Livia was woken by a banging on her door, followed by and impatient shout "Get up now! We've got a job for you." She sat up quickly, those words dispelling any remnants of sleep. She always hated the jobs they gave her. Livia got out of bed and pulled on her favourite dark grey jeans and a royal blue jumper. The jumper was her small rebellion for the day, it matched the house she had been in at Hogwarts and served as a reminder that she wasn't the perfect pureblood Slytherin that her so called parents had wanted her to be. She studied her face in the mirror as she brushed her waist length mass of dark brown curls. Livia took in her tanned skin which contrasted with her wide eyes that were almost the same colour as her jumper, then a straight nose and full lips. None of which she had inherited from the people who had brought her up. Livia had been told that she was beautiful by many people, but had only truly believed it from one, "No. Don't go there" she told herself, but as usual, it didn't work, she thought about his eyes, his hair, his laugh, but most of all those rare, intense, serious moments when she knew without a doubt he really cared as much about her as she did for him. "Stop" she said more firmly to herself, managing to finally break herself out of her thoughts. She blanked her thoughts and emotions and brought back the familiar feeling of emptiness, "After all" she thought "It's better to feel nothing than pain." She had just about finished brushing her hair when she heard a screech from below "Livia got down her now! The Dark Lord doesn't wait for anyone!" Livia's heart sank, nothing good ever followed those words.
After sprinting down the stairs she made it into the living room. She supposed it was a beautiful house, with its marble floors and silk curtains, but it had always seemed more like a prison to her, especially as she got older. The two other people in the room struggled to hide their disdain and disappointment in their eyes. Livia could remember the first time she had seen that look, when she got her wand and the wood was more suited to healing than cursing, then again when she was placed in Ravenclaw and not Slytherin. Since then it had been a regular occurrence, the pinnacle being her relationship with a blood traitor. Once she had felt nothing but love and gratefulness to them, but now all she felt was bitterness and she revelled in their disappointment. They had taken away so much from her, and made her destroy the only good thing in her life. These two people were Cassiopea and Cephius Van Bruut. They were both pale and thin, with white blond hair and pale icy eyes. Neither bore any resemblance to Livia. "I thought I was late." She said curtly to them. Cephius' mouth curled into a cruel smile at having outsmarted her, "You were last time, and we didn't want it to happen would want to be out of the Dark Lord's favour no would you?" Livia bit back an acidic response and worked to control her facial expressions. "So where's everyone else? You're not exactly high enough on the Dark Lord's radar to warrant a private visit." At that the Malfoy's walked into the room. Livia eyed Draco; it seemed there was someone who wanted to be there even less than her. The Carrows were next, closely followed by the Lestranges. Last were the Jugsons. Their son Mitchell leered at Livia taking in the snug fit of her jumper over her small waist and wide hips. Everything about him made her skin crawl from his cruel grey eyes to his lank dirty blonde hair, this was the boy that her 'parents' would have her marry, simply because he was a pureblood too. Time was running out for her, she was nearly 20 and running out of excuses. Before he could make his way over to her there was a loud crack downstairs, everyone fell silent. The Dark Lord was here. Seconds later he swept into the room, he had a dementor like effect on Livia, anything good in her life felt meaningless when he was there. He cast his gaze over everyone in the room before his eyes settled on Livia. Her breath caught in her throat. What had she done to deserve the attention of him? He let a slow evil smile curl onto his lips, then finally spoke to her. "Livia, I have a job for you downstairs. There are some people that I want you to take care of. You are not to let them out of your sight. Do you understand?" Livia nodded, grateful that this was all she had to do. She couldn't leave the room quick enough.
As soon as she walked in the room she realised the job wasn't a simple or as easy as she'd hoped. Lying on the floor was a young boy who couldn't be more than thirteen and a girl who would probably be taking her OWLs if she was still in school. The boy was unconscious. He was of slight build and had black hair. The girl was leaning over him protectively; she had copper coloured hair and deep brown eyes. The colour combination made Livia's breath catch. It was so similar to his, the only person to ever care about her. However, there was no warmth in this girl's eyes unlike when he had looked at her. "What do you want from me?" the girl snarled at her. Livia couldn't help but flinch at the harsh tone; it wasn't like she wanted to be there. She raised her hands to show she meant no harm but this didn't seem to help. "Look I've told you all before, I don't know where he is and neither does Jonny." The girl continued. Livia processed this, there was only one person that Voldemort cared about at that time and that was Harry Potter. Livia realised why she was there, it was simply to look after these children long enough for the Dark Lord to come and torture information out of them. Information which she could tell they didn't have. Livia knew she had to help them, but she also knew that this was a test. She was walking a fine line, one more rebellion and she doubted that she would still be breathing. The boy, Jonny, breathing became heavy and laboured, Livia's instincts kicked in. She rushed over to him and knelt beside him. The girl tried to push her away, but was obviously weak, Livia managed to calm her enough to explain that she had had some healer training, so knew what she was doing. She had never qualified as a healer, they had pulled her out within the first term as soon as they had realised what she was doing. Yet another thing she resented them for. She pulled out her wand and quickly cast the spell which would right his breathing. Thankfully it worked.
The girl looked at her strangely. "Why did you help him?" then she got more agitated "This isn't a game you know! You have no right to play with us!" before Livia could stop it a hollow laugh escaped her. The idea that it wasn't a game was so ludicrous to her. After all, she'd been playing it since she had realised that not everything was as black and white as the Van Bruuts made out. It wasn't just a case of the Dark Lord had fallen but he would rise again and purebloods were superior. She had been so disgusted to find out the truth she had vowed never to be like them. "Well, look how that turned out" she thought bitterly. Still, she had managed to play the game with them before she gave up.
She was especially proud of how well she had played during her sixth year. She had been able to keep her relationship with him a secret from pretty much everyone apart from his brother. Those six months after the Yule Ball had been the best of her life, then it came to the holidays and she had known that if she wanted to see him she would have to tell them. It was then that they played her. Making her think that they approved because he was a pureblood, even though he was a Gryffindor and his family were blood traitors. They then subtly used him as leverage against her, making her more compliant and submissive, this carried on for nearly a year, and she let it because she was so happy with him. He had the ability to bring out the best in her, she had more fun, become more care-free and he could always brighten her day, no matter what. Everything was perfect, until one day the threats went too far, and she knew it wasn't safe for him anymore. It was then she had broken his heart. This time she had managed it too, it wasn't the first time she'd broached the subject of a break up, and each time he'd brushed off her comments. He had always trusted that she was a good person and nothing like her parents. She had broken this image during an argument she caused, and left. Livia had taken every bitter thought she'd ever had a launched them it him. She wasn't proud of it, but it worked. He never looked for her, not that she was surprised she had said some terrible things. She wondered if he still thought about her as much as she thought about him. Probably not. He probably hated her, which was all the better for him and his safety. Even though she had tried to make his life safer he insisted on endangering it whenever he could. Several of his stunts, which he was famed for at school, had brought him to the attention of Voldemort. Especially the whole 'U-No-Poo' situation and the fact that he presented Potterwatch. Not that Livia minded the later, and least she got to hear his voice. Thinking about him made up her mind. Livia knew what he would do, without hesitation he would help them. That's why he was a Gryffindor. She would help these children get out of there even if it meant her life. Livia turned to the girl "I'm going to help you get out of here." She said quietly. The girl's brown eyes widened "But you'll be killed!" Livia gave her a sad smile. "Maybe that's for the best. I don't really want to carry on." At the girl's quizzical look she expanded on her answer "Once you've been forced to give up the best part of your life, the one person who could make you smile no matter what, you tend to give up. Life just isn't worth living without them." With that she took the girl's hand, and then took the boy's and apparated.
