Servitium
Latin (noun.) The essence of service and devotion, weaving a tapestry of humble dedication and unwavering loyalty.
"Oh my Ivory, you may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you. You let me violate your justice, destroy what...
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Ivory sat silently opposite Draco and Soren, adjacent to Theodore and Narcissa Malfoy was also sitting beside her, squeezing her hand every few seconds to offer Ivory comfort, or for herself, Ivory didn't care to know. She was only focused on leaving the room as soon as she could.
Bellatrix a little further along the table was grinning manically at her, Ivory didn't feel welcomed by her godmother in the least, in fact, she was sure that Bellatrix was using her expression as a fear tactic, she'd been doing it all summer, trying to get Ivory to break and build her back up again so that she could be a tower of strength, strength that the Dark Lord could use according to the former Azkaban prisoner. Ivory wouldn't give her the satisfaction, she had broken way more than anything Bellatrix could inflict on her and now she was better for it.
When Ivory had first met the Dark Lord, the number of people at the table had been greater, now it had diminished significantly, about a dozen people were absent, including her father, Lucius and Nott Sr. Despite the absence of so many, it did nothing to lighten the atmosphere, in fact, it served to make it thicker and more fragile. Theodore had been right, they were in war time, and Ivory had gone too far in to turn back now, she couldn't even if she wanted to, she was standing up for purebloods, she was fighting for and with Voldemort. Still, she had doubts, but there wasn't any room for that, Soren had told her, doubts got people killed. So she cast her thoughts aside, and gritted her teeth.
Ivory kept her gaze on her older brother, he too would stare at her every few seconds, she had purposely decided to sit across from him, because over the summer they had gotten closer with each other, their mother's death had been responsible for that, and they found a familiar comfort in one another. She found that Soren was the same as he'd always been, now only with a Dark Mark and an air of responsibility and melancholy surrounding him. She also gravitated to him because she was certain that Soren Galliano would be one of the few people in the room who would feel something if Voldemort decided she was no longer of any use and discarded of her.
"As I'm sure many of you have noticed, some of our friends cannot be with us this evening, given the consequences of the event at the Department of Mysteries." It was true, some days after her mother's funeral, Ministry Officials had come for her father, and escorted him off to Azkaban, he couldn't even deny his affiliations even if he wanted to, but he didn't even try to hide it, he bared his Dark Mark proudly to his arrestors before being carted off on a one way ticket. Ivory couldn't say she was affected by it, she was relieved that he was gone, no matter how short the time may be, because somehow the pressure of her father was worse than the pressure Voldemort was placing on her; ever since the death of her mother, she couldn't help but feel that her father blamed her.
"Many of our most loved and prized members are confined within the walls of Azkaban, but we have been blessed with new talents, children of my most loyal Death Eaters, Ethan, Lucius and Nott Sr bringing honour to their family names by joining the fight against Harry Potter and all those who deny me." Ivory could see straight through Voldemort's false sympathy, how anyone could think that he meant what he was saying was beyond her. Did they really think he cared even a smidgen for them? A man like that couldn't have human emotions. Ivory disregarded Voldemort's insincere sympathies, her gaze shifting between Theodore and Draco. The three soon to be sixth-year Hogwarts students shared a silent understanding, their eyes betraying the fear they concealed from others. Growing up together had granted them the ability to decipher each other's emotions like no other. However, Ivory couldn't ignore the fact that this closeness could be seen as a weakness by the Dark Lord. They couldn't afford to be an open book to each other; it made them vulnerable, and vulnerability could be fatal.
