𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 | golden trio era

viii

"I don't understand." Luca wrapped her hands around her hot chocolate mug to warm up her frozen hands as she sat at a table in The Three Broomsticks. She blew softly on it before taking a sip, licking off the whipped cream that stuck to her upper lip.

"Just think about it for a minute, Luke." Tonks sent the waiter an appreciative smile when he set a glass of butterbeer down in front of her. "You're the perfect candidate."

"I'm a villain, Tonks." Luca rolled her eyes. "Why would I want to help your pathetic little Order? I don't help others. I help myself."

"You're currently helping your mum, right?" Tonks raised a brow when the younger girl lowered her gaze. "You do realize that helping her isn't going to do you any good? Even if you do succeed, the Elder Wand would never entirely belong to anyone else. Not her, not the Dark Lord. It belongs to whoever killed its previous owner."

Luca rubbed her lips together and stared down at her mug of hot chocolate. "So she's still going to kill me anyway?"

"She's not going to kill you, Luke." Tonks reached across the table and took her cousin's hand. She gave it a gentle squeeze. "He's the one who wants it. He would have to kill you. But I'm not going to let that happen."

"Why do you care about me?" Luca asked. She pulled her hand away and rested it in her lap. "I've done horrible things. I torture the younger kids. I tormented Sanchez with a snake. I steal. I kill. I'm surprised the Order hasn't shipped me off to Azkaban yet."

"Well, technically, there's not much that we can do since you're still underage." Tonks took a sip of her butterbeer. "But if you continue down this path of destruction, then I can confirm that there is a cell there with your name on it."

Luca's knee began to bounce. She slowly sipped her hot cocoa, her mind racing. "I...I can't be good," she whispered. "I don't know what's wrong with me, but...but I...can't be anything other than wicked. I'm evil, and everyone knows it."

"You're not evil, Luca. You're hurt. You've been raised in a family of Death Eaters. You've been neglected love your whole life. No one was there to show you right from wrong, so being cruel is all you know."

"I don't need to hear my life story, Tonks." Luca scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I lived it. I know how I was raised. Mum taught me to destroy anything and anyone that gets in my way."

"And you really believe that's who you are?" Tonks asked, worry in her voice as she looked at the young girl across from her.

Luca looked up at her older cousin, her face emotionless and brown eyes dull. "Yes." She quickly drank down the rest of her hot chocolate before standing up and putting on her coat and scarf. "As intriguing as it sounds to be an undercover double agent for the order, I stand by my mother. If the Dark Lord wants to kill me, then I'll kill him first." She reached across the table and stole her wand back from Tonks. "Besides." She smirked. "I'd rather take over the world myself."

Tonks watched as Luca left The Three Broomsticks. She leaned her head onto her hand, sighing in disappointment when she saw her use a spell to terrorize a group of 2nd years. "Don't let the darkness take over, Lukey," she whispered, sad eyes watching her cousin's wild curls as the petite girl began the walk back to Hogwarts. "There's good in you...I know it."

─── ⋆⋅☾⋅⋆ ──

Luca laid on her back on the floor underneath a desk in the charms classroom. Her nose scrunched in disgust as she scraped gum off the underside of the desk and disposed of it in the small trash can. "Why'd you have to give me the worst job, Halfy?"