~Trying~
Expect the unexpected is a frequently used term when it comes to life and it's secrets. Even in normal situations things could take a staggering turn and leave your mind working and turning like a glitching machine. Surprises are supposed to be good, right? You're supposed to be overwhelmed with a happy shock. However, why wasn't it ever like that for Athea? If she could recall correctly, all the surprises Athea had met with were all a disappointment. She couldn't remember if she was ever left with a feel of dumbfounded joy. It was always defeat. Finding out her sister had died, finding out Nolan had cheated on her, finding out she might become a death eater, finding out Draco had used veritaserum on her. However, if she was being truly honest, finding out Nolan had been sent to Azkaban had been a rather good surprise.
But being the daughter of the Dark Lord?
Now that had left her stunned.
"I'm sorry for the long wait, Miss Avalon." Snapes voice. She was in an empty room, sitting on a chair with a long table in front of her.
It reminded her of them crime films when the suspected criminal would be in questioning. However, she shouldn't be comparing this to them—she was a pureblood, wait—was she? Anyhow, she remembered how her and Robin would sneak away, without their parents knowing, to the muggle world to watch these movies on a box the muggles called a television. She missed days like that.
Athea watched as Snape cast a silencing charm on the room that was on the bottom floor of her manor. She hardly remembered what happened after Voldemort decided to break the crazy news to her—she didn't even know if it was true—but, all she knew is that she became so overwhelmed that she had fainted right there in the middle of the Malfoy's drawing room.
Then, when her eyes peeled open she was back at her manor in the living room, Snape being the only person with her. Athea hardly let him speak before she demanded answers, and after a long sigh Snape agreed to inform her of everything he was permitted to. She wasn't half as shocked at finding out Snape still worked for Voldemort than what had been dawned on her before that— she didn't care about what he chose to do with his life. She just needed answers.
As soon as Snape sat down in the chair opposite her, she blurted out question that had been the most important to her. "Is it true?" She started at him.
Her potions Professor stared back at her, his face blank as usual, and he answered her question so calmly that it angered her. "Yes, it is."
What the fuck?
Even though Athea wasn't one for such foul language, they were the first words that swept through her mind. A severe wave of dizziness drove her head spinning, she felt as if a rope was wrapped and tightening around her throat, halting her hitched breathing. She found that no words could make their way out of her mouth, she was left in a silencing state of overwhelming shock.
Daughter
This had to be some sort of joke, right? It must be some type of way to mess with her head, they were all trying to craze her, it was the most obvious answer, of course. But, why were they determined to ruin her mind? Had she not had enough torture throughout the years? What had she done that made everyone feel that it was so important to punish her?
They were playing a game with her, all of them.
She pushed down her growing nerves and practiced deep breaths. She couldn't faint again. She needed to find out as much as she could, it was only fair.
"I don't understand." She whispered and stared at the table. "It doesn't make sense, none of it. How—how is that even possible? He can't—can't be my f-f—" she stuttered over her words, and they continued to tumble out. "If he is my father, then who's my mother? This all has to be a joke, I'm an Avalon not a riddle. You're all lying to me, I know it—you—it—"
Snape lifted his hand up to stop her, probably noticed how her breathing began to grow heavier. "I know you have a lot of questions and I'm willing to answer them. Just ask them one at a time and stay as calm as possible. I know this is all a surprise."
"It's more than a surprise!" Her head shot up to look at him. "I've just learnt that I've been lied to my whole life and who I thought were my parents aren't! How can you expect me to stay calm!?" She could hardly tell her voice was raising.
Snape continued to stare at her as if this whole situation was completely normal. Athea watched as he flicked his wand and a potion appeared in his hand; he slid it towards her over the table.
"A calming draught." He said as she did nothing but look at the potion. "It should help with your...shock."
Athea glanced at him from under her dark lashes. She shouldn't trust him, but how much more could they really hurt her now? She didn't even care if it was poison in the small glass tube, it hardly bothered her if she were to drink it and die right here and now. So, she grabbed the bottle and poured the liquid down her throat. She waited and waited for the potion to burn her insides or come back up her throat to slowly drown her. But it didn't. Instead, she felt her rapid heartbeat slow and her muscles relax in her seat.
Snape cleared his throat. "Now, just ask one question at a time."
Athea shifted in her seat and breathed through her nose and out her mouth. "Okay." She murmured. "Why was I lied too for so long, why did everyone lie to me about who my real father was?" She cringed as she thought of Voldemort being her father, it just seemed too strange.
Snape's eye twitched, she wondered if he thought it was strange aswell. "The dark lord didn't know he had a daughter, your mother never told him that she was pregnant and she died when she gave birth to you. However, before she died she had someone hide you away from him and give you to another family, the Avalons." Snape lifted his chin slightly. "This person altered the Avalons memories so they thought you were their actual daughter, however, the dark lord used legilimency on all his followers once he found out your mother had died—therefore he found out that the Avalons memories had been tampered with and then found out the truth. That you were his daughter."
Athea's brows furrowed and she was about to ask another question before Snape continued. "If you remember correctly, Mr and Mrs Avalon had stopped abusing you, as well as Nolan Hawk and Mr Hawk." Athea shivered at the mention of their names. "This is because the Dark Lord had found out the truth about you and was infuriated that they had hurt you for so long, so he tortured them until they begged for forgiveness and threatened them so they wouldn't lay a hand on you again."
"How did he found out that they had been abusing me?" Athea found herself asking without any hesitation.
"After Draco told me, I informed the Dark Lord." Snape replied, blankly.
She had so much to think about, Draco being one of her main thoughts, however what he did was less than important now. She would let herself worry about him later, for now she needed to discover everything that she had been shadowed from since her birth.
"My sister..." Athea's brows furrowed in what seemed to be confusion and tension. "Was she my real sister or..." It didn't really matter what the answer was, for all Athea knew—Robin was her sister, end of. Although, a small piece of her was hoping that they were actually related.
"No." Said Snape, and that hope vanished. "She was a true Avalon and her memories were also altered. She always thought you were sisters."
All the way until the end, Robin lived through years of lies. But, maybe not. That note, the one Athea found hidden in the pages of her book. 'There are thing that you don't know Athea, things that are unexpected.' Maybe Robin knew about it all—
"Have you any more questions?" Snape drawled and looked at her almost as if he was bored. "I'm required to meet the Dark lord in-"
"Does anyone else know? About who my real father is?" Athea broke him off, she too feels herself required to meet someone, or some people. Them being her friends.
"Only his most trusted servants are aware." Snape leaned forward and squinted at the young girl. "You shall not tell anyone, Miss—" He paused and shook his head. "It is not safe for anybody else to know, especially for you."
Athea murmured an 'okay'. She would most definitely tell someone, how could she possibly keep something like this to herself. "Did—did Malfoy know?" Athea asked and silently begged that he didn't, then she would truly detest him.
"No, he did not." Athea sighed with relief. "However," she tensed again. "Now that you and everyone else are aware of the truth you won't have to worry about Draco being around quite often anymore." Snape began to make a stand and Athea felt herself frozen in confusion.
"What?" She looked up at Snape. "What do you mean by that?" She asked.
The potions master tucked his chair in. "Well, at the start of the year..." Snape paused and Athea watched him think through his words. "I had some assumptions about you and your family, so I asked Draco to become closer with you and tell me anything he could find out."
Athea's stomach sunk like a dying ship slowly falling to the dangerous depths of the deep ocean. A forlorn fatigue surged throughout her blood at a pace so quick that she could already feel her eyes sting. Her hands turned into tight fists underneath the table, she couldn't see but she was sure that the skin around her knuckles were turning a grim shade of white. So after all this time, the only reason Draco had started to worry over her, the only reason he became close with her and made her offer him his trust was for this task given by Snape. She felt as if there was someone twisting and snapping the wires that functioned her life, simply cutting them with brutal blades and controlling everything and everyone around her to betray her.
She couldn't come to a conclusion, not yet. She didn't have the information to completely accuse Draco of using her to help Snape. She would need to talk to him soon, to find out the truth—it would be hard after what happened after their dinner, but her brain would not be able to let this go.
"I think that's all I want to know for now." Athea said and watched Snape pull out his wand from his robes inner pockets. "I'm afraid that too much information could become too much for me."
Snape slowly nodded and turned around to head for the door, he flicked his wand and it swung open—blowing his slick black hair slightly. However before he could leave, Athea found herself out if her chair and asking one last question.
"Wait!" Snape stopped with his back faced to her. "My-my mother..." she could see his shoulders tense. "What was she like?" Athea asked, nervously.
Snape didn't turn around, he kept his muscles still and demeaner rough. Athea wished she could see his face to read him, but he refused to meet her eye. So she stared at the back of his head and awaited his answer.
"I'm afraid I cannot tell you anything." He murmured in a voice that was so unlike his own. "I hardly even knew her." Was the last thing he said before he swept out of the room and Athea heard the crack of apparition not a second later.
*****
"So you're Voldy's daughter?" Asked Mila.
Athea sighed. "Yes."
"And your parents aren't really your parents?"
"Mhm."
"You've been lied to for 16 years?"
"Yup."
"And Tom Riddle is your daddy?"
Athea punched her best friends arm with a scowl. "This is supposed to be serious, Mila!" But the smirk didn't leave Mila's face. "Why are you finding this so funny?"
She shrugged and leaned back on her bed. "It just is." Mila said. "It's completely out of the ordinary, you know, You-know-who being your dad, that's why I think it's funny. Cause it hardly makes any sense."
"You can say that last bit again." Athea murmured and sat crossed legged on Mila's bed. "But you can't tell anyone, Mila." she looked seriously at her friend. "Please, promise me."
"Mhm, promise." Mila said and picked a book up from her side table.
Athea glared at her again. "I'm serious."
Mila leaned forward and stuck out her pinkie. "If I pinkie promise you will you believe me?" She smiled when Athea rolled her eyes and leaned back again. "You can trust me, Thea. I'm your best friend. I'd die before I ever betrayed you like that."
She wished she could say that Draco was the same. A week had passed since she found out the truth about her blood and Athea hadn't heard a word from Draco. She had spent the past seven days in her house alone without her so called 'parents'. She had hardly had any contact with anyone during those days, she needed time to comprehend everything that had happened. She didn't want to admit it, but Draco had been on her mind a lot more than he should have in that isolation. She would constantly think about what he did to her, secretly sneaking veritaserum in her system and forcing her words from her mouth. He had told her he did it to help her, but he tried to help her in the wrong way.
Every time Athea thought of Nolan and how he treated her she never let the word rape form in her head. She forced herself not to think about what he did to her and she chose to dwell on it. However, she knew that it wasn't healthy to do that. Even after they broke up she still was terrified to use that word and never wanted it to leave her mouth even though it always sat in the back of her mind. She could tell that Draco thought he was going what was best for her, he knew that she needed to admit to herself that she experienced rape multiple times to help herself to move on. It could have been approached better, she would have talked to Draco if he gave her a little more time—time but instead he drugged her.
If she was being honest, ever since she had finally admitted what she had been through there had been a heavy weight lifted off her shoulders. To finally rid of that dark, sorrowful time in her life had been a relief and she wished she had done it sooner. But, it still hurt that Draco didn't believe she could do it on her own.
"Where is Blaise?" Athea asked. "I thought he was coming here today?" They had all planned to meet at Mila's house for a catch up, but their male friend hadn't arrived.
Mila sighed and opened her book again, looking at it with pure boredom. "He's with that Lovegood girl again. He said that he was taking her to Diagon Alley to visit The Magical Menagerie and then Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour."
Athea smiled to herself, even though she missed Blaise dearly, she was glad that he had found someone that made him extremely happy.
When Athea looked back up at Mila she looked at her suspiciously once she took her in in more detail. A book? Why was she reading a book? Never would Mila be seen reading, it was completely out of her character.
"Is there a reason you reading an actual book with actual words and pages?" Athea giggled when Mila scowled up at her through her orange lashes.
Mila looked back down and shrugged. "No reason." She murmured but Athea saw right through her lies.
"Really?" She teased. "Because if I remember correctly, the only person I can think of who actually reads 'Hogwarts: A history', without looking like they might fall asleep doing so, would be a specific gryffindor."
Mila snapped her book shut and aimed it at Athea, then threw it just over her head so it barely skimmed her. "You are so annoying."
"And you're not?" Athea laughed and Mila soon joined in. Both friends enjoying each others company and for a small moment forgot the dark future they knew was growing in the atmosphere.
They knew they couldn't do anything about it.
*****
The shower water plunged down onto Draco's body, the substance was warm and freeing his tense bones to relax underneath it's heat. Draco felt as if he always tense these days, no matter where he went or what he did he couldn't help but always feel trapped by a constructed anxiousness that strained his mood. He leaned one hand against the wall in front of him, the other smoothing his jaw while heated water soaked his body and hair. His head was angled downwards as he watched smalls drops of blood hit the shower floor, the old scars on his body would sometimes randomly start bleeding out of the blue—and Draco would just observe them leak with a dark red fluid.
There were so many things going on in his mind, he felt like someone was punching his skull and causing the many headaches he had endured lately. He wished he could just switch his brain off for a little while, say 'fuck it' and disappear.
But that wasn't an option, it never has been.
Daughter.
Merlin's tit, no one would have predicted that—not even Trelawney and her stupid teacups. Everytime he thought about how Avalon was The Dark Lord's daughter, he laughed. It hardly sounded true, but according to Snape it was.
He guessed he should have suspected something like this would be revealed. It was most likely the reason Snape had asked him to get close to her, he supposed that made sense—if anything really did anymore—but still, he couldn't believe it. He was beyond shocked, an understatement, and when he first found out the same moment Avalon did he was left stunned.
And when she fainted, he hated to admit he was by her side the immediate moment she collapsed to the floor.
She hated him, he knew that. Was it too strong of a word though? He wasn't completely sure, but that look on her face when she spotted the veritaserum in his pocket made him feel guilty. She had never looked at him like that—it was a face of pure hurt, betrayal and disappointment. He swore to himself that he would never make her feel that way, but he did—and he despised himself because of it. Draco kept one promise though, she asked him to give her space and he did. Was a week enough? It had to be, right? Surely she would see him now.
He just wanted to clear the air and go back to normal. Simple as that.
Another thing he wanted to do was rip Nolan Hawk's fucking insides out and force him to watch.
A few new holes had found their way into Draco's wall the past week, not to mention his fist was completely bruised and wounded. Every time he thought about Hawk, his knuckles would collide with something, Draco also liked to pretend that 'something' was the fuckers face.
Draco stepped out of the shower and dried his hair and body with a towel—proceeding to grab a pair of pyjama bottoms on straight after so they hung loosely on his lower waist. He let out a deep sigh once he opened the door, then a louder one once he saw who was sitting on his bed.
"And what is it you want?" Draco groaned and went over to his dresser to pull out his outfit for tomorrow.
"Needed a drink and thought you'd want one too." Theo shrugged and only then did Draco see the large bottle of Vodka in his hand.
"I don't want a drink." Murmured Draco and he walked over to his bed to pull his pillow from underneath Theo—forcing Theo to fall backwards.
"Oi—my fucking head," Theo murmured and rubbed the back of his head. He sat up against the headboard and settled himself again. "You a lightweight or something now, Malfoy?"
Draco scoffed and placed the pillow against the back of his chair next to the bed and sat down. "No, I'm not. Just don't don't wanna drink tonight."
"Are you still moping over, Thea?" Theo grinned and took a large swig of the vodka. "Man, you are totally whipped."
"Shut up, I'm not." Draco ran a hand down his face. "If I start drinking now then I won't stop and I'll end up having a hangover tomorrow. Can't be arsed with that."
"Mhm, keep lying to yourself mate." Theo laughed and let his head fall back against the headboard with one of his knees propped up and the hand holding the alcohol hanging off it.
Draco ignored him and changed the subject. "How did you even get in here?" He asked.
Theo exhaled dramatic sigh. "So basically, there's this long wooden thing called a wand, yeah?—And not that type of wand before you get any ideas, Malfoy—"
Draco rolled his eyes. "Just get to the point, Nott." He groaned and muttered under his breath, "Bloody fool."
"I apparated, obviously." Theo took another gulp of his drink.
"Yeah, but why?"
"I already told you, I needed a—"
"Nott, if you needed a drink you could have had one in your own house, so why the fuck are you actually here."
Theo kept his head against the headboard and looked down at Draco with hooded eyes. He let out a big huff. "Just need someone to talk to once in a while, you know?" He shrugged.
Draco squinted at his fellow slytherin. "That's pretty odd coming from you, what was it you said that time me and Blaise asked you to hang? 'I'd rather be a loner then hang out with you posers?'"
Theo rolled his eyes. "That was in third year, smartass."
"And?" Draco pressed.
Theo thought for a couple if seconds. "Puberty's a bitch?"
Draco chuckled and shook his head while looking at the floor. "Yeah, sure is."
They were both silent for a long moment, and Draco found himself thankful for Theo's presence—he needed this, someone to just relax with from time to time.
Theo had come over a couple days ago as well—he even tried to force Draco to go to karaoke with him, which Draco quickly turned him down on. He wasn't sure what was up with Theo lately, he also seemed quite tense and when Draco asked him a few nights ago he said he just needed to get his mind off something—but Draco suspected it was a someone.
Draco didn't bother him about it too much, he too had a someone on his mind. Only he wished that she would actually talk to him so he could finally stop worrying.
He would be patient, for now.
_________________________________________
Thoughts?
I'm so so so so so sorry I haven't updated in so long. I've been beyond busy with school and it's just hard to write when I have so much to do.
But, I'm going to try my best to keep writing, but updates will most likely be slow and I'm very sorry for that.
Favourite relationship in this story?
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