Prompts:
Sleepless nights.
Older men declare war, but it is the young who must fight and die.
Last but not least
They stand proudly before my visiting relatives, being showered with praise and compliments. They're obviously relishing it. I stand off to the side, slouching, staring at the floor.
"Oh Pollux, you've gotten to be so tall!"
"Cassiopeia, how lovely you are! You must be the most beautiful girl I've ever seen!"
I want to puke from the sickly sweetness of it all. My mother glares down at me. Teeth bared, she hisses at me.
"Stand. Up. Straight."
I resist an eye roll and do as I'm told. This is rather spectacular, seeing as I don't usually bother with trying to be the "obedient type". But my mother, of course, wants her children to be perfect for my father's visiting brothers and sister. Then again, she always wants me to be perfect. Well, she wants me to be more like Pollux or Cassiopeia, but in her eyes, that's perfection. I've never been able to live up to the standards my brother and sister had set for me. Pollux is the best student ever, acing every test teachers throw at him. Cassiopeia is naturally liked by everyone. Gorgeous and cruel, she's perfect for the Black family. There's Marius, but we don't see much of him. My family tries their best to ignore him, due to his being a Squib and all. I'm sorry to say it, but I don't have much of an opinion on him. I feel completely apathetic whenever his name is mentioned. It's like knowing the name of a distant relative, but forgetting their face and personality. He's isolated himself from the rest of the family. We never really know where he is, and frankly my family doesn't really care. I'm last and least. So, of course, all eyes are on me. What will I be special for? What will I do to make my family proud? I honestly don't know. I'm not smart like Pollux or beautiful like Cassiopeia. I'm not particularly athletic or musical or talented in any way, really. So many sleepless nights were spent tossing and turning, thinking up new schemes to make my parents love me. I've tried to be the daughter my parents want, but it always ends in failure. So to be perfectly truthful, I've stopped trying. I mean, if I can never please my parents in any way, then why bother? I'm just so sick of them. All of them. I'm going to get out of this place as soon as I possibly can. I'm seventeen now, my last year at Hogwarts. Not too much longer to go. But I'm about to disappoint my parents again, one last time. And this one might be the one that gets me burned off the family mural.
Finally, my aunt stops in front of me. Eyeing me over her extraordinarily long nose, she gives a little "Humph".
Oh, how I love my relatives.
My aunt's eyes travel from me to my mother, highly unimpressed.
"So, Violetta, care to reintroduce your youngest to me? It's been a long time. I haven't seen her since she was a small child." Her eyes got a sharper look to them. "She never got a chance to apologize, has she?"
I may or may not have stomped on her exposed foot with the heel of my shoe last time we met. It may or may not have broken her toe, and it may or may not have been on purpose. I don't regret it.
"Of course, Belvina. this here," my mother said, putting her hand on my shoulder rather forcefully, "is my youngest. Say hello, Dorea."
I had half a mind to say 'Hello, Dorea' just to make mother angry, but decided against it.
"Hello, Aunt Belvina. You're looking well."
What a complete lie. Her sharp features jutted out from her face, her eyes sunken and skin sagging. The old hag. I hadn't even realized I'd started slouching again until my Aunt Belvina scolded me.
"Aren't you going to stand up straight? Show some respect, unless you require me to teach it to you. Do you understand, child?"
I'm burning with anger. Is she threatening me? I almost laugh. She has no idea what she's getting into. I put on a smile and a sweet voice.
"Oh, you'd like to teach me? How lovely. But I'm sure if I wanted a lesson on how to be a degrading bitch, I'd just talk to your-"
My cheek felt hot and my ears were ringing. I hit the floor with a thud, skidding across the wood and hitting my head on the wall behind me. My mother looked mortified, my aunt shocked, my uncles bewildered. My sister and brother simply stared, bored, as if they knew it was coming all along. And then there was my father, standing there with his hand still raised, face red with fury. I pushed myself back up, brushing myself off like it was nothing. I knew it'd drive them insane. I stared at them, head-on, chin raised.
"I'll go to collect my things, now." I started up the stairs, but my relatives weren't finished with me yet. My uncle Arcturus laughed.
"And what do you think you're doing? You have nowhere to go. You're stuck!"
This is it. If I'm not burned off the wall already, this is the final straw. I calmly turned around, and walked right up to everyone.
"I'm engaged."
My uncle Arcturus spluttered. Obviously this was not what everyone was expecting. My mother fainted, my father's eyes bulged out of their sockets. Aunt Belvina still seemed focused on that "degrading bitch" comment earlier, and my other uncles had already excused themselves out the door. My brother, who was never surprised by anything, had his jaw hanging open. Cassiopeia had her arms crossed, eyebrows raised. Her reaction was the one I was least expecting. She was smirking, mildly impressed. She seemed even a little happy for me. Maybe she wasn't as cruel as I had originally thought. My parents' obvious favoritism towards her had blinded me of who she really was. It might have been my parents' fault to treat us so differently, but we were the ones feeling the effects. Finally Pollux spoke up.
"Well? To who?"
I look at them all. This was probably the last time I'd ever see them.
"Charles Potter."
And with that, without even collecting my things, I walked out the door.