Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

In Wiltshire, England, there lived a magical family. The family lived in a beautiful but old manor with huge gardens.  The gravel driveway to the manor house was wide and had a large hedge curving alongside it. The driveway and hedge went past a pair of wrought-iron gates. The gates only let those the family allow onto the grounds in. The outside of the manor was grand and the land surrounding it was vast, filling many acres. Those acres contained numerous types of trees and various plant and other animal life. There were a tone of albino peacocks. The manor had huge, magnificent wooden doors that opened by themselves. The hallway of entrance hall was large, dimly lit, and sumptuously decorated, with a magnificent carpet covering the stone floor. The walls of the entrance hall displayed pale-faced portraits lining the walls, and at the end of the hall was the bronze-handled door to the drawing room. The manor had so many rooms and floors. It was easy to get lost it. Even the family theses often found themselves getting lost. Millions of bathrooms. Millions of sitting rooms. A massive library. A massive kitchen. Millions of bedrooms. A bunch of potions labs. An Astronomy room. A bunch of duelling room. A massive dining room and a smaller private one.  A massive ballroom. Several offices. Several studies. A cellar/basement.  A Conservatory. Several Music Rooms. A Billiards Room. A huge Wine Cellar. Various hallways. A hidden alcove full of dark objects. There was a massive greenhouse in the back garden as well as a miniature quidditch pitch. Then there was the family floor. The floor where the families’ bedrooms reside. And in tje room at the end of the hall, behind a pink door with the letter A on it, is where our story begins.

The room was huge with white walls and pastel pink walls. In the middle of the room there was a huge king size bed covered in fluffy cushions and blankets. At either side of the bed were bedside cabinets with candles on. At the bottom of the bed was another sofa bench but this one had no pillows or blankets. The left wall was the room was replaced by a massive window with patio doors in the middle. To the right of the patio doors but still part of the window was a pink hanging circle chair covered in pillows and blankets. It looked cozy. On the right wall there was a brown desk with a baby pink spiny chair. At either side of the desk, there was a door. The door on the left led to a massive walk-in wardrobe. It was filled with all different clothes, shoes and accessories for all occasions. Everything young girl would need for every occasions. The other door led to a massive silver bathroom. There was a giant swimming pool sized bath. There was a lovely golden shower. The toilet looked like a thrown and the sink was pearly white. Everything was shining.

Sat at the desk was a young girl, no older than 11. The young girl was currently brushing her long golden hair while singing along to “This is the night” by the weird sisters. She was wearing a lovely little black dress that went to her knees and had off the shoulder straps fir sleeves. The dress was covered in fancy lace. Around her neck was a gold necklace with a blue crystal that made her grey eyes shine. On her feet were black slip ons. The girl looked perfect and pretty. Like all pureblood lady’s should be.

With a pop, a small creature appeared in the room next to the young girl. The creature was 3.5-foot with large, green tennis-ball-sized eyes, a long thin pencil-like nose, and large bat-like ears. He had thin limbs, wrinkled brown skin, and was wearing a dirty pillowcase. Upon seeing the creature, the young girl quickly turned her music off. “Hello Dobby.” The young girl spoke with a sweet and gentle voice. “Master Lucius sent Dobby to tell Miss Athena to go to the family dining room and for Dobby to collect Miss Athena’s trunk” the creature, Dobby, spoke before going over to where a big black trunk lay. “Thank you, Dobby” The girl, Athena, said before getting up and leaving her room. She made her way to the family dining room where she found her father, her mother, her little brother (aged 10) and her cousin (age 10) sitting at the table.

“Hello, mother, father, Draco, Carina”

Athena quickly sat next to her little brother and began to eat like everyone else was doing. The father and son looked almost identical, the only difference being the length of their hair. Both the father and son had a pale, pointed face, cold grey eyes, and pale blond hair. But the father’s hair was long while the sons was sort and gelled back. Their names were Lucius Abraxas Malfoy and Draco Lucius Malfoy. The mum was a tall, slim, and very pale woman with striking blue eyes and long, blonde hair. Her name was Narcissa Malfoy nèe Black. The cousin looked out of place in this sea of blondes. With her brown hair and blue eyes. The little girl had a small nose and was wearing a green headband. Her name was Carina Black. “Athena, Dobby will be taking you to the platform” Lucius spoke up after a while. “Yes, Father” Athena replied. “Do remember your lessons and try not to ruin our reputation” Lucius added. “Yes, father” Athena repeated. At that point, Narcissa stood up. “Draco, Carina, it is time for your lessons” She said before walking out of the room. Carina just got up and walked off after her, without saying anything. “Goodbye, Athena. I’ll see you at Christmas” Draco said before following his mother and cousin out of the room. “Dobby!” Lucius called and t h e creature appeared again. “Master calls for Dobby” The creature said. “Take Athena and her things to platform 9 ¾ and come straight back” Lucius demanded before getting up and walking off himself. Athena sighs sadly before getting up, walking over to the little creature and grabbing his hand. With a pop, the two disappeared.

The two reappeared on platform 9¾. With a click of Dobby’s fingers, Athena’s trunk landed at her feet. “Goodbye, Dobby. I’ll miss you. Be safe” Athena said, giving the little creature a hug. Dobby stared at her in shock before disappearing. Athena quickly stood back up, neatened her dress and looked around. To get to Hogwarts, students must catch the Hogwarts Express from platform 9 ¾ at Kings cross station, London. But 1^st September is always the busiest time of the year for platform 9¾. The platform is always so crowded. The platform was filled with kids and their families from all over the UK. The platform was overflowing. The only kids without families on the platform were the children who came from muggle homes or were orphans. Families of all different sizes filled the platform, from families with 11 children to families with just one child. The platform was filled with so much nose as noise as the children said goodbye to their parents and siblings (who aren’t students) while greeting their friends for the first time in 2 or more months. Athena watched as friends reunited and as new friends were made with a look of desire. She quickly covered that with the Malfoy fake emotions mask and climbed onto the train, dragging her trunk behind her. Well she was until she spotted a 4^th year Slytherin boy helping his siblings onto the train. She quickly went over to him.

“oh I’m terribly sorry to disturb you. But is there anyway you could help me carry my trunk to a compartment? You sure I’m so small and weak and you look really strong”

“anything to help a beautiful young lady”

His siblings long forgotten, the boy followed Athena through the train, carrying her trunk. The first few carriages of the train were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Athena made her way to an empty carriage and found a compartment for herself. She entered the compartment and had the boy place her trunk in the bagging area before kissing him on the cheek as a thank you. The boy quickly left the compartment to look for his friends to brag about the face the Malfoy heiress just kissed his cheek. Athena smiled at that before sitting by the window, watching as the scenery started to go by. Athena could hear the nose of all the other students having fun and entertaining themselves for the long ride. She didn’t join though. As much fun as it sounded, Athena knew her place and being silly wasn’t right for an heiress to do. Along the long ride, several other students came to sit with her and tried to get to know her. She put on a smile. Acted like the pureblood she was trained to be. Flirted a bit like she trained herself to do as a survival technique. But no one stayed long. Even the other pureblood children, who she had known since birth, left her very quickly after saying hello. Athena was incredibly lonely but she knew as a pureblood Lady, until she was married, Lucius was in charge of who she was allowed to befriend. So she pushed that lonely feeling down. Sometime after the lunch lady had come and gone, Athena got changed into her uniform. She put on her white buttoned up blouse that she tucked into her grey pleated knee length skirt. She then pulled on a black jumper and her black robes that she fashioned at the neck. She pulled on white knee length socks and grey school shoes. She hid her necklace under her blouse. She made sure she still looked elegant and beautiful.

Athena quickly puts her clothes away before leaving her compartment with the rest of the students as the train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Athena held herself back from shivering in the cold night air as that is not becoming of an heiresss. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students.

“Firs’ years! Firs’ years over here! All right there, Harry? C’mon, follow me — any more firs’ years? Mind yer step, now! Firs’ years follow me!”

A giant man that Athena recognised as Hagrid the groundskeeper called all the 1^st year students to follow him. Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Athena thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Some students were complaining about how dirty the path was. Athena had agree with them.

“Yeh’ll get yer firs’ sight o’ Hogwarts in a sec, jus’ round this bend here.”

There was a loud “Oooooh!”. The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

“No more’n four to a boat!”

Hagrid pointed to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Athena stopped herself from smiling in excitement at the idea of ridding boats across the lake. With the help of another girl (that she had smiled nicely at), Athena climbing into a boat and sat with three other purebloods.

“Everyone in? Right then — FORWARD!”

And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

“Heads down!”

As the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads, and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid’s lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.

“Everyone here?”

Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door. The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face.

“The firs’ years, Professor McGonagall,”

“Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here.”

She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was very big. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors. They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Betty could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right — the rest of the school must already be here — but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.

“Welcome to Hogwarts, The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your House will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory, and spend free time in your House common room. The four Houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each House has its own noble history, and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your House points, while any rule-breaking will lose House points. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever House becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting. I shall return when we are ready for you, please wait quietly.”

She left the chamber. Athena made sure that she was very presentable as she listened to everything guess how the sorting would take place. How they were going to be sorted wasn’t worrying Athena, being sorted into a house that wasn’t Slytherin was what was worrying Athena. Malfoy’s were always Slytherins. It was what was expected of her. If she ended up in another house, her parents would be furious. If she ended up in Hufflepuff or, merlin forbid, Gryffindor, Athena might as well wish her life goodbye. Then something happened that made her jump about a foot in the air — several people behind her screamed

“What the — ?”

Athena covered her mouth to stop a gasp escaping. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying:

“Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance —”

“My dear Friar, haven’t we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he’s not really even a ghost — I say, what are you all doing here?”

A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years. Nobody answered. “New students!” said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. “About to be Sorted, I suppose?” A few people nodded mutely. “Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!” said the Friar. “My old House, you know.”

“Move along now, The Sorting Ceremony’s about to start.”

Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.

“Now, form a line, and follow me.”

Athena quickly got in line and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up there, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. The celling was bewitched to look like the sky outside. It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn’t simply open on to the heavens. Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool, she put a pointed wizard’s hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth — and the hat began to sing:

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again. Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment. “When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted,” she explained. “Belby, Marcus”

A thin and nervous-looking boy with brown hair walked up to the stool and sat down.

 Belby smiled and went to sit with the Ravenclaws.

“Bell, Katie”

 A blonde girl with brown eyes walked up to the stool and sat down. The hat was barley on her head before shouting

 Bell smiled and rushed over to the Gryffindor table.

“Carmichael, Eddie”

 A kid with dark hair sat down on the stool. It didn’t take long for the hat to sort him into

 Carmichael smiled and went and sat with Belby.

“Chang, Cho”

A young girl with long black hair, brown eyes, and freckles sat down on the stool.

Chang quickly got up and went to the Ravenclaw table.

“Dunbar, Fay”

A light skinned girl with blonde hair walked to the stool and sat down.

Dunbar quickly rushed over to the Gryffindor table.

“Edgecombe, Marietta”

A girl with curly reddish-blonde sat down on the stool.

Edgecombe quickly went and sat with Chang.

“Malfoy, Athena”

Athena planted a smile on her face and walked over to the stool. As she sat down, the old looking hat was placed on her beautiful hair. “This better not ruin my hair” She whispered to herself. A laughed filled her head. “it won’t” said a voice. Athena smiled at that and said hello. “Hello to you to, Athena. Now where to place you. You are a Malfoy and Malfoy’s have always been in Slytherin and you would survive in Slytherin but you wouldn’t thrive there” The voice said, making Athena panic slightly. “i have to be in Slytherin” Athena whispered back but she was ignored. “You definitely don’t fit in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. But. .... I see that Gryffindor will help you reach your true potential. You will thrive as a Gryffindor” the voice explained. “No please. I can’t be a Gryffindor. Father will kill me” Athena begged, panicking. “I’m sorry, young girl. But I have to sort you where I think you’ll fit best” the voice said, sadly.

Silence filled the hall as the hat was taken off her head. She slowly got up and walked over to the Gryffindor table, showing no emotions on her face. But on the inside, she was panicking. Being in Gryffindor was a death sentence as a Malfoy. As she sat down, the hall erupted into whispers. But Athena wasn’t listening. She couldn’t concentrate on the whispers. She couldn’t concentrate on the sorting. She couldn’t concentrate on the food. She couldn’t concentrate on Headmaster Dumbledore’s speech. She couldn’t concentrate on the walk to tje Gryffindor common room. She couldn’t concentrate on the Prefect’s speech. She didn’t snap back into reality until she was in the common room and an explosion went off. The Weasley twins had set off a prank on two of their older brothers, Charlie (a 7^th year) and Percy (a 4^th year), covering them in bright pink glitter. Athena had to disappear to her new dorm room to stop herself from bursting out in laughter at that. Laughing at pranks and enjoying pranks was unbecoming of a pureblood Lady.

“Hi, I’m Katie and this is Leanne”

“Hello, I am Athena Eileen Malfoy”

The next morning, Athena was one of the first ones awake in her dorm. She grabbed her uniform and toiletries and went to the bathroom. After a long shower (where she thought about everything that happened the previous night), she got into her uniform and brushed her hair. Though she spent an agonisingly long time staring at the red of her uniform in the mirror. The red did not fit her pale skin at all. Athena must have been in the bathroom a while because she was pulled away from the mirror by banging on the bathroom door. “Hurry up, Malfoy! Some of us need to use the bathroom before classroom to!” Athena heard Katie yell. “Also, an angry owl is sat on your bed!” Athena heard Leanne yell. Athena sighed, took one last look at herself and left the bathroom. Katie muttered a “Thank you” before rushing past her into the bathroom. “That thing woke me up. I think he has a howler, Athena” Leanne said, sadly, from where she was sat fully dressed on her bed. Athena gave her a nod before walking over to the owl and took the red envelope before the Owl flew out of the opened dorm window.  “What have you done already to get a howler?” Katie asked as she entered the room, fully dressed. “I was sorted into Gryffindor, instead of Slytherin” Athena replied before sliding the envelope open. A roar of sound filled the room, shaking dust from the ceiling.  “GRYFFINDOR! HOW DARE YOU BE SORTED INTO GRYFFINDOR. DO YOU NOT REMEMBER YOUR LESSONS. YOU ARE RUINING THE FAMILY NAME!” Lucius’s voice filled the room. Athena had had enough though; she grabbed the screaming howler (and her bag) and left the dorm. “ONCE YOU GET HOME FOR CHRISTMAS, YOU WILL BE PUNISHED. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. NO MALFOY HAS EVER BEEN IN GRYFFINDOR! YOU ARE A DISGRACE. I HAVE TOLD YOUR GODFATHER TO TAKE POINTS AWAY AND GIVE YOU A DETENTION FOR NOT BEING IN HIS HOUSE” Athena didn’t care that people were staring and that her room mates had followed her. She reached the fireplace where a huge fire was crackling. “IF I HEAR YOU HAVE BROKEN ANY MORE OF THE FAMILY RULES OR STEP ANOHTER TOE OUT OF LINE, I WILL PERSONALY VISIT HOGWARTS AND MAKE SURE YOU REMEMBER THE RUL-” Athena threw the howler into the fire. It quickly burnt up and stopped yelling. “That’s better” she said smiling a sweet smile, ignoring all the looks she was getting “Now which of you amazing men, want to carry my bag?” Athena didn’t finish her sentence before a boy in her year (Cormac McLagan) grabbed the bag off of her. “Thank you, darling” Athena said. She kissed him on the cheek and then left the common room, heading towards the great hall.

Athena soon found herself falling into a routine at Hogwarts. A routine she created to protect herself and lessen the amount of trouble she’d be in when she goes home for the holidays. A routine that prevented her from breaking any more of the school rules. Every morning Athena would wake up early, way before the rest of her dorm. She spends an hour in the bathroom, making sure she was perfect for the day, before leaving the dorm room as her roommates woke up. Athena would then go to breakfast. Athena would leave breakfast half an hour before class to make sure she arrived on time. Then there were the classes themselves. In class, Athena acted dumb. She acted like she knew nothing. She acted like a stereotypical dumb blonde. She flirted with people to get out of detentions for flying assessments. She flirted with people to do her homework for her. But the truth is that she knows most of the answers, especially in potions and transfigurations. However, she acts like this in class for one reason and one reason only. If she’s too smart, Lucius would see her as a threat and her punishment would be worse but if she’s just a dumb, silly little Gryffindor girl, he’d underestimate her and she’d be safe. Between the last class of the day and curfew, Athena would find different ways to avoid the Gryffindor common. Be this going on fake dates, exploring the castle, visiting her godfather (Severus Snape) or in an empty classroom perfecting spells. Then after curfew, she’d go straight to her dorm and not leave until the next day.

“Did you hear what the twins did to Professor Snape? They turned his hair bright pink”

“Uncle Sev would have hated that.”

As the year went on, Fred and George Weasley pulled prank after Prank after prank. A week couldn’t go past without a prank going off. The range of what type of pranks they were pulling were massive. The two were super creative and the pranks were hilarious. That’s way Athena avoided the two at all cost.  She loved their pranks. She found them hilarious. She wanted to be the twin's friends. But they were Weasley’s and Weasley’s were the enemy of the Malfoy family. It would ruin the family's reputation if she was seen with them. So, she avoided them. She hardly spent time in the common room or in any space the twins were in. She forced herself not to laugh when she found the pranks hilarious. However, sometimes she couldn’t help it. Sometimes she found herself laughing out loud at their behaviour. Fred and George seemed to smirk at her whenever she did though, in a way of saying they have won. Athena wanted to smack that smirk off their faces. But dispite how angry that smirk and how she found herself reacting to their pranks made her, Athena couldn’t help but watching them when Katie dragged her and Leanne to all the quidditch matches.

“It’s a shame Charlie Weasley dropped out of the quidditch team. He was the only reason Gryffindor were winning. Next year, I am going to try out for chaser. I hope I get it. Are you two goi- Athena, you are watching the twins again”

“No, I am not!”

After a very long year, the summer finally arrived and Athena was dreading it. The only reason she didn’t get punished during the two weeks of the Christmas holidays was because there wasn’t time with all the Christmas balls they family had to attend. The whole way back to the manor, Athena was in a state of panic. Athena was picked up from the platform by Dobby and taken straight to her father’s office. Her father didn’t even say anything before casting the cruciatus curse on her. Athena screamed bloody murder as she collapsed to the floor in pain. This was new she had never felt this pain before. “The punishments you normally receive seem to be teaching you nothing, so I have decided to increase them. You will still be receiving wand smacks to the wrist and time in the cellar as well as all the other punishments. But the cruciatus curse has been added to the list. Now, to teach you a lesson. You will be spending the rest of the summer in the callar. We will bring you out to redo your lessons, for balls and when we go shopping for your schools' supplies. If you break the rules during these outings, you will be hit with the curse. Do you understand, Athena?” Lucius instructed as he lifted the curse. “Y-yes, father” Athena weakly replied.

 And that’s how Athena spent her summer. Locked in the cellar of Malfoy Manor. Only being allowed out for her lessons, for the summer balls the family were invited to and the end of summer shopping. It was a horrible summer filled with pain and boredom. She had lessons on rigorous etiquette, ballroom dancing, and French.  Every little thing she did wrong, she was punished with a Curcio. It was a horrible summer. Athena hated every little bit of it and the two 11-year-olds of the house only made mean comments about it. Athena could hardly remember any of the summer.

“Wait, was that Harry Potter?”

“Don’t be stupid, Athena”