From the Stars to the Stars → Draco Malfoy

xxxvii. Ophiuchus

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     Bearing the name Mikaelson was more than a burden.

      People talked and people stared. Orion Mikaelson had had a pep talk one too many times with her mother about how people were going to stare–even talk and point, when they went out. It never really bothered her, people could look for all she cared, but by the age of seven Orion realised it wasn't the good kind of attention, people looked and talked; most of them had a look on their face as if they were starstruck, the rest were usually terrified or full of resentment.

     By the age of seven Orion finally understood why people did what they did, there was nothing normal about her life. Being held by a bunch of witches of New Orleans when she barely reached the age of two months, having them almost slit her ribcage open with a dagger full of venom and poison, was not normal. Having her great-aunt reincarnated from her thousand years slumber to kidnap Orion because she bore this great power for being the firstborn in her generation's family line was not normal. Catching her father and uncle in her holiday house's dungeon with their enemies' heads all over the floor was not normal. Nothing about her life and the name she carried was normal.

     Even in school, people talked and stared; she was just lucky enough that she stepped into Hogwarts in the same year as the boy who defeated Voldemort, and the attention immediately shifted to him. It took her almost two months to have other students from other Houses–than Ravenclaw and Slytherin–to talk to her and found out that she was actually pleasant to be with.

     It's almost like carrying the Mikaelson name came with the sins from everyone before her. She had to shoulder every sin that her family had done to more than half of the student ancestors' in school, it's not their fault that they were wary with her sitting in Transfiguration class with them when all their lives they had heard about the story of how the Mikaelsons had tortured their grand-grand father.

     The Mikaelson family was evil.

     That was how everyone perceived her family, and if she was honest, Orion didn't really mind. It saved her time from having to act all lovey-dovey with everyone who wouldn't even bother to actually talk to her before they came to the conclusion that Orion was just as bad as how people perceived her family.

     When talking about family, Orion couldn't help but feel how sacred the conversation was, which was why she always preferred when Hadria would tell stories about his family rather than her. She liked hearing him talking about his family and how normal it actually sounded. The topic of family was usually what she would always try to avoid when talking to someone, even when she's trying her best to open up to them.

     Despite the fact that Orion spent a good amount of time in Hadria's arms, either cuddling him or kissing him, Hadria knew nothing about her. He had told her that he wanted to know more about her, wanted to know how she took her coffee or which type of sweets she would take if it was her last day on earth. Orion nodded, telling him that she would try to open up more to him, but she knew better than anyone how it was just a sweet little white lie.

     That was just the armour that Orion chose since she was little, opening up to someone meant stripping the rose petals that she had tried so hard to protect, there was always a reason why roses came with thrones.

     Orion was not ready to let someone pluck the thrones just yet, no one seemed to be worthy enough for that, and funnily enough, not even Hadria Shafiq.

     "What do you think about the DA so far?" Hadria asked Orion, cutting up the pancake on his plate as his coffee-brown eyes were on the girl in front of him.