Hidden Wings - Part I

Daphne Greengrass

Happy fourth of Advent! 🕯 🕯🕯🕯

It was one a.m. in the morning. The fire in the fireplace crackled quietly and illuminated the serious faces of three girls sitting in armchairs, facing each other. The orange light from the flames did not reach the end of the room and left the corners in shadows.

"I left a month after the summer holidays started", said Astoria quietly. "Because that's when the first Death Eaters came to Greengrass Mansion. I never wanted all that... pureblood-mudblood crap. I've always hated it. And suddenly, I was wrapped up in this plan of following You-Know-Who. So I left."

Mioha looked at her worriedly.
"Where did you go?"

"Uhm... I can't tell you that."
Astoria smiled weakly. "You know, my family pretty much hates me right now, so it's better I don't tell."

Mioha bit her lip.
"Is there anything I can do to help? I mean... what if they find you? What if you get hurt?"

Why didn't you say anything?, she added silently.

"I won't. Don't worry. No one will even think of where I live now."
Astoria smiled confidently.
"I didn't tell you because I didn't want to worry you. It's bad enough with You-Know-Who back and Death Eaters raiding people's houses. Besides, I'm quite able to deal with my family."
Her eyes hardened to cold disks.
"I don't ever want to associate the name Greengrass with my family again."

The fire crackled loudly as Astoria fell silent.

Daphne took a deep breath.
"I don't hate you."
She looked down at her fingers, which were clenching her knees tightly.
"I... I don't."

Both Greengrass girls remained silent for a while. Mioha turned her head left and right, and waited. The fire illuminated the girls' profiles, showing their resemblance.

"I've always wanted to be like you", Daphne finally admitted quietly.
"You never seemed to care what Mother or Father told you. I always thought that it was best to listen to them because...well, they're our parents."
She hung her head, blonde hair falling forward like a soft curtain.
"I'm just the naive and stupid girl who doesn't think for herself."
And she added in a soft whisper: "I'm sorry".

At the same time...
"Hey, where's Daphne?", wondered Tracey, propping herself up against her pillows.
"She ought to be here by now."

"Probably in the common room", Pansy snapped absentmindedly. She roughly crossed out a line of words from her parchment, splattering ink onto her hand.

"She never stays up this long", Tracey pointed out thoughtfully. "And Lince is missing too..."
Her eyebrows furrowed suspiciously.

"Who cares where the mudblood is? Perhaps Daphne finally got over her sensitivity against violence and cursed her."
Pansy chewed her lip tensely. Her plan to kill Dumbledore wasn't going well. She'd had plenty of ideas, but too many weren't realizable.
And time was running more quickly than she would have liked. She yawned. Guarding the Gryffindor Tower every two nights was taking it's toll. But she needed to find the Silverwing. It would definitely earn her a place in the Death Eater ranks, most likely even a higher one than Fenrir Greyback's.
She yawned again. Tomorrow, she'd compare her notes with Draco. And she'd be damned if that Slytherin would get all the credit for killing Dumbledore.