Athene hurried through the streets of London. Her long, blonde hair was twisted into a pony tail at the back of her head. She wore a muggle jacket, with the hood up, and jeans that had become stained with blood as she had pushed herself through the night. It was getting light and the daytime meant that she was easier to find. It had been only two days since she had fled Malfoy Manor.

She had left at midnight and wrote no note, by now she was sure that Narcissa would be beyond herself with worry, and that Lucius would have informed the Dark Lord that his wandless magic expert had fled. She only hoped that her father would not assume that her mother knew of her whereabouts. Narcissa was as good as dead if Lucius or the Dark Lord suspected that. She pushed any thoughts of her parents, or indeed the Dark Lord, out of her mind and hurried through puddles with her wand tightly gripped in her right hand. Athene reminded herself that it was Draco she was doing this for. Her younger brother who was only in his fifth year at Hogwarts, her younger brother who the dark lord planned to make a murderer out of. Voldemort had already done that with the twenty year old woman, she wouldn't let the same happen to her fifteen year old brother.

12 Grimmauld Place was not somewhere that she was familiar with. Dumbledore had mentioned the location to her in a meeting in her final year at Hogwarts, where they had discussed her future as a witch. Perhaps he knew that it would come to this for her. Athene knew that the house had once been in her mother's family and, since the location had never been mentioned or visited, she assumed that it must be owned by a disgraced member of her family, Such as Andromeda Tonks, or perhaps Sirius Black. Truthfully, Athene had not had any contact with either. She knew that Andromeda had a daughter who was also in her early twenties. She was a few years ahead of her at Hogwarts and was sorted into Hufflepuff. Sirius however, was ten to fifteen years her senior. He was never spoken of. Her mother and her aunt hated the man. He was a Gryffindoor, so Athene thought that there was certainly some logic to that hatred. Although Sirius was potentially dangerous and the complete opposite of herself, she felt that he could be the greatest help to her. He too had escaped the toxicity of the Malfoy/ Black family when he was younger, and he too had had a younger brother who was enraptured by the pureblood supremacy and darkness which shrouded her.

As she got closer to Grimmauld place, Athene prayed that whoever was inside the house would understand her situation and embrace her into the other side. If not, she was as good as dead. As was Draco.

Two and a half years before

Athene sat at the Slytherin table beside Marcus Flint, and her best friend Ashley Smith. Opposite her was Adrian Pucey and Celine Nott. She had grown up with these Slytherins, her and Ashley had become best friends on their very first train ride to Hogwarts, and now, here they were in their last year together. Athene was not usually one for silly sentiments, but as Ashley blabbered along about her plans to begin her training at St Mungo's, she couldn't help but smile slightly. She knew that Adrian, another of her close friends, planned to play Quidditch professionally, he really was very talented and she looked forward to watching him play.

The boy had begun to inquire about Athene's post-Hogwarts plans and she bit her tongue. Truly, she had no idea what her life held. The summer before her seventh year had been made up of intense 'training' sessions with her father. She had bruises covering her body and was sure that there were scars on her body that would not heal due to the dark magic he had forced her to endure. Her parents insisted that the year after she finishes school would be huge for her, apparently there was a role already lined up for her in the wizarding world. Lucius had given her the instructions to continue working on her wandless magic, she knew that her skills were valuable to her father and so she had no doubt that she would become his puppet, just as her mother was. Just as she conjured up some pointless bullshit for Pucey, the sarcastic drawl of Draco Malfoy could be heard from the end of the Slytherin table.

"Potter?" She heard Draco snap. Athene rolled her eyes. Her brother was obsessed with this boy. In all of his two years at Hogwarts, all he ever seemed to do was torment him.

"Is it true you fainted?"

Athene smirked at that. She too had heard that the great Harry Potter, the boy who lived, had fainted at the sight of dementors on the train. She caught Harry's eye and put her hand against her forehead and mocked a faint.

"Shove off Malfoys." The Weasley boy snarled.

Athene laughed melodiously and shot a mischievous wink at her brother who had already gotten back to eating his apple. She wasn't sure why she hated Harry Potter so, but from a young age, despite his multiple mentions in various wizarding books, her parents had taught her to hate him and so, she did.

The sorting ceremony dragged, which after seven years of sitting through it, had become standard practice. Athene was desperate to go to bed. Her body stung and her head killed. For once it would be nice to go to sleep without her wand under her pillow (you never really would know when Lucius would want to start a new training session).But of course, something dragged Athene away from her much awaited evening of relaxation. Practically as soon as she had made it through the portrait hole and into the common room, she was grabbed by Marcus Flint and Celine Nott and dragged to one side.

The two Slytherins were aligned to her in every way. They were rich, they were pureblood, and their families lived to please Lucius. Apparently, they too had seen a darker side to their parents over summer but, whilst Athene feared it, they relished in it.

As Athene was pushed towards her wandless magic, Celine was told to further work on her seeing skills. Although she was not yet a full blown seer, she was certainly well on the way. Seeing was such a rare skill that she was sure that there was something very specific which Celine was needed for. She said that her parents told her that the gift would put her in 'good favour' with 'high up wizards', whatever that meant. Flint, on the other hand, was being pushed to further research dark potion making. His skill in the subject was unmatched, (making him an obvious favorite of Professor Snape), and he too had been reassured that his achievements would earn him a place among important people. Athene knew that her friends were destined for success. They were, after all, part of the sacred twenty eight, but then and again, so were the Weasleys. Points such as this were what made Athene question whether the blood supremacy which had been so vehemently drilled into her actually meant anything.

"It's intense, isn't it?" Said Celine.

"What is?"

"All this 'dark' wizard stuff," she said, motioning with her fingers. "I mean, we've never said it out loud but lets not fuck around, that's what it is."

Athene breathed in harshly. Her and her friends had never discussed such topics, it had always been assumed, but swept under the rug. Of course she knew that her father was a dark wizard, after all, she was sure that a good one wouldn't practice unforgivable curses on his daughter.

Flint spoke next.

"Well, it's necessary isn't it?"

Athene looked at him, confused. "How do you mean?"

"My parents always say that we're a cut above the rest," he begun, motioning at the three of them. "And, I mean, we are aren't we? We're Slytherin, we're pureblood and we're wealthy. Why shouldn't we control the wizarding world?"

Athene and Celine looked shocked, they had never spoke so openly about such topics. As Athene stayed quiet, Celine began to nod, looking as if something had just fallen into place for her.

"You're right Marcus, I just don't love the idea of having my future decided for me."

"Well Celly, you ought to be more grateful to your parents and to your status. Who knows how hard finding a job would be for you? After all, your only skills are divination really, you'd end up being a professor at this pathetic excuse for a school."

Celine rolled her eyes and laughed as Athene smirked along with her. She knew when to bite her tongue. It had once been Athene's dream to be a Defense against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts, simply due to her love for the subject. That was when she was young and naive. With a name like Malfoy, a simple, enjoyable job was never on the cards.

Athene broke away from Flint and Nott. She couldn't deny that her name and status had let her glide through life with ease, but sometimes she found herself envying the likes of Ashley and Adrian. Neither were part of the sacred twenty eight. Ashley, she thought, was a halfblood from a not very prominent family, which meant that she was free to live whatever life she pleased. She wasn't sure on Adrian's blood status but assumed that it was pure due to the time that his family had spent with the Flint's. But he too was allowed to follow his own dreams and make a future for himself.

She would never be so lucky.