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t h i r d y e a r
OVER the summer before their third year at Hogwarts began, Draco Malfoy and Adeline Levier barely saw each other. They had both been instructed by their parents to stay home and stay on top of their studies, to read every book in their respective houses and to memorise their family history.
The latter task came easier for Draco than it had Adeline but she was still sure to read through every secret textbook that had never left the hands of her family.
The Levier/Laelia history was not to be spoken of outside their manor walls and to have such a thing in writing was practically forbidden. It was the best-kept secret, locked away with curses and dark magic.
That seemed to an ongoing theme in her lineage; black magic. Adeline had wept when she read about her family's part in the creation of the Unforgivable Curses, finding that their own magic had been the backbone of such destruction.
Lillian and Elias Levier were more strict now. They watched her relentlessly and barely let her walk through their gardens.
They wanted her to learn and to practice. They wanted to control her and to fill her with their own beliefs and religion.
For her birthday Adeline had been gifted a family heirloom - one of the first she had ever received. It was a dagger with intricate designs surrounding the family crest. An orchid impaled by a dagger and wrapped in serpents. Terribly inviting.
The weapon also had their motto inscribed into the blade.
Et une orchidée sur tes lévres et l'obsurité tombe
During her studies she had come across the Laelia motto, Latin words scribbled in old ink on cream parchment. It had later been translated into French to best fit their transition.
Cadit et labia tua et tenebrae super orchita
They had been separate in her mind as if they were two different families but over the summer they had entwined together, the history of Laelia's and Levier's coming together.
The dagger lay in her hands now, cold against her skin and oddly light. It felt akin to a feather. Adeline couldn't imagine it ever hurting anyone. Her finger glided against the blade to the tip.
A small gasp escaped her lips as it draw blood.
Her breath fogged up the window before her, afternoon sun gliding over the gardens below.
Adeline pinched her thumb and forefinger together, sliding the blood over her skin. It was a dark red with a twinge of murky brown. Her brows knotted in confusion as she reached for the hankerchief beside her.
She ought to tell her uncle about this, surely he should know what's going on.
Arthur wasn't here this evening though, not to her surprise. Her parents wouldn't want him here with everyone else, just like all the other events over the summer.
