𝒫𝓇𝑜𝓅𝒽𝑒𝒸𝓎 ~𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙿𝚘𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛

ℭ𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔗𝔴𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔶-𝔰𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔫

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚄𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚍

"ᴀʟᴡᴀʏꜱ ᴀɴ ᴀɴɢᴇʟ, ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴀ ɢᴏᴅ." - ʙᴏʏɢᴇɴɪᴜꜱ

*✭˚･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ*✭˚･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ*

Dear Ara,

Your mother and I have made the executive decision to revoke your right to live with us. You have proven time and time again that you do not value us, nor respect us. For all of your life, we had to endure your psychotic behavior, you are, and always have been, undeserving of any sort of love. Do not dare reply to this letter, we will be moving to avoid the dangers you may bring to our home. You have been a horrid excuse for a daughter and I will forever regret taking you in.

From, John Hayes

It's hard to differentiate between loving someone and just liking them.

I know my adoptive parents loved each other. I used to catch them laughing in the kitchen or asleep on the couch, arm in arm. It was undeniable.

For a while, I assumed they were incapable of love and that's why they did what they did. But seeing them with one another and their friend's children hurt more than any slap, kick, or punch.

How was it that they were able to be gentle with other people's kids, but not their own?

It had to be something about me. Maybe I did something that made them hate me like that.

I stared down at the letter trembling in my hands.

When Dumbledore gave me this paper a few weeks ago I figured it was something school-related, so I carelessly shoved it into my robes.

Draco, of all people, returned it to me after finding it on the common room floor.

It must have fallen out of my pocket.

"Did you read this?" I asked, my voice low as we stood in the corridors, surrounded by the excited buzz of students heading for the Goblet of Fire.

He simply shrugged, "Well of course."

"You had no right. You knew it was mine-"

He cut me off with a harsh laugh, "Weren't you the one who took my father's letter out of my pocket last year? Figured I'd return the favor."

He had a point.

Oddly, I couldn't even muster genuine anger at him. Not really.

"Thank you for giving it to me Malfoy," I sighed, looking at the paper again.

"Yeah, whatever." He turned to leave but hesitated, glancing over his shoulder. "That erm- sucks. Sorry."

Before I could respond, he disappeared into the crowd.

Suppressing the swirl of emotions rising inside me, I forced myself to walk calmly into the classroom, filled with overly excited students. My gaze searched the room, scanning familiar faces, as students from all houses took their turns placing their names into the glowing cup.

Finally, I spotted Hermione and sank into the seat beside her, watching the next contestant step forward.

"Hey, Ara, are you okay?" Hermione's voice broke through my daze, her concern faintly audible over the noise.

All I could focus on was Cedric Diggory being nudged toward the center of the circle. The same feeling from the World Cup returned—a tightness twisting in my chest, leaving me breathless.