Author's Note: Read Carefully. There are anagrams, hidden symbols, etc.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or the majority of the characters in this fic.

Thanks to: pandaforever for character concept art, NiceSlytherin for help with Aquila's character, and ES for editing.

They come for me at 12:37 AM, four minutes after the murder. I think I might be crying when they find me, but I'm not sure. I hear the MOM wizards' voices.

"Miss Riddle?" and I think that that is my name, so I nod my head. They help me pack my bags, and I sit in the car while we wait for Draco. He comes twenty-one minutes later and his eyes are red. Astoria and Scorpius aren't with him. He holds my hand, and I cry, but I stop after exactly an hour, because I'm only allowed one hour of crying every year. I was stupid to use it all at once. They drive me to Auntie Andie's house, and I only know that because I hear them talking. I guess that's not too surprising, but I wish that I could live with Draco instead. Except that I know that he has no room for me in his life, and I don't think that he likes me that much either. We say goodbye in the car.

Auntie Andie is not like Pippa. She is stern with fierce brown eyes as opposed to the soft blue ones that I had grown so used to. They say she is like my mother.

She shows me to my room: an ugly pinkish color, the white below cracking through in more than a few places. I think I will re-paint it green when I have time. I sigh and start to unpack. First comes my makeup bag which I arrange neatly in one of the dresser drawers. I look up into the tarnished mirror, hardly visible behind the thick stratum of dust clinging to the surface. Two figures stare back at me from the murky glass. Two? I swivel around and knock over two shampoo bottles in the process. Graceful.

The boy in the doorframe has bright purple hair and golden eyes. And he's mad.

"So you're the bludger whose parents are responsible for my family's death." I know immediately who the boy is. My cousin Nymphadora's son Edward.

"Aquila Bay Riddle," I say, mockingly offering him my hand.

Before I can figure out what has happened, I am against the wall, head against smashed glass. My hand comes away wet. I am bleeding.

"You—" I trail off as the world lurches and my knees give way. He leaves with a satisfied smirk on his face. I cry until my vision goes black, which I'm guessing is another half hour. Half an hour subtracted from next year.

I wake up in a bed to the sound of screaming. Andromeda's voice, by the sound of it. My sweatshirt and jeans have been removed, replaced by warm linen pajamas and there is a dull throbbing in my skull. Curious, I ease myself out of the sheets and tiptoe to the door. It is definitely Auntie Andie screaming.

—can't believe you almost killed her! She's family— and even if she wasn't—"

"Family," scoffs Edward, "they disowned you. We are not their family."

They go into a wave of incomprehensible shouts. After a while, I return to the bed and fall asleep.

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