Petty of me, I know, but I wish our journey on the Hogwarts Express wasn't marked by stressful conversations. I pretended to sleep most of the trip so Milli could have her time to think and I could have my comfort on her shoulder.
When we got off the train we walked together until I saw my parents, they didn't show much when they saw me, but that was to be expected since they had to maintain the glamour of a noble pureblood family.
From the corner of my eye I could see Milli's mother's reaction when they met, after exchanging a few words they hurried away. I had some idea what was going on, her change was quite shocking considering they hadn't seen each other since September 1st.
My parents, in turn, headed towards the station exit, without even exchanging a word with me.
I knew they were mad at me, but as always they needed to maintain the image of a noble pureblood family.
When we arrived at the Apparation area, we headed home, I had already gone through the Apparation certification training the previous year, so I didn't need their help to get home. With them giving me the silent treatment, I wondered what was the point of them picking me up at King's Cross.
The atmosphere at my parents' house may not be the worst I've ever visited, but it certainly doesn't feel like a happy home.
I didn't even have time to put my things away and my father motioned for me to follow him to the home office.
Arriving at the office, my father sat at his desk and my mother stood next to him, like the good and submissive wife she is without saying a single word.
"You have a lot of explaining to do." – declared my father in a serious tone.
Even at home he made a point of maintaining his pureblood pride.
I shrugged off his question.
"What did you do to stop the marriage negotiations?" – he asked, losing a little patience.
I took a deep breath.
"Your perfect plan didn't count on them finding out they weren't 'unique'." – I said, looking straight into his eyes.
My father finally lost his patience. Punching the table he stood up and pointed his finger in my face.
"You know very well, this was your fault. If you didn't do something wrong, they would never find out!" – he shouted, completely irate.
I continued to look at him with all the respect I thought he deserved.
None.
He didn't even bother to hide that it was his plan. His shitty idea to try to secure a more advantageous marriage for me was to make me a whore.
I love sex, I like to be adventurous... but the boys he had me with were of low quality in that regard. I would never get close to Draco if it weren't for him, someone who prefers to admire himself in the mirror while having sex rather than focusing on his partner.
But best of all, he made me believe for years that the idea was mine. If it weren't for Kai I would never have discovered this, when I mentioned this idea to him and said that I didn't know where I got it from, he analyzed my memories and discovered that someone had altered them.
More than ever I want to strengthen my soul so I don't go through something like this again.
At that moment my magic core was at the seventh level, the last one before evolution according to Kai.
Comparing my magical power with my parents' I could see that our distance wasn't too drastic. Before, I felt oppressed by my father's magical power, it was as if I were a pebble next to a mountain, now not anymore.
"I still have an heir faithful to me." – I said trying my cards.
"Who? Zabini? Bigsby?" – he asked anxiously.
I paused to take a deep breath, this was the moment I needed to convince them.
"Bullstrode." – I said finally.
My father paused for a moment, my mother looked thoughtful and then horrified.
My father picked up the papers from the table and threw them in my face.
"You… degenerate!" – he growled in disgust.
I remained silent looking at him.
He huffed and tried to regain his senses as he returned to his office chair.
"What's the point of you having a relationship with that girl? I thought we fixed that a long time ago." – he muttered between his teeth.
When he planted the memory he also tried to erase everything about the fact that I liked girls.
The heiress of the wonderful noble house of Farley couldn't like girls.
I had never acted, but they had set one of the house-elves to follow me whenever I left the house and from that they discovered that I was flirting with girls from other noble houses.
Not that I exclusively liked girls, but the male specimens they presented to me left a lot to be desired.
"You better fix this when you get back to Hogwarts." – he said dismissing me.
Knowing the conversation was over and I had nothing left to talk to them about, I went back to my room to unpack my bags.
All I could do at the moment was hope Milli's conversation was better than mine.
I was thankful that my suitcase had plenty of compartments to store all my things, as this was the last time I would return home.
My parents were too proud to see the world, they may have been more powerful than me, but comparing them to the Hogwarts Professors they were nothing more than mediocre.
After I received Kai's technique I was able to better feel the magical power of the people around me.
I spent the rest of the day in my room and Lullaby, the same house-elf that followed me around as a teenager, brought me a plate of food at dinner time.
As a good pureblood noble family, we would participate in the Ministry's Christmas and New Year's ball. Milli hadn't participated since her first year after fighting with Crabbe and Goyle, she used to stay at the castle on those dates.
This year she had already sent a letter to her mother that she would be back during the winter holidays and that she would not like to participate in these events. In response, her mother agreed as she did not like participating either.
So I couldn't see her at these events.
But I could definitely watch the Parkinson's.
I knew she would wait for the day Selene went to sleep at her house to have the conversation, but we had no way of guessing when that would happen. Year-end dates force noble families to be active in society.
The night of the 24th arrived and so far I haven't heard from Milli, probably because she hasn't spoken to her mother yet.
With a long black dress full of ruffles I was ready to act as the perfect daughter.
Arriving at our destination I stayed close to my parents as they told me to, this would be the last time, I wasn't going to cause any scene so they wouldn't expect what was to come at the end of the school year.
Catching them by surprise was the best way I could think of.
The Parkinsons were already at the party when we arrived and knowing what I knew it was possible to see that they were like me.
A perfect family role play.
They walked around the room until Felicius separated from Selene to talk to the Malfoys.
She gave up on accompanying him, reinforcing the fact that she didn't like them.
As midnight approached and the dance reached its peak, I saw someone I didn't expect to arrive.
Goboldo Bulstrode, or rather, Goboldo Talbot.
Milli's father arrived almost at the end of the Ball and began to interact with the group that previously surrounded Malfoy.
I swallowed that.
Malfoy was the most successful case for getting rid of the Deatheater charges, as he held direct power in the Ministry and direct contact with the Minister.
With my role as the perfect daughter done, I waited for my parents to signal us to leave via the Floo network.
When I got home I went straight to take a bath because acting like that made me feel dirty.
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