The Enemy of my Enemy

The Memories of the Past

The next time I saw Avery, she was sitting in my parents living room. She had aged several years, but still looked the same as she had done the night she ran away. My father stood at the mantelpiece, smoking his pipe, while my mother sat with her hands clasped in her lap.

No one looked up as I entered the room, trailing behind me a four-year-old son. When I had told Benjamin I was pregnant he had bailed on me, invoking the wrath of my father. The Howler he had sent was nobody's business, and I had been warned to stay as far away from the Muggle-lover as possible.

Thankfully, John was a pureblood, so my parents didn't force me to get an abortion. He was raised under my parents roof and had the same upbringing I did. Occasionally, without my parents approval, consent, or knowledge, I would tell him about his father and sneak him off to the Muggle world, so that he could see the people his father loved so desperately.

Caroline looked from her parents to her sister. "What's going on?" she asked. "Why are you here, Avery? I thought you made your point clear last time we spoke?"

Avery's eyes remained glued on the four-year-old behind her sister. "You have a son?" she questioned. "I wasn't informed."

"Why would I tell you?" Caroline asked. "You left the family the night you moved out. You disowned us. You didn't deserve to know you had a nephew."

"What powers does he have?"

Caroline stiffened. "What's that any concern of yours?" she asked.

"He's four, right?" Avery inquired. "He should've at least started showing a knack for something. I was four when my shield appeared, and you were three when your abilities manifested."

Caroline glanced at her parents. "Is that why you're here?" she asked. "To get more History on our abilities?"

"It is my History, too," said Avery. "I wish to know more. Like, the rumour that his circulating. The rumour that says the next generation is always stronger than the last. Meaning, we should be stronger than our parents. He," she nodded at John, "being stronger than you."

Avery looked back at her father. He refused to meet her gaze, focusing intently on smoking his pipe instead.

"Father?" Caroline asked. She, of course, knew her family's History, but she couldn't recall anything in her memory of the lessons stating that the next generation was always stronger than the last. Besides, even if it was, why did Avery care?

Guinevere sighed. "Emrys," she started.

"Silence, Guinevere!" Emrys snapped. He refused to give his youngest any more ammunition to use in her cause. He had already guessed her intentions and why she had come to him, it didn't take a genius to know she was with child.

Avery raised her eyebrows. "So, is it true?" she asked. "My child will be stronger than me?"

"Child?!" Caroline spluttered.

Avery grinned at her sister and rose to her feet. She opened her robes and lifted her shirt a little, revealing a small bump protruding from her stomach. "She'll be here in October," she said.

"She?" Caroline asked.

"We've decided to call her Faye."

Caroline stared, slacked-jawed at her sister. She was pregnant with his child. "Avery, do you have any idea what you've done?" she asked.

"I'm giving My Lord what he desires," said Avery. "He wants an Heir, someone who will be twice as powerful and capable of taking over should anything happen to us. Our daughter will be the weapon that no one will see coming. Powerful. Ruthless. Unstoppable."