ripple effect

when sharks smell blood

AUTHORS NOTE:

This chapter is basically like a long character intro but stick around it gets cute later on. Hope you like it,                                                                                                                                                                         luna xx

Today was the day. The dreaded day. The day that if anything went wrong (y/n)'s whole life would crumble apart.

You knew exactly what to say to the Minister of Magic, had all the right excuses on the tip of your tongue but it wasn't enough to set your mind at ease. As you stumbled down the mahogany staircase you noticed that your brother, Nicholas, was waiting at the dinner table.

great. absolutely fucking perfect. as if this couldn't get any worse.

You were planning on avoiding him all morning, at least until you left, especially after what happened the previous night . These days you and your brother could barely say two words to each other before it turned into a fight. You shudder, heading into the dining room. As soon as Nick sees you he gets up, mumbles a quick goodbye as he darts past you.

Asshole. You whisper under your breath.

The truth is you weren't really mad at him, you were mad at the situation. Mad at the fact that he wasn't helping and it was all falling on your shoulders. You didn't expect him to take care of it all by himself, you wanted to do it as a team. But Nick seemed like he couldn't care less that your family was falling apart.

A little less than a year ago your father, (f/n) Deauxville, one of the wealthiest men in the wizarding world, was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. It wasn't curable by any means of magic or muggle medicine.

The hardest part was making sure that no one found out about (f/n) Deauxville's medical condition. The Deauxville's were once an extremely wealthy and well respected pureblood dynasty but your grandfather, François Deauville, tarnished that reputation and drained the family fortune with his notorious addiction to gambling. He died before you were born from alcoholism and left your father and your aunt swimming in a 9.4 million galleon debt. Somehow, in ways that weren't exactly legal, (f/n) Deauxville had managed to almost triple the original family fortune and became the 4th richest man in the wizarding world.

That sparked some issues with the other members of the Deauxville clan.While your father gave them a small sum of money to make sure they could afford basic necessities, it was nothing compared to the life that he was living. They were used to luxury and their cushiony lifestyle had been ripped out from under them. They expected him to pay for all their expenses but your father believed in hard work. Because of that you, your brother and your father were despised by the other members of the family.

The real problem in all of this was that as soon as the other members of your family learned about his Alzheimer's, they would pounce. After that it would be a hellish legal battle to gain control of his company and assets. They would claim that your father isn't capable of managing his own fortune and try to take over his finances like a hostile military coup. After all, you know what they say about sharks smelling blood. The Deauxville clan was hungry for your father's money and you weren't going to let all his hard work go to waste.

Today you would be attending the Quidditch World Cup. The Minister of Magic had requested your father's presence to talk about a certain business deal but you offered to go instead. If that wasn't nerve racking enough, your brother opted out at the last minute. Your blood starts boiling at the thought of him.

Sometimes you didn't understand Nick. You knew he was going through a lot and was about to enter into his sixth year at Hogwarts, so understandably he had a lot on his plate. But he had changed, after his fourth year he shut you out and you two barely talked anymore. It didn't help that even before the dementia your father wasn't particularly talkative or involved in the life of his children. Now it really felt as if you had nobody.

(Y/n) walked to the gardens where Mr. Deauxville spent most of his day now tending to his precious flowers . It was luscious, full of greenery and rare plants from all around the world. He was in there with his nurse, Celine.

" This isn't one of his best days" She whispered quickly to you. You smile apologetically and nod.

" Oh Cassy there you are" said your father in a lucid voice.

" Goodmorning Papa, i'm heading out but I just wanted to say goodbye"

Your father had started to call you Cassy or Cass a couple months ago. Cassidy was your mother's name. After a while (y/n) gave up trying to correct him.

As (y/n) headed out to find the portkey (an old beer can) she started thinking about how lonely she would be during this trip. You hadn't planned on going alone and now you were thinking of excuses not to go. You could pretend to be sick or to have last minute obligations.

No! Come on (y/n)! Get a grip. Stop being an idiot. For fucksake!

You knew your best friends , Daphne Greengrass and Millicent Bullstrode, were busy, Daphnee was in Germany and Millicent was spending the summer at the Parkinson's. On second thought you could invite Millicent but that would mean Pansy would tag along too and (y/n) couldn't be around that girl for more than fives minutes without wanting to skin her alive.

Draco was going as well but you knew him and his father would be glued to the hip the entire time. You remember Fred and George mentioning something about going to the Quidditch World Cup and held on to some feeble hope.

Nothing is ever boring with those two around.

Finally when a group of other wizards you don't recognize arrive you all grab the dirty beer can and at once you feel wind rushing up your spine and leaves flying around your head. The whole world is spinning and spinning and just when your fingers are going to give out you hit the ground with a thud.

Groaning you start to get up until the ground underneath you starts to move and you hit the ground yet again. Looking next to the right, (y/n) notices she's landed not on the ground but on a person. The man grips his leg and lets out a loud groan.

Lovely (y/n). Really. I reckon you couldn't have landed like a normal person, could you? 30 seconds in and you've already broken this poor lad's leg.

You sit up and mumble a dozen apologies to the unfortunate soul you've crash landed on. Except this isn't just any unfortunate person. Standing in front of you was Cedric Diggory, holding his hand out, wearing a bashful grin.