Happy Holidays everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I spent my Christmas cooking an extravagant meal of butter garlic prime rib, herb roasted chicken, spinach maria, Gruyere cauliflower mash, and balsamic carrots. I had my adopted siblings visiting so it was a big celebration.
Fair warning, this chapter has some heavy stuff. Trigger warning for domestic abuse by a parent(s) against their child.
If Someone Cared Enough
Chapter Eighty-Seven: Where There is no Love
Thea fell back against the bookcase, her hand cupping her cheek already blossoming a deep red.
"Mistress, please!" a frail, old house elf begged, standing between Thea and her mother.
The poor creature was callously kicked aside, several other house elves squeaking in fright and worry at their mistreated friend.
"Bastio!" Thea called out, stepping towards the fallen elf only to cower back at her father's voice.
"Never have I been so disappointed," Roman Mnemosyne said lowly, the ire in his eyes betraying the calm of his voice.
"It's a disgrace is what it is," Appollonia, always more explosive than her husband, "How could our breeding turn out such a wretch?"
Thea kept close to the bookcase, eyes trained on her mother lest the woman catch her with another blow, "I'm sorry to have disappointed you, mother, father."
"You've done more than that," Roman said sighed, "This blemish will surely effect our standing with Abraxas and the Lestranges."
"Months of careful planning," Appollonia exclaimed, "All that work, all that effort, and you might have thrown it all away in an instant!"
Roman raised a hand, silencing his wife, "Now, now, Appollonia, the situation may be salvageable. After all, it was technically self defense…"
"Self-defense against a creature left there by the esteem Salazar Slytherin himself!" Appollonia squawked, eyes bulging and fists clenched, "She helped defeat the very creature he bestowed upon the world to wipe out the impure, she destroyed it!" She advanced on her daughter as she said the last part, spittle flying from her lips.
Thea winced and turned her head away. She had known coming home to her parents would be a mistake, but she hadn't been given much choice in the matter. As her parents, it was acceptable for them to demand her return from school, fully within their rights to fetch her at a moment's notice.
It was only too predictable that the very gift that had helped her out over the year with her friends would be the curse her mother wielded to weaponized against her. No sooner had her parents started their onslaught of questions did her mum's own serendipity come into play, the volatile woman blasting apart Thea's school trunk in frustration and sending things flying. Only one paper was untouched, mystifyingly, magically.
Her mother still clutched that paper in her hand, the notes and theories on the Chamber of Secrets written in Thea's handwriting, smeared and smudged in the crinkled parchment. It had only taken that paper to undue any convincing the Headmaster had done with his cover story. Thea was given no time to brace herself for the veritaserum her father forced down her throat.
Then they knew everything.
"To be fair, my sweet," Roman said, the endearing term a mockery as neither had love for the other, "It was that pitiful boy who killed the beast. Thea was little more than an…inconvenience for the creature."
"She helped those children," Appollonia shouted, pointing a shaking finger at her daughter, "The basilisk would still be alive if she hadn't intervened. The glorious Salazar Slytherin's legacy destroyed and for what? Some mudbloods and a halfbreed? A werewolf and some blood traitors?"
"I was just trying to save my friends!" Thea pleaded impassionedly.
"You spit on your family's name!" Appollonia roared, drawing her wand. Slicing it through the air, she opened a gash up on Thea's arm, relishing in her child's gasp of pain as the girl dropped to her knees.
"You were always a weak minded girl, Theadosia," Appollonia sneered, "Fragile; easily broken, so hard to believe you came from your father and me."
"We had hoped being sorted into Slytherin was a sign there was still something of worth in you," Roman said imperiously, "At least there you would be surrounded by the 'right sort'. But even there you failed; allying yourself with the likes of that Serapuem cur, and those ill-bred friends of hers."
"Don't talk about Simone that way," Thea said angrily, but her parents ignored her.
"She's even friends with that Snape boy," Appollonia hissed, "The very boy who turned his back on true greatness, on a new world. He could have been a part of something great and he threw it all away. All for some Mudblood harlot."
Thea mustered as much hatred as she could into her glare, "Leave Severus and Lily out of this."
"Lily," Appollonia mused with a cruel chuckle, "It has a name, does it? How quaint."
"You don't even know any muggleborns," Thea said heatedly, "Who are you to judge any of them?"
A blast hit the shelf behind her, raining books and charred paper down over Thea.
"I know enough to know their scum!" Appollonia sneered, wand still raised, "Wretched, lowly creatures, unfit to wield the magic we were ordained by blood to hold. What right do they have to our power, to our world? They'll only taint it."
So enraged was she, Appollonia sent a curse at the house elves gathered nervously in the doorway, causing them to shriek with alarm and scatter, the unlucky few being felled by a wave of pain.
"Stop!" Thea demanded, tears gathering in her eyes, "They've got nothing to do with this; you're angry at me!"
"I'm angry at the failure you've become," Appollonia screamed, slamming Thea into the wall with a hex, uncaring of her daughter's tears, "And stop fawning over these lesser creatures!"
"There are only two sides in this war, Thea," Roman drawled, "Ours and theirs. You cannot truly hope to survive amongst that trash; not with all we can offer you. The choice is yours."
"I…" Thea stammered, "I choose.."
"We have little time to waste if we are to fix things, Roman," Appollonia interjected, "Rabastan is unlikely to want a bride who stands in the way of his Master."
"Which is why we keep what we know a secret, dear,' Roman advised, "After all, they're not privy to the truth of what went on like we are."
"I choose," Thea tried again.
"First, we must maintain that Thea had little idea of what she was facing," Roman went on, "She was dragged into that mess by her loathsome friends—whom she now sees were nothing but trouble. She faced this alleged attacker Dumbledore made up—not our Master—and the man attacked her, mistaking her for a mudblood or halfblood like hthe others, forcing Thea to defend herself."
"Y-you're not listening," Thea stuttered, "I choose—"
Roman scratched his chin, looking very pleased with himself, "Yes, we spin this as all a great misunderstanding, our daughter a victim of circumstance. Surely, Rabastan cannot fault her for trying to save herself. Not after she was placed in that very danger by those loathsome—"
"I choose them!" Thea cried out suddenly.
The room went deathly quiet.
"What was that?" Roman asked with deadly calm.
"I-I choose them," Thea said, trying to maintain her brave façade, "If it's a choice between you and my friends, I choose my friends."
Appollonia sucked in air sharply through her teeth, barring them like a crazed animal.
"You traitorous little bitch," she hissed, "Worthless…ungrateful…"
"Let the child explain herself," Roman ordered with a slight smirk. He seemed to find much amusement in Thea's attempt at bravery.
Appollonia whirled around on him, "She's sullied our name! Turned against her own parents for lowlife filth!"
She turned back towards Thea, "I won't allow it."
"Why do you care anyway," Thea challenged, "You never wanted a daughter; you've made that more than clear over the years. Hell, you didn't truly ever want children! The only reason you had one was to carry on the family name and bully for me that I wasn't born a boy!"
She glared at her father, "So disown me; cast me out. Why care where I go?"
"Because you finally have a use," Roman said simply, arms crossed.
"You mean marrying Rabastan," Thea questioned, hot angry tears spilling down her cheeks, "Is that all I am to you, some bargaining chip? Something to barter for things you find more valuable."
Roman didn't answer, but his icy gaze said all she needed to know.
Thea scrubbed a hand over eyes.
"That really is all I am to you, isn't it," she asked sorrowfully, "How can you be so cold, so heartless? What kind of parents don't love their own child?"
"Because you're a disappointment," Roman said coldly, nodding to his wife, "There is little else good in having you other than a marriage."
"If the cow's got no milk," Appollonia said with crass, wicked humor, "Then might as well sell it off for it's meat and pocket the profit."
"So I'm your sacrificial calf," Thea surmised, "No one will ally with you due to fear of our family's ability, but if you offer me up someone will bother with us if it means breeding a child that has the gift."
"It is a child's duty to obey their parents," Roman stated.
Thea glared at him, her eyes red and puffy, "Never."
"Disobedient sow!" Appollonia screeched, pointing her wand at her daughter.
A flash of red and then Thea was screaming, her voice hoarse and unfamiliar to her own ears. Pain spread out across her body in angry trails like rivets dug into the skin, like glass shoved under her nailbeds.
She had no idea when her mother lifted the curse, it could have been seconds, it could have been minutes. She'd read the pain could linger long after, so time was irrelevant.
"I won't…d-do it…" Thea wheezed out, struggling to her feet; when had she fallen to the floor? "I'll n-never marry him…"
"Impudent!" Appollonia cried, striking her daughter with another Crucio, "Insolent little whelp. This is the thanks you give us, after all we've done for you? Clothed you, fed you, given you the world. We gave you everything!"
Thea stared sadly at her mother through blearing vision, "E-except your love…"
She cried out when Appollonia stomped on her fingers, cruelly twisting a sharp-heeled shoe into flesh like stubbing out a cigarette.
"Do try to be careful with her, dear," Roman chided his wife, "Rabastan won't want her if she's disfigured."
"I'm just showing this bitch some discipline," Appollonia said dismissively, dragging her daughter up by the hair, "She'll still have all her fingers and toes when I'm done."
"You brought this on yourself," she hissed, forcing Thea to look at her, "All this pain, this suffering; that's your doing. That's what happens to ill-mannered brats. We've tried being lenient with you all these years, but I see we need to teach you the true meaning of honoring thy father and mother."
"Leniency," Thea coughed out with a harsh, mocking laugh, "Is t-that what you call it? All those hexes and curses for the slightest mistake? Being starved for days at a time because I don't have as slender a figure as you?"
She glared up at her mother, "Being locked in a closest for hours because you were tired of looking at my 'stupid face'? That's what you call lenient?"
Appollonia snarled, slamming her daughter head into the floor, "Such cheek!"
"Gentle, Appollonia," Roman reminded her, "No marks."
Appollonia sneered at her husband, "It will heal with a salve."
"Do whatever you wish with me," Thea panted, "But I'll never marry that bastard. I'd rather suffer torture a thousand times over than join a loveless marriage and wind up as cold and miserable as you two!"
Something dangerous flashed in Roman's eyes, something cold and foreboding that sent ice plummeting into the pit of Thea's stomach.
"I think you'll find you don't have much of a choice," Roman said unfeelingly.
He drew his wand, uncaring of the fearful realization that filled his daughter's eyes, "Imperio—"
"Expelliarmus!"
Roman's wand shot out of his hand as the concussive force threw him backwards.
Appollonia growled, whirling around to face her attacker, only to be blasted clean off her feet to land in a heap by her husband, "What in Salazar's name…?"
Simone stood in the doorway, wand still outstretched, an unfathomable look on her face. Eyes wide, pupils narrow pricks; her skin ashen and dull as she gazed in horror at Thea. The occasional spasm of her limbs gave her a rather unhinged appearance.
By her side stood Minks and a frail, decrepit house elf.
"Coro!" Appollonia snarled, "How dare you bring this filth here!"
She made to stand, but a snap of Coro's fingers had Appollonia and her husband bound and defenseless in an instant.
Simone stood over them, eyes dilating with rage.
"Don't you ever," she said, her voice little more than a deadly whisper. She struck Roman across the temple, kicked Appollonia in the face "Don't you ever harm her."
"S-Sim," Thea called weakly, trying and failing to stand.
As if broken from a trance at Thea's call, Sim snapped her gaze back to the fallen girl, eyes widening with worry.
"Thea!" she cried, rushing to the girl's side. She drew Thea gingerly into her arms, "I'm so sorry I didn't get here sooner. I'm so sorry…"
"It's fine," Thea said, smiling faintly, "I knew you'd come for me."
"Brazen bitch," Appollonia seethed, blood dribbling from her nose, "How dare you come here."
Simone turned to Appollonia, her eyes hardening at the sight of the vile woman.
"Yes," she said frostily, helping Thea to her feet, "How dare I intrude upon such a 'touching' family moment. Perhaps I should have knocked, would have given you time to slap some glamors on Thea and pretend everything's fine, right?"
"How we discipline our child is our business," Roman said spitefully, "You have no right to be here."
"And you!" Appollonia snapped, glaring at the house elf, "You dare to defy your masters?"
"You hurt Mistress Thea," Coro stated, her eyes cold as she looked upon the pair, "Coro raised Mistress Thea, raised her from a babe. When Coro's own baby died, Mistress Thea all she had left. You will not harm Coro's Mistress Thea."
"Of all the insubordinate garbage," Appollonia raged, struggling against her bonds, "We're your masters, your betters. I order you to release us at once!"
Coro stared down the Mistress of the house of Mnemosyne hatefully, "Coro is your house elf no more."
Appollonia gaped at her, "What did you say?"
"Coro was to be Mistress Thea's house elf to bring to Lestrange Manor," Coro informed her former masters, "Coro was signed over to Thea in preparation for wedding."
A proud smile spread over her thin, cracked lips, "Coro is Mistress Appollonia's servant no longer."
Appollonia was left speechless with indescribable fury, her face white.
Roman laughed harshly, "So you've managed to turn our House elf against us. Bravo Thea, bravo; you found a loophole to its servitude. And now what will you do, run off to your pitiful friends? Have you forgotten what I know? I'll have Dumbledore's head on a pike for his secrets."
Simone narrowed her eyes at Roman, "What are you on about?"
"They know everything, Sim," Thea admitted miserably, "They gave me veritaserum. I couldn't stop them."
"They know everything," Thea repeated, "They know about the Horcruxes. They know Remus is a werewolf."
"And your precious headmaster let one of those beasts in school," Appollonia crowed in victory, "He'll be sacked on the spot."
Thea hung her head in shame, "I'm sorry, Simone. If it hadn't been for me—"
"It's not your fault," Simone assured her, "These two are the only ones to blame."
"Perhaps our silence can be bought," Roman suggested with a smirk, "Leave Thea, and we won't say a word about your mangy friend or your beloved headmaster."
Simone carefully pushed Thea into Coro and Minks's arms, striding purposefully towards Thea's parents.
"Firstly," she said, stomping on Roman's crotch, making the man howl with pain, "Don't ever refer to Thea like she's some god damn property!"
"And second," Simone kicked Roman over, drawing her wand, "It's rather presumptuous of you to think I care a wit for that meddling old coot."
Roman wheezed, laughing as he stared down the end of Simone's wand, "And what are you going to do with that? Kill me?"
Appollonia cackled, "Think yourself brave enough to use an unforgivable, girl? Whatever would the law say about that?"
Simone glared in fury at the couple, cursing when her arm gave a random jerk.
Roman's eyes lit up in understanding, "Already experienced an unforgivable first hand, I see. Sounds like something finally gave you the lesson in manners you so rightly deserved."
"Shut up!" Simone shouted, slashing her wand jaggedly through the air.
A cut opened up along Appollonia's check, making her hiss with pain.
"You think this is funny?" Simone asked disbelievingly, "You think what you've done is a joke?"
She grabbed Appollonia by the hair, wrenching her forward.
"Look at her," she screamed, pointing at Thea as she shook Appollonia, "That's your daughter, your child. You really think there is anything justifiable about what you've done? That you're any better than the 'loathsome' muggles you hate when you go and do something this savage? That's your fucking daughter!"
"She's our burden," Appollonia grit out, "And ours to do with as we please…"
Behind Simone, Thea let out a pained, heartbroken whimper.
"You…" Simone began, shaking with fury, "You bastards!"
She slammed Appollonia to the ground, placing a foot on her head.
"Fucking heartless monsters," Simone growled, stomping down on Appollonia's back, relishing the woman's cry of pain, "Fucking monsters, the lot of you."
"Mistress, stop!" Minks pleaded, grabbing hold of Simone's arm, "Don't be stooping to their level."
Simone shook off Minks's grasp, whipping around to shoot a hex at Roman, pleased to wipe that infuriating smirk off his face.
"I'll teach you…" Simone said ominously, "I'll teach you what it's like to suffer…I'll—"
"Sim."
It was a plea from Thea that snapped her out of it, the injured girl's eyes so sad and begging.
Simone dropped her arm to her side, staring listlessly at the floor. Behind her, Simone could hear Appollonia grumbling threats at her.
Simone turned tired, anguished eyes to Roman.
"You're never going to let her go," She said, defeated, "Are you?" She turned away from Roman's grin.
"I never wanted it to come to this," Simone admitted brokenly, dragging Appollonia back over to her husband, "I never…I only ever wanted to do what's right…"
"You drove me to this," Simone told them, staring sorrowfully down at the pair, "Everything I've stood for…everything I am and you're making me break my own promises."
Simone pointed her wand at Roman.
"I didn't want to do this," she whispered, tears welling in her eyes, "For years I told myself there were other ways, that you could be reasoned with. I never, ever wanted to believe that someone as wonderful as Thea could have such awful people as her parents."
"But you proved me wrong," she said sadly, "There isn't a middle ground with you, is there? No reasoning with you, no playing to your compassion or mercy. You have none."
"I never wanted to break my promise," Simone admitted, "I told myself I would never stoop so low, that I'd stick to my principals…but I can't...I can't let you…"
Simone leveled her wand squarely between Roman's eyes.
"…Oblivate…"
Woo, pretty heavy stuff here.
Not going to lie, the line Thea gives her parent about having everything except their love came from one of those youtube sad multifandom videos of various series sad moments complied together around one central theme.
So I hope that chapter wasn't too triggering for anyone. Admittedly, it was difficult to write. My parents have never been my abusers, but I did live with my abuser so some of this content wasn't easy to write. The knowledge that some people will always play the wronged party no matter how much they hurt you is always hard to live with, even harder to convey.
Simone faced a hard decision in this chapter. Looks like the time Severus warned her of has come to pass; eventually, she had to face a time where her principals would be challenged and she'd have to decide who to handle it.
review please :)