The Game | D.M

01

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"Reunited Again"

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Aria Zabini

I have always wondered why my life had to be like this. Why did Merlin choose me to live like this, why was this my story? I always believed that maybe I deserved to live a life like this, maybe I was cursed.

But I needed that life to end, I wanted a fresh start.

So when I got my final letter from Blaise, I knew it was time for me to come home.

Before my mother came and got me, I was thinking of ways to escape this life. To find somewhere to live, in peace. Where no one could find me. But then I remembered that it was utterly impossible for me to live a normal life, I carry years of a legacy on my shoulders.

Four years had slipped through my fingers like sand, each day marked by the rhythm of the quaint life. France had become my haven, a place to rebuild the pieces of a shattered existence.

My mother, a distant echo in the recesses of my memory, had sent me away, claiming it was for my own good. The years spent in solitude were both a balm and a curse. I had become accustomed to the solitude.

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The creaking of the gate stirred me as I quickly got up, I was always on edge since my arrival, thinking that evil was out to get me.

I quickly looked out the window and I have never felt such fear within my veins, there she was, an ethereal figure against the fading sunlight. My mother, Seraphina Zabini, stood at the entrance, her presence casting shadows on the threshold of my sanctuary.

I was frozen in place, not sure if this was my own mind playing tricks on me or if it was reality. But my senses finally came back and my feet that were once glued onto the floor have finally started to move out of place.

I quickly rushed down the stairs, trying to stop the house elves from letting her inside, but it was too late, she already stood before me, looking around my living space.

"Aria," she uttered my name hesitantly. Her eyes, once mirrors of my own, held a tumultuous storm of emotions.

I sat at the bottom of the steps, my heart pounding in rhythm with my uncertainty. "Why are you here?" The words slipped through my lips, tainted with the bitterness I had harbored for years.

Her gaze faltered for a moment, and then she stepped closer, causing me to take a step back. "Aria, it time to come home."

The anger within me surging like a tempest. "You sent me away without a choice, without an explanation. How am I supposed to just drop everything here and leave again?"

Her eyes darkened. "Aria, I know I can't erase the pain, but it is safe for you to come back now, I wouldn't doubt Blaise didn't tell you about your step fathers death."

"Why should I believe you? How do I not know this isn't some set up? There's a consequence with coming home, isn't there?" I demanded, my voice wavering between anger and desperation.

She sighed, shoulders slumping with the weight of remorse. "Because I am your mother, I know what is the best for you. Now, you will come home with me and you will listen, or would you like to stay here for many more years to come, because it can be arranged."

The air hung heavy with the unspoken words that danced between us. The decision weighed on my shoulders, and as the last vestiges of sunlight faded, I saw the sincerity in her eyes.