been in there in years bar the house elves, everything was how she had left it. Children's clothes hanging in her wardrobe, whilst the bookshelf was littered with children's books that she had received as presents when young,

Laying down on the bed, Mina allowed her thoughts to drift to Tom, it was strange being in bed without him having grown so used to his domineering presence.

So attached to it.

A wistful sigh escaped her as she closed her eyes and pictured what he was doing. Large, ring adorned hands probably grading papers in his office — he did not go home for the holidays, claiming Hogwarts was his home — eyes trained on the silky clothes above she couldn't help but picture those hands. Those hands that had traced her body like a map, gliding over every crevice, every freckle. The way he would wrap his hands around her neck, her hair, her heart squeezing so tightly. She should have been afraid, but instead she found herself utterly enthralled, completely intoxicated by his touch.

The praise he offered her, and the company was more than any she had been given in her entire life, and the more he gave the more she craved, till an insatiable hunger consumed her. A need for him, and only him.

Her thoughts were once again interrupted as a house elf called her to supper. Sitting up she quickly changed into a floor length royal blue gown, leaving a thick black chocker wrapped around her neck to disguise the bruises that littered it. She knew her parents did not care for her, but they surly cared for their reputation and would not appreciate word travelling that their daughter was a harlot as well as insane.

Supper was an intense affair that consisted of Mina desperately trying to slink into the background as the rest of her family conversed. Her mother was as poised and cold as ever, her raven locks twisted into such a tight up-do that her eyes were slightly pulled back and accentuated her crows feet. Her mother was by no means a beautiful woman, with her thin lips that were permanently twisted into a scowl of discontent, and her angular nose that was constantly pulled into a sneer as though she had smelt something foul.

Her father on the other hand had a charming smile, and steely grey eyes that he had passed along to his children — he was an expert at getting people to empty their pockets and hand over their riches as though it had been their idea in the first place. Out of the two parents he appeared from the outside to be the more relaxed parent. But Mina knew different, she knew the full weight of his anger and understood that one did not need to shout to be angry. He had a calm anger that shook her to her core, his temper could be set off at any moment and she would never be given a moments notice — Mina would only ever know he was angry after he was done cursing her.

Her brother Cygnus and his already pregnant wife Druella were also sat at the table, chatting with Walburga. They were only a year out of Hogwarts, but it was their duty to produce an heir as quickly as possible to secure the bloodline. Druella was perhaps the prettiest girl she had ever met — even prettier than some of the girls with Veela blood that she had attended school with — her tumbling locks of raven curls were not dissimilar of a true Black's apart from the fact that they seemed to rest easily on her shoulders with no hassle, unlike their untameable hair.

Mina remembered the girl from her childhood, she had been kind and clever even at that age, and Mina briefly wondered if she was truly happy with her oaf of a brother — if she was truly happy with the life that had been chosen for her.

As the food appeared on the table, and her family bowed their heads in prayer. Mina simply sat, her eyes staring blankly ahead as the prayers that left their mouths became nothing but static noise, an irritating buzz in her ears.

"You do no pray?" Her fathers words were calm, too calm, "You do not believe in God?"

"I believe in God," she spoke quietly, "but I do not pray."

How could she pray to god when she spent most her nights on her knees before the devil himself?

Besides, just because she believed in something did not mean she should worship it. In her experience God was not the merciful being others made him out to be, he was cruel and unjust — if he truly was a benevolent being he would have smited her where she stood a long time ago. Before the visions would tear apart her mind and sanity, before she stained her families good name.

( GOD WAS NOT MERCIFUL, BUT HE APPEARED TO HAVE A TWISTED SENSE OF HUMOUR. )

"Spare me your malcontent you wretched child," her mother snarled from across the table as she angrily cut up her food — effectively silencing any chatter at the table, "we have brought you here today to inform you that we have found you a match."

"A match?" Mina practically chocked on her own breath, the only upside to being seen as 'unstable' and 'inane' was that no respectable pureblood would want to marry her.

"Yes a match, are you deaf as well as incompetent?" The woman scoffed, siping on her wine, "Augustus Berrycloth will be a fine match for you — his families blood is pure as can be."

"Berrycloth?" Mina's eyes widened dramatically, "Isn't that a Canadian family? You're planning on shipping me off again? To the other side of the world? Let me guess that family has no idea what people here say about me—,"

"—no they do not." Her father did not raise his voice but the threat was clear, "and it will stay that way if you wish to keep your head."

Mina went to open her mouth when she heard Tom's voice in her head 'you can't be making rash decisions, that's how you get caught' breathing deeply she nodded and began to fill her plate much to her father's suspicious surprise 'patience and planning my dear, they are key elements when it comes to revenge'.

The jabs she received from her family that evening were met with a polite smile and silence, her sister pouting when she realised she would no longer be getting a reaction from her whilst her parents simply ignored her presence all together. All the while rage swarmed inside her gut, it was unlike anything she had ever felt before, perhaps because before she was sure she was deserving of their ire. But Tom had helped her see that she was better than them, she did not deserve to be treated that way by them, he showed her that they were afraid of her power.

( AFRAID OF HER. )

AUTHORS NOTE!
just one extra long chapter left and then this short story is done!!

i'm so excited!!

stay safe! remember to vote, comment and or share please lovelies <333

unedited
— summer