Victoria

V

Hermione Granger

"Mother?"

From mum to mother, it was like the longest and most tedious journey completed in the most abrupt possible method.

"How many times have I told you, I am NOT your mother!" Valentina Wraith screeched at the top of her lungs, swinging her arms and widening her eyes in an almost comically exaggerated manner, and if it weren't for the fact that she had just denied Victoria the right to call her 'mother', Victoria would have laughed at the woman's hysterics.

It made the poor young child sad to not be able to hear any form of love in her mother's voice anymore. The voice that she used to think was absolutely angelic once was now reduced to something that vividly resembled the shrieking of a banshee throwing the worst temper tantrum, and it upset her to watch her estranged mother become more unrecognizable by the day.

"You will NOT call me your mother!" Valentina yelled again, grabbing her daughter's upper arm and giving it a harsh jolt, making her messy and unkept blonde hair thrash around as though it were trying to run away from Victoria's scalp, "Someone like you cannot be related to the Wraith family, do you understand that?" She growled menacingly - something that should have made a child at the tender age of six burst into fearful tears, but Victoria was quite used to it.

"I understand, Mrs. Wraith," Victoria mumbled, the tears pricking in the corners of her eyes, not because of the rage she was facing, but rather the sharpened and polished nails of 'Mrs. Wraith' that were digging into the flesh of her arm. But that was just her body's response, something that she couldn't control, like tears that filled your eyes when you yawn a bit too wide. Victoria herself wouldn't cry for such stupid things.

Valentina cleared her throat, trying to calm her angered heavy breathing as she left Victoria's arm and straightened up, "Well then, what is it you were calling me for?" She asked, dusting off her palms against her blue flowy skirt before straightening it up slightly. 

"I haven't eaten anything today," Victoria spoke quickly, her words being practiced in front of the mirror since Valentina did not like her time being wasted at the hands of the filthy little creature, as she put it, standing in front of her, "You left some fish at the door this morning, but I'm allergic to it."

Victoria wasn't allowed two meals in a day.. rather, Mrs. Wraith didn't really want to visit the girl twice in the same day, even though leaving the food outside her door and hurrying away before she opened it wasn't exactly visiting. So Valentina, after speaking to her husband about it, came up with the ingenious idea that she would give Victoria enough food in the morning itself, and then she could eat it whenever she liked.

Valentina did consider that maybe some food items may get spoilt by evening if left open, or may attract insects into the room, but then chose to brush those thoughts away instead of wasting more time by dwelling on the well-being of some child that was only just her offspring.

The woman that was supposed to be responsible for the health of the little girl only scoffed at her words and waved them away as though she was spouting some nonsense, "Why don't you use your 'magic' to cure yourself then, you little freak?" She spat, "And if you can't cure yourself, then I suppose that would be even better! The world would be free of the devil's spawn that I had the misfortune of birthing!"

With those dangerously burdensome words lingering in the air, Valentina strutted out of her daughter's room, slamming the door shut with a force that made it seem like the poor barricade of wood was her worst enemy.