Betting on Venus | book I

Chapter 1 | Venus

You'll be alright with your cousin, yeah," my mum, better known in the muggle and wizarding world as "The Queen of Supermodels, Raina Milan," cooed distractedly.  It certainly helped that she was half Veela.

"Sure mum," I sighed as I anxiously shifted from one foot to the other.

"You know this isn't your fault, right," my da, Aiden Diggory asked softly as he squeezed my shoulder.  My da was an internationally celebrated Quidditch star.  He had originally started on the Kenmare Kestrals as a Keeper.

Known as the league's best Keeper, not to mention popular and married to my mum, the American team, the Firebird Furies, snatched him up for an exorbitant price.  What they hadn't counted on was my mum "getting bored" and "missing home" enough to cheat on my da with a fellow model.

"Obviously," I muttered.  "I wasn't the one caught doing some rando."

"Venus," mum shrieked, faux shocked, as she literally clutched her designer pearls.

"She's not wrong," my dad bitterly taunted.

My mum gasped, eyes wide.  "Aiden," she cried, as she pasted an injured look to her unnaturally gorgeous face.

"You were the one carless enough to let our daughter walk in on you cheating on me," he hissed through gritted teeth.

"It was five years ago, when are you going to let it go," she demanded tearfully.

"You mean that you started to see him regularly five years ago.  You only stopped cheating two months ago - when I had finally caught you in the act."

Mum opened her mouth to retort.

"No, I'm not done.  You just had to rope my innocent daughter into this, didn't you?"

I simply rolled my eyes as I slumped further down in my seat.  "Why do I always feel like the only adult here," I muttered angrily as I folded my arms.

"Our daughter Aiden, ours," she hissed, ignoring me.

This was beyond embarrassing.

I was currently at my cousin's home, avoiding eye contact with Amos, as his mom gently rubbed my back while his father glared at my parents.

"I think it's time for the two of ya to leave now," he said quietly.

"Mind your business Liam," my mother hissed.

"I'll rephrase that; get out of my home.  You've hurt my niece enough - you may both come back when you act your age.  Leave!"

I shrunk into my aunt Ciara's side as she wrapped her arm around me while shooting a glare towards my parents.

There were a few moments silence as my father and uncle stared each other down.

"Fine," my da snapped.  "Let's leave Venus to settle in.  We'll finish this elsewhere."

She burst into tears as she flung herself towards me, my aunts shuffling to the side just in time.

"Oh, my poor, beautiful angel, I'll miss you so," she cried as she dramatically dabbed at her eyes while simultaneously crushing me.

"Your crushing me," I moaned, her silvery-blond hair covering my face.

"So dramatic," she crooned with one last squeeze before gracefully rising to her feet. "Au revoir, tu vas me manquer," she murmured before apparating away with a loud crack.

There was a brief moment of silence as my da watched me sadly, hands shoved into his pockets.  "It's for the best angel," he sighed.  "Come give me one last hug before I go, yeah?"