in the end ~ d. malfoy

Chapter Thirty-Two

"Kelpies?" Diana's confused, but Luna ignores her.

"You could just come home with me, you know, "

"What?" Her cheeks turn pink, a phenomenon that looks vibrant on her pale skin, "Are you mad?!"

"We're all a little mad, Diana, " Her name rolls off the Ravenclaw's tongue like honey, making the blush on her cheeks deepen, "You want to get away from your parents, I want to do something other than arrange the garden gnomes according to feng shui. Besides, Dad'll be happy to see you. It's been years since I've brought a friend over to stay, and I'm sure we'll have room for you, "

Diana thinks it over, for a moment, as both of them look out at the paper-white landscape of the black lake. Maya's skating by herself on the black lake, wrapped in a black, peter-pan collared dress with woolen tights of the same color underneath. She doesn't skate like she used to, Diana notices. Before, her movements were precise, careful, but with a certain vulnerability to them, a deftness that was unique to her in itself. Now, there's a darkness that abounds her, unnervingly sharpening her movements, hiding the authenticity she used to have. It's scary, and yet -- Diana observes, sitting under one of the beech trees -- beautiful all at once.

"Diana?"

Luna looks at her questioningly, waiting for an answer. Crystallized snowflakes have been caught in her lashes, sparkling in the dim light of the evening, her cheeks pink from the cold. She looks like an angel, Diana realizes, gulping, all soft and pure and snow-white. Everything Diana herself isn't.

The words leave her lips before she has a chance to think.

"Why not?"

"This is absurd . . . . " mutters Isabelle, on video call, as she stares at the headline of the newspaper Maya holds up to the camera, "Now they're debating about your race?!"

"Racism isn't a thing of the past in Rajesh's background," Alec reads, leaning over his sister, who tries to swat his much larger body out of the way, "Her mother has been very vocal about the discrimination that exists in the Shadow world, stating that the Clave uses their white privilege to oppress and exclude minorities in their more recently published laws. Nandini Subramanian has championed for more representation in the Nephilim government, and frequently talks about the microaggressions her people face in their day to day lives. Looking at all of this, it seems that Maya Rajesh must be proud to have such a revolutionary mother, who fights for inclusion in a world where your blood decides your place in society. But, upon closer inspection, it seems that her defense is a bit hypocritical, since after all, her own daughter is able to pass as Indian, when she is not. That's right, folks, Maya Rajesh isn't the dark chocolate truffle she's cracked up to be; the controversial warlock is actually mixed-race, a fact that's somehow been brushed under the rug all this time, "

"How can her mother talk about white privilege, when her daughter uses her brown-passing privilege as a way to fit into a community that excludes her?," Rage simmers underneath Maya's skin, "According to her old classmates, Maya Rajesh wasn't exactly one to shy away from cultural appropriation. The French-Swiss-German warlock frequently showed up to school with henna and jhumka earrings accessorising her Catholic school uniform. Even though this broke the dress code, she was still allowed to continue with her audacious behavior because of her mother insisting that it was an important part of her culture (one that she is only half-part of, and therefore, has no right to claim as hers). Various other incidents like this have been reported anonymously, such as during the Yule ball, when Rajesh showed up in a yellow-and-white lehenga, a traditional Indian garment reserved for women during marriages and special occasions. . . . "

There's a horrified silence for a moment; it's clear that her friends have no clue how to react. Isabelle has her head in her hands; Alec's fists are clenched so tightly that his rage is plainly visible, Jace is dead white. They must know how it feels, Maya realizes, to have people constantly exclude you. Isabelle and Alec are both half Spanish; Maryse's family originally hails from Alicante, a historic town in Spain.