As Athenys glided through the water, she could make out the outline of her mother waving at her. She swam back up to the top, breathing in the summer air.

"You should come inside now," Helena said as she held out a towel to Athenys.

"I want to stay a little longer," she could already feel the hot air starting to hit her skin again, "It's still so hot."

"It's getting dark, Athenys. You also need to get ready for Diagon Alley tomorrow," Helena shook the towel at her again, and with a sigh, Athenys got out of the pool and wrapped the towel around her. She started to walk to the shower before Helena called out to her, "Oh also, you have letters! The owls came through before."

Forget the shower, Athenys thought as she ran straight to her bedroom, while Helena shouted, "ATHENYS, you're dripping everywhere!"

Smiling, Athenys quickly dried herself off before going into her bedroom to find two envelopes with wax seals containing a family crest on each of them. They were lying on her desk, with two owls standing majestically next to them, obviously waiting for replies. She picked up the envelopes and looked at the names on them. Daphne and Theo. Not that she was expecting anyone else, anyway. She opened Daphne's letter first to find her small, elegant writing inside.

Dear Athenys,

How are your holidays going? Have you gone to Diagon Alley yet? Sorry I didn't wait to go with you, I had to go quite early about two weeks ago since my parents had to go abroad afterwards for a week. But they're back now, with great news! So, the Quidditch World Cup is happening and for the first time in thirty years it's being held in Britain! Tickets are very hard to come by, but Father managed to get some. We have extra tickets. Pansy was meant to come too, but she informed me that she's not going because she will be in Finland with her parents during the week.

Anyway, it's next Monday, but I was thinking maybe our house elf can come collect you this Sunday at six o'clock in the evening through Floo Network? You could stay at my place until semester begins when we go back to Hogwarts. Send a reply with my owl.

Love,

Daphne

Wow, the Quidditch World Cup? That cannot have been easy to get tickets to. But of course, for people like the Greengrasses all it probably took was a few words. Of course, Athenys wasn't on the Quidditch team, but she had always been interested by the sport. This was not a chance to miss. She would have to ask her mother, but first she was itching to read Theo's letter as well, and so she opened the envelope to find Theo's narrow, slanted writing.

Dear Athenys,

How have you been? You're going to Diagon Alley tomorrow morning, right? Hopefully, I'll see you there then, unless your plans have changed since your last letter. By the way, Daphne said she's going to invite you to the Quidditch World Cup. I'm going too, but please don't mind if I can't talk with you much. It's just that… Father doesn't really like me being too close with anyone who's not, you know, a 'Pureblood'. No hard feelings?

Anyway, hope to see you tomorrow, or if not, at the World Cup! If not there either, then I guess on the Hogwarts Express.

Theo

The first thing Athenys did was run downstairs and ask her mother for permission to go to Daphne's and the World Cup, to which thankfully, she said yes. She quickly ran back up and wrote replies to Daphne, confirming her pick-up plans and Theo, telling him that she was going to Diagon Alley tomorrow, although she doubted that the owl would get there before midnight. As soon as both owls left out of her window, she went straight to the shower and turned it to full heat.

The Greengrass's house-elf, Hooky, appeared at Athenys's fireplace at exactly six o'clock on Sunday. After bidding goodbye to her mother, Athenys was transported to the Greengrass manor, where she stepped out, coughing.

"Athenys!" Daphne rushed to her side and hugged her tightly.

Athenys tried to talk through her spluttering, "Hey, D-Daphne!"

As soon as her coughing stopped and her vision cleared, she made out three other forms in front of her.

"Athenys, I'd like you to meet my family," Daphne said as she brushed the dust off Athenys's robes, "This is my father," she pointed at a tall, blonde man with a stern-looking face who gave her a curt nod, "My mother," the short, brunette woman who had softer, kinder features smiled at her, "And you already know Astoria."

"Of course, I do," Athenys waved at Astoria who returned it with a shy smile, and gave nervous smiles to Daphne's parents, before Mrs Greengrass spoke up.

"I'll go make sure dinner is being prepared!"

"Thank you, Mrs Greengrass," Athenys replied, and Mrs Greengrass left with Hooky following closely behind her.

Athenys turned to Mr Greengrass, "Thank you for letting me stay here, and for the ticket to the World Cup, Mr Greengrass. I really appreciate it."

Mr Greengrass didn't smile, but gave another stiff nod, "Do make yourself at home, Athena," and he started to walk away.

"Actually, it's Athe-" but Mr Greengrass couldn't hear her as he had already walked away. She turned to Daphne who looked uncomfortable.

"Well, um," Daphne was wringing her hands together, "I'll show around the house!"

Athenys looked around at the manor and gulped, "House, right."

The manor was nothing like anything Athenys had seen before. Everything from the doorknobs to the arches and ceilings were so ornamental. The house was dimly lit and old-fashioned, yet so breath-taking at the same time. The bedrooms themselves were twice the size of a Hogwarts classroom. There was even a separate dining hall that was probably just over half the size of the Hogwarts Great Hall, which was apparently only used when the Greengrasses held a soirée. Finally, after the 'house' tour, and a few rounds of chess – Wizard's chess, of course – with Daphne and Astoria, Athenys bid them goodnight and headed to the room Daphne had led her to.

Athenys took a deep breath as she fell onto the emerald silk sheets of her King-sized bed. No matter how breath-taking the Greengrass manor felt and how welcoming Mrs Greengrass was, Athenys couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable and intimidated. It could have been because of Mr Greengrass's dismissive attitude. However, it was more than that. The more time that went by and the more Athenys got to know about her Slytherin classmates, the more she felt like she didn't belong there. From what she knew, most of the Slytherins were purebloods, and were as rich as the Greengrasses, Malfoys and Parkinsons. Athenys, who was brought up in a middle-class family could not have felt more left-out when her pureblood 'friends' were blabbering about their fancy parties and soirées. For a while Athenys wondered if she was even meant to be in Slytherin. Then, the words that the sorting hat had said during her sorting resonated through her head.

"Ambitious, very ambitious, and quite a thirst to prove yourself, I see. Clever mind for quick thinking, as well as seeking revenge on those who do you wrong. Ambition, resourcefulness, cunning, it would be no other than… SLYTHERIN!"

Athenys rubbed her temples, what on earth do I have to prove? She thought. Then, Lupin's words also started ringing in her ears.

"The act of seeking power itself does not make you a bad wizard or witch, it's how you obtain that power and what you choose to do with it that defines you as a person."

Power, ambition, cunning. These words were starting to tire her. She couldn't help but try to link her recurring dreams and the dementor incident last year to these words. Athenys shook the thoughts out of her head. The Greengrasses were going to wake her up very early next morning, so she needed to get some sleep. With that thought, her eyelids felt heavy and she drifted off to sleep, only to be greeted with her recurring dreams of dragons and fire, except now there were voices as well.

"Burn them all!"

"I will take what is mine with Fire and Blood."

"Fire cannot kill a dragon."

"DRACARYS!"

"Athenys!" Someone was tapping her shoulder, "Athenys!"

Athenys bolted upright, drowned in sweat and breathing heavily, the vivid image of flames still playing around in her mind. She rubbed her eyes and looked to her left, where Daphne was sitting, looking worried yet confused.

"What on earth was that?" Daphne asked as she stood up and handed Athenys a glass of water.

"Just… nightmares," Athenys tried to smile, "Nothing unusual."

"Right," Daphne still looked confused, "Some nightmare. Anyway, get dressed, we have to leave in an hour. I'll meet you in the entrance hall."

"Sure, see you."

"See you."

Despite still being shaken, Athenys managed to recollect herself and get ready. It only took her twenty minutes to get showered and dressed, so she started making her way to the entrance hall. As she walked through the dark hallway, she noticed a dim light coming from a door that was slightly cracked open. She knocked at it, but there was no response. As much as she felt nervous about creeping around someone else's house, she really wanted to explore the house further. Her curiosity got the better of her, so she opened the door and stepped in.

It was the smallest room of the manor she had seen so far, and the emptiest. Apart from a few trunks and some wooden wardrobes, there were a few candles floating at the corners, which meant that there must have been someone in there right before she came in. Athenys walked around the room until she reached the back wall, which she had to squint at, before she realised that it was a tapestry of a tree. A family tree, which spread across the space of the entire wall. She quickly grabbed a candle and hovered it over the branches to find small portraits with names underneath them. The majority of the surnames were Greengrass, on which Athenys also found Daphne and Astoria. It extended to Black, Parkinson and even Potter.

Her eyes continued to drift over the tree before a certain name caught her attention. Blishwick. Abraxas Blishwick. Athenys felt both confused and slightly sick. All these people were related, which meant that everyone basically married their relatives. How romantic… gah. She continued walking across the wall, reading the names. Sullivan Fawley, Eustace Fawley. She paused in her tracks.

Fawley.

Dominic Fawley.

She wanted to look closer at the face, but someone cleared their throat behind her. Heart hammering wildly, she blew out the candle and spun around to find the curious face of Mr Greengrass.

"Athena," he raised his eyebrows.

Athenys felt her throat dry up, "I- I wasn-"

"I see you've found our family tree." He was oddly calm, which made Athenys more nervous.

"Yeah, I, um," Athenys croaked out, "The door was open and-"

Mr Greengrass waved his hand, "It's ok. Daphne is waiting for you, we'll be leaving shortly."

"Right, I'll make my way there," Athenys put down the candle she was gripping really hard and made it halfway out of the door before she paused and turned back to Mr Greengrass."

"Oh, Mr Greengrass?"

"Yes?"

"It's Athenys. Athenys Seraphina."

"Seraphina?"

"Yes."

There was a short silence, before Mr Greengrass spoke up, "I'll meet you at the entrance hall in ten minutes, Miss Seraphina." Athenys could not make out his tone. His expression was blank, but his voice had a subtle curiosity to it. She made her way swiftly down the hallway and found Daphne at the entrance hall.

"You excited?" Daphne asked.

"Yes, of course!" Athenys tried to hide the annoyed tone of her voice. If only she could get close enough to see Dominic Fawley's face. She was so close. "Something bothering you?"

"No, not at all," Athenys nervously chuckled, "So, how are we getting there?"

"Portkey, of course."

"Portkey?" she had heard of it but never tried it before.

"Yes, father will take us to a certain object, a teapot, I think. All we have to do is touch it and next second we'll be there!"

"Is it hard?" Athenys whispered as she saw the others making their way to the hall.

"No, not at all. I mean the first time you might get a bit dizzy, but it's not that bad!"

It was bad. Unpleasant, to say the least.

Athenys had landed face-down on the grass and looked up to see a rather windswept yet still graceful looking Daphne, who helped her stand up.

"You ok?"

"Brilliant."

Daphne laughed and they all started making their way to the stadium. It was larger than any stadium she had seen before, with excited chanting and singing echoing through it. It seemed that they had arrived much later than everyone, since every row was full.

"Do we, um, have seats?" Athenys asked nervously.

"Of course! We're right next to the Minister's box," Daphne said enthusiastically, "Oh, there's Draco."

Athenys looked in the direction where Daphne was pointing, to where Draco was with his father. He was looking around the stadium, until his eyes fell upon them, and nodded, without any smile. What is it with purebloods and nodding? Athenys thought, annoyed, Maybe a hello! Or a wave is too much effort?

They finally arrived at their seats and sat down, waiting impatiently for the match to start. Athenys looked around the stadium, and her eyes fell upon a group of redheads. It was the Weasleys, and with them was Harry and Hermione as well. She made quick eye contact with Hermione, who waved, and Athenys returned it. She continued scanning the stadium before she paused her gaze on Lucius Malfoy, who seemed to be having an intense conversation with a man who had a slight resemblance to Theo, except he was burlier and snide-looking. Athenys started looking around frantically for Theo, but was distracted by Ludo Bagman's voice, resonating throughout the stadium.

"Ladies and gentlemen… welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"

A/n: Can't believe we've made it to ten chapters! When starting this fic I honestly thought it would only take about 7 chapters, but seems like it'll take much more, since we're still in fourth year. Anyway, thank you to everyone who is reading and reviewing! And everyone who's new to this fanfic, thanks for joining! I hope you're enjoying it so far!

By the way, did anyone watch the new Crimes of Grindelwald trailer? What did you guys think of Nagini being a maledictus? (Previously being a woman) I'm pretty excited to see how it'll go. I'm also thinking of adding some elements from the Fantastic Beasts world into this fanfic, since it has some interesting details. We'll see how it goes!