Cordelia Lyra Malfoy had always been different from the rest of her family. Her family were blood-supremacists who tried to teach their views to their children. Cordelia never believed with their views and would be punished for it.
She never felt a...
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TW: Mentions of underage arranged marriage agreement
Cordelia seemed different when she returned to school for the spring term of her second year. Her friends had noticed things at the beginning of the school year: She would flinch if someone raised their arms in excitement or if someone's voice became too loud. However, something was different this time. She seemed depressed. She was quiet and barely spoke unless spoken to and her new nervous habit of fiddling with the charm bracelet she wore daily became a regular thing. She didn't play her ukulele very often anymore and turned to reading muggle books borrowed from Kiana instead. The girl was visibly anxious more than she normally was and her friends missed their friend's bubbly personality.
On the 26th of March, Cordelia was woken up by her best friend shouting, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"
Cordelia woke up in a state of panic for a split second until she saw Kiana standing next to her bed. With everything on her mind, Cordelia had forgotten about her thirteenth birthday that year and it warmed her heart that her friend remembered.
Cedric was already waiting in the Common Room for the girls where he stood up from the couch once he spotted them coming out of the girls' dorm area. He hugged the blonde Hufflepuff and whispered, "Happy Birthday," into her hair.
"Close your eyes," he requested when he pulled away. She looked at him sceptically. "Just do it," he added with a chuckle.
Cordelia sighed and obeyed her friend's request. With her eyes closed, she could hear some shuffling around her. After a minute, she felt a large object being placed in her arms.
"Can I open my eyes now?" She was growing impatient with anticipation and excitement.
"Yes, you can open your eyes," Cedric chuckled. She opened her eyes to see a beautiful acoustic guitar in arms, complete with a red bow placed on top of the strings.
"Merlin's balls!" Cordelia exclaimed as her eyes grew wide, her mouth was open in shock. "Seriously?! How? When? Is it really mine?!"
"Yes, it's really yours." Kiana chuckled, watching a large smile grow on her friend's face.
They met with Fred, George and Lee in the Great Hall and sat with them at the Gryffindor table for breakfast. The boys embarrassed the girl by singing "Happy Birthday" very loudly and very badly, causing her face to grow red in embarrassment. Her smile, however, never faded.
Cordelia was thankful her birthday fell on a Saturday, as she was able to spend it with all of her friends. They spent time at the Black Lake, playing in the water and climbing trees. Cordelia had brought her new guitar and she enjoyed learning to play it while her friends played around her.
That night, the three Hufflepuffs spent time in their Common Room. Today was the happiest that Cedric and Kiana had seen their best friend, but she was slowly returning to her gloomy state as the day came to an end.
"Okay, what is going on with you?" Kiana asked, worried about her friend and was sick of seeing her so anxious and depressed.
"W-what do you mean?" Cordelia asked, trying to play it off with a fake smile. "Everything is fine. I'm fine."
"Say it one more time and I'll believe you," Cedric scoffed and folded his arms across his chest. "You haven't been yourself since we got back from Christmas... Actually, you've been different since the summer, only it's gotten worse. You're anxious and jumpy. Now you seem depressed and you seem to have something on your mind. So spill it."
Cordelia took a deep breath, contemplating what to say. She knew she needed to talk about this, but she didn't want to give too much away. "My-my fa-father arranged a marriage for me. When we graduate, I'm to be married. When I refused to, he... He p-punished me." her voice croaked and her hands shook as tears fell down her cheeks.
Cedric and Kiana didn't know what to say. They held their friend and leaned back on the couch as she cried onto Cedric's shoulder.
"What am I going to do? I can't marry a man twice my age," she cried.
"What do you mean by twice your age?" Kiana asked with concern in her voice.
Cordelia lifted her head from Cedric's shoulder, "The man I'm betrothed to... Wulfric Mulciber... He is the same age as my parents. He went to school with them." She cried more tears as Cedric pulled her in close again, placing his hands over her face.
Cedric and Kiana looked to each other in pity and disbelief, having a silent conversation as they processed the situation their friend was in. They couldn't fathom what she had been going through, and they didn't know what to do. After all, what could three thirteen year olds do? They knew that they had a few years to figure it out, and the best thing to do in this moment was to comfort their friend and assure her that everything would be alright.
"We won't let that happen. We'll figure something out. We promise; you're not alone." Cedric mumbled into her hair as he stroked the back of her head.
"That's right. We promise to be here for you. I personally promise to beat up anyone you need me to." Kiana was rubbing Cordelia's arm in order to soothe her friend.
"That doesn't sound very Hufflepuff," Cordelia giggled.
"That's where you're wrong: Badgers are sweet and loyal, but they get aggressive if you provoke them or mess with their family. I promise to go badger mode whenever you need me to."
Cordelia wiped her eyes as she giggled even more. Her laughter was infectious and it didn't take long for the other two to join in. After a moment, none of them could remember what they were laughing about, but they couldn't stop laughing. She was grateful to have friends looking out for her and vowed to look out for them as well.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Author's note: I posted this in the previous chapter, but decided to include it again because these victims deserved to be known. They deserve justice and protection.
I know that arranged marriages between a child and an adult is wrong and gross on so many levels. But, I decided to include it in this story because it still happens today. It happens here, in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and all over the world. Sometimes it is even worse, and the adults don't even wait until the victims are of age. What those people have to go through is unfathomable and wrong, and It needs to be stopped, and can't be stopped until more people know about it.
