Eye of the Serpent | HP MARAUDER ERA [2]

Chapter One

EYE OF THE SERPENT — BOOK TWO OF THE OBLITERATE SERIES

❝On the difficult days, when the world's on your shoulders, remember that diamonds are made under the weight of mountains.❞
—Beau Taplin

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At the beginning of July, in the middle of the summer, I sat at the dinner table with my family, eating French onion soup that my mother had made.

It had been quite an uneventful and completely normal summer so far, but I wasn't counting on it. I hadn't seen the Marauders yet, but I'd written to them all. There was still a lot of time left before we'd have to go back to school, so I felt sure that we'd end up getting together sometime soon. Regulus had also written to me. He wanted to find a way to see me, though it was unlikely since his parents kept quite a close watch on him.

"Bianca," Mum started conversationally, pulling me back to the present, "you should be getting your O.W.L. results soon, right?"

"Yeah," I replied. "Professor McGonagall said we'd get them sometime in July. That'll give everyone time to decide what subjects to continue on with next year."

"Do you know what you'd like to do?" Dad asked. "What job would you like to have?"

I blinked at him. I was frustrated because I had told him so many times before that my ambition was to become an Auror, and I felt that he was never listening to me. It was as if he didn't believe that I could do it.

"I'm going to be an Auror," I replied calmly.

"What is that again?" he asked.

"Dad, I've already told you what it is," I said, doing well to hide my frustration. "It's a Dark wizard catcher. Someone who fights evil wizards."

"Bianca, that's dangerous," he stated firmly.

"What?" I demanded, my head snapping up to look at him. I felt like he was telling me I was forbidden to do something.

"That's doesn't sound like a good job for when you have a family," he continued. "You might not be around, and it sounds like a dangerous job. You should reconsider whatー"

"Dad, I've been wanting to be an Auror ever since I found out I was a witch!" I yelped, suddenly becoming defensive and interrupting him mid-sentence. He was questioning my entire life ambition, the only job I ever saw myself having... I had made up my mind about becoming an Auror a long time ago, and I wouldn't let him change my mind. "What does that have to do with anything? I don't care about having a family."

I felt Ainsley, who was sitting beside me, tense up. My mum was staring at me without blinking. Corey was the only person who appeared not to notice and continued to slurp on his soup.

"When you have a family," Dad repeated, seeming as though he hadn't heard me, "you won't be around much if that's what you do with your life. That isn't the ideal job if you want to be around your kids."

I released my spoon. "You're not listening to me: I don't even care about having a family! I don't care about getting married and having kids!"

The problem with society was that everyone assumed that every single girl in the world wanted to grow up to get married and have children. It was like we were expected to do so. I didn't care about that stuff; having kids wasn't my priority at all. If it happened along the way, then so be it... but it wasn't my goal in life. I was going to become an Auror and I wouldn't let anyone stand in the way.

"What are you talking about? Of course you're getting married!" said my dad. "You have to have children."

"I don't have to! What if I don't want to?" I scoffed. "That isn't my priority; my priority is to get a job and be an Auror!"