CURSES AND CANDIES - REMUS LUPIN

𝑓𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑒.

Well, there's a first time for everything, Hollis thought with gritted teeth as she glanced at the chair her father was standing directly by.

And then several things happened at once.

First, the chair moved backwards ever so slightly, and its wooden leg hit her father directly in the shin. This impact made him stumble backwards out of surprise only a few inches, but it was quite enough for Hollis to lean forward, her torso screaming at her to stop, raise her arm, and grab the wand.

The instant the dark wood was back in her hands, Hollis felt a surge of power rush through her.

It only took her parents a few seconds to realize they had been tricked, and there was no body outside the window. Turning around in fury, their rage only deepened when they saw that their daughter had someone stood up and was now holding her wand in front of her with a heaving chest and bruised face.

The chandelier above them cast a flickering, cold white light down upon the three remaining Rosiers, while the rain thundering down could be heard outside.

"You're only going to make things harder for yourself here," Mulstone warned.

Vindia now had her wand pulled out as well and was standing next to her husband.

"You don't want to do this," Vindia said, looking at her daughter's wand with something that Hollis detected as slight worry. "We are far more powerful than you, Appoline."

"You might be," Hollis said, keeping her eyes locked on them. "But I'm cleverer."

Their eyebrows furrowed for a few seconds before Hollis flicked her wand up at the candles in the chandelier with a smooth motion.

Ventus, she thought, not wanting to give away her strategy using verbal magic.

A tornado like spiral of wind suddenly cut through the room, throwing her parents off balance and extinguishing the chandelier.

Usually, the windows would provide light in this scenario, but Hollis had already thought of that. Because of the booming crashes of thunder outside, it was safe to assume that a thick mass of clouds would be blocking out the moon and stars, securing the darkness.

"Lumos!" Vindia exclaimed, a bright, silvery light filled up the room with dramatic highlights and shadows.

Her daughter was nowhere to be seen.

Meanwhile, Hollis was running off pure adrenaline as she moved up towards her room as fast as her ankle that she was almost certain she had sprained when shoved onto the ground would allow her. The marble steps had never seemed longer, but she needed to get something before she left.

Finally, Hollis threw open the doors and rushed to her mattress, which she had to lift up using magic because of how one of her arms was so bloody and the other severely bruised.

Laying underneath was the quilt Euphemia Potter had made for her.

Knowing she couldn't bring the whole thing, Hollis ripped off a shred and shoved it in the pocket of her light grey sweatpants. She stood up and glanced around her room to see if there was anything else she didn't want to leave behind, and nothing caught her eye.

This place, this life was one she wanted gone.

So it was time to run.

No matter the amount of adrenaline coursing through her and numbing the pain, though, Hollis knew that she had to be careful. Her parents were most definitely out of the dark room by now and searching for her at the very second.