Update: Sorry about this guys. Somethings in this chapter didn't match up. It's the summer before their 6th year, not a few days before Christmas. It has also been brought to our attention that Victoire's name has been spelled wrong this whole time. We'll keep that in mind from now on, and fix everything eventually. Wynn's chapter will be posted soon.

Disclaimer: We do not, and never will own the rights to any familiar characters or original Harry Potter world ideas. They belong respectively to the original author, J.K. Rowling.

23 June 2014

Hogwarts Express/Kings Cross Station, London

Platform 9 ¾

The remainder of the school year was uneventful save for the general widespread panic over our O.W.L.s. I had made an O in all of my exams except for charms. The E was satisfactory, but I was going to get one hell of a punishment from my grandmother. It was hard, trying to accept the fact that I'd never be good enough for her, which was one of the many reasons Caesar admitted to leaving. The talk I had with him on Halloween cleared up a lot of stale air that had developed between us, but it still didn't clarify the question I needed the answer to. Why did she do it? What was our grandmother's goal in trying to turn us into monsters? I suppose she was the only person who could answer that.

Which is why I've been building up the courage to confront her.

I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to do it. The only person I had mentioned it to was Liera, who informed me that there were plenty of spare bedrooms I could stay in should things go south. When challenging my grandmother, it was almost a guarantee things would spiral downward. I wasn't sure I was ready for it, but one look at all of my uncanny friends' smiling faces, reminded me that I couldn't let things go back to the way they use to be. Within these four people I had found a home, and I wasn't willing to give that up.

A hand in front of my face pulled me out of my head.

"Hey, shortstack, welcome back to the land of the living," Teddy grinned, throwing himself back down on the seat across from me. I scowled at the familiar nickname, but didn't comment. It would only bait him further.

Liera peered over at me from my side, "You sure you're okay? You've been kinda spacey all day."

She was right, but I wasn't the only one stuck in my head. Wynn had been acting strange since he got back from Christmas break, stammering when I talked to him, finding excuses not to be left alone with me. When we were alone, he seemed to be struggling with something, almost ready to burst at the seams with whatever he was keeping bottled up inside. I'd confronted him on several occasions, but he conveniently always had somewhere to be. It wasn't until these past two days that he almost seemed to be completely withdrawing from me.

"It's nothing. I'm fine."

Except it's not nothing, and he isn't fine. He was going to tell me before we left the train station, even if I had to drag it out of him.

The Hogwarts Express pulled into Kings Cross Station sometime later, the platform already bursting with activity. We all rushed off the train in search of our trunks and our animals, and Teddy, Victorie, and Liera all waved goodbye as they ran off to find their parents. I stayed behind as Wynn waited on his trunk to be thrown down, Ryuu already coiled comfortably across his shoulders.

Figuring that this was a better time than ever I blurted, "So, are you going to tell me what's on your mind, or are you just going to leave things the way they are between us before we head off to summer break?"

His shoulders tensed, and a muscle jumped in his jaw. The silence between us stretched on until I was sure he wouldn't answer. When he finally did, his voice was tight. "That's the thing. There isn't anything between us."

Fear wrapped my heart in its icy embrace, bringing it to a stuttering halt, "W-what?"

He groaned, passing a hand over his face, as if realizing the absurdity of his statement. "I didn't mean it like that. I-" he took a breath, and then another, preparing himself for something. When he looked me in the eyes, my heart resumed beating, except this time at a faster pace, as if trying to make up for the blood it stopped pumping moments ago. Those smiling eyes filled with determination, turning ice blue to steel as he stepped towards me.

"I'm in love with you."

This time when my heart stopped beating, my lungs forgot how to intake oxygen, which was responsible for sending that oxygen to my brain. Maybe that's why I was standing here staring at him like a fool. He...was in love with me?

"You, um, what?" I stuttered, completely thrown off. His confession was unexpected. How long had he felt this way? Why did he feel this way? I'd never given him any reason to love me. This was impossible!

"I'm in love with you, and I think I have been since the first time I heard you laugh."

I wanted to think on this. I wanted to know more, but before I could even ask a question, the familiar voice of my grandmother filled my ears.

"Circe! Who is this boy? Merlin forbid, he's wearing a Hufflepuff scarf. Don't tell me this is the half blood Lennox told me about? I thought I told you to stay away from his kind!"

She towered over me in her six inch pumps and pants suit, making me feel as small as I always did when I screwed up detrimentally at some important party or gala. I was in for it, and unless I denounced Wynn now, there was no imagining what kind of punishment she'd inflict upon me.

"Stupid, insolent girl! I raised you with more standards, and you betray me by consorting with street rats? You're no better than your good for nothing brother. Ungrateful bastards." She grabbed my arm, her perfectly manicured nails digging into my forearm roughly and whispered into my ear, "Just wait until we get home. I'll have you begging for mercy by the time I finish teaching you a lesson. If you insist befriending filth, I'll treat you like filth. Say goodbye to your disgusting toy, and if you ever talk to him again, I'll do far more than disown you. Do I make myself clear?"

I should stick up for him. This was my chance to fight back, but with every whispered syllable, she rekindled the flames of fear. She was my worst nightmare, and I wasn't strong enough to face her yet.

Forgive me Wynn. I'm a bloody coward.

When she let go of me and stared at me impatiently, I turned to him, fighting back tears and resisting the urge to rub my throbbing arm. "She's right. You're no good for me. I'm a pureblood, and you're a half blood. Nothing can ever become of us. I'm not even sure why I became friends with you."

That determination flickered out like a blown candle, and torment shattered across his eyes, "You don't mean that."

I took a deep breath in, and channelled that girl he met in Herbology third year. The girl I hid behind for so long. Indifference settled itself across my features, and it's cold metallic bite felt nothing like the homecoming I had expected. "I do mean it. I suppose you were only a charity case, but that's over now. I can't have your kind dirtying up my spotless reputation. I hope for your sake that we never directly cross paths again."

I didn't wait for him to respond. I just grabbed my grandmother's hand as she apparated out, and resisted every cell in my body that told me to look back.

1 August 2014

Wiltshire, England

Malfoy Manor

The gala was in full swing at the Malfoy Manor, and while it was nothing short of beautiful, it was the last place I wanted to be. I was stuck at my grandmother's side for the first hour, smiling and charming my way around the room, giving compliments to everyone one their extravagant dresses and acting modest but contradicting it with subtle boasting when receiving them. Induce envy, my grandmother told me before we arrived. Demand admiration. Envy must never douce admiration, only fuel it.

With long cascading curls, and a dress fit for a queen, I'm sure I was a sight to behold. Yet every time I looked in the mirror, the sparkle of the wealth I represented made me sick. Thank Salazar for Liera, who pulled me away to the second floor. She was a sight to behold in a black ballgown with lace sleeves, black hair done up in an intricate braid. We sat on the floor with plates of food on our laps and heels discarded into some corner. This had become somewhat of a tradition at every gala or ball in the past three years after she guilt tripped the young Malfoy boy, Scorpios, into showing us this place. It was empty save for the plush red carpeting and forgotten grand piano. Liera often played it if we didn't have much to talk about, but she had different plans this year.

"Victoire tells me you and Wynn aren't speaking."

The statement made me tense. I had been trying not to think about him all summer, and yet he was all I could think about. "We aren't."

"Why?" She inquired, staring at me with sharp, blue eyes. "Is it because of your grandmother?"

Sometimes I forgot how observant Liera was, and I turned my eyes away from her searching ones. A useless effort, seeing as my body language already answered her question. "It doesn't matter."

"But it does matter. What happened?"

Such a broad question. Where did I start? His confession? My grandmother's sudden appearance? My bloody cowardice? "Everything went to hell, that's what happened. Wynn is in love with me. Did you know that? He's in love with me, and he told me right before my grandmother showed up. I'm not even sure what I was going to say to him, but it didn't matter. She started insulting him, and then she compared me to Caesar. She threatened me, told me I'd better break ties with him, so I did because I'm a coward." It felt good to tell her, but it didn't release the weight that had settled itself across my shoulders.

Liera, for all her quirky, bubbly characteristics, could easily be the most understanding person I knew. "I've known Wynn was in love with you. Honestly, it wasn't that hard to tell, but somehow you've been completely oblivious to how much he truly cares for you." I started to respond, but she wasn't finished. "I also think you've been oblivious to your own feelings as well."

That was a surprise. "My own feelings?"

"Yes," she huffed, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Maybe it's not love, but you can't deny that what you feel for him goes against everything you've been raised to believe."

"I-I don't, it isn't-" I stuttered before she cut me off.

"It isn't like that? I think it is. Put aside what happened at the train station, and tell me what goes through your head when you're around Wynn. Tell me exactly what your heart does when he's near."

I looked at her for a long time, sifting back through every moment I shared with Wynn. In the beginning it was all frustration and prejudice, but somewhere between third and fourth year he grew on me, became more than just the annoyingly determined halfblood Hufflepuff. He became a friend I could rely on, a secret keeper I could confide in, and a pair of arms I could feel safe in. "What I feel is so hard to explain. It isn't just one thing, it's a collection of things," I began slowly.

"When I'm around him, I suddenly feel lighter, as if his presence alone removes some invisible burden I carry. When he smiles at me, it chases away the darkness in my head, and sometimes I forget who I am, even if it's just for a moment. Sometimes he's makes me feel so frustrated, like when he and Teddy tease me about my height or when he doesn't tell me something that's on his mind. When we're alone and he get's lost inside his head, I find myself wanting to crawl inside his mind and see what he sees. When he's angry, his eyes cloud over, and everything in me screams to comfort him. Sometimes my heart is calm, but sometimes it beats wildly, like if it beat any harder it'd fall right out of my chest. I don't have butterflies or fuzzy feelings, but I do feel safe. That's something I've never felt with anyone."

Liera's smile was so wide, it almost stretched right off her face. "Are you hearing yourself?" she asked earnestly.

I was, and she was right. Maybe it wasn't love, but it was something. Maybe one day it could be love, but it wouldn't be that way if I didn't act. "How are you always the one to help me realize the truth?"

She laughed, "What kind of friend would I be if I didn't knock some sense into you from time to time?"

We made our way down the stairs shortly after, and I was immediately confronted by my grandmother. She questioned where I had gone, scolded me for abandoning her side, and all the while something angry was stirring beneath my chest. My whole life I was cowering behind a locked door that McGonagall and Caesar had helped me find the key to, but Liera was brave enough to force my hand upon the knob. As that door slowly crept open, my anger, resentment, and exhaustion towards my grandmother poured out into a single phrase.

"Shut up."

She jerked back slightly, as if I'd struck her. Her gray eyes widened, and her mouth fell open. I'd seen my my grandmother angry, bitter, conniving, and emotionless, but I'd never seen her startled. "What?"

Slowly, that face morphed into hard lined lips, sharp narrowed eyes, and clenched jaw. This was the face I had backed down from my entire life. This was the face that haunted my dreams. I would not back down from it anymore. "Shut up. I don't care."

A stream of fire whipped itself across my cheek as her hand hit me so hard I saw stars. The resounding crack of skin on skin contact echoed across the room, and all eyes turned to face us. Not wanting to risk anymore of her reputation, she grabbed my wrist in a crushing grip before apparating out as quickly as she could. She threw me to the floor the minute we appeared in the sitting room. "Do you have anything to say for yourself? Look what you've done! You're mouth will cost me!" The fire burning in her eyes only fueled the blaze within me. I picked myself up off the floor.

"Your reputation is of little consequence to me anymore. I'm sick of being your bargaining chip. I'm sick of being your trophy. You've screwed with my head and my life for far too long, and I won't stand for it anymore!"

"You'll do whatever I tell you to do, or I'll disinherit you the same way I did you're good for nothing brother!"

I laughed humorlessly, "You think money matters to me? You think I'm proud of the Rosier name? You and my parents defiled it when you killed people in that bastard's name. You defiled it when you poured darkness into my head!"

"You were born of darkness, my girl. Those dementors stole your soul before you even entered this world!" She taunted, but this time I knew they were lies.

"No man can live without a soul, grandmother. Only fools believe otherwise. I may have been born into darkness, but I have the choice to walk in the light. I won't follow you into your hatred and bigotry. I won't be your puppet anymore!"

Anger smeared across her features like black paint, and she grabbed my arm again. I cried out in pain as she dug her nails into my forearm. "You're head has been filled with lies from that filthy half blood and that disgusting school. I should have sent you to Beauxbatons when I had the chance. You won't defy me. I'll break you until every last thread of rebellion has been severed from your mind. I'll destroy you from the inside out, until all that's left is an empty shell."

She's strong, a lot stronger than me, and she drug me up the stairs kicking and screaming. I was facing my worst nightmare. When she threw me in the broom closet and locked the door, I feared I had lost.

She left me in here all night. I sobbed, beat against the door, screamed, swore. It was no use. I couldn't sleep away the time either. There was barely enough room to sit down, and my dress made it impossible to get comfortable. Regardless of the bruises marring my skin and the violent throbbing in my head, not even a night locked in this closet made me regret anything I'd said last night. I was determined, powerful, and free. The darkness in my head still lingered, but that could be dealt with later. With my biggest fear faced, all I needed to do now was get to Wynn.

Suddenly, as if Salazar himself heard my pleas, the door clicked open, and a pair of large eyes stared up at me warily. I almost didn't believe it, "Hispy?" Hispy the horrible house elf stood there with a key in her hand, and moved out of the way, gesturing for me to leave the closet. "Why?"

"The young mistress has been nothing but kind to me, even when Hispy was bad. Hispy can't stand by and watch young mistress suffer anymore."

After everything, I couldn't stop the tears that flooded my eyes, "Thank you."

If Hispy was unlocking the door, that meant my grandmother was away. This was my chance to get out, so I wasted no time in rushing to my room to pack. Once I had a charmed bag stuffed with all of the things I needed or couldn't leave behind, I picked up Eris, who purred happily at my arrival, and made my way down the stairs to the fireplace. Hispy was waiting for me, the floo powder that was usually locked away in her hand.

"Hispy will accept punishment happily knowing that young mistress is safe." She told me, handing over the pot. I couldn't let the house elf's act of kindness go unrewarded, and I needed one last metaphorical middle finger to my grandmother. The sock that dangled from my hand would do the trick. Hispy spluttered out in surprise, but I didn't let her thank me.

"Consider this my thank you for helping me get to safety. Your freedom is long overdo."

With that final parting I shouted my destination into the green flames.

Forewarning, Circe's hidden personality is only just appearing. Be prepared for mild or severe shocks. Also remember she's never been able to truly be herself. It might appear unrealistic until you think about the mind control her dear gran put her through.