From a young age, Leonora Potter had discovered that she was quite different from the rest of her family. After getting sorted into Slytherin, her relationship with the Potter's crumbled, and she was forced to find family in other places. Perhaps th...
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Things within the Wizarding World were quickly darkening, slipping deeper into the shadows with each passing day, the Dark Lord's influence spreading like a storm on the horizon. Leonora was no longer a wide-eyed eleven-year-old who had once wandered the halls of Hogwarts with wonder. Now, she watched as the friends she'd grown up with began to follow in their parents' footsteps, the very path her own family had warned her about years ago.
Leonora had grown increasingly conflicted. Her relationship with her family had reached an all-time low at the start of summer before her fifth year, leading her to make a drastic choice: she left home to go live with her best friend, Illyria, and the Malfoys. At first, they had been cold, looking at her with skeptical eyes, wary of her lineage and questioning her loyalties. Their opinions quickly changed once Leonora slipped seamlessly into the role of a perfect, pure-blooded witch. She told herself that it was just an act, a means of survival. But lately, she wasn't so sure that she was pretending anymore.
The Malfoys were devoted followers of the Dark Lord. Their eldest son, Lucius, had received the Dark Mark while still a student at Hogwarts, long before Leonora and Illyria had even begun their first year. After graduating, he married Narcissa Black, Regulus's older cousin, the summer they had both left school.
The pressure of becoming a Death Eater had begun to settle on Illyria, and by extension, on Leonora. Throughout the years, Illyria had proved herself to be a quiet, compliant girl, someone who rarely questioned the expectations placed on her by family and friends. They would rarely speak about the Death Eaters; It was a subject they danced around, never daring to dig too deep into. When the time came, though, Leonora did not doubt that Illyria would take the mark, if only to please her family.
Even though her relationship with her own family had nearly shattered, Leonora couldn't deny the lingering trace of love she still held for them. No matter how much she tried to bury it, they were still her family. Becoming a Death Eater felt like a betrayal of whatever sort of bond they still had left. But the older she grew, the more she began to accept the painful truth: she might not have a choice, especially now, sharing a house with the Malfoys. With most of her friends already on the path to serving the Dark Lord, and some bearing the mark already, Leonora had come to the grim conclusion that it would be inevitable.
Unlike most students, Leonora was genuinely excited for her fifth year because it meant taking the O.W.Ls. She had been preparing for them from the moment she set foot in the castle, eager to prove just how capable of a witch she truly was. In both her third and fourth years, she'd pushed herself to take all twelve classes, a rare and demanding feat. And while her natural brilliance carried her far, it was still an overwhelming workload. At first, it had been a welcome distraction from everything else, though it kept her a bit too busy.
