How to Learn - Prologue
Being born into a pure-blood family with high expections wasn't a luxury.
No, it was more of a burden. Especially if you weren't really pure-blooded. No, if you were tainted, you would definitely have a hard time in a pure-blooded family.
Especially if you were a Malfoy.
Alhena Malfoy, in her own eyes, she considered that life was such a puzzling concept that it had no real answer to solve it. No real way to have a "happy, peaceful" life. She often wondered what she ever did to deserve what she got. Maybe in a past life she committed a heinous crime? One so completely horrible that the punishment carried on to her present life - to be born into the Malfoys.
But she wasn't a real Malfoy and definitely not one according to Lucius Malfoy, her supposed father.
It all started when she was born. It was a year after her older brother, Draco Malfoy, so how did she end up being known as his "twin" instead? It was a complicated mess, one that only the Malfoys would come up with. Pride was a big thing - scratch that. It was an entirely enormous thing. Narcissa Malfoy had cheated on her husband. It was a one time thing, and she claimed she was still very much in love with Lucius. That was one thing Alex was sure of. Despite everything, she knew her mother loved her husband whether she slept with another man or not.
It was all Alhena ever knew, though, and she was required not to tell anybody. She didn't even know the whole story, but it was unnecessary for her to know according to her parent(s). She didn't even know who her true father was, but in the end, it was a minor detail that she did not want to know. It didn't matter either way, but there was something that through her younger years, Alhena wished was not true. Her real father was in fact, a muggle.
Knowing her mother, someone who always looked down upon anyone that was not pure-blooded, someone who was taught at a young age the philosophy of blood purity, was someone that ended up with a muggle. That thought itself was something Alhena would never understand, but it was also something that she had no interest in finding out because as Alhena grew older, she learned that it was a waste to care for a family that did not care for her.
As a child, Alhena often debated whether her mother actually loved her, even for a while. It was a known fact that Lucius didn't. No, she was dirt beneath his shoes. Maybe even lower, but it was pride that kept her in the family. It was obvious that Alhena was not the daughter of the proud pure-blood wizard. He had blond hair and grey eyes. She had long black hair that curled at the end and her mother's blue eyes. It wasn't known whether she had inherited her black hair from her real father or if it was actually because she, through her Mother, was related to one of the oldest pure-blood wizarding families, the Blacks. To everyone else that did not know her true identity, it was because of the latter.
Thus, Alhena was the fraternal twin of Draco Malfoy, a lie created to cover the scandal of the family. A bit of a stretch really, but for Lucius Malfoy everything done was nothing short of over-the-top, and although a year younger, with the connections Lucius had to the wizarding world she was "legally" the same age as Draco with the same birthday. It wasn't a big deal giving up her birthday because in reality, her birthday was only a few days later on June 9th, so it was like celebrating a bit earlier.
In the end, everything that everyone saw when they met Alhena Malfoy, in short, it was a lie. All bunched up in one big lie.
At times, she didn't even know herself.
Growing up was a bit of a challenge at first until at the age of 6, Alhena experienced the affects of the Cruciatus Curse. It only lasted a few seconds, but the pain was enough to numb the 6-year-old child's body for a while. Angering Lucius Malfoy was definitely not a smart thing to do. From then on, the black sheep of the Malfoy family learned to follows orders when ordered and to otherwise keep to herself and not bother anyone.
Even Draco did not associate with her anymore. It wasn't always like that though. When she was first born, the young Draco enjoyed the fact that he had a younger sister. He had always played with her and vice versa until finally, Lucius had enough of it and began to separate them whenever they started playing with each other. Starting at the age of five, the two stopped playing and from then on, they only exchanged words when necessary. Alhena had lost the first friend she ever had.
The acceptance letters to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry soon came, and at first Alhena was excited at the prospect of being able to be away from the Manor for the majority of the year. She was enamored over the fact that she could finally be a different person than the person she always acted to be.
She was, however, disappointed to find out she was sorted in Slytherin. That was what everyone expected, but in all honesty, she didn't want to be.
But she wasn't a Ravenclaw. Alhena wouldn't call herself thickheaded, but she wasn't completely involved with intelligence and knowledge. No, she was more than that.
Hufflepuff was definitely not her. She did not have much patience with anyone, and that was one of her flaws.
Gryffindor. Now, that was the house Alhena did not mind being placed in. She knew her family did not like that house, but she didn't care. She admired the qualities of a Gryffindor, but as it turns out, it was not her destined house.
Slytherins were cunning. They have ambition, and they're also resourceful. Though put off by the Sorting Hat's decision, deep down Alhena knew that was the house she belonged in, and even though she promised to be her true self, she still acted as the child that the Malfoys created. In the end, she didn't know who her true self was.
Then 2nd year rolled around. It wasn't until then that Alhena finally got sick of everything. At the age of 12, she despised her family. She didn't experience the luxury of having her parents spoil her like her brother did. She wanted friends, real friends. Not ones that only cared about her blood status. That was when she met the Weasley family.
They didn't care about blood statuses, Alhena was amazed to find out. Not like the majority of the bloody gits would in Slytherin. Befriending Ronald Weasley was a difficult yet kind of amusing situation. It would later become one of Alhena's most cherished memories because he would end up becoming her first true friend. Someone she would confide in to many more years to come.
'-car.'
Ronald Weasley turned around surprised, 'What?'
'A car,' Alhena repeated. 'You're the one that drove the car right? At the beginning of the year. With Harry Potter.'
The red-head looked at her in surprise. It wasn't just moments ago that they bumped into each other and he glared at her, muttering, "Shove off, Malfoy." And here she was, asking him about a car? Wasn't she supposed to insult him back or hex him even? She was a Slytherin. How did she even know about a car in the first place? It was a muggle thing.
A wary look shot across his face, 'Uh... yeah, but why-'
'It was amazing. How'd you come up with it in the first place?'
And it was then that Ron first started warming up to the black-haired Malfoy. He enjoyed it when someone complimented him, Slytherin or not, and she was someone who yearned for a friend.
It also didn't hurt that she offered him some food afterwards.
It was a spectacle, really. To see a Malfoy and a Weasley hanging around with each other. To see a Slytherin hanging around with three Gryffindors. That one friend, Ron, soon turned into two more new friends - Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. And soon, it was those three that helped her learn how to feel, that gave her a reason to live. Looking back, Alhena found it hilarious that she ended up being friends with a "blood-traitor," a "mudblood," and the accursed "Boy Who Lived." Though, she would never call her friends that.
Even though they still did not know the whole story about her really being a half-blood, she cherished those three.
Then in 3rd year, Alhena met her mother's cousin, Sirius Black. Fascinated by the fact that he was an animagus, she quickly warmed up to him. When she later found out that he had broken away from his family, she secretly looked up to him. That confidence was what she wanted.
And through the rapidly growing confidence in herself, she fought back, and Alhena managed to stop going back to the Malfoy Manor for the majority of the breaks. The Malfoys didn't approve, but they soon stopped trying. She was known as a blood traitor now, but she didn't care. On Christmas breaks, she would either stay at school or spend it at the Weasleys, and even during summer, she found herself at the Burrow, which was where she truly felt happy.
Life was better for Alhena, but it still wasn't perfect. It never could be, she didn't believe in that nonsense. She wasn't perfect either. She was still the black sheep in the family. She didn't really know how to care for people nor be "nice." She didn't know how to make friends either. It was a miracle she befriended Ron, Hermione, and Harry in the first place.
There was one thing she couldn't admit to even her three closest friends, she didn't even know how to explain it, but she yearned for power. From a young age, she was never in control of her actions, but she wanted to be. She desperately wanted to be in control of her life. She enjoyed being in control, to have people know that they have no power over her.
But… in the end, she just wanted to be Alhena.
A/N: Hi, guys! I've decided to make a new story. It's kind of still in the "testing" stage. Penny for your thoughts? Review! I've always been interested in writing a Harry Potter story - a good one at least. Tell me how you guys feel about it, and in the next chapter I'll added a more detailed description of the story. I have a good feeling about this story. c:
