"Ruby!"
I blinked back the dregs of sleep as my tired and caffeine deprived brain registered my mothers voice yelling my name. The yelling was accompanied by a rather timid and hurried knocking on my door. It was unusual for two reasons, my mother was barely ever at our summer home on The Greens and because timid was not my mothers style.
Normally, I went completely unnoticed by mother as evidenced by the fact that she almost never came to The Greens while I was staying here over the summer break from Hogwarts.
She would also never do something as plebeian as bang on a door.
I kicked the covers off of my body with an annoyed huff and straightened out the peach coloured silk sleep set I'd worn to bed the night before. I made my way at a snails pace to the monstrous wooden oak door and opened it, letting it creak open slowly, in the exact way I knew would drive my mother crazy.
Adelaide Davis stood in my doorway with her arms crossed over her ample bosom, that has no business being there considering her small stature, and a deep frown creasing her annoyingly beautiful face. Our house elf, Mini, that had been banging on my door nearly fell forward as my mother brazenly strutted into my room, without invitation.
She sneered down at Mini as the house elf stuttered out apologies and then she advanced on me with narrowed eyes that were surrounded by dark, sultry makeup.
"What are you still doing in bed?" She questioned, eyeing the state of my room and throwing open my blinds viciously.
I stood there silently, nearly in shock as these were the first words my mother had spoken to me all summer, in fact, it was the first time I'd seen her all summer and it was nearly September.
As she awaited my answer she peered out of my window at the sizeable lake our summer home backed on to.
Greens Lake. A small little summer town where most pureblood families spent their summers sailing their yachts and throwing their lavish parties. It was a well known fact that every well off wizarding family owned property on the Greens, it was also a well known fact that most well off wizarding families were Slytherin alumnus.
Like mine.
"Ruby," She huffed, irritated with my silence, "I told you weeks ago that the annual cookout was tonight."
My mother had the unfortunate affliction of speaking to me as though I was a simpering toddler, so usually I just didn't speak at all. I let her prattle on until she wore herself out and went radio silent for another six months.
She actually hadn't mentioned the cookout to me at all, but of course I knew it was today. I was practically Slytherin royalty, after all. Well, fallen royalty as of late, but what really confused me was that my mother actually seemed as though she was going.
Adelaide Davis used to be the apex socialite in pureblood circles. That was, until, she killed my father and got voted off the Slytherin elite island. Normally, the murders committed in these circles were perpetrated by the men, the Death Eaters. Sometimes, they killed each other, sometimes it was muggles, a house elf or two - maybe their wives, and they always got away with it. Usually, the act was whispered about for a month or two, but there were never any real consequences.
It was highly irregular for a Slytherin housewife to off her house Death Eater husband, though.
For that, there were consequences, apparently. She didn't get invited to the annual Malfoy Cookout . . . the horror!
Not a person, pureblood or otherwise, had actual proof that she'd committed the murder, but it was not a well kept secret that he used to curse the shit out of her - me too, sometimes. I'd learned to avoid the man, but I supposed that was harder to do as his dutiful Slytherin trophy wife.
Everyone just assumed she'd finally had enough and killed the bastard. So did I, to be honest. As a result of killing the Dark Lords most trusted and loyal follower, she was on the outs of pureblood society.
"Don't give me that look." She demanded, without even sparing me glance, too busy rifling through the expanse of my closet. "I've been kissing Mary Goyle's arse at the country club all week - we're nearly back in, Darling!" She clapped her hands joyfully as though she had endured unimaginable suffering by being unable to attend benefits for the Dark Arts or grand balls - the purpose of which was only to flaunt ones wealth around using gowns and jewels.
My mother threw a glittery gold dress at me and demanded I out it on in time to meet her at the dock. She also demanded I put on a full face of makeup as to make the 'best possible impression', I bit back a comment about how no amount of makeup could mask the murder of the Dark Lords number one fan, in the eyes of Lucious Malfoy.
Unwilling to get into a verbal fight with my mother, I slipped off my sleep shorts and the matching tank top and shoved my limbs through the ridiculous dress. It was too short with a flared skirt and long sleeves - not exactly what comes to mind when one thinks of a 'cookout', but I'd been to enough of them to know that I would be far from the most overdressed.
I pulled my long golden hair over one shoulder and twisted it into an elegant bun, tiredly applied some light makeup and made my way to our Manor's dock with a heavy heart.
I picked at my nails nervously, knowing that I would see all of my peers - everyone I'd written off last year.
I used to be as caught up as my mother in this Slytherin pureblooded pride bullshit. I partied with Pansy Parkinson, Astoria and Daphne Greengrass and Millicent Bullstrode. We threw the best Common Room parties known to Hogwarts, dated the most handsome boys and bullied anyone we didn't deem worthy of our mercy.
That all changed for me, one day.
We were all down at the lake, sharing a flask of firewhisky we'd stolen from the Defence Against the Dark Arts professors office. Millicent Bullstrode got drunk, completely knackered and everyone who knew Millie knew to back off when she'd had too much to drink - she always got downright scary.
Susan Bones had been her target that day. I don't know why. Maybe she had pissed her off in class that day, or maybe she'd just been in the wrong place at the wrong time - that doesn't really matter though because Millicent picked her and that was that.
I had been drunk too, and everything was too fuzzy to remember in clear detail but Millicent kicked Susan in the stomach after a particularly nasty round of insults. All of the Slytherin girls I had been with simply laughed and walked away as the red head fell to the ground clutching at her stomach.
I remember considering walking away with my friends and forgetting the whole thing had ever happened and ignoring the guilty wave of nausea that hit me like a ton of bricks but I couldn't. I knew something was wrong. Susan's screams weren't just as result of the pain - I could hear the desperation, the hopelessness. I walked towards Susan cautiously and then, with more haste when I noticed the bright red stain blossoming across the front of her pants.
Susan Bones had been pregnant.
I cried for her when that horrifying moment of understanding washed over me and I'd cradled her in my arms while we both sobbed.
I hadn't spoken to anyone in my house since.
Susan left school and I stopped speaking to my housemates. I wandered from class to class and spent most of my free time in the library or by the lake - alone. It took a while before Astoria, Daphne and Pansy stopped trying to talk to me and took the hint that I wanted nothing to do with them, but gradually they began to forget my existence and I faded into the background of someone else's story.
Then, on Christmas morning, while I had gone home for winter break I'd found my father under the Christmas tree - my mother kneeling over his body with blood stained hands.
Rita Skeeter had a fucking field day with that one.
When school resumed, I mostly kept to myself having been accustomed to my fellow Slytherin's ignoring my presence, but sometimes I would catch Astoria Greengrass looking at me from down the Slytherin table in the Great Hall with a sad little smile that only made me angry. Astoria had been my best friend, a good person - just caught up in her sisters expectations and Pansy's top dog mentality. It didn't matter how good of a person she was, though, I had to leave them all behind because that wasn't who I wanted to be anymore.
I'd been so excited to spend the summer at our house on the Greens because I knew that I wouldn't have to socialize with any of the other vacationers, they treated us like leapors and that was exactly how I liked it.
Yet here I was, dressed to the nines, my mother beside me anxiously bouncing on her sky high heels as the Malfoy's boat skirted around the lakes bend and stopped at our dock.