They were the forgotten in a world that didn't want to see them acknowledged. A world that didn't want to see them helped or given the opportunity to be saved.
Asteria Nott, being a proud Slytherin, was no stranger to prejudiced opinions. During her entire schooling career, she had grown rather familiar to cautionary stares - having someone always there, breathing down her neck to make sure she didn't put a single toe out of line.
At the age of 22, however, she had hoped that the lingering association to the house of emerald and silver and the evil legacy of her family name would've fizzled out at least a little bit. She was no more evil than Florean Fortescue - except she didn't charge extensively for a single cone of vanilla ice-cream.
Having been one of the fortunate few to never bear the Dark Mark, Asteria had been able to secure a job within the Ministry. Though, that isn't to say the witch didn't have to fight to earn it, and continue to fight against the loud opinions of others to prove she deserved it.
Asteria had worked in the International Magical Office of Law in the Department of International Magical Cooperation for the past year and a half; and she was damn good at it. Surprisingly, it was Percy Weasley, the new head of the Department, that had offered her the job - being the only one aware of the large debt his family owed her.
The witch now lived with her older sister, Hesita, above the quaint little Cafe the elder witch had opened a year after the War. Though born into the fourth most wealthy Wizarding families, Hestia refused to acknowledge anything to do with her family legacy - unlike her two younger siblings who had no issue with burning through their families money for no other reason but to spite them.
The 26 year old had spent the last 2 years attempting to rebuild her family's broken legacy into one they could all be proud of. To rewrite their history and become a family worth knowing in the Wizarding World for reasons other than cruelty, tyranny, and evil.
The Nott family's hope came in the form of six-year old Circe - who, in spite of being raised during the War, remained an everlasting beacon of light for the three Nott siblings. The child was the epitome of happiness and joy, spreading love and goodness wherever she went. She was what they were rebuilding their legacy for.
Upon graduating Hogwarts, Hestia Nott had not returned home to the Nott Manor. Instead, she had kept herself hidden in the Scottish Highlands and created an entire new life for herself, free of her fathers tyranny. It was during that time she had fallen in love with Alistair Thomson - a Muggle.
Circe Aurora Thomson-Nott had been born two years later. Alas, it hadn't been all that long after, that Theodorus caught wind of his daughter's hide-out. He had found her mere months after Circe's birth, slaughtering Alistair and subsequently putting an end to his daughter's filthy love affair.
Circe would have been next had Hestia not pledged her allegiance to the Dark Lord and his malicious cause. Their younger brother, Theo, had been met with the same ultimatum - to take the Dark Mark or be forced to watch as his family were brutally discarded.
Though the boy had no love for his father, his sisters and niece were his only remaining life line. Theodore Nott had been branded with the Dark Mark that following summer at the mere age of 16 and had his freedom and childhood stolen from him as a result.
Theo now worked with Draco Malfoy in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, ensuring old regulations and laws were revised and in most cases, revoked. He had also taken the Nott family seat in the Wizengamot -
( An outrage that had been plastered all over the front page of The Daily Prophet for six weeks until Asteria had stormed her way into the building, threatening with a malicious intent to reveal Rita Skeeter's illegal identity and shut down the paper should they not drop their obsession with her family)
and in his first two months, successfully fought against the complete seizure of reformed Death Eaters' possessions. The Wizengamot had relinquished their control of the Nott family's, (along with many others), Gringotts vaults, land, and Manor - of which, Asteria had burnt to the ground after one too many bottles of firewhiskey last year.
And yet, whilst more laws were being abolished and reformed, and more freedom was being granted - prejudice and fear still remained. So much so that within the past 7 months, multiple reformed Death Eaters had begun to go missing; a mystery the Ministry was not all that concerned with solving.
But Asteria would, even if it killed her in the process.
. . .
SERENDIPITY | ROUGH WATERS
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