◤ ❝I am bound to a name that takes a life of its own. There is only one side for me, and that is the side that holds the darkness. It is within my blood, passed down from my ancestors, and spilled out into the world so that no one should forget the power we hold. Erebus is infinite, and so am I.❞ ― Andromeda Erebus◢
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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: LYPE
December 21, 1996
The Erebus manor represented everything that Andromeda had lost. For that, she hated it. For the past that she lived inside of its walls, she could not let it go. It was a peculiar thing to walk the halls of the large place now. Around every turn, there were the portraits of the Erebus legacy soddened beautifully on the walls. Beneath each crack in the wooden floors, there were lies withered too deeply for one to uncover. Every room had its secrets, buried far and few between the family that took the name. It was home. It was hell. Andromeda could not ignore the painstaking truth in that, nor could she ignored the emotions that had her strung in every which direction. Just like the illusion of perfection the manor created, Andromeda could see the ugliness lived just as honestly in her as it did her home.
She was coping―wrongly―until she turned around a corner and came upon the face of the very man that caused her so much strife. Over time, the idea of her father became more a ghost story than a tragedy. He became less of her parent, and more of the one who wronged her. He became less of Father, and more of Alastiare. Less of a man, and more of a coward. But standing in the place that she was raised, within the walls that she was born, and underneath the roof that carried every moment she made with Alastiare Erebus, she could feel nothing but everything.
What a fool she must look like, glaring at the portrait of him. Her father had always moved elegantly, an aura of dignity and darkness. His namesake. She stared at the moving image of the man, her jaw slack and muscles unmoving. His robes were a dark green, just as all of her other ancestors' robes were, emblemed with the family symbol on his chest―but his eyes were unlike the rest of their family. They held a degree of warmth to them that she was unaccustomed to seeing. That, along with the lack of age lines on his face, was the only way she could tell that the portrait was taken before the First Wizarding War. Taken before he joined the Dark Lord. Taken before she was born. She couldn't help but feel herself to be the cause of the cold that swept his green eyes soon after.
Her lip trembled, and then she opened herself up to the pain.
Six months of grief, six months of agony, six months of fury. Every moment spent feeling as though the emptiness would burst at the seams and tear a path of destruction, and it finally happened. The sobs wrecked through her without fault, but she was blind to the echo that they left behind. So many months, so much time, spent hating her father for the selfless act that he did spilled out onto the floor of the Erebus manor and left no survivors. The loss, mourning deep into her heart, could not be weathered away as she clutched her chest in her hands. Was she breathing? Could it be possible to breathe without a heart in the first place, as hers was just ripped straight through her body?
He was gone. He left her. He was not coming back. He was dead. She knew he was not coming back. Please come back. She screamed those words, indistinctly between her mind and her mouth, unable to tell if they were actually coming out of her throat or not. He was dead.
The feeling of arms rushing to grab her from behind, and out of nowhere, lit the fire in her. Panic spread through every ounce of her bones, but the magic that ran inside of her felt distant. Out of reach. So, she did second best and struggled in the arms of the serpent sucking the life out of her, pushing and clawing and sobbing her way out of the hold of death. Sounds buzzed around her, voices trying to fight their way out, but her eyes shut tight and she fought harder against the iron grip.
"Andromeda! Andromeda, it's me! Mia! It's Theodore!"
And then life was turned back on, and she could hear the shrilled shrieks of her agony with her own two ears. She could feel the way that her body trembled, the way that it fought against the arms still trying to keep her together. She could taste the tears on her tongue, falling so hotly down her face that she wondered if she could drown in them―but, above all else, it was what she could see.
Theodore's face was right before her own, eyes shot and wide with indefinite panic. Small, red lines were beginning to appear on his left cheek and the side of his neck, and a wave of horror hit her when she realized that they were bleeding. He was bleeding. From her. His hands, dressed in the same wounds, had finally moved from their latched hold on her forearms and moved to her face. She could see the concern on his flustered skin, could feel his distress as his hands shook to hold the sides of her wet cheeks, but all she could focus on was the blood.
The sobs only grew louder in the ringing of her ears when she realized what she had done to him. "Theo...Th―I'm so―I'm so sorry."
She watched as the tears started to fill his red-rimmed eyes, and he shook his head incessantly at her. The sounds of his reassurance fell like shattered glass around her. To her relief, the sight of him had disappeared and the same arms that she had hurt were wrapping around her tightly once again. The fear from before was gone, and all that replaced it was the tether of discord to her heart. She hurt him. She had hurt her cousin. She hurt Theodore. She hurt Theodore.
His trembling hands held her broken heart in his arms, securing her tightly to his chest as if that would take away every wave of pain that traveled through her. Through the walls of the Erebus manor, the only sounds were the distant cries of Andromeda Erebus and the painful murmurs from Theodore Nott in her ear.
"You're all right. You're okay. I'm right here. It's going to be all right, Mia."
And even if both believed that to be utterly false, he said it anyway.
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December 22, 1996
Theodore had finally managed to walk Andromeda to her room, but both of them felt like they were drifting through the halls as they did. He came across Celicia on his way to her bedroom, the woman hearing the tortured cries of her daughter, but Theodore had barely spared a sharp look at his aunt before walking past her. That was the moment when when Celicia Erebus finally understood. She had always told Andromeda to stay close to Theodore and cautioned her daughter to keep her family by her side. Only now did she realize that Theodore was the only person that Andromeda held onto. He was the only person that she allowed to see her true self. He was her family. She was his―and Celicia had not been expecting for that discovery to pierce her heart as deeply as it had, because it was not her mother that Andromeda needed, but her cousin.
They did not talk for hours. Mia stayed her comatose state of numbness, her cheeks permanently stained red with tears, and Theodore did not leave her side through any of it. There were a few times when her shoulders would start to shake again, and a loud gasp would interrupt the silence, but it passed and they remained quiet. Theo had forgotten about the cuts on his arms and face from where Mia fought against him, the red lines swollen but manageable compared to the wounds that his cousin's state left on his heart.
But then, finally... "Happy Birthday, Theodore."
His heart broke again, and he watched her swollen eyes slowly turn to look into his. A flinch rippled down her skin when she saw the cuts she made. She watched the way that his blue ones softened at her. "Andromeda..."
"Feels familiar, doesn't it?" she croaked out, voice barely above a whisper as she glanced around her room. It had not changed at all, the light grey still there, except now the color reminded her faintly of someone's eyes. It was comforting. "The last time the two of us were in here was his funeral...and mine, I suppose. I wonder if I said goodbye to more than just my father in here. Seems that way."
"Mia..." he whispered again, calling out for something that he couldn't reach.
"It's all right, Theodore. I know that you've figured it out."
Andromeda didn't bother denying the truth anymore. There was no fight left inside of her to do so, but in a situation where she thought she would be crying all over again, she felt at peace. The weight she shouldered was gone, and all that remained was acceptance of what had been done. But Theodore didn't feel peace. A dagger split his heart straight down the middle, dragging all the way to his gut. Nausea swept under him like the plague, and he had to suck in a deep, harsh breath to keep himself from falling apart right then and there.
"When did you figure it out?" she asked, softly, still gazing off at the grey walls. "You must have known for a while. You touched my arm back in November when we were in the corridor speaking about your father and again the night of the Christmas party. So...how long have you known?"
Theo felt like he was swallowing sand, his mouth dry. "I wasn't sure until the night of the party when you told me to remember. I knew that something changed the first moment I saw you after summer ended. You were...different. Colder. The way that you looked toward Malfoy for comfort, and the way he would look back, but I pushed it off and thought it was simply from the time you spent together or the loss of your father...but then you got worse. I saw you pretending at breakfast with the others, how you weren't sleeping or eating...and you mess with your arm. When you drift off and get lost in your thoughts, you reach for it."
Mia's jaw tightened at that revelation, already feeling resentment at herself for the action she knew she did too often. She just hadn't known other people caught onto it, as well. When she was silent and kept her eyes on the wall, refusing to make eye contact with her cousin, he decided to continue. The words only got harder to say, and the weight only dug deeper in his spine.
"I thought that you and Malfoy were seeing each other after you made me promise to trust you," he admitted, and her teeth clenched hard. Still, she didn't look at him. "I believed that for a while, actually. I didn't want to fall into the rumors that everyone else was speaking of, but the evidence was all there. You and him looking like you hadn't slept in weeks...Malfoy never being in his bed...sneaking out of the common room after curfew. That's why I warned you to be careful with him. Even when you started to show interest in Andrew and he was with Parkinson, I thought it was ruse to cover up your secret. I tried to push how you felt for Andrew out in the open...to try and direct you away from Malfoy in any way I could. After the tie incident, I started to get the impression that maybe there was something that I was missing.
"...I never knew for certain. I would have rather accepted naivety than the truth. Even that day in November, when I reached for your arm, I hadn't known...but, then, the pieces starting to fit together. I thought it was odd how Malfoy never changed his shirts in front of us anymore. You never roll up your sleeves like you once did. Any talk of the Dark Lord, or Unforgivable Curses, or even your father―" he paused at that, his lips pursing as he knew that was a sensitive topic right then "―it struck something deep within you, and you fell away into this dark place that only Malfoy could reach and pull you out of. Each week, you began to look worse...and then your blasted sense of self-preservation came out and tried to push me away like a fool."
Her heart beat quickly in her chest, eyes narrowing on the wall but remaining steady when she swallowed hard. "It wasn't foolish. I was only trying―"
"Andromeda," he said her name solidly, hardly, and with so much force that she had to turn and look at him for the first time. His eyes pierced, and she flinched. "You try to pretend like you have played this part down to its very final act, but there is so much transparency in your eyes that you can't hide. Not from me. Not from Draco. You have been fighting this conflict to either push us away so forcefully or to hold onto us for dear life. Don't think I haven't heard what you said to Andrew. He is not me or Draco, but he has seen enough of you...so I lied to him. To protect whatever secret you were guarding so securely. The reason why we were arguing the other day, why we hadn't been speaking, it was because I told him that you were in love with Draco. That you admitted it to me after you realized it was Draco the Amortentia showed you...he didn't believe me. I never expected him to. Not until―"
Her mouth fell in realization, and she looked away again. "―not until Draco showed up to the Christmas party yesterday, and I lied to protect him...he said you and him talked about 'matters of unimportance.'"
So she had finally pushed away Andrew. The necessity did not stop the pain.
"You said to me that we are putting you in danger..." Theo began quietly, and the words melted painfully on his tongue as he spoke them. Although she was no longer fixed on his stare, she could feel the tears that collected like a dark sea in his blue eyes. "Mia, what are you forcing yourself to become for the sake of protecting us?"
In that very second, she felt the oddest sense that she had had this conversation before. It was not until her own tears started to return and sting her swollen eyes that she recognized why. Stop being a martyr, Mia. Her last conversation with Draco had gone similarly to the one she was having with Theodore. Because you are asking me to be all right with losing you. The words were different, but what they meant was not. Theodore and Draco both knew what she was trying to do―didn't they always?
"It's not what I'm forcing myself to become, Theodore. It's what I already am."
Theodore shook his head. "I don't believe that."
Andromeda scoffed loudly now in disgust, and by rolling her eyes, she unwillingly let the tears fall. In a movement that was far too quick to stop, she stood and pushed up the left sleeve of her shirt. The seams tore from the force of the action, but nothing could be stopped now. The Dark Mark exposed itself, sucking the life out of the room the same way it was taking the life from its wearer.
Mia's jaw tightened as she glared heavily at Theodore, her arm on display and stuck out so that he would be forced to look at it. He did, but only long enough for tears to spill down his cheeks when he squeezed his eyes shut. It brought a sickening satisfaction to see, grateful that he was finally recognizing the monster she was. She was not upset with him, nor was she glaring at him because she was angry at anything he said. No, the rage came from the dark place within herself that hated everything that the Dark Mark represented on her skin. She wanted him to hate her.
"Do you believe it now?" she hissed, her words thick and airing on the side of anger. "Everything that I used to be died within me the day that I received this, and since then, it has been sucking me dry of every ounce of happiness that I have tried to take for myself. I will not let it take you!"
She shouldn't have expected for her cousin to see sense. Draco didn't. Theodore's eyes opened and blazed with unkempt feelings. He shook his head belligerently with a sharp jaw of his own. He stood right then on the opposite side of the bed with a firm hold on his thoughts. She could see how quickly the conversation was going downhill, just as it did with Draco, but there was no stopping it now.
"And I will not let it take you. It is my job―mine―to protect you. I have been doing it from the moment that we were children and I hid you in my jacket from the Lestranges. Don't think I won't do everything in my power to save you from this, Andromeda. Don't assume so little from me."
"Don't you get it?" she asked in exasperation, her right hand raising to her left arm. "I can't be saved, Theodore! What is done cannot be undone! I am this forever!"
"And what about Malfoy?" That question set her off course, and her rage died and settled into confusion. She stared at him, unblinkingly, and his brows only raised higher at the challenge. "If you say all of this about yourself, then what is that saying about him as well, Andromeda? What does he think about your hopeless fate?"
Your soul is nothing without them.
"He has no say―"
It will rot just as quickly as his did if you do not take them back.
"As if he doesn't, Mia!" Theo scoffed. "You are so deeply intertwined with Malfoy and you don't even see it. You truly think I am going to believe that he hasn't been fighting this perspective you see of yourself? That he hasn't stood in the same place I am right now, and fought with you to accept that we are here for you―what you are doing right now is trying and failing to push me away. That's it, is it not? You thought the moment I saw that Mark, I would be disgusted. That I would see you the way I saw my father for so many years. But it was never the Mark that I hated on him, Andromeda. It was the man he was, and nothing on his skin changed that. Just like nothing on yours can change who you truly are underneath that Mark."
She shook her head, clenching her teeth. "I have no idea who I even am."
"But we do. Let that be enough."
Andromeda didn't say anything to that, watching him with a calculated stare as she tried to figure out any weak points in his final statement―there were none. With a defeated sigh, she realized that she had lost yet another argument against one of the two boys she cared about most. Her hands ran over her face to rid herself of the mess staining her skin, trying to recollect what little dignity she had left after the emotional distress she put on her heart and mind in the last few hours. With heavy feet, she dropped back down onto her bed in surrender.
The moment they adapt to permanence you are lost forever.
"Okay."
"Okay?" he repeated in surprise. "You are actually listening to me for once?"
Mia's eyelids felt heavy with exhaustion. "I have spent the last week fighting again and again with the ones I care about most, Theodore, and the only solution it brought me is that I need to just accept what is...I lose every time. I won't argue any longer with you over this. Not you, and not Draco. The two of you have made it fairly clear that you value no honor in your own life."
"We don't, do we? You are an essential piece of my life, Mia. You are my family. My blood. Without you, part of me dies just as quickly as if someone had stuck a knife into my heart, so don't say that I have no honor in living when it is not a life without you in it―and I can assure you that Malfoy would agree with me."
The insinuation within his tone did not falter, and the heat of it paired with his bright eyes made her quirk an eyebrow in his direction. "What was that?"
"What was what?" he asked, innocently.
"You know what, Theodore. You were the one who just said you realized there was something more than a fabricated romance between Draco and I. Why did I just hear an insinuation that there is one?"
Theodore snorted and dropped down onto the bed beside her once again. "Oh, please, Mia. You're taking the piss if you tell me you don't see the way Malfoy looks at you."
"Looks at me?" her brows raised higher in confusion. "Theo, what are you talking about?"
"Malfoy. The way he watches you. Honestly, Mia, you haven't noticed? Every time you walk into the Great Hall or the common room, his eyes seek you out. I believed they would fall out of their sockets when he saw you in your dress robes...you haven't seen the looks he gave Andrew every time he touched you? He's so bloody mad in love with you. Has been since sometime in October, I reckon."
Mia's lip was turning up in disbelief, shaking her head at the preposterous idea of Draco ever being in love with her. "That's not...it isn't like that, Theodore. He and I are...partners. We have had to lean and trust each other so heavily the last few months...of course we look after each other. Draco is not in love with me. I don't even know if he is capable of that."
"And the Amortentia?"
"Coincidence," she reasoned, pursing her lips. "All of my ingredients could have pointed towards Vaisey just as easily as they pointed towards any other."
Theo rolled his eyes in dramatics. "So it was just a coincidence that Draco happened to smell the same scent of books as you? He looked rightfully shaken when he finally gathered all three scents from the Amortentia...probably because he realized just like you that you caught one another's scents."
"Theodore," Mia's voice was firm now, shutting down his notions. "There is nothing between Draco and I. No feelings extending past blatant fear over one another's idiocy and concern for our own necks...and if we're on the topic of the Amortentia, why don't you tell me what you smelled? Seeing as you are stuck so high up my business, indulge me in who has my cousin's interest. Have you finally realized your affections for Daphne?"
Mia had been taken by surprise at how quickly her cousin's face fell, erasing him of any humor the moment that she brought up what he smelled from the Amortentia. Theodore shifted, his shoulders tensing as the first sign of his discomfort. The attempt to make him back off her and Draco fell quietly in the room, and she could feel her concern rising in its place. What had he smelled that upset him so deeply? she thought. Surely, it couldn't be that bad―not even Looney Lovegood or Granger seemed ill enough to cause this reaction. Perhaps the Weasel girl?
"Ah, yeah," Theodore said, quietly. "It was Daphne."
All signs showed that to be a lie. Mia did not say it, though, and she only nodded. She would not push something that he was not comfortable speaking about. Instead, her head shot up when she heard the sound of her door creaking open. Brown and blue eyes glanced quickly in the direction, expecting to see Picket or Celicia waiting at the door. Mia was quick to push the sleeve of her arm down before anyone walked in, hiding her Mark. Then, her eyes softened and filled with tears so quickly she hadn't even seen them coming.
"Atlas!" she gasped.
The black cat had lunged for her the moment that his blue eyes met hers, and she choked out another sob as she cradled her beloved friend to her chest. He let out a soft mewl, his head curling up to her neck as she pet his soft fur. She had been so distracted since she returned to the manor that she completely forgot that her cat was still living with her mother, and with him back in her arms, how could she have forgotten him? Atlas was her best friend, and she could feel the strife in her heart lessen at the small comfort that she still had him.
Theodore watched her cradle her cat in her hands, another set of tears spilling on his dark fur. "Seems he missed you just as much as you missed him."
Mia just let out a small sound in agreement, a laugh spilling out of her mouth when Atlas threw his paw out to the side of her face. The cat had been there for her since she was eleven and her father bought him for her. That reminder alone only made her all the more eager to keep her cat by her side forever. She couldn't believe she had gone so long without him, no matter how much her mother needed the companionship. Now, she needed him.
"I wonder whose eyes he will try and take out this time. He might be a bit jealous of Malfoy."
"Oh, shut it, Theo, or it will be your eyes he goes for next."
You accept the consequences that may follow and live with the guilt after all of it is finished.
―――――――――――――
The next morning was filled with silence in the Erebus manor, significantly better than the events of the day before. Neither Mia nor Theodore said anything to each other when they saw one another at the breakfast table, having only gotten a few hours of sleep after they both crashed from exhaustion on her bed. She noticed immediately that her cousin had rid himself of the cuts she put on his face, but even if she could not see them, she still felt yesterday's guilt return. They went separate ways when they woke, but even then, the atmosphere felt different. Not necessarily dark, nor comforting, but different. Off-centered. Even Picket seemed to have noticed that there was something going on because she stayed unusually silent for her character, rushing around quietly to fix their breakfast for them.
The unbalance only got worse when Celicia came down, and Mia saw her for the first time since their argument yesterday. The anger had faded, and she felt the stirring of regret in the pit of her stomach, but she shoved it down and dealt with it. Nothing she said was not the truth. She watched her mother with uneasy eyes, waiting for any hint that her mother had seen or heard her episode last night in front of Alastiare's portrait. There was none. Instead, Celicia only moved to Theodore's chair so that she could press a kiss to the top of his head, squeezing his shoulders gently. Her cousin glanced up at the act, a small smile on his face as he acknowledged her.
"Happy Birthday, Theodore," Celicia said, warmly. "You are officially of age. How does it feel?"
"No different than last year," Theodore said, conversationally. He watched as Celicia nodded, slowly moving to take her place at the front of the long dining table. In the chair across from him, Mia's eyes flickered to his for a moment. "Though it is nice that my Trace is finally removed."
Celicia looked up at that, her brows raising. "I remember that feeling...you've always been responsible, though, Theodore. There was never a doubt that you would follow the decree. You must be relieved, of course, to finally be able to use magic whenever you find it valuable."
"Only when I need to get Mia out of trouble," Theo hummed, slipping the words through casually as he raised a brow over at his cousin. It was not a lie.
"A little late for that, don't you think?" Mia asked, snorting. Her next words came out before she thought too deeply on them, only focused on humoring herself with a joke. "Not unless you'd like to go up against the Dark Lord for me."
Dead silence. Celicia's utensils clanged harshly as she dropped them onto her plate in surprise. That stirred Atlas, who had been sleeping quietly in Mia's lap, taking in as many opportunities to be near her now that she had returned. His head popped up, glancing around quickly for any sign of danger. When he realized that he recognized everyone in the room, he slowly nodded back off in her lap. That did not stop Celicia's horrified expression as she gaped at Mia, and Theodore's flustered face from across from her.
"Oh..." Mia realized, then turned to look over at her mother. "Theodore knows."
Her mother's eyes lit with more alarm. "Andromeda―"
"She didn't tell me," Theo quickly intervened, glancing between them. He could already see the emotions in the room were rising to a level similar to yesterday, and the last thing they needed was another argument over breakfast. "Not until I confronted her about it last night."
Mia shrugged, far too casual about the events for Celicia. "I didn't need to tell you. He is not an idiot, Mother. Let's not act like this is a surprise. It was only a matter of time before he found out or I slipped up and told him. I couldn't hide the Mark forever―it isn't exactly something easy to cover. Honestly, I'm just surprised it took him this long. Draco and I haven't exactly been the best at subtlety recently."
"Theodore..." Celicia strained to speak, a vein in her neck showing how difficult it was for her to talk. She paused after his name, looking eternally pained when she met eyes with him. "You mustn't tell anyone about Draco or Andromeda. If anyone discovers that they―"
Theodore interrupted her before she got carried away, shaking his head and raising his hand gently to protest. He would never. "Aunt Celicia. I would never put Mia in harms way...or Draco. I have kept my father's secret my entire life. This is not something I am inexperienced in hiding."
Celicia slowly nodded as she tried to calm herself, turning to her daughter with hesitancy. "And have you told him about your missions?"
"What missions?" Theodore asked, darting his eyes between them.
"No. I haven't," Mia denied quickly, clenching her jaw. She looked at her mother sharply before turning back to Theodore. That was one thing she had not anticipated telling her cousin. "But since everything is out in the open between the three of us, and we are speaking so freely...this summer, the Dark Lord gave Draco and I specific tasks for this school year. Draco got two. I was assigned three―one in the event that Draco doesn't accomplish his second. They have to be completed before the end of the year or else..." she stopped, but meaning was not lost to Theodore.
His eyes darkened, but he was already stringing out the connections. "And is one of the reasons why you have been trying so vehemently to make Slughorn to like you?"
"Unfortunately," she said, scowling. "The man holds information that the Dark Lord needs desperately, and I have to retrieve it from him without putting any suspicion upon myself. It would be a lot easier if Potter wasn't sticking his nose in the same direction I am."
"Is he favoring you more than the Potter boy?" Celicia asked.
"One day I believe so, then the next...it doesn't matter. I have something Potter doesn't."
"What is that?"
Mia looked at her mother. "He has a book. He always keeps it close to him. I noticed him carrying around one night when I was near his office, and it made me curious. When I got a closer look, I realized that it was held together with a lock―nothing a key could open, so I assume it has a charm on it. Sealed with words, possibly. Draco was able to create a distract long enough for me to take it the night of the Christmas party in his office. I haven't had the opportunity to look at it, and I won't be able to do anything until I'm back at Hogwarts. Unlike Theodore, I still have my Trace, and I don't think they would take so kindly to a Death Eater performing underage magic on a book I've stolen."
It was quiet. She could see that her cousin was still adjusting to how casually she talked about her allegiance as a Death Eater now. Perhaps she should let up on it, seeing as he only just discovered the truth a few hours ago. Her mother's face was twisted in discomfort as well―Mia knew why. Celicia had gotten stuck in the thought of everything her daughter had been through, and that Mia was no longer a child. She was no longer the daughter of a Death Eater, but one herself. Celicia was no longer just the widow of one, but the mother of one, as well. Mia couldn't hide her apathy for the woman if she tried. Celicia would never know how much worse it was to be one than to simply be related to one. She learned that the hard way.
Theo was the one to finally speak. "But I don't have the Trace anymore. Like you said, they can't detect if I'm the one attempting to open it. Did you bring it with you?"
"You are not getting involved in this, Theo."
Celicia sat up straighter, involving herself now that her thoughts had passed. "Theodore is right, Andromeda. Your cousin and I can look at the book with you, and perhaps the two of us can find a way to open it over the break."
"You are not getting involved in this either, Mother."
Theo gave her a sharp look. "We already are involved in this, Mia. Our lives are the ones he is threatening, is he not? If this is the most we can do to keep our family alive, then let us do it. I know you aren't stupid enough to assume all of the responsibility for something when help is being offered―help that will protect us. Not when you've already belittled yourself to working with Malfoy."
The mild snide comment was meant to be in lighthearted humor, but Mia rolled her eyes anyway. "It isn't like I was given a choice in who I wanted to work with. The Dark Lord didn't provide me with a line-up of options on sixteen-year-old Death Eaters. Draco is all that I have had since July. We've been in this together since the very beginning."
"Well..." Theo paused. "Now, you have me."
"And me, Andromeda," Celicia muttered, softly, making her turn away from Theo's gaze. "I know that I have not been a mother to you recently, and I have pushed down my guilt for it using letters to compromise for my mistakes, but...if there is any way that I can help you with this, and right the wrongs that have led you to this path your father and I have wrongly set you on, please allow me the opportunity to do it. I want to start protecting my family the way I have failed to do before."
The idea of letting her mother and Theodore involve themselves in the mess of her missions was a dreadful thought, and one that left a sharp strain of pain in her spine. Her biggest fear had always been that the Dark Lord would involve her family―involve Theodore―in his mess...but Theodore was right, after all. He had become involved the moment that his life was threatened, and not even she could deny him his right to protect his family just like she was. If she failed her mission with Slughorn, they were dead anyway. She was selfish enough to take the chance.
Mia didn't say anything for a while, pressing her lips into a thin line. "...Grandmother Eleanor and Grandfather Kal won't be arriving until tomorrow?"
"Yes," Celicia confirmed. "Later on in the evening."
Mia nodded. "All right. Then, we have today. As if I haven't ruined your birthday enough, Theo."
Theo's lip pulled into a half smile. "I reckon protecting my family and keeping my life is as good a gift as any...so, where do we begin?"
As Andromeda ventured on the path back to her bedroom to grab the book, through the haunted walls of the Erebus manor, she could not help the feeling of Alastiare Erebus breathing down her back, telling her that she was disgracing the very name he gave her―the ache in her spine only grew as the piercing green eyes of her father watched her walk away from his portrait without turning around. No longer would she be held back by her last name or the consequences that he left with her. She had grieved her father, and she had said goodbye. Now, as far as she was concerned, she was only Andromeda Radnor.
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Author's Note:
Theodore officially knows! That was a very long but very important conversation that needed to happen between Mia and her cousin. I was loving writing it. As far as I'm concerned, Mia and Theo are 100% parabatai (sorry, I'm writing my Mortal Instruments story too). And we finally meet Atlas, who will become frequent in the story from this point on!
Mia has finally grieved the loss of her father (and herself). The end piece with 'Andromeda Radnor' was meant to prove emphasis on Mia stripping herself completely of what her father passed down onto her―he was the reason why she became a Death Eater, and she fought to fit his legacy so long out of anger, so now she must work to find herself as a Death Eater outside of her father's shadow. This will be important in the future, as it begins yet another important character transition for Mia. Now that she is no longer carrying the reminder of her father's compassion on her shoulders, who will she become?
2/3 of the Radnor family Christmas down! We finally meet Kal and Eleanor next chapter.
Radnor namesake: red shore
MORS: FEMALE PERSONIFICATION OF DEATH.