EXTENDED SUMMARY
❝ silent sufferings ❞
GRACING THE HALLS OF HOGWARTS, there was Angelica Schuyler, Eliza Schuyler, and Peggy Schuyler, the Schuyler Sisters, as dubbed by the student population. The population that stared in awe when every Eliza's slippered feet glided across the cold stone floor, or wherever Angelica's heels clicked on the solid marble, or whenever Peggy danced across the halls in a blur of yellow. The oldest ( and the wittiest! ), Angelica Schuyler was a fire of passionate yearnings and burning intellect, and although shunned at the beginning as a result of her sorting into Slytherin, her fragile heart had hardened into cold steel as she learned to adapt. Learned to be friends with the right people, to put on the persona of a loving sister, to smile at her, and to flirt with him. All of it was a game, really. The Schuylers were a prominent pure-blood family, and while Eliza had shunned the lessons, Peggy taking her favorite sister's lead, Angelica had readily accepted the chance to learn how to be the perfect pureblood princess. She could recite all the Sacred 28 off the top of her head, could host a dinner party, and could have become a junior politician ever since she was nine.
HER DAYS AT HOGWARTS WERE SPENT holed up in the library, unruly hair tied back with a pink scrunchie as she ferociously studied herself to the point of passing out, convinced that this was the only way to prove that she was better than her sisters, the only way to prove that she was worth something in this cruel world. Constant words of "Why can't you be more like your sister, Eliza?" and "That sister of yours seems extremely calm and well behaved ," had caused silent tears to run from her ebony eyes and soak the satin of her pillowcase. Her silent sufferings were never noticed, her weary body forced to paste on a barely-there, weak smile and say that she was fine. Yet with all the signs, her family and friends still believed the fake smiles and passed it on as nothing, even as she wanted to scream and vent to the world about her issues.
HER SISTER, ELIZA, WAS THE EMBODIMENT of perfection, at least according to the rest of the world. Her sister's pale skin, so different from her own coffee skin, entranced everyone, saying that Eliza was "a perfect angel." Both of them had the same ebony eyes, inherited from their mother, but her sister's had been cooed over, known as adorable doe eyes. Angelica's obsidian eyes had been labeled off as almost demonic, although no one would say that in her face, to the heir of the Schuyler house. Her laugh was the tingling of bells, her signature blue ribbon flying faithfully in her silky black hair. Eliza Schuyler wasn't a bad person, instead she was naively kind, which made it hard for Angelica to resent her. But Eliza was in over her head, not understanding that Angelica was suffering, and whenever asked if her sister was okay, condescendingly laughed, saying that her sister was fine. While pure-hearted and sweet mannered, her sister never understood or saw Angelica's pain. And it hurt. A lot.
ANGELICA MET ALEXANDER HAMILTON at the Yule Ball. Matching her fiery passion and creative genius, she quickly fell in love with the new Gryffindor. But her love was doomed from the start, as her friend Maria constantly told her. A Gryffindor would never fall in love with a Slytherin, but Angelica continued to stupidly hope with all of her blackened heart. An after-class walk with her sister had dashed all her hopes, ripping up her heart into tiny pieces as Eliza excitedly exclaimed that she just might have developed a crush on the new student. Angelica's shocked soul quickly had shielded itself with a mask of happiness. "I'm so happy for you!" and "When will you ask him out?" were empty questions she had asked Eliza with that hated fake smile as she acted as though her heart hadn't been ripped out and stomped all over. Eliza's happiness was worth more than her own, her family and the rest of the world had made that extremely clear. Angelica wasn't worth anything. Everything that mattered was Eliza. Eliza was the beacon of light in this cruel world, and Angelica was expected to give it all up for her.
BUT ANGELICA SCHUYLER WAS TIRED OF sacrificing everything she'd ever loved for her sister's sake. For once in her life, she would fight for this one small thing in her life to be hers. Angelica would tear down the world and rebuild it up again if she had too, but this time, it would be her on top. It would be her that won.