Agony [Draco Malfoy]

09

CHAPTER NINE

"I'm home! Mom? Dad?" her voice echoed through an almost empty house. Most of their stuff was still packed up in boxes. She realized how barely anything had moved since she left for Hogwarts. She figured her parents must've been busy with their jobs.

She could hear heavy footsteps coming from upstairs. Liz set down her suitcase and stepped into the dark living room. The dusty family portraits hung on the wall and caught her eyes. She watched them as she plopped onto the couch. The dust that came from the cushions made her cough. It was as if no-one had lived in the family home for months.

"Oh, you're home." stated a surprised but dull voice. She turned around and faced her mother. Her mother's hair had been wrapped into a messy bun and she wore a set of baggy sweatpants and a shirt with several coffee stains on them. Liz had to stop herself from looking bewildered at the sight of her mother. It looked like it was the first time in months for her to even leave her bed.

"I mentioned coming home for Christmas in the letters I sent you and dad." the girl said sounding confused but trying to smile through it, making a fuss about it was the last thing she wanted.

Her mother scratched the back of her neck and sighed saying "Oh, I-I remember now. Why don't I make you something to eat?"

Not getting a welcome home hug or greeting wasn't something new for the brunette but her mother was acting unusually weird. The woman got to the kitchen and rummaged through the many cabinets to find anything edible. But the house was an utter mess and it seemed like there was barely anything left to eat.

Liz stayed seated on the couch and twisted her head around to look at the mess around her. When she examined the pile of dust on the coffee table something else caught her attention. A pile of sealed letters laid on top of the table. She picked them up and furrowed her eyebrows reading that it were her letters. She now understood why they never wrote her back, she always thought they were simply busy and had other things to think about but now she knew they hadn't even read them in the first place.

She laid the letters back down and tried ignoring the lump it left in her throat. She got to the kitchen and watched her mother frying an egg from the doorway. The bags underneath her eyes were dark and big. The way she blankly glanced at the frying eggs made Liz uneasy.

"Where's dad? Is he still at work?"

"Your dad? Y-Yes, I think he is."

"You think he is? You don't know for sure?"

Her mother stopped stirring in the pan and exhaled a painfully long breath like it took everything from her to talk to her daughter.

"Your father and I have decided to take a short break, away from each other." she huffed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"What? Why?"

"That's between me and your father."

"And I'm your daughter, am I not supposed to know these kind of things?"

"You're a child, you wouldn't possibly understand." sighed her mother annoyedly.

"Bullshit."

Her mother turned around and furrowed her eyebrows. Her face turned a red colour of anger. She pointed a finger at her daughter shouting "I don't like that tone in my house!"

Liz stepped back and balled her fists. She scowled saying "Maybe coming home wasn't such a good idea."

"Maybe it wasn't." her mother mumbled. It broke her heart hearing her mother say those words. A part of her always hoped for the slightest bit of affection from her mother but who was she kidding, she was unwanted by her parents.

She turned on her heel and quickly grabbed her suitcase from the hallway. She placed her hand on the door know, waiting for a moment, hoping that her mother would stop her and tell her she wanted Liz to stay. But that moment never came and she slammed the door shut after stepping outside.

She used to be sure of one things, if anything she always thought her parents would stick together. But Cedric's death changed more than she had realized. It felt like their marriage and Liz' existence in her parents eyes died along with Cedric.

She had always felt like the black sheep in the family. First being born with a completely different personality that didn't quite fit in the Diggory standards, second off being sorted into Slytherin, thirdly because of her choice in friends and lastly because she wasn't the child they lost. It felt like they lost the wrong damn child.

Without Cedric telling her differently she had nobody left to tell her all of that wasn't true. Her mother was an utter mess, her father was nowhere to be found and she had no other valid reason to stay. So within seconds she found herself apparating back onto platform nine and three quarters. If her parents didn't want her home than she would have no choice but to go back to Hogwarts.