Rivals | D.M

43. Broadstairs

A/N Happy Halloween!! Hope you like this chapter! A lot of your theories were close 👏🏼

Aster's POV

I still wasn't used to the swirling, crippling pull of apparition. We land just outside my front garden and I have to take a deep breath to stop myself from throwing up.

"Why didn't you apparate us inside?" I ask my mum, pulling my hand from her grasp and looking up at her.

"We can't. No one can. Your father has put new protection spells up around the house" she mutters.

We walk easily to the front door.

"What is it protecting us from?"

She looks over at me, her eyes now soft and tired.

"Just come inside. Only us three can enter through the wards"

The door flicks open and she looks over her shoulder before walking in. As soon as I enter the house behind her, she flicks her ebony wand and the door slams behind me and I hear a loud click as the door locks.

I watch as my mother storms through the house and to the open-planned kitchen at the back.

"Mum!" I cry out, rushing after her, leaving the guitar to lean against the staircase.

"Mum!" I say louder this time.

My father peaks out from his study doors to my right. His glasses perched on his scruffy grey curls, his eyes wide and curious.

"What's going on?" he asks, looking at me concerned.

"Mum wouldn't let me go down to the beach" I complain.

He pulls himself out of the doorway and looks towards the kitchen.

"Alison, we have to tell her" my father calls out as he walks into the kitchen. We find her staring at her mug, fresh coffee steaming from the ceramic.

"Tell me what" I demand. My blood was starting to boil and I felt my skin itch with impatience.

My father looks over at me, his eyes glaring into mine, silently warning me about my tone.

My mother just shakes her head, her eyes still staring into the cup of coffee in her hands. My father walks towards her and puts a hand on her cheek to make her look up.

"Alison, she needs to be able to look after herself" he mutters. Her eyes grow soft as she looks at my father.

He pulls away from her and motions for me to sit down at the kitchen table.

I gingerly sit down and find myself fiddling with the ring on my neck, tracing the curves of the thorns imbedded in the silver.

"Aster, I'm so sorry we didn't tell you sooner" he starts, his kind green eyes wrinkling with worry.

"What is going on?" I ask him, my heart started to pound underneath my thick woollen jumper. Worry creeping up and into my blood.

"The dark lord... he's been recruiting Death Eaters for a while now" he pauses as if to gauge my knowledge. I shake my head unknowingly but not surprised.

"He's been trying to recruit me for months now. I said no, but then he got someone to harm you at school..."

"What?!" I exclaim, my heart jumping in my chest erratically, "But that was Pansy Parkinson?"

"He's been recruiting students, and Miss Parkinson wasn't supposed to be the one to harm you"

"Harper..." I finish for him.