DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Harry Potter series!
Chapter One - The Letters Arrive, 1991
"Victoria, breakfast is ready!" She heard her mother yell through the door. Victoria groaned and flung the covers over her head. She'd been up for hours with a headache and the thought of eating breakfast made her stomach churn.
"Victoria?" Her mother called again, "Should I save you anything?"
She thought about it for a moment and sat up in bed. Rubbing her eyes, she simply said, "Toast, please."
There was a shuffle of footsteps beyond the door. When Victoria was sure her mother had left, she put her head in her hands and took a deep breath. She'd been having these headaches quite frequently during the past couple of months. Her mother said it was because of the girl's poor diet, which mainly consisted of toast with marmalade and coffee with too much sugar. Narcissa tried to get her daughter to eat something green or anything that wasn't, well...brown, but Victoria refused. And then there was her father, who believed the headaches were the product of her reading in poor lighting. "You're going to go blind, reading like that," Lucius would say. But, Victoria knew the truth.
It was the nightmares. She hadn't told anyone about them, although she'd often written about them in her diary. Every night, she'd wake up with a start. The hair on her arms would be standing on end and the back of her neck would be covered in little beads of sweat. The worst part? Sometimes she couldn't even remember the nightmares. And when she could, there were only fragments. Bit and pieces of the images she'd see in her sleep.
Victoria slid her feet over the edge of the bed, stepping down onto the cold wood floor, and walked over to the vanity that once belonged to her Aunt Bellatrix. Bella adored Victoria from the day they first met. Of course, Victoria was much too little to remember their first meeting, but she trusted the words of her parents.
Auntie Bella was intimidating and, yes, very much insane, but there was a softer side somewhere deep inside her heart. Her crazed, evil, black heart. It was so hidden that a person could rarely find it. Victoria prided herself in the fact that as a baby, she was able to win the heart of her crazed Aunt.
Victoria looked at herself in the vanity mirror and picked up the hairbrush she received for her ninth birthday. She ran the brush through her dark brown hair, tugging at the knots. Her hair was nothing like her mother's. It wasn't soft, shiny, or luxurious. No, instead, it was rather dull and took various grooming charms from her mother to get out the knots that a regular hairbrush couldn't. She set the brush down and stared at her reflection.
Victoria was never a vain girl. She'd been told she was beautiful...many times, in fact. But this didn't convince her. She wished she looked more like her mother. But instead of the ice-blue eyes of her mother, Victoria had dark chocolate eyes. Her nose was not delicate like her mother's nor was it long and crooked like the nose of her brother's Godfather, Severus Snape. Victoria decided that her nose was almost too ordinary. If anything about her was beautiful, it was the contrast between her raspberry red lips and her flawless pale skin.
Victoria pressed her thumb to her temple. Her headache was fading to an annoying pulse and the pop of the house elf appearing in her room did nothing to help her.
"Dobby has brought the young Miss some toast. Just as the Miss requested," Said the house elf.
Victoria turned to look at Dobby and he flinched. She sighed, "Have I ever been cruel to you, Dobby?"
The house elf shrugged his shoulders, "Never! It is what sets the young Miss apart from the Masters and the Mistress."
Victoria took the toast from Dobby and smiled sadly back at him, "I know."
Dobby snapped his fingers and disappeared.
"There you are, Victoria," Lucius said to his daughter, "Your mother was beginning to worry. Did the servant bring you your...toast?"
Victoria nodded as she entered the dining room.
"There's a letter for you on the table," Said her father.
Draco beamed at his sister, "It's your acceptance letter! From Hogwarts!"
"Draco!" Narcissa chastised as she entered the room, waving her wand to clean up an unidentified spill on her husband's coat, "You couldn't have let her open it first?"
The blonde boy ran a hand through his hair and took a bite out of the apple he was holding, "She would've figured it out anyway! I just...delayed the inevitable."
"Indeed," Said Lucius with an annoyed look on his face.
"Well?" Draco got up to stand by Victoria, "Aren't you going to open it?"
"Why should I?" She asked, "You've already told me what's inside."
Her brother pulled the letter out of her hands, "Then I'll open it for you."
She took a bite out of her toast, the marmalade waking up her taste buds, and shrugged, "Fine."
Draco tore open the envelope and began to read, "Dear Miss Malfoy, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl by no later than July 31st. Yours sincerely, Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress."
Narcissa clapped her hands, "Isn't it exciting, Victoria!"
Victoria nodded her head and took another bite out of her toast.
"She doesn't seem very excited..." Draco said.
"No," Their father replied, "She doesn't." He turned to his daughter, "What is it this time, Victoria?"
The girl looked away, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Victoria," Narcissa put a hand on her daughter's shoulder, "Answer your father. We are your parents. We know when something is wrong. Now, you've been talking about Hogwarts for months! Why the sudden...why...this?"
Victoria looked at Draco, "I'd rather not say right now."
Draco rolled his eyes, "I get it. Okay, I'll leave. But if the urge to eavesdrop is too much, I'll just have to listen in."
"You know," Lucius fiddled with his wand, "I can fix that issue right now, Draco. So, if you'd rather not hear buzzing for the next few minutes, I'd say you should go to your room."
Draco huffed, "Fine. See if I care!"
The others watched as he stormed upstair, muttering under his breath. When they heard the boy's bedroom door slam, the Malfoy parents turned to their daughter. "Well?" They asked in unison.
Victoria flicked her eyes from one parent to the next. How was she going to tell them? Might as well just come out and say it, she thought. And so she did...well, sort of. At first she whispered it.
"Speak up, dear, we can't hear you."
Victoria felt like she might cry. She took a deep, shaky breath. "I know," She said.
The Malfoys looked at each other, then back at their daughter. "What do you know, love?" Narcissa asked. "No matter what it is, we'll still..we'll still love you," Said Lucius.
Victoria looked at her parents with tears in her eyes, "I know I'm not a Malfoy."
Author's Note:
I want to thank everyone who's followed and favorited this story so far! Sooo...thank you!